Karkat/Jade (Third Person Present, Karkat-centric)
"I want to have you. No, fuck that sounds bad. Uh... I want to want you... not that's almost worse. I want to be able to... okay that's better but then what do I put next?" Karkat mutters under his breath as he stares at the screen. The room is dark save for the pale computer light that only serves to highlight the heavy bags under his eyes. His gray fist grabs and tugs in frustration at his untamed dark hair. Releasing it, he types out a couple more lines across the note, lets out an embittered sigh, and holds down the backspace key with a sharp jab. "Fuck."
"Having trouble there, my pale bro?" Karkat leaps up and trips over the chair in fright in the opposite direction of the question that seemingly came from the quiet dark.
"Fuck! Fuck you, Gamzee. Fuck you with a rusted rake right through the nook to where I can see the bloodied prongs coming out your mouth. Fuck."
"Sorry."
"Where the bloody fuck did you even come from? I know this place's vents are not big enough for you to crawl through them." Karkat could never get used to how quietly the clown could move. Especially without those damned horns giving away his position. Karkat straightens out the chair and sits down with a huff.
"The motherfucking window, bro." The washed out light does nothing but highlight the wicked teeth in his crooked smile.
"Fuck. What the fuck were you even doing outside?" Karkat glances down at the clock at the bottom of the screen. "It's a couple hours past your fucking curfew, you moron."
"Is it? You know how I am with motherfucking time. It just slip slides away like a motherfucking mir-" Karkat's hand shoots out and covers Gamzee's mouth.
"Don't you dare fucking say that word or so help me I will rip your vocal cords out and use them to sew your wind flap shut." Karkat could feel him grin behind the hand. Karkat had convinced him to stop wearing the greasepaint for the most part, especially when the scratches Nepeta made on his face were healing. But he could feel the slick substance on the clown's cheeks tonight. "What the fuck were you doing outside with your fucking face painted?" When Gamzee doesn't answer right away, Karkat realizes he is still covering his mouth. He drops his hand and wipes it on a random towel, making a mental note to do laundry tomorrow, especially Gamzee's bed because he will probably forget to take the makeup off before going to bed.
"'membering," he answers in a soft voice.
"Remembering what?"
"Before the game. My hive. My motherfucking horn piles. My lusus."
"Your fucking lusus who was never there to take care of you and never told you that sopor slime was fucking bad for you. How do you even fucking remember before the game? You were so fucking stoned all of the fucking time."
"I remember bits and pieces that float around my head. Especially when I look to the stars. Didya know that there is a motherfucking constellation made after goatdad? He's forever in the motherfucking stars. It's a motherfucking mi-" The quick punch to the jaw stops the word abruptly.
"Shit, Gamzee. Don't fucking say that word! Fuck! Is your jaw okay?"
"Sure is, bro. How about your motherfucking knuckles?"
"They are fine. Why do you fucking care about my knuckles? I just punched my moirail in the fucking jaw and he responds by asking how my fucking knuckles. Whatever. I don't care about what you were doing out there as long as you didn't kill anyone. You didn't kill anyone one, did you?" Karkat asks with a panicked tone.
"No, pale bro. I just sat by myself. Didn't even see another motherfucking soul."
"Well... that's good. I guess. Whatever. Just go fucking wash your face off and then go the fuck to bed."
"Alright, bro. That sounds like a motherfucking plan." Gamzee shuffles away from the light of the computer and Karkat hears a thump of a body flopping onto a bed.
"Fuck," Karkat mutters under his breath. Gamzee didn't wash his face off. But at least it sounded like he hit the right bed.
Karkat turns back to his computer with a heavy sigh. He has to finish this soon. Tonight preferably. A lot of people were starting to make noises of moving out of this mansion and starting their own lives. He noticed that the screams of haunting nightmares were becoming less frequent. There were even some nights that the hive stayed peacefully silent. But that means that she might be leaving soon as well.
Growling at himself, he sets his hands to the keyboard and starts typing.
Karkat wakes the next morning as a harsh beam of sunlight shifts to shine directly into his eyes. He winces and rolls over with the covers dragged up over his head, but huffs in annoyance a couple seconds later. The damage is done; he is awake again after only getting an hour or two of sleep. He glances over at the clock. Yep, only an hour and fifty minutes. Fuck. He shoves the covers away and climbs out of the reclining platform. Or bed, as they are now called. Most terms for objects tend to use the highblood and human versions rather than what Karkat was used to but fuck if he couldn't relearn. The humans sure as hell wouldn't.
Karkat quickly dresses, noting that Gamzee is still asleep in the exact position that he had fallen onto the bed in. The fucker hadn't closed the blinds when he apparently crawled in through the window last night which is why Karkat is up this fucking early in the morning. Growling steadily under his breath, he moves from his shared room to the ablution blo- the bathroom. He quickly washes his face, brushes his teeth, and combs his hair the best he can. The cowlicks still stick up like crazy but at least it is a smooth mess. Karkat sighs at his reflections, noting the brilliant red slowly creeping in around his pupils, almost highlighted by the heavy dark bags under his eyes. Thank gog that the hemospectrum caste system no longer exists in this universe. In the old one, he wouldn't be able to live his hive and would have either have starved or found someone to deliver food to his hive without question. Life here is a little less stressful Karkat muses pleasantly until he thinks about what he was working on the night before.
"Fuck." He runs a hand through his hair absently, fluffing up the somewhat controlled strands.
He stalks out of the bathroom planning on heading to the kitchen to scrounge up some breakfast before the rest of the horde decided to wake up and come downstairs. He pauses momentarily at the door when he catches sight of John's lusu- father. The man had been very accepting of all of the trolls that he somehow became in charge of. Not that anyone needed care. After that fucking game anyone could take care of themselves just fine. But... it was actually kinda nice having someone care for you without any romantic obligation. And after being around John's father, Karkat understood the dork a little better now.
The smell of cooked food drifts over and breaks Karkat from his trance. He heads straight over to the coffee maker and discovers an already brewed pot just waiting for him. He reaches up into the cabinet and pulls out a large mug and fills it nearly to the brim with the delicious ambrosia. Holding it close to his face, he breathes in the heavenly steam before taking a sip. He heard a quiet laugh behind him but recognized it as mirth not condescension. Mr. Egbert understood the value of coffee to Karkat. After several more sips he finally turned back to the counter, taking a seat on one of the stools. Moments later a plate of food is slid in front of him with eggs just how Karkat enjoyed them and a side of bacon. Karkat had bristled harshly the first couple weeks that Mr. Egbert had tried to serve him breakfast before the humans explained that it was just a kind gesture and yes, Mr. Egbert knew that Karkat could make his own food, but Mr. Egbert just thoroughly enjoys cooking for others. Now it just became a routine habit to graciously accept the gift of food from the older human without suspecting hidden motives.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
"For the part that I did."
Egbert makes a soft noise of acknowledgement in the back of his throat. "Did something keep you up?" It is his subtle way of asking about the nightmares. Egbert hears all of the screaming of his charges but does not know how to correct the situation.
Karkat shakes his head at the implied question. "I was up working on something and then my dumb fu- my dumb moirail climbed in the window late last night and forgot to close the curtains which woke me up with the sun."
Egbert nods sagely. "Working on a project?"
"Something like that." Karkat's scowl deepens at the thought. Egbert nods again but drops the subject. He returns to tending his domain over the kitchen as Karkat quietly eats his breakfast and drinks his coffee.
Just as he finishes, a loud crashing noise comes from the hallway with lots of cheering and ruckus. Karkat glances over at the calendar posted on the nearby wall. Yes, today is fucking Monday. On Monday mornings all of the human kids wake up ridiculously early and go running around the neighborhood on a ten mile trail. Apparently they just got home.
Karkat sets his fork down just as a the first one comes sauntering into the kitchen. His blonde hair is rucked up and sticking out as a combination of whatever rough housing that caused the crashing noise and the sweat built up from the extended run. The round dark aviators are perched on his smug face that Karkat just wants to punch in. It's too early in the morning for this bullshit. Dave perches himself on a stool and then turns to Dirk comes trailing a few steps after his brother with a slight limp, "Go make me a plate, bitch." He looks over his shoulder and quickly says, "Sorry, Mr. E," even before Mr. Egbert had a chance to respond to the curse.
"Give me a second, Dave. That cheating stunt you and little Egbert pulled off in order to win took out my leg," Dirk casually explains as he limps around the island.
"Whine, whine. I won, you lost. You have to serve me breakfast." Dirk pauses where he is and send Dave a dangerous glare over the top of his glasses that even Karkat can appreciate its burn.
"Here, let me help," Mr. Egbert offers.
"No, no. I'll do it. He did win," Dirk waves the help off, "the cheating bastard." Karkat snorts as he hears the moniker cursed under his breath.
"Hell yea I won. Sorry Mr. E. I am the king of Marathon Monday." Dave smirks proudly and Karkat has to grip the edge of the table to restrain himself from slugging that smirk right off of his ugly face. Dave catches the movement and turns to face the troll. "Oh good morning, grumpy. How are you this fine and glorious morning?"
"Go die in a fire," Karkat growls back.
"You've had your morning coffee which makes you fair game, sweetheart."
"Ew, no Dave. No one wants to see you hate kissing this early in the morning." Karkat looks up at the kitchen doorway to see John leading the next wave of humans as they come in.
"Fine, fine. But seriously, where the he-ck is my breakfast?" He stumbles on the attempted curse word because he only gets so many free passes with Mr. Egbert.
"Here you are," Dirk answers as he passes Dave a plate full of breakfast from the batch that Mr. Egbert had prepared. There is an additional expletive hidden under his tone and gaze but not vocalized out of respect.
The rest of the group shifts around the island to grab their own plates of food and find seats on either the stools or around the kitchen table. As soon as it is clear, Karkat refills his coffee. He keeps the fresh cup near his face to help counter the tangy scent of sweat and hot flesh that the eight humans brought with them. Usually he would have absconded by now to start the process of waking up his stupid shit of a moirail and starting the load of laundry with all of the pieces that have come in contact with the greasepaint, but Karkat suffers the loud noises and unpleasant crowdedness of the kitchen this morning. He makes surreptitious glances over at the table where the girls are sitting. Roxy is recounting something that has Rose smirking over her eggs, Jane giggling politely behind her hand, and Jade laughing brightly around a mouthful of food. Her long hair has been pulled up into a sleek ponytail that shakes from the force of her mirth. Her bright green eyes are scrunched closed behind her thick round glasses. Her soft round cheeks are pushed up by the corners of her wide happy smile.
There is a sharp movement to his right that breaks Karkat's attention. He takes a quick gulp of coffee to mask the twitch. It's just Dirk rising from his stool, but Karkat tenses as the blonde leans in his direction to move his legs around the seat.
"You were starting to stare again." The whisper is barely more than a breath and easily hidden under Jake's and Dave's loud banter.
Karkat can feel his mutant blood rise to the surface of his cheeks and he immediately attempts to drown himself in his coffee. As soon as the mug is empty, he heads straight to the sink to deposit his dishes and absconds from the room without another word or glance spared to any of the humans in the room.
The next time he runs into someone besides Gamzee (who was finally vertical and enjoying pancakes in the kitchen), Karkat is carrying a large load of clothes and sheet down to the laundry room in the basement.
"Hey, let me help you with that." Karkat freezes at the voice, unable to see Jade with how the clothes are bundled in his arms. But that is resolved as she lifts the top half off.
"Uh... careful with that. Greasepaint everywhere."
"Oh, okay, thanks."
"I should be thanking you." With the lighter load, it is easier for Karkat to navigate down to the basement and Jade follows him down. Karkat drops his armful on the ground and goes to check on the state of the washer. Of course there are clothes already in there, but at least the cycle is done. He goes and checks the dryer and fortunately that is empty. Sighing loudly, Karkat begins to move the clothes over as Jade piles her load onto his.
"Oh, those are Aradia's clothes."
"Course it is. We can't actually ever fucking finish a chore around this house on our own. Just leave it for the next chump to come along and do it. I don't understand how John's lusus puts up with all of this bullshit."
"Oh don't be like that, Karkat! It's not that hard. You move the clothes and I'll set it to the right setting and then we'll tell Aradia to get her clothes before you have to move your stuff."
"Set it to fucking nuclear so all of her clothes shrink to fit the size of her tiny think pan."
"That's mean!"
"Serves her right. I mean look at this stuff!" Karkat holds up his latest handful, a collection of bras and panties. Jade bursts out laughing as Karkat realizes what he is holding and instantly turns red in embarrassment. He quickly stuffs it into the dryer and slams the door a little harder than necessary, sending Jade into another fit of laughter. "Whatever. Just turn the damn thing on." Jade recovers as Karkat starts moving his own stuff into the now vacated washing machine.
They both finish pushing the start buttons on their respective machines at the same time and they rumble to life.
A strange sensation of anticipation curls violently in Karkat's guts now that he realizes the chores have been handled and he's just standing there next to Jade. Well, until she starts moving to the door. He manages to scrape up enough courage to open his mouth,
"Jade?" She pauses and turns halfway back to him. He swallows hard and starts again, "Jade, can I-"
"Harley!" One of the Striders calls down the from the top of the basement stairs. "Need you for a quick moment! Hurry!"
"Sorry Karkat, hold that thought? I'll be right back." She flashes him a quick smile and then she dashes upstairs.
Karkat is going to kill Dirk.
After thirty minutes of waiting downstairs for her to come 'right back,' Karkat disparagingly trudges back upstairs just in time to almost run into Jade in the hallway. She dances out of the way with a giggle.
"Hi Karkat!"
"Hey Ja-"
"Jaaaaaaaade!" A sharp voice interrupts.
"What?" Jade calls back.
"Bert wants you!"
"Vriska, that's not his name!" And she disappears down the hall. Vriska just signed her death wish.
He catches her resting for a brief moment on the couch in the living room. "Ja-"
"Karkat! Come take a look at this!"
"Not right now, asswipe!" he growls in the direction of the call.
"Karkat, that's not nice, go see what John wants."
"But-"
"No buts. Go."
"Shit." He turns and stalks out of the room. He's going to kill John as well.
"Do you have a moment, Jade?" He catches her in the front hall.
"Sorry Karkat, not right now, I have to run these errands," she explains in a flurry of moment that apparently results in her putting on her shoes, grabbing her purse, and opening the door simultaneously. Karkat can't quite process how that all happened and is left with his mouth hanging open as the door closes. Karkat wants to go kill Dave as well, just to let out some of the pressure building up behind his eyes.
CG: JADE, I REALLY NEED TO TALK WITH YOU.
GG: uh oh! that sounds really ominous...
CG: GOGDAMNIT.
CG: NO IT'S NOTHING BAD.
CG: I PROMISE.
CG: JUST WANT TO TALK.
GG: well i am available now!
GG: who knew there would be such a line to pick up one package!
GG: ugh! why did i agree to add this to my list of errands today?
GG: so annoying!
CG: I MEAN FACE TO FACE.
GG: ooooh
GG: well, i wont be home for a little bit...
GG: but i promise to make sure to talk to you when i do get home!
CG: THANKS.
"Dirk! Here is your package. Next time you have to go and wait in that line yourself."
"Thanks, Harley."
"Oooh is that what I think it is?"
"If by that you mean is it a Transition Displacement Broadcaster? Then yes it is."
"Oh my gosh! I've been meaning to put one of those together but I just haven't had the time! Can I hang out and help you put it together? That way I can have some experience before I try to do it myself!"
"As much as I would appreciate your help, Harley, I think there is someone else who would like your attention." Jade tilts her head in confusion. "A certain troll that has been trying to talk with you all day?"
"OH!"
"Hey Karkat?" Jade pokes her head into his bedroom. He instantly sits up on the reclining platform.
"Jade! Uh, hi."
"You wanted to talk to me?" she asks hesitantly.
"Yes!" He scrambles out of the bed and grabs his shoes, sloppily shoving them onto his feet. "Uh... I mean yea, all day actually..."
"Oh. I'm sorry about that. I guess you have. Well, what did you want to talk about?" She tilts her head slightly to watch him. "And why are you putting on your shoes?"
"Would you like to go on a walk with me?" He looks up at her with wide eyes. His blood pusher is working over time and the flutter beasts in his guts are having a perigee's end party. His heel finally slips into the shoe making him lurch forward a little. Jade smiles down at him. "I was thinking about going to the park. But actually..." He glances out of the window and notices that the day has passed and it's night outside.
"I'd like to go on a walk with you."
"Perfect! Great. I mean, cool." Karkat wishes there was a good way to keep his mouth shut without having to actually clamp his hand over it. Finally he gets his shoes straightened out and they head outside.
It is a very pleasant temperature as the early summer heat hasn't dissipated fully yet. They start walking down the sidewalk together towards the park. Jade swings her arms out to the sides where Karkat holds himself tight together. The silence between them doesn't seem to bother Jade, but Karkat can't get over the sensation that he is doing this all wrong. They get to the park and immediately head over to the empty playground. They end up sitting on the swinging bridge that connects two towers in the play fort. The neighborhood they ended up in is far enough away from the city that the sky is very dark and the lamp lights of the park don't do much to dispel the night in their current location.
Jade flops down on her back and stares up at the sky. Karkat fingers the chains that make up the railings of the bridge. The silence is starting to get tenser and Karkat can tell that even Jade is starting to feel its stress but she's waiting for him to break it.
"Uh... Gamzee says that there is a constellation of his lusus in the stars," Karkat mumbles.
"Capricorn! All of your signs are up there. We know them as the zodiac."
"So... my lusus is up there too?"
"Yep. Or at least it was in our old sky... but I am pretty sure they all transferred over to the new world."
"Then I bet your guardians also have a constellation up there somewhere."
"Bec and Grandpa? That would be nice..." Her voice trails off softly.
"Shit. Sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad. Gogdamnit. I am such an idiot."
"Karkat, calm down. You didn't upset me. I was just remembering. And I really like the idea that they are up there in the sky. Thanks!"
He glances behind him and finds her propped up on one elbow smiling brightly at him and his blood pusher skips a beat. This is the perfect moment. He shifts his seat so that he is facing her a bit more instead of letting his legs dangle over the side. He takes a deep breath.
"Jade. I am really glad you came out on this walk with me. I know you probably have better things to do than sit on a playground and look at stars with a jackass like me. But I have something that I have been meaning to get off of my torso cavity. About my feelings. About the future. About you. About what you want to do.
"A lot of people are talking about moving out. I mean Jane and Gamzee have already bought that bakery on the other side of the state and Eridan and Feferi moved out weeks ago and everyone is looking for stuff to do and they are pairing up, even Terezi and Vriska, but I don't really give a shit about any of them, well I have to give a shit about Gamzee because I have to because he is my moirail, but I am getting off track again.
"Past me was an idiot for ever being so rude to you. He was a complete moron for not being able to see how amazing you are. I mean it wasn't even your fucking fault that Bec was prototyped and instead it was you who helped save the day especially with the way that you orchestrated the Scratch and everything that came afterwards despite me constantly fucking everything up because that's the only thing I can do with any reliable certainty.
"But despite all of that or maybe because of all of that, I really can't get you out of my head. I like watching you smile, I like listening to your laugh, I like hearing you talk about all of your science bullshit, I like how you are kind to everyone and how you yell at me when I am being mean, I like how you can stand up to anyone without any fear, I like how you aren't afraid to get close to people, I like how you keep Dave in line from being an arrogant prick who thinks he's cool, I like how you can talk to anyone and how you make them all laugh and smile with you. I don't exactly pity you but I care for you. I want to take care of you and I don't like the idea of you going out there alone. I want to be there with you to make sure that you aren't alone because I really like you. I want to go out with you. Are you okay with that?"
"Sure!" She sits all the way up and smiles at him.
Karkat just blinks at her for a moment. Then another. But there wasn't anything more to her answer.
"That's it?"
"Mmhmm!" She nods sharply. She looks at Karkat again and tilts her head at his shocked face. "Well, how else am I supposed to react to something like that?" She waits a half pause before, "Oh, I know!" Then with sharp movement she leans in and kisses Karkat on the lips. It lasts only a moment before me breaks away with that same brilliant smile. Karkat sputters for a moment or two before quieting down into a shocked awe. Jade scoots across the small distance between so that her hips are directly next to him. She leans her head on his shoulder.
"You know, I don't really know what I want to do," she says softly. "There wasn't much I really could do on my island... and then the game happened... What do you want to do?"
Karkat is caught slightly off guard at the shift in conversation. "Well, I've been taking online courses over romance studies."
"You have?"
"Well, I was interested in what this new universe had and how fucking bad we screwed with romantic norms. Turns out we didn't do too badly programming it into this universe. And I found the classes for rom studies and I'm like two credits away from being a licensed counselor," he finishes with a mutter.
"Wow. That's actually really put together for you."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing! Nothing. Just... almost everyone has something they want to do and I'm doing nothing and now you have something you want to do even though you want to come with me. I should be the one asking to go with you."
"Go where though?"
"Anywhere! Everywhere!" The conversation falls off into silence. Karkat twitches for a moment and then wraps his arm around her, pulling her in closer. She smiles and snuggles into his shoulder. When she starts again, her voice is soft and quiet, "When I was little and stuck on that island, I'd get online and plan trips to all of the interesting places in the world. I had itineraries for each continent of stuff I wanted to see and where I would stay and what I would eat. I would just imagine myself travelling for weeks on end just to explore the African saharas or Asia's bamboo forests or the jungles of South America. Cost was never a concern though because what ten year old thinks about money. I just made lists and lists of the stuff I wanted to see. And I never got to even get off of my island. And now it's all gone."
Karkat feels the shudder of a suppressed sob shake though her shoulders. He grips her tighter. "Well, I bet there is a lot of new stuff here that we could explore. And as you said, I can work anywhere. And we have enough grist that money isn't a concern."
There is a little hiccup in her voice when she answers, "Really? You wanna do that with me?"
"Yea."
The next thing he knows is that he has been knocked flat on his back and there is a soft warmth over him, and Jade is kissing him thoroughly. He somehow kept his arm around her and he brings the other one up as well and kisses her back.