Chapter 1 – Mundane

Fuck

Just fuck

It was freezing, it was raining and you are fucking drenched to the bone. Stuck out in the cold in the disgusting shithole of a city, stuck in nothing but a thin shirt, jeans and a hoodie that wasn't fucking thick enough. It was yet another one of those days. You know the ones that you just don't give a flying fuck about anything. Yer Karkat was having one of those days. He'd been having those types of days more constantly then he would have liked. Anyone could only have so many until there tether snapped, and Karkat's was wearing thin. He just couldn't do it anymore.

It was an ordinary day so far in the middle of august within the dreary city that was currently your home. Ironically it was called Derse, which was just fucking great, really. The one place that you all had to end up in was the place named after that god forsaken moon, Derse. Out of all the shit stains of places, they just had to pick the most shitiest of them all. Thank you Mr. Egbert, and sir Harely

And just to top of the icing on the fucking cake you were currently suffering the worst autumn yet. The temperatures where below fucking freezing, accompanied by wind that was just set on trying to knock you over, and not to forget the shit ton of rain. You were practically drowning in it.

So here Karkat was marching his way down a mostly abandoned street, with the sun on the verge of setting. With hoodie pulled all the way up, his hands scrunched up in his pockets, and a death glare of the century. Maybe that should be a nickname as well; it too was now becoming even more common and even more deadly as the days passed. But who in this fucking world gave a fuck, you were Karkat fucking Vantas and that's all it needed to know seeing as it was just pissing you off way too much. You needed to just get home, jump into a blanket and perhaps wait till the world ended, or at least in till Terezi made her way home.

You started to quicken your pace a little, the quicker you got home the quicker you could get out of this fucking cold and wet rain. You didn't practically hate the rain or the cold air, you just hated the sensation of being wet. God who would like it. You preferred the cold months over the warmer ones, you couldn't stand the heat, it made you all sweaty and your palms sticky. Never a nice fucking feeling. It felt like everything was constantly trying to burn you up and eat you, literally. And the air conditioning was a joke, it never worked. Which of course would be a problem if you didn't live in the shit hole you called an apartment.

A slight shiver ran down your spine, partly from you being really pissed off, partly because of the fucking cold, partly because something just didn't feel right. You don't know what it was, but it had your senses up high and was making you freak out, a little. God did you wish you were currently at home, and for once was luck on your side. The apartment was only around the corner.

A partially loud thunder clap had you running toward the apartment. Though you couldn't see the lighting strike pass all of the fucking sky scrapers, you certainly hear it and saw a flash. For Karkat, that was just about fucking enough to have him running like he was about to die. You may be a demon, but fuck, you had every right to be scarred of thunder. It wasn't something you had experienced often when you were younger.

After finally reaching the apartment steam and bolting up the stairs, you yanked your keys out and started jabbing them around the lock until it went in hastily before slamming the door behind you as you entered. It was one of the politest ways you knew how to announce your presence to no one. Slumping against the door and taking deep breaths, you finally calmed down. You had no idea what had you on edge, but you couldn't take anymore of this. If it wasn't for Terezi you think you would off bolted straight out of here, saying fuck this and join everyone else.

When you had all originally started out, one of the two guardians you had had suggested that they all would attempting living normal lives in the city amongst the humans (possibly hunters, you don't know) you had gotten lucky and got a flat which was very near the others, it was a one bedroom flat, one or two blocks away from your 'best bro' Gamzee. Who lived furthest away any of us would dare from the others. If you were correct john and jade had lived directly in the flat below you, Jake and jade in the flat a few numbers down the hall from them. Kanaya lived in the apartments next to your, Tavros well fuck, you presumed that he lived with Gamzee, due to his 'accident'. And for Terezi, she lived in your flat.

And no

Just because she lived in his apartment which was one bedroom, did not mean he was with Terezi. Karkat had just felt responsible for her and her welfare, which meant that there was no way in hell was he going to let her live by herself and Of course Karkat had many reasons to back this up.

Number fucking one being the fact that of course she too was a demon like Karkat. Demons didn't come in large numbers now day, and the ones that did stayed close together. Naturally they would have lived in a hive, but that wasn't much of an option for all of you... most of you. You had all decided, that you were going to attempt living with the humans like most of you currently did... had. It came as a surprise that the 12 of you all had managed to survive this long outside of their hive. And even more of a surprise that you had survived, and as of yet not spotted by hunters. It had been so long since any of you had seen hunters that it was just becoming natural to believe that perhaps they had all died, along with the bloodlines. Which if it were true, it would be a fucking miracle.

Getting back to the current subject. There had only been one of you that had completely refused to live amongst the humans and chose to stay living in your hive with her fucking spider mom. (with the exception of Gamzee who had taken alot of convincing to get him to live in a flat)she was The psychopath bitch hellhound named Vriska. Karkat knew her of course, just not as personally as the others. He had talked to her, but you'd really just had to be plain crazy to approach her, unless you happened to be Terezi, which Karkat was certainly not, who surprisingly was the only one that really tolerated Vriska out of you. Of course your now wheel chaired friend had once sported a crush for the bitch, but that shortly went out of the window after the 'accident' which none of you really wanted to talk about. But still you were having a hard time seeing how Terezi like her so much, seeing as she was the one that made her blind in the first place. Which really was not his place to talk about it. Vriska was just one of those people who wore an invisible sign practically screaming 'come near me I'll fucking gut you' and most likely eat it or feed it to her 'mother', with 'unless I trust you; written in lower case too small that it was impossible to read. If it even existed, pretty much everyone would avoid her. Either way he certainly was not one of those people. However even if she was a bitch, and did have her spider mother thing he still felt sorry for her. He couldn't imagine how lonely it would truly have been.

Anyway back to Terezi. Reason two: SHE IS FUCKING BLIND! Not much to say on the matter. What sort of person would Karkat be if he was to let her go and fend for herself. She may have the fantastic –creepy sense of smell where she could 'see' everything just by smell. Not mentioning her disgusting habit of licking things, himself included, which was her trying to get a 'better picture'. However even with this ability her blindness still made her vulnerable, and well fuck, Karkat didn't know what he would do if something happened to her, especially if it meant he could of prevented it from happening. It just so happened that she ended up staying in his flat and sleeping in his bed 'if Karkat could even call it that anymore' nightly, while he was left to the fucking excuse of a couch, for when he actually fucking slept. Which was quite literally never. Karkat just couldn't dream like the others. And in truth it was just fucking depressing.

He had no idea why Terezi liked to sleep nightly, perhaps it was because she got to go off somewhere away from here, or maybe it was just because she liked to sleep, alot. He didn't know, you each had your own preferences. What was the saying 'each to his own' or what-fucking ever. But fuck did it piss Karkat off sometimes. She was able to just stroll in, throw herself down like a brick and drift off in to perhaps one of the most peaceful sleeps he had ever see with a shit eating grin lathered across her face. While Karkat was left to the black void of endless terrors, fever dreams. It was something that allowed Terezi to so kindly call you a 'late bloomer' which to a normal dreamer meant that his lazy ass dream-self hat yet to wake up; and by Jegus was Karkat waiting for the day that it would come.

As for reason three. Well Karkat didn't need a fucking third reason as to why Terezi lived with him. Two was enough for anyone's fucking book!

After quickly stripping down and wiping himself off with a towel, Karkat replaced his hoodie and jeans with yet another pair of grey jeans and a black hoodie and a light black v-neck tee; which would show his muscles if he was ever to take the damn hoodie off. Karkat's trip back to his apartment had really been a pit stop before he took off for work. From the looks of things his apartment currently was empty, a good thing. Karkat wouldn't have Terezi hounding his back for food, not like she couldn't make it herself. Karkat sighed, closing his bedroom door behind him before making his way over to the couch in the corner of the room; picking up one of her disgusting, messy chalks. It just so happened that he picked her one of her favorites, the red. She had a weird fetish for the color red, especially if she could eat it, the chalk included. He let out a low chuckle behind a close mouth. She really was fucking weird, he had no clue how he had dealt with her and her weird shenanigans for so long. Karkat made his way over to the note book, chalk in hand, hanging by the door. Terezi wasn't really one for long messages, she got bored easily. Her and her short attention span. So he would try to make this as short as he was fucking capable of.

'GOING OUT TO THE FUCKING THING YOU CALL 'WORK'. RAMEN IS STILL IN THE FRIDGE IF YOU ARE HUNGRY. JUST PUT IT IN THE MICROWAVE, AND DON'T FUCKING BURN DOWN THE APARTMENT WHEN IM GONE. I HAVE TO FUCKING PAY FOR THIS SHIT.'

There. He couldn't put it clearer if he tried. Hopefully she would get the message; it wasn't that hard to make out.

And with that, and the biggest sigh that Karkat could possibly muster, he made his way out. He may be a demon, but according to Kanaya nothing was free. And beside it was all about the human act. So apparently even demons had to work to keep themselves alive now, and out of trouble. From what Karkat had learned, if you're working and acting like a normal mundane then maybe, just maybe, you'd get fucking lucky and a hunter won't notice and kill you. Though talking about hunters, it had been years since any of you had really seen them. Perhaps all the founding bloodlines had died out. If you were lucky.

Tonight was going to be a long night for Karkat if he continued with these thoughts, a long fucking night.

And with that he shut the door behind him, leaving the echoing click of the lock and his footsteps in his wake.