Karkat glanced around uneasily as the two newly suited men scampered out of the back door and into an alleyway. He felt uneasy basically stealing from the store he worked at, but he knew that there were no cameras in the storeroom, from which they had grabbed the correct sized suits and shoes. Sollux adjusted his deep yellow tie.

"Shall we be going?"

"Fuck off."

"I'm paying for your dinner."

"So? I can fucking pay for it myself, carpet muncher."

"I'll have you know I gave up on that a long time ago." Sollux grinned at his boss, his eyes dancing with mischief behind his dual colored glasses.

"Seriously, why the fuck do you wear those things?" Of course his comment had taken Karkat off guard, but he wasn't going to let such an underling see so.

"Fashion statement, I guess. It brings out my eyes too, and I'm sort of blind without them. I have a pair of regular glasses in my bag I'll let you see me in sometime."

"Gee, thanks for the sudden burst of fucking fiery hope that rolled in my stomach. I think it's called hate."

"Heh, you love it, KK."

By this point, they had already exited the alleyway they had slipped in to and traversed several streets, ending up outside of a relatively fancy restaurant that Sollux had heard that Karkat enjoyed eating at. He veered sharply into the small alcove by the doors. Karkat gave him a weird look, but joined him when Sollux opened up one of the doors for him. The two entered, not noticing anybody as they waited to be seated.

"Here are your menus! My name is Nepeta, and I'll be your waitress tonight. I'll bring some water rrright out, along with some breadsticks!" The happy green-eyed waitress rushed off not two seconds after finishing her spiel. Sollux eyed Karkat.

"You know her?"

"I come here a lot. She's worked here for as long as I can remember, actually. I think her dad owns it or something…" Sollux made a small noise in acknowledgement as Nepeta hurried back over, balancing the tray on her hand perfectly as she maneuvered around costumers and other servers.

"Here you are! Would you like a few more minutes with your menus?" Karkat leaned back in his chair and observed Sollux for a moment. The poor man seemed to be overwhelmed with the amount of food, or the price, on the menu.

"A think a few more minutes would be good. It's his first time here." Nepeta nodded and slipped her writing pad back into her little apron.

"Ah, alright." She flashed another smile and sauntered off to see to her other tables. Karkat just sat there, taking in Sollux's appearance. He cleaned up rather nicely, for a hustler.

"If you're going to stare, please do so in a less obvious manner." Sollux muttered. His legs brushed Karkat's as he stretched them out. The ill tempered man blushed hard at the light contact, and the blush deepened when he heard a familiar nasally voice.

"Karkat? Is that really you?" Sighing, the man in question turned in his seat a little, picking up on John sitting a few tables away with a tall and lanky blonde man. He said nothing to the duo, only nodding to show that he had heard John. He turned back to Sollux and resisted the urge to bury his head in his arms like a child.

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck."

"Well, jeez, KK, if you're that horny, we can just pick up some whip cream and go home. Terezi's working late again. She left after you did. We had a pleasant conversation."

"Fuck."

"Don't worry. It wasn't anything bad. She told me you two weren't living well together. She also said that she was probably going to move out. See if that helped the relationship, or if you two should just end it." Nepeta returned to the table then.

"Are you two-"

"There is nothing going on between us!" Karkat's choice of words slipped out at the wrong time. Nepeta jumped, her deep green eyes widening in surprise.

"I was just asking if you two were ready to order. But I can just furget it if you need a few more minutes still."

"No. No, we're perfectly fine." Karkat growled. He clenched his fists under the table. He missed the days when he could just throw a tantrum and get away with it. But he was an adult now; he couldn't do things like that.

"You don't seem purrfectly fine…"

"Nepeta, was it?" Sollux intervened just in time. The veins in Karkat's throat were becoming a bit strained from the effort he was exuding to not cuss at the top of his lungs. Sollux put in the order perfectly. He even nailed Karkat's picky usual.

The hotheaded pimp glared at Sollux after Nepeta left to put their order in.

"How the fuck did you? It was Pyrope, wasn't it? Gah, I'm going to kill her later."

"Don't kill her. She told me, yes. It was her idea to do all of this anyway." Sollux shrugged as he picked up a breadstick and began to rip it into perfectly even sections. Karkat watched, mildly fascinated, as he tried to fit words to match his mood.

"Things have been rocky between me and Terezi for a while now. I guess it started last month. I don't know what happened. I feel like shit for it though." His irritation quickly moved to a melancholy state. Sollux glanced up from his shredding of the breadstick.

"If you don't know what it is, how can you feel like shit?" Sollux scrutinized Karkat from behind his glasses, his fingers still lightly holding onto the breadstick.

"I don't fucking know, alright? I think it has something to do with me, but I'm not fucking sure!" Karkat growled and fought the urge to hide his face in his arms like he did at home.

John, ever the watchful helper, saw Karkat's distress and walked over to their table. His goofy smile was replaced with a worried pout.

"Uh, excuse me, Karkat? Are you okay?" John, for once, kept his voice down. He didn't want to draw any unneeded attention to his already stressed boss.

"What? Oh. Egbert. I'm fucking fine."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am." Sollux grinned as the two bantered back and forth for a few more minutes. Luckily, the man that John was with came over and broke it up.

"John. Come on, bro. The movie's going to start without us."

"But, Dave!" John's words were laced with a high pitched whine that was almost unbecoming of a grown man.

"Go on your fucking date, Egbert. I'll see you tomorrow anyway." John stood there pouting at the other three men. Sollux had said not a word the entire time, watching quietly as he proceeded to shred the bits of breadstick into smaller pieces. Eventually, John gave up and left, but not without an ominous look. Karkat watched the two other men pay for their meal and leave.

"I don't think I want to watch a fucking movie anymore." He slumped in his chair, making the hundred and fifty dollar suit look like a twenty dollar school uniform.

"You need to get out of the house though." Sollux pointed a finger at him. The plate with the shredded up breadstick was pushed across the table. "Now eat."

"What?"

"Eat."

"Our food is coming in a few minutes."

"Eat." Karkat glared at Sollux and shoved his mouth full of the breadsticks, acting like a 15 year old boy. The words that came out of his mouth were jumbled, and it took everything that Sollux had to not laugh at him.

Nepeta came back carrying their orders then. She gave a weird look to Karkat as she put the plates in front of them both.

"Enjoy your meals…?" Sollux smiled and waved her off. She casted a few glances over her shoulders as she waited on other tables. Karkat, now a bright red, managed to down the breadsticks a few minutes after she left.

"Thanks a fucking lot, fuckwad."

"Heh. Feel better now?"

"Fuck you."

"Good." Sollux pushed Karkat's place towards him, smiling lightly. He really did care. Karkat blushed, scowling. He picked up his fork slowly and began to eat. Sollux waited to make sure Karkat wasn't going to stop before digging into his own plate. They ate in silence, casting occasional looks at each other. Sollux stopped halfway through and pushed his plate towards Karkat.

"I think you need it more than I do." The man across from him glanced up from his plate, eyeing him suspiciously.

"What? You're the one that hasn't had a decent meal in forever." Sollux chuckled and shook his head.

"Eating like I have shrinks the stomach. I'm full." Karkat growled lightly, clenching his fork in his hand until his knuckles whitened.

"Finish your fucking dinner."

"No." Karkat snarled and dropped his fork.

"I'm not going to finish my fucking meal until you do."

"Well, I guess we're done here then." The bespectacled man leaned back in his chair with a smirk on his lips. Karkat grumbled. There was no way he would win this battle.

"Fine. I want to go home." Sollux sighed. A silence passed between them as they waited for Nepeta to come back.

She did eventually come back, looking a little shocked at the small amount of food that was gone from their plates. She left the bill, which Sollux paid, and the two were off, heading back to Karkat's apartment.

"What? Why the fuck is the door unlocked?" Karkat grumbled and opened the door, looking around inside. The lights were off, everything in its proper place. The shorter man flipped on the lights and spied the note on the fridge before Sollux did.

Sollux made his way for his back pack, digging through it to find his two pill bottles. He slid into the bathroom with the bottles in hand, along with a credit card that was lying on the end table by the couch.

Karkat's yells were drowned out by the door, but only slightly. Sollux opened the first pill bottle, his prescribed medicine for his bipolar disorder, and swallowed the required amount. He glanced at the door, praying that Karkat wouldn't barge in. His shaking fingers tapped out two pills, lining them up carefully before going at them with precision. The credit card crushed them easily, and Sollux sighed a breath of relief as they quickly turned into a fine powder. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, not believing that he was still doing this. He knew the dealer that Gamzee had been messing with; he himself went there on occasion for refills. It was part of who he was. It helped keep the voices down, helped keep him in line, helped him do his job without feeling as dirty, helped him deal with the pains of his past and his present.

"Sollux, what the fuck are you doing in there? You better be taking a goddamn shower, and you better be making it fucking fast, because all I want to fucking do is sit in that tub and go fucking numb!" Karkat's yells were closer to the door now. Sollux took a quiet shuddering breath before answering.

"What the fuck. Can't a guy take a fucking piss before a shower? Besides, I'm waiting for the water to heat up." He pressed his thumb against one side of his nose, leaning down to the crushed line on the counter. Karkat's fist met the door three times.

"Just. Hurry the fuck up! Terezi's left. Like, for good. We're split, we're through. She gave me two full month's rent, cooked a week's worth of food." His yelling was slowly subsiding and growing fainter. He must've moved back into the kitchen. Sollux gave a mental sigh before readjusting his thumb. He snorted the line, cringing lightly before sitting up and sniffling a little bit. He repeated the process, smiling lightly as the familiar sensation spread through his body.

The water hit his torso with barely a sound. He didn't feel it. He felt nothing but a light fluffy sensation. He felt like he was falling through the air, and that nothing could stop him. The harsh landing did nothing to jar him from his high. He closed his eyes, grinning to himself, as he lay there, the water from the shower falling on his naked body like the warm rain.