Beep. Beep. Beep. Bee-

A tired, dazed hand slammed against the bedside table, scratching his fingertips around against the wooden surface and trying to rake in his phone from the heap of useless shit that he had sprawled out on the maple-wood table. Usually that would consist of his glasses; magazines on the latest technology: yes, he enjoyed those sort of topics, what a nerd; keys: he'd be pretty lost without these, better not bother them too much; empty cereal bowls, empty or half-filled glasses of water or soda: procrastination, what could you do? And also his lava lamp which he had gotten as a present from his dads for his recent 19th birthday. Once he successfully dragged in his phone from the bunch, he flipped it open and initiated the call, groaning his first words in.

"Hello?" He propped his shoulder onto the side, sitting up and leaning up against the bed rest. He let out a little yawn and stretch to wake himself up a little more.

"Hey, wake up you blistering idiot." A loud voice echoed from the other line. Sollux slapped his hand onto the bridge of his nose, rubbing it in agony. He hadn't expected a call from Karkat this early; this early translating to 5 in the fucking morning.

"KK, what the fuck? Have you ever conthidered that people might be athleep at thith time?" He growled lightly, not bothering to hide his lisp like he usually would when he's wide awake.

"Shove that tongue up your ass and stop lisping you shit stain, you were the one who told me- no forced me to obey your so-called righteous and almighty fucking commands and wake your sorry ass up so you wouldn't be late for that test you said you had. Suck it up and stop being an ungrateful and moody bitch." He snapped back, causing Sollux to furrow his eyebrows in pain. Why did Karkat have to be such a twit this early in the morning? He supposed he had grown used to this sort of 'friendly' treatment from Karkat.

He swallowed in his lisp, clearing his throat and rubbing his eye with his free hand. Twisting around so his legs were hanging off the side of the bed, his feet lazily slipped into his comfy, morning slippers. "Yea, yea, thanks a whole bunch, asshole." He chuckled lightly after hearing the obvious groan from the other end. "I'm getting ready, stop bothering me now."

"Oh thank God, he's getting ready, someone call the media. This should be reported, holy shit." Sollux could almost bet on his life that Karkat had rolled his eyes through the phone.

"Alright, oh my God, shut the fuck up and let me take a shower." He didn't feel up for one of their so-called friendly arguments so he thought this would help shut him up long enough to utter a bye and hang up. It did.

He tossed the phone carelessly onto his bed and blanket, dragging his feet lazily across the room and leaning against the bathroom door's frame, turning the light on. The bathroom glowed with life in comparison to his dark, sleepy bedroom. He didn't get much sleep, only an hour in fact. Although he should be used to this by now considering his night owl trait, he was still pretty drowsy and that couldn't really be helped. He was only human after all. He kicked off his slippers before entering the bathroom properly, they weren't really needed in the first place but he thought they were comfortable never the less, and began undressing without caring to close and/or lock the door. It wasn't like anyone would barge into his room at 5 in the morning. He didn't exactly have a roommate, either.

He stepped into the shower compartment, turning the water on as it pelted and soaked against his skin, a fresh steam seething itself through and fogging up any glass that may be in the room. It felt so warm and woke him up from his crisp, dazed self, letting him sigh in pleasure. After what felt like not long enough, he walked onto the shower mat, grabbing two towels. One was loosely wrapped around his waist with one hand, hanging down a little but not enough to reveal anything and the other being gripped by his other free hand and ruffling against his hair, drying its messy yet limp and damp structure.

His slightly blurry vision darted around the room for his wardrobe, eventually settling on white and black fuzz that happened to be moving around in his room. Its tail wagged like the hand of a ticking metronome, slowly and heavily swaying from side to side. Sollux rubbed his eyes, reaching to grab his glasses and putting them on, facing the creature again and smiling.

"Hey, Bicyclops." He laughed, ruffling the top of the Dalmatian's head. He had no idea why he named his dog that but it seemed like the best idea when he received him at the age of 14. What could he do but just play along? He thought it was still a pretty epic name so he wasn't going to start complaining like a little spoiled brat anytime soon.

The spotted animal stuck out its tongue, slobbering licks all over his hand and barking in happiness. Sollux quickly placed his fingertip to his mouth, hushing the dog. Bicyclops stopped after another bark, its tail still wagging like a wrecking ball. Sollux swore that thing could knock down a building while wagging at that pace. It was a miracle how he managed to persuade that if kept under tight observation, he was allowed to keep the dog in his dorm; that and a little bit of bribery from his dads. He smiled, giving one last pet before kicking at his little chew toy as a gesture for the dog to move along and play on his own for now.

While Bicyclops began chewing on his ball toy, Sollux quickly got changed into his warm, crisp clothes. He continued drying his hair, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side and flicking the switch on his darkened room, a flash of light buzzing through his eyes as he squinted. He made his way over to his window, opening up the shades and looked out as fresh rays of gentle sunlight seeped through the glass pane. He must've wasted quite a bit of time for it to be dawn already. He stepped over to his laptop, opening it up and turning it on. It took a while before the black screen was enveloped with white as he typed in his password. He glanced at the time, furrowing his eyebrows.

7:02 AM

"What the fuck was I doing in the shower…?" He mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes and stepping back. He began packing the laptop up into his nearby book bag. He wouldn't be caught dead without his trusty techno-shit by his side at all times.

He crashed onto the bed, sitting up after a bit of pointless lying down. As he shoved on his shoes lazily, not even bothering to separate and pick what shoes he happened to obtain, he winded up having two different coloured shoes. He never really cared about appearance so it was all good. He slung the strap over his shoulder, getting up and reaching for a leash and collar. Strapping it onto an overexcited Bicyclops, he ruffled his head and shoved his keys in his hoodie pocket, walking out of his dorm and locking the door. On days where he had to leave his dorm and isn't allowed to bring his dog along with him, he would ask Karkat to take care of him. Sure, Karkat would make a big fuss of how much it was such a pain in the ass to look after the dog but Sollux shrugged it off, leaving Karkat with no choice. It had become a thing between them and sooner or later, Karkat expected it most of the time and didn't mention it anymore. He must've figured it was something not worth arguing over if he wasn't going to win.

No one ever won against Sollux. Sollux was such a boss.

As he neared Karkat's dorm, his fist was already curled up into a ball, standing right in front of the door as the spotted dog began jumping against the door in glee. He was always happy to see Karkat since Karkat had grown fonder of him over the months. Sollux's knuckles began clicking with the wooden door, a knock emitting once or twice as he stood patiently. If you listened closely enough, you could hear the few grumbles and mumbles Karkat had already begun making, dragging his feet towards the door and swinging it open. He blinked his crusted eyes and squinted, his nose scrunching up in annoyance from the bright light in the hallway smashing through his eyes. When his vision focused, his face twisted into a grimace, letting out an exasperated sigh of frustration. This left Sollux chuckling slightly, offering the leash to Karkat.

"You know the drill." He nodded at Karkat, earning a glare from him.

"I've known this drill long enough for it to drill a hole in my head. Maybe I should drill my fucking fist into your face, bet that'd shut you up." Karkat spat, snatching the leash from Sollux's grip.

Sollux rolled his eyes behind his darkened glasses, hiding his mismatched eyes. It was rare that people would look him into both his eyes instead of one, most of the time, people would just stare at the bridge of his nose thinking he wouldn't notice but of course, he did. He had inherited his Heterochromia from his biological parents, whom he never got the chance to meet nor did he really care to meet anymore. It was the very few people like Karkat that would look at him dead in both eyes and not seem to care.

"I'd just adore the thought of staying here and talking with you all day long but I've got a test to take in…" he glanced at his wristwatch, his eyebrows knitting together as his eyes began to focus behind the lens of his glasses, "Ah shit, in 10 minutes. I got to go, KK! Take care of him for me, bye!" And with that, Sollux jolted through the corridor, leaving a dazed and grumpy Karkat there to yawn. He shook his head, sighing and tugged at the leash, glaring at the dog.

"Come on then, let's get inside so I can get some more shut eye. Don't even think of sleeping next to me again, I won't have any of that. If you do, I will personally shove a stray cat up your sorry ass so it can claw at your guts." He grumbled as Bicyclops barked in response, rushing in and allowing Karkat to close- or rather slam the door shut.

Sollux's feet tapped hurriedly out of the elevator, rushing through the doors of the lounge/meet-up area. He reached outside of the building, his glasses glinting through the Sun's harsh rays. He decided for now he had to restrain himself from any complaining and run as fast as he could through campus and into the right building. As he picked up the pace slightly, dashing, he began running out of breath and got dizzy. He blinked his eyes, looking to the ground before closing them and…

BANG!

He rammed headfirst into someone. Two loud and audible groans were dragged out of their mouths, both on the floor and rubbing their heads. Sollux eyed the victim of his carelessness, receiving a cold, hard glare back. It wasn't like Karkat's glare. No, it was something else but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Watch where you're going, you lightheaded twit!" He lashed out, getting up and dusting off his, in Sollux's opinion, horrible sense of clothing and wandered off into the opposite direction.

He glared at the man walking off, standing up himself. "What's his problem?" He uttered to himself before pacing quickly into the direction of the Advanced Technology lab, in hope that the little bump didn't rearrange his brain cells and that he could still pass the test that they had in store for him.

Let alone participate if he could manage to get there on time.