"Do you want another thlice?"
Thunder cracked overhead and Karkat shook his head.
"Shit's soggy."
Sollux cast an uncertain glance at the dripping pizza box. He made an attempt to open the lid but the crumbling cardboard split instead. Grimacing, he tossed the whole thing into a trash bag.
"It could have once been classified as food." Karkat offered, glancing up from the television. "I thought he was gonna fucking murder you."
Sollux thought back to the delivery guy, standing in front of the resident-access-only after-six building during the downpour.
"How wath I thupposed to know he wouldn't have a car? When we ordered the thing it wath thtill only thprinkling." Sollux threw himself onto his couch, Karkat shifting over to offer him more space to pout. "Thith wath a louthy wathte of fifty buckth."
"There there you blubbering goddamn pansy." Karkat patted his friends' knee in mock comfort. "You didn't have to tip the guy so much."
"Honestly, I thought he wath gonna fuckin murder me too if I didn't."
Karkat laughed a little and Sollux grinned, stretching his long arms obnoxiously and dropping one behind Karkat's head. The other man scowled at him but did nothing else and Sollux considered it a victory. They watched as news crew went out around the city, talking about the crazy weather like they thought their viewers didn't notice the pounding rain against the windows.
"You couldn't pay me enough to do that godforsaken job." Karkat sneered as the camera showed them the wind chucking a billboard several feet. "What kind of brain damage do you need to go and think to yourself 'well it looks like the planet is trying to kill us today, I'm going to go out and say hello!' Fucking morons all of them."
"NP and EQ do it all the time. Exthept they typically go after thunderthtormth and tornadoeth in the Midwetht." Sollux pointed out, then with an attempt at a deeper rougher voice continued. "They have very THTRONG windth there, the true dithplay of the POWER and MAJETHTY of nature."
Karkat laughed at Sollux's impression.
"And they smile while they're at it! Bat shit insane, I am telling you!" He threw his hands in the air to convey his feelings, but the harshness of the statement was softened by the fondness that filled his voice. "They were on the cover of National Geographic with Aradia weren't they?"
"Yeah and their car wath flipped and battered to hell."
" And that makes them fucking crazy!"
The news switched to the main room, where the meteorologist attempted to explain that while the storm seemed like a hurricane it wasn't actually one. Sollux turned the volume higher but they could still hear the wind whip the rain against the walls, and every blast of thunder caused the glass to shake. Grainy cell phone footage showed ocean pouring over beach barriers and onto the roads and Karkat buried himself further into the cushions. Sollux roped his arm around his shoulders and squeezed a little.
"Want to lothe againtht me at thuper thmath brotherth?" Karkat stopped watching the flash flood warnings move across the screen to glare at him.
"No, I would much rather sit here and watch the pompous weathercaster tell me the exact moment I become homeless. Better yet! Let's wait for the amateur video of my house being swept out to sea, that would be much more satisfactory right now then just pretending nothing is happening and kicking your ass at video games."
"You are not going to be homeleth." Sollux sighed. "It'th not even a hurricane out there. Okay - tho what it floodth, the othean crawlth the quarter mile to your houthe - which ith fifteen feet off the ground - and it'th fine. At motht you need to replathe your grill, which theemth like a bad thing exthept it barely workth. Remember when it blew off your eyebrowth? I remember when it blew off your eyebrowth, it'th a piethe of thit and you need to replathe it anywayth."
"What about my garage?"
"Fuck your garage, fuck the newth, and fuck thitting here and worrying. I'm putting on thome goddamn cartoonth."
"If you change it from this weather report I swear to God I will break your shitty bifocals." Karkat all but snarled, shoving Sollux away from the remote.
"What the hell." Sollux said as he picked himself off the floor. "You put up a lot of thit with me, I know. But you have never been a goddamn cake to handle either, and rethently thingth have gotten worthe. Now if the latht decade-and-a-half hath meant anything to you, then you are going to anther all of my questionth right now."
His friend did not look at him, instead focusing on the floor.
"Karkat!" Sollux barked, and as the other flinched he softened his tone. "Have you been taking your medth? Like you haven't gone off them right?"
"That's a really hypocritical thing to ask me mister happy-one-second-depressed-the-next."
"We're not talking about my thymptoms we're talking about yourth, becauthe your houthe? Not the rethidenthe of thomeone who hath their thit together. Not to menthion the paranoia, the increathe in your rageth. The KK I know would never tear apart a manuthcript jutht becauthe thome crappy editor didn't like it, he would thove it up their ath and make them publith it afterward. When wath the last time you thaw Rotha?"
"I haven't seen her in a while." Karkat admitted. "I stopped taking my meds too, ages ago. I felt like they were clouding my head, I couldn't think so I tossed them. It was fine for a while, but then the nightmares started again and at first they were manageable but then... well he started appearing in them."
"Gamzee?"
"No-"
Thunder ripped directly overhead, a cannon bursting through the rampages of the storm. Karkat jumped so violently Sollux had to keep him from tumbling off the couch. They both listened to the noise of the storm, the noise of the television, but the noise felt like nothing to Sollux as the things his friend wasn't saying rang even more heavily upon his ears.
"Not Gamzee." Karkat said eventually, speaking slowly. "Gamzee is never really a big part of them. They're more like, like I am being slowly suffocated and caged in as the dark comes crashing in around me. The more I try to hide the more I drown in it, and every time I feel like it's the end, he appears with that huge terrifying grin on his face to drag me to hell. After that I always, always wake up screaming and I can't get back to sleep."
"Tho the bagth under your eyeth?"
"I'm too scared to sleep now, especially at night. It's so lame and childish but I can't fucking sleep if I can't see my surroundings and I can't sleep if it's daylight as if my biology won't let me. Fuck! I just wanted to get my life back together, Sollux. It's been ten years and I'm so fucking sick of living with this much fear."
Sollux frowned, looking for the words to say. He must have been making a face because Karkat buried his face deeper into his arms.
"Don't not say anything. It makes me feel even worse."
"I think..." Sollux paused, still searching. Living with fear was terrible, and even with his own shitty life he was still afraid to say the wrong thing to his friend. "You can't avoid being afraid, not after thomething like that happened. If it'th really affecting your life that badly you need to go talk to Rotha, and get back on your medth. Call me a hypocrite for thaying tho, but I wath a wreck when I went off mine and now that I'm back on thingth are uthually pretty okay."
"Yeah but it's never always perfect."
"Lothing my father the I did wath hard KK," Sollux breathed in deeply through his nose, careful to keep his voice even, "and what happened to Mit wathn't fair either, but you have to - HAVE to - learn to live with it. It'th never going to be alwayth perfect, but it can at leatht make thingth more manageable. Thometimes even have good dayths. It'th better than not living at all."
"I make no promises." Karkat muttered. Sollux snorted and offered his arm, which Karkat accepted with a huff. "It's fucking cold in your apartment."
"Have to keep my computerth from overheating. Oh hey look there'th your house!"
They both watched the television as the news crews recorded the ocean sweeping over the beach and towards the familiar building, ignoring the reporter as they exclaimed their excitement of the power and energy of the storm.
The first wave hit the fence on the outer perimeter and Sollux gently squeezed Karkat to comfort him. The waves lapped higher and soon the entire backyard was flooded. The camera panned away to show the nearly submerged roadway before panning back.
"Thee, not a goddamn neighbor in thight."
Sollux's attempt to defuse the situation as a wave - bigger than the others - slammed against the fence line, wood boards collapsing. Another followed, pushing the surf right into the stilts of the main structure. Karkat's breath caught as they stood against the onslaught, the ocean surging around the front and past the driveway and cutting it away from dry land.
"At leatht it ithn't a grainy thell phone video."
"Not helping. I really actually might be homeless." he breathed. "Goddamn I didn't actually believe..."
"Tho move into my thecond bedroom." Sollux cut him off before the rant could really take off.
"What?"
"You don't want to move in with your dad or with Kanaya and heaven forbid you even conthider Kankri the awful prick. Move in with me. I have that thpare bedroom, and I can move my office out here it'th not like I uthed the dining room for anything anyway. We may be two theparate walking dithasterth but we can be dithasterth together."
Karkat laughed and Sollux felt a small thrill of victory as the others' shoulders relaxed a bit.
"I'll consider it." he said, the corner of his mouth twitching into a small smile. "If the place is gone then I may."
"Good to hear that your thit for brainth can thtill protheth a reathonable and might I add exthtremely generouth line of thought."
"I really fucking hope it's still standing tomorrow, just to save me from being in close proximity with you and your train wreck of a lisp."
"It'th a dithability athhole. I'm gonna call your brother and tell him you are dithrethpecting me and my totally actheptable thpeech patternth. Triggerth are all up in here."
"Oh my god." Karkat groaned, covering his face with his hands. "If you honestly did that I would throw myself off the end of my dock."
"No you fucking wouldn't. You hate the othean jutht ath much ath I do."
Karkat thought back to the giant shadow he had seen just that morning and he had to agree.
"I would most certainly not throw myself off my dock ever at any time," he conceded, "and I understand why you hate it but I don't actually dislike the ocean, I just don't trust it anymore." There was a pause as he squinted at the television screen. "Is that... is that Nepeta's van?"
While the ocean had ceased rising and the storm overall looked as if it was beginning to plateau, the weather was still violent. Massive waves crashed against the flooded roadway as rain pounded down like falling sleet, driven ceaselessly by the wind. A news van without network logo was driving through the dark surf, battling through the water that threatened to pull it out to sea. A large figure could barely be seen on top of the vehicle, holding a camera focused on the house, Karkats house.
"Thothe crathy motherfuckerth." Sollux breathed. "It'th a hell of a way to thow how much you care. You better get your thithter thomething nithe."
"Half-sister." Karkat said smiling. "And goddamn it mom is going to kill me."
His father had warned him about the dangers of being close to shore during a storm, how the water could change and become a dangerous beast. He had never disbelieved his old man, and he hadn't meant to be in such shallow water when the storm had landed. Things as they were though, Eridan Ampora knew that if he could not reach the calmer depths of the open ocean soon he was going to be in a lot of trouble.
Despite his experience in swimming the currents and dangerous tides of the shallows, Eridan found himself being tossed and beaten by the water surrounding him. His powerful form fought back, twisting and propelling himself away from the land just as viciously. Thoughts and worry ran through his head, and he fought himself to keep the panic from overcoming him as he lost the small headway he had gained. The water pulled and his tail lashed both rock and air as he thrashed and he knew this was a battle he was going to lose.
The rain battered him as the ocean pulled back, pacing away from the land like a dancer before crashing forward again to meet its partner, crushing Eridan against the rocky beachfront and knocking the breath from his lungs. There was no time to regain his bearings before the water retracted again, exposing him fully to the surface world and then he was being battered, tossed and rolled against the surface sand and weed as he was forced further and further away from salvation.
Would his father know that he was dead, or would he assume he had just gone off on his own again?
There was no time for reflection or regret as the ocean - hadn't they once been lifelong friends? - slammed him against a creaking barrier. Once, twice, a third time and it broke around him, searing marks across his skin and scales. Pain burned through him and settled into his bones, too deep to bother focusing on anything else.
When the ground dropped beneath him he did not stop himself from sinking to rest. The current was still terrible in the strange salvation he had found, but as he nestled in a corner he found it preferable to being dragged and battered about. A quick check revealed his glasses were missing, a second to also realize his scarf was gone too.
The irritation over his missing items was quickly overridden as it began to really sink in he was still alive, and though he could see the ocean move above him in a blurry churning mess he could wait until it quieted some. He could wait - he decided as his eyes drifted shut as exhaustion overwhelmed him - for the storm to ease and he would slip back to sea in the tide. Just like that, he would escape and return home and he was comforted by the thought even as he fell asleep in his foreign sanctuary.