Kingston, Oklahoma, three years previous.
"You're out of your mind, kid." whoever said it, Karkat didn't like him. Taking another kick to the ribs, he grimaced, leaped, then began landing multiple punches on his challenger's jaw. He didn't like that. Thrown against the wall, Karkat kicked out in rage, barely missing the stranger's crotch. Damn. Punch to the nose, mild fracture, another hit, a black eye was definitely coming his way. Blood rose to his mouth, and Karkat eventually gave up struggle, taking the hits like a man. He was almost ready to feign passing out, when he heard her.
"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF THE LITTLE CRAB, YOU DICKHEAD!" said a strong, female voice. Karkat felt himself being dropped, only to be scooped right back up. He only had a small streetlight to see a silhouette, but her piercings were blinding.
"Got a name, squirt?" she snapped, dragging him towards a building.
"Vantas," Karkat spat out his blood. She didn't even flinch, and towed him inside the entrance to wherever it was she had dragged him to.
"I'm Meenah," she stated, the lights turned on. He blinked to adjust his vision, and he saw her. Braids. A shitload of 'em, toppling down to her hips. He couldn't tell if she was pretty or not because of all the metal that had been clipped onto her face. Meenah, Karat conceded in his mind. Crazy bitch. The first thing that surely would've come to mind with the typical passive agressive fourteen year old.
"How old are you?" Meenah asked, rummaging through a cubboard. Karkat gulped, hoping this conversation was going somewhere other than his perverted mind believed.
"Does it fucking matter?" he growled, "Let me outta here."
Turning around, Meenah held a First Aid kit. She promptly dropped it, then beckoned for Karkat to come sit on a stool. He obliged, awkwardly wiping his chin. Blood soaked his forearm, and he frowned, slightly. Mom isn't going to like this. Meenah had taken to wiping his forehead clean. Oh, yeah, there was a cut there. She was actually really pretty, up close. But she looked too old for Karkat, anyway. Besides, recently he found girls boring.
"Any reason you were fighting that guy? What are you, twelve?" she scolded, lightly dabbing his wound.
"'m Fourteen." he grumbled, licking the blood off his teeth. She looked surprised, but kept cleaning his blood, caustious of his eye, which was beginning to swell. She finished cleaning his face, and Karat barely muttered a thanks.
"You know," said Meenah, "I'm only in this city for a week, so I hope you can stray from trouble after then."
"Who says I'll come back here after getting in trouble?" Karkat mused, standing, She was way taller than him, and her boobs were right there. In his face. He stepped away, looking upwards. Meenah smirked, "You'll come back."
And he did.
The next day, in fact, he brought her a bottle of scotch Cronus had smuggled Karkat for his birthday. Karkat wasn't drinking the stupid stuff, and judging by the looks of Meenah's countertops, she was a fan. Turns out, it belonged to her boyfriend, but Karkat didn't give a fuck and enjoyed watching the girl drink herself silly. She deserved a break, and a proper token of gratitude.
Meenah spent the majority of her holiday with a prepubescent teenage boy. Typically, she couldn't be blamed for it. Her latest boyfriend had lugged her out into Oklahoma of all places, then pretty much dumped her there. Ditched her. Left. She shrugged it off, and decided to make the best use of her free time outside some club. Where she found a little boy, fighting better than any man she'd met ever could. Taking pity, she cleaned him up.
She had never expected him to come back.
"Here," he shoved the scotch in her face, "I wanted to thank you."
"Oh," she said. He'd clearly see all the empty bottles. "Actually, my ex was the drinker, I'm not to fond of it..." Meenah trailed off seeing his 'Aw, damn' expression. Taking the scotch, she opened the door further. "Get your ass in here, kid."
"Yes, old lady." Karkat drawled, getting flicked in the shoulder by Meenah's broken fingernails.
It's nice to have company, though. They thought this at the same time.
...
"You know her?" Feferi asked, dragging both Karkat and Meenah out of memory lane.
"A little," Karkat said, "She helped me after some fuckass beat the shit out of me."
"He hung out with me for three days, after that." Meenah said, "Skipped school for me, the sweetheart." She smiled, and despite his inner wishes, Karkat felt himself smile back.
"I'm advanced in most classes, don't feel honoured." Karkat stated, but seeing her made him feel slightly relieved. Meenah had hardly aged, still in good health, the only difference was the glasses. Sollux let out an awkward throat clearing sound. "KK, we thould probably get the bagth."
"Alright," Karkat nodded. They went back to the R.V, leaving Feferi and Eridan to explain their sudden arrival. Karkat felt a bit ruffled from the sudden coincedence of seeing that scotch drinking crazy bitch, but he still felt pretty happy. She had been the closest thing he'd had to friend, when he met her.
"Care to explain?" Sollux asked, throwing a duffle bag over his shoulder. Karkat shrugged, snatching his own bag. Unconvinced, Sollux left the question hanging in the air.
"Okay, she met me a while back. When I was a kid," Karkat finally admitted. Sollux smiled and gave him a clap on the shoulder, "Really, KK, you had me worried!" Karkat raised and eyebrow, but Sollux said nothing as they carried the luggage up to the door.
"Crab," Meenah greeted Karkat, "Still getting in fights?"
"Still getting dumped?" Karkat quipped, albeit smiling. Meenah laughed, swooped an arm around his shoulders and towed him inside, "Sollux, man, it's been ages! How'd you and Kar-Crab here meet?"
"KK wath a thome motel in Florida. He got kicked out, tho we took him in." explained Sollux, looking a little put off by Meenah's close contact with the short teenager. Karkat wondered if Sollux was jealous, so he awkwardly stepped out of Meenah's hold.
"Actually, they forced me." he corrected, stepping towards Sollux's side as if to say 'No man, it's not like that'. Sollux seemed to understand, then looked back at Meenah, attitude friendly again. "How many guetht bedroomth do you have?"
"I only have one," Meenah chuckled, "But you lot can stay on the couch. It's one of those nifty pull out ones!"
"A futon?" Eridan intervened, walking back from looked to be the bathroom. Meenah shrugged, then raised her pierced brows. "Why are you guys visiting, anyway?" she asked, crossing her arms, "Last I checked, you were supposedly avoiding me because of the distance between Alabama and Iowa by car."
"Erm, about that," Eridan looked nervously at his feet, "Fef and I kind of...wwell, wwe wwant to livve together. But your mother isn't exactly approving of the idea."
Meenah laughed, after a beat. "Her last daughter moved out at eighteen, and look how I turned out!" she gestured to the pirecings and tattoo on her shoulder. Eridan gave a little look of relief, seeing his wasn't getting shot down completely.
Meanwhile, Karkat found the aspect that Sollux grew up in Alabama very funny. "Alabama?" he chuckled, "Really?"
"You're from Oklahoma," Sollux threw back, rolling his eyes. 'Touché' was written all over his face. Karkat just chuckled again, dropping his backpack on the floor. He peeled off his shoes, then asked, "Can I go in the pool?"
"You're such a kid," Meenah laughed, "Go on."
Eridan was right on Karkat's heels as they all but broke through the back door, and canon-balled into the water. It was cool, and welcomed, as Karkat popped back up for air. He swam around, not caring that his turtle neck was plastering to his skin, and felt at peace.
Peace Shirtless Sollux jumping into cold water.
Mouth agape, Karkat stared dumfoundedly while Sollux cheerfully swam in his direction. "Hi, KK!" the brunet chirped, standing up. He towered over Karkat, water dripping from his hair. "Ithn't that thirt thicky?" Sollux asked, grinning.
"I, uh, a der..." Karkat started, but his words were gone. Left. Took the next shuttle bus outta that joint. Sollux wasn't bad looking, he wasn't ripped, but had a few muscles on him, still skinny as a beanpole, though. And now that beanpole was laughing, flopping back into the water.
"Oh my goth, KK, you're bluthing!" he giggled, splashing water in the latter's direction. Karkat's lips twitched into a smirk. This means war.
"ENGARDE!" he yowled, pushing the biggest wave he could muster at Sollux's head. After a stunned moment, Sollux screamed a battle cry, forcing water back in Karkat's general direction. This went on for a few minutes, a joking competition to see who could splash the other with a bigger wave, when Eridan joined in. On Sollux's side, too!
Karkat wailed, "No fair!" Eridan was, like, part fish or some shit. He was litterally hurdling water at Karkat's face, grinning like a mad man. Sollux wasn't helping by being equally as strong with his own splashes. Karkat was just about ready to surrender when he heard a ridiculous sound.
"AIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Feferi threw herself into the pool, water washing everywhere. She was suddenly at Karkat's side, propelling water at light speed towards her friends. Shocked, Sollux opened his mouth, only to have it drenched with chlorenated water. Poor bloke. The battle raged forth, Karkat having a chance to regain energy now that dolphin-girl had come to his rescue. Reminding himself to thank her later, Karkat joined Feferi on a double attack of waves to Eridan's face. It took a few minutes, but Karkat realised Sollux had disapeared. Turning around, Karkat was met by a pair of arms, hoisting him into the air. Sollux owned those arms. Those arms held Karkat. The deep end of the pool looked expectant. There was a moment of pure horror when Karkat looked down at Sollux's amber eyes, pleading for him to not do what he thought he would do. Sollux grinned. An evil, twisted, but really, sorta, kind of sexy type of grin.
And Karkat flew.
"Holy, thit, KK!" Sollux's voice was the first thing he heard after breaking to the surface. "I thought you almost DIED. Jethuth, you thcared me!"
"Not getting rid of me that easily," Karkat quipped, jumping upwards and forcing Sollux's head underwater.
Inside, Meenah watched her little sister practically drown her boyfriend. She wished nothing but happiness for Feferi, really, but jeez. That girl would be lucky if the guy didn't become a puddle, soon. Her gaze shifted to the little crab, who was making himself look like an idiot as he tried to reach Sollux's head with his hands. He had grown, although he hadn't grown much. Meenah exhaled sharply through her nose, watching the teenagers act like they should.
"Don't keep growing," she scolded no one in particular, "It isn't as fun as it looks."