There is nothing more awkward than waking up cuddled up next to your friend. The only thing that could possibly be more awkward is if it is not your friend, but a pretty decent looking guy. Karkat was awkward in general, so all this was making him feel like a needle in a haystack full of awkward itself. Sollux was warm, though, so that made the awkward get replaced with a more gentle, delicate feeling. "Wake up, fuckass." Karkat grumbled, scrambling to get his limbs free. Sollux made a 'hff' sound, then nuzzled his head into Karkat's shoulder. That little gesture sent a violent shiver down Karkat's spine, and he promptly fell out of the futon.
"Mnn? Kay-kaaaaaaaay," Sollux whined, "What wath that for?"
"You tell me," Karkat muttered, somewhat flustered. That shiver hadn't been unpleasant, more shocking. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not. "Get up, it's probably past lunch, already."
"It's ten, actually!" Feferi's voice called from around a corner. Karkat guessed she was in the kitchen- not being sexist- because a familiar smell was drifting from where she'd sounded.
"Oatmeal?" Sollux asked, sitting up. His hair was messy, making him look as if he'd been involved in a rather lewd activity. Karkat blushed, looked away, then stumbled to his feet. "Yeah, oatmeal sounds fucking good. Yeah. Oatmeal." he rambled, heading for the kitchen.
"I'm glad you're up, Karkles, I'll need you to go shopping today." said Meenah, who had her feet up on the table. "You'll be perfect for carrying the bags."
Rolling his eyes, Karkat made a witty remark on her lack of bags, which resulted in a fully blown argument about testicles, for who knows what reason. Somehow, Karkat could eat breakfast and verbally challenge people at the same time, much to Feferi and Sollux's amusement. At some point, Eridan shifted into the kitchen, shirless and rubbing a towel over his head. "Showwer is free," he noted, pecking Feferi on the cheek.
"Mine!" Karkat declared, and he ran for the washroom. It wasn't as if he liked showering in general, but he really needed one. Because, damn the truth, pool water and his hair did not mix. He turned the silver knob for heat, waving his hand around under the spraying drops before he actually got in. After a few temperature adjustments, all was well.
When he was fully cleansed, Karkat slipped a little before he stepped out of the tub. Meenah should have considered getting a mat, because water fell from his skin and onto the ground within a short number of seconds. It took him a minute to find a towel, and when he did, he wiped the floor first.
"Here, take these." Meenah's voice said, and a pair of jeans smacked against Karkat's arm.
"ACK, MEENAH, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU-? I'M INDECENT!" Karkat yelped, trying to cover himself with the towel.
Meenah gave a light shrug, "I've seen a penis, before, Karkat. Not like I care."
"But I do!" cried Karkat, and he shooed her out the door. That thing needed a lock.
He pulled on the pants, used some of his deodorant, then bustled out of the bathroom. Sollux was lying flat on his face, right outside the door. "Hi, KK." he said, muffled by the carpet. Meenah, who swooped in from behind the corner, tossed Karkat a black T shirt. "Here ya go, squirt, should be about your size. I got at a concert, haven't worn it since."
To say Karkat wasn't completely mortified with his Rhianna esque clothing would have been horse shit. Then again, the way her wrinkled name displayed on his torso was sort of working it. "Woe is me," Karkat said, solemly. Sollux rolled on the floor with laughter.
"You and Fef are going shopping," Meenah declared, "While I make the boys mow the lawn."
Karkat saw no point in protesting his gender, mainly because he didn't want to sweat himself to death while trying to cut a never ending field of dead grass. A few minutes of aimless bickering, he and Feferi where promptly shoved out the door and given the keys to Meenah's car. It was a really old, red-pink looking thing. There was a cover for the seats, which proved to be a hassle to roll backwards.
Feferi made the bold decision of letting Karkat drive.
"So," she said, "How do you know Meenah?"
The engine hummed, and Karkat revearsed the car out of the driveway, turning around and shifting the gear to move forwards. "Uh, well, I got in a lot of shit when I was younger, she found me getting beat up, and we sort of hung out together all week. Didn't keep in touch, but I haven't grown really since then, and she looks the same. Small fucking world."
Feferi gave a sall nod, Karkat barely saw it out of the corner of his eye. His focus on the road, they drove forward, in a slightly uncomfortable silence. "Why don't i tell you a story?" Feferi suggested, making her hand a dolphin through the air.
"Sure, go for it." Karkat mumbled, driving forward.
"Okay," she took a breath, "Back in Alabama, I never really had many friends. My Mom owns this huge factory up north, and I was one of the richest kids at my school. They just resented me for that, you know? Also, I'm kind of fat. Don't you dare say I'm not- I'm happy with it. Anyways, I was around eleven years old when I met Sollux and Eridan. Sollux was the hottest eleven year old around."
Karkat didn't bother interjecting his opinion on Sollux still being hot.
"I hung out with them, got to know them, and I was sooo crushing on Sol. It wasn't even funny, I doodled his name all over my notebooks and all that shit. " Feferi giggled, "But then we reached middle school, and he was like my brother. We were so close, and suddenly I just didn't see him that way. The entire time, Eridan had always been there. He was always there when I cried, when I laughed, always there. I found out I was closer to him then I was to Sollux, and it was okay. We all hung out, they treated me like I was just a regular, second class kid. And by sophmore year, I was very conflicted with who I liked more."
"You had your own little love triangle?" Karkat asked.
"Yeah, it wasn't really much of a love triangle, though. Then Sollux came out of the closet, and Eridan was revealed bisexual, and I was worried they would hook up. Especially after that one time they got drunk- Sollux told me you knew. That's when I realised I didn't want to lose Eridan to anybody else, not even Sollux."
Karkat was curious, "And you got him?"
"No, I was so used to getting everything I wanted. I was ready to let him go." Feferi broke into a soft, nostalgia filled smile. "But he never left."
"That's adorable," Karkat mumbled.
"The moral of the story is- Sollux is my best friend, Eridan is my boyfriend. If you hurt either of 'em, I'll school you heiress style, bitches." Feferi threatened playfully.
Karkat gulped.
...
When they returned, Eridan was sprawled across the couch, wearing no shirt. His face was flushed from exhaustion, and his hair greasy with sweat.
"How was mowing the field of terror?" chirped Feferi, leaning down to kiss her boyfriend on the head. She grimaced when she met Eridan's B.O.
"Sorry, Fef, too tired to answer..." Eridan huffed.
Sollux wasn't on the couch, so Karkat figured he was still outside. Placing the groceries carefully on the kitchen table, Karkat went t go check. Sure enough, there he was. Shirtless, like Eridan, and using what looked to be all his strength in pushing a rumbling lawnmower.
"Nearly done?" Karkat called, walking down towards him.
"Thort of! Thith goddamn thing ithn't nearly ath productive ath the tracktor." Sollux yelled over the motor, shoving the mechanism forth.
"Can you not get it to work?" Karkat asked.
"Nah, Meenah thaid the ain't letting uth drive it," Sollux drawled. "If ya' wanna help, there ith another one over there." He pointed towards a rusty old machine laying on its side.
Karkat soon found himself practically riding that rusty old machine, due to the fact it had more horsepower than he could handle. Running to keep up, Karkat found himself spinning in circles, shredded grass flying everywhere. Sollux was laughing, but it was lost in the revving tincan that was leading Karkat to his impending doom. At one point, his shirt was thrown off, though it was hard to recall when. Soon enough, the field was relatively less of a jungle.
"Wow," Sollux whistled, "You thure did well, KK!"
Shutting the grass-eating monster off, Karkat heaved a large sigh of relief. "Yeah, well, maybe my skinny ass limbs can come in handy."
Sollux just grinned at him, then they tried to uncover Karkat's lost Rhianna shirt amongst the slayed grass. With no avail, they stomped back inside, drinking two glasses of water each.
"Hey, the bruitheth are nearly healed," Sollux pointed out.
"Yeah, give them a few more days." Karkat smirked. His eye was already back to normal, only a slightly purple tint around it.
"You got better really fatht." Sollux noted.
"Family trait," Karkat shrugged, then he headed for the phone.
Two rings, then a voice picked up. "Karkat? Wow! You haven't called in three days, I was getting really freaked out."
"Hey, John, I've just made a few new friends and bodly-went-where-no-man-has-gone-before, Iowa." Karkat smiled at the dorky voice.
"Iowa? I thought you got a job in Florida!" John sounded confused
"Uhhh...about that!" Karkat began a long explanation on how he got fired, John scolding him. They continued their conversation in peace, John telling Karkat how Dave had a job promotion, and it was really exciting to him. Karkat felt as if he were talking to a little kid. After they spoke for half an hour, John had to go make dinner and sadly hung up.
"Now I'm curioth," Sollux said, looking up from a book he'd managed to get. "That was John, he helped me not die. Kind of like you." Karkat said, "Did I ever thank you for that?"
"No," Sollux smiled. Karkat returned the smile with a light blush and averted his eyes.
"Well, fuck you. I would've been fine." He said, sarcasm deeply hinted.
"You're welcome." Sollux chuckled.
They were quiet for a few more minutes before Karkat started asking him about the book, to which Sollux went into long detail about. Karkat sat next to him, listening intently to him, but not exactly processing the words. Sollux had a nice voice, the lisp carrying out on it like a soft blanket. Karkat had no idea why he was noticing things like these, and he certainly pretended it didn't make his heart beat stop when he realised Sollux hadn't put his 3D glasses back on in a while.
A.N: I got so many new followers all of a sudden, I felt like updating was necessary. Next chapter will hit over three thousand words, I swear it.