Blood gushes freely from the gash on your forehead into your eyes. Even so, you attempt to look around at the destruction. Most everyone left for their respective rooms, not saying a word to one another. You are one of the few people who stayed.
Feferi is sobbing quietly in the corner. Rose is sitting, leaning her forehead against the wall and hitting it with her fist every so often. Dave is holding his head in his hands, cursing under his breath. Tavros is curled up in a ball, trembling slightly and staring off into space. You don't assume anyone in their room is doing much better. The remains of cantown are scattered everywhere. Random splatters of oil and blood paint the ground and walls.
No one looks up at you as you stagger to your feet and leave. The halls are eerily silent. You don't think you have ever heard the house this quiet. You don't quite know where your feet are taking you, but you follow them anyway, watching drops of your own blood fall to the ground.
You stop in front of a door. It takes you a couple of seconds to realize whose it is. You knock lightly before you can stop yourself.
Karkat opens the door. He looks surprised to see you. You feel your throat constrict and realize that there is no holding it back any longer. You fall to your knees, breaking down in sobs.
Without hesitating, Karkat kneels down beside you and pulls you into his arms. You burry your face into his chest, letting the tears fall freely for the first time in years.
You barely register Karkat taking you to your feet and leading you into his room, closing the door behind you. He positions you so that you are sitting on his lap with your legs wrapped around him and holds your head against his chest. He pets the back of your head gently as you shake, crying into his shirt. He lets out a soft noise from the back of his throat. It almost sounds like a purr, but even smoother and softer. It fills you with warmth, letting your muscles relax. Your crying slows. Soon you are only hiccupping at Karkat runs his fingers through your hair, still making that noise. After an eternity of sitting like that, you feel the strength to look up.
You realize that his shirt is soaked in blood. You guess it is mostly your own. Karkat pushes you gently off of his lap and stands.
"I'll be right back."
You watch him leave, shivering from the sudden lack of warmth. In no time, he is back with a bowl of water, a cloth and a roll of bandages.
You sit numbly and let him clean the cut above your eyebrow. He dabs it with such gentleness and quickness that you barely feel the sting at all. He begins to wrap the bandage around your head, leaning foreward so that your face is in his chest when hes has to go around the back. He tucks in the end of the bandage and inspects it to make sure it is fastened right.
Once he is satisfied, he looks down at his bloodstained shirt. Somehow, your godteir pajamas stayed clean even though you were spilling blood everywhere.
"Do you mind if I change my shirt?" He asks.
You shake your head. Karkat goes over to the closet and takes out a much cleaner, but otherwise identical shirt to the one he is already wearing. He faces away from you and starts to change. You try not to look as he peels off his wet shirt but can't help glancing over at him. You gasp as you see three bright red stripes on either one of his sides. He turns around when he hears you gasp. You are surprised to see that he doesn't have a belly button or… you know…
"What?" He says, frowning.
"What are those?"
He looks at his torso, blinking in confusion.
"What? Grub scars? Everyone has those."
"What do they do?" You ask, fascinated.
"Nothing much really. They're scars left over from when a grub's legs fall off during pupation."
Karkat picks up his clean shirt.
"Can I touch them?" You ask suddenly.
He looks at you strangely, then the scars before shrugging.
"Uh, sure. I guess."
He kneels beside you. You reach out tentatively and gently brush the marking with your fingers.
"Does it hurt?"
He rolls his eyes.
"Of course not dumbass. They're scars."
You trace along the edge of one of the scars, outlining it with your finger. You go to touch one on his other side, but he grabs your hand, stopping you.
"I wouldn't touch those ones unless you would want it to hurt."
You look at them closer, realizing that they are bloodied and a little mutilated.
"What happened?" You ask.
"I got in a little disagreement with Zahak." He says, pulling the shirt over his head.
"The sweaty horse guy?"
"The one and only."
Karkat sits in front of you, studying your face carefully.
"It's your human luscus, isn't it?" He asks.
You hesitate a bit before nodding.
"I miss him a lot." You admit, fiddling with the end of your hood. "It's just so unfair. Dave gets his bro back, Rose gets her mom back even Jade gets her grandpa back."
"What about Jane? Isn't she like, your human ecto guardian?"
"I never even knew my nanna all that well. My dad was the one who was always there for me. But he's gone. And he's never coming back." Your words catch in your throat.
One last tear rolls down your cheek. Karkat watches wordlessly as you wipe it away.
"Hey listen," You say, "I'm sorry. For everything."
He smiles a bit.
"Me too, buddy."
You pull him into a hug. He stiffens in surprise for a moment before relaxing and hugging you back.
You yawn as you pull away, suddenly realizing how dizzy you are.
"You should get some sleep." Karkat says, "You've lost a lot of blood."
You rub the back of your neck sheepishly.
"Yea, it's just. I kind of don't want to be alone." You admit, blushing.
Karkat rolls his eyes but stands up, helping you to your feet. You sway a bit, trying not to fall over. Karkat slips under your arm and makes you lean against him for support.
He helps you walk down the hall to your room, opening the door for you when you get there. He helps you to your bed. You slip off your yellow sneakers and curl up on top of the comforter. Karkat takes off his own shoes and covers you with the blanket at the foot of your bed. He lies down next to you. You take his hand and lean your head against his shoulder.
"Karkat?" You say, feeling the world slipping away into darkness.
"Yea?"
"Thanks."
John, wake up.
So cutes. :) I know the transition from fighting to... whatever that was, was a little fast, but I figured it made enough sense.
Headcanon 1: John holds back his feelings. He didn't cry when he saw his dad's body. He didn't cry when he saw Rose's body. He didn't cry when he found out that all of his friends were dead. Basically he bottles up his emotions so much that he doesn't know how to handle them. This was the first time he has cried in years.
Headcanon 2: Karkat cannot resist the urge to help someone who is acting pitiful. This stems from the fact that no one ever helped him when he was growing up, as he was isolated from everyone else. He yelled at John a lot because John didn't seem to take the stupid things he said personally. He never thought he would push him far enough that he would break down.
Headcanon 3: Godtier pajamas stay perma-clean. Wait no, that's canon. Never mind.