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Yawning, John set his cellphone down, wiggling his thumbs to get the feeling back into them. There was no way Dave wasn't going to beat his high score in Plants vs Zombies now, and it had only taken John the last four hours to do it! Not counting the week of attempts beforehand.
"John," came the annoyed voice from his second best bud, Karkat.
"Hey man!" John greeted.
The troll glared at him from the entrance to the kitchen. Glancing at his phone, John realized it was already seven at night.
"Aw sorry Karkat, I lost track of time. I'll call for some pizza now."
Karkat made a face.
"You promised to make those weird cheesy circle things again tonight, asswipe."
Making a face himself, John just managed to choke back a tired groan.
"We've had quesadillas for dinner all week! I want some pizza."
Crossing his arms, Karkat attempted to look taller and more menacing than he actually was. Unfortunately the look was lost somewhere between his bed hair and the light gray blanket covered with red crabs that was wrapped around his shoulders. John didn't have the heart to point this out.
"You promised, nooksucker. You pinky fucking promised at that," Karkat said. "Are you seriously going to go back on your word after a pinky promise?"
Sighing, John held up his hands in defeat. "Okay you got me Karkat. Why don't you take a shower while I make them?"
"Yeah, and don't fucking skimp on the cheese."
Karkat gave him one last glare before shuffling off in his crab shaped slippers. John made a mental note to tell Dave to stop getting the troll 'ironically bad' gifts. The crab obsession, from both guys, was getting a little weird.
Having the ingredients for quesadillas on hand made John's life easy. He had made half a dozen delicious cheesy circles in the oven within minutes, disappointed only by the fact that there was enough ingredients for at least two more nights of quesadillas. As good as they were, John was sure it wouldn't be too much longer before he held the same contempt toward quesadillas that he held for confectionary goods,
On the bright side, with Karkat's nocturnal schedule John looked forward to pizza for lunch tomorrow.
By the time the food was done and the kitchen had been cleaned up, John realized Karkat hadn't returned from his shower yet. Usually the troll was done within fifteen or so minutes but it had been well over half hour now. Worried that he might be sick or something, John went in search of him.
The bathroom was empty but the door to Karkat's bedroom was ajar, light on.
"Karkat," John called as he pushed the door open, "are you--?"
As fast as he opened the door was as fast he quickly closed it, hearing a thump against the door. He could hear the troll cursing as he darted away from the door.
Oh man, he was so not meant to see that. Nope nope nope.
It seemed like forever before the troll emerged, his cheeks as red as John's, if not darker. They couldn't meet each others' eyes.
"You're supposed to knock you dumb fucking piece of apeshit," Karkat said.
His usual cankerousness was dulled in light of his embarrassment. John rubbed the back the of his neck uncomfortably.
"I know. I just wanted to check on you and wow, I'm sorry. So sorry. Jeeze, I'm never going to get that image out of my head." John winced at the mental image still in his head.
"Really fucking helpful Egbert," Karkat growled.
"Shit, sorry." John fumbled his words slightly. "Sorry for both things I should be sorry about. But why didn't you close the door?"
Karkat's eyes widen as if seeing the human for the first time ever.
"Because I was obviously hoping you would walk in on me in the middle of one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done, shit for brains." He sneered. "I didn't fucking think you would come looking for me like some fucking pink monkey creep."
He paused, looking away.
"Plus, I forgot to close the door," he said in a low voice.
They fell into an uneasy silence.
"Where did you even find a pillow that looked like John Cusack?" John asked finding it too hard not to ask.
"Holy fuck. You're not going to let me ever forget it, are you? I'm going to be forever reminded of the day a nosy buck-toothed grubfucker stuck his nose where it didn't belong and saw me nakedly hugging a life-size pillow of troll!John Cusack!"
"Karkat it's not-- I was just ask-- Dude are you even liste--"
Finding no way around the continuing tirade Karkat had set off on, John sighed.
The troll barely noticed when John stepped up to him until his hands were on the sides of his face. This set Karkat off on something about moirails and not being interested in blah blah blah. He promptly shut up when John's mouth pressed itself against Karkat's.
"Better?" John asked a moment later, licking his lips to get another taste of the cranky troll.
Rolling his eyes, Karkat pushed John away and went into the kitchen to retrieve the quesadillas. Turning on the tv, John flopped onto the couch and began flipping through the channels. Karkat joined him a moment later sitting silently beside him with quesadillas piled up on a plate on his lap. He was quiet so long that John worried he might've fallen to sleep or finally stressed himself out enough to - well no, he didn't want to think like that.
"Don't tell Strider," Karkat finally said when John looked at him.
"I won't."
"I'm fucking serious. That asshole won't let me hear the end of it. Even if I jam my fists through my aural holes I'll still be able to hear his bullshit."
Smiling, John kissed the troll's cheek and took the first quesadilla in the pile.
"No worries Karkat," John assured, smiling.
Hesitantly, Karkat rested his head on John's shoulder and snatched the remote from him to put on a romantic comedy film.
"Haven't you had enough of John Cusack for today?" John asked with a teasing smirk.
"Shut up you waste of air," Karkat growled, blushing.
"I'm just messing with you."
Kissing the troll's forehead, John settled in to watch the film.