Chapter Text
Karkat had been your absolute, very best friend until you hit the age of sixteen.
Reason being, that he had disappeared from his home (or hive, as he was prone to calling it) without so much as a trace.
To be honest, your friendship with Karkat was pretty unusual in the first place. Humans and trolls tended to keep themselves as separated and secluded from each other as possible, despite the fact that it was perfectly legal for the two races to interact. There were schools for humans, schools for trolls, and schools for mixed races. Same with places of work.
This, unfortunately, was because of the fact that despite the melding of the races and the peace between the governments, the cultures did not change much.
Trolls were still extremely prone to becoming violent or angry with barely so much as a misunderstood word, and humans just didn’t know how to deal with this. Trolls got in fights- terrible cycles of revenge that never seemed to end and the humans couldn’t see why. They were just…a little too different.
They still adhered to the blood caste extremely well- highbloods got the best jobs and education, and rustbloods…well, they were the trolls that generally ended up homeless. It kind of sucked, but it’s not like you could do anything about it. You had heard that they weren’t as bad about the caste system farther south, but you weren’t quite sure if that was true or not.
Your dad, thankfully, was one of the humans that fully supported the alliance and merging between the two races, and as a result you were placed into a troll/human school.
You had met Karkat the first day of sixth grade, and had been absolutely appalled at the troll’s language. He did seem to have a mastery over insults despite his complete dorkiness, however, and you couldn’t help but be drawn to him. By the end of the year, you two were practically inseparable.
Your friends were pretty chill around trolls, too, which was extremely nice. Rose was actually dating one, and if you’re not mistaken Dave might be, too. You’re not entirely sure about that one, though. He’s pretty closed off about his relationships.
So you had been best friends with Karkat, the grumpy troll that almost constantly made up new, overly-elaborate metaphors for how dumb you were. You had sleepovers, played video games, and hung out all the time. You were like, ‘bbfl,’ or ‘best bros for life,’ as Dave would probably call it.
And then, over the summer that Karkat had turned seventeen, just before your sophomore year (he was older than you by like ten months), he disappeared.
Just, vanished.
One day he was there, and then the next he wasn’t. You had gone knocking at his hive, asking for him, but no one was there other than his lusus, who wouldn’t tell you a thing.
He was just…gone.
Left without a trace. You had searched for him for days- driving around the neighborhood, around the cities, searching for him desperately. You did this the entire summer, until your dad convinced you that it was no use. Karkat had disappeared, and he had probably disappeared for good.
You were absolutely crushed.
Without Karkat, you didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know what to do with your time, who to hang out with, or anything. It was pretty shitty.
You were finally getting over his disappearance, actually. It’s about a year later, and now you only think about him maybe once or twice a day, instead of constantly.
Your life was getting back on track- you had managed to pull your grades out of the gutters last-minute, and had passed eleventh grade with acceptable B’s. You knew you could have done better without the distraction of Karkat, but oh well. You would live with that. Hopefully do better during senior year.
Currently, you were playing video games on your TV. Super Paper Mario, to be exact. Because you played badass games like that. What? You were totally about to get your sixth heart. You were on a roll.
And then the phone rings.
It’s your cell phone, actually. Sitting right next to you on the seat of the couch. It’s going off, and you’re freaking out because you can’t save until you kill this dumbass paper piece of shit that’s attacking your Mario, and if you flip to 3D there’s just more of them.
Finally, on the third ring, you beat the thing, and you save quickly before pausing.
On the fourth ring, you grab at your phone, which promptly slips between the cushions of the couch. Fuck your life, you have the absolute worst luck ever.
On the fifth (and final) ring, you fish it out from the couch and quickly answer, holding it up to your ear before you even get the chance to check caller ID. You wouldn’t have managed to answer before it automatically forwarded to voicemail if you had.
“John.” The voice is hoarse- dehydrated, changed. It’s deeper than you remembered, too. Probably as a product of age. It has been almost a year, after all.
The voice is unmistakably Karkat’s.
You don’t know what to do. You’re at a complete loss- what the hell do you even do in this situation?! Karkat’s been gone forever, you never expected to see him again. He fucking left you without so much as a good-bye and you don’t know whether you want to break down in tears, make a joke, or yell at him.
“Karkat,” you say back into the phone. Your voice is strained. You can hear a slow exhale of breath from the other side of the line- Karkat’s, maybe out of relief that you still had the same phone number? That you still recognized his voice? You don’t have a clue.
“Where have you been?” you whisper into the receiver. You want to yell at him, want to slap him, want to hug him. You’re so fucking confused right now.
“That’s not important,” he responds, voice much more subdued than you remember it being in the past. “Do you…are you at home? I just. I really need a place to stay, just for the night. Maybe some food if you can spare it? I swear I’ll leave right after.”
You don’t know what to say. Your dad is away on a business trip, so yeah. He could definitely stay.
But…why did he come back? Now, of all times? Why did he even fucking leave in the first place? You have so many questions and no answers, but you find yourself answering over the phone anyway.
“Yeah- yeah, of course you can! Come right over- do you still remember where my house is? A little bit past the park and-“
He cuts you off from your confused rambling with a scoff. “Of course I know where your hive is, dipshit. I’ll be right over there, so try not to get your metaphorical panties in a bunch. Hold on a minute.”
You can’t help but smile, even as he hangs up. You seriously missed this troll- missed everything about him, really. You missed his sharp-but-blunt-for-trolls fangs. You missed his small horns, and his soft, feathery black hair. You missed the way he was always careful about his claws, but ended up tearing your jackets half the time anyway when grabbing your arm to get your attention.
Barely a minute after he hung up, there’s a knock at the door. Your eyes widen and you spring off of the couch to answer the door, game completely abandoned at this point- it’s gotta be Karkat. He must have been standing right outside of your house the entire time he was on the phone with you.
You take no time in flinging open the door, and your mouth opens to say something- what, you have no idea- but the sight of Karkat cuts you short.
He’s wearing a ragged jacket, way too big for them with a hood pulled so far over his face that it covers his eyes, and his head is turned toward the ground. His hands are balled up and shoved in his pockets, and he’s wearing an old grey shirt underneath the jacket. His jeans are complete trash, torn up with holes in places that don’t make sense. He’s taller, now- taller than you, actually, even slouching and with his head down as he is. It surprises you.
Holy shit, this was Karkat?
You open your mouth again, but he cuts you off by slowly stepping inside, moving with a silent grace he’s never possessed before. You wonder what caused him to adopt that way of walking.
“Karkat, I-“ you try again, but he makes a noise in the back of his throat that cuts you off.
“Look, I swear I’ll be out of your hair after this,” he promises, and you have a feeling he’s rolling his eyes. “I just need a place to stay tonight, and I don’t want to risk crabdad getting hurt because of me, understand?”
You raise an eyebrow at him. “But you’re okay with me getting hurt because of you? Wow, dude. Totally feeling the love here.” Okay, maybe that wasn’t what you expected to come out of your mouth. You really needed to start watching your words.
He flinches a little, and you immediately feel like shit for what you said.
“Look, I didn’t know where else to go, got it? Terezi would have reported me, Kanaya would have done the same out of the goodness of her heart, and there’s barely a human out there that would accept me, even for the night,” he snaps at you, and you bite your lip.
“Report you?” you ask, frowning. You don’t get it. There are some things you expect you’ll never get about Karkat.
“Yes,” Karkat growls in a tone that tells you to drop it. You do so, reluctantly.
You hesitate before speaking up again. “Do you have to leave again?” you ask, your voice small. It’s kind of pathetic, but you don’t think you can handle it if he does. Not again.
He groans some. “I knew you would say something like that, and I wouldn’t want to leave. Fuck me, but yes. I have to leave. I’m not staying put longer than I have to.”
You frown. “Why do you have to do this? Why are you on the run like this? I don’t get it.” You’re frustrated. You missed Karkat. So much.
He snickers a little bit, as if he thinks that your words are amusing to him.
“Egbert, they separate the areas that humans and trolls live in for a reason,” he says, as if this answers your question. You’re about to protest, but then he continues. “Because trolls like to ‘dispose’ of the people they find wrong, and unlike a human, a highblood can get away with it with nothing but a thank you for helping the population.”
He lifts his head, and a pair of eyes glowing like red embers stare you down.