(no subject)

[selfhatred]

WHO: Karkat Vantas and YOU
TONE: light
RATING: PG-13 (for Karkat's mouth mainly)
WHEN: backdated slightly to April 22nd
WHERE: the library
WHAT: Karkat's doing homework and you're invited to bother him
STATUS: ongoing



Eighteen inches for Charms and twelve inches for Care of Magical Creatures. Who the hell set these ridiculous amounts of homework? Oh right, the teachers. If there was one thing about the school that Karkat abhorred more than maybe the lake or how long it took to get to class, it was the homework. Who the hell wrote in inches anyway? He couldn't count on his aunt to give him a good grade in Care just because they were related either which was disappointing but he guessed that was how things went anyway.

He'd been sitting there since after lunch, and he stretched, placing his head on his arms with a huff. This was ridiculous.

Comments

[centaurstestes]

Karkat might want to mind his stretching because oh, here comes Equius, carrying a very large, heavy tome, and oops, he might just happen to be holding it at the same height as his head. As he passes by, there is a very large chance that the book and Karkat's head will-

WHACK.

-collide, yes.

And then he carries on his merry way.

[selfhatred]

The library might have had its silence interrupted by a loud "FUCK" just then, muffled slightly. Karkat goes face first onto his parchment, his arms flailing forward when the tome knocks into the back of his head. Gray ink spills when he knocks his ink well over, and he swears under his breath. He was almost done, God damnit.

Karkat stands so quickly his chair falls back from underneath him, clattering to the floor, face covered in writing and ink dripping from his sweater. When he sees who it looks like did it, he looks absolutely livid.

"ZAHHAK, GET YOUR FUCKING POMPOUS ASS BACK HERE!"

[centaurstestes]

Stifling a smirk at the oh, so prefect reaction, Equius turns slowly, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Oh, so you are real. I thought that perhaps I was merely seeing things, since it is so rare for a Gryffindor to be in the Library."

[selfhatred]

Equius's words fall on deaf ears as Karkat marches forward, taking hold of the taller boy by the robes and yanking him downward, snarl curling on his lips. It didn't even matter to him that he was getting filthy looks from other people right now.

"I was almost fucking done with those essays, you goddamn horse dick sucking asshole!"

[centaurstestes]

Rolling his eyes at the tug on his robes, Equius obliging leans over Karkat, expression as blank and serene as ever.

"It is hardly my fault you if spilled ink on your homework," he huffs, shrugging his shoulders. "You should have more care around an open inkwell. There is no need for such lewd language. Especially since I am not the one sucking on parts of male anatomy."

[dou8letrou8le]

She narrowly dodges his outstretched arm to lean over curiously to peek at his homework assignments. She knew Karkat only in passing, but she had witnessed some of his 'outbursts' and found them pretty funny.

So why not encourage it?

"Hard time?"

[selfhatred]

He looks over his shoulder when she speaks up, blinking a little. He only knew her in passing as well and from the few classes Gryffindor shared with Slytherin. He'd never really talked to her before, not that he was open to talking to new people or anything.

Instead, he gave a sigh and leaned forward to prop his head on his hand, looking at her.

"Tell me about it."

[dou8letrou8le]

She moved around the table to take an open spot across from him. Carefully she tugged his open Charms book towards her to flip through a few pages while keeping her index finger on the original page. "Professor Matteris, she is... difficult to handle. Not pleasant at all."

Vriska cast him a glance before smirking. "How much do you finish so far?"

[selfhatred]

He watched her take his book, leaning his head forward to cross his arms underneath it. He scowled a little when she asked how much he'd finished.

"I almost had the entire fucking thing finished until Zahhak came along and made me spill ink over it by hitting me in the back of the head with a fucking book."

[selfmakeout]

[He's here.

Of course he would be here when she was doing research on a topic entirely unrelated to homework (she had already finished hers, naturally).

She remembers her promise to Tavros, of course she does, but just the mere sight of Karkat is enough to almost send her into tears when she remembers all the things that had happened...the things he had said and done...not just to her, but to Tavros as well. (Maybe to Feferi?)

Harley, you're being a wussy girl.

Jade knew that. She hated this weak and emotional part of herself. But it hurt, love hurt so much...especially when the person you liked didn't like you back. No matter how hard Jade tried to convince herself that it was just the same as before when she carried a torch for Karkat but felt he didn't have any feelings towards her, but they at least spoke to each other in a partly friendly manner. At this point they had not spoken in weeks.

Does he miss me?

Why would he? That's a stupid question and Jade feels stupid for thinking it, but she could beat herself up later. Right now she needed to be the brave hero and fulfill her Peter Pan promise to Tavros.

So, after many deep breaths and encouraging words (insults) to psyche herself up, Jade approaches Karkat. She tries to look casual but realizes that she does look slightly vulnerable with how she's holding her books to her chest as if to shield herself from him.]

...Hello.

[selfhatred]

[After the whole debacle with Equius, he'd been allowed to stay in the library only if he stopped attacking other students and kept his voice down. He was still reeling in the fact that he had to start his homework all over again when he heard her voice.

Karkat looks up, and to Jade he probably looks like a mess. His hair is bright ginger red, there's ink all over his clothes and the table (even though he'd tried to clean it up it was stuck there on the wood), there were angry red marks under his eyes, probably from where he'd been crying to himself in frustration in the bathroom. He rubs a hand under his nose, biting his bottom lip.

He'd been trying not to think about her, but he'd been hurt too much when she had taken him up on his suggestion and dumped him for Strider. His expression falters and he actually sounds a little like a kid when he speaks, instead of the kid trying to be an adult.]

Hey...

[selfmakeout]

[A mess, of course. Who did he tick off now? Maybe somebody attacked him out of nowhere? He was plainly unhappy and hurt...

And I wasn't there to back him up.

Stupid.]

How are you--? [She shifts and shuffles the books she's holding, distracting herself from the idea of asking if he needs assistance with anything. Just get it over with as quick as possible, Harley. Do it for Tavros. Do it for Peter.

(Do it for peace of mind).]

Ah--um...may I talk to you? ...Please.

[selfhatred]

[He hadn't been expecting to talk to anyone else. Equius had probably gone and bragged about how he put a pukeblood in his place. Douche. Karkat shifted a little in his seat, unsure about whether or not he should talk to her.

Of course you should, douche. Just clear things up already.

He was confused but that didn't mean they couldn't talk. He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve and a little sniff, putting his quill down and putting away his personal feelings right now.]

Sure.

[mo_cara]

The tall Slytherin boy was only there because he was supposed to get a book for a Divination assignment, and he always had the hardest damn time with that. Finding books was a perpetual mystery to him, and he never could figure out how they organized the motherfuckin' things, so he usually ended up wandering all over the library, picking things up at random and then putting them back.

He wasn't expecting to see Karkat when he stepped out between two tall shelves, and his stopped, his heart aching in his chest for a moment because he knew he wasn't supposed to talk to the Gryffindor, even though they were best friends. He'd fucked things up too much, and now he had to wait while Karkat figured things out, and he looked so- Gamzee just wanted to go over and wrap around the smaller boy the way he always had. But he couldn't.

So he just tried to slip back into the stacks unnoticed. And tripped on the bag he'd dropped when he saw Karkat, stumbled sideways into one of the bookshelves, and sent a whole shelf of treatises on foreign magical flora crashing to the floor.

Oops.

[selfhatred]

Karkat probably looked like a right mess from any angle. His hair was more of a rat's nest than usual, bright ginger red from root to tip thanks to Equius's spell. Two crumpled bits of parchment coated in ink sat next to him on the table and he looked rather small in his seat. He'd barely had enough ink to write both his essays again, the words starting to get a little faded at the end. But he was done with it.

The sudden crash behind him tore him away from the romance novel he'd treated himself to and he turned his head to look at over his shoulder, blinking a little in surprise before sighing. It should've figured Gamzee would be the one to crash into a bookshelf.

He pushed his chair away and stood from the desk, ignoring the filthy look the librarian was shooting him and going into the bookshelves with a small, wry smile. "Need a hand, bro?"

[mo_cara]

"No! I, uh, it's cool motherfucker, I didn't mean to be all getting up in your space," the older boy stammered, wearing an expression of uncharacteristic embarrassment and anxiety. He bent over to start picking up books, the wild fall of his hair covering his face.

[selfhatred]

"Whoa, hold up, we got ourselves a badass here." The younger Gryffindor rolled his eyes and slipped into a crouch, pulling his hands out of his pockets and kneeling down next to Gamzee to help him pick up the books he'd knocked over. He hadn't realized until he told the other boy that he needed his space how much he'd missed having Gamzee around.

After what seemed to be a long moment, he spoke up, voice slightly timid. "I've missed you, bro."

[i_bullieve_i_can_fly]

Tavros also happened to have homework to do. For once, he wasn't on top of his Care homework... mainly because of everything going on lately, it was just so much harder to focus. It didn't help that he was still trying to figure out how he would get the elf tears for Equius so they could go find unicorns and stuff. And then there was everything else, though he was trying not to think about it.

The bottom line was, he had homework to do. And he kind of hoped, somewhere in the back of his mind, that he would find Karkat there. They hadn't seen each other very much since the last time they'd met in the library- which, wasn't all that long ago. But he still wanted to see him again, just to hang out and stuff. It was comforting, it made it easier not to think about everything.

When he rounded the corner and saw him sitting there, he didn't immediately recognize him. He wheeled closer, and his spirits soared when he realized that it was indeed Karkat. But... with different hair! "Karkat?" he asked, a hint of wonder in his voice as he stared at his hair. But then he noticed that Karkat also looked like a complete mess, and his eyes widened. "Are you okay?"

[selfhatred]

Karkat looked up when he heard the Hufflepuff's voice, and he really did look like a right mess. He'd managed to get a little more cleaned up with Jade's help, but that still didn't help the fact that his hair was bright red, hands a little splotchy with grey ink like the sleeve of his sweater. He looked exhausted in the face and he gave a somewhat tired smile as he leaned his head on his hand, resting his elbow on the table.

"Guess I won't have any problem playing the Little Mermaid now, huh?" he managed after licking his lips, voice sounding almost a little bemused. Now that he'd calmed down, finished his homework and made up with Jade and Gamzee the whole situation was kind of funny in a way.

[i_bullieve_i_can_fly]

Tavros wheeled closer, his his lips tugged down in a frown and concern evident in his eyes even though Karkat's tone wasn't overly upset or anything. Under normal circumstances, the statement might have made him laugh, and consider the possibilities of that. But he was too busy being really worried. "What happened?" he asked, his brow furrowing as he looked Karkat up and down, before his eyes settled back on Karkat's face, eyes darting up to his hair every once in a while.

[selfhatred]

He gave a small sigh before running his fingers through his hair, shifting his seat a little to make room for the other boy and also to face him, recounting the afternoon's events on his fingers. "Zahhak hit me in the back of the head with a fucking book. Made me spill ink all over my homework when I was almost finished. I asked him what his fucking problem was, we got into a fight. I hit him, he turned my hair bright fucking red."

[psiignlanguage]

[Alright screw it. Cyrus had been pandering about in the library for about two hours now, trying to collect some books that he wanted to copy material out of for his lesson plan for the next few weeks. And he'd passed Karkat at his table nearly a dozen times and he finally caved. Cyrus approached the kid, pulled out a chair, set down his books and sat right down at the table.]

What do you need help with?

[selfhatred]

[The scene at Karkat's table probably changed through the many times Cyrus passed by. Earlier in the day it had been about as organized as the young Gryffindor could be, and as the afternoon went on it became messier and messier, two balls of ink-splattered parchment tossed to the side, and Karkat himself going from sporting pitch black hair to bright ginger red. He looked up when the older man sat down, blinking a little before sighing.]

Twenty inches on common offensive and defensive charms and their fucking counter charms, and eighteen inches on the use of unicorn tail and hair. [He rubbed his forehead before slamming the book in front of him shut.] Who the fuck sets this kind of homework?

[psiignlanguage]

[He has to fight off the need to smile a little bit. He knew charms. It was what he was raised on, and he could help Karkat with absolutely no problem.]

I could easily help you out with your charms work. It's really very simple work, Karkat. Why not start out by telling me a situation in which you might need a defensive charm. [He actually smiles, a polite, warm chuckle coming out from the man.]

Say, for instance if someone you aren't interested in is flirting with you.

[selfhatred]

[That actually makes Karkat balk a little bit, blinking rapidly before his upper lip lifted in an 'ew' motion.]

Why the fuck would you have a charm for that?