sortinghat_logs | Baby, It's Cold Outside (Let's Ice Skate!)

[Gamzee blinks, pulling his head back sharply, then regains his smile.] That ain't so motherfuckin' bad.

[Then he somehow manages to switch the cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other without touching it, slips behind Karkat, plants his knees on the ice, and scoops the smaller boy up as though it's no big thing, hauling him back to the relatively safety of the snow.]

[He's silently grateful as the other starts dragging him back to shore, crossing his arms over his chest with a small grumble. Gamzee's picked him up a few times before so it's no big deal when he does, and he'd rather be back on the snow regardless, huddled in his blanket cocoon.]

[Gamzee sets the smaller boy down on his blankets, and then casually sits behind him, long legs stretched out on either side of Karkat's, gangly arms looped around his shoulders, pulling the Gryffindor back against his chest. The Slytherin has a bad habit of doing this - draping on people whether they like it or not, and Karkat is one of his favorite targets. It does have one advantage, though - the Welsh boy seems to run pretty warm, and in the winter weather, it can be felt even through his clothes sometimes.]

[Karkat doesn't really mind it when Gamzee pulls him back towards his body, not this time. You'd think Karkat would be the warm one, given he was born in Puerto Rico, but that wasn't really the case since he hadn't grown up there. He hunched his shoulders, crossing his arms even as he leaned back against the other with a small grumble.]

Hey, bro? [Gamzee's voice sounds lazy, almost sleepy. A little far away.] How come you all come out here if all you're gonna do is get your peep on?

[His breath blows warm against the back of Karkat's neck, and the question is vague, casual.]

[The breath on the back of his neck makes him shiver and he pulls the blankets around himself, lowering his head, voice quiet.]

I never saw snow before my first year. My dad had us move around a lot when I was a kid, and it was always to warm places. Longest we ever stayed in one place was a fucking year in Texas.

I always wondered what that was like. [Gamzee settles his chin briefly atop the smaller boy's head - he's not sure why, but something about Karkat always makes him feel sort of calm. At ease, even with stuff that normally freaks him out, even when he's not high as a kite.] I mean, being somewhere warm. I guess I musta gone when I was a kid, but I don't remember. It's always snow or rain in Penclawdd.

[He half closes his eyes, then smiles.] You like it? The snow?

Are you fucking kidding me? [Karkat huffed, blowing some hair from his eyes as he felt the other rest his chin on his head. He draws his knees further up so they're almost at his chest, but leaning back against the other's chest still.] I hate the snow as much as I hate the fucking heat.

[Gamzee chuckles, a soft, low sound a little different from his usual enthused honking.] Yeah, but you hate everything, motherfucker.

[Karkat was probably lucky his friend had some vague sense of propriety. otherwise he'd be wrapped up tighter than his blanket in a coat of tall, lanky Slytherin. But Gamzee had gotten enough shit through his life for being too physically affectionate, too needy, and he knew better to do anything that others could call him out on, at least too much.] I mean, do you hate this shit less?

[He probably wouldn't have minded if the other wrapped around him tighter at this point. It might've been the cold numbing his brain or something else entirely but he snuggled back against the other, watching everyone else on the frozen over lake.]

I guess it's not so bad. Sometimes.

[Gloved hands rub idly over Karkat's arms, though whether Gamzee's trying to warm him up through friction or contact, it wasn't clear.] I like it here. It's a fuck sight better than home.

[The words are a little more focused than the older boy usually is, his voice a little harder, but it melts back to his usual dreamy lassitude quick enough, as though he'd never said it.] Tell me about the last place you live, bro. I ain't never been anywhere, hardly.

[Karkat settles back into Gamzee's hold, draping his arms over his knees where he drew them up. If he noticed the change of tone in the other's voice he doesn't say anything; he's used to the Slytherin's fucked up shit after all.]

It wasn't really anything special. My dad was out all the time so it was mostly just me by myself, since mom was killed earlier that year. [Kids should usually still be upset at this point at the loss of one parent, but Karkat wasn't any kid. He hid his emotions well.] Just a little house in a cul de sac in California. Shitty neighbourhood.

[Gamzee presses his nose briefly into the hair at the back of Karkat's neck, thinking about that.] I always wanted to get my ass there. And Detroit. [He closes his eyes, smiling to himself.]

But now you're all up in here, at the H to the W, and you ain't even supposed to be. Motherfuckin' miracles.

Detroit's pretty shitty too, last I checked. Too many people.

[Now that he thought about it it might've been the scent of Gamzee's cigarette that was making him feel a combination of sleepy and dizzy. They always did that to him. He doesn't really feel the other's nose on the back of his neck, but he tilts his head to the side nonetheless.]

I guess if you want, we could go on a roadtrip or something. Once we're done here. Just hitchhike our way across America.

[The tall form behind Karkat goes utterly still. Oh, Gamzee keeps breathing, and his arms stay wrapped, but other than that, he's become a statue, for at least about ten seconds.]

You'd want to do that with me?

[There's a little extra lilt to his voice there, his accent just a touch thicker. He's genuinely surprised - Gamzee's pretty used to liking people a hell of a lot more than they like him. That's just life, and he's cool with it. The fact that Karkat would actually suggest some sort of shared activity like that, that could take ... hell, months! Is more than a little shocking. It makes something in his chest tighten and wince, because he wants to think the Gryffindor is genuine, but this. This could get yanked away from him again so easily.]

[Karkat stretches just a little, splaying his fingers out in front of him as he links them before shrugging and settling back against Gamzee.]

Sure, I guess. That's what people do between school and finding a job or some shit. Great American dream and all that. And by the time we're done in this hellhole we'll be able to apparate. [He pauses, tilting his head as he rethinks that.] Nah, no apparating. Wouldn't want you fucking splinching yourself.

Man, you don't even know, I might be motherfuckin' genius at apparating! [Gamzee grins, burying his face in Karkat's hair. He feels like there's a little motherfuckin' bird fluttering away in his chest.] But I want a car. A sweet ride all decked out in purple and with the fuzzy dice and everything. Like those two motherfuckers from that one movie. The Great Red Shark!

[To be honest, he'd thought about doing it himself, once he was done with seventh year. Karkat glances out the corner of his eye over his shoulder at the other.]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, you mean. Hell we could be fucking Priscilla or some shit. I'll be driving though, k'thanks.

No, the car, motherfucker! [exclaims with enthusiasm, and the smile that the smaller boy can see out of the corner of his eye is bright and real and painfully raw, lousy with hope] It was the Great Red Shark! And you gotta let me drive sometimes, if your pan is getting all sleepy and some shit.

[His arms wrap tighter, and he buries his face in Karkat's neck out of sheer happiness. Okay, maybe this isn't real. Maybe Karkat'll forget it in a day or two, and that won't be so great, but right now the idea is gorgeous. It sparkles in his head, like a million stars on a clear night, so bright they almost hurt to look at.] I wouldn't be bending no fine piece of machinery like that around no motherfuckin' pole.

I was actually talking about the name of the movie. I know that's the car name. [He has watched movies other than romcoms. He doesn't move to make Gamzee let go of him. No, he's far too comfortable to move right now.] I'm only letting you drive if you're sober, Gam.

Dude, I'm sober most of the time around here. I can be all over that straight-edge to pilot our sweet ride! [And then Karkat will get kissed soundly on the side of his head, just above his ear, before Gamzee settles back more comfortably, keeping the smaller boy cuddled close.]

We can go motherfuckin' everywhere. Cali, and Detroit, and ... like, Texas where all them cowboys be at, and New York ... shit be so dope. You gonna bring your girl?

[He grimaces a little at the kiss before moving himself to sit with his back to the taller boy, reaching with his hands to draw his blanket up further around himself. When Jade comes into the equation, he flushes just a little, murmuring into the quilt.]

Harley's not my girl. [Yet] 'Sides, wouldn't you rather it be just the two of us?

Yeah. But you'll get pretty sick of my shit after awhile, bro. [He says it matter-of-factly - Gamzee is well aware that people get tired of him. Sometimes very quickly.] So maybe you'd want to do it for longer if you had someone you could make out with and talk about your important stuff with.

You're assuming we even get that far. [Jade could probably get other guys by that time after all. He wasn't really good relationship material either, either as a friend or otherwise.] Shit we'd probably spend the whole time arguing on which direction to go.

[Gamzee laughs again, this time a little closer to his usual weird honking.] Shit, that's why you be letting me drive, bro!

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