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‘Oh for fuck’s sake.’ Karkat thought he once again attempted to push his seemingly gigantic canvas towards the elevator. Fuck his professor for giving him an assignment. Fuck his professor for making him have to spend money on another giant ass canvas. Fuck his professor for making him need to buy more art supplies once again. And royally fuck himself for having to live on one of the highest god-forsaken floors.
He could feel the stares of the concerned receptionist as he walked, more like struggled, past her as he lugged his canvas with him. People in the lobby were staring at him no doubt. Honestly, he would stare too.
Karkat was only a good ft 2 and the canvas was seemingly twice his size. It was half the size of a door in length and width at the very least, and stood up next to him, it made him seem even smaller in comparison.
He huffed as he pressed the button for the elevator.
Good.
Now he just needed to get this thing in through the gates of awkward elevator music and obnoxious people, get to his floor and he’d be safe.
He noticed two people out of the corner of his eye; an old lady and a taller boy patiently waiting for the elevator to come down. The old lady gave him a small smile and he couldn’t help but smile back a little. The boy however seemed to be pre-occupied with his headphones, lightly tapping his feet to music he couldn’t hear. Karkat turned around bemused. The boy however eyed his canvas for a moment before giggling unbeknownst to Karkat.
He visibly sighed in relief as the elevator dinged, signaling it had made it’s long trek down to the ground floor for new travelers to make their way in.
Karkat was polite enough to let the elderly woman board the elevator first, the boy strolling in before him however. He scowled.
Then, it occurred to him.
How was he going to get this thing to fit in the elevator without it being bent or torn?
‘Uh.’ Shit.
Karkat tried to angle his canvas slightly and had to quickly grip it before it fell out of his hands. He tilted it again and tried to walk forward but soon realized he needed more space to pull the canvas upright.
“Do you need some help there?” The boy offered taking an ear bud out of his right ear.
“...Well maybe a little.” He cursed under his breath as the elevator started to close and the boy reached forward to press the button. The doors stopped and opened up again.
The boy kindly asked the lady to move over a bit so that he could help him. She obliged and stepped near the door watching the process.
The boy grabbed one side of the canvas while Karkat got the next and helped him angle it so that he could walk forward and enter the elevator, him and his canvas in one piece.
The elderly lady cheered and Karkat awkwardly chuckled.
“Thank you…er?” He turned towards the other boy.
“John.”
Karkat was much closer to him now. He could now hear inklings of a classical piano piece dripping from the boy’s ear buds. He crookedly smiled showing off his blue braces as he held his hands out towards him.
John seemed like a fitting name.
“Karkat.” He shook his hand and was surprised to feel how long and calloused his hands were. Maybe he played the piano. That would explain the classical music. “Thanks for helping me lug this huge ass thing in here. It was a huge fucking pain just to carry it here to be honest. Oh! Uh, sorry for cursing ma’am.” Karkat said as he glanced to the elderly woman apologetically. He knew they could get really grouchy over stuff like that and she seemed nice enough to tolerate what little had slipped out of his mouth.
She waved him off though and hummed a tune to herself as she waited for her stop.
This seemed to make John’s smile widen.
Karkat looked down at their hands, still intertwined in something between a handshake and a hold. John’s face turned a bright crimson and quickly let go in embarrassment.
“Haha. Sorry about that.”
Karkat shrugged. “It’s alright.”
“So, what’s this about anyway?”
“The canvas? I have an art assignment to paint something beautiful. I don’t know what yet but I’ll figure something out.”
John hummed in acknowledgement. “That’s interesting!”
“I guess.”
“I’m sure you’ll find something great to do. I’d like to see it sometime.”
Karkat quirked a cautious eyebrow? Sometime? As in more than this one meeting? Is he insinuating something?...
“Oh?”
John smiled. “Would you maybe wanna go for a walk later? I know this really nice coffee shop down the block. That is of course after you put this away?” John chuckled as he imagined Karkat struggling with the giant canvas as they walked together. That would inconvenience both of them, mostly Karkat.
“Hmmm. I guess the idea isn’t so bad?” Karkat replied, though he seemed to be questioning himself. John was nowhere near ugly, actually being quite pretty, and his company had been nice so far.
Karkat actually smiled.
“Sure.”
The old lady grinned slyly as her stop jerked the two out of their musings and waved as she exited, a small utterance of have fun on your date was heard before the doors closed.
Karkat gulped and avoided John’s eyes for awhile.
John didn’t say anything as they passed his floor. He forgot to press the button for it anyway.
Karkat had told John it would be alright for him to wait near the elevator as he went to put his canvas inside his house. He returned with a small bag over his shoulders.
“You look nice.”
“This is the same outfit I had on 2 minutes ago, John.”
“Exactly.”
Karkat couldn’t believe what was coming out of his mouth and fought back a smile. It happened anyway. John thought that it looked very cute.
The moment they entered the elevator again, Karkat was surprised as soon as John bombarded him with questions.
“Do babies float?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think we could paint the sky purple?”
“With the right technology maybe.”
“What if I just decided to go sit on a cloud?”
“That’s completely impossible, John. You’d need to weight absolutely nothing.”
“Do you think taller people sing better than shorter people?”
Karkat stopped in his tracks and looked at John then, his coffee was cooling down on the freshly cleaned table. The noise of the coffee-shop was mild at best; chatter here and there, the sound of orders being taken and the aroma of his drink wafting in the air made him feel warm.
He looked incredulously at John from across the table.
“Are you issuing a challenge Mr. Egbert?”
John tilted his head, a sly look twinkling in his eyes. “Maybe. I personally feel like my singing voice is pretttty smooth.”
Karkat rolled his eyes.
“Sure. That must mean mine is /SILKY/ smooth then.”
John gasped. “You and me then! Singing contest. Right here, right now, Karkat!” John exclaimed catching the attention of a few people nearby.
“John do you really wanna do this right here, right now?”
“Hell yes.” The boy started to stand up.
“John.”
He started to walk to Karkat’s side of the table and reached a hand out to pull him up.
“John!”
John ignored him though and grabbed his other hand. Before Karkat knew it both John and himself were in the center of the little cozy shop. John started to walk around him.
“I got chills!” He sang loudly.
Oh my fucking God he was not about to sing Grease’s ‘You’re The One That I Want’, in front of dozens of people holding onto him.
“They’re multiplyin’. And I’m losin’ control. Cause the power you’re supplyin’. It’s electrifyin’!”
John looked at him expectantly a huge grin plastered on his face. Karkat looked around him. People seemed interested, smiles playing along their faces, some also expectantly looking at him, one of the cashiers taking out their phone and nudging another worker.
Well, shit. He got roped into this somehow.
‘Can’t back out now’ He mused.
“You better shape up, cause’ I need a man. And my heart is set on you!” He sang, a smile ghosting itself on his features.
John beamed.
“You better shape up, you better understand. To my heart I must be true!”
John gently grabbed Karkat’s hands again and twirled him much to his amusement. “Well there’s nothing left, nothin’ left for me to do!”
That’s how Karkat found himself breathlessly singing and dancing along to a duet with John. In the middle of a crowd in a coffee-shop. One song became two and two turned into a slow song. The two were now slow-dancing in the middle of the shop. Other couples had joined in by then. Some of the staff had pushed the tables to the side and were cheering people on.
All in all they had fun.
“I can’t believe you started a dance at a coffee-shop!” Karkat said throwing his hands up in the air in disbelief as they entered the lobby of their huge apartment building. The smirk on his face betrayed him though.
John shrugged.
“Do you usually dance in coffee-shops with everyone you meet?”
John had chuckled at this playful accusation and shook his head. “Only with people I think are very cute and interesting.”
Karkat blushed at this and softly chuckled. “Yeah? Me too.”
John’s grin widened at that as the two exited the elevator on Karkat’s floor.
“Well would you maybe wanna do this again sometime? I dunno. Just a suggestion. You can always so no and-“
“Sure.”
John jumped at that and looked excitedly at Karkat. “Really?!?”
He nodded in return. “Mhm. You can come inside for a bit and watch a shitty movie if you want.”
“Shitty movies you say? Count me in.”
-
“So, Mr. Vantas. What do you have to present to the class today?” His professor asked as another student had finished presenting their piece. His student had walked into class that day particularly happy for once and he was interested in the least to maybe see why.
“Oh. Sure thing, teach.”
“Professor.”
Karkat rolled his eyes and brought his canvas forward. He carefully took a white sheet off of it to reveal his painting.
The professor blinked once, twice, a third time as a questioning eyebrow looked at his pupil.
“We did human photography studies already, Karkat. Why have you painted this boy?”
“You said to paint something beautiful so I did.” He shrugged.
There was a whistle from one of the students as Karkat turned red. The teacher smiled and waved him off. “Whatever, put it over here and come back tomorrow to find out your grade.
Karkat quickly put his canvas next to the others. His stood out the most to him. Dark, fluffy hair overlapping tan freckled skin, a wide grin full of blue braces, and a bright blue (so bright he could use it to paint the morning sky) pair of eyes beaming down at him definitely stood out.
His painting was truly more than beautiful.