Chapter Text
Karkat sighed as he burrowed into the soft comforter, it was times like these he almost decided he kind of liked Eridan, almost… And kind of. Because then he’d open his mouth and ruin it.
“Hey Kar, I was just thinking…” Like that.
“Shut up assfins, I don’t want to hear it.” Karkat glanced at the sea dwelling troll. Both of their clothes were lying in a heap in the corner of the bedroom they had chosen to sleep in for the night.
“No, I’ve been thinking really hard about things lately, namely us…And well, why aren’t we actually dating?” Eridan placed an arm over his waist.
“Because one, I don’t like you like that. And don’t even say you like me like that because we both know you don’t.” He glared when Eridan opened his mouth to comment. “Two, who the hell would we make it official to? There’s not a single person either of us knows that would give any flying fuck if we were dating. And lastly, in case you haven’t noticed… The worlds pretty much ended, so there’s really no point in anything but surviving another day.”
Eridan sighed behind him, letting him go and turning over as he usually did when he brought up this conversation after sex. “Whatever.”
Karkat didn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Yeah, now get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch.” He got out of the bed and put on his dirty clothes. He winced at the smell of them, how long had it been since he’d been able to properly wash them?
“Night Kar.” Eridan mumbled to the wall.
Karkat didn’t look at him, instead grabbing the sea dwellers modified Saiga twelve off the floor and after checking the hallway to make sure it was clear he shut the door.
The night passed uneventfully, with him checking around the house periodically and waking Eridan up at around two in the morning to switch off the watch before falling asleep himself.
It was around eight before Eridan woke him up, “its time to get up Kar, we need to start moving again.” Eridan had dressed in his own dirty clothes and had taken his gun back, leaving Karkat with his military issue Baretta.
“Alright.” He mumbled before getting out bed and putting on his clothes once again. He grabbed the pistol Eridan offered before opening the door and sneaking out of the house.
He couldn’t tell you how long they walked, if a person had been around to ask he’d say something along the lines of “a fucking long time.” Eridan was the one with the watch, and even he never looked at it. It could’ve been worse however, sometime about a month ago they had traveled through a desert, and in the middle of summer it was not a good place to be.
Karkat observed the large city around them, it was seemingly deserted, but he knew better. Both humans and trolls were attracted to civilization, so there would be a lot of people around, most likely staying out of sight of other people. You couldn’t tell which ones had been made insane with the apocalypse.
He eventually spotted an old gas station in a secluded part of town, the gas pumps were of course in disrepair, and the lines all dried of any substance they had once contained. But that wasn’t what they were after. In the refrigerated part of the store were stacks upon stacks of water bottles.
Karkat glanced around, making sure nobody was spying on them before moving through one of the broken windows, avoiding the door with the bell on it. He glanced back to make sure Eridan was following his path exactly before making his way to the back. After one last look around he opened the doors and pulled out two bottles. He handed one of them to Eridan before opening his own.
Remembering not to drink too fast he stopped himself about halfway, and Eridan did the same. “Alright…We’ve got water, and it looks like there’s enough food around here to last us a while, I think we can stay here for at least a week.”
Eridan nodded in response and took another sip of his water, looking around the gas station. A noise a couple aisles over made both trolls jump and pull out their weapons. Karkat could feel his heart rate picking up as he looked over at Eridan before noticing he wasn’t there. He looked around desperately, searching for him before another troll stepped into the aisle.
He was tall, much taller than Karkat was, with long skinny horns that almost went straight up on his head, making him seem even taller. His eyes were a wild red and orange color, his irises indigo. The sign on his shirt had faded with age, but Karkat could tell it was meant to be indigo as well, meaning the troll was a highblood. Not as high as a sea dweller, but the closest thing. A subjuggulator.
Eridan was struggling in his grasp, both arms pinned to his body and his gun laying on the ground by his dangling feet, but despite his struggling, he didn’t even seem to be budging the troll’s hold.
“WHAT the MOTHERFUCK, do you think you’re doing? You can’t just barge into another trolls hive man.” His eyes narrowed, “its not cool.” He squeezed Eridan tighter and he gave up struggling, realizing it was hopeless.
Karkat drew his gun anyway, aiming it at the troll, he hoped the other hadn’t realized he wouldn’t risk shooting if it meant he might accidentally hit Eridan, but he didn’t flinch.
“I’ll give you three seconds to lower that gun of yours before this WICKED brother meets with the MIRTHFUL MESSIAHS.” He moved his other hand towards Eridan’s throat, placing his claws against his jugular vein.
“One…” He began counting, but Karkat didn’t lower his weapon.
“Two.” Eridan was gazing desperately at Karkat, pleading with him to do what the troll said, but he kept his face impassive, not giving away any emotion.
“Thr-” “Gamzee! What are you doing to our guests!” A new voice came from behind the checkout counter.
The voice belonged to a human. He didn’t appear very tall, maybe an inch or two taller than Karkat. He had some of the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, framed with a pair of chipped rectangular glasses. His hair was almost as messy as the trolls, and the black T shirt he wore was much too big for him, coming down to his lower thighs. The human glared at your attacker, placing his hands on his hips.
“John bro…What are you doing here? You-” “I am an almost an adult Gamzee, I can make decisions for myself. Now let the poor troll go, you’re scaring him!” The human gestured to Eridan, and Gamzee dropped him unceremoniously to the floor. He grabbed his gun and quickly darted to Karkat’s side.
“I’m so sorry about that. Gamzee tends to overreact with new visitors. My names John, John Egbert.” The human smiled at both of them from around Gamzee’s arm, which he had latched onto.
“…I’m Karkat, and this is Eridan.” He gestured to himself and the sea dweller.
“Nice to meet you!” He elbowed Gamzee in the side. He huffed a greeting, entwining his hand with one of Johns.
Karkat eyed them with curiosity. It wasn’t unusual for travelers to pair up as sexual partners, but these two had a bond, much closer than that of just two people crossing paths. They must have known each other before the zombie invasion.
“I’m sure you guys need some water, and probably something to eat too. Come to the back, we can get to know each other better and we can get you some cooked food. What do you say?”
Karkat glanced over at Eridan, but the troll just shrugged at him, meaning it was Karkat’s decision.
“Fucking hell…Why not?”