Fireworks

Chapter Two ==>

John was all excited to get to the circus, when his phone rang, stopping him in the middle of the doorframe.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, John. It’s Jade,” came the reply.

“Oh! Hey, Jade! Ready to go to the circus?” John grinned, practically jumping out of his skin in anticipation.

“That’s why I called, John,” she explained, calmly, “Something came up and I can’t go with you. I’m really sorry.”

“Why? What happened?” John wondered.

“Nothing serious,” Jade insisted, “Bec just got into the garden and completely trashed everything. It’s going to take me all afternoon to clean this up. I just hope that some of the pumpkins are still intact. I’m really sorry, John.”

“No, it’s okay,” John insisted, “I know how important that garden is to you. I bet Karkat will be there, anyways, so I’ll just hang out with him, if I run into him.”

“Alright. I’m really sorry, again,” Jade repeated, “Don’t not have fun at my expense, John. Enjoy yourself. I know how excited you were for thi- Becquerel!Bad dog! Stay out of there! I really have to go, John.”

“Okay. Talk to you, later, Jade.”

“Bye.”

John hung up his phone and sighed. Well, there goes all his excitement. Maybe he could still have fun, though, and headed to the event, anyways. It was a lot more crowded than he remembered and stood in line for a while, waiting to get into the circus. Finally, he reached the booth. A grumpy looking teenager ran it, perhaps a few years older than him. His name tag read Cronus, and he gave John a little bit of an uneasy feeling.

“Um... Hi,” John muttered.

“Can I help you?” he questioned.

“I, uh, have a pass?” John pulled it out and offered it to him. He took it and inspected it for fraud before handing it back.

“‘Kay.”

“Thanks,” John absconded through the entrance and away from him. The first thing he did was get some food and look out for some friends. He spotted a dark-haired boy he knew, after a little bit. Karkat.

“Hey! Karkat!” John called, waving to him. The boy in question turned from his conversation and greeted him.

“Oh. Hey, John.” It was then that John noticed the boy he was standing next to and paused, “Hi.”

“Hello,” he returned. He had dark hair, like Karkat, and wore a simply dark grey shirt. His eyes were covered by a pair of glasses, one lense blue and one lense red.

“Oh, John!” Karkat’s face light up in excitement, “You remember that internet friend I was telling you about? The one who does the programming? This is him. Sollux? This is my buddy, John.”

“Nice to meet you,” John held out his hand.

“Same,” Sollux replied, returning the gesture.

“So... How come you’re out here?” John questioned.

“I work as tech support for the circus community,” Sollux answered, simply.

“Oh. Cool,” John muttered.

“He’s gonna go take me to see some of his new programs,” Karkat explained, “He thinks that he’s so cool and I’ll be impressed by them, but I think he’s just a hotheaded asshole. I’d invite you, but... I don’t really think you’re into this kind of thing.”