No One Really Understands

Eyes Like Fire.

He'd wanted to see Dave's eyes. Karkat had been exhausted all morning. he'd been up all night worrying about what the school day would hold, and when his alarm went off, he'd barely slept an hour. And when he finally got to school, the bullies pounced on his almost immediately. They went through their usual routine of screaming "Mutant!" and throwing various small objects his way. But the real blow came when Karkat arrived at his locker. The word "FREAK" was scrawled in thick, black sharpie and when he opened it he found the word scratched into the paint. It sent a stab of hurt through his chest, but he knew he couldn't let it get to him.

Karkat managed to trudge trough first and second period without freaking out and murdering everyone in the room and then himself, but by the time third period rolled around, he felt completely and utterly drained of all energy, and wanted nothing more than to fast forward through the rest of the day so that he could return to the seclusion of his room. But when he walked into the room, he remembered Dave. He felt his cheeks warm and instinctively dropped his gaze to his feet. As he shuffled to his seat, he recalled what Terezi had said about his eyes. He was suddenly filled with intense, irrational curiosity. He wanted to see Dave's eyes. Then and there, Karkat made it his goal, albeit a delusional one, to see them. Maybe, he tried to convince himself, this one small victory would be enough to convince him to hang on until the end of the day.

Karkat sat in the back of the classroom, so that the could see who came into the room. After about twenty people came in, and with a minute until the bell, Karkat was starting to lose hope, when finally Dave strode into class with his usual confident saunter.

And wearing sunglasses.

Karkat's heart sunk to his feet and he dropped his head to hide the tears welling in his eyes. He chastised himself for crying over something so petty and useless, but he was too emotionally drained to care enough to regulate his feelings. Not twenty minutes into class, Karkat  asked to go to the bathroom. As he walked past Dave, he dropped his gaze and didn't look up again until he was in the hallway. He shuffled to the bathroom and slipped into one of the stalls. After checking that he was alone, he slumped against the wall and closed his eyes as a single tear slid down his cheek.

I'm just so tired... 

Luckily, Karkat had remembered to bring his wallet to school. He locked the door and pushed up his sleeves, and dealt with his overflowing emotions the only way he knew how.

Once he was done, he dropped a soaked piece of toilet paper in the toilet and watched it swirl down the drain.

Red like a rose... he thought numbly. He pushed open the door to go wash the evidence from his hands and nails, when a thick, bitter smell hit his nose. He knew who it was before he saw them blow a cloudof smoke out of the open window.

"Gamzee. I didn't hear you come in." Karkat's voice sounded small and hoarse in his ears. Gamzee's eyes slowly slid over to Karkat and a wide, dopey smile spread across his face.

"Heyyy, if it isn't my favorite Vantas," he chuckled. "'Sup?" His eyes shone bright red against his pale skin.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Karkat asked softly. The two had kept in contact after the game ended, but as the months went on, they slowly stopped talking. Now, he had his own little clique of stoners and Karkat was left alone, as always.

Gamzee shrugged. "Yeah, but who's gonna tell?" He took another drag on his joint and squinted at Karkat. "Woah, man, what happened to your arm?"

Karkat reddened and grabbed his wrist behind his back. "N-nothing."

"You sure bro? Looks pretty sick—"

Karkat tugged down his sleeve and turned to leave. "I'll, uh, see you later, Gam."