"Again John, I'm SO sorry about them teaching those words to Karkat.."
"Hey it's okay.. I'll just teach Karkat not to use those words. Maybe some time we can all meet up and let them hang out again?"
"That'd be wonderfu- Hold on, Eridans tugging at my sleeve.."
A couple of seconds later, "How cute, Eridan and Sollux want to talk to Karkat before they go to bed. Do you think Karkat can talk to them?"
"Well karkats already asleep.." I examined the sleeping troll in my lap, snuggled up in his sweater. I smiled and petted the top of his head with my finger.
I could hear one of them cursing in the background.
"Oh Eridan, stop complaining. He's sleeping. He's younger than you two, he has to get all the rest he can- Don't you- I gotta go.. Bye John- SOLLUX CAPTOR!!" She hung up.
Jeez, those two must really be a handful.
I scooped up Karkat and took him into my room. His eyes slowly opened and he stared up at me with tired eyes. "Whut arr you doing..?" He asked, yawning. He rubbed his eyes and blinked.
His voice was quiet..
Too quiet.
"Putting you to bed. You've had a long day.. Are you okay, Karkat?"
He rubbed his "M-My thrt hrts.." He whimpered.
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK.
"It's because you were yelling those bad words all day.. You should keep your voice down.. It's not good to always be yelling." I frowned.
"Srry.." He looked down.
I laid him down onto his small bed.
"Just try to get some sleep okay? If your throat still hurts tomorrow, we'll fix it right up!"
He smiled then grabbed his blanket.. "Jhn?"
"Yeah Karkat?"
His cheeks flushed slightly. He looked down, messing the a loose string from his blanket. "C-Cn I sleep with you?"
"With me? Like, on my bed?"
He nodded and clutched the blanket fighter.
"Sure, but I kinda move a lot when I sleep. It might now be comfortable."
"I dnt lik myy bed. It hrtz." He hopped down and crawled to my bed, struggling to jump up.
"Here you go." I lifted him up carefully onto one of my pillows. He felt the pillow with his paws, staring at it in wonder. He face planted into it, which made me laugh.
He soon curled up, with his blanket wrapped around him like a burrito.
He purred quietly, snuggling deeper into the pillow.
"Good night Karkat."
"Mmgh mmmg." He grumbled, still not lifting his head as he said a good night back.
I laid down and stared at him for a while. I sighed and took off my glasses, turning off the lights. I closed my eyes, but I felt something warm and fuzzy lay on my neck.
I opened my eyes and saw Karkat.
"Karkat, what are you doing?"
"Getting wrm.." He whispered, purring into my neck.
"I can't sleep with you on my neck dude.. And what if I crush you in my sleep or something?"
He hissed at me and crawled into my shirt from the neck hole.
"Whoa whoa! Get out of there!"
"It'z wrmmmm!!!" He curled up and didn't move.
Just great...
I sighed and laid there.
It actually wasn't that bad.. It felt nice. His purring soon put me to sleep.
-
"JOOOOOOOOOOOOHN!!! MY THRTZ ALL BTTR!!" I woke up to Karkat jumping up and down on my chest.
"That's. Great. Ow. But could you stop. Jumping. OOF. On my chest?"
He jumped one more time before sliding off.
"ERDN AND THLLX CALLED!" He grinned.
"What? When?" I sat up, rubbing my eyes.
"AN HOUR AGO! I WANT WFFLZ!!!"
He rolled around on the bed.
"Are you always this hyper when you wake up?"
"YEA." He giggle and jumped down from the bed, running out the door but he tripped over his sweater again.
"JOOOOHN! MY SWEATER IZ TURNG AGAINST MEEEE!!!"
"We'll just get it hemmed so it can fit you better. Ready to meet more people?" I stood up from the bed.
"WHO?" He looked up, tilting his head.
I picked him up.
"My friend Rose. Feferi says that she knows someone like..you!" I poked his nose on the word 'you'.
"RZ? ROOOOOZ.. ROOOOOOOOOOOOZZZZZZZ!" He grinned. "SHE HAZ A TROLL TWO???"
I nodded. "Let's eat then we'll head over to her place, okay?"
"KAY!"
~~
As I let Karkat watch some more Sesame Street, I looked through the contacts in my phone. It has been a long time since I called any of my old friends..
I found her number and called.
"Hello?"
"Uh.. Rose?" I questioned.
"Yes? Who is this?"
"Uh.. My names John. John Egbert. I'm an old friend.. ?"
"John! It's so good to hear from you! How are you??"
"Great! Uh, anyways.. I was hoping me and a guest could come over to get some clothing hemmed and stuff.. A girl named Feferi told me that your troll is an excellent seamstress!"
"Oh yes, I know Feferi. And Id love for you to meet Kanaya. Who is this guest?"
"Uh, Karkat. He's a troll too."
"Fantastic! Get a pen! I'll give you my address!"
I did as she said and wrote down the address to their house.
She hung up and I walked into the living room, listening to Karkat trying to sound out words.
"CAAAAAAAAAAROTZ!"
"AAAAAAAAAAPPPLLLLLEEE!"
"VEGGIEEEEZZZZ!!!" He grinned.
I laughed and scooped him up into my arms, turning off the tv.
"Ready to go, Karkat?"
He nodded and clung to my arm as we walked out.
I opened the car doors, placing Karkat in the backseat. I put on his seat belt and got into the drivers seat.
I started the car and drove.
It only took less than fifteen minutes to get to a two story house.
The curtains were drawn back and a female was looking out. It just so happened to be Rose.
I took Karkat out of the car and walked up.
She saw us and quickly went to the door, opening it.
"John?? Oh my goodness! You're taller!!"
"Haha, thanks! I needed a bit of help with this little guy's sweater!" I showed off Karkat, who was looking at Rose in wonder.
"Say hi, Karkat. This is my friend Rose."
"HIIIIII ROOOZ!" He smiled.
Rose smiled and extended her pinky to shake Karkats hand. "Oh, it's lovely to meet you.. Karkat?"
He nodded. "THATZ MEEE!"
"Well by the looks of that oversized sweater, I'm guessing Feferi gave that to you and told you about my Kanaya?"
"Yeah!"
Rose giggled, "Please, come in! Karkat, would you like to meet Kanaya?"
"KNYA? YEAH!" He nodded.
Rose stepped aside as I walked in.
She led us to another room where I saw a small troll sitting on the couch. She was bigger than Karkat by a lot, but still looked small. She wore a black shirt and red skirt. Her small hands were knitting socks just like Vriska said.
Rose walked over and kneeled down to her. "Kanaya, I think those are enough socks. We have plenty."
"You Can Nevee Have To Many Socks." The troll named Kanaya spoke. She spoke with maturity, which I was surprised by.
"Well, you can make more socks later. We have some guests. One is a troll."
Kanaya looked up and smiled.
Rose pointed to us, in which Kanayas head turned to give us our attention.
Karkats eyes widened and he waved.
"HI!!! IM KRKAT!" He almost nearly yelled.
Kanaya quickly stood and scurried to my feet.
I gently set Karkat down on the floor in front of her.
"Nice To Meet You, I'm Kanaya. Kanaya Maryam." She extended her hand to Karkats, which he took into a shake.
Me and Rose stood side by side from each other, smiling happily at how well they were getting along.
"Kanaya, do you think you can fix Karkats sweater? It's oversized on him." Rose said, getting a nod from Kanaya. She grabbed Karkats wrist and pulled him to the couch.
"John, would you like something to drink? We can catch up while they bond."
"Sure, that's be wonderful." We walked into the kitchen, keeping our watch on the two friendly trolls.
Rose handed me a cup of tea as we sat down.
"Wow, it's been forever.. How have you been?"
"It's been pretty okay.. I'm actually a guidance counselor now at our old high school."
"Oh really? That's wonderful. I'm currently writing a novel."
"Really?? That's so cool!"
She smiled and took a drink from her cup. "So how did you get Karkat? He seems a bit young to have such a wide vocabulary already."
"It was the last day of work, and a student came into my office, telling me about a box outside. We go and there's Karkat, but he looked awful.."
I lowered my voice a bit, "He was like a bag of bones, rotting away in that box.. If I didn't do something, he would have died out there. That's when I met Aradia and Feferi. I had called the animal hospital they work at."
"Ah, I see.." Rose gave a nod.
"Then she told me about their bloods ad stuff.. How no one would take Karkat because of his red blood color, so I took him in."
"He's a red blood.." She looked off to the side sadly. She looked back up and smiled, "Well he seems to be in healthy condition now. You did good John.."
I smiled and took a sip of the hot tea. "Oh dear, I must know! Do you know anything about the troll quadrants?"
"I've heard about it.. But not in full detail.."
Rose smirked, "John, let's have a little talk about the quadrants.."
"Oh crap, is it anything like the birds and the bees?"
"Mm.. Slightly.."
Karkats POV:
I watched Kanaya fix my sweater.
"So Karkat, How Old Are You..?"
"UH.. I DONT REALLY KNOW? I THINK A SWEEP OR TWO??"
"How Did That Human Get You?"
"OH THATZ JHN! HE FND ME IN A BOX!"
She stopped and looked at me, "A Box? How On Earth Did You Get In A Box?"
"MY OTHER HUMAN LEFT ME IN THR. HE SAD.. HE SAD BECAUSE HE COULDNT KEEP ME.." My ears dropped a little. "HE TOLD ME IT WAZ TOO KEEP MEE SAFE."
"Safe From What?"
"THE SCURRY GUY!" I held my legs close.
"The.. Scary Guy?"
I nodded, remembering my past human and the scary guy! He was so scary!!
"Hmm.. Well, Now You Have That Human With My Rose To Protect You." She turned her attention to my sweater. "And..Your Sweater Is All Finished! Try It On." She handed it to me.
I grabbed it and slipped it on, struggling a bit to get it over my head.
"ITZ PURFET!" I hugged Kanaya tightly. I felt her arms wrap around me, purring quietly .
"Heh, You're Welcome.. Oh, Would You Like Any Socks?"
"S-SCKS?!?!?" I grinned. "YEZZ!!!"
John's POV:
"So.. Have you heard from David lately?"
"Actually.." I put the cup down. "No.. After going to college, me and him just kinda.. Stopped talking? I really want to see him again though.. "
"Well he-" She cut herself off and looked down. Kanaya was there, tugging her skirt.
Rose lifted Kanaya up and set her down onto the table, "Yes, what is it Kanaya?"
"I Finished His Sweater, But He Told Me About Who Put Him In A Box."
That quickly captured my attention.
"What? He told you?"
"Not Who It Was, But Karkat Described Him.. And A Scary Guy? I Want To Hurt Whoever Put Him In A Box." Kanaya growled.
"Kanaya, your temper.. Calm down.." Rose warned, using her finger to rub her horn a bit.
Kanaya immediately relaxed, leaning into her touch.
I stood up and walked to the couch, seeing Karkat roll around in a pile of knitted socks. He looked up and saw me, "JHNNN!!! KNYA GAVE ME SCKSS!!!!! I HAVE SCKS!!!!!!"
I laughed and picked him up, "Happy now? Wow, that sweater fits you nicely now."
"THNKS!!! KNYA AND ROZ ARE REALLY NICE!! CAN WE COME HERE MORREE?"
"Sure, but it has to be okay with them."
I grabbed a pair of red socks for Karkat and walked back to the kitchen.
"What do you say to Kanaya, Karkat?"
"THANK YOUUUUU!"
Kanaya looked up and smiled, "No Problem, I Hope You Enjoy Those Socks."
"I WILL!"