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CRUCIBLE OF CREATIVE POTENTIAL: The Homestuck Request Meme
ACT TWO
(also known as SHITSTAIN ASSMASTER)By popular demand, a general request meme for MSPA, at long last. Have an idea you want to see drawn or written? This is the place to ask. Both romantic (of any kind, het or slash) and general prompts are accepted. Reply to those comments with art ( Read more... )
ACT TWO
(also known as SHITSTAIN ASSMASTER)By popular demand, a general request meme for MSPA, at long last. Have an idea you want to see drawn or written? This is the place to ask. Both romantic (of any kind, het or slash) and general prompts are accepted. Reply to those comments with art ( Read more... )
Except one.
After a brief and obligatory art jam session with Dave (who smells like cherries and cream and is just as cool in person as you imagined him), you excuse yourself. "I don't know where Karkles is, probably moping in his respiteblock again. I'm gonna go try to find him, we'll draw again later!" Of course, John is worried at hearing this ("Is Karkat okay?" You don't have the heart to tell him just yet that no, he is most definitely not okay) but you assure him things will be fine.
You are a little worried when you open the door to his respiteblock and do not find him. You are little more worried when you enter the makeshift kitchen and he isn't here, either. You are worried to the point that you are calling his name as you comb the facility for him when he is not found in the washrooms.
Finally, you find him near the ectobiology lab, sitting at the bottom of the stairs, hugging his knees. You call his name and he does not respond at first.
You try again. "Karkat? What's wrong?" You cannot make out his response so you ask him again.
"...I said, today's the day that I fucking lose you."
You have no idea what he's talking about. "I don't understand."
"They're here, right? He's here. Why are you wasting your time with me when you could be chalking it up with him?"
Oh. This. "Karkat, what's gotten into you? Why do you---"
"Don't give me that shit. I know you like him, okay? You don't have to fucking pretend anymore, go be with the douchebag."
Now you are more than a little annoyed. Haven't you been there for him all this time? Wasn't it you who sacrificed so much of her time trying to help him? "Do you really think I'm that callous?" you ask him, and you cannot hide how hurt you are by his accusations.
"I'm a goddamn wreck, Terezi. Fucking look at me, some fucking leader I am. He didn't argue with different versions of himself so much that nobody took him seriously anymore. He didn't freeze up and just fucking watch while someone killed Feferi and Kanaya. He," and he has to stop to catch himself so he doesn't break down here, "he didn't send your best friend to die."
He can't bear to look you in the eyes anymore.
"So, go. Go be with him. You deserve better than me."
You can smell a hint of watery red cherry pooling at his eyes as he finishes his sentence, and the full force of the realization of just how deep his self-loathing runs hits you like a sixteen-wheeled cargo transportation vehicle.
"Why are you still here, Terezi?" That he would deny himself your company because he feels unworthy of your attention is...
You cannot allow him to spiral any further. You sit down next to him and lock your fingers with his. He tries to push you away halfheartedly but he just ends up burying his face in your shoulder, trying to fight the urge to cry. Before you realize what you're saying, you blurt out exactly what you're thinking.
"I'm still here because I pity you!"
Welp. The floodgates are open now. The levee is breaking, the dam is fucking busted. The sandbags are not holding. Old men are refusing to evacuate. The waterworks have been turned on at full blast and it is goddamned pouring. Dudes are going down Main Street in canoes. Everything in the basement is ruined.
To say Karkat has gotten a little emotional at the realization that you would still call him your matesprit, even after all he's put you through, would be the understatement of the fucking sweep. Hell, even you're tearing up a bit. He is completely incoherent and he is still trying to ask you questions. You find it kind of adorable, actually!
"Ahstilffluhushhdfrmee?"
"Always."
"Budwhadabotim?"
"Hehehe, we're way paler than that, Karkles!"
"Budammafkeengmehess!"
"Don't care. You're stuck with me, like it or not!"
"Uggahaderrezzee!!!"
Until this moment, you have never been glad to hear Karkat crying. But, you think you can handle tears of joy.
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John and Jade greet him enthusiastically, which is probably a rather conservative description of the double bear hug sandwich that nearly squeezes the breath out of him. He only puts up token resistance before resigning himself to defeat and simply accepting it. Rose is far more subdued, simply shaking his hand. Dave just nods and offers his fist for a bump, which Karkat returns after a moment. Later that night, you would that Kanaya and Sollux had explained Karkat's situation in your absense, and all four humans had agreed not to bring it up.
Hours later, when the two of you lay down to sleep, he manages to get through it with only one daymare. And this time, when you kiss him to calm him down...
Well, it takes a minute. But he kisses you back. It's only a peck on the cheek, really, but your heart skips a beat when it happens. It is a little bit of progress, and it makes you indescribably happy.
==>
He progresses further in the next week. He is occasionally able to leave his respiteblock without you at his side, though he much prefers having you around (you made a promise, you will not begrudge him this). He starts eating regularly without your constant reminders. Occasionally, he even sleeps without the terrorizing visions that have plagued him since this ordeal began.
Finally, one day, the group is holding the first strategy meeting, to come up with a plan to deal with the Demon once and for all. For thirty minutes after it begins, there is no sign of Karkat, and you are certain you won't see him until after it concludes. Suddenly, a door opens. You sniff toward it.
Steel and gunpowder.
He is here, of his own volition, and you could not be prouder. True, Gamzee is absent ("the less I fuckin' know, the better, just in case those motherfuckers take over my goddamn head again," he explained before leaving), but the fact that he is making the attempt to communicate with someone who isn't you again speaks volumes about how far he's come. He sits down in the empty seal you left for him, just in case. You take his hand under the table, interlacing your fingers with his as you smile at him.
"I'm glad you came, Karkles."
And of course, John, doofus that he is, has to go and ruin the moment. "I'll say! You feeling better now, buddy?" You're half expecting Karkat to growl something like no, idiot, I am not feeling better now, but he just manages a grunt and says "maybe."
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You escort Karkat back to his respiteblock, as you have done every day for almost a perigree. You take your place beside him, as has been your routine. You kiss his cheek, as you do every time, and he follows it up with one of his own. You sniff the air and finally, finally, you catch what you've been looking for (hoping for) ever since this began: under the gunpowder black and mixed with the metallic grey, just barely, you catch the faintest hints of candy apple. It is not the red he has worn so often lately, borne from fright or frustration or sheer exhaustion, but a red formed from this, right here, a red that shows he's here and he's alive and that for this moment, at the very least, he is something that you could theoretically call "okay."
Such a small thing it is, but you love him for it.
Later, he will wake you up, in the throes of another sleep terror, but it will not last as long as most do, and he will return to sleep faster than usual.
He is making excellent progress, and it is almost entirely due to your efforts.
==>
Three nights later, he demands to see Gamzee.
The humans don't have the entire story, just bits and pieces of it. They know there was some sort of trouble in the Veil before they arrived, and Gamzee was partly responsible, but he's reformed and has been a willing prisoner since then. But all of the surviving trolls know there could be trouble. One of them could snap and kill the other, and given Karkat's recent state of mind, it might not be Gamzee.
When they finally meet, you and Sollux stand at either side of Karkat, and Vriska and Kanaya by Gamzee. The humans take positions between them. Further bloodshed is the last thing anyone needs right now.
When Gamzee enters the room, he grips your hand tightly and does not let go. He quakes with fear with each step Gamzee takes.
Finally, one of them speaks. "I'm sorry." But it is not Gamzee who apologizes, it's Karkat.
"I'm sorry that I failed you, Gamzee. As a fucking leader, as a fucking friend. I pretty much ignored you the whole game and look where it fucking got us, eh?"
He pauses a bit before continuing. "Don't beat yourself up over all this, okay? You needed help and I couldn't deliver. As far as I'm concerned, I killed Equius and Nepeta. I should be wearing those right now." Jade gasps and John's eyes widen in shock as the weight of what Gamzee has done finally settles in.
"Bro, I--"
"Don't, okay? Don't fucking try to apologize, I won't fucking stand for it. You weren't yourself, that's all there is to say on the matter. Terezi, I want him out of those goddamn cuffs."
"No! You motherfuckin' can't do that, man! What if those motherfuckers come back?! Hell no, sister, fucking throw away the key, I'm fucking staying in lockdown."
He does not have the willpower to argue. "...as you were, then." He turns and makes his exit. Everyone in the room is a little shaken up afterward.
He does not leave his respiteblock for the rest of the day. Hours later, he regresses a bit; he wakes in the dark three times, tormented by particularly vivid memories of the past. You hold him close to you to stop his terror.
He was not ready to confront Gamzee today, and he is paying for it now.
It is a difficult thing, to see Karkat Vantas like this, but you knew what you were getting into when you began. You will be here for him, as long as it takes.
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"Terezi."
"Karkles?"
"Why do you do it, Terezi?"
"Stay with you, you mean?"
"Yeah. Why do you put up with my hoofbeastshit? Anyone else would have given up on me."
"Hehehe. I'm not just 'anyone else,' I think you would have figured that much out by now!"
"Well yeah, but..." He turns your words over in his mind and you think he might honestly be incapable of processing them. The idea that anyone, even you, his matesprit, could see him for everything he's worth (and not once has he ever honestly believed he was worth much) and still choose to remain by his side is a concept that is so very alien to him.
"I never..." He is struggling to find the words. "I never found any fault in you, Terezi. You have to understand that, even the day the humans came, not once did I think... God, what do I even fucking say here, Terezi?"
You sit on your knees next to the bed. "You don't have to say anything, Karkat. I understand."
Karkat Vantas has hated himself for most of his short life and has always dealt with it by applying vast amounts of false bravado. At first, his self-loathing was seated in his position on the hemospectrum, easily described as the following: N/A. When he, entirely accidentally, let you in on his secret, your heart broke for him as you finally realized it as the very reason why he is what he is. Now, with nearly half the team either dead or missing in action under his leadership, his fury at himself has reached the point where it almost broke him.
Almost. Because you're here to help him. He is not quite whole, and it will take some time yet to repair Karkat. But you will be here for him, for as long as it takes.
You take his head into your hands, but it is he who leans forward to kiss you, lips and teeth clumsily crashing into your own. You try and fail miserably to stifle a giggle at his awkwardness.
"What? Damnit, Terezi, I'm trying, don't fucking ruin the moment!"
"Hehehehehe! Karkles, you are adorable!" You climb onto the bed next to him and sniff. He is blushing furiously. You remove your glasses and move in for another kiss.
Let's see what John's up to!
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You are JOHN EGBERT, friendchef extraordinaire, master of breakfasts. You have left no bacon unsizzled, no pancake unflipped, no glass of orange juice unpoured in your conquest of the kitchen.
"Breakfast is ready!" you call to your hungry pals, and they line up, eager to take their plates. Not long after everyone else has been served, the two of them (the knight, the seer) finally show up.
"Hey Karkat! Good to see you this morning!" He sort of grunts and half-waves at you. This is the first time he's come around for breakfast, and you're happy to see your buddy has finally managed to drag himself out of bed for it. The two of them take their plates and sit at the table.
Karkat has managed to flip his shit exactly zero times so far, even after noticing Gamzee is here too. It might be because he and Terezi are totally holding hands until the table. They make such a cute couple. You've got to remember to thank Terezi for sticking with your best alien friend through all this.
He pokes at the pancakes on his plate. "The hell are these?" he asks. "Pan cakes," Terezi answers. "They're made from crushed Earth grain powder and then you pour tree sap over them and they're so good! Try them!" You can't help but laugh at that. Human food sure can be weird!
Karkat reluctantly takes a bite of the pancake. "Eh, it's okay."
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You are KARKAT VANTAS, and holy shit, this is the most delicious thing you have ever eaten.
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Yeah it just kind of ends, but it's on a hopeful note, at least! Maybe I'll go back and write more for this.
Thanks to whoever left the prompt, I really enjoyed writing this. I'll throw this up on my AO3 after I post this, so you'll be able to read the whole thing there, too.
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http://archiveofourown.org/works/193464
There it is, with misspellings and typos and such completely stamped out, I hope
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man i've never read a terezi/karkat fic before this but it is now way up there in the favorites pile. really, just so outstandingly sweet. ;A;
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