Chapter Text
"Oh shit, oh shit" the short eighth grader thought as he ran through the trees. "She's going to find me here!" He looked around, panicked. He was running out of time. Then, his savior came in the form of a fallen tree. The black marks next to the break suggested that it had been hit by lightening once, a long time ago, but it had decayed and been a host to generations of termites since then. It was probably the shittiest hiding place in the world, but given the circumstances, it was the best he could manage.
Oh god, were those footsteps her? The leaves were definitely crunching, that was the sound of feet, he was sure of it. She could probably hear his damn breathing. Okay, focus Karkat, focus, it's going to be- "Augh!" he screamed as he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up into the full green eyes of Nepeta Leijon, an amused smile gracing her face.
"You're supposed to hide, Silly, not just throw yourself on the ground!"
Karkat Vantas got up, wiped the pine needles clinging to his sweater off of himself, and shot her a respectable glare. However, having known Karkat since they were both eight, Nepeta was hardly fazed and simply said, "You're it," before bouncing off to find the rest of their classmates.
Karkat sighed and walked out of the trees into the middle of the park, to the 'safety zone' comprised of a couple of towels laid out side by side that the rest of his friends would be try to get to before Nepeta could tag them too. He briefly considered sitting in the middle of the towels as he waited, but just as he was about to sit down, a boy came hurtling out of some bushes about thirty meters away. The blue scarf trailing behind him and purple streak in his hair made it impossible to not know who it was, and his ungraceful flop onto the blanket wasn't out of character either.
"Ha! I got to the safe zone first, I w-win!" He exclaimed, jumping up and grinning.
Karkat rolled his eyes. "Actually assfuck, you just don't lose. That glorious title goes to me. But if you'll remember, the point of the game is to be the last one to make it to the safety zone. This is hardcore hide and seek."
"Yeah, none of that sissy seventh grade shit." Someone said from behind Karkat. "We're gonna be little froshies in a couple months, gotta get out hardcore on before we're once more bottom of that four year totem that you fall of just as you reach the top. It's not a totem pole, it's like that greek rock. Call Sisyphus over here, he'll explain it for you."
"Holy shit, when did you get here?" Karkat exclaimed, turning to see the new boy.
Dave shrugged and pointed to a tree. "Dropped out of there. I got bored of waiting for y'all."
"So ya decided to completely bypass the rules of the game?" Eridan asked.
Karkat smirked. "Because you were doing so well following them."
Dave rolled his eyes.
Karkat had been surprised the first time he'd seen him do that all those years ago. Considering his shades took up half of his fucking face he'd thought it would be impossible to tell when Dave's eyes did anything, but there was something about the quirk of his eyebrows and the slight bob of his head that made it very clear when he was mocking someone. Or attempting to, at least.
"I told you, I got bored. Anyway Karkles, you were here way before me."
"Well Nepeta found me, okay!" It wasn't his fault he couldn't climb trees, he'd never had any fucking occasion to learn.
"Seriously?" Dave said, sounding surprised. "I thought for sure hipster douche over there had gotten tagged."
Eridan protested the nickname, and the three of them squabbled good-naturedly while they waited for the rest of their friends.
Soon everyone but three were gathered on the blankets.
"I knew Sollux and Vriska were competitive, but don't you think this is getting a little ridiculous?" A girl tall and developed enough to be mistaken for seventeen or eighteen said to a girl with short blond hair, black lipstick and a permanent smirk on her face that said in no uncertain terms she knew more than you.
"Have a little more patience, Kanaya, we all know that ever since the War of the Spiders and the Bees they've felt an almost pathological necessity to outdo each other. But have no fear, because Nepeta is an excellent finder." There was a shriek from the woods and the girl's, Rose's, lips quirked up in a smile. "Ah look, here they are."
Two figures were running out of the woods, the tall, gangly boy slightly behind the dark haired girl. Nepeta, who was chasing them, emerged from the forest when they were only ten or so meters from the blankets. If neither of them slowed down, she wouldn't catch them, but of course, it was the kid who got to the safe zone last who won the game, so neither of them were running as fast as they could. About a meter and a half from the blanket, Vriska the girl in front, made a full stop, hoping Sollux wouldn't be able to stop in time and would fall into the safe zone. He, however, had been expecting this, and stopped just as gracefully as her. Until he was picked up, that is.
"Vrithka wha- augh!" He had time to scream, before being thrown into the safe zone. Vriska smirked as she stepped onto the towels. "You should be thanking me. After all, you're the one always saying second is the best. I believe I win."
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Karkat smiled at the memory. His friends were all idiots, and it was great to see them again after a summer of doing nothing but watching romcoms and horribly failing to beat Sollux in various online games.
Speaking of, lispy fuck was looking at him strangely. Karkat's smile was immediately replaced by a scowl as he glared over a sleeping Gamzee in the middle airline seat to Sollux, who was on the aisle. Sollux put up his hands innocently and grinned, more used to that expression on Karkat's face, then turned back to whatever electronic he had buried himself in now. Really, Karkat should be grateful the programmer even checked in on him, you had to be pretty special if he'd tear his eyes from a screen for you.
It completely baffled Karkat that Sollux would choose the aisle though. His window seat, at the front of the plan no less, made sense because he tended to get airsick, but he'd think, given Sollux's ability to sit in one place for two straight days, as long as he has plenty of red bull and five hour energy, he wouldn't need the aisle. Still, he supposed he could appreciate having the ability to move around, although he himself really didn't give a fuck if he had to climb over Gamzee and Sollux when nature came calling.
He flipped his friend the bird over the tall, sleeping kid in between them, then resumed staring out the window.
They had been on the plane for three hours now, it was late enough that all the cabin lights had turned off and except for a couple of reading lights, the plane was dark. Even three hours later though, it was still difficult to believe they were on a Peixis private plane going to some private island in order to celebrate starting their first year of high school, especially since it was Feferi's cousin, rather than Feferi herself, who had invited them all.
It wasn't that Meenah Peixis was mean, or even anti-social, but she had her own group friends, all seniors now, and even if they were all technically related, it's not like she knew Karkat and his friends all that well. He supposed that's why their cousins would be there too. He remembered how surprised he was when he was first invited to this party.
He had opened his email because his dad occasionally sent him funny, by which he means very dark humored, comics, or even pictures of cool and stylish guns and knives, because his dad had a thing for knives. Even if Karkat wasn't really thrilled with the subject matter, it was one of the only things they shared, so he always read them and tried to respond in kind.
That day there had been no new emails containing diagrams of knives, but there was one titles 'listen up mother glubbers". He groaned as he opened it, hoping he wouldn't have to discern the meaning through countless fish puns. Nepeta's cat jokes were all the animal related humor he felt one person was obligated to deal with.
The gods must have been with him that day, because the email, despite it's subject heading, was almost entirely pun-free.
"Yo, lil' guppies. i have a proposal for you. My friends and I are havin a sweet Gonna be Seniors bash on a private island, and Aunty Condy decided it would only be nice to invite our lil' cousins and teach em how to be good fishies in their new school. Pack your bags for adventure and partying, and be at the airport 7:00 friday. All your parents will be gettin' details for planes and shit, and the tickets are already bought so there's saying you're not coming. Sides it'll be fun!
See everyone on Friday! 3XD"
And here he was, two days later, looking out the window rather than watching a movie because the moving pictures made him feel sick. That was the reason he hadn't fallen asleep like the majority of his friends, he knew from experience that air travel and sleep didn't go together for him. It was strange then, that he was feeling so tired. Sollux, who also never slept, seemed to be nodding off too, and his computer was still open. Karkat thought perhaps these anomalies might have something to do with the hissing coming from the vents, but before he could reflect on the possible malicious intent of the air conditioning, his cheek was pressed against the window and his eyes were closed.