Wait...Humans Need Air, Right? (Merstuck! DirkJake Fanfic)

9. New Friends & More Shit

Jake calmly walked along the boardwalk, staring blankly at everything and everyone that passed him. His sister had convinced him to come with her to the city the day before.

"You've been here a week, Jake! You can't spend ALL your time hanging out with your boyfriend!!!" She had said.

Jake had retaliated by saying that "Dirk isn't my boyfriend" and that "He probably doesn't even like boys". But regardless, he agreed to go with her.

So here he was, walking along, doing nothing in particular. Jade skipped ahead of him, grinning and looking around, as thought she were looking for someone. Jake simply followed her, not knowing where else to go.

Suddenly, Jade stopped and let out a high-pitched squeal.

"KARKAT!!!!"

She then ran off, leaving Jake.

Confused, Jake raced after his sister, not wanting to get lost on his first day actually in the city.

Jade was running towards a boy about her age, with blackish-brown hair that was all messed up, light gray swim shorts with bright red stripes down the side, a black T-shirt with the Cancer astrological sign on it in a gray darker than his shorts, gray flip-flops, and a look on his face that was a mixture of disapproval and surprise.

As Jake caught up with his sister, the boy could be heard saying, "Oh, GODDAMMIT!!!" just as Jade jumped on him, hugging him tightly.

"Hi, Karkat!!!!"

"Ugh, hi Jade. Could you get the fuck off me? I can't fucking breathe after you knocked all the air out of me," The boy, Karkat, complained, pushing the girl away from him.

Jade pouted playfully. "You know, you don't have to be so mean all the time, Mr Crabbypants."

Karkat glared at her.

"Don't call me Mr Crabbypants."

He looked up at Jake. "Who the hell is this fuckass?"

Jade frowned and punched his arm.

HARD.

"GAH!!!"

Karkat nearly fell over from the force of the punch, not expecting some one as thin and weak-looking as Jade to pack such a hard punch.

As he regained his balance, rubbing his arm where Jade punched him, the girl smiled as if nothing had happened and pointed at Jake. "Karkat, this is my brother that I was telling you about yesterday, Jake. Jake, this is Karkat."

Karkat stared at Jake, and Jake uncomfortably stared back. Unsure of what to do, Jake stuck out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Karkat."

Karkat wordlessly took his hand, gave it a firm shake, then let it go as if someone had shot him with a jolt of electricity.

There was an awkward pause that felt like a year, but was really only about 7 seconds.

Jade piped up, "So how's your brother, Karkat? What was his name again? Kranki? Kronus?"

Karkat rolled his gray eyes. "His name is Kankri, and he's sill annoying as fuck. I swear, if I hear his voice one more time, I'm gonna- OH SHIT!!! Quick, hide me! He's coming this way!!

The boy quickly pulled Jake in front of him, making an effective shield, as Jake was both taller and had a stockier build than Karkat's. Jake, surprised, didn't bother moving him away.

As the Cancer had said, an young man, looking about 16 years of age, came walking over. He look a lot like Karkat, with similar hair and eyes, although he looked more matured than his brother. He wore a bright red turtleneck sweater (How can he be wearing that in this heat? Jake had thought), black knee shorts (you know, those shorts that go to your knees?) with a waistband and cuffs that matched his sweater, and equally matching red flip-flops.