i wanna feel lethal on the inside, i wanna read american psycho again

> Dave: Walk.

Having someone to accompany you is nice. Not surprisingly so, you've always hated the feeling of being alone, but it's just nice to have his presence beside you as you try and find your way out. (You're not actually trying that hard, because you don't want to disappoint yourself when you end up being unsuccessful, but Karkat simply existing injected some hope in you that you're not sure was there before.) He is always managing to make some kind of noise, whether that be the dull roll of his marker dragging across the wall or the sloshing of his stomping feet against that dumb fucking yellow wet carpet, and it's a welcome change from what you were used to before. It's new, yeah, and completely unlike anything you've ever had to live with, but you'd rather listen to Karkat bitch on about some stupid troll romcom than have to hear those god awful lights for hours on end again.

Yeah, Karkat talks a fucking lot. You thought you talked a lot about random poppycock, but his tantrums about the smallest of things are absolutely unmatched. His voice is a little chalky, and he doesn't really know how to use his inside voice, but he's nice to listen to. He even shares some of the same opinions as you, when you can pinpoint just what the fuck he's talking about.

It's not like you haven't talked, no, you've talked a whole bunch, too. It's easier with Karkat to not chatter away, though, and you never realized it, but you began to realize most of the reason why you yapped away all the time was to fill the silence. When someone else is doing that for you, it's a lot less strenuous. You still go on your weird metaphorical rants, a lot of the time because it's funny to see Karkat's face get all confused and/or disgusted at your words, but also because you feel bad for making him be the one doing all the yammering. You think he doesn't like the silence that much either.

In fact, you haven't been doing much else but walking and talking, and it's bound to get boring someday. It's not boring yet, though, so you savor it while you can.

After about 18 hours of walking, (which is a shit ton more than you're supposed to be doing, but Karkat didn't say anything that indicated he was tired after the 14 hour mark, so you decided to just keep going) you and Karkat finally decide to tap out and find another corner to rest in. He says he always goes for corners with outlets next to them. You think it's pretty superstitious of him, and laugh in his face, but help him find one that matches his requirements. You don't go out of each other's line of sight. That's just dumb people shit. Scooby Doo type tomfoolery, if you will.

You plop down in front of the outlet while he takes the corner. Karkat caps his marker, and looking at the line, the ink hasn't even started to run out. God damn. He notices your surprise and says, "I know right? These things' ink cartridges are fucking monstrous. Nepeta got them for me for my wriggling day this year, she was trying to get me to 'unleash my artistic talent' or whatever the fuck." He rolls his eyes.

"She's not wrong, your art kicks ass. Good thing she got 'em for you." He's mentioned Nepeta a few times after his whole team explanation, so you have a brief idea of who Karkat's talking about. He nods and grunts in agreement.

Karkat pulls out what you think is some sad excuse for a protein bar and starts chomping on that shit like it's a five star meal, and you remember that you should probably eat something. You forgot to eat when you woke up, anyways. A bag of Doritos and a half drank bottle of apple juice appear in your hands from your sylladex, and you set the juice down to start munching on glorious cheesy nanchos. You scarf down the bag in about 87 seconds, not that you were counting, and crumple it up. You pick up the nectar of the gods, aka apple juice, and make sure to savor it. You take a sip and close your eyes, relishing in the flavor, then swallow. You do that about 5 more times before the bottle is empty, and shove the crushed aluminum Doritos bag inside the bottle.

You look over to Karkat, who looks like he's about to burst out laughing at you, and ask him, "Got trash?" He hands you the also crushed wrapper of the "Grub Bar" (seriously who the fuck names this alien merchandise) and banish it with the nancho bag. Then, you realize something and raise an eyebrow at him.

"Did you not drink anything?"

Karkat shrugs. "I don't really need to that often. It's a, uhh," he scratches his neck and blatantly looks away from you, "a troll thing. Yeah. Definitely not a totally weird thing that's not supposed to happen to trolls, it is for sure a normal thing." Jesus christ, he is bad at lying. You hum in acknowledgement.

"Hey man, it's fine even if it's not a normal thing, which it totally is. I am so convinced it's normal, but hypothetically, if it wasn't I would say that I don't really care that much, and if anything it just saves supplies. Hypothetically." You are the dumbest person on the planet. Thankfully, he at least looks a little relieved.

"Yeah, and I would hypothetically say that makes sense and thank you for your understanding." You roll your eyes. Not that he can see it.

"Yeah, whatever, man. I can take first watch this time. I have some..." your brain flashes to the last conversation you had with Rose, "things. To take care of. Before I sleep."

"Alright. I don't usually sleep that much outside of my recuperacoon, by the way, only, like, five to six hours." You blink. Karkat senses your confusion.

"Y'know, like, the capsule that's filled with green slime that you sleep in?"

"What."

"Okay, Mister Smart Guy, what do you sleep in!?"

You stare at him blankly. "A bed." His eye twitches.

"What kind of pretentious douchebag are you? You mean a mattress? Who the fuck calls it a bed anymore."

You snort, "yes, a mattress. I dunno what you're talking about with fuckin' slime or whatever but we don't have any of that shit back where I'm from."

"Where do asshats like you even come from?"

"Texas," you grin. You know he won't get the joke, but what the fuck ever, it's funny.

"Is that the name of your planet or something?"

"Nah, that's just the state I'm from. The planet's Earth."

"That sounds like some kind of weird fucked up dystopian world. Mine's Alternia." Alternia? Really? That's so cliche that you almost laugh. But you don't.

"Cool."

You think it's gonna be the start of an awkward silence, but Karkat thankfully cuts it off fast by leaning against the wall to the left of him and curling up into a ball, still upright. You catch yourself staring at him out of the corner of your eye and you're fast to correct yourself. He starts snoozing pretty quickly, soft snores erupting from him every now and then, and you're stuck in place just thinking about how damn quiet it is without him talking. Your ears feel empty.

You sigh softly so as to not wake up Karkat and your hand goes up hesitantly to your headset. You guess you should talk to Rose now.