Weaving Webs (Vriska x Karkat)

Act I

=> Be Karkat

The first day of the second year of your sweep-long voyage to the Alpha Session finds you tucked away in a quiet corner of the meteor laboratory that you've been forced to call home, endlessly mulling over ways to dig yourself out of the perforated cluster-fuck that your life has become. Eventually you give up and comb your hands in your hair out of sheer frustration, careful to avoid the nubby lumps that pass off as your excuse for horns. Despite your care, you not-so-gently bump one with your palm, the sensitive surface releasing a sensation that's somewhere between painful, relaxing and...another thing you really do not want to consider at this precise moment. With your train of thought thoroughly derailed and any sense of concentration chased away into the deepest, darkest recesses of your think-pan, you decide to stave off the constant boredom of life aboard the meteor by taking a walk. Around the meteor, obviously.

You stand slowly and stretch, your leg and back muscles thoroughly cramped after Jegus knows how many hours spent curled up against an unforgiving combination of stone and steel. Pulling the rear of your t-shirt down from halfway up your back to a more acceptable position below the hem of your trousers, you take a half-step forward. The full step is interrupted by a metallic screech that echoes deep down your audio canals, namely the sound of the door to the lab opening. And through it, of course, steps the one person you would be quite happy to avoid at this precise moment of time. Quite happy to avoid at all times, actually. As she steps into the lab properly, the door grinding shut behind her, and fixes her freaky multi-pupiled glare on you, you know deep in your sinking heart that, short of a freaking miracle, absconding from this situation is impossible.

=> Be Vriska

You're so wrapped up in your thoughts as you enter the lab that you almost fail to notice the clothed grey huddle in the corner until it rises and takes the form of none other than Karkat Vantas. Letting the door swing shut behind you and fixing Nubby McShouty with your best steely, eight-pupiled glare, you stride into the centre of the lab. Karkat watches you intently the whole way, his little black pupils constantly flicking between you and the door, as though seeking an escape route. The thought that the oh-so-confident Vantas might actually be scared of you brings a small smile to your face, though it has been firmly abolished by the time you reach the other troll and plant yourself firmly in front of him.

'Serket,' he manages between clenched teeth, the frown lines on his forehead deepening.

'Vantas,' you reply cheerily, noticing the pulse that begins to tick in his right temple.

'Did you want something or did you just come in here to piss me off?'

'Oh Karkat,' you sigh, raising one arched eyebrow in his direction. 'Is your own opinion of yourself so inflated that you automatically assume that my coming in here had anything to do with you?'

He lets out a weird, strangled noise somewhere between a sigh and a groan and pushes past you. 'Just, leave me alone, ok?'

You smile and let him pass, giving his ass a playful swat on the way past. He stops mid-step, utters a few choice expletives concerning you and turns to carry on walking toward the door. However, he stops three steps in and tilts his head to one side, a thing he normally does when deep in thought. After what seems like an age, but was probably only a few minutes, he turns to face you. You notice that the lines around his eyes seem deeper, and, more obviously, that he's savaging his lower lip with his fangs.

'Vriska,' he says suddenly, surprising you with his use of your first name and his unusually quiet pitch. 'Could you...come over here a sec?'

You tilt your head, mulling the request over for a few seconds before shrugging nonchalantly and ambling over to him. He spends a few more minutes looking down and playing absently with the hem of his shirt. Only a not-so-subtle nudge from your foot convinces him to look up, directly into your eyes. Almost lazily, you extend your mental threads and dip briefly into his mind. As expected, it's a seething mix of hatred, supressed anxiety and something...else, an unknown quantity that's rapidly ascending to the surface and obliterating everything along the way. You realise his intent at the last possible second and hastily remove yourself from his head, taking a hurried step backwards. For once however, your infinite luck appears to have deserted you and you are a second too slow.

His head moves up and he leans in obscenely quickly, catching your bottom lip between his fangs and biting down hard. The reflexive gasp in surprise opens your mouth ever so slightly, enough for him to make full contact and slip his tongue between your teeth. Seized with a horrible feeling of helplessness, you attempt to reassert control of the situation, yet refrain from breaking the kiss for reasons you don't even understand. Inexplicably, Karkat has succeeded in keeping your tongue firmly pressed down, allowing him free reign to explore with his. The pressure on your lip also increases noticeably, as does the tightness of your jeans as your body reacts, completely against your will.

Focusing all of your formidable willpower on preventing the warmth from spreading and making your humiliation complete, you almost miss the relaxing of pressure on your lip and the void left by Karkat's tongue as it withdraws. You return your attention to him as he takes a very large step away from you.

'Karkat-' you begin, completely lost for words for the first time in forever.

He doesn't give you chance to finish, turning away with a muttered curse and shouldering through the door. It slams behind him with a percussive bang, leaving you alone in the centre of the lab. It's only then that you notice a warm, wet sensation dribbling down your chin. You touch a finger to your lip and examine it, noticing with a jolt that the tip is now stained cerulean. Stunned, angry and a hell of a lot of other things that are currently crashing around in your head, you stare at the blood, your blood, for a long time as it snakes a path down your finger and pools in your shaking palm.