Red [A Karezi Fanfic]

Welcoming

"Tell me again as to why you're here at the crack of dawn?" Karkat grumbled, still on the floor next to Terezi. He seemed to want to sink into the floor and disappear. Terezi, who was happy to see he sister once again, grinned. Latula didn't return the smile.
"Maybe we might be moving a little sooner than usual." She mumbled guiltily, hoping they wouldn't hear.
"But that's good, isn't it?" Terezi heard her siblinb loud and clear. Latula was looking anywhere but her sister, who was half kneeling half standing. Karkat rubbed his arm a bit too guilty beside her.
"Isn't it, sis?"
The mood pooled into the room in the blink of an eye.
"We're running out of money." Latula took off her glasses, smiling bittersweetly to Terezi, who simply mirrored her look. Her eyes were tired, red from whatever the reason and her hair was a mess.
"Pack up your things, I know somebody who can let us all crash for a while." She walked past the two on the floor and went straight to grab at their backpacks, cleaning and grabbing anything that they needed. Karkat slumped in his position, clearly feeling as if he didn't belong here.
"Mom kicked the boot on you didn't she?" Terezi muttered, it was followed by a silence, clearly already answered.
"Where is the place?" The midnight haired male killed the silence, but only brought more. Latula paused, before continuing to stuff their bags.
"You're a Vantas, right?"
Karkat nodded, not entirely liking the vagueness. Terezi took the moment to stand up and help her sister. The Vantas watched the two silently.
"Brace yourself, buddy." The messy haired lisp of a guy called from the doorway, holding what seemed to be both his and Latula's backpacks. They shared a look, and Karkat felt just the bit uncomfortable.

-

"He's a highschool friend of ours." Latula grunted, slamming the car door closed as she sat in the drivers seat. Karkat and Teeezi sat in the back seats of the rusty car, it's leather seats were peeling and a feint smell of oversprayed febreeze with something dead reeked in the air. Terezi plugged her nose.
"God, sis, it smells like the plague in here." She said in a nasally sort of voice, making Karkat grumble about how calmly she was taking the situation. Latula jerked the keys in the car and looked back at her sister, beaming.
"I wouldn't know!" That brought a smile to Terezi's face, also following an eye roll as Latula cranked the radio up. It played a loud rock song and the couple in the front banged their heads to it. The Pyrope a little less violently as she sped down the road.
Karkat gripped his seat, eyes darting at the amount of speed the car was going, Terezi simply cackled at him and held his hand for any comfort.
They rolled through the city, heading for one of the quieter neighbourhoods that most likely had cats wandering around.
"Could we maybe had more information about the guy we're crashing with?" Karkat yelled over the music, his voice hoarse. Latula did the curtesy of turning the radio down.
"Well there, Vantas. This guy lives with his dad who is barely around cause of his job or something, currently has a good job too, is really welcoming-"
"And annoying." Mituna interrupted, he was wearing a loud looking helmet. with binary tinted glasses stuck to them. Which surprisingly, held no suspicion.
"Tell me about it! But don't complain to much, this guys saving us." She made a rough turn, making the car swerve and Karkat choke down a screech. Terezi whooped loudly and Mituna had no problem scream-cursing. But apparently, they had arrived.

-

Karkat stumbled out of the car, holding in what was left in his stomach as Terezi held him up. They crouched in the grass lawn for a second or two.
"This is bat-shit crazy." The midnight haired teen muttered, the Pyrope grinned.
"You'll get used to it." And she grabbed his hand.
"Let's go slowpokes!" Latula called, they swung their backpacks over their shoulders.

You could say the house seemed nice.

Polished front door with a nice little sign saying 'Home Sweet Home" and a small little group of plants near the mailbox. It was a townhouse that seemed really quiet from the outside, Terezi couldn't feel any lighter. Above them was a balcony, the door to it wide open and the curtains blowing out gracefully. Karkat had to admit it, whoever lived here did a pretty good job. He squeezed Terezi's hand a bit out of, well, he didn't know what. But she squeezed back, feint grin playing on her lips.

Latula rang the doorbell two times, as if making sure she was doing it correctly. It was silent, Karkat's heart beating out of his chest as he imagined a somewhat home; something he hadn't seen in a while. Terezi edged closer towards the door as the lock clicked, and the door swung open slowly in a matter of heart beats.

There stood a young male with black and clean hair, probably Mituna's height and wearing a bright red sweater. He smiled pleasantly. All the colour drained from Karkat's face.
"Kankri! Nice to see ya!" Latula chimed, the Vantas flicked his eyes at everyone.
"Latula, Mituna. It's a pleasure." His eyes reached the two teens behind them. He smiled that weird pleasant smile again and Karkat wanted to barf.
"Hello, I'm Kankri Vantas. I think it's only proper that we introduce ourselves." The midnight head of hair extended his hand to the two. Terezi tensed at the name and was now looking between Karkat and Kankri. She took a pause before recollecting herself.
"Terezi Pyrope, Latula's little sister. Nice to meet you." She grinned in a more mature way. Karkat wasn't planning on saying anything. But of course, Kankri looked at him expectantly.
"Seriously? I have to do this?" Latula looked at him in a sort of do-it-or-else-dude sort of way and he sighed. Kankri forced on a smile.
"Karkat Vantas, great seeing you've still got your head in your royal ass." He shook his hand violently as Kankri's smile faded.

It was silent, really, really, silent.

"Karkat?" Kankri moved to hold his little brothers head in his hands, checking for some non-existent injury. The younger Vantas squirmed and swatted his hands away.
"Yeah it's Karkat, been thinking you've forgotten my name by now."
Kankri acted as though he didn't hear Karkat at all. (Which was most likely true.) He simply pulled the other into a hug, the younger one grimaced, feeling the others whistle from beneath his sweater.
"Welcome home." Kankri whispered, and that sort of flicked a switch in Karkat's brain. He untangled himself from the hug.

"Y'know what? Who the hell says that?" He backed away from his older brother in disgust. "I got kicked out of the house and you watched it happen like a freaking audience member. And now once I show up you say welcome home? Yeah, thanks for nothing, brother."
Terezi was holding his arm as he breathed heavily, watching his brother scramble in his head for words. He wanted to leave. To not have to deal with his brother and not want to see this family reunion crumble. Hell, he didn't even want to see how great his older brother had been while he was looking for scraps.
"Karkat." That soothing voice that he learned to hate broke his train of thought.
"You know it was not like that at all. Mother was....quite an intense person. But everything is better now, we changed. I moved in with father and-"
"Oh, so dad is here too? Yeah, where was he when his son got kicked out of the house. You guys are nut jobs if you think this is how you get redeemed."
He looked into his older brothers eyes and felt weak, his brother for once looked extremely upset. Although of course, he always was either upset or worried or both, but something was off. He hadn't warned Karkat about a trigger or told him to watch his language at all. In fact, Karkat had just interrupted his older brother and got away with it. What did he miss out on?

Everyone was looking at him now, and he felt like the bad guy.

W|N Consider this a Vantas Arc

Also, I'm terribly sorry for the inactivity. These past two months have been wonky and I've been extremely unorganized. I apologize especially for the people who have been waiting on me for a long time now, you can totally hate me, I'm just trying to balance. I can assure you this won't be the only update you'll get this week. The dancestors may also seem a little OC, which I can tell you is just me. I have my own little idea of their personalities in my head and Homestuck ended so I've forgotten some things.

I also know that many of you heard about the American election and Donald Trump as the new president. If any of you readers are from America, as a Canadian you have my support. Stay safe, I think it's extremely unfair that people feel unsafe in their OWN country. I wish you all the best.

Crappy chapter sorry. I haven't been on here much. Or on any social media much. Enjoy, watch out for Vantas family feels ;)