Outcasts

27: Nostalgia

Chapter 27

Eyes as dark as the smoothest chocolate gazed down on me, hazy and filled to the brim with a lust I had become accustomed to. Dark curls, nearly the color of midnight, rustled with the cool breeze. 

"Do you know how long I've longed to see you beneath me?" he huskily whispered. I felt his hand, the one that wasn't wrapped around my waist, cup my face, tilting my chin. His lips were parted, inching closer to my own. I responded by slowly leaning up, eyes closing.\

Just seconds before our lips touched, my mouth parted to whisper his name.

"Karkat."

I woke up with a start, heart racing as I tried to keep my breathing calm and steady. Thoughts raced through my head as I tried to comprehend what the hell that dream was all about. I know for a fact that Karkat freaking Vantas was there... And I was there... And we were... Oh dear.

Glancing at my clock and checking the time, I figured it would be best to get ready for what I had planned for that afternoon. It was only Thursday but I had taken a small nap to recharge what little extroverted energy I still had left from my reserves. Hanging with children was exhausting, even if it was two days ago.

Changing out of my uniform and into a comfortable large shirt and a pair of sweat pants, I stepped into my sneakers and ran down the stairs to the front door. Calling out to my mother or sister that I was leaving, I grabbed the keys hanging over the bowl and slammed the door behind me. My destination wasn't very far.

I tried my best to ignore the jumble of nerves that were starting to build up dangerously in the pit of my stomach and pushed away any last thoughts of the strange dream I had during my nap. It would be best to try and have a clear head during this mission.

It didn't take long for me to be standing in front of a very familiar and rundown house. It wasn't a bad house, just well loved but poorly taken care of. There were holes in the roof, from experiments exploding, that were crudely patched up with sheets of spare metal that the family had laying around but it kept the weather out as best as it could, though I recall having seen it leak a few times during the more harsh rainstorms. Still, it was the best they could do when they remembered that it was there in the first place. 

Various sizes of lawn ornaments, mainly equestrian animals but a few other hoofed animals and even a few felines, littered the grass. It clashed with the house, seeing as it looked as if they focused their care on those instead of the house itself. I remembered when almost every single decoration was made and set out, some were older than me and I didn't recognize any of the rest so I figured they were made at some point during the past year.

I ignored these features and set my goal to walking across the lawn to the deep blue door that had the broken but homey looking "Welcome" sign that had a child-like scrawl across it. I paused my hand from knocking on the door, welcoming the happy memories that came with the old sign and smiled for a split second before returning to my passive expression. This was no time for happy memories.

Knocking three times, I waited nervously for the door to open. I could hear, now, a saw from the inside turned on and going and the thick, heavy stomps of one of the residents coming towards the door. I recognized those steps as well. Another fond memory tried to squirm its way past the barriers I had put up, but I set another wall between it and myself milliseconds before the door opened.

A tall man with a devilishly handsome mustache opened the door, first looking straight forwards before glancing down. He blinked at me before a large grin overtook his face.