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"Tho how long ith it for thith time?"
"I don't know. I never fucking know. He just turns up and we move house and then, just as I actually start giving a shit about the miserable exotic hellhole he's decided to dump me in that particular time, the fuckup vanishes on what he has the gall to call a fucking business trip and then we're off again, off on another adventure into what levels of fuckery Stabdad can actually reach on the run from his inevitable prison sentence, which I somehow volunteered to join him on without my fucking consent."
Sollux watched him throw more of his clothes into the case in silence, and he shot the taller teen an angry glare. "See! You complain about Mitt but at least you fucking stay in one place with him!"
"I complain about MT becauthe he'th the thort of kid who thinkth thkateboarding on a buthy road in ruth hour to impreth hith girlfriend ith a good idea, KK. Why? Do you want him? You're welcome to take him with you, trutht me."
"What, and have yet more fucking company on the magical mystery tour of the country Stabdad is conducting state warrant by state warrant? It's bad enough with one rambling fucking lunatic."
"MT ithn't a lunatic, he jutht hath...a unique perthpective on the world, that'th all."
"I could not give a fuck. Look at all these fucks I just cannot give, Sol. Look at them." Karkat waved his hands through the air around him, then angrily folded his arms, glaring at the floor. "I don't even know where we're going, this time. The dick never tells me before we arrive. I would've preferred it if he just fucking left me with you! At least that way I'd actually be with someone I hate a little fucking less than the rest of the idiots I'm always forced to put up with."
"I'm thure you'll be fine."
"My one consolation is if it's a nightmare we'll probably be skipping town soon enough it doesn't even matter."
"Pluth I'm not gonna vanith off the net jutht becauthe you moved, KK, come on. I'll thtill be around for you."
"I guess. Tell Aradia I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye in person, the pile of shit I'm spawned from demanded my immediate presence like the ungrateful son of a bitch he is." He slammed his last few pitiful possession into the bag, zipping it up and swinging it over his shoulder. "It was actually kind of fucking bearable meeting you in person. I hope it happens again someday."
"Hopefully next time we won't thpend tho much time running after my brother. I'm thorry he trathed your laptop by the way."
"It's fine. Stabdad will buy me yet another piece of shit laptop in case whoever the fuck he thinks is after him had installed a tracker, he does it every time."
"Why do you put up with hith thit? I mean, I know you're fifteen but I left home about then."
Karkat paused, fiddling with the strap of his bag, then gave a shrug and a sigh. "I guess it's because he's still my fucking Dad and somewhere in my idiotic heart I still manage to love him through his fucking insanity. I know all the shit he does is his own sort of fucked fatherly parental crap for me, because fuck, if I wasn't around he'd just stab the shitting life out of anyone who tried to arrest him, trust me."
Sollux snorted, stopping to give an awkward man hug and firm pat of the back to his friend before he straightened and they headed for the door. On the threshold, he messed up his black hair, making Karkat swear and jump for his short blonde curls like he could actually reach them. "If you need anything, you tell me. I gueth I can't keep you from your weird father-thon unit if you want to go...but theriouthly, you're thuch a thtupid thap, KK."
"No fucking shit, Sol. No fucking shit."
.:.
Boxcars handed him back his sickles in the car that picked him up, along with tickets to fucking Nowheresville, Washington.
"Wow, you're actually fucking arming me, is he really in such a craptastic mood you think this is a good idea?"
"We ran into Snowman." Boxcars rumbled back, not moving his eyes from the road.
Karkat groaned and covered his face with both hands, then muttered curses and rested his head on the dashboard the rest of the way to the airport.
.:.
"Where the fuck've you been, kid?"
Karkat silently did up his seatbelt before he look at his father, sitting in the driver's seat smoking like he couldn't see the warning signs all around the car park. Stabdad didn't quite meet his gaze, choosing instead to address the question to his left ear.
"Getting my bags, fuck, have some patience. You did just drag me across the whole goddamn country!"
His father sneered, but started the car, driving him in silence along the roads until they were buried in dull, snowy suburbia, and Karkat was shivering against the dropping temperate in the car. Stabdad frowned and shot him a glance as they pulled into a driveway, but stayed thankfully silent, not commenting when Karkat got his case from the boots, hands shaking.
"Bought you some fucking snow gear, go put it on if you're gonna be such a stupid brat about the cold." He muttered finally as the reached the door. Karkat muttered a vague agreement and headed for the stairs, ignoring the boxes littering the front room he doubted his Dad would even bother unpacking, given their past record. His room was marked with sticky note with his name on it in spindly black writing, and he pushed in and dumped his shit on the floor, moving over to critically examine the heap of costs and trousers and the huge snow boots awaiting him.
At least it would make outside vaguely hospitable, he decided reluctantly.
"Kid! Get your ass back down here, I want you to bring in the stupid sign."
Karkat sighed and started to suit up, feeling like he was about to enter a highly irradiated area, or probably go into space, given the number of layers he was applying. Still, he felt warm, and the was something.
Beneath the last coat was a small black parcel, and he frowned and struggled at the paper with mittened hands until it tore open, spilling a brilliant red scarf. At first he though Stabdad was being typically strange by only wrapping the one, but as he lifted it he noticed the small embroidered pattern on the end, hand done and a little basic but recognisable all the same.
"You like crabs, right?" His father asked from the doorway, and he jumped, before nodding, running his thumb over the black threads making the shape. "Well then. You'll know that shit's yours. Get the fuck outside and bring the sign in, I want to unpack."
"...thanks." He mumbled, putting it around his neck.
Stabdad shrugged and looked him up and down, then turned and dismissively said, "It's been sorta dull without you screaming like a fucking cussing whore at me all the time. Try not to fuck off again."
He stalked off downstairs and Karkat rolled his eyes, awkwardly manoeuvring after him. Despite his jet lag, and already missing Sol, and expecting nothing but abuse...
His father had just told him he missed him, and below the scarf, he allowed himself a smile.