Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Time.
Time is so complicated, isn’t it?
Basically man-made, a construct, always changing, always moving, yet it’s always been there.
Everything, slowly ticking, whirring, buzzing, clicking, tocking; hours and minutes and seconds all building up. It makes you wonder.
It almost seems as if time itself is a bomb, tick-tocking the seconds until detonation, to which no one knows what will hold. Will time still persist? Will the world still go on?
What are we, truly, without time?
Time can make a man sane, but it can also make another mad. It can be a life-saver for some, and a horrible reminder to others. Sometimes it seems like it’s going by so fast, and before you know it you’ve wasted so much time you almost regret it, yet those moments are too sweet to even forget. And yet at other times, time drips by, so slow, so dull, so painfully melancholy that you feel as if the world has suddenly shifted, moving much slower than before, everything collapsing in on itself and nothing is nothing anymore.
We all work within time, moving around the seconds and minutes, shifting through the long hours from dusk till dawn, never really noticing what power time can hold.
Because, certainly, in the end, that is all but what we are.
Time and blood.

It all started around the time your best friend’s brother died.
You can’t really recall the details, but you remember that you two were shitting around on the xbox, playing games and gorging yourselves on junk food. You hadn’t heard the ring of Sollux’s phone behind the gory war noises gushing around on screen, but you vaguely saw him reach around from the corner of your eye, grabbing his phone with his free hand.
You didn’t pay it much attention. Click x. Eat a pretzel. Click x again. Eat another pretzel. Repeatedly click x and act like you know what you’re doing on this godforsaken murder-esque shooting game. Eat another pretzel.
You notice the right side of the screen was oddly still for the last few seconds, and you glance a wandering eye to your friend on your right.
His expression made you stop pressing x after a long pause.
His slender hands gripped the phone locked onto his ear, his knuckles turning white, and if you looked hard enough you could see a slight tremble run through his body. Behind his glasses, his eyes were frozen, attached to a spot on the floor in front of him, his mouth stuck in a hard, straight line.
You slowly lower your game controller, your brows notched in the middle. You could hear a faint voice speaking on the other line, but not make out what the words say.
Suddenly Sollux violently shuts off his phone, letting it hit the floor with a quite-too-loud bang. You jump as he roughly grabs his controller, and begins playing the game again.
A silence fills the room as thick as syrup. The only sounds audible are the rushing in your ears and the gun shots ringing out on the game.
You turn your head back to the TV screen, then promptly look back at Sollux. His brows are lowered, jaw clenched so tight you wonder if its giving him a cramp.
You open your mouth to speak, but suddenly Sollux makes a horrible, almost exasperatted scoff in the back of his throat, cutting you off with a low, “Are you not gonna play the fucking game or do I have to use both the controlths mythelf?”
You blink as his lisp rasps out, then abruptly begin to scowl.
“Jesus, can you chill the fuck out with your lame douche-defense mechanism?” You retort loudly. “I can tell something is up. Who was on the phone?”
“It wath jutht my dad, okay, Karkat?” He replies, in the same low and controlled voice, trembling beneath the surface. “Drop it.”
“Um, no. I’m not ‘dropping it’ until you tell me what the fuck is wro-“
“Mitunas dead.” He cut you off in an even lower voice than before. It was just barely above a whisper.
The rushing noise in your ears got louder, and beneath it you could hear a faint but fast pounding, almost like a heart.
“….What?” You reply, eyebrows lowered over your wide eyes, head aching.
Sollux just nods. Then he continues playing the game, eyes glued, glossy to the screen.
Silence. Click x.
Silence. Click x.
Silence.

The funeral was pretty much how most funerals go. Cold. Rainy. Fucking depressing.
Sollux left halfway between the sermon the priest standing next to the coffin was spouting out. No one payed much attention to him storm away, but you saw the quick glance of Solluxs’ father dart after him, eyes filled with pure unstrained grief behind his darkened glasses.
You stood behind your father and your older brother Kankri, who had flown all the way down from Maine to go to the funeral. He was attending some college there, for which you didn’t really remember. Or care.
The priest calls out for a moment of silence, and a hush falls over the crowd, most bowing their heads.
You take the time to examine the gathering, spotting out most of Mituna’s old friends and their siblings. You think you see Kanaya with her head lowered beside her older sister, but your analysis was cut short as the priest tells everyone to lift their heads, beginning to call on people to speak some words for him.
You see a red haired girl with dark red sunglasses hanging on her shirt collar step up, eyes red and glossed over. You could tell she was trying to fight her tears back. Trying to be strong.
You reckognized her as Terezi’s sister just as she sniffs once, slips on her sunglasses, and opens her mouth to speak.
And suddenly your head starts spinning.
The loud rushing noise returns, getting louder until it’s almost deafening, making your ears burn and your mind reel. You clutch your skull and stagger back, holding your breath and breathing hard, eyes clenched shut. The rushing, flowing cascade of noise filled up your brain, making your whole body ache and tremble.
The banging noises return, slowly and steadily beating. Another banging noise behind that one, this one slightly faster. And another banging noise right behind the other, beating even slower than the first.
A sudden influx of beats, bangs, pounds, all drumming inside your head, the rushing rushing rushing noises, and your head hurts, and your neck hurts, and jesus, your whole body hurts.
“-rkat, are you okay? Karkat?” You hear a voice whisper from the back of your skull. You tear your eyes open, meeting the dark eyes of your fathers, and suddenly, just as the noises began, they stopped.
You look around, wide-eyed and quite frankly terrified, wondering if anyone else heard what you did.
But the whole group was still where it was seconds before, the girl still speaking loud and clear as day.
“Are you alright?” Your fathers voice quietly rings in your ears. “What’s going on? Are you hurt?"
Your breath was coming out ragged, and you swallow your breath, trying to calm down. You shake your head towards your dad, breathing in and out concentratedly.
“Karkat? Are you okay?” Your dad asks once more, concern swelling in his eyes.
You put your hand on your forehead and nod. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just tired."
Your dad nods, not completely convinced, but pats your shoulder anyway, turning back around to the crowd. Kankri quickly glances at you from over his shoulder, then just as quickly looks away.
You take a long, deep breath, and rub your eyes.
Hours pass.
Suddenly the rushing begins again, but quieter this time. Like a faint whisper in the back of your skull.
You watch the coffin lower into a hole in the ground.
The noise hasn't gone away ever since.

Chapter Text

You sit up and stretch your back, craning your head to look around the dull classroom. It was only the first day of school and everyone was already dead looking.
You would think for senior year, everyone would be up and about, energetic and happy about it being the last year of high school. But it already felt like it would be the longest.
You yawn and look down at your paper with lidded eyes, filled with notes about shit you couldn’t care less about. The teacher was showing a powerpoint up on the board, already getting to business, and you should have been writing that down too, but you really didn’t want to. Your hand was cramping, your head hurt, your muscles ached, and you felt like you could sleep for 5 years.
And the beating sound was kindof distracting, too.
You didn’t expect it to sound so loud all of a sudden, since the rushing and beating noises had sated a bit over the summer, but now, sitting back in that classroom, the walls painted a droll chipping dark blue paint, it all came flooding back. You don’t think you’ll ever be able to sleep in class again.
You still dont know what the noises are, but, over time, you’ve learned to get used to them.
Somewhat.
Two years certainly give you some time to think.
You sigh and rest your head on your hand, rubbing your temple and looking off to the side as the teacher droned on.
You looked around from the back corner of the class, examining your classmates for this year. You were friends with most of them, and you realized you should have asked who had the same classes on your schedule, but you weren’t really up for it.
You spotted Terezi sitting on the other side of the room, drawing on her arm. You saw Nepeta sitting behind her, leaning over her shoulder and closely analyzing every move she made, eyes squinted a bit. You noticed them whisper something to each other, Nepeta giggling as she sat back down.
Most of the other students were kids you knew, the small class consisted of mostly seniors. There were only a few that you thought were new.
As you scrutinized every new student, person by person, the drumming noises in your head changed with each long gaze. The first one’s was slow, his head rolling off to the side, probably half asleep. The next guy’s was super fast, his eyes darting to the left and right. You wondered what he was even thinking about. You aren’t sure if you want to know.
The next one’s was moderatley normal. The next one’s was silent. The next one’s was slow. The next one’s was-
Wait.
Your eyes flick back to one of the new guys. He was seated fairly close to you, about two seats up and to the left.
Nothing. No beating noises. No rushing.
Okay, wait, now focus. Concentrate. Pull it together, Karkat.
The rushing flowed louder into your ears after several, unnaturally quiet moments. The beating didn’t start until much later.
This…usually doesn’t happen.
You lean forward and squint your eyes at the back of his head. His hair seemed to glow golden under the muted light in the classroom.
The drumming noise started off slow, making a gradual incline to normal. You waited. And waited.
For some reason, you thought something was going to happen. Nothing seemed to be wrong, the beating and rushing noises might have just had a delay?
Just as you decide to give up and turn your head, the beating suddenly screams into your eardrums.
Not only were they loud, but incredibly fast, too fast to be normal. Your skull pounds, the drumming, beating, rushing, flooding, crashing against the inside of your skull like a tsunami. You silently grip your forehead, gritting your teeth. You feel your stomach convulse, and you wonder if you’re going to throw up. That would be embarrassing.
You force your eyelids open, looking around the room for the new guy. For a second, you cant find him. For a second you swear his seat was empty. For a second he didn’t seem to exist.
But….no. He’s sitting there. In the same seat as before. Always had been since the beginning of class.
His seat couldn’t have been vacant, thats impossible, couldn’t be real, things like this don’t just happen to people not to people like you no not you what is goingonohgodwhycantthebangingstop-
You almost scream as the bell rings. For a moment, the bell drowns out the noises of sound being stabbed into your mind, and just as the bell stops, the sounds stop.
You close your eyes in sheer terror, forehead sweating, waiting and dreading the moment you know the sounds will come back.
But they dont.
You open your eyes slowly, taking a deep breath.
“Karkat? Are you alright?” You hear a light voice ask you. You put your hand on your forehead and look up, seeing a pair of familiar light amber eyes staring down at you in concern. As your eyes focus on her, the rushing noises return, a slow and steady beating sound murmuring in the base of your skull.
Not as loud as before.
Back to normal.
You dart your eyes around the classroom, and everyone had already left to go to their next class, other students filing in. The boy with the golden hair was nowhere in sight.
“You look like you’re gonna be sick,” Aradia remarks, laughing a bit. “You want me to walk you to the nurse or something?”
You shake your head, quickly stuffing your notebook in your bag and throwing it over your shoulder. You mutter something like “Neh, thanks,” and almost sprint out of the classroom, feeling as if you couldn’t breath properly.
The hallways outside the classroom were pretty much vacant now, a few students here and there running into their classrooms at the last minute. You figure you should at least start towards your classroom, but you feel like if you move any step farther youre gonna pass out.
You sigh and absentmindedly lean your head against a locker, feeling the cold metal press onto your skin.
You hoped this would all blow over.
But you had a feeling that this was just the beginning.

“You guys wanna see a magic trick?” John’s voice squeaked from behind your head.
You jumped and craned your head back from the picnic bench you sat at, Kanaya and Sollux sitting accross from you.
You give him a deadpan look, but he relies with a bright lopsided smile, dropping his bags down on the seat next to you.
“I just learned a really cool one, you guys HAVE to check it out,” He continued, standing up and stretching his arms. “
“Yeah, I’m good.” Sollux replied in a monotone voice.
“Aw, c’mon, it’s great! It’s the first day of senior year, so, why not?” John protested. “Okay, watch.” He rubbed his hands together, sollux groaning from behind you.
John cracked his knuckles, and you almost complained about how much he was unnecesarrily fiddling with his hands until suddenly a coin appeared between his fingers.
“Oh, wow. Coin trick.” You say, then kick over John’s bags on the seat to stretch out your legs there instead. “What a classic.”
“It truly never gets old.” Kanaya piped up, a slight sarcastic tinge to her voice and a small smirk on her black glossy lips, fidgeting with an empty water bottle.
John just smiled, then turned his hand in a circle inwards quickly, closing his hand into a fist. You all stared in anticipation, John not moving.
“Dramatic pause,” John whispered theatrically. Then, turning over his hand and uncurling his fingers, an egg sat in his palm where the coin should have been.
“Hm.” You heard Sollux remark. “I still think it’s lame.”
Suddenly, John flew over to Sollux as if he were floating on air, and all at once cracked the egg over Sollux’ head.
Sollux shrieked in disgust, his hands flying to his hair, Kanaya holding her hand over her mouth that was shaped in a perfect circle.
You make a double take and start laughing as you drink in what you saw. In the egg was not any yolk, but instead it was filled with confetti pieces falling around his face, and on the top of Solluxes head sat the coin John had before.
Sollux picked it up out of his hair, eyebrows furrowed in irritation. John bowed and Kanaya started clapping, Sollux suddenly chucking the coin at John’s head.
Everyone laughed hysterically, Sollux silently seething, glaring daggers at John as he sat on the top of the picnic table, laying across the top, endless laughs escaping from his mouth.
“See, I TOLD you guys you had to see it!” He said, grinning up at the sky.
As everyone started to settle down again, you also glanced upwards, taking in the view. It wasn’t all that special, just the sky, and you wondered why John loved it so much, but everyday when you all met at lunch he would do this. Just look up and examine the blueness, the clouds, the atmosphere.
“Hey, where’s Terezi?” John asked, glancing at you. You shrug and look around the schoolyard, searching for a head of dark hair and bright red sunglasses.
“Oh, look, she’s sitting with Nepeta,” Kanaya said lightly, gesturing to a table across the quad. You crane your neck to look over and spot Terezi, leaned over said table, talking vividly to Nepeta. Feferi and Jade also sat at the table, seemingly messing with their food and laughing loudly.
“She hasn’t really hung out with us since, like, last week.” John says, fiddling with his glasses a bit.
You shrug again. “She isn’t really obligated to. She has other friends.”
“Yeah, I guess.” John breathes, starting to sit up. “We should just all hang out together. That seems like a better solution to me.”
Sollux rolled his eyes. “Chill out, JB, it’s fine. Plus, this way its even. They have four people, we have four people.”
You scoff loudly, leaning your head on the tables surface. “You’re obsessed with duality.”
“Take the log out of your ass, KK,” he replied, squinting. “It’s just equal. Balanced.”
“Whatever, wierdo,” You remark, smirking and laying your forehead on the wooden table. The whole group was silent for a moment, one of those moments where you all just sit and not think for a while. It almost feels as if youre floating. No thoughts drifting across your minds, just the pure silence of silence itself.
From your view on the table, you steal a glance over to Terezi again. She was smiling, laughing, eyes wide behind her bright red glasses, searching.
She looked happy.
And you know you should be happy because of that. You shouldn’t be bitter just because she wasn’t talking to you, or hasn’t in a while.
And yet.
“Oh, you guys, my old friend from middle school joined our school this year!” John’s voice perked up, breaking you from your revelry and kindof glad for the distraction.
“Hm, really?” Kanaya asked absentmindedly, staring off into the distance, across the schoolyard.
John nodded. “Yeah, his name is Dave. He’s pretty cool. I mean, he likes to think he’s cool, but he’s really just a big dork.”
“No one can be an even bigger dork than you, EB.” Sollux remarked, chewing on a poptart. John replied by squinting at him for a split second, then turning his attention to the crowds of students littered around.
“He’s gotta be here somewhere. He’s probably sitting inside behind the staircase or something.”
You scoff. “I hope he has fun with the spiders, theyre all over back there.”
John winces and glances towards the front building. “Yeah, now that I think about it, he might not be there.”
“Well, wherever he is, I don’t care.” You reply, rolling your eyes as John dramatically glared at you. “He seems like a douchebag, anyway.”
“I just said he’s a huge dork.” He said. “What part of ‘huge dork’ comes off as ‘douchebaggy’?”
“Let’s face it, most Dave’s are douchebags. Theyre all just a part of an enourmous collaberation of douches, probably planning to overthrow the world with their snapbacks and neon nike socks.”
“Say that to David Bowies face, asshole.” John said, squinting his eyes, a slight joking tone in his voice.
Kanaya nodded. “He has a point, Karkat. You can’t just say that Bowie is a douchebag.”
“Jesus christ you guys….” You started, opening your mouth to say more but suddenly getting cut off by the ring of the bell, announcing lunch over.
“Well, see you guys!” John said, shouldering his backpack and hurrying off to his next class. Soon after, the rest of the group dispersed.
But, for some reason, you stayed.
You heard something. The noise was very faint, delicate almost, but you could just barely hear it.
You werent sure what it was. It was almost too quiet to make out.
You squinted your eyes and stopped moving completely, trying to make yourself as quiet as possible. By this time, most of the kids had vacated the whole quad, leaving a few staggering students left behind, dragging along their schoolbags. It was silent enough to concentrate and focus on the noise.
A few minutes passed, the rush of wind blowing gentle breezes through your hair, but you heard it. Just barely.
It sounded like a clock.
A steady, silent tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
You look around in desperate confusion, but cant find any clocks in the yard. Why would there be, anyway? You arent even wearing a watch.
You try to single out the noise again, furrowing your brows, listening. Clearing your mind. Washing away your thoughts like an ocean of blood flooding your brain.
You close your eyes. Listen.
Tick-tock.

You rush towards your class in a hurry, the hallways a blur around you. You almost pass up your classroom door before you spot it and screech to a halt.
You awkwardly knock on the door, since the teachers keep the doors locked, and wait until you see it open a few centimeters, pushing it open the rest of the way.
The rushing and beating immediatley returns as you shoulder your backpack, averting your eyes from the room. It seemed like every eye in the room was focused on you. It’s not like you killed a man or anything, jesus.
The teacher seemed to be indifferent, which you were greatful for. You glance your eyes up for a fleeting second to find a seat, and spot one all the way in the back. Score.
You hurry through the desk rows and plop down into the desk, it making a loud and obnoxious squeaking sound, ommitting a few snorts from the sophmores in front of you. You resist the urge to glare at them, rather ignoring it alltogether and settling into your seat.
Class begins again, and it seems you hadn’t missed much. You sigh, taking out your notebook, glancing around the room for any familiar faces while youre at it.
No one that you recognize catches your attention, until you turn your head to the left, seeing someone sitting in the seat next to you.
He was leaned all the way back in his desk, head tilted towards the desk with a single, untouched notebook sitting on it. He was tapping a pencil on the paper with his left hand, and hopping his leg a little, constantly fidgeting. And, for some reason, he was wearing sunglasses. How he was able to wear them indoors without getting in trouble yet, you have no clue.
But none of that caught your attention. What did was the light blonde mop of hair sitting ontop of his head, the light contrasting off of it, making it almost a shimmering golden.
You’ve seen that hair before.
And what also caught your attention was how you couldnt hear any noises from him once again.
Nothing. Just silence. Pure silence, the kind of silence that just seeps into your mind slowly, filling up your head, flooding your ears, and you wonder how silence could be so loud.
Not a sound, whatsoever.
“Uh, ahem..?” You heard a voice whisper to you. You shake yourself out of your shock, and realize you had been staring at the guy for the past 5 minutes at least. Jesus.
“Do I have something in my teeth, or…?” The guy continues, raising an eyebrow. You squinted your eyes, looking straight into his dark sunglasses. It bugged you that you couldn’t see his eyes; you usually keep direct eye contact with people.
You look away quickly and shake your head. “Uh, no.” You mumble, looking down at your notebook, and just staring. Thinking. Listening.
Still no noises.
Just a few classes ago, it took you a while to hear it from this particular guy, for some reason, so maybe you just had to wait?
Yeah, wait. That’s all you need to do.
Seconds flew by. Minutes. You weren’t really keeping track of how long you just sat there, glaring down, concentrating.
You heard movement to your left, and you jumped a bit, not expecting it. You glance over and see the guy grabbing his bag, his desk cleared off. He proceeds to stand up and walk towards the door, all the rest of the students watching, bewildered, but before anyone can question him, the bell rings.
You furrow your brows. The bell subsides and he is already out of the door.
Even the teacher looked confused. The class slowly disperses, throwing their books into their bags uneasily and heading out.
You stare out of the door for another fleeting second in confusion. How did he know the bell was going to ring barely two seconds before it did?
You look around the room, searching for a wall clock, but there was none. You guess he was wearing a watch?
As you gather your things together, you decide youre gonna keep your eye on that guy.
Something about him interested you, and you want to know what it was exactly and how.
Here goes nothing.

Chapter Text

Up until now, your life was pretty normal.
Okay, who are you kidding, your life has never been normal.
But now, at this moment, you feel like something just switched. Like, someone flicked a light switch on, or maybe they flicked it off, and everything around you suddenly changed. Things you see now arent exactly the same as you saw them before. What you believed in seems to have been totally flopped around, like your whole life was a big fucking pancake made at five in the morning, and the other side was turned out to be too burnt to even eat, so, hey, you might as well throw the whole thing away. If that makes sense. Who knows, you’re really thinking out loud here.
Point is, it seems like your perspective has suddenly turned 180 degrees in the other direction, and you don’t know what’s what anymore.
It hadn't always been this way. At some point in your life you can remember not having anything in your head, the only thing to worry about being homework and tv shows. Jesus, It seemed like so long ago. So long ago that you can physically feel the memory fading away, like trying to hold water in your hands.
You can’t really pinpoint the moment that the ticking started. Or maybe it didn’t just start. Maybe it was always there and it just took you a while to be aware of it. You just kinda noticed after a while that, hey, theres a ticking clock in my head, and this shouldn’t be normal.
Seconds and minutes ticking and tocking away constantly, to every hour and every other hour and every other hour. It didn’t even stop at night. You can distinctly remember when you almost snapped, waking up in a cold sweat,still having the ticks in your head. You remember shaking, sweating, running violently through the door of your room, screaming out, trying to drown out the noises, trying to sate the clock, yelling screaming ticking crying tocking howling breaking and everything and everything and everything
A strong hand had suddenly grabbed your wrist, and you lashed out in that direction, not seeing anything and not feeling anything but hearing everything.
You can’t recall much after that, just vague flashes, but you remember a sharp strike to your back, and your legs falling under you. You remember your bro picking you up, tears streaming from your face, and bringing you back to your bed. You think you fell asleep imediatley, or maybe you tried to fight back, but one thing you do remember is your bro staying with you the whole night, sitting on the floor next to your bed as you drifted off.
After that you decided to deal with it. You got used to the clock.
And from then on, everything was fine. For the most part. Nothing crazy happened, no random breakdowns in the middle of the night; just dealing. Nothing changed.
Until now.

It was already the second day of school and you were about done with the whole thing already.
On the first day you didn’t really talk to that many people, seeing as John was the only one you knew there and you couldnt find him anywhere. You didn’t have any classes together, so you had to fend for yourself. Which your fine at, to an extent. You just didn’t really care, though.
You remember talking to this one girl who was actually blind, walking with another girl who, you guessed was helping her walk around. You have a few classes with her, and she seemed pretty cool. But other than that, you didn’t really strike up conversation with any other people.
Now, today, as you shoulder your backpack nervously and walk around the school during lunch, acting like you know where your going, you desperatley hope you’ll spot John somewhere. Or at least someone you know. Even that blind girl seemed okay to hang out with.
After a few good minutes of walking all the way around campus once and a half, you hear a loud screech somewhere behind you. You dont really pay attention to it, pushing up your shades adorned upon the bridge of your nose, and keep walking.
That is, until something bulldozed right into your back.
You flew forward a bit, caught off guard, your backpack flying off of your arm and skewing across the ground. You sidestep in a flash just in case they think to do it again, and quickly dart around to see who the fuck just threw their whole body at you.
“Dave!!!!!!!” A loud voice yells right into your ear, as you take in the culprit. None other than John Egbert himself, dark hair, askew glasses and all.
You furrow your eyebrows at him, leaning over to grab your backpack from the ground. “What the fuck, dude?” You say, but not resisting a smile that crams into your face.
“Haha!” John laughs, throwing an arm over your shoulder, and walking with you back around to where he came from.
“Bro, we haven’t seen each other in FOREVER!” John said. You nod and raise your eyebrows.
“Yeah, really. The last time i saw you, you were this tall!” You say in a mock grandmaw voice, lowering your arm to a ridiculously short amount as you both walk.
John snorted. “That is ridiculously short. The last time I saw you, you were….about the same height actually.” He says, examining the top of your head. “You haven’t grown an inch, have you?”
You shrug. “Guess I’m a late bloomer.” You say sarcastically.
John shrugged. “None of us are perfect.” You both turned a corner, entering the quad.
“Oh, hey, how’s Rose doing?” John asks, looking over, eyebrow raised. “Is she still in New York?”
You nod. “Yeah, she visits from time to time. It’s lame how I can never go visit her in literal New York, but she can come down here whenever she wan-“ You say, but suddenly you get cut off.
Not by anything literal. Nothing in physical shape or form, no sound, no thoughts, no movement.
Just a look.
A few yards in front of you sits a picnic table, a few people sitting on it. One tall girl wearing expensive clothing, one guy with a black and yellow striped shirt and multicolored glasses, and one more.
He sat curled in on himself almost, legs bent up on the seat and his chin resting on his knees, his hands together in front of him. He seemed to be looking off to the side, almost in thought, but not quite. His eyes were squinted, and he looked like he was confused, or concentrating.
Or listening.
“Uh, are we going over there?” You continue, stopping, John trying to drag you forward.
“Yeeaaaah we are!” John replies, gripping your arm and straining to pull your forward. You pull back, trying to tug your arm away.
“Oh, uh,” You start, looking around with wide eyes, then glancing back to the table.
The guy was looking at you.
His eyes widened in recognization, and he lifted his chin from his knees.
You desperatley tried to pull away from John’s grip.
“What..is…wrong??” John says between groans of frustration.
“Well, the thing about that is,” You begin, trying to look away from the eyes of the mystery boy seated at the table in front of you.
“Is what??” John asks, finally giving up in trying to bring you forward.
You shrug a bit, glad that your eyes are hidden with your glasses. Another glance at the guy, and his legs are lowering onto the ground, as if he were about to stand up.
“I have to go.” You suddenly say, looking at John. His eyebrows were raised in confusion, his hand motions animated.
“Uh, where?” He asks. You look behind him and, yep that guy is totally starting to stand up now. You really have to go.
You shrug, and you think the motion probably looked too forced, too rough, but you didn’t care. All you cared about was going.
“See you later.” You say, turning around quickly, without looking at the expression on John’s face, trying not to flat out run away.
Once you reach a respectable distance, you take a glance back, and see the guy standing, walking towards John and speaking loudly.
Just before you turn around for the last time, you catch the stare of the guy.
For a split second his eyes seemed to flash bright red.
For the remainder of the lunch hour, you sat under the staircase in the main building.

You wonder for a few minutes if you overreacted.
I mean, physically, the guy had done nothing to you. Just stared at you a moment too long in class the day before, and nothing else.
But, there was a but.
And that but was that there was something else.
You couldn’t describe it very well to someone who didn’t understand what was going on up in your head constantly, but it was….wierd.
But aside from it being wierd, in some way, it was exciting.
This was the first time in -how long?- that someone noticed something. Like, actually, properly noticed something.
You had mentioned before about that whole internal clock thing, right? You thought that it was nothing, just a thing that happens, a wierd freak thing that’s constantly ticking in your head.You were sure no one else heard it but you.
But you were sure that guy heard it. Somehow, he did.
And you don’t know how.
You didn’t really want to approach the guy now that this sudden change in life happened, because frankly you were confused and scared and all you felt was panic.
But you knew you had to pull yourself together. If anything productive was gonna happen, it’s up to you to do it. And, while you might not like the consequences of what was about to go down, you knew that, deep down, it had to happen. One day.
Things never stay the same for so long.
And once change approaches, you’ve gotta grab it by the balls and pull it with you for the long run, because, if you don’t do it, then who will?
Wow, that was a gross metaphor.

You were just barely late to class, slipping in the door at the last minute. Of course you knew what time it was, and you could have been there earlier, but honestly you just dont care.
You made your way to your desk as the classroom made conversations loudly, not even noticing you, the teacher trying to calm them down.
Just as you slump into your seat, a forceful voice shouts a loud “HEY” right into your ear.
You jump, turning your body to the side, and are met by a pair of big glaring eyes.
Aw shit.
You sigh and turn around, reaching into your backpack like youre doing something important. The classroom was as loud as ever, people spewing out stupid shit and throwing things across the room, but all of your attention was on the guy sitting in the desk right next to you.
And you know you shouldnt be avoiding this. Something in your head is telling you, screaming at you to actually talk to this guy, see what the fuck is going on, why he can hear the things you hear.
But you aren’t. You’re just sitting back, not saying a word, acting aloof and blase for no reason.
And you have no idea why.
“Hey.” The voice says again, louder this time, as if the guy can get any louder. “I’m talking to you. Turn around.”
You glance at him for a split second, turning back to your backpack. “What?”
You hear the guy scoff. “‘What?’ Just, turn around, asshole. We need to talk.”
Locking your jaw, you turn around and look at the guy. His whole body is turned towards you, barely even sitting on the desk. His eyes were squinted a bit, like he was angry, but there was something else. It was almost as if he were concentrating.
“Talk about what?” You question, eyebrows furrowed.
The guy looks up, then looks to the side, glances back at you, then to the ground. His eyes were flitting all over the room, his look uncertain.
After a few moments, you roll your eyes and settle back into your desk, looking away. You hear some movement beside you, but keep your eyes forward, watching as the teacher sates the classes talking.
“Hey, look at me, asshole,” the guy says with even more intensity. Just as he said that, the class decided to finally shut up, leaving the last word echoing through the hair.
You would have laughed so loudly if the teacher didn’t give the guy and you a stern look. “Dave and Karkat, would you please be quiet, for the love of god. Now, onto the lesson…"
You glance over to your side, and the guy was glaring daggers into you. “Karkat, huh?” You whisper. He scowls once and turns around.
Minutes pass by, and it isn’t even halfway done with class yet until you glance back at Karkat.
His eyes were glued to his desk, nothing out in front of him, no workbook, no notebook, note even a pencil. He was just staring, eyes narrowed, that look like he was concentrating back on his face.
You observed him for a while, wondering if he would notice you. He didn’t. He just kept staring.
And it struck you that he was probably listening.
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
Jesus, christ, it was deafening. Most times you can just ignore it, but once you become aware of it for even just a moment, you feel like you’re gonna scream, or throw up, or punch something, or all of the above.
You lean your head against the desk, furrowing your brows, silently humming to yourself, hoping it can drown out the noise. Anyone looking at you now would probably think you’re crazy, but you don’t care. You’ve hit crazy a long time ago.
The ticks and tocks just keep getting louder, and you can feel them beating in your chest like a second heartbeat. They were approaching in rapid intervals, loud tick, slight tock, a whispered tick, a screamed-out tock and you don’t know why this is bothering you so much now of all times by how many years you’ve been able to sate it but it’s just all coming back to you at once and oh god oh god oh godohgodohgod.
You desperately glance over to your side, to Karkat, wondering if he can hear it too, wondering if you aren’t crazy after all, wondering wondering wondering hoping praying oh god, but before you could even do anything, his eyes jerk over and lock into yours.
They are wide open, and seem to flash red again, and you can't breathe.
He opens his mouth a miniscule amount, as if he were about to say something, his eyebrows furrowed.
And….he stayed that way.
You didn’t notice until a few seconds, you estimate, had passed. He was, like….stuck. Frozen. Unmoving.
Wait.
Wait wait wait wait wait. Backtrack. Rewind.
Hold the fuck up.
Why did you estimate how many seconds had passed?
You knew every second that happened, every minute, every hour; obviously, it’s in your head 24/7 and-
Oh.
Oh, hold up.
Eyes still locked with Karkat’s, scared to look away, you realize you can’t hear anything.
No ticking. No tocking. Just…silence. Out of nowhere.
It’s so quiet.
You close your eyes and slowly turn your head to the front of the class. You almost have to rip your eyelids open to look around the room.
No one is moving. Arms are frozen in mid-air, mouths halfway open as if once in speech, the teacher holding a pen up onto the board, in the middle of writing something.
You spot a pencil floating about two inches from the ground, a person stuck reaching for it.
You forcefully close your eyes again.
Take a deep breath. And another one. And another one. It’s the only thing you can hear, anyway.
The clock is gone.
You think you should be greatful, but.
You open your eyes again.
Statues. Ice sculptures. Oil paintings in a giant canvas that seemed to engulf you, and in that one moment you felt so incredibly alone.
You look over to Karkat again, and he was still frozen in the same exact position. His hand was gripping the edge of his desk, his knuckles white. He looked almost panicked; anxious.
You looked down at yourself suddenly, wondering if you were frozen too, but you mentally scolded yourself. Of course you’re not, stupid. Stand up.
You shakily stand up, legs almost numb. You hands were cold as your ran them through your hair, wondering what the fuck was going on.
No clock. No movement. No noise. No nothing.
You think for a split second that time had frozen itself, explaining the lack of ticks and tocks. But, that’s impossible. That doesn’t just happen.
“Oh, yeah, like hearing clocks all the damn time doesn’t just ‘happen’ either,” You mumble out loud, trying to fill the silence.
As much as you hated the tocks, you hate the silence too, and you aren’t sure which one is worse.
You stuff your hands in your pockets and walk across the classroom, not stopping to examine the frozen students. You just walk right through the door. Into the hallway. Everything looked the same, but different in a weird sort of way. Literally nothing was moving, no sound at all. You swear you could hear your own heartbeat.
After a few minutes you of course estimated of standing in the hallway, you take a deep breath and walk back into your classroom.
You close the door behind you, and as you turn around, glancing back at your desk, you suck in a long breath.
Karkat wasn’t looking at your desk anymore.
He was turned around, looking straight at you.
He was still frozen, just in a different position. Still unmoving. The rest of the class hadn’t moved an inch.
This time, his expression was even more panicked. Almost scared. And his eyes were a deep, blood red.
You take your time as you take small steps down the aisle, staring at Karkat like if you looked away he would move again and scare the shit out of you.
You stop right in front of his desk, his eyes, still staring down towards the door where you were a moment before. You wait for a good while.
You feel something cold run through your veins, and slowly, your arm lifts up, hand wavering right in front of Karkat’s face.
Of course you have no idea what you’re doing. You aren’t sure why your arm is raised, you aren’t sure why your hand is reaching towards him, you aren’t sure why you just lean over and touch him.
You definitely aren’t sure why as your hand brushes his cheek, a shock like lightning rushes through your spine, and you jump suddenly.
TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK
You slam your hands over your ears and jam your eyes shut, grating your teeth together. Suddenly everything is loud again and you don’t know why this is happening or what is happening and-
“What….the fuck?” A voice says over the noise.
You open your eyes, and see Karkat in front of you, looking at you with the widest eyes which weren’t red anymore, thank god, his expression confused and scared yet intrigued.
You heard the familiar throat-clearing noise from the teacher at the front of the class, and you whirl around to see the teacher standing up straight, moving, looking over at you, talking, moving, alive.
Of course he’s alive. Of course the class is alive. Of course you’re alive.
What else would you have been?
You turn back to Karkat, and he stared at you with his piercing eyes that filled your mind and wouldn’t escape it no matter what else he did, his leveled expression so obviously voicing out, ‘We really need to fucking talk.’
Suddenly, the bell rings.
Karkat’s eyes widen, and he stands up as fast as possible, but you’re too fast. Your grab your backpack and run.
You run like hell.

Chapter Text

You honestly have no idea what just happened.
It seemed like so many things at once but also nothing at all.
You remember sitting there, concentrating, listening, because you swear- you swear- you heard the faint ‘tick tock’ing noise steady behind the silence. The rushing sound hadn’t returned since you sat next to him, as per usual, and suddenly the clock noises flared up as if someone had just pushed the volume all the way to 100 on jumbo speakers. You had looked over to Dave sitting next to you, trying to make sense of it, it getting louder as you stared at him, louder than the beats, and suddenly your bones had ached. It had felt like you just ran a marathon that lasted for 5 hours around the entire state of Washington. Your back pounded, your arms falling to the desk under you, your neck feeling as if it had snapped, almost like you had wiplash. You weren’t quite sure if you turned your head to look forward or not, but before you could think anything, none other than the mysterious boy with golden hair was right in front of your eyes, face hidden behind dark glasses, and touching your goddamn face.
I mean, what the fuck?
You knew from the minute he raced out of the room that he wasn’t getting away that easily.
You follow him out of the classroom just as he turned a corner in the hallway, students already starting to flood out of their classrooms, your backpack not even on your shoulders yet. You sprint as fast as you can, making a sharp dart around the corner, spotting him in the crowd of pre-pubescent teens. You watch for a minute, seeing him heading to the right hallway, which lead to the library. Lucky for you, you knew a shortcut straight there. You shoulder your backpack and take pursuit, backtracking, turning a corner, spinning and twisting through the crowd with ease, rushing noises and beating filling your ears, running past the huge school mascot (Huss the Horse) sculpture on the wall, and reaching the front of the library. The chase seemed to last more than a few minutes, and by now most of the hallways were clearing, so it was easy to spot him out. He had just entered the hallway on the opposite side of you, running through halfway before spotting you in front of him, stopping dead cold. Panting, he tried to take a few steps backward, but you had already reached him, and before he could try to get away, you look around, making sure no one is nearby, grabbing his shoulder, and shoving him in the janitors closet which was conveniently directly to your right.
You immediately turn around, locking the door behind you, engulfing the tiny closet in darkness, before dropping your schoolbag and fumbling for the light switch.
The glare is on your face even before the light flickers on.
The cramped and tiny space left you little room, but you both managed to get as far away from each other as possible, pushing back numerous brooms and mops to settle your backs against the walls.
Dave's expression was hard to place, dark glasses seeming to take up his whole face, masking his emotions, but his mouth was turned down in an annoyed frown, his eyebrows furrowed, looking borderline distressed.
A few silent moments pass by. The only noises you heard was panting, both of you trying to recover from all the running.
And that was the other problem.
You still couldnt hear the rushing noise.
Everything was completely and utterly silent.
You open your mouth to speak, but his voice interrupts you before you could even get a word out, mumbling out “Aren’t these things supposed to be locked?”
You raise your eyebrows incredulously and scoff, “You’ve obviously never met our staff. Theyre about as responsible as two orangutans trying to remove all the numerous bugs from each others ratnasty assholes blindfolded.”
“Colorful image.”
“Thats not the point here.” You continue, pinching the bridge of your nose without taking your eyes off of him.
He shrugged. “Then what is the point?”
You sigh, looking down, frustration consuming your mind. You try to string the right words together but can’t seem to grasp them, an explanation right at the tip of your tongue then falling off.
You look back up, squinting at him, seeing the outline of his eyelashes in his glasses. “Who are you?”
He looked baffled for a moment, then seemed to return to normal, putting his hands in his pockets casually. “I’m the president of the United States.”
You give him a deadpan look, and he just replies by raising an eyebrow.
“Shut the fuck up, I’m asking you a question.” You grumble.
“Thats no way to speak to the president.”
“I’ll speak to the president whatever way I want.”
“Ah, so you’re acknowledging that I’m the president?”
“What? I- no. No, I’m not. I…” You let out a breath and force yourself not to bang your head into the wall.
“So…are we done here?” He starts. “Cuz, coincidentally, I have a class I’m supposed to be in. Like, right now.”
He starts to step towards the door but you quickly put your hand over the doorknob before he could even reach over to it.
“No. Classes don’t matter right now, because this is serious. We really need to talk.” You say in your most convincing tone possible.
Dave scoffs and crosses his arms, visibly annoyed. But just under that annoyed aura there was a tinge of anxiousness.
“Talk about what?” He asks, keeping his voice neutral.
“Stop trying to pull that shit.” You scowl. “I know that we both know that something is going on. You might not want to admit it because you’re scared or whatever-“
“-Hey, I’m not scared-“
“-But things are changing, shit is happening to me thats never happened before, and I think its safe to assume it’s the same for you.” You breathe. “Am I right?”
Dave tightens his jaw, his head shifting to the right.
You nod. “I’m guessing that’s a yes. I’m also guessing you’re not very good at social skills.”
Making a noise of protest, Dave starts to speak up, but you hold your hand up, silencing him.
“I don’t care wether you are or you aren’t, let’s not get away from the topic at hand. I’m not done talking.” You say.
Dave sighs and settles his hands back in his pockets, grumbling something like “When will you ever be,” which you decide to forcefully ignore. Honestly, interacting with this guy was giving you a migraine already.
“You do agree that something is going on, though, right?” You ask cautiously. “I’m not crazy?”
Dave shrugs. “Well, you might be crazy, but then, i guess that would make me crazy too.”
You pause for a moment, taking it in. You nod. “Okay, good. So, lets make a deal.” You start. “You say something about whats going on, and then I’ll say something.”
He turns his head to the side for a second, pushes up his sunglasses, then nods. “A’ight, sounds good.”
“You promise you’ll stay serious about this?” You ask cautiously. “You won’t act immature?"
He nods again. “Geez, as if i can’t actually stay serious. I’m as serious as they come.”
You roll your eyes quite obnoxiously, hoping that he gets the point that you really aren’t joking around. You motion for him to start.
Dave sighs, sticking his hands in his pockets. You could see him struggle to find words, locking his jaw, his head shifted upward. You guessed since you couldn’t read his face, you would have to settle for figuring out his body language. Not like you were already staring at his body anyway, what.
He opens his mouth, hesitates, then speaks. “I can hear ticking noises?” The end of his statement sounded like more of a question.
Your eyes involuntarily widened for a split second. “Really?” You asked incredulously.
Dave seemed to take your exclamation in a derogatory way, because he slouched down a bit more, furrowing his eyebrows. “Alright, you know what, never mind-“
“-No. I didn’t mean to make that sound rude, sorry.” You apologize. “I’m just…surprised.”
“Yeah, I would assume so.”
“Not surprised in a bad way, just…” Your thoughts run off. You clear your throat and start over. “Okay, it’s my turn now. Shit, there are so many things to say, I’m not sure which to say first…”
You pause for a few seconds, thinking, Dave seeming impatient, so you just go for it.
“I’ll start with this: I heard them too.”
Dave’s eyebrow shoots up. “What?”
“Those ticking noises? I heard them. Twice. Yesterday and just a few minutes ago.”
You see Dave struggling for words, his back straightening from the wall. You continue.
“Yesterday it was just after lunch, and today it was right before whatever the fuck happened in class just now.” You push up the sleeves of your sweatshirt up on your arms. “I don’t usually hear that, this was like the first time ever, so it was weird as shit, but now i know it had something to do with you.”
Dave is silent. You wait a few seconds, wondering if he’d say something, but before he can, a loud banging noise against the wall startles you both.
You cower down behind mops and brooms, fumbling around the small area of the closet, your breath coming out fast. You swear, quickly jumping up to flick the light off, swiping your backpack from off the floor and begining to settle back in your hiding space, when something soft hits your shoulder.
Your turn your head quickly to the right, scared for a quick, fleeting moment, and are suddenly about two centimeters away from Dave’s face.
You both try to scramble away from each other as quickly as possible, but you underestimated the roomy-ness of the small enclosed space, and stop just as another crashing noise sounds from the wall behind you.
You almost curl in on yourself, trying to be as small as possible so you can worm your way to the side, pushing you ear against the wall. You hear the beating noise again, confirming someone was there, then scraping, as if someone were moving around, and then a flushing noise.
Oh, right, the bathrooms are right next to the janitors closet. You almost sigh in relief. But then you hear a sound like something rolling across the linoleum floors, like a cart. You grit your teeth.
“What is it?” You hear Dave whisper. He sounded so much closer than you would like him to be, feeling his breath on your neck, and you try harder to silently scoot away before murmuring back, “I think it’s the janitor.”
“How can you be sure?” He asks. “For all we know it could be another student. Or, better yet, fuckin’ Santa Claus.”
You shake your head, gritting your teeth even more that it almost started to hurt. “I’m not sure, dipshit, but it’s most fucking likely the janitor!”
Dave shuts up, and you take a moment to settle yourself down, taking a few breaths. You attempt to squirm away again, but your leg shifts to the right a bit and you feel it bump against his leg. You both swipe your legs away, and finally you feel like your’e far enough away when Dave’s movements clumsily knock over a broom. It falls to the floor with a loud ‘CLACK’, and you both wince, not daring to move.
Jesus, this is awkward.
You put your ear to the wall again, the movement still going on. You suppose the Janitor didn’t hear it. Maybe.
“Fucking dumbass.” You mutter under your breath, and you hear Dave scoff. “Now who’s acting immature?”
“You’re one to talk, you shitting primitive fuckwad.” You whisper yell. You take on a mocking tone, trying to imitate his voice. “‘Oh, it might be fuckin’ Santa Claus! Look at me, I’m so funny and well aware of stupid fucking holiday myths!’”
“I don’t sound like that.” He replies offendedly.
“You’re right, you sound more like two elderly goats dying and giving birth simultaneously.”
“Chill the fuck out, I never did anything to you.” He whispers forcefully. You can see his eyebrows furrowed in the darkness. “Do you even remember why you dragged me in here in the first place? If anything happens, it’s your fault, and you know it.”
You clench your fists, trying to sate the rage broiling in your stomach. You had the compelling urge to yell out something like, ‘Well, if you hand’t have come here in the first place none of this crazy shit would be happening, so it’s your own damn fault!’ but you resisted. You realize how stupid your’e being, but sometimes you can’t control what comes out of your damn mouth, and you constantly sound like a dumbass. Fuck your brain.
You hadn’t realized over the sudden frenzy that the bathroom behind the wall was awfully silent. You pressed your ear against it once again, and listen. The crashing and flushing noises disappeared, along with the silent beating. He was gone.
You didn’t know where he went, and you knew that he could be heading for the closet you were currently sitting uncomfortably close to Dave in, so you immediatley ask what you’ve been meaning to ask since all this shit started.
“What exactly happened back there?” You whisper to him, looking down to the ground in front of you. Dave sighs quietly, carefully shifting on the floor a bit.
And then he told you everything in quick succession. How he heard ticking noises constantly throughout his life, like an internal clock, always in his head. How he had to deal with that noise his whole life, and he never knew why. You could only relate to him.
“And just now in class, I think I might have stopped time.” He finishes. You glance over to him for a second, furrowing your eyebrows, and wait for him to elaborate.
He continues. “I just got a wierd headache, and the clock sounds got super fuckin’ loud, and then everything was frozen. The teacher, the whole class, the whole school. You were literally stuck staring at me like you had something important to say.” You caught him adjusting his sunglasses, even in the darkness engulfing you both of the closet. “And i walked around for a bit, turned around, and saw that your head had literally moved. No one else did. Just you. And then it started up again.”
“It?” You question.
He shrugs. “It. Time, space, everything. It was weird as shit and I can’t explain it.”
You nod, your eyebrows turning inward. It seemed to make sense. The weird wiplash feeling, him suddenly appearing in front of you, all in one millisecond. It couldn’t have been possible.
Yet, everything was.
A long moment of silence stretched before you, you both just sitting there. Occasionally his shoulder brushed with yours, but you didn’t recoil away. There were other things to focus your mind on, so many other crazy things.
Suddenly, the closet door opened. Light spilled in, and fear gripped your throat. You grabbed your backpack with one hand and Dave’s arm with the other, sprinting out faster than the janitor could even protest.
You ran with Dave in tow all the way to the other side of the empty hallways, and down to the staircases. You stopped and caught your breath, throwing your back against the wall, your heavy backpack slipping to the floor. You glanced over at Dave, who had his hands on his knees, coughing up air.
A moment passed, and you both shared a look that said ‘We definitely gotta talk about this again,’ just as the bell echoed across the school.