Just Visiting ch. 4

[AN: This is a Humanstuck!AU fic.  It is rated T for language.  ALSO, I will be taking a writing hiatus after this chapter~]

It was either visit Theresa, or work.  God, how Kartar hated weekends.  He slipped out the back door of the store as silently as he could muster, and, though he ultimately blundered into a couple trashcans like a clumsy fuckass, he managed to escape his father's eye, subsequently escaping the possibility of having to mop floors or some bullshit for at least another couple hours.  At least until lunch or something.  He was only thirteen; it wasn't like he could just wander around town without any money all day!
But, in all honesty, Kartar wasn't sure he wanted to visit Theresa either, especially after what happened yesterday, and the less than desirable discussions that had followed.  Then again, what Gannon and Terezi had said really had little to do with her, right?
He snorted, stretching and walking out onto the main sidewalk, turning toward the direction of the hospital.  ... He'd go to play video games.  There was no other reason, really.
As he started on his way, Kartar became all too painfully aware of the sun beating down on him.  Goddammit, why did he only have black clothes, like some goth dumbass?

The walk to the hospital felt much longer than usual, and he was drenched in sweat by the time he reached the entrance.  Fuck this heat.  Kartar fanned himself lightly with his hand, trying to unstick his black, long-sleeved tee from his damp body.  Well, this was embarrassing.  He couldn't help but feel more than a little self-conscious.  No one ever wants to go and visit someone looking and smelling like low tide at the pier.  Kartar wrinkled his nose slightly, but then remembered he was just here to play video games anyway.  No one cared, so he shouldn't, right?  He snorted again, making his way inside.

As he closed in on Theresa's room, Kartar could make out voices coming from inside.  She had another visitor?  He knew it wasn't right to try and peek in, but as he stood by the doorway waiting for them to finish, he found himself sneaking glances through the slightly ajar door anyway.
Theresa seemed to be talking very seriously with another girl that shared many of her facial features, only with longer hair, glasses, and a smirk that simply didn't seem as oddly inviting as Theresa's grin usually did.  Though, Theresa wasn't grinning at all regardless.  She actually seemed to be pretty upset.  However, their hushed tones made it nearly impossible for Kartar to make out anything that they were saying, even when he actively strained his ears to try and catch a few words.
He nearly fell backwards as the door swung completely open.
"Oh," the long-haired girl half-sighed, standing in the doorway and looking over at him, "Sorry if I surprised you~"  She smirked, flipping a stray lock of hair over her shoulder.  "My name's Victoria; I'm Theresa's twin sister.  You must be the guy that's checking up on Tess~ I've heard soooooooo much about you..."
Kartar huffed, straightening slightly.  "Yeah, hi." he replied less than enthusiastically.
Victoria pursed her lips slightly.  "Well... gotta run!  Take care of Tess for me!"  With that, she turned on her heel and strode out.
Wrinkling his nose slightly, Kartar made his way inside, trying to forget about that eerie smirk she was giving him.  As he entered, Theresa broke into her usual grin.  "Kartar!  I didn't expect you to come by!"  She hopped out of bed and scampered over, throwing her arms around his shoulders enthusiastically.  Kartar froze in place, not sure how to respond.  However, Theresa quickly retreated.
"Hehehe, sorry~ I guess I just have a lot of energy today." she said, sticking out her tongue playfully.  "I'm just excited, I guess; Vicky said I should be getting out of here soon if everything continues going so well."
"Really...?"  Kartar blinked, scowling.  Something didn't add up.  "So... why were you looking so fucking depressed, then...?"
Time seemed to stop momentarily.  Theresa's grin wavered, and Kartar could see it in her dark hazel eyes; she was searching for something, some kind of excuse.  "Oh, that's..." she began, "Well... I was just upset because Vicky swiped my laptop from my room yesterday, the villainous scoundrel!"  She pumped her fist in the air.  "But don't worry your silly head about it, Kartar; I thoroughly reprimanded her!"
Kartar rolled his eyes.  "You need to stop reading those retarded old comics; you sound like your from the fucking forties."
"Hey!" Theresa giggled, "I'll have you know that Daredevil is from the sixties!"
"Whatever!"
Theresa paused again.  "On another note..." she muttered, leaning in, much as she had before, and sniffed Kartar's shirt.  "You're all damp with sweat, and you reek!  Did you walk here?"
Feeling his cheeks flush ever so slightly, Kartar mustered up some rage to cover it up.  "No, I fucking drove here in one of those new sports cars that those dealership shitheads are willing to sell to a goddamn thirteen-year-old, obviously!  How the flying fuck could you assume otherwise?"
However, his outburst only made Theresa laugh harder.  "C-C'mon," she stuttered in between giggles, "There's some extra smocks in back; you can change into one so you don't have to marinate all day~"
Before Kartar could even come up with a good way to protest, it was already too late; Theresa was already yanking his sopping shirt up over his head.  Kartar emitted something like a gagging-choking sound in his surprise and grabbed a hold of the chain and dog tags he wore around his neck to keep them from being yanked off as well.  "You fucking psychopath, I can do it myself!" he hissed.
The sound of Theresa's laughter, though slightly muffled by the shirt over his ears, came through loud and clear.  Strangely enough, it seemed to calm Kartar down more than just make him angrier, which both confused and worried him almost.  However, he realized now wasn't the time to dwell on feelings; he was half-naked and rather uncomfortable.  As Theresa finally slid the collar over Kartar's head, she tossed him one of the hospital smocks.
"You're in pretty good shape for such a shorty, Kartar~" Theresa commented, her tone somewhat teasing.  "I might have to fight your girlfriend for you, hehe~"
Kartar stopped halfway through fastening the smock in place.  What the fuck was that supposed to mean?  "I don't have a girlfriend." he huffed.  "Never wanted one."
Theresa's large eyes blinked curiously.  "Oh, so you're playing for the other team or someth--"
"No!" Kartar denied, feeling himself getting angry again.  Why?  Why was he getting so mad at her?  It was a logical question to ask, even though it wasn't exactly something he cared discussing.  Kartar breathed out slowly after seeing Theresa visibly jump at his sudden rise in volume, his cheeks flushing.  "Sorry." he muttered, glancing away.  "No, I'm not gay.  I'm just the type to fucking... have some bimbo hanging all over me."
"Oh."  Theresa smiled again.  "I understand, Kartar~ Not everyone likes dating."  She giggled again, nudging him in the side lightly with her elbow as he continued buttoning up the shirt.  "So, why do you work out, then?"
He snorted.  "Hey, unlike you with your fucking cushy, rich-bitch healthcare, I actually have to fight any assholes that come into my dad's store to start shit, and I have to fucking win or get sent to some run-down piece of shit hospital that hasn't been cleaned or repaired since the Bush administration, get it?"
"Wow."  Hazel eyes widened considerably.  "Rough life on the wrong side of the burbs, eh Kar?"
"Damn right."
She grinned.  "And you walked all the way to the nice side of the tracks just to visit me; I'm touched~"
Kartar snorted, nudging her back.  "Hey, don't get excited; I came to continue my game."
"Ah, that's right!" Theresa exclaimed, clapping her hands together.  "Let's set it up~ Watching you is so much fun!"
With that, Theresa hopped back over to her bed and pulled the console out from under it.  Kartar watched for a moment, blinking.  "... Hey, Theresa?"  The girl perked up and glanced back over, indicating she was listening.  He cleared his throat.  "Do you want to... play with me this time?  It can't be too fun to just watch all the time."
Everything fell quiet again, and Kartar felt discomfort rise in his gut.  It was something about the way that Theresa was just staring at him-- ... no, staring beyond him, as if she were trying to pry the answer to his own question from his mind.  He felt like he should be able to just understand what she trying to convey and was just failing her.
But then that smile reappeared.  "Maybe tomorrow, if you come by~" she said.  "I still think I need to watch you a bit more before I can figure it out."
"Alright."  Kartar knew that was the answer he had to accept for now.  He glanced at the game selection again, then picked up the Left4Dead case.  He needed to kill things.  Popping the disk in quickly, Kartar settled in the spot next to Theresa and began playing.

The gaming session had started off as it had yesterday, with Kartar viciously button-mashing his way to victory while Theresa cheered him on loudly.  Everything seemed to be going just fine; Kartar had successfully fought his way through three campaigns of zombies, only to soon become aware that Theresa's encouragement had begun to teeter off, only to stop almost completely by the end of the most recent level.  He glanced back at her, and was almost stunned to find her seemingly off in space somewhere, her unfocused eyes locked blankly on the television screen.  "Theresa...?"
She jumped slightly, looking back over at him.  "Oh, I just," she began, grinning, "I was wondering if maybe I should take a shot at it.  It seems pretty easy."
"Oh, sounds good."  Kartar replied, somewhat relieved.  Sure, playing video games on your own was fun, but every once in a while it was nice to play with someone else, even for a loner like him.
However, as soon as he plugged in another controller for her and they restarted the game, Kartar quickly realized something was wrong.
"Theresa, we're going left here."
"Okay!"
"... Wait... What are you doing?"
"I'm going left; I'm going, I'm going~ But I hear infected over here."
"No, I mean what the fuck are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"... Theresa, you keep walking into a wall.  You're not even going anywhere."
Kartar glanced back over to Theresa, who's eyes were glued to the screen.  Or were they...?
"Theresa... Do you remember what the poster for the campaign we're playing said...?"
"..."
"... Theresa...?"  Kartar furrowed his eyebrows, moving his hand in front of her face.  "... How many fingers am I holding up...?"
"....."  Slowly, Theresa released her controller and reached up, lightly trailing her fingertips along Kartar's hand.  "... Three." she responded, forcing out a giggle.  "Silly Kartar; it took you longer than I thought to catch on...~"
Immediately, Kartar felt his face go red hot, and he seized Theresa's shoulders.  "You're fucking blind?!" he nearly screamed.  "Why--?!  How could you not fucking--?!  AUGHH!!"  His fingers curled into the fabric of her smock, causing her to wince ever so slightly.
"Kartar... I'm sorry..." Theresa said quietly, trying to keep her smile on.  "I just didn't want you to treat me like some cripple or anything... I wanted to have some fun when you came by, not have some kinda stupid pity party..."
It was difficult, to say the least, for Kartar to keep his absolute, fire-breathing fury from breaking loose all over the entire room, or, hell, the entire fucking hospital.  Yet, as he forced himself to pry his hands away from Theresa, it dawned on Kartar that he really had no idea what he was mad at.  Theresa?  Whatever made her go blind?  Himself?  The doctor treating her?  He just... didn't. fucking. know.  He never fucking knew.  He arms fell limp at his sides, his chest feeling tight as he sniffed, trying to keep the imminent tears of frustration from flowing.  However, Theresa seemed to catch on all too quickly.  "Kartar...?" she spoke up, reaching out her own hands and resting them lightly on his upper arms.  "... It's okay to be sad, y'know.  You can't be just mad all the time."  She smiled; not a creepy smirk, or a toothy grin... just a real smile.  "And I'll be right here for you when you go back to being angry.  No one else; so it'll be just like no one ever saw it, like it never even happened.  We can just cut it out of the film reel of your life, like an irate movie editor playing God."  Kartar chewed his lip momentarily, allowing his head to hang a bit as he leaned forward.  "That's the... stupidest fucking analogy in the universe..." he grumbled, leaning his throbbing cranium against Theresa's thin shoulder.  Though he struggled valiantly to restrain himself, soon enough the tears began to pour out, and Kartar found himself melting into Theresa's frame, blubbering like a goddamn pansy while she ran a lithe hand up and down his back.

It felt like hours until Kartar moved again, straightening and wiping his still damp eyes with his wrist.  Theresa giggled, trailing her hand up Kartar's shoulders to his face, where she lightly smacked his cheeks a few times before pressing them inward.  "Feeling better now that you got all that out, Kar?" she asked, grinning her usual, over-exaggerated grin again.
"Yeah, I guess..." Kartar huffed, slowly pushing her hands away from his face.  Just then, the cellphone in his pocket buzzed with a call from his dad.  Kartar's eyes widened as he checked the clock on the wall.  "Jesus fucking Christ, it's almost 8:30!" he exclaimed, hopping to his feet and scrambling to find his shirt that he had previously changed out of.  Theresa cackled wildly, falling back onto her bed.
"Time sure flies, eh Kar?"
Kartar rolled his eyes, changing back into his black long-sleeved tee.  "Dad's probably wondering where the fuck I've been all day..." he growled, "This is what I get for letting a woman distract me for so goddamn long..."
Theresa stuck out her tongue.  "Glad I serve as a good distraction~"  She glanced in his general direction.  "So, are you coming back tomorrow."
"... Yeah, I'll come back."
"Good!"