Priceless Treasure to Worthless Eyes

Chapter 10 - No One Cares What Humans Think

"Terezi, are you sure you're okay?" Karkat asked.
"Yeah."
The two trolls walked down the road in silence.
"On a scale of one to ten how sure are-"
"I'm fine, Karkat!" Terezi said loudly, shoving her stick of chalk into his face.
"Just checking. Sheesh."
"You've been 'just checking' for the entire walk! Where are we? Are we almost at my home?"
Terezi sniffed the air. It smelt very different from her street. In fact, she could pick up a faint scent of Karkat. But he was standing next to her so that didn't count.
"Karkat, where the hell are we?" She asked.
"My neighbourhood." Karkat replied.
Terezi almost fell off the sidewalk.
"Why are we here?! I need to be home for my shift or Redglare will hang me!" She yelled. "What time is it?!"
Terezi grabbed Karkats wrist and tried to stick her finger into his watch but there was glass over the top of it.
"This thing is useless!"
"Calm down Terezi!" Karkat said, slightly exasperated as he pulled his arm gently out of her grasp. He looked down at his watch.
"Its 3:30pm. I told Vriska to drop by and get Porrim to cover you."
"She's been covering me all week!" Terezi argued. Porrim was probably going to enslave her for this.
"She said she wouldn't mind." Karkat said. "Can't we figure the gory details out later?"
Terezi sighed and nodded slightly. True, it was rather comforting walking with him. Karkat took her hand in his and pulled her gently to one side.
"This is my place."
Terezi followed Karkat down the driveway to the front door where he took off his pack and started digging around for his keys.

"The door was unlocked, you know. You should learn to be more observant, Karkat Samantha Timothy Vantas." Came a voice from the doorway. Terezi sniffed. In front of them stood a tall, skinny figure that looked a whole lot like Karkat, only much tidier. He had fluffy hair like his younger brother, but it bore signs of being recently washed and brushed, unlike Karkat's near afro that was probably last groomed the day he was born. The troll in the doorway wore a large, startlingly red knitted sweater that reached well down to his thighs. Under that he had on what looked like black leggings and a pair of household slippers with the hand-embroidered letters 'K' and 'V' on them. The sweater was half-covered in little boy scout badges. Terezi wondered if he wasn't too old to be called a 'boy'.

Karkat jumped. "What the fuck Kankri? Why are you being such a creep?!"
Karkat's brother waved off his sibling's petty rant and turned to Terezi. "Hello there. What's your name? Pardon me, Karkat here never tells me anything that happens at school."
Terezi was very surprised at this troll's good manners and tolerable appearance. How could he possibly be related to a walking hurricane like Karkat?
"I'm Terezi Pyrope." She said shyly, shifting from one foot to another. Karkat was running barefoot in the front yard, punching the mailbox and yelling at the sky.
"Ah yes. The esteemed sister of Latula Pyrope. I should have known. Well, won't you come in and have some tea and sandwiches? I normally make an afterschool snack for Karkat but it seems he isn't in dire need of the extra energy today. Also please be sure to fill me in on why he seems to already be failing all his classes and it is only the third day of school."
Terezi looked over at Karkat who was weeding the garden like crazy. "Uh, is he alright?" She asked worriedly.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. I do not, though, understand why he doesn't use the lawnmower in the garage." Kankri replied, shrugging.
Terezi followed Karkat's brother into the house. She was pleased to find that it was very tidy. Obviously, that was all Kankri's doing.
"Have a seat at the counter please. You can take off your bag and leave it on that other chair if you like." Kankri said, getting behind the counter and looking in a cupboard for the tea. Terezi sat on one of the high stools and put her backpack on the seat next to her.
"Do you take sugar?" Kankri asked suddenly, turning to her.
"Uh, actually Kankri," Terezi murmured shyly, "I don't drink tea."
"Oh. Well, neither does Karkat. The caffeine makes him more haywire than usual." Kankri said matter-of-factly. "I'd hate to see him on coffee. I'll check the fridge for something else."
Outside, Karkat was scuttling around the finely trimmed grass while someone sat calmly on the veranda next door reading a book like this happened every day.
"We have... Lime juice, orange juice, grape juice... Do you like Faygo?" Kankri straightened up and held out a bottle of red Faygo in front of Terezi's face. The sight of the drink Gamzee guzzled hourly almost made her throw up. "N-no thanks..." She stammered. Kankri realised his actions had been rather triggering so he replaced the offending beverage and took out a carton of milk and orange juice instead. He poured a tall glass of juice and placed it down in front of Terezi and added some milk to his tea.