A somewhat unfamiliar scent wafts through the air as you poke your nose out from under the blanket you had wrapped yourself in and fallen asleep with the night before. It is ever so warm and comfortable where you are at the moment, but whatever this smell is, it is absolutely fantastic. You poke the rest of your face out, although that proves to be useless anyway, as you are blind. That just makes you chilly. You recede back into the depths of the blanket and try to fall back asleep, if only for a moment.
"Terezi," a voice chimes from outside your blanket fortress.
"Dave, is that you?"
"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?"
"Oh, right, of course."
You hear him walking closer to you and then his warm hand found its way inside the folds of the blanket and caught a hold of your arm. The strong individual lifted you effortlessly out of the mound of bedclothes.
"What do you want? I was really comfortable!" you complain to him.
He laughs. "I'm sorry. I have a surprise for you," Dave pulls you close, his arms around your waist.
You curl your arms around his neck and burry your face in his chest. He always smells so nice. Like tasty, red candy.
"Is it another one of your super cool rhymes?"
"No," he laughs some more. "Just come with me," he takes your hand and pulls you into the other room where the strange aroma has been coming from.
He sets you down at the table and carefully places cutlery and a plate in front of you. The plate contains some kind of cooked potato, meat and something else that you're not totally familiar with.
"What is this?"
"Hash browns, fried eggs and bacon. I made breakfast for you," he kisses you gently on the cheek and goes to sit across from you with his own food.
A smile slowly creeps across your face. You're not sure what to say, so you sort of just sit there and stare at the food, although you can't really see it. You just smell it.
"You're supposed to eat it," he tells you.
"I know, shut up."
Dave laughs at you again.
The two of you eat your breakfast in silence. Occasionally you smile down at your food and you can hear Dave smiling back at you. Sometimes he tickles the bottoms of your feet with his toes. You playfully kick him away.
You both finish eating the food at the same time. You compliment Dave on his newfound cooking skills. He thanks you and puts the dishes in the sink, to be washed later. Then the phone rings.
You pinpoint the location of the cordless phone and race over to it. You leap over the couch and plop down on the floor of the living room, phone in hand. "Hello?" you speak into the device.
"Terezi, is Dave there? I need to talk to him right away," John's voice sounds urgent.
"Yeah, he's right here," you toss the phone in the air and assume Dave is ready to catch it.
He does and sits down beside you. "What's up, John?"
You can't quite hear what John is saying. You assume he's doing that on purpose. He probably doesn't want you to know. It's probably something dangerous and he doesn't want you worrying about Dave. He does that. It's somewhat infuriating, but you're sure Dave will be fine.
You don't pay attention to the conversation. This happened from time to time anyway. John and Dave would go off with some of the others and deal with some sort of "potential danger to society" and then he'd come back late with a few scratches and that would be the end of it, until something else came up. You played with Dave's hair as he and his friend talked about some sort of issue with whatever. You didn't really care all that much. As long as your Dave came home tonight, you'd be okay.
"Okay, I'll be right there. Just give me time to get some crap together," he told John and hung up.
"What kind of crap?" you asked.
"Just extra things I might need. Terezi," he put his hands on both sides of your face. "I'll be gone for a few days. Well…more than a few days."
You just keep a straight face, even though you're having an internal breakdown.
"Terezi? You okay?"
You shake your head in an attempt to discard the discouraging thoughts from your mind. "Yeah. I hope this doesn't take too long. I'll miss your coolness around here."
He hugs you tightly, kisses you on the forehead and runs off to pack his things. You stay on the floor, legs crossed. The only thing that goes through your mind is What if he doesn't come back this time? You know he always comes back, but he's never been gone for more than a day or two. This mission sounds different than the others. You can't help but feel incredibly uneasy about the whole situation.
An hour later Dave had finished getting his things together and was standing at the door, ready to leave. "Terezi, come here. I wanna give you a big hug before I leave. John's waiting outside," he urges you.
You get up from your place on the floor. You hadn't moved since John called. You slowly make your way to the door of you apartment and wrap your arms tightly around this man that you had become so close with. He rubbed your back gently, as if trying to reassure you. You both pull away just enough so you're both face to face. He gives you a long, deep kiss. It was different than what he usually did before he left for a mission. It was almost as if he knew he might not come back this time.
Neither of you said another word. Dave kissed you gently on the cheek and slipped out the door silently.
Now you were alone. You usually don't have any problem being left alone for a little while. You had grown up all on your own anyway. You just felt so lost this time. There was this inevitable feeling that Dave wouldn't be back "in a few days".
You tried to continue on with your day as usual, but it just wasn't the same to wake up without that familiar body next to you. You decided to do something you never thought you'd do. You called John's house.
Now of course John wasn't home, but somebody else was.
"Hello?" Rose's voice answered.
"Rose, its Terezi."
"You feel it too, don't you," it was more of a statement than a question.
"Yes. I'd really rather not be alone right now."
"I know what you mean. I'll be right there," she hung up.
You flopped down on the couch and half an hour later Rose walked into your apartment with her things. You could smell that she had brought an animal with her. It was one of those cat creatures that she had taken such a liking too. You supposed you could deal with a cat for a while.
The next few weeks consisted of you and Rose playing court. You both always had so much fun because you were both so good at it and it took your minds off of the boys. Dave was kind enough to allow you to cover your entire room in chalkboard paint a few months before so now you had a fantastic place to play. The neighbors didn't seem to mind the scalemates hanging from the balcony either.
"How do you find the defendant?" Rose shouted as you were wrapping up your latest game.
"So guilty his lusus spits in his face!" you reply loudly.
"Take him away!"
You roughly grab the criminal by the throat, promptly wrap a noose around its neck and toss it off the terrace.
Eventually Rose had to go home. The boys still hadn't returned after 5 weeks, but she assured you it wouldn't be much longer.
For the next few months people came and went. They knew you didn't want to be alone, despite your solitary past. They knew how much Dave meant to you.
Eventually it had been almost a year and nobody had heard of or seen the two. Everybody had given up hope that they'd ever return. Rose was the only one who seemed to have faith in them.
"They'll be back," she said to you over the phone. "I'm not sure when, all I know is that they're supposed to be gone for a long time, but they'll be back. I promise."
You trusted her judgement, although you couldn't help but cry every once in a while when you thought about how much you missed him and how long he'd been gone. Sometimes when you felt lonely you would go into his room, curl up with his things and just lie there. Nothing really smelled like him anymore. You had cuddled with it all too much.
You had started to get used to eating alone again, watching television alone (although you weren't really watching because you are blind), drawing chalk drawings on your walls alone, showering alone, and sleeping all by yourself.
Before Dave had left, you rarely slept in your room. You always fell asleep next to him in his bed. You only used your room to play games. You liked it better that way anyway. You remembered the day that Dave had let you paint your room. It was over a year ago by now. You had begged and pleaded him to buy you a big chalkboard for you room. He kept refusing. Although, one morning, (it was the human holiday that Dave called "Christmas") you woke up in Dave's room, but he wasn't there. You could smell something weird though. Now that you think about it, that happened a lot in the mornings. You rolled out of bed, blanket still wrapped around you, and trudged across the hallway to where the scent was coming from. As you were about to enter the room Dave ran up to you and scooped you up. He kissed you lovingly and whispered "Surprise." The paint was still wet so you couldn't draw on it until it had dried a day or two later, but you were so excited that he had painted all the walls, even the ceiling, for you. You hadn't realized that it was tradition to get your loved ones gifts on that day of the year, but Dave assured you that you were all the gift he needed.
You smile at the memory. Wait, you think you hear something. Somebody is walking down the hall outside. It sounds like…JOHN!
You sprint toward the door, throw it open and race toward him. Something is wrong. He's alone and his heart is beating very fast. You can smell blood on him. You stop in front of him, lick his face and cringe. He has tears streaming down his face. You can see it now. Faintly, but you can see it.
"Terezi. He…I lost him. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry," he pulls you into a hug.
Now you're the one crying like a baby. John cradles you in his arms for a few minutes as you sob into his chest.
A week passes. Your friends have all come to visit you, even Karkat. They all brought some sort of food as a kind of consolation or something.
John told you that when they were on their way home they ran into a bit of trouble and something came by and snatched Dave up. John tried to fight it off and get the thing to let him go, but he was already too tired from their excessively long journey. Rose had asked him why they were gone so long. It turns out they had been taken prisoner by some weird alien race or something along those lines. You weren't totally sure what they all spoke about. You were too distraught.
Your friends all offered to let you stay with them, but you declined their offers. You wanted to be alone now. Then they asked if you wanted help going through Dave's things, but you declined there too. Dave's room was Dave's room. You weren't going to touch anything.
Another week went by. Your friends hadn't spoken to you much lately. They knew you needed your space. You were grateful for that.
It was Saturday morning. You got up, went to the kitchen, ate some breakfast, and went to watch TV. It wasn't long and you heard somebody coming toward your apartment. You knew it wasn't one of your friends so you assumed it was one of your neighbors.
You assumed wrong. There was a knock on the door. It sounded like a bit of an anxious knock. You go up to the door and listen carefully for a heartbeat. At first you weren't quite sure how's it could be, but then you recognized it. Yes! Of course! How could you forget something like that? It had been a long time, but you should remember your own boyfriend's heartbeat!
You swing the door open and leap into his arms. You hear that familiar laugh as you bury your face in the crook of his neck.
"Miss me?" he whispered softly into your ear.
"Like you wouldn't believe."
He kisses you just like the day he left. You return the kiss tenfold. After making your way back into your apartment the two of you make yourselves comfortable on the couch and continue to make up for lost time.
He pulls away from the kiss for a moment. "I haven't taken a shower in a while. Care to join me?" he smirks playfully at you.
You nod your head and smile hugely. He throws you over his shoulder. Normally you would object this behaviour, but you really couldn't care less, seeing as he'd been gone for a year. He carries you to the washroom where you both undress and jump in the shower.
You feel like the smile on your face is permanent. You can't help but be completely and utterly giddy about everything at the moment. Your Dave was home and that's all that mattered. You were so glad to have him back.
