Study Date

By the Idiosyncratic Wordsmith

"OK, Jade, are we clear on the rules?" Karkat inquired, sitting on the floor across from her in his dorm room, his books all arrayed around him.

"Yes, Karkat." Jade replied, impatient. She and Karkat had been dating a few months now, and they had decided to get together for a study date to prepare for exams, given that they were both in the same core classes for the most part. Karkat was a literary genius, she was a math whiz. Which was convenient, because Karkat had difficulty with anything above standard algebra and Jade couldn't explain the significance of a guy throwing up in Faulkner's Sanctuary beyond 'he was sick'.

"Prove it. What are the rules again?" Karkat pried. He had just set out a set of rules for them to follow during the night. They were basically meant to keep them focused on the study material and not each other. He was stressing out massively over exams - had to get the As, always has to get the As. Jade was much more lax in her approach - as long as she kept her scholarship money and got her degree, she was happy. She sighed a bit, and recited the rules.

"No kissing, no flirting, no cuddling, no stroking, no petting, no caressing, no prolonged sultry stares, no pouting, no distractions, period." She regurgitated.

"Good. And don't forget it." He emphasized. "Now… where do you want to start?" He asked.

"English." She responded. It'd lighten his mood to analyze literature and teach her to write a decent college essay. Maybe even enough to get him to be willing to take a break at some point.

"OK. So, Faulkner…" He began. He proceeded to go into a lecture on the various aspects and facets of Faulkner's literature, answering her questions and guiding her along the thought process needed to pass the exam. She focused, sipping from her supply of soda as they went along, doing her best to keep her mind on the material being explained to her. It was difficult, given that all his stressful airs made her want to snuggle with him and stroke his jet black hair and tell him to relax.

"...which is why Benbow vomits: Because he has realized that he has incestuous feelings towards his own step-daughter, and his emotional reaction is so strong that it causes an analogous physical reaction. You follow?" He concluded.

"...Well, I get that Faulkner was messed up…" She offered. Why did 20th century literature have to be so… weird?

"Well, that's a start anyway. But do you feel like you could do well on your exam, at least?" He inquired. He was always making sure his mission was accomplished. She suppressed a giggle, remembering their first time - when they woke up the morning after, his very first question was if it was 'satisfactory'. It was so endearing, it convinced her that this was the man she was going to spend her life with - a man that obsessed over making her happy and doing the job right. (It most certainly was more than satisfactory, by the by.)

"Yeah. I think I've got it handled… now, as I understand it, you have a calculus exam that you have done no studying for." She pointed out. His room mate, Sollux, remarked on the fact that he caught Karkat napping after he said he was going to study for his calc exam. Not surprising - he was involved in a dozen clubs and groups, and being an English major had a lot of work involved. And he hated math, even to the point of skipping out on studying for an exam for it. He blushed, and scratched the back of his head nervously, looking away with his brows furrowed.

"I… I was gonna get around to it…" He mumbled. Jade couldn't hold herself back and giggled a little bit. "What? What's so funny?" He asked.

"Nothing, you're just… so frickin' cute when you get all nervous and flustered and caught like that." She explained. He put his hand back down with some force and glared at her.

"I am not nervous or flustered!" He retaliated. "And no flirting!" He added, pointing a finger at her.

"You are completely flustered that I know you're shirking off studying, because you know that if I know that, than I know that you don't actually want to study for calc!" She shot back, smiling a little bit, a playful tone in her words. She didn't really want to study for calc, anyway - she knew she'd ace it - and she had more confidence in her boyfriend's computational skills than he did. Besides, they sat next to each other, and Professor Lalonde had basically no eyesight when it came to catching students pass notes.

"OK, fine, I don't want to study fucking calculus, who the fuck does? It's fucking calculus! But if I don't study then I'm gonna fail and then I'm gonna take a fucking nuclear missile to my GPA which means I lose my grant money and my scholarship money which means I end up fucking $28,000 in debt!" He espoused. She could tell he was starting to break down a bit.

"Karkat, you're not -" She tried, but he cut her off.

"I can't fucking afford 28 grand, Jade! And I don't have the credit to fucking loan it out, and even if I did, that's still 28,000 big one's I'm in debt before I'm even out of school, which an English teacher is not going to earn in their first year, period, at all, even if I get published somehow! Which means I'm gonna have to drop out, and if I drop out, my folks won't let me go back home and -"

"Karkat."

"I'm going to be homeless and migrant and picking up random shitty jobs and… and… oh, fuck, Jade, all those plans we made, all down the fucking drain, because I'm just a flippant fuck who doesn't know that the fuck he's doing and -"

"Karkat."

"What?" He finally responded. Jade scooted up close to him and sat up on her knees, making herself taller than him for once, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Shut up and calm down, will you?" She asked. "You're not going to fail, you're not dropping out, you're not going to become homeless. You're going to do just fine, and we're going to pass together, and we'll be fine." She insisted.

"Jade…" He protested, wearily wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Shhh…" She whispered as she leaned her head down to crane with him. "It's all gonna be OK, love…" She comforted. 'Love' was his favorite term of endearment, and she made a point to use it only when it would be special and get his attention.

"How are you always so confident and sure?" He asked quietly, his eyes drooping a little bit as he laid down, pulling her on top of him. She smirked at him a little, he saw that much.

"One of us has to be."

Good enough for me, he thought to himself, before her lips were on his and they were spending their study date making out and making love. He made a point to put the sock on the doorknob for Sollux, but he was out with Aradia tonight, so he doubted it would be an issue. Before drifting off to sleep, though, he felt a sliver of worry course through his mind as he remembered that the calc exam was, in fact, tomorrow. He pushed it aside, though, and merely allowed himself to rest easy with his woman in his arms, her man finally relaxing for the first time in weeks. And, despite forgetting to set the alarm and waking up a half hour late, they both managed to make it to class on time - and both passed.

All in all, they would come to determine, quite a successful study date.