The can house door creaked open as John pushed his way inside. "Terezi? You home?" He walked into the foyer and looked around. "What am I saying? Of course you're home. No one's seen you leave your little can house in weeks. And why the hell are you keeping it so dark in here? Are you training to be Batman or something?"
Her grating, nasally voice answered him from an upstairs bedroom, "I'm blind, dumbass. I don't need to turn the lights on." He saw her cane come out from the room first and then she followed. Her hair was unkempt and, rather than the jeans she had been wearing when they had won the game, she was sporting a particularly comfortable looking and well-worn pair of sweatpants. Her normal sharktooth smile was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she was frowning, her black lips agitatedly turned down.
She came down the steps and stopped in the living room, crossing her arms. "Why the fuck are you in my hive? Breaking and entering is a crime, John. And, as Can Town's only acting legislacerator, I might have to punish you."
John walked the rest of the way into the house, entering her living room so he could talk to her without so much distance between them. "Oh, please. You have to leave your hive and be a contributing member of society to be considered an 'acting' anything."
She turned her head away and huffed.
Oh geez. He hadn't come here to pick a fight. It was just really easy to get riled up by her for some reason. He was just worried, and he had started to notice everyone else was worrying, having not seen her for some time. So he had felt obligated, as the designated friend-leader person, to go and see if she was doing alright.
John stepped closer. "Look, no one has seen you in a while and everyone is upset. You've also stopped responding to your trollian messages to let us know you're still alive and kicking. You can't blame me for coming to check up on you."
Terezi shoved his shoulder. "Ugh! Stop being so fucking caring. It is revolting."
He shoved her shoulder back in turn. "Then stop hiding away like a hermit when people that love you are concerned for your well-being?!"
She dropped her cane and shoved him back with two hands. "How about you stop getting in my business!"
He mirrored her double handed shove. "No! How about you just stop sulking over Vriska!"
She tried to shove him again, but he caught her hands in his, intertwining their fingers and holding them above their heads. They pushed back at each other, their faces getting uncomfortably close.
Terezi took a step forward and suddenly her lips were mashing against John's. He stumbled back until he hit the far wall of her hive. Her tongue ran over his bottom lip and then slipped inside his mouth. He hesitantly settled his hands on her wide hips as they pressed against his. Her hands gripped the front of his shirt, pulling it down so she could continue attacking his mouth.
When she pulled away, her head sank against his chest, her horns nearly poking into his collar. She buried her face in the fabric. "Your shirt smells like sour grapes."
He licked his bruised lips. "That's just the slimmer looking guy on the front… Hey, stop sniffing my shirt!"
She glared up at him, her glasses askew and her red eyes pouting and a tad judgmental.
He sort of wished she'd kiss him again.
Nope!
Stop!
He was not here to get his hate snog on!
He broached his reason for being there again, "I know you miss Vriska, but you have other friends that miss you too. You can't stay in here forever."
"Wanna bet?" She raised an eyebrow suggestively and slid a hand up his chest.
Ugh! Shit! This was way too distracting. He needed to gain some leverage and fast.
An idea struck him and a mischievous smile spread across his face. Without warning, he wrapped his arms around Terezi's back and lifted them into the air. She gasped and clutched at his shoulders, digging her nails into his shirt, probably making holes. He'd need to alchemize a new one.
"John! Put us back on the fucking ground this instant! I will kick you in the shin! Don't think I won't!" She flailed, trying to get her foot to swing in the right direction, but she kept coming up empty.
"Oh, my god! Calm down! If you keep struggling, you're gonna fall!"
She growled but stopped moving. He gently lay back, guiding her to follow so that she was sprawled across him on her stomach. She mumbled to herself in little clicks and buzzes that only the trolls could make or understand.
He sighed, exhausted. "You know, as much as Dave and Karkat have been busy with each other, they, like, never stop talking about you. Every time I'm over, they're doodling on their house's walls and Dave is all, 'Wait, man. Save the red chalk for Terezi. She'll be over the goddamn moon, seeing an entire pile of red chalk,' Then Karkat acts like he doesn't care but he puts it aside and says, 'Sure! Whenever the hell she's done holing herself away like some wretched nut creature during the cold season!'"
Terezi snorted. "Wow, John. Great impressions. Were you a comedian in another life or something?"
John tilted them to the side just a little bit. The grip she had on his shirt tightened. "As a matter of fact, I was smartass! Jane even said I was famous."
"Too bad you're just icky, unaccomplished you in this lifetime." She paused and they just floated along quietly for a few moments. Then she tried to bring up another topic, "How's your redrom with Dave's mom going?"
"Roxy?" He looked down at her. She appeared indifferent, like she wasn't actually interested in the subject of his other romantic escapades all that much. He answered her anyway, "We like to hang out a lot, but I'm pretty sure she's too occupied with her friend Callie to think about a relationship right now. During the game we were talking and it felt like things were headed in a really great direction, but we kind of simmered down a whole lot."
She hummed, apparently satisfied with his response. "And Rose and Kanaya? How are they doing?"
"Still a thing. They got a place together and- Oh, wait just a damn minute! I am not filling you in on how everybody is doing one at a time! If you are actually interested, you need to go out and visit them yourself!"
She clicked her tongue. "You were almost dumb enough to fall for that."
He slowly began lowering them to the ground.
She looked around them, surprised. "Are you finally putting me down now? Not that I didn't enjoy your little attempt at maintaining control over the conversation, but I'd rather not fly unless I'm wearing my jetpack and I'm the one driving."
"Oh, yeah. Letting a blind girl that hates my guts drive me around on a jetpack would be such a good idea." Their feet touched the ground and her arms slipped off of him. She bent down to pick up her cane and he casually kicked it into the entry way. "Oops!"
She gave him one of her wide, sharp-toothed smiles. "John, you shit, what, may I ask, do you think you are doing?"
"Well, I have to head out now, so you should probably come see me off at the door, or smell me off. Whatever." He opened it, but before he could take a step outside, Terezi pulled him back by his wrist, slamming her mouth against his one more time. When she stepped back he winced and rubbed at his face. "God! You can't just kiss me normally? You have to slam the entire weight of your head into it?"
She cackled and it sounded like ice being jostled around in a blender. "Come by for another visit sometime, Egbert."
He couldn't help the infectious grin that plastered itself on his face. He bent down and gave her a softer, sweeter kiss. She looked thoroughly disgusted, a light dusting of teal spreading over her cheeks. "Or you could come out and see how everybody else is doing once in a while." He noticed the suggestion didn't really seem to appeal to her. "But maybe, until you feel up to it, I'll just keep stopping by."