"These battle scars don't look like they're fading. Don't look like they're ever going away. They ain't ever gonna change."
Jade Harley never cried. She would whimper and whine, but never let her guard down enough to cry. But the scene unfolding in front of her had tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill over. Who wouldn't be upset if they just caught their boyfriend lip-locked with their brother? "D-Dave?" She whispered, peeking her head around the corner where she was hiding. She saw him tense up as he backed away from the heir and slowly turned to face her. He cleared his throat. "Oh... Uh... Hey Jade..." He scratched the back of his neck, not meeting her eyes from behind his shades.
She was at a loss of words. The ravenette looked back and forth between the blond and her brother. "Why?" She begged, her voice cracking. She saw John open his mouth to answer, and then shut it quickly, supposedly not knowing what to say. "I'm so sorry Jade..." Was the last she heard from the windy boy before she spun around on her heel and ran off down the hallway. She held her head in her hands as she ran, not looking back.
She wasn't watching where she was going, with the considerable amount of tears blurring her vision. She ran into and knocked over a small figure and wiped her eyes, revealing said figure to be none other than her angry patron troll. "Hey! Watch where you're going, dumbass!" He shouted, disoriented from the run-in. The witch sniffled and looked over at him, fixing her disheveled glasses before standing up. "Not in the m-mood Karkat."
She steadied herself before storming out, slamming the door with tear-streaked cheeks. Once she got out of the apartment building, she took off in a run again, not stopping until she reached her own apartment's doorstep. Out of her pocket, she pulled out her keys and fumbled with them, dropping them a few times before she got it in the lock. With shaky hands, she turned the doorknob and cautiously stepped in.
In a matter of seconds, the door was shut behind her and she was up in her room, collapsed on her bed. The tears flowed freely, all of the emotions pent up inside her for years finally breaking free. The pressure, the stress, everything. It all pushed weight on her until she was shaking, violent sobs and coughs sneaking their way in. She sat there for what felt like hours, just crying it all out, when she heard a knock on her door. She ignored it, wishing the whole world would just simply go away. But whoever was knocking was persistent, pounding harder and harder with each minute unanswered.
Begrudgingly, she got up and shuffled down the stairs to the door. Just as she was reaching for the door knob, there was another couple poundings, followed by, "Gog dammit, Harley. Open the fucking door!" She froze in her spot and blinked once, debating whether or not to let the nubby-horned troll inside. "Go away, Karkat," she shouted back. The pounding ensued. She figured if she didn't let him in soon, she would most likely get a headache later. She rolled her eyes and sighed, opening the door. The ravenette peeked out to see the grumpy mutant standing there. "What do you want, Karkat?" He tapped his foot impatiently in response. She sighed once more in resignation and opened to door, gesturing for him to come in.
He mumbled a "Thanks" and shuffled in, looking down. He stuffed his keys in his pocket and sat down gruffly on the couch. She glanced at his battered little cherry-colored car and shut the door, moving over to the love seat across from Karkat and the couch. She sniffled once and looked up at him with her eyes and fidgeted with her fingers. "So what are you doing here?"
"What? No 'thank you'? What does it look like, dipshit? I'm *obviously* comforting you in your time of need." She suppressed a snort and rolled her eyes. "I never asked you to come."
"Well I, your caring, compassionate patron troll, assumed it as my job as said patron troll to support you until your watching sockets quit leaking," Jade raised an eyebrow and hugged her knees to her chest. "So tell me what's wrong?" His voice had lowered in volume, his tone going from arrogant to the 'caring, compassion' he claimed to have. When she didn't answer, he stood up and walked over to her, picking her up bridal style. She squirmed a bit, but was too exhausted to get away from him. He sat down on the couch once again and moved her from his arms to his lap, rocking her back and forth to soothe her. Being too tired to actually cry, the witch set her head on his shoulder, letting silent tears soak the shoulder of his sweater. He just stroked her hair gently and let her.
The nubby-horned troll kissed her forehead and hooked one finger under her chin, gently forcing her to look at him. With his other hand, Karkat wiped her tears, using his thumb and sweater sleeve. "So dry your vision orbs and tell me what happened?"
She sighed and fidgeted with her fingers, embarrassed of her reasoning. "It's no big deal... It's just... I found Dave and John and um... I kinda walked in on them... making out a little..." She trailed off, letting him figure out the rest. His face softened for a moment before hardening again. "Strider," he growled. "I'm going to kill that dumbass nookwhiffer." She shook her head vigorously, worriedly. "N-no! I'll be fine..." The ravenette mumbled,"it's my fault anyways."
"How the hell is it you fault? That douchelick you called your matesprit or boyfriend or whatever was fucking cheating on you with your egghead brother! *He* was the one who lied to *you*!" She smiled sadly, looking down. "He just didn't want to hurt me... He didn't mean for me to find out, but I was keeping him from real happiness." The mutant was taken aback, sputtering and stuttering, trying to make sense of what she was saying.
"There is *no* way in hell that this is your fault. He fucked up, not you." Jade just shook her head lightly, blaming herself still. "Look Jade, I know how it feels to have loved someone and for them to not give a flying fuck about you in return. It fucking sucks. But it'll get better."
"What happened? With you and the other person?"
"It happened twice," Jade figured the first one was Terezi, but she hadn't a clue as to who the second person was. "Shit happens," he continued, "We get over it. But you can't blame yourself for something you didn't do. Strider was a douchebag-like I've been saying all along-and he doesn't deserve you, Harley." She was about to respond when her computer screen blinked. The Pesterchum screen lit up with a flashing orange dot, signaling a new message. It was from Dave.
turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG]
TG: harley
TG: we need to talk
TG: i fucked up okay
TG: and i want to apologize
TG: you probably hate me
TG: and im with john now
TG: but i still need to make it up to you
GG: no
TG: no?
GG: no.
GG: i kept you from being happy and its what i get.
GG: ill see you around cool kid.
gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 8:02 pm
She looked at the screen and felt Karkat's presence behind her, reading the messages quietly. She wiped a few more tears that must've gotten loose while she was typing and turned off the monitor. The witch wordlessly moved back to the front room, not turning around to see if he followed.
She was about to sit down when Karkat grabbed her wrist. He gently pulled her close to him, enveloping her into a hug. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his torso, as his were around her waist. She laid her head on his shoulder as he rest his chin on the crown of her hair. The Cancer rubbed her back in slow, circular motions, doing what felt natural. He untangled himself and stepped backward, only to lean his head forward. His lips connected to hers and she stood, too shocked to react. He felt her tense up slightly and stepped back once again, blushing bright, candy red. Karkat rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry uh... I should've know you would've... I should probably go... How could I have been so stu-." He was cut off mid-ramble when the witch stepped forward and crushed her lips to his, curling her fingers under the collar of his sweater. He blinked once before shutting his eyes and bringing his arms around her waist again, kissing back. She pulled away when she needed the human resource known as air and looked up at him, blushing. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Karkat!" She smiled, her mood obviously changed for the better. She hugged him again, grinning and giggling. "Thank you, Karkat. You're actually better at this than you'd think!" He chucked.
"Well maybe only one person didn't give a flying fuck." She tilted her head, about to inquire about what he meant when she understood. The second person was her. He had loved her from the beginning, even when she was dating Dave. It was her all along.