It's senior year, and your heart hasn't broken yet.
It's supposed to be one of those things that comes along with puberty. You grow taller, your voice changes, you grow hair in places, and you find your soul mate.
Though, you kind of lack in the puberty department too. You're 5"1', your voice is still cracking at the most inconvenient times, and the only thing that's grown about you in the last 4 years is your temper.
Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you are a severely late bloomer.
All of your friends' hearts have broken by now. Tavros and Gamzee were a match made in heaven, John and Dave have been together since freshman year, Sollux and Eridan found each other against all odds, Rose and Kanaya were a thing long before their hearts even cracked, and Aranea and Meenah, who were practically your older sisters since you could remember, have already graduated and moved in together.
It's just you.
"Oh Kaaaaaaaarkaaaaaaaat!" Oh great.
It's Vriska Serket.
You've hated her from the day you met her. She looks the same as she did that day; long curly blonde hair, frameless glasses, navy blue converse, faded skinny jeans, light skin, and a heart such a dark shade of blue it's almost black. She's the most obnoxious human being in existence. There's a rumour going around that she lost her shit when Gamzee and Tavros' hearts broke. You don't want anything to do with her.
So you turn and walk the other way.
"Hey runt!" Shit. She jogs to catch up to you. "You know, it's rude to ignore someone like that! Especially someone as important as me." You roll your eyes. "What did you want, Vriska?" She smirks down at you, "I want lots of things. Fame, fortune, a big house. But the question isn't what I want, it's what I can do for you." You shake your head. "Not right now Vriska, I'm not in the-"
"Oh come oooooooon, don't be a party pooper. I can hook you up with the new girl, she's really cuuuuuuuute~." You look at her quizically. "New girl? What new girl?" Vriska sighs. "Wow, you really are lame. Her name's Terezi Pyrope, and she's-"
"Vriska!" The two of you turn to see a girl about your height, with messy ginger hair and freckles all over her face. She has on the thickest glasses you've ever seen, and they bring out the blue in her hazel eyes. "What have I told you about running off? I'm going to end up running into someone!" Vriska rolls her eyes and gestures at the girl in front of you. "This is Terezi Pyrope, and as I was saying before someone interrupted, she's pretty much legally blind. Have fun, kids!" And she runs off.
You take not of Terezi's appearance. She has a teal beanie on top of her head and a loose red jacket over a graphic tee featuring some dragon. You're pretty sure he's from that new Lord of the Rings movie or something. She's wearing black skinny jeans with worn out knees and a pair of ratty red converse. Her glasses are red and look similar to Aranea's; old fashioned and pointed at the edges, and her heart is teal with flecks of other colours. You hold out your hand. "I'm Karkat." She looks down, grasping the air to the left of your hand. You guess Vriska wasn't kidding about the almost-blind thing. You take her hand and shake it. "Great. Hey Karkat. Can you help me to my next class?" You blink. "Uhh..." She grabs your hand, "Great! I have," She puts her schedule an inch from her face, "Economics in room 413." You look at her surprisingly. "I do too. Come on then, I'll show you where it is."
3
You're beginning to understand why Vriska dumped Terezi on you.
She is LOUD.
You don't know if it's to compensate for her shitty eyesight, but you do know that it's grating on your ears in the shittiest fucking way possible. She's been clinging to you all day, claiming you're her "seeing eye dog". She has the most obnoxious laugh you've ever heard, and she's always snarky. She's a close second on your People To Avoid list. Unfortunately, you haven't figured out how to make that happen yet.
"Oh my god, Karkles, it's like I told you in English-"
"No, Pyrope, it's like I told you, shut the fuck up!"
She makes a face somewhere between a scowl and a fish and you scoff. This chick is fucking crazy.
"And my name is NOT Karkles!"
God you hate her laugh. But you don't think you hate...her. Which is more than you can say for most people. You feel a sharp pain in your chest, "Fuck!" you mutter under your breath and look down and see a crack. "What the..."
"Karkat!" You look up soon enough to see a blur of blue before you're tackled by John, Dave jogging up behind. "Hey!" He looks at your chest. "Your heart cracked! Oh my gosh! Who is it who is it?" Dave comes up beside you and helps John up off of you. "Calm down Egbert, it's just a crack, I doubt he knows who it is yet." He looks at you, a smirk on his face, "About fucking time too. Senior year. You better hope it breaks before we graduate." You growl at him. "Shut the fuck up Strider, I don't need any of this. Go take your shit-spewing mouth somewhere else, I'm sure there are plenty of other people you call 'friends' who would just love to ogle the wonderment that is the fucking solid fountain of shit constantly pouring from your mouth in shitty, abstract metaphors and cool kid sass." He arches a brow and takes John's hand in his. "Hey man, don't diss the metaphors. They're like fine spun silk, coming out of my ass in perfect pearly white beauty. I'm a goddamn metaphor spider, weaving metaphors like a fucking pro. I could knit a sweater of metaphors. Would you like a sweater of metaphors, Karkat?"
Before you can answer, Terezi blurts out, "Jeez, you talk too much. Do all cool kids ramble this much? Cause that's not very cool." Dave just scoffs and walks off with a smiling John, waving goodbye to you as he's dragged off. You look at Terezi and allow yourself to smile a genuine smile. "Damn Terezi, there aren't many people who can shut up Strider. Props." She cackles, and you find her laugh is starting to grow on you.
3
The front door slams shut, and you look up from your book to see Kankri stomping off to his room. You raise an eyebrow before returning to your novel. You need to finish Pride and Prejudice so you can read Sense and Sensibility. It's taking you too fucking long just to read this book and you don't know why and you think that's pissing you off more than anything else. Terezi would probably be laughing her ass off at you right now.
You shake your head. You need to focus! Stop thinking about Terezi! About her soft red hair, and her bright eyes, and the way her face lights up when she smiles or laughs... Dammit!
This is stupid.
New Message From:
Terezi Pyrope
You raise an eyebrow before clicking read
h3y k4rkl3s, w4nn4 com3 h4ng out 4t my pl4c3? My s1s 1s go1ng to th3 sk4t3 p4rk w1th h3r fr13nds 4nd 1m bor3d 4f
pl344444444s3? :]
You grimace as it takes you a second to understand the text. You forgot she wrote in leet speak.
WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT
The reply is almost instantaneous.
B3c4us3 w3r3 b3st fr13nds 4nd 1 s41d so! :p
You sigh heavily before sending your response
FINE
START UP NETFLIX, ILL BE THERE IN A FEW MINUTES
You get up from your spot on the couch and set a bookmark in the place you left off. Grumbling to yourself the entire time, you slip on your shoes and walk to her house. The good thing about going to the same high school is that a lot of your friends are within walking distance. Terezi lives in the apartments down the street from your neighbourhood.
3
By the time you get to her door, she's already partway into 50 First Dates. You're a little surprised she remembered your favourite movie. You sit down next to her on the couch and she pulls a bowl of popcorn onto her lap. There's a blanket sitting across her lap and she doesn't react when you put your hand in the popcorn bowl, so you guess it's okay. You guys sit like that for a few hours, and Terezi's sister comes home to find you cuddling with Terezi under the blanket, halfway through Juno.
Neither of you mention it the next day at school, but you can sense how much closer the two of you have gotten. You try to remember how school was before your friends had found their soul mates, but it wasn't this nice. You weren't this happy. There's another pain in your chest, and you look down to see that the crack is now longer. It goes down more than half of your heart, and you admit you're anxious as to when it will finally break. You wonder if you should message Terezi to tell her about the new crack before you realize how stupid you sound. You're not an excited little school girl, and you doubt Terezi gives a shit about a crack in your heart.
The more you think about Terezi, the more you would like to think that she did care about that stupid crack in your heart. She's your best friend, and breaking your heart is one of the best things that could ever happen to someone. You wonder who it is that is meant to spend the rest of their life with you. You aren't sure if the crack means you've met them or if you're about to. No one really explained it in much detail to you growing up.
You hope it's Terezi.
Wait.
What?
'thump'. You look down at the heart piece now sitting on your desk.
Shit.
Didn't they say you were supposed to experience a huge surge of emotions or something? Why weren't you-
Oh.
Oh God.
You suddenly feel extremely hollow, as if someone plucked your soul right out of your body and left you with sadness to fill the space. Your eyes well up and you begin to cry uncontrollably. You feel so alone, more so than you ever have in your entire life. You want to die.
3
You can't get out of bed. You just lie there, and when Kankri knocks on your door the next morning to get you ready for school, you refuse to move. He has a worried expression on his face and you kindly ask him to fuck off while trying to fight back more tears. You hate yourself. You're alone. Everything feels so empty, as if all the joy has been sucked out of the world. You can hear Kankri talking to someone outside your door, but you don't hear another voice, so he must be on the phone. You catch a name; Latula. You think that's Terezi's sister's name.
Oh god. Terezi.
The tears overflow and you can't stop them this time. You muffle your sobs in your pillow, and don't notice Kankri coming back into the room until he is sitting on your bed beside you and is petting your hair in an attempt to calm you down. You cling to him, crying into his sweater, but it just makes you feel worse. He's not Terezi. You can hear him shooshing you, but it doesn't help. You cry harder, balling his sweater into your fists.
3
Your door opens slowly, and you try to burrow further into your blankets. You can feel someone standing next to your bed.
"Karkat?"
You shrink into your mattress.
"Karkat, please..."
"What do you want Terezi?" Your voice sounds so fragile, so defeated. As if you've given up on life. You don't recognize it. You feel the blankets being taken off of you and you hide your face in your arms. Terezi puts a hand on your shoulder and you move your arms so you can see her face. She looks even more beautiful now, and you can feel more tears at the corners of your eyes. She opens up her arms and you jump up out of bed and hug her tightly. She laughs and you can't help but laugh with her as she fits her heart piece with yours. You move to your desk, where your heart piece has been sitting since it fell out. You click it into place beside the remaining half of her heart and she leans forward. You lean in the rest of the way and the two of you kiss.
Later on, once you've cleared your head, you realize she pulled a hitch on you. But you don't care.