You wander through dream bubble after dream bubble. They never seem to end; the scenery changes constantly, and you pass by people who give you strange or concerned looks. Some people don't even notice you.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
You were supposed to be her knight. Not that douche Strider; what the hell did he know about romance? Or trolls at all? What the hell did he know about Terezi?
You eventually come to a stop in an unfamiliar place. There's wooden walkways and ropes connecting you between trees. You stumble over to one thick trunk and sit down behind it, knees up to your chest, trying not to cry.
You sit there for a few minutes before someone happens upon you. "Uh, doll? You okay down there?"
You snap your head up, essentially flipping your shit. The troll holds up his hands. "Woah there. I ain't gonna hurt you, doll. Just wanted to see if you were okay. You stormed in pretty fast."
You stare at him. Who the hell is this guy? His horns look like Nitram's, but he doesn't look anything like him other than that.
Could this be Rufioh?
No way, you think to yourself. Tavros just made that up. But you're sure this is his ancestor.
He sits back on his haunches in front of you, making the two of you more level with each other. He smiles crookedly at you. "It's okay, doll, I don't mean any bad. I'm Rufioh, Tav's ancestor. You know him? He's pretty sick."
You nod, clearing your throat. "What the hell kind of nooksucker do you take me for? Of course I know Nitram, the grubsack wouldn't shut up about his fairytales. But if you're suggesting I was a failure of a leader... you'd be right." you mumble the last part, looking down into your lap. Fuck, you're so pathetic. Releasing your dumb problems on this idiot, probably doesn't even know who you are -
He sits down beside you. "You're the little Vantas, right? Pretty sure Cronus mentioned you were... Karkat, was it?" He bumps your shoulder. "You're cuter than he said you'd be."
You jerk and look at him in shock. Nobody but Ampora had ever come onto you, and you don't even count that; the grubfucker was just desperate for any quadrant he could get. "What the fuck? Are you making fun of me?"
He looks confused. "Why would I lie about that, doll? You're cute, enough said." He nods to his left. "Want to go back to my treehouse? I've got some anime if you like, and I'm pretty sure I've got some snacks lying around..."
You gawk at him for a moment, your mouth hanging open. He taps under your jaw. You close it, swallow, and nod.
You're extremely nervous and jittery when he leads you inside. He also seems a little nervous; the way he acts is similar to when Tavros used to put up a bravado to show that he had a self-esteem that he really didn't.
In the pile of animes strewn everywhere, you spot a movie - you're favourite movie, the one that you lost when you were five sweeps and raged over, your comfort movie, and holy fuck how did he even have this?
Of course, this movie is Troll Love, Actually.
Your grab it and shove it in his face. "I want to watch this," you demand. He awkwardly takes it out of your hands and holds it so he can actually see this.
"Didn't think I owned this. Must of been Horuss's or something..." he mumbles. He shrugs. "Make yourself comfortable, doll."
He inserts the disk into a high-tech dvd player and plops on the couch. By the time the first scene is over you're sprawled all over him, making clutch-y hands at the screen and going on about how love is so beautiful and pausing to provide commentary on how well they portray the quadrants.
When it's halfway over, you're really just cuddling. You're sitting in his lap and your chin is under his, and his hands are around your waist. He's dubbing over some of the lines, making you scowl and him ruffle your hair.
When the movie is over, you're dozing. He puts in an anime - something about neighbours? - And you doze to that. In your sleep-haze, you admit what had had you so bothered. He kisses your forehead. You don't really mind.
You wake up in your own bed, clutching a note written in messy scrawl. You feel like slapping yourself when you read it.

You sleep as much as you can after that.
You grow steadily closer to him. He makes you forget your problems and stress; you watch bad animes and poke fun at each other.
Eventually romance is pulled into it. Sometimes, when you're cuddling in, his kisses are like melting chocolate. Other times, his kisses are like fire. You don't know which you like more. But both make you forget, and that's all you want; you want to forget, everything but him.