Eight year old Dave Strider was pouting.
No, not just pouting. Sulking. Sulking in the corner of his third grade classroom during the Valentine's Day Party. Children were running around with sugary cookies in their mouths, delivering Valentine cards with lollipops or bubblegum attached to them. The teacher sat at her desk, occasionally looking up from her book to receive a card from a student.
Absolutely unfair.
None of the students had given HIM any Valentine's Day cards. And he had even gotten one for everyone like he was supposed to!
Dave's pout deepened and he sat down with a huff, grumbling about unfair meanie kids. Valentine's Day sucks.. He thought to himself.
Suddenly, he heard shouting and several words that would've gotten him in huge trouble if he said them. Looking up and peering over some desks, Dave saw another boy from the class yelling and smacking other kids. Dave recognized him as the kid who was always getting into trouble for back talking teachers. And this kid. He was wearing the weirdest thing he's ever seen before on a boy (minus that one Halloween with Bro).
He was in a bright pink shirt with red hearts and a sparkly red tutu. And- was that a crown?
The teacher heaved herself out of her seat and pulled the boy (Kakar? He thought that was his name. Or something.) away from the other kids. Kakar scowled at her as she dragged him over to the corner Dave was currently occupying. He sat down next to Dave and the teacher said with a disapproving look, "You're going to stay here in time out until you learn to behave, Karkat."
Once she walked off, Karkat muttered something unintelligible and then glanced up at Dave. "Hey, are you in trouble too?"
His voice was loud, and slightly girl, Dave thought. Then he remembered why he was in the corner in the first place and the pout returned. "No, I'm here cuz I didn't get any valentines from anyone."
Karkat's jaw dropped and he gasped. "Not even one?"
Dave shook his head and looked down at the floor. There was his little Valentine's Day bag he had made himself, depressingly empty. He heard rustling from the boy next to him, and all of a sudden, Karkat dumped his entire bag of Valentine's for the class into Dave's bag. And they were the kind with cherry suckers too! Those were Dave's favorite, hands down. He went to thank him, but then paused. "Hey wait, aren't you sposed to give those to everyone else?"
Karkat glared and leaned back into the wall. "Yeah but those stupid heads don't deserve them. They were teasing me cuz I dressed up as the Valentine's Day fairy! They said a boy can't be a fairy! That's why I beat em up." He paused for a moment "...you don't think that right?" Karkat cast him a suspicious look.
Dave immediately shook his head. After all, he'd seen Bro dress up as a maid one day after school. So really, a fairy wasn't so bad. "Thank you for the Valentine's! But, what's the Valentine's Day fairy? I've never heard of them." He asked while unwrapping a lollipop.
The other boy grinned and started bouncing excitedly. Dave thought he looked kind of cute doing that. "The Valentine's Day Fairy is a fairy who goes around on Valentine's Day delivering love to everyone and making sure all the kids feel loved! My mama told me about her last night!" He was nearly jumping, he was so excited.
On the other hand, Dave felt sad. He stares at the ground again and sniffled quietly. "I don't feel very loved today.."
True, Karkat had given him some cards, but the other kids hadn't and weren't going to. He felt like crying. Karkat frowned at the sniffling boy next to him and tried to come up with an idea to make him feel better. He could force the other kids to give Dave cards, but that wasn't the same as getting them in the first place. Hmm.. What did his mama do when HE was sad.. Ping! He had an idea!
He leaned over and pecked the others boy cheek. "Well screw those kids, cuz I love you."
Dave's head jerked up so fast he almost got whiplash. There was a tiny blush on his cheeks, but a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Really?"
"Of course! You're the only idiot in this class who didn't make fun of my dress." Karkat was a little red as well, but grinning widely.
Before Dave could reply, the bell signaling recess time rang, and all of the children minus the two of them made a mad dash for the door. Karkat stood up and brushed his tutu off, then offered his hand to Dave. "Come on, you can come play with me on the playground!"
Dave hesitated for a only a second before taking his hand and smiling brightly. "Okay!"
As they ran out of the classroom towards the play structure outside, Dave thought 'Maybe Valentine's Day doesn't suck so much after all.'