Since Dave 'got even', the boys hadn't spoken to each other or even gone near each other. The most they'd done was bump shoulders in the hall. A few days later, their English teacher assigned them partners to make a poster about the vocabulary word 'retaliation'. They glared at each other and at the end of class, they agreed to go to John's house after school to do the project. At the end of the day, they left school and walked the short distance to John's house. They walked in and headed up to John's room.

"Why did we agree to come to your stupid house again?" Dave asked as he looked at the creepy harlequin stuff everywhere.

"Because my dad and Jade aren't home and there's no telling if your Bro is."

"Why isn't your sister here?"

"She's out shopping with Rose or something, I don't know."

Dave nodded and they sat on John's bed and start pulling paper and pencils out of their backpacks (but not before Dave made a comment on John's ghost bed sheets). They started writing out a plan for what their poster would look like and they started arguing about whether or not the synonyms should be at the top of the bottom (Dave said top and John said bottom). John got so angry, he blurted out "Well you just like to do everything on the top, don't you?!" in reference to Dave having been more controlling when they made out in the bathroom. They were both shocked at what he said and blushed and turn away from each other. "We'll just put them in the middle," John said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"Where are we going to put the definition then?" Dave asked pointing to the list of required things they had to include.

"Under the word or something, I don't know."

"We've already got the word in the middle though-"

"Oh my god then you just do the whole thing yourself, I don't care!"

They glared at each other and when John turned away, he could still feel Dave's eyes staring at him.

"We still need antonyms and an example-"

"I'll give you an example," Dave said and grabbed the collar of John's shirt, pulling him across the space between them and kissed John. John only took a moment to recover before moving closer to Dave and putting his fingers in the blond's hair. They stayed like that and Dave decided to show John what it was really like to have Dave Strider on top and started to push him back to lay down. John let him do it but realized that he was lying on their paper.

"We're on the project-"

"Shut up."

Dave kissed him harder and let out a small noise of discomfort when John pulled him closer by his hair. They continued making out and Dave got so into it, he didn't notice when John wrapped his fingers around Dave's wrists and shoved him off and over to his side. Dave laid there shocked and out of breath and John took the opportunity to straddle Dave and pin him down before slamming his lips to Dave's. Dave tried to kiss John and throw him off at the same time but ended up putting more effort into the kissing.

At some point, he caught John off guard and shoved him off to the side which just so happened to be off the bed. John gasped and clung to Dave, and they both toppled off the bed onto their knees on the floor. They cursed at each other and Dave put his shades up on the bed and pulled John back to him. He tried to think of a way to get his revenge and grabbed the bottom of John's shirt, yanking it up and over John's head and tossing it to the side. He rejoined their lips and dragged his nails lightly down the brunette's chest, smirking when it earned him an embarrassed almost moan from John. John felt his face get hot and tore Dave's shirt off too. He then threw his weight against Dave in attempt to pin him to the floor. The two rolled around wrestling and kissing for some time, being completely oblivious to the front door opening and a voice calling John's name. It wasn't until John's door opened and Jade screamed a little that the boys broke apart, both staring at her with somewhat wild looks in their eyes. Dave looked between the siblings and grabbed his shirt and backpack and rushed out.