The next few weeks pass in a slow, painstaking manner, what, with you putting up even more of an effort to avoid Dave than usual. You think he notices, too, which only makes your self-loathing issues heighten to a practically morbid degree.
Whenever he enters the room you're currently occupying you make a big deal of striking up a conversation with Kanaya, insisting that it has to be continued somewhere else and then absconding to the complete opposite end of the veil. You try not to notice that obnoxious smirk on Strider's face as you do this, but you do anyway, and god, do you hate it.
You spend most of your time practically hiding in the room you've claimed as your makeshift respiteblock, not really doing much of anything. Just waiting for these three years to be over and done with it so you can actually carry on with life instead of wasting it away worrying about this kind of shit.
Dave isn't the only one who's noticed your submission into solitude, either. Terezi is sending you these ridiculous sarcastic grins now, and whenever Lalonde looks at you you can practically feel her judging you for running away from her ectobrother like this.
You're honestly not sure what's better at this point; continuing to flee like you are or just sucking it up and dealing with his shit, hopefully giving him an argument that'll finally make him shut up for once in his life.
It's around week seven or eight that you decide with the latter of your options; sick of moping around like a woofbeast that's been kicked into listening to everything its jackass master tells it. You're done with wasting your time wallowing in self pity just because Strider can read you like a fucking book. Everyone else can do that, too. So what. So you're this insecure little douche who can't restrain himself when it comes to disputes. You're this dumb kid that can't control his emotions and who blows up at every single little thing. You know how pathetic you are. You definitely don't need Strider of all people reminding you about it every single day.
Jesus fuck, you really hate yourself.
But you think at this point, you hate the human more.
...
You see the transportalizer light up out of the corner of your eye and, realizing that it was pretty pointless trying to convince Gamzee that forcing faygo down the throats of the people he'd murdered wasn't going to do shit, you turn to face the new arrival with an unamused expression on your face, not once turning to face Kanaya to send her one of those silent pleas for help.
The human raises an eyebrow at this, clearly interested in this shocking new development. Gamzee, on the other hand, gives a small shrug and then ambles over to his recently renovated horn pile as Dave walks up to greet (read: harass) you, clearly not interested in the asinine argument that was sure to come.
"So what's up, Karkitten, haven't really had the chance to talk to you lately. Well I have but seems like you've been pretty busy hangin around that sparkly white lady friend of yours. Christ, though, how long have you been running away from me for, like a year?"
Your expression quickly rearranges itself into a scowl. First line of the conversation and he's already nagging at you about your heightened evasiveness as of late. Figures.
"It's only been a few weeks, asshole." You want to say more, but your heart rate's already steadily increasing into a practical torrent, and you need to let out a quick sigh masked with irritation to try and disguise your hopefully not completely obvious discomfort.
A slight smirk tugs at the blonde's lips and you can tell he's trying to hide it; trying to keep his face void of all emotion, but you notice it either way and that fact almost bothers you. It irks you that you're able to pick up little details like this from him of all people.
"Oh, so you've been counting. Nice to see you missed me, babe. Coulda talked to me sooner, y'know, I don't bite or anything. Unless you're into that kind of thing."
You raise your shoulders in a mix of irritation and nerves, one of your animalistic growls bubbling up from the back of your throat and then escaping your mouth through your bared teeth.
"Fuck off. Don't talk to me like I'm your fucking girlfriend, Strider. Not sure if you've noticed, and it'd honestly be pretty fucking sad if you haven't at this point, but I sort of hate you. We're not friends. We're never going to be friends, so don't you talk to me like that or I swear to your dumb earth gods that don't even fucking exist that I will let Gamzee make a corpse out of you just like he did with half of the other fucking people I know."
The human lets that smirk of his become apparent, raising his eyebrows at you in mock interest. "So basically you're saying I was right about that whole hateboner thing, yeah?"
You roll your eyes, raising your hand to give yourself a quick facepalm. "Okay, no, fuck you. Why the fuck do you humans automatically suspect that there are underlying caliginous feelings whenever any one of us uses the word hate. I mean believe it or not, but there's actually a thing called platonic hate in our culture. Just because I happen to loathe you and your fucking cool-kid facade doesn't mean I'm lusting after you."
There's a moment or two of silence, which makes you uneasy as fuck. You give a nervous swallow and open your mouth to say something else, but then he's taking a step closer to you, getting his face all up in yours and your think pan sort of just stops working.
You lean backwards a bit and you're suddenly aware of the other people in the room staring in your direction as the human's smirk widens into what's basically just this really unsettling grin. One that honestly looks a little unnatural on his face. You doubt he's aware of how much emotion he's showing right now; of how completely obvious it is that he's enjoying this little game far more than he should be.
Your senses come back at the room's occupants' becoming aware of your current situation and that blank, startled look on your face quickly snaps back into a scowl. You don't make any move to get away from Dave, though. If you try to pull something like that, you're basically just handing him victory on a stunning silver platter.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing," you spit out, sunken orange eyes snapping up and easily meeting the human's own gaze behind those precious shades of his.
He gives you a slight shrug, unphased. "I dunno, Karkles, just thinking that your saying you loathe me is pretty strong language for a platonic hatred. And fyi, this sweet cool-kid act of mine's not a facade, kay?"
You let your eyes narrow in a bored sort of expression. You open your mouth to tell him off some more but he suddenly leans in and you think that maybe he's going to kiss you for some weird fucked up reason, but he pauses right before your lips, hesitating for a moment and then looking at you from over the top of his shades and waiting for your reaction.
You just sort of gape at him for a second or two before snapping your mouth closed, a slight cherry tint coming to your cheeks, more than a little embarrassed by your initial reaction.
"No seriously, what the fuck are you doing." You speak the words through gritted teeth, trying to keep yourself from completely freaking out.
He drops his gaze to your lips and when he speaks, his voice is this soft, sickly sweet murmur that you didn't even know the human was capable of.
"Just proving a point."
And then he does kiss you, and it's this quick, saccharine sort of thing and even though it feels like it lasts a lifetime, it's over in a matter of seconds. He pulls away from you when the deed is done, lingering there in front of you afterwards, so close you can still feel his breath on your face. He's no longer smirking at you, and the look on his face is this stoic sort of thing, slightly twisted in latent confusion.
You two just stand there in silence for a while, no longer aware of other members of the room staring at you like you're out of your minds, which you probably are, in retrospect, seeing as you had no problem with that little burst of affection that just took place.
It takes a few dreadfully long minutes of cautious silence, but you kiss him back, swiftly and violently, the complete opposite of his disgusting candied peck. You feel him practically freeze under your lips, this interaction both addictive and terrifying for the both of you.
You grab a fistful of his shirt and shove him backwards after giving his bottom lip a careful nip, muttering a quick "Fuck you" before making your way over to the transportalizer and absconding to your respiteblock to seriously consider what the fuck you're doing with your life right now.