Yes, as you may have just read, this story is going to be a bit... harder. The last story I did, Karkat's Choice Redux, took me some time and was very much more focused on sex and didn't really have much in the way of romance. Hell, one of the reasons it took so long was because I had lost my "muse", my gf. Funnily enough, while this story was started a bit before the breakup, I find it that that experience should help. I'm always putting a bit of my own life into my stories, one way or another. So, hopefully, you'll enjoy this story as I want it to be a nice mix of passion, pain, recovery, and romance. I have another idea for a story that I'll probably start up soon; it'll be more of a romance kinda thing, without any smut. When I do though, I'll be uploading it to both here and Wattpad, seeing as how I have another story on there I need to finish. Karkat's Choice Redux's non-smutty version, with the same name. If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to read them. Enjoy~

An hour passed, and Rose was still shut in her room. Mostly everyone had left because they didn't want to remain in the sour, awkward air. The only people that remained were Jane, Karkat, John, Dave, and Jade.

Roxy took a piece of cake upstairs to try and cheer her little sister up.

"Hey, sis? You want a piece of cake? It's your favorite~"

Rose responded by throwing a book at the door, making a large thud as it hit.

"I'll just leave it here for you then," Roxy said as she left the cake outside of her door and went back downstairs. One of the mutant Jaspers came up and took a lick from the icing.

Karkat was silently eating some cake by himself, while John, Dave, and Jade were trying to figure out how to make Rose feel better. All the while, Roxy plopped down in a large bean bag chair and let out a long, loud sigh. She looked over at the trio, then over to Karkat. An idea popped into her head. Maybe it was some of the vodka she had earlier, or maybe it was just some hairbrained scheme that was just crazy; so crazy that it just might work!

"Ooooooooh Kaaaaarkaaaaat~"

Before he knew it, Karkat was whisked away upstairs and thrust into Rose's room, thanks to Roxy's somehow hidden skill as a lockpicker. He looked down and in his hands was a paper plate with a piece of cake on it. He looked to his right and saw Rose bawling into her hands, curled up into a fetal position on her bed. Then, he looked for a place to set down the cake and try to get out of the room. He found a clear spot of her dresser. As for getting out, the door was locked.

"That fucking drunk..." Karkat muttered under his breath. He then proceeded to thump his head on the door.

At the sound, Rose quickly turned over to see what made that sound from within her room. To her surprise, she saw Karkat standing there with his hand wrapped around the doorknob.

"What the hell are you doing in here? Get out!" Rose shouted, her voice slightly hoarse from the crying.

"I would," Karkat started, "but your scum-eating sister locked me in." He still stood there, with his head against the door and his eyes glaring at it.

'Well, why are you in here then? I wanted to be alone!"

Karkat said back to her, almost in a shout, "and I just wanted to eat a bit of cake before I left the awkward atmosphere that Kanaya made! But noooooo, your sister had to get some delusional idea of shoving me in here with a piece of cake to try and cheer you up."

Rose went back to her original position but wrapped her arms together. "You might as well sit down for a bit then... Until Roxy finally realizes her plan isn't going to work."

Taking the offer, Karkat put his back to the door and slumped down.

While he was down there, he looked around Rose's room and actually saw how it looked. Pieces of knitted items were scattered across the floor, a rather large book was standing up by her bed, her desk was to the right of him, and her dresser to his left. A basket filled with yarn and various gauges of knitting needles sat at the foot of her bed. Then, out of the corner of his right eye, he noticed that a pile of sweaters began to shuffle around. Out popped the head of a winged Jasper clone from the top of the pile. As he scurried out from the pile of cotton items, he mewed towards Rose and flew up to her. When Jasper landed beside her, it climbed up onto her side and mewed again. Rose lifted a hand up and stroked his head.

Karkat sat there and watched as she pet the mutant feline, but he was slightly surprised when she asked him a question.

"Hey, Karkat? Can I ask you something?" Rose asked feebly, still stroking Winged Jasper's soft coat of fur.

After a second of hesitation, Karkat said yes.

A few seconds of silence followed his reply as Rose tried to pull herself together and work up the courage.

"You and Kanaya are moirails, right?"

"Yeah, we are."

"Did she ever talk to you about me?"

"Sometimes, yeah." Then, just from that, Karkat could just about sense the ulterior question.

"Did she possibly mention... breaking up with me?"

Karkat let out a long sigh as he scratched his head. He was in quite the refuse pile.

"Technically, Rose, that kind of stuff moirails are supposed to keep secret, so that WE don't wind up hurting anyone. Unless, of course, you're a black-gutted shit-for-brains hell bent on hurting someone." Karkat said, "But seeing as how you're already hurting, I'll tell you. Yes, she fucking did. At first, I didn't really give a shit. If she was really unhappy with you, she should just break off the matespritship and move on. She was telling about how her feelings for Vriska started to come back."

The sound of Rose lightly crying could be heard by him as he continued.

"But, now, though, I don't really know what to feel or even think about Kanaya after she did that. Because, even to me, that was a fucking bad move. Right in front of everybody... That was just cold."

An hour or so passed by as Karkat sat in silence by the door as Rose quietly still wept. The light sound of footsteps came to the door as Roxy approached and knocked on the door.

"Karkat? You still alive in there? Did you make my little sis feel better?"

Not even trying to be quite, Karkat said out loud, "Yes, I am. However, I doubt I made things better for Rose and just maybe, maybe, made things worse."

"How in the world did you do that? Did you even give her the cake?"

"I told her something that should've been kept a secret between me and Kanaya. And no, I didn't."

Then, unexpectedly, Roxy shouted, "You mean you knew she'd break up with Rose!? Why did you keep it a secret? Just you wait until I get my hands on you!"

The furious scraping of lockpicks told Karkat to hurry away from the door or be pummeled into a wall.

When the door finally open, a mad looking Roxy glared at a Karkat.

"Why would you tell her something like that after she had her heart broken? What's wrong with you?"

Rose rolled over and sat up on her bed without attracting any attention from the two.

"Roxy, please stop shouting at Karkat. I asked him about it, it's not his fault..." Rose said weakly. Her face had dried tear lines and tired looking eyes.

Roxy looked a little dumbfounded; she decided it was best to just stop the hounding.

As John, Dave, and Jade left after saying goodbye to Rose, Karkat was about to leave with them. But before he left, while Jane and Roxy weren't looking, Rose asked to say something to him before he left.

"Karkat, before you leave, I just want to thank you for being in the room with me and telling me about... the thing."

"You're welcome?" Karkat said, unsure whether or not it was the right thing to say.

"Would it be alright if I pestered you sometime in the future?"

Karkat blushed a bit, just enough to not be visible, but he knew he was. "S-sure."

Then, right out of the blue, He felt Rose wrap her arms around him and lightly squeeze. Not sure what to do, he patted her back. After she let go, he left to go back to his own dwellings. Unfortunately, it would definitely be an awkward affair seeing as he and Kanaya were roommates in an apartment building about 2 hours away from Rose.