Psh, homework? What homework? I'm totally not writing this instead of doing algebra! What are you talking about?

~AlchemicLove

Note: I'm going to continue Dave's POV this chapter, sorry for the confusion!

I wasn't sure how long I had been staring at my stained shirt before I realized I was being watched. Rose had been standing in the hallway to the room she went to; She was leaning against the doorframe, analyzing me from across the den.

I couldn't think of any excuses, so I just walked over to Rose as she motioned for me to follow her.

"Sorry.." was all I mumbled when she handed me a plain white T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. I stared uncomprehendingly at the articles of clothing, then at Rose.

"You'll need those until Kanaya can get some of your own for you." Rose continued to watch all of my emotions and movements carefully.

"Thanks." Another quiet reply. I mentally kicked myself for acting to immature; I needed to be better about this. I wasn't the one who was hurt; I didn't need anyone else worrying. "Really, thanks Rose, it means a lot." I tried to amend my one-worded reply. Rose offered a small smile, and showed me to the bathroom.

"Clean yourself up, and i'll take a look at your hand. Hand me your clothes as well, i'll take care of them." By take care of, I assumed she meant trash. There was no amount of bleach that could remove the cough syrup red from my shirt.

"Thanks" I repeated, genuinely grateful. I stepped into the bathroom, shut the door quietly, and took off my shirt and skinny jeans. The pants were stained too. I grimaced as I saw the red stain had seeped through my shirt, and onto my chest. I'd have to shower. I made a face yet again at the realization that i'd have to go without underwear in the shorts Rose gave me; her and Kanaya would have no reason to own any men's underwear or clothing. I handed all of the clothes to Rose around the cracked open door, and shut it again. I jumped as I looked at my own reflection in the mirror.

My eyes were red, almost as much so as the irises in them. I had Karkat's blood on my chest, as well as some that had splattered onto my face. How had that even happened? I shook my head, trying to stop the thoughts I knew would lead to worry about the small troll. I wasn't successful. What am I supposed to do if Karkat dies..? What will the others think? They'll blame me, of course. If I had gotten to Kanaya faster, or just stayed at Karkat's pod, he would have been fine. I gritted my teeth, attempting yet again to put an end to the irrational self-blame.

But suddenly I wondered, what had happened?

I had seen the blade in Karkat's hand.. So it wasn't a question of who or how, but why? What had driven Karkat to do something like this to himself..? I shook my head yet again, ending that train of thought before it left the station. That was Karkat's business. None at all of mine.

I stepped away from the mirror and turned on the shower. I focused on the tasks immediately in front of me: using the girly-smelling shampoo and scrubbing my scalp, washing away the nearly brown stain on my chest and face, and taking care to not move my swollen hand. I inspected my left hand, my wrist had swollen and dark purple and sickly green-yellow bruises continued to worsen across my knuckles. I had probably broken at least my wrist.

I didn't stay long under the rush of hot water. I needed more things to keep me busy and to keep my thoughts away from Karkat. I stepped out of the shower and turned off the water, taking a cream-colored towel off the rack to my right. I dared to look at myself again in the mirror. My eyes were less red, and the stain across my chest had faded a great deal, but wasn't completely gone. I felt a shit ton better; I had omitted any thoughts of Karkat while I was in the shower. I remained focussed on simple tasks. I toweled off thoroughly. I ran my fingers through my light hair after I ruffled it with a towel, smoothing down the gravity-defying spikes. I pulled on the woman's t-shirt, and the basketball shorts. I took a deep breath, collecting my thoughts and preparing for the onslaught of therapeutic questions that were about to spew from Rose. I opened the door, making a mental note to look for my shades sometime soon.

Rose was sitting on the couch looking tired. She was reading a book, and my closer inspection revealed it was in Alternian. I walked over to her and flopped down into the cushions. Rose closed her book. I mentally prepared for the imminent interrogation, keeping my face devoid of emotion.

"How is your hand? Not well, I can infer, based on the dent you left in the wall." A small smile tugged at the corners of Rose's mouth.

"I think I broke something" I answered awkwardly, it really did hurt like hell. "Sorry, about the dent, that is." Rose nodded, accepting my short apology. She picked up what looked like a small first aid kit from the table beside the couch and set her book aside.

"Do you mind if i take a look at it? Kanaya has taught me fairly well about injuries such as this one." Rose seemed to be holding off on addressing the elephant in the room for awhile longer; I was fine with that. I shrugged and held out my hand. The swelling around my wrist had gotten worse. Rose admirably kept her face as clean of emotion.

"You seem to have broken some part of your wrist, and at least one of your fingers." Rose kept her tone just as unblemished as her face. She took out some antiseptic wipes and carefully cleaned off where I had ripped the skin on my knuckles. I winced. Rose continued to clean, and then wrapped white bandages thickly around my wrist and hand. The cotton bound my fingers together. I stared at the clean bandages, zoning out. It seemed to be forever before Rose broke the silence. "Karkat will be fine."

I jumped. Damn it. She managed to get me unsuspicious for five damn seconds and here comes the "therapy". I stuttered,

"Y-yeah." God damn it. There was another brief moment of silence.

"If it isn't too much to ask, it would probably be best if we went to collect something for Karkat to wear when he regains consciousness." Rose busied herself with putting the leftover bandages and wipes back into the small first aid kit.

I froze up. I knew Rose wanted to see what had happened, and even her excuse had a valid point.

"Yeah sure, I think I lost my shades in his pod too." I struggled to keep my voice steady and my face stoic.

Rose stood and walked calmly to the door. Everything she had said, and everything she had done had been measured, and careful. She was tiptoeing cautiously around my head, finding out what she needed, and leading me (un)knowingly to recovery. I knew Rose to well to not be aware of what she was doing. Hell, the sixteen-year-old probably knew me better than I did myself. Her Pesterchum tag was "TentacleTherapist" for a reason. I sighed and stood up, trying to keep all thoughts of where we were going out of my head until we got there. I followed Rose through the hall, making another mental reminder for myself: keep tabs on what Rose knows, and what she doesn't.

Thank you guys, as always, for reading! I tried to make this page a bit longer; I had wanted to keep going but I HAD to get this published tonight because I've been gone all weekend! I love you (insert correct gender labels here)s so much, thanks again!

~AlchemicLove