Dave Strider was many things, but he was the only person to every dare call himself an idiot.

How could he have known that in four years he'd love her? He was only twelve when Jade decided she liked him, and he's said, oh god, he'd said he wanted to be friends. That she was like a sister to him. Oh, how wrong he'd been. He definitely did not think of Jade like a brother would. If he hadn't been an idiot, he could be holding her hand as she walked down the hall, or cuddling her and watching movies, or kissing her hello and goodbye, but no. He's said 'let's be friends', and she'd said 'oh, okay'. And dated Karkat. Then Rose for a little bit. He was pretty sure her and Feferi went out to a few movie-dinner dates. Thank god Dirk was in love with Jake, or else he probably would have dated her too. He'd said 'let's be friends', and she got over him. What level of friendzone was this, when you did it to yourself? Two years of 'just friends' and her dating people woke him up real fast.

Dave was in love with Jade Harley. And he'd fucking blown it.

"Dave!" Jade called cheerfully, running down the hall, "Guess what?!"

"What."

She pouted, sticking out one light pink bottom lip. "Guess, Dave!"

"How about no?" He deadpanned.

"Bluh!" she stuck her tongue out, "You're no fun!"

"I know. What's the thing?"

"Oh! Me and Dirk's robotics project! It's working!" She exclaimed. "We got it to walk today! And we were talking about the possibility of Earth getting taken over by sentient robots, if we ever did invent AI. Which I really wanna do! If there's good and bad humans, there's gotta be good and bad robots, right?"

As she chattered on, Dave smiled a hint of a smile, a happy smile, the smile he reserved for days when Bro got home early, and not at four in the morning. A smile that usually showed up when he was around Jade. A smile she...never really noticed.

He was such an idiot. Only figuring out he liked her after rejecting her, great fucking move, Strider! Best idea you've had all year! Now she's over you, and you're in the same damn boat as Egderp. Having a crush.

"Yeah, Jade, sounds cool."

"Ooh, it's 'cool', huh?" She teased, "It takes a lot for something to get the 'cool' rank from you!" She playfully shoved him with her shoulder, and if he hadn't practiced since elementary days not to, he would have blushed.

"Not really. I'm cool. Robots are cool. DJing is cool." He paused. "You're cool."

Actually, what I mean is 'you're fucking beautiful', but you know, I can't exactly say that, can I? Dammit!

"I'm cool!" She gasped, grinning at him.

"Uhuh. Maybe a little." He raised his eyebrows at her, an antic he knew she loved because she smiled every time he did it.

"Oh, shut up you, I am cool. No ifs, ands, or maybes!" Jade linked arms with him, smiling her with emerald-green braces and matching eyes behind huge glasses. God, she was so beautiful.

If only he hadn't been an idiot.


"Hey Rose!" John shouted, running up to the blonde. She was unusually bright today, in a soft white dress instead of gray or black. "What's up?"

"The ceiling is significantly up, I should think." She replied, smiling softly. Of course she'd never say so out loud, but she secretly loved having witty retorts to his questions. Not because she enjoyed being clever (which she did), but because every time she did, John would bite his lower lip and smile.

Oh dear lord, that lip bite. Rose was so not okay. That lip bite wreaked havoc on her imagination, but she'd never ever tell. Except Jade, her best friends and once girlfriend. It didn't take Rose long to realize that Jade's feelings were platonic, and although they parted amicably, she knew she had dated her to try to form feelings for anyone but Dave. Crushes were a bad idea, Rose knew that perfectly well.

So she kept hers a secret.

Imagine if she didn't! What if John pulled a Dave and because he'd known her so long, he didn't feel romantically towards her? What if he was secretly in love with her older sister, and that was why he came over so much? Any number of possibilities could be the case, and Rose wasn't going to take any chances.

For God's sake, she still remembered when John was shorter than her. When his voice cracked whenever he got indignant. And then he grew eight feet, and his voice lowered, and his dark brown hair got shaggy and flopped into his gorgeous eyes. And then, when they went swimming the summer before freshman year, and he'd pulled off his shirt and had abs.

Oh yeah, Rose was a goner. She didn't act like it thought, which was in her favor. There were certainly worse ways to go.

"Rose?" John asked, "Are you okay? You're kinda spacing out."

"Yeah. I'm absolutely fine."


Kankri Vantas wasn't really sure how to comfort a crying girl. He hadn't exactly had his share of them, with only a cranky cousin, so he wasn't particularly equipped to deal with the quietly crying Latula. All he had done for the last ten minutes was perch anxiously above her and let her wear his oversize red sweatshirt, which she gratefully burrowed into. Normally he'd try and help by going off into a speech, but with Tula...Kankri was actually worried about saying the wrong thing.

"Latula, would you care to elaborate on your current-" He started to say, but she whirled around to hug him, burying her face into his chest, and the words died in his throat. She breathed deep and exhaled slowly before pulling away and wiping her eyes. She'd taken off her red glasses when she'd first started crying, and her teal eyes stared deeply into his own. Latula was strong. She'd be okay.

"Thanks, Kan." She said brightly. "I'm good now, you can talk. Don't worry about offending me."

"I..." Kankri paused, "In the least disrespectful way possible, I'm very sorry about Mituna. Obviously, after three years, it's going to be extremely hard on you. Especially for Kurloz. Why even bother with him when there's you? Really, I can't even fathom-"

Latula threw her arms around his neck unexpectedly, nuzzling her head under his chin. "Sh. Thank you. I'll be alright. I am alright. If he's happy with Kurloz then I'll go be happy somewhere else. No big deal."

"It is a big deal though," Kankri huffed, "You're so wonderful."

"Thanks Kanny," she teased, ruffling his mop of dark brown hair. "But 4srs, I'll be fine. Thanks for the sweatshirt. Mind if I wear it a little while longer?"

"No, I don't mind. Porrim keep sending them anyway, I have more than enough." He scuffled his feet and held still as she hugged him goodbye, and shut the door.

"Aargh!" He slumped against the wall, hands buried in the hair she'd ruffled. He'd messed it up again. He'd waited for so long, became friends with her, fell in love. Watched as she dated Mituna for three years. Been happy for her. Now they'd broken up and he sat there mute, when he could have said something. The one time he actually shut up, and it was when she was crying. Porrim would have his head! Scratch that, he'd have his own. Ugh, what an idiot he was being!

She came to him. He was the first person Latula came to whenever she was upset. That had to mean something.

That you're friendzoned to level 9000? Probably. She was so perfect, and he was so...speech-y. As long as he could remember, he was speech-y, so he kept being speech-y. What else was there to be? Ever since he was made fun of in elementary school, he grew a shell of words, big words, subtle ways to insult his bullies. So what if he was poorer than the rest of those stupid children? They'd teased his mercilessly.

But not Latula. "Jeez guys, what gives?" She'd complained in fifth grade. "You're such jerks." And then she'd picked him up off the ground and led him to the grass. Just like she did the next day, and the day after, for a solid four months, before asking if he wanted to hang out.

During that movie, sitting in the Pyrope living room, was the first time anyone had told him to 'sh'. And he loved it. Because that meant she was listening. Because she said it kindly, and touched his cheek. She'd towered over him back then, before he'd had a growth spurt and inched out to almost her height. Was she always going to see him as that kid she picked up off the ground?

He'd like to lie, to say he was stronger than he used to be, but that wasn't true. He wasn't strong like her. Still weak. Still waiting for Latula to pick him up. Too afraid to tell her he loved her, too in love with her to fall for someone else.

Kankri was still a little boy.


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