All of the trolls had noticed the change in John, Rose, Jade, and Daves behavior on this day in the past few years. What happened on this day none of the trolls knew, but they decided to leave them alone on this day. Kanaya had noticed that Dave and Jade were quiet and reclusive as per usual on this day. She also noticed the large change in Johns attitude and the slight change in Roses. Kanaya had always respected their choice to keep whatever was going on today to themselves but she was still very curious. She thought that now would be a good time to ask Rose what was going on, Rose seemed different. "Rose...Feel Free Not To Answer But...Every Year On This Day You Humans Act Very Differently, What Happened On This Day?" Kanaya said with the same respectful tone as always but with a hint of concern. Rose glanced up when she heard Kanaya, and though it was hard on her to verbally talk about it, she knew the troll was merely curious. And Rose knew there was nothing wrong with being curious about things a person didn't understand. With a small sigh, Rose stood and brought her empty glass to the sink, rinsing it before turning the water off and facing Kanaya, her chest lurching at the thought of speaking about it. "Five years ago today," Rose said softly, not wanting her words to reach her friends and depress them even more, "is the day our guardians died. My mother; Dave's brother; Jade's dog and John's father. They were dear to all of us, even when we never acted upon those feelings. We're mourning our losses of the ones we loved as we miss them all deeply." Rose's gaze turned down from her friend's face to the floor, a hand going up to touch the soft fabric of her mother's scarf, blinking back tears. Kanaya immediately regretted asking Rose about what happened. "Oh My...Rose I'm Sorry For Asking...I...I Didn't Know..." Kanaya said softly. She embraced her friend attempting to offer some comfort. "Is There Anything I Can Do To Help?" she asked still hugging Rose. Kanays remembered the death of her own lusus. She wasn't really that sad when she died because she knew that was simply the order of things, but for the humans their guardians life spans are random so they had little time to ready themselves for their deaths.
Rose smiled just a bit and closed her eyes as se leaned her head to Kanaya's shoulder, allowing the hug for a few moments before pulling away and taking a deep breath to calm herself down before she had a mental breakdown. "It's quite fine; I understand that death with your kind is treated vastly different from how we treat it. And no.. I'm afraid there's almost nothing that can help, but the thought is appreciated greatly, Kanaya. Thank you for caring so much," she said just as softly as before, pulling from the hug and walking past the female to the main hallway, going upstairs. She went to her bedroom, shutting the door and staying in there until about an hour passed. Then she slipped out and headed to John's room and knocked lightly. John heard a light knocking at his door and rose from his bed to see who it was. When he saw it was Rose a small smile emerged from his face. "Thanks for coming up...here come and sit on the bed, I want to give you your gift now." Rose did as John instructed and sat beside him on the bed. John removed a small golden locket from his pocket. "Rose this beolinged to my dad...He gave it to me on my 13th birthday, before all of this started. He also gave me a note that said: Dear John, If you are reading this you are well on your way to becoming a strong man, but even strong men feel weak sometimes. If something were to ever happen to me you need to be strong not only for yourself but for everyone around you. I hope this locket can give you the strength you need to accomplish that." John clutched the locket tightly in his hand "Rose...I want you to have this... If something were to ever happen to me you need to be strong not only for yourself but for everyone around you..." John said with a mixture of love and saddness in his voice. While Rose sat beside John, her eyes went between him and the locket and they widened with disbelief. As he spoke, her heart clenched with both love and sadness for him. She curled her fingers around his hand that held the locket once he finished talking, and shook her head slowly. "No... I couldn't take something that your father gave you. That wouldn't be right. It's really all you have of him and I can't take that from you. I wouldn't feel right about it." She looked into John's eyes at that point, a small smile on her face, hand still around his and the locket. "I appreciate the thought behind the gift, truly, but I just can't take it. I don't need a locket to be strong. Even if something happens, I have the sweet fond memories to help me stay strong. For me and everyone around." Tears welled in Rose's eyes as she spoke, cherishing the idea of John wnating her to own something his father had given him years ago. It warmed her heart and made her love him that much more. She knew how much anything his father had owned meant to John, and to have him give it up touched her deeply.
John was a little dissapointed that Rose felt she couldn't accept the gift but these feelings were quickly replaced by those of love as rose treasured the time they spent together more than anything. John wiped away the tears forming in her eyes. "That's okay Rose...You don't have to take it...I love you. John said as he embraced his lover. "What did Dave say to you down in the kitchen?" John asked. She continued to smile as she leaned her head into John's hand, then it grew with mild amusement as she recalled what her brother had asked her downstairs. "He simply wanted to know if you had been in my room last night. Apparently, he went to find you in yours and found it empty then discovered my door was locked," she replied in a cool tone. "That's all. And then he proceeded to glare at me, which I'm sure you saw before you left.". John felt a sudden rush of panic. "Oh god! Dave knows? He's going to kill me!" John said in an overdramatic tone. "How much did you tell him?" John asked with some actual fear in his voice. It wasn't that he didn't trust Rose he was just afraid of Dave. He knew how protective he was of her. When they first started dating he would catch Dave looking at him like he was going to cut him with his sword. Rose chuckled some, watching the black-haired male panic over a trivial (to her) thing. "I doubt my brother would kill you. It is, after all, none of his business what you and I do together in the privacy of our rooms. But nevertheless. I merely explained to him that things yesterday came up which caused us to sleep with each other in my room. Nothing more; nothing less. I see no reason why he should know the details, so I kept it simple." She gave her fiancee a playful smile. "Unless you'd like him to know that we spent the night sexually pleasing each other. In which case, I can go right now and tell him in great detail.". John knew she was joking from that playful smile she wore. "Sure why not, I'm pretty sure dave would be excited to hear all about his best friend and his sisters sexual escapades." John said sarcastically. Though he did wonder how Dave would react to knowing that they had engaed in sexual realtions. Maybe he would give him a high five or kick his teeth in. "Hm, well if you're not refusing, I suppose I will tell Dave what we did last night. The next chance I get, I will." Now it was getting harder to tell if Rose was serious or not, but she really was sstill joking. "Then again, he just might trade them for a time when he and Jade get to where we are; considering Karkat's predicition so far has been correct, of course." Rose gave John a small smile, squeezing his hand a bit for both comfort and reassurance on both their parts of the other's existance. "I'm very grateful for you right this very moment, John," she told him softly, "If not for you, the chance of me even being able to speak today would be highly unlikely. But you're here. And we're together. That's all I need... and I love you more than you can imagine for it all.". John couldn't focus on Roses empty threat, because of that last line of hers. When Rose told John that he made her happy or feel better it sent his mind fuzzy and made his face hot. "You've done just as much for me Rose." He said with a smile. "You helped more than you know..." He said as he rested his head on her shoulder. John knew Rose didn't think he owed her anything but he felt truly greatful in his heart for just loving him. John never had much skill making friends, even less skill in talking to girls. To Rose he'd matured greatly but to himself he was that same dorky kid he was so long ago.
Rose smiled gently and ran her fingers though his hair, glad that she could have helped him in all the troubles he'd gone through. Then, an idea struck her and Rose raised her head with a smile bigger than before. "John," she started, her tone growing slightly excited and intrigued at her idea. "This is a day of loss for us all, correct? Well... I think I know of how we can correct the problem- make it so this day becomes memorable for everyone. Do you agree?". John was suprised by Roses sudden change in tone. "Uh...yeah sure i'm all for making them feel better. Uh...What did you have in mind?" John said with some caution in his voice. John knew Rose loved plans, but sometimes she could get...overzealous. "This doesn't involve anything...dangerous does it?" John said. She shook her head, leaning herself against John's chest, playing with his fingers and hers together. "No, of course not. I would never purposely send my friends into danger on such a day as today. Come now, John; have SOME faith in the one you're marrying in the future," she scolded him lightly, almost playfully. "No, my idea ismuch more tame than my normal ones. Tell me,what is the opposite of loss?". John's face turned a light shade of red as Rose mentioned their future together. John loved Rose more than ever before but the idea of her simply going along with his proposal in the heat of the moment still swan in the back of his head. This confirmation was relaxing to him. "Uh...Gain i guess?" John said unsure of his simple answer. He wondered where she was going with this. "Mmm yes, actually. That is the exact word that has to do with my plan." Rose's light purple eyes sparkled with her growing idea and she smiled more. "What would you say,John, to brightening the day of our friends and... telling them about our little surprise?" Her idea was really more of the fact that she was proud to call herself the future Mrs. John Egbert, but telling everyone on this day would cheer them up; bring a little pep in their day, if all went well. Which it should. Rose saw no reason why it would fail in any way. She was sure their friends would be happy for them, and manage to forget their troubled minds to go down another path of pleasant thoughts.
John wanted nothing more than to scream to the world that he and Rose would be husband and wife but he was nervouse about his friends reaction. Jade wasn't the concern it was Dave. Despite the cool maske he wore on the outside, He was very protective of Rose. Dave was Johns friend but he couldn't imagine Dave being stoked about having his Ecto-sister pregnant by his best friend. He decided she was more than worth the risk. "Alright let's go tell them...just try to word it softly, you know for Dave." He said with a boyish smile.