A few more weeks passed, and Terezi was increasingly curious about Dave. He spoke with very little genuine emotion, either being sarcastic or just a touch monotonous at times that it made it very difficult to parse his emotions, and Terezi's exchanges with him were usually brief, but a friendship had certainly been established. Terezi would slide Dave poorly drawn pictures in class and more often than not, Dave would make some ironic comic out of it. Not that Terezi could really read his comics, but that wasn't really the point. There was some odd humor Terezi found in it. And before too long, Terezi's lunch table with Aradia, Tavros, Sollux, Karkat, Nepeta, Kanaya, Vriska, Equius, Gamzee, Eridan, and Feferi—an already crowded table—was further populated with John, Jade, Dave, and Rose. This combination happened very suddenly one afternoon when Terezi heard John's nasally voice from across the cafeteria.
"Hey, Karkat!" Terezi turned towards the voice a bit, Karkat grumbling from next to her.
"I'm sorry, did I fucking invite you to sit here, Egbert?" Karkat growled.
"Oh fuck no, you three?" That was definitely Dave's voice, a smooth tone punctuated just a bit with annoyance. "These are the pricks from my Spansih class."
"Come on, Dave, Karkat isn't so bad," John answered. Karkat jostled closer to Terezi to make room for the boys, John sitting on Karkat's other side and Dave wedging himself between John and Tavros, and then their voices, along with Rose (whose voice Terezi recognized from her P.E. class) and Jade (who Terezi happened to share her Geometry class with). As the new kids integrated better into the group, everyone opened up to them more—Karkat seemed to bond especially with Jade. Terezi liked Jade, if only because they had the similarity of not putting up with Karkat's self-deprecating bullshit, but they didn't talk much. No, as she expected, Terezi began bonding even more with Dave. And then she began to wonder if Vriska's teasing rang true—did she have a crush on Dave? It sure was funny hearing how he and Karkat needled each other, but Terezi wasn't sure if it was exactly a crush, or if she was perhaps enjoying the fact that her budding friendship with Dave was making Karkat jealous. While she didn't think that was really in her nature, maybe Vriska's sense of entitlement and… well, somewhat vindictive nature was rubbing off on her. They had been friends for ages, after all. And then, there was John. John was so fun. And by that, Terezi meant fun to antagonize. John talked about being the master of pranking, and Terezi intended to test that claim. There was something so entertaining about pushing John's buttons. It was the same laugh Terezi got out of aggravating Karkat. At any rate, Terezi was having fun with this new-found camaraderie between her and Dave, and as Homecoming flyers began to go up in October, Terezi was mulling over the idea of asking Dave to the dance with her. But first, she needed to start chatting with him outside of school, and she knew just who to ask.
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]
GC: Hey, Karkles :]
CG: How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?
GC: And how many cane drubbings does it take to realize I dont give a shit?
GC: Besides, I thought you liked nicknames.
CG: That was before I got called "Karkitty" approximately 8000 times a day.
Oh yeah, the thing with Nepeta. The 'thing' with Nepeta was that her mom and Karkat's dad were an item, but that had no bearing on the completely obvious crush Nepeta had had on Karkat for literal years, and now that they were living together, Karkat was even more uncomfortable about the whole thing. And the cat puns. Wow, they were mildly unbearable.
GC: Oh, only 8000? Nepeta is cutting back.
CG: What the miserable shit do you want.
Terezi rolled her eyes. Sooooo cynical.
GC: Cant a friend bother a friend just to talk?
CG: Not you.
CG: It's always some kind of horseshit whimsical buttfuck with you.
GC: Oh, shit, thats a new one.
CG: Seriously though, did you need something or are you just being a pain in the ass like usual?
GC: Just being a pain in the ass, hehe
CG: Ugh.
GC: Actually, do you have Daves chumhandle?
CG: Okay, 1—why the fuck would I have that? It would imply wanting to talk to that insipid shitfisted douchebag more than absolutely necessary.
CG: And 2—why the fuck do you want to talk to him?
GC: I dont know, he seems cool
CG: He's not cool, he's the total opposite of cool.
CG: He's an insecure dipshit hiding behind shades and levels of fake irony.
GC: AS if YOU dont hide your insecurities, Mr. White Christmas.
CG: That's totally different!
CG: How the fuck would you even know? You're blind.
GC: I have my ways :]
CG: Go bother someone else.
GC: Mkay
GC: Bye, Karkles
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]
Ah yes, Karkat's ultimate "secret"—his white hair. Despite all the effort Karkat went to dyeing it dark brown throughout pretty much his entire childhood (and therefore his entire friendship with Terezi), she still managed to figure it out, mainly because he wasn't always attentive to how long his roots got. And because she wasn't one hundred percent blind, Terezi did manage to notice the blurry smudges of color when his light hair started poking back in. Karkat was blithely unaware of this and Terezi intended to keep it that way.
Despite Karkat's frustration with Dave, Terezi was insisten on pursuing a friendship, and managed to get Dave's chumhandle from Jade, who was way more cooperative about it and even typed it into Pesterchum for Terezi. Later that afternoon, Terezi started bugging him.
gallowsCalibrator [GC] has requested to be chums with turntechGodhead [TG]
turntechGodhead [TG] has requested chum request from gallowsCalibrator [GC]
TG: sup
TG: which one of you lame assholes is this
GC: Its Terezi :P
TG: oh hey
TG: yeah jade told me she gave you my chumhandle but cant really tell with you guys sometimes
TG: youre pretty much the coolest one out of your group anyway so
GC: Hehehe thank you
GC: I like the color of your words
GC: Bright and cherry red like blood
TG: that is all kinds of fucked up
TG: why you gotta be so weird right after i called you cool
TG: hey weird question
TG: whats the deal with you and karkat
TG: he your boyfriend or something?
GC: Pfffffff yeah right
GC: Well ok
GC: I mean
GC: Its been sort of complicated with him
TG: ok asking for an explanation on that is pretty much the opposite of what im doing
TG: and interesteds the opposite of what im being
GC: You just asked!
GC: Smart
GC: Ass
GC: :P
GC: Actually hes kind of smartassy like you now that I think about it
GC: But you seem calm instead of shouty all the time
GC: Also you dont hide the color of you hair like a stupid baby
TG: ok that remark was almost as boring as it was weird
GC: Oh pipe down Dave, I am trying to pay you a compliment!
GC: I am holding out an olive branch here, and you are giving it a good firm sass grab
TG: haha
GC: One day you will rue all this sass you have dished
TG: define one day
GC: It sounded a lot cooler in my head
Their banter sort of went on like that, and Terezi found it very easy to talk to Dave. The more this went on, the more Terezi kind of genuinely did want to ask him to Homecoming. That was, until Dave actually talked to her about a Homecoming-related issue during gym class.
"Hey, so…" Terezi turned towards his voice.
"What?"
"Just a heads up, Ter, 'cause I don't really know what's going on, but Karkat's gonna try to ask you to Homecoming."
"Oh God," Terezi groaned a bit. She just knew Karkat was going to try and do something big, and convince her to try going out with him again. His trashy romcoms taught him all that garbage. "Okay. Good to know."
"You said it was complicated between you two."
"Yeah, well now it boils down to a one-sided crush."
"Mm."
Terezi's thoughts lingered in her mind for a moment, and it was just a moment too long of thought, as before she could say anything, the gym teacher started them on their warmups, and Dave had to rush away. But naturally, the topic of Homecoming and its impending presence didn't leave the group that easily. Terezi wasn't really sure how to feel at the prospect of a high school dance, but she wasn't opposed to going. Feferi, on the other hand, was all about it. And so, naturally, she was the one who brought it up when the dance was mere weeks away.
"Boys, who're you all gonna ask? Or have you already?" This was met with what could best be described as a loud silence, a telling silence. Terezi was just glad that she wasn't the one being forced to answer the question, because she knew that wouldn't fare well. Gamzee was the one to break the silence.
"I ain't asking nobody, gonna go with my motherfuckin' self and have a good time."
Feferi faltered a bit. "O-oh. Um, what about you, Karkat?"
"Don't put me on the spot!" This reaction sent a pit of embarrassment and awkwardness into Terezi's gut. "What about you, princess? Who are you going with?"
"Oh, I already told Eridan I would go with him."
"Not worth the time," Vriska's sharp voice berated Eridan. "He's such a fucking pain; I can't believe I ever dated him."
"Because you were so fuckin' peachy, right, Vris?!" Eridan shouted back at her.
Eridan, hush," Feferi said. "He's not so bad. Anyway… what about you, John?"
"I, uh…" John tripped over his words, adding a bit of a stammer to his nasally voice. He was interrupted by another.
"John and I will be attending together. He never got the nerve up to ask anyone, and neither did I," Rose said, pointedly.
"'s cool, bro," Dave answered, clearly vocalizing a reassurance to his friend. "I wasn't gonna ask anyone to be my date either. I'm with Gamzee on that one." Oh. He didn't want to go with anyone? Well… fair enough. Terezi didn't want to put him in an awkward position. It didn't seem like it was fair to him; he'd either have to say yes and be uncomfortable or say no. So, guess that was out. Gamzee fist-bumped Dave from across the table.
"As much fun as a date would be, I thought we could all just go as friends!" Terezi heard Jade's chipper voice say. "But I'm still curious; who would you ask, Tavros?" Even without being able to see the red flush spread across his cheeks, Terezi could tell Tavros was wildly embarrassed by being focused on like that.
"Uhm… I was going to ask… um… this girl, from English class. Uh, how about you, Equius?"
"I was… going to ask someone. But, if she says no I will go with Nepeta," Equius said, and Nepeta immediately answered.
"You butt! I'm your second choice?"
"I believed that was our arrangement…"
"Naw, it is. I'm just teasing."
"Hey Tules," Terezi said when both the girls got home from school that afternoon, "what would you do if someone was going to ask you to Homecoming but you knew they meant it in a romantic way and you weren't interested?"
Latula raised an eyebrow. "That's oddly specific; is this about Karkat?"
"Yeah"
"What happened to Dave?"
"I am… not sure. Maybe I was just overthinking things, because I am not sure that I do have a crush on him. More like he's another cool friend? But he said today that he doesn't really want a date to Homecoming."
"So just go with Karkat."
"Ugh, but he's going to be so weird about it! If I say yes to him then he's going to think I totally want to be his girlfriend and I'm not—ugh! I don't wanna do that. He and I are better off staying platonic."
"Hmm," Latula pondered for a moment. "Maybe you should ask him, before he does something over the top. And make your terms clear."
"Hmm."
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]
GC: Hey Karkles
CG: Ugh, are we going to go over this again?
GC: Just accept that you will always be Karkles within my heart
CG: At least I'm in someone's heart.
GC: Hey
GC: Do you wanna go to Homecoming?
CG: GOD yes.
CG: I'm so glad you asked before Nepeta did.
CG: That would be weird.
GC: Clarification
GC: This is not a date
CG: Are you doing this just to take the piss out of me?
CG: Who tipped you off?
GC: Karkat, in all seriousness I will admit we had something but I appreciate our friendship so much more than us dating
GC: And I know you were planning something ostentatious and flashy just like in all your trashy romcoms
GC: But I am just not that kind of girl
CG: It was Strider, wasn't it?
GC: Maybe dont wander in hallways announcing your plans to the world :P
CG: That douchewad.
GC: So is that a yes or what?
CG: Fucking…
CG: Yeah, just feeling like a colossal idiot.
GC: Well what else is new!
CG: Fuck you, acceptance rescinded.
GC: Seriously?
CG: No. I don't know.
CG: Fuck it. Yeah. I'll go with you.
GC: Awesome.
CG: Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go deal with an incompetent asswipe.
GC: Ooh, sounds like a blast!
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]