It was December. The semester was coming to a close, but April's stress was through the roof. Finals were coming to a close, and god damn it if she failed, she felt her life would be over. She read over her old notes a fifth time as she sat at the table. She heard the door open.
"M'home." Karkat called, mail in hand and backpack in the other, he shut the door behind him, "I got the mail, too."
"Hey." April droned, not looking away from her notes.
Karkat raised an eyebrow at her, "You still on that?"
She gave a nod, and he dropped the mail on the counter. Sifting through the mail, he stopped at a certain envelope. Rolling his eyes, he tossed you the envelope.
"It's them again." He grumbled.
April's eyes strayed from her work to the letter, and she reluctantly opened it. Her eyes flew across the words, nearly expecting what they were going to say. However, the tone was different. They were usually self-pitying, feeling sorry for themselves as they tried to get as many jabs at her as possible. However, they just had a simple request, nothing more.
"They… Want me to come home for Christmas." She said softly.
"Really?" Karkat asked, "Do you know if you're gonna go?"
"I... I.." She thought about it, she truly wasn't sure.
"You know what? You don't need this right now." He snatched the letter from her hands, "You're fucking stressed enough as it is. You gotta be focus on school, not your shitty parents." He folded the paper and promptly put it on top of the fridge, "You can think about it after you pass your finals."
April nodded, going through your notes again. Her heart fluttered a bit as she noticed he had said "after you pass," not "if you pass." She shook her head, trying to focus as Karkat sat on the couch. It was silent as her thoughts ran a hundred miles per hour. She sighed, not looking up from your papers.
"...Hey Karkat?" April finally asked.
He gives a question grunt.
"If.. if I went up to see my parents.. Will you come with me…?"
He paused, before sighing, "Tell you what," He said, turning back to her, "When you pass your finals, I'll come with you.."
That was enough motivation to get her going. She continued studying, her eyes filled with determination.
…
April looked up at the poster of scores on the wall before you. Scanning down, she found her ID number. Her palms sweat, her heart was ready to stop at any given moment. She could barely contain your anxiety, letting out a shaky breath to calm herself.
'I did well, I had to have done well.. I worked hard for this.' She thought to herself, hesitating to find her score. Following the row with her student ID, a certain score caught her attention. She had the third highest score in the class. She let her anxiety melt away as she turned to leave. April looked back to her roommate, giving him a triumphant grin.
"You passed?" He asked, smiling.
She nodded excitedly, "With flying colors!"
He grinned, wrapping his arms around April and spinning her around, "See? I told you that you had that test in the fucking bag!"
A blush spread across her face, and she laughed, "Thanks.." she said as he set her down.
He laughed back, "Well, I guess we should get packing!"
She paused, "Wait, you're really coming?" She asked, eyes.
"Of course!" He said beginning to walk with her back towards his car, "I made a deal, didn't I?"
She suddenly wrapped her arms around him, turning red, "Thanks, Karkat, this means a lot to me."
She could feel his cheeks get warm and he slowly hugged back, "Don't worry about it, okay?" He said, "To be honest, I would've gone with you even if we didn't make that deal. I had always wanted to meet your parents."
"Pfft." She scoffed, "Because they're such good people."
"I mean," He shrugged, "They had you; that's gotta count for something."
She pulled away and laughed, "Wow, you're just compliment after compliment today, aren't you?"
The two began to walk again, "Yeah, I'm fucking generous with compliments right now, aren't I?" Karkat asked, as if surprised with himself, "I didn't realize, I've just been telling the truth."
April shook her head, chuckling a bit,"Whatever, dork." You give him a playful shove, "Let's just get to the car, I'm freezing my ass off."