A/N: Okay so I think there's only going to be three more chapters. So screw the major conflict bit, I already wrote the last chapter and it's in TZ's point of view but I want to do a little more before I turn this in.
You were back in hell. Terezi was sitting in her tree, out on one of the branches, staring up at the sky. The sun had just gone down, enough that it wouldn't burn anyone but not enough that the sky wasn't turning beautiful colours. She couldn't see but she tried. You could tell she was trying so hard.
As you start to climb the ladder, you see her barely move to glance down at you out of habit, not seeming too worried about your sudden appearance even though there was no way she could tell who it was. You fling the small bag full of things you're sure she's going to need; canned food, bandages, pain killers, that one scalemate she made for you forever ago. Joining her up on the branch, everything is silent between you two.
"I'm sorry." Those are the only two words she says to you and you're honestly kind of surprised. She leans up against your shoulder, still trying to stare at the sky.
"What?" Wow, you're getting points for vocabulary today.
"You don't want to be here. It was just kind of hit and miss that I messaged you. So I'm sorry that I'm your newest ball and chain." She says it so matter-of-fact. She's not upset, she's not emotional. She's just stating the facts like this is another fucking court case of hers.
"Of course I don't want to be here. I don't think anyone would." This is not turning out how you hoped it would so you continue to try to save yourself. "But no one else has their thinkpan screwed on tight enough to even bother trying to help you, save Sollux. Even then, he's too busy wallowing in self-pity that it's kind of pathetic to think that he could be taking care of someone. I'd have ended up getting stuck with your ass anyways because no one can figure out how to conduct themselves, much less a blind chick that has some kind of thing about dying, seeing as how she's just asking to fall to her death being out here like this." That could have gone so much better.
She doesn't seem to mind though because that grin of hers is planted back on her face. You never thought you'd actually enjoy seeing that but in that moment, a small flood of relief flows back over you because she's back to normal. "Protective, are we?" She taunts, standing up and walking back into her hive, jumping down on to the floor. You flinch, ready to try to catch her if she falls but the girl is like a cat and keeps her balance the whole way through. God, she scares you sometimes.
You follow after her, not sure how it comes so easily to her, especially on the not particularly wide tree branches of her hive. You notice the place is more trashed than before, this time with chalk scribbles on the walls along side of the dragon drawings she had from before. All of them were what she was hoping her lusus would look like and now they're accompanied by what looks like something a half-maimed wriggler could draw.
"What the fuck happened?" You push a law book out of your way. It was spread open and tossed to the side carelessly, the spine probably breaking as you spoke. The girl in front of you shrugs though, dragging her feet across the floor.
"Sollux left. I got bored." She tries to make her way over to the scalemate pile but misses by a long shot, knocking into the wall. Terezi seems unphased though, continuing her search with her feet, stepping on one of the scalemates at the edge of the pile and then collapsing into it.
You needed to do something. Walking over to the scalemate pile, you take Terezi by her hands and pull her up into a standing position. She looks irritated and tries to question, but you shoosh her and then turn her to face the window from her pile. "Where's your FLARP stuff?"
She looks confused, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm not quite interested in FLARPing anymore, Karkat. Just in case you hadn't noticed."
You roll your eyes at her and walk back over to one of the chests in her room. You weren't sure why everyone had these, but you figured this is where she probably would keep her things. Opening the chest, you see what you had been looking for. You grab the dragon cane and walk back over to Terezi, taking her hand and putting the head of the cane on her palm, wrapping her fingers around it. She didn't seem amused with how you were helping her with everything but you had a plan.
"Swing it. Do whatever. Just use it to make sure where you're going." You instruct vaguely but she seems to understand, starting to cautiously swing it around and tapping it on the floor in front of her. The girl doesn't seem too impressed by it until she finds you. She taps your foot a few times, a small grin coming over her face before taking her cane and smacking it hard into your knee.
Fuck.
She's giggling like an idiot and you're knelt over, rubbing your wounded leg. "What the fuck, Terezi?" You were trying to help her and this is how she repays you?
"Sorry, Karkat. I couldn't see what I was doing." Fuck, you really hated that shit eating grin that you think is permanently tattooed on her face at this point.
"Bullshit." You grumble, straightening back up. Your knee was still throbbing but it was easy to ignore. You were annoyed though, irritated that she would do that while you're trying to help her. Exasperated, you wave your hand for her to leave but you quickly realize that it was a useless gesture. "Go, walk, do something." You tell her and as she starts moving, you follow close behind her. You have to push her out of the way of some objects she didn't swing far enough to hit and guide her away from a wall once or twice but as she continues, she more easily uses the cane to move around her room.
Confident, she tells you to stop following her like some kind of lost creature and sit down somewhere so that she can do this on her own. After a bit of protesting, you sit down against the wall and watch her. As she avoids a scalemate, you can't help but slightly smile to yourself at the girl practically strutting in front of you, all giggles and grins from being able to walk around her own block without running into something.
The charm of it wears off after a few minutes though and she settles down next to you. You swear that grin hasn't left her face yet. She leans her back up against your arm and lies her head against your shoulder, reaching up to play with your hair. God, she's weird. It's obvious she's doing it just to bother you and what's pissing you off the most is that it's working.
"You smell amazing." And now her weird factor just went up too.
"Wow, creeper." You mutter, which just sends her off into another set of giggles. She puts her arms down and twists around, hugging your bicep and resting her cheek on your shoulder. She gets quiet for a few minutes, barely smiling. It's kind of shocking to you. You're used to the grin that she usually has plastered on her face but this is a genuine smile.
"Thank you."
"What for? For making sure you didn't end up killing yourself? Don't mention it."
"No. For caring if I do."
She gets up and walks away from you before you can respond, clicking the cane against the floor to get to her scalemate pile. Apparently, next to you on the floor wasn't good enough but you honestly couldn't blame her and after she's sat down, you follow behind her. You flop down into the pile next to her and she leans up against you, hugging one of the brightly coloured scalemates to her chest. God, she's clingy.
Shifting uncomfortably, you decide not to put up a fuss about her deeming you her newest piece of furniture and support your back against her wall. A few minutes pass by, she's back asleep and lying in your lap. As much as you hate to admit it, she's very pretty. Even more so when sleeping in your arms. You realize that this is just like one of your romcoms and roll your eyes at your own thought. After a harsh debate with yourself, you carefully brush a piece of stray hair out of her face and you swore you could tell that she started smiling in her sleep. Probably laughing at you even in your dreams. Embarrassed, you look away from her and lie your head back against the wall. You can not believe this is happening.