Hey, everyone! Sorry this is late. ^^; I was lazy, and didn't really want to write the mall scene, and it probably shows, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer than you had to. I'll do better with the next chapter, though, I promise! Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed: Thatguyyoualllove, XxReddShadowxX, AbsoluteAddiction-x, Mirum, Naomi, and Desiaeru. You all are awesome, and I love you! =D This chapter is dedicated to you guys. And to anyone else who might be following this story on Tumblr!

And I guess since I never actually did a disclaimer, that would kinda be a good thing to do? I do not own the Homestuck or Disney characters that may have, or will be mentioned. The same goes for the mention of Mass Effect, and PS3. This applies for the entire story.

Now that formalness is out of the way, enjoy!~

Children run past you, screaming at the top of their lungs as you sneer in their direction, hoping your eardrum didn't just get completely massacred. Strider, as per usual, ignores it, drowning more of his fries in the heap of ketchup he piled on his burger wrapper. Why he insisted on dragging you to the most raucous place, you have yet to discover. He sits, trying to explain to you that it's a good idea to be around a lot of strangers that draw your attention away from your problems.

"Yeah, and come up with new wayth to dethpithe the human race and how to dithpothe of their carcetheth," you counter. "Remind me to tell AA that I'll be having a corpthe party thoon."

Your friend gave a light chuckle. "But it keeps your mind off of him, doesn't it?"

You shrug.

"Not to mention, for someone with a love of duality, I can't help but notice you're quite the solitary creature," he provokes, a faint joking tone in his voice. "It's good to be around people. Keeps you social." As if on cue, a young, questionably-single mother walked by, carrying a tray of food, and Dave flashed his patented smirk toward her. She smiled back until she realized her child's head was stuck in one of the cut-out windows.

"I don't want to thpend my time with thrangerth, Thrider. I want to thpend it with KK." The blonde's eyebrows rose high above his shades, and it takes you a moment to realize what you said. "I-I mean…I- Thit. I jutht need more time with him to figure out ekthactly what the hell ith going on with my emotionth, alright?"

"Sollux! Such foul language around such innocent ears!" The mock shock in his voice was remarkable.

You send him the finger inconspicuously by pushing up your anaglyph glasses with it.

He chuckles a "whatever you say, Sollux," referring to your cover-up reason. An awkward silence falls between you two, as the conversation becomes heavy. "So…what are you going to do about him?"

You let out a sigh, knowing you'll have to face that dreaded question sooner or later. Deciding once and for all, you rub your forehead as you spoke. "I'm gonna do what Lalonde thaid; I'm going to apologize to him – and, if necethary, Eridan – and try to make everything ath… Well, ath right ath it can be with him. Hopefully he'th willing to give me a thecond chance, ethpecially if, later on, I do find that I like him."

"What are your feelings toward him right now?"

"…Guilt, mothtly. But athide from that, it'th difficult to thay."

He nods in understanding, reaching out a hand for a fist bump. "Good luck to you, bro."

"Yeah…Thankth," you say, returning the gesture.

You're going to need all the luck you can get.

It doesn't surprise you how much you want to retreat to your room without making any sort of contact. Of course, with his smoky eyes boring into you the way they are, anybody would feel that way, even himself if he were someone else in this moment.

Karkat stands in the kitchen, his lower back and hands resting against the counter, his gaze on you – yet somehow managing to avoid having you in his line of vision at the same time – the moment you stepped through the door. You stand in a, hopefully, casual-looking position with your hands resting (un)comfortably in your pockets, your insides rivaling the legacy of Strider's renowned pirouette.

Just as you open your mouth to speak, he shifts his feet, causing you to stop short, thinking he was moving toward you. He didn't, but your heart pounded nonetheless, and you take a deep breath to begin again.

"KK? Can we…talk?"

"I finally fucking figured it out," he deliberates to himself. Sad, grey eyes slowly shift from your direction to the floor in front of his feet.

"And what ith that?" Even in your own ears your voice sounded as though it had a slight hostile tone in it, but that wasn't the case at all. You search for the resonance of your heart breaking, seeing him this way. Karkat looks miserable, as if he's been crying for the past few hours you were gone. His eyes are puffier than normal, and his face is flushed, the tip of his nose a light red. And when he speaks his voice sounds weak, tired. God, you wanted to slap yourself.

"I figured out why you're so against me dating Eridan…"

You could literally feel your heart stop. Did he suspect you liked him? If that's what he said…how would you even deal with something like that? Deny it, or admit to it? You weren't even sure yourself! How many times does that need to be restated? What if he liked you, and would be willing to go out with you? In that case, you guess you could admit to it, but what if you actually didn't? Then you would end up hurting him in the process, and make all of this ten times worse! You inwardly groan. You just can't get a break…

"You fucking pathetic ass homophobe."

You let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding. "Wa-Wait. What?"

"You fucking heard me, you boobmonger!"

"Karkat," you interject sternly. He looks back up to you, his eyebrows raised high above his widened eyes, and you could have sworn you saw him flinch. Since the first day you met him, you've always called him "KK", only using his full first name when you were dead fucking serious. And he knows it. "It doethn't matter whether or not I perthonally thwing that way. If he'th who you want to be with, by all meanth, be hith boyfriend. Ath long ath you're happy, I don't care who you're with. I'm only concerned for you. I don't want you to get hurt out of all thith, any of thith. I don't perthonally thrutht him, but I probably don't…know him like you do. If you're thure he'th who you want, then I trutht your judgement. With that being thaid, I am deeply and honethtly thorry for how I behaved yethterday. It jutht took me by thurprithe. And I'd like to make it up to you, if you're willing to give me a thecond chance. I'll even thow you; invite Eridan to go with uth to the mall tomorrow afternoon. I have thome jobth to do in the morning, tho that'll give me thome ekthtra cath for thpending. O-…-kay?"

The expression you just noticed on his face made you hesitate. He was still looking at you, but Karkat's face was crumpled together, in what looked like pain. It looked as though he was fighting to keep his eyes from scrunching closed, finally staring you straight in the eyes. It wasn't until he closed them completely, lowering his head and covering his face with both hands, that you realized his shoulders were shaking.

Karkat…was actually crying?

You don't even realize you're moving until your hands make light contact with his shoulders, causing both of you to jump. He looks up to you with tear-flooded eyes, his bangs falling in front of his face. When he lunges forward, wrapping his thin arms around your middle, your hands are left suspended until you can function properly, hesitantly returning the gesture. As soon as you are positive that this moment is real, that it is happening, your embrace tightens around his shoulders as he breathes sobs into your chest.

Your heart is pounding, and you pray he can't hear it in your chest because of his own blubbering. "I'm sorry, you asshole, making me cry and shit," Karkat whimpers. You smirk against his head, knowing that there were supposed to be separate sentences. Your cheek is against his forehead, and you feel a sudden temptation to pivot your head and place a chaste kiss in his ruffled disorder of hair, but you know you can't. As you let out a shaky sigh, you notice the absence of all emotion, save for the affection for him that you felt there. With that breath, you realize exactly how much you care for him, and exactly in what way…

Dammit… Your hands are at his shoulders again, and you're gently prying him away from you, inconspicuously, to wipe away the tears from his cheeks with your thumbs, and look him in the eyes. "If you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm alwayth here. And don't you forget it." You point an accusatory finger at him in mock sternness, still meaning every word you're speaking. "Don't hethitate to talk to me, about anything, alright?"

Karkat nodded furiously in agreement.

You give a sad smirk, mussing his hair, and tell him, "Now, go tektht your boyfriend."

Turning the key roughly in the ignition, a split-second fear rises within you that you'll end up breaking it off someday soon. But it's merely a passing thought, as you race out of the library's parking lot to make it to the bank and back to the apartment before Eridan shows up there. You were paid a fair amount for fixing a mass of the computers to help them run faster, so you were set for a day of shopping. The fact that you had sold one of your hand-built gaming computers early this morning certainly helped. It was nice not having to worry about your half of the rent for the next month or two.

You make it to both of your destinations in record time – granted, skipping a few red lights you should have stopped for – but all in vain. Karkat walked out of the bathroom just as you walked in the front door, Eridan strolling innocently from your bedroom as if he belonged there. You keep most of your anger in check, managing to only growl under your breath.

"Are the two of you ready to go?" you asked, doing your best to keep your voice level. Even Karkat was glancing between his boyfriend and you, giving you an impressed look before lowering his gaze to the floor, and ushering you both out of the door.

"W-Whose car are w-we takin'?" Eridan asked as the three of you made your way down the stairs.

"Mine," you tell him.

"W-What make is it?"

"It'th a Dodge Neon."

"Are you kiddin'? You're really plannin' on lettin' me sit in a car like that?"

"Ith that a problem?"

"Obwiously! W-We should take my car."

"Which ith what?"

"A Camaro."

"And thove one of uth – motht likely, me – into the backtheat of that? I don't think tho. I mean, doeth it even have a backtheat? Don't anthwer that; we're taking my car, now get in the back," you ordered Eridan.

Karkat did instead when you opened the passenger door. Just as Eridan was about to slide in next to him, you stopped him.

"W-What?"

You turned to him, blocking his path of the car, and told him quietly, "I'm doing thith for Karkat'th thake, not yourth. If I tho much ath ekthpect you're going to do anything to hurt him, thith 'truce' ith retractable. But in the meantime, I don't trutht you with him, tho you will not be riding nektht to him while you're in my car. You'll be riding up front. Now get in."

He sent a scowl in your direction, but you ignored it as you made your way to the driver's side, while Eridan folded the front seat back to its original position, and climbed in.

"W-Which mall are we goin' to?" Eridan asked indifferently.

"Do you ever thtop athking quethtionth?" You heave an exasperated sigh. "To anthwer your quethtion, we'll be going to Northpark. You thould feel right at home there."

The prick seemed to perk up a little at this, sitting up a little straighter in the seat. You turn on the radio, turning the volume close to maximum, to avoid anymore outbursts from him.

You make it to the mall, and not soon enough. Of course he would complain about your taste in music, screaming over the song that was playing, naming off hipster bands that were "so much fuckin' better." Many times you contemplated throwing yourself out of the window and onto the pavement of the highway, making sure to get run over by an oncoming car. You resisted, however, for Karkat's safety, instead throwing yourself out of the car once you were safely parked. Wanting to run away screaming bloody murder, you patiently waited for Karkat to stumble out of the backseat of your beat-up Neon. Boy, this day was going to be a good one.

The first store Eridan drags you both into is Nordstrom. You know from experience that this place is not within your preferred budget. Buying a six-pack of socks would probably be about a fifth of what you made earlier today. Okay, that's an exaggeration. Buying a three-pack of boxers, however…

You know that saying "ask and you shall receive." Well, that's total bullshit right about now. You decide to not even look for anything you'd want. If you don't find anything you'd like, you won't buy it, thus you won't spend any money here. Perfect logic.

Which was more than you could say for Karkat's boyfriend. He's walking through a section with more styles of skinny jeans you had ever cared to know existed, piling pants upon pants upon pants in his arms, until he notices you just standing there and suddenly you're nothing more than his pack mule. If you didn't think bringing him here was a mistake before, you certainly do now.

You notice Karkat hanging back a few feet, half-heartedly shuffling through some clothes racks, and wrinkling his nose in distaste. Well, so much for this being a fun day.

After spending hours (okay, about half of one) in that single damned store – and Eridan buying about half of the things that were even close to his hipster style, which was quite a bit more than you would like to imagine – you're finally able to leave to explore new parts of the mall that you haven't even been to. There was this one time in choir, but you'd rather not relive that moment if you could help it. You were somewhat disappointed to discover that there wasn't a Zumiez store, but, then again, it was probably for the best, in retrospect; you didn't want to have to carry your bought items as well as the things Eridan was having you cart around.

The three of you travel in single file, Karkat behind you, and Eridan leading the way. There are multiple stores that you absolutely refuse to enter (such as American Eagle, Banana Republic, and especially Hollister) which leaves you outside where you practically throw all of the bags you're holding to the ground. You didn't think it was possible, but he managed to drag you into Aeropostle, and then proceeded to force you into trying on some clothes that were about a size too small for you. After his first form of torture, you refuse to buy anything he suggests. You've left the store when he comes running back out, carrying at least to bags that, you realize, hold the very same clothes you were wearing moments ago. Not only were you his mule, you were also made his fashion dummy. Wonderful.

Sometimes when you would wait outside (something that seemed to be happening more often than not) Eridan would wander back out of a store, skipping with delight about his new purchase, alone after you'd sworn Karkat had gone in with him. When asked where his boyfriend was, Eridan would merely shrug, and continue to rummage around in his bag before handing it to you. After this same occurrence was repeated on many occasions, you were ready to storm into the store to look for him, but he would immediately trudge out himself, sporting a magnificent scowl that beat out any of his grim expressions you had seen before.

As you were continuing through the mall, Karkat caught up to you, and tried to get Eridan's attention.

"Hey, do you guys think we could go to the Cold Stone Crea-"

"Ooh, look! Pac Sun!" Eridan yelled excitedly, running off in the direction of the store.

You glance to Karkat just in time to see his gaze fall from his boyfriend to the floor. Your eyebrows knit in concern as he hurries in front of you to follow the shopaholic.

Later, you find yourself in GameStop, a store where you can actually shop for something. As you're checking out with a load of new PS3 games, you notice Karkat eyeing the newest of the Mass Effect games. You had never really played any after trying to play the first one – only to find that it was way too easy for you – but he was crazy about them. You tell the cashier that you're going to get one more thing, and walk over, reaching in front of your friend, to grab an entirely new copy. He looks at you with his mouth slightly agape.

"I thought you hated those games."

"I do," you state simply, placing it on the counter.

"Then why the fuck are you spending your money on it?"

"Becauthe you don't." You don't look back to his incredulous face as you grab the bag and make your way to the exit where Eridan was waiting.

You all decide on one last store to visit, to simply just be dorks (and so Eridan can be a hipster): the Disney store. Karkat immediately makes his way past racing children to the back where the enormous pile of stuffed Disney characters are. You follow, pulling out a Donald Duck to hand to him.

"Why'd you hand me this?" he asks you.

"I heard thomewhere that, when giving a thtuffed animal to thomeone, it'th betht to give them one that remindth you of them. That way they know how you thee them in your eyeth."

"So I'm Donald fucking Duck to you? The angry asshole? …Okay, I can see where you're coming from."

"He'th not angry all the time. There are moment where you thee jutht how loving he can be of everyone around him. Thometimeth it'th harder to thee that thide of him, but it'th alwayth there."

For the first time that day, a small smile formed on his lips. He did his best to hide it, trying to smother it on top of Donald's head, but you had definitely seen it. You smile to yourself as you turn back to the pile of plush, and notice Eridan coming up behind you. He inserts himself between you and Karkat (shoving you both out of his way) and grabs an Eeyore.

"He seems more like this fellow-w to me," he says, examining the plushie. Karkat turns away from you both, his eyes scrunching together as if he's in pain. You want nothing more than to hug him, and to punch Eridan in the face. Before you can do either, you're trailing out of the store to sit on a bench outside to calm yourself.

After an insufficient amount of time for you to do so, Karkat and Eridan follow you, the shorter of the two carrying a single bag. He hands it to you, reaching out an arm's length, and heads straight for the parking lot after you take it.

Opening it, you smile as you pull out a plushie of a dog from Oliver and Company, a movie you haven't seen since you were a very small child. He was your favorite character; he was confident and level-headed unless he lost his temper, and he became attached to the stray cat easily. He was protective of those he cared about in any and all situations, and would do what he could to help, even if he didn't always know how.

He was none other than the loving mutt Dodger.

You slip him back into the bag as you follow the couple to your car to make the trek home.