Guess who hates being a finance/accounting major right now? :D So, yeah, the first week of classes sucked. But at least I'm moved into my nice apartment and I'm getting along really well with my roommates. Also I love my best friend and I don't know what I would have done without them this week.
Something you probably actually care about: The story will be finishing very soon! I've had the ending planed for a while now, and actually this story ended up being a lot longer than I originally thought it would. I may write a sequel, but I also said that about Unconditional . Therefore I am making no guarantees about having another story related to this one.
I do not own Homestuck. Thank you for putting up with my multiple breaks. I love you guys.
"Should we tell them?" Dirk asked as he leaned his hip on the back of the park bench. The wood was old but sturdy as he rested his weight on it.
"Beats me," Karkat shrugged. He kept his hands in his pockets though and didn't move from his seat. He also kept his eyes averted.
Displeased with the noncommittal verbal answer and the negative response from the Alternian's body language, the older boy sat down on the bench next to him. There was a small amount of space between them which Dirk left intentionally. Karkat did look up at him then, scowling. "Is it really that fucking important that you need to throw a tantrum? Are we even technically a couple?" Karkat called Dirk out on his distant behavior.
"I would say so," came the plain reply.
"Gog, how fucking desperate are you?" the younger snapped.
They sat for a moment in irritated silence. The majority of their friends were simply playing in the park. Equius was pushing Nepeta and Jade on the swings. John, Jake, Vriska, Terezi, Aradia, and Tavros were doing some sort of LARPing, Gamzee was hanging from the monkey bars and chatting with Jane while Roxy, Dave, and Sollux argued about Macs and PCs, Feferi, Rose, and Kanaya were talking fashion while looking at the life size chess pieces that were a major attraction of Skaia. No one knew where Ampora disappeared to, but it didn't seem to be putting a damper on anyone's day.
Nope, Dirk and Karkat were doing just fine raining on their own parade without any help.
"I'm not sorry," Karkat finally snapped, though he did move closer.
Dirk sighed. "It's fine. I told you, Jake dumped me because I was clingy. I'm not about to apologize for my twisted personality either."
Vantas laughed quietly. "If relationships are multiplicative instead of additive, even with both of our negative personalities, we'll be fine," he elaborated.
Dirk relaxed more fully onto the bench. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but he didn't mind so much. When Jane waved at him and gestured for him and Karkat to join her and the now upside-down juggalo, though, he was more than happy to leave his seat. He might have been more reluctant to abandon the hard bench if there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Karkat would go with him.
Before they could reach the monkey bars, however, Jake intercepted them. "Pardon me, but could I borrow Dirk for a moment?" he asked Karkat.
"What the fuck makes you think I get to make that decision?" Karkat snapped, glaring daggers at the English boy. The Strider took a good long look at his sort-of-boyfriend's face and made an interesting discovery. The shorter boy scowled and glared a lot. Yet there was a significant difference between the way he glared at Dirk and the way he glared at Jake.
"If you want to talk to me, that's fine," Dirk conceded before Karkat could get truly riled. He appreciated that the Alternian was essentially telling Jake that Dirk could make his own decisions, thank you very much. But now wasn't the time to get into a fight with Jake and leave a bad impression on everyone, or worse, get hurt.
Karkat didn't look too pleased. Eventually he shoved his hands back into his pockets and stalked over toward his Moirail. That left Jake and Dirk by themselves, but apparently it wasn't enough for English. "There's something I'd like to show you on one of the chess fields," Jake explained, moving toward some pieces that were as yet left unexplored by Feferi, Rose, and Kanaya.
Dirk began to get a little suspicious as he followed his former boyfriend. Jake had the same look about him as the day he had dumped Dirk. They halted in front of a knight, which was actually a samurai. Apparently, each of the chessboards scattered throughout the city of Skaia had a different theme. "I thought you might enjoy these," Jake elaborated when Dirk said nothing. The Strider took a moment to examine the black marble figure. The piece was rather imposing, and beautifully crafted, and Dirk did enjoy looking at it, but his suspicious feeling didn't subside.
"What did you want to talk about?" Dirk asked, keeping his eyes on the statue. He was well aware Jake was less likely to talk about anything important if he thought Dirk was staring at him.
Dirk internally cursed himself. Why was he still being so accommodating?
"Actually, I, um, wanted to apologize. The way I dumped you, I believe, was rather harsh." At this Dirk looked at the other boy reflexively. Jake continued, "I spent days agonizing over how to say it." From what Dirk knew, it was actually more than a few days. "And no matter what I did or how hard I tried, it still didn't come out right. And then… Well, I realized I made a truly grievous error." Suddenly Dirk wished he had just stayed with Karkat, Jane, and Gamzee. "I still have rather strong feelings for you, Dirk."
"I'm going to have to stop you there," Dirk cut Jake off. Saying the taller boy was mad would have been a slight exaggeration, but the emotions he was experiencing were fairly close. "First off, the way you dumped me was pretty shitty, and it really made me furious. And I was really broken-hearted for a while. But then I realized I wasn't being fair. To myself."
"What do you mean?"
The English boy was genuinely confused, so Dirk continued. "You had me thinking that it was all my fault. That my defective personality was the issue, and that I should have tried harder. But it was you too. You never told me when things bothered you. You were always evasive and uncommunicative about our relationship, even though you were happy to talk about anything else. And I never told you when that pissed me off, so we're both to blame." It was plainly stated, and Dirk felt immensely better to have finally said it.
The English boy considered the words for a moment. "Well, we can work out the problems, now that I understand it better."
"No, Jake."
The boy blinked a few times at the abrupt answer. "I beg your pardon?"
Dirk audibly sighed. His frustration welled up a little, but subsided as he took a deep breath. "You've been making goo-goo eyes at Serket ever since we got here. And even before that, I…" he trailed off, remembering that Karkat wasn't ready to say anything yet. Dirk would respect that for now, since it was early in their relationship, but he wasn't going to continually subordinate his own wishes the same way he had for Jake.
"You what? Wait, were you cheating on me?"
At that, Dirk exploded, the burst of anger coming unexpectedly for both boys. "No, I was too stupid in love with you to remember that cheating was even an option! A few months ago I met somebody that I really enjoyed talking to, but I never, never would have cheated on you. Why would you assume I was doing something wrong, that you were some sort of victim? Couldn't it just be that I fell in love with someone new? And, yes, it is the guy that I met while we were still dating, but I didn't even consider it a possibility until very recently, well after you had dumped me in a very self-centered manner!"
"You tell him!" came a feminine cry.
Dirk, who hadn't even realized that he had gotten into his ex-boyfriend's face, backed off at the sudden cheer. He turned around to see every single person he had come to Skaia with staring at him from behind the chess pieces. Including Karkat.
Jake turned peony while Dirk addressed the group. "Enjoying the show?" he asked. Everyone shuffled their feet awkwardly. He tried to catch Karkat's eye, but the boy kept his head down, and even pulled his hood over his head. "What are you even doing here?" he asked when no one responded.
Roxy, the one who had blown everyone's cover, offered an explanation. "Well, I followed Jane," at this the Crocker girl turned even redder than Jake. "And then Gamzee and Sollux followed us. And then everyone else tagged along. Except Ampora was already here," she clarified, pointing at the teen hiding behind the King piece.
"Great," Dirk facepalmed. "Well, there's nothing more to see here. Go about your business," he waved them off, approaching the group at the same time. More specifically, he was trying to see if he could get a glimpse of Karkat's expression. The boy turned on his heel, though, and walked away, leading the rest of the group. Dirk hung back to wait for Jake to pass. "I'm sorry for embarrassing you in front of everyone like that, but I stand by what I said."
"I understand," there was clearly some resentment in his tone. Dirk knew he would probably get over it soon, though.
As his ex walked away, Dirk felt relieved. Then he felt startled as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Bro," Dave muttered the syllable. It went unspoken, but Dirk new his younger brother wanted him to walk back with him. "You alright? That wasn't like you."
Dirk let out a halfhearted chuckle and ran his fingers through his hair as he and his brother trailed behind the rest of the group. "I guess I just lost my temper. He dumped me, and now I'm trying to figure out where I stand with… this other guy," he hedged. The younger quirked his eyebrow, but let his brother get away with it. "I guess it's just stress."
"You earned it. It's not that I don't like Jake. I just always thought you might be happier with someone else," Dave admitted.
This was news to Dirk. He had always thought his brother approved. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Would you have listened?"
Dirk felt a pang in his chest as he realized the answer. "No." He would have completely disregarded his sibling's advice.
Dave sighed, and stopped in his tracks. "You've spent the last seven years taking care of me. You didn't have time for your own relationships. I hope this mystery guy, whoever he is, makes you genuinely happy. If not, he's going to answer to me," he smirked, but Dirk felt the sincerity and love in the statement.
"Little man, you have definitely grown up a lot." He threw his arm over his shorter brother's shoulder as they continued to walk. As they started to catch up with the rest of the group, Dirk pulled him into a full out hug.
"Bro! What are you doing? Bro, knock it off!" Dave yelled. His cries were muffled as Dirk kept an arm wrapped around Dave's head, burying it in the fabric of his favorite t-shirt.
Terezi cackled at the display of brotherly affection. She laughed even harder when Dirk finally let go and everyone could see Dave's embarrassed blush. "That was so adorable. I wish I had a camera!" she wheezed out between her dying giggles.
"I've learned to come prepared," Rose waggled her eyebrows, holding up a small digital camera.
Dave looked mortified. "Rose, delete it."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." She laughed and dodged as Dave made a grab for the device.
"Rose, I want a copy!" Terezi shouted, following the duo as her boyfriend chased the other blonde.
Karkat facepalmed. "How fucking childish," he muttered under his breath. Since Dirk was doing his damndest to get near the boy unnoticed he managed to hear it.
"Do you miss your brother?" He asked.
Karkat didn't even flinch. "Kankri died three years ago. I miss him, but I don't let it ruin my day-to-day living," came the quiet response. Everyone but the older friends and Karkat had joined in the game of keep away.
"Sorry," Dirk responded as he watched Nepeta toss the camera to Aradia.
There was a brief silence. It was far from awkward, but Karkat broke it with a question posed to the group. "We should get going if we're going to see that stupid concert. Who's performing anyway?"
"I think it was Noir & Jack," Jane responded.
Roxy grabbed her friend around the shoulders. "Oooh, this is going to be exciting! I hear they're really good!"
Roxy's almost-yell attracted everyone else's attention, distracting them long enough for Dave to steal the camera from Kanaya. Admittedly, Kanaya hadn't been trying very hard to keep it away from him in the first place.
"Aww, Kanaya," John whined as Dave deleted the picture.
The girl simply shrugged her shoulders as the group made their way toward the parking lot so that they could see one of Skaia's most popular musical acts.