A.N. Thank you for all your super sweet reviews and favorites! Sorry this chapter took so long ^^'

Dave had been thinking all night, but when he rolled out of bed the next morning he still had no idea what the fuck to do. He hadn't responded to the couple of texts he had gotten that night. Definitely not the ones from Karkat. He was okay at acting, but he didn't think he could with Karkat. He didn't really think he could lie to him.

He was still very conflicted on the whole matter. Rose had helped a lot, and he was sure he had feelings for Karkat and that he wanted to act on them, but how? And also there was the matter of Karkat being an alien species, but he supposed he would cross that bridge when he came to it. He didn't figure it would be a problem though, considering how cute he had been regardless of his odd grey skin and horns.

Dave got dressed and straightened his hair, and off to school he went.

)0o0(

By the time Dave got to his gym period he had already mentally prepared himself for his second encounter with Karkat. Of course that didn't keep his heart rate leaping like a fucking jackrabbit on steroids when he looked over to see Karkat opening his locker only about six feet away from him. He couldn't believe he hadn't even realized that his locker was that close.

Nothing could really prepare him for when he watched Karkat start to strip. He could feel his ears turn pink as he hastily busied himself with what he was doing, sneaking glances every now and again in curiosity. Karkat was surprisingly lean and in okay shape, but the large red scars that went up his sides were throwing Dave. He wondered exactly what they were from.

Karkat looked up and Dave realized he had been staring.

"Can I help you?" Karkat asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Uh, no," Dave said, turning back to his own locker in embarrassment. He closed his locker and leaned down to tie his shoe. The locker room was starting to clear now, and it wasn't long before he and Karkat (currently preoccupied with trying to get his shitty unfitting gym uniform tied and positioned in a way that he wouldn't kill himself trying to participate) were alone.

Dave finished tying his shoe and went to open the door to the gym. It didn't budge. He pulled harder. He even risked looking like an idiot and pushed on it, only to be faced with full on panic when he realized it wasn't going to budge. He was locked in. With Karkat.

Said grumpy troll came up behind him, "What are you waiting for? Open the door."

"I can't, it's like jammed or some shit," Dave said as calmly as he could, demonstrating by pulling as hard as he could on the handle.

"You're fucking kidding me," Karkat groaned, pushing Dave aside. He tried the handle himself, putting as much force as he could into it, only to come to the same conclusion. He banged on the door with his fist, "HEY WE'RE STUCK IN HERE!"

Dave went and sat down on one of the benches, watching Karkat as he continued to call for help. He was half praying for someone to come and get them and half praying that they wouldn't. Why were all his feelings so confusing lately?

Karkat gave up after only a few minutes of his obnoxious cries for help, and came and sat down a foot or so away from Dave. They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes before Karkat spoke up.m

"So you're friends with John," Karkat stated.

"Yup."

"Figures," Karkat said under his breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dave said back, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing. You just seem the type to hang out with someone so shallow," Karkat said, illustrating his point by waving a hand in his direction.

"Hmph." Dave responded, trying not to feel hurt by this comment.

There was another lapse of silence, and Karkat pulled his phone out of his shorts pocket and started texting. Dave just sat and twiddled his thumbs, considering the only person he had interest in texting was sitting right next to him.

It only occurred to him that may also be the case for Karkat when his phone went off in his pocket. Fresh panic jolted through his body as Karkat looked over in a disinterested way, only responding to the sound. It was only a matter of a second before he put two and two together. Dave rushed to pull out his phone and turn it the fuck off, but it was too late. Karkat sent another text and Dave's phone beeped again.

Dave looked up at Karkat, who was in turn staring at Dave, wide eyed. Karkat flushed deeply and covered his mouth, looking away, for only a second before peeking a glance back at him.

"Oh," Karkat practically squeaked.

Dave couldn't help himself as he started to grin, and winked at Karkat, "Hey babe."

"Fucking-" Karkat blurted, swatting Dave on the arm, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me?!"

"It didn't exactly come up. What was I supposed to say,'Hey I'm Dave the guy you've been talking to for about a while hows it going'?" Dave retorted.

"Well- I- Urghhh," Karkat responded angrily, not able to come up with a good response. There was a small bit of silence.

"So I'm gonna go out on a limb here and address the elephant in the room," Dave said, gaining courage, "Because I don't know about you, but I've been really hankering for some sloppy makeouts if you catch my drift."

Karkat gave him a look of disgust, "If that is your idea of a confession of love I think I'm going to be sick."

Dave's heart dropped. "So that's a no?"

"No, that's a 'Find a way to express your feelings in a non-douchebaggy way'," Karkat said, looking at him with knowing eyes, "I know you're better than that. So prove it."

Dave was mulling this over when the door suddenly burst open and in walked the gym teacher. "There you two are."

Karkat got up and walked out without saying another word to Dave, and with nothing left to do, Dave simply followed.

)0o0(

"So what happened?" Rose said barely a second after Dave had answered the phone. Dave was at home, sitting in his computer chair, still perplexed by all that had happened.

"How did you even know I said anything to him? You and your damn assumptions."

"What you're telling me is you didn't."

"No I didn't say that. Yeah we kinda got locked in the locker room together like some sort of cheesy anime scene, and he ended up texting me while we were in there and spilling the beans."

"Your dodging of questions appears to be irrevocable. What happened when you told him about your feelings?"

"He rejected me. Kind of."

"Really?"

"He said that I had to find a way to tell him in a less douchbaggy way."

"Oh Dave, what did you say to him."

"I don't remember the exact words, and if I did I still wouldn't tell you."

"How disappointing. I could probably write a book on the human psyche just based off of that statement."

"It was more of a question but whatever. Now if you don't mind, I have to figure out some stupid romantic scheme to get the crown, save the town and Mr. Krabs."

)0o0(

A.N. Yes I ended with a spongebob quote. I feel like this chapter is shorter than I intended it to be but eh. Don't worry guys, fluffy stuffs soon. I promise ^.^