Alright guys. It's been too long. I recently have been thinking "I should really get back to that one fanfic I've been writing but I have no idea how to continue!"

Spontaneous brainstorm, thanks to How I Met Your Mother. (I know, I know.)

Anyway, here's a summary of what I've been doing in the past couple of months!

-Graduated Middle School

-Rehearsals for a huge benefit featuring Esperanza Spalding!

-Got my schedule for freshman year

-Wrote a program or two

-Made some money

-Had a birthday

-Watched Fullmetal Alchemist

This chapter (and the next few) will start to get really complex. Second thoughts, confrontations, confessions, a kiss or two, fluff, misconstrewed ideas and thoughts, mistaken situations, and a couple of fights. I hope you have as much fun reading as I will writing it (hopefully).

You have no idea how much it means to me that people actually like my writing.

-z/S

P.S I'm trying to get started as an editor. If any of you want a second set of eyes, even just for a spellcheck, shoot me a PM.

Terezi Pyrope.

You think you may have let him off the hook too easy. You guess you were just distracted by his thing with Dave...

Ugh. You'll have to live with it for now. Maybe you'll get a chance to hit him to make yourself feel better.

He's been acting better since you made up. He apparently was determined to make a good impression on you, which means that he was being no fun. He was being more gentletrolly, so you couldn't make fun of him for not being a gentletroll. He was making zero smartass or sarcastic comments. He was laughing along when you poked fun at him. He was so... boring! You had to escape to Can Town just so that he wouldn't offer to wash your clothes. He was being exactly the opposite of what you fell for in the first place.

It was no fun.

You stack another can on city hall and poke a tiny plastic flag into it, releasing the smell of tuna fish into the air. The city hall looked all the more lovely with it's new addition, making a total of six flags.

"Heh, nice. That gives me an idea... how about we build an amusement park? It could go over here... in this area..."

The coolkid, on the other hand, was acting perfectly normal. He had just strolled in, right as you were making your new addition. Late, you might add. In fact, he was so late that it called suspicion...

"Hold it right there, Mr. Strider! Hehehehe..."

"Uh-oh. You only call me Mr. Strider and giggle when someone's on trial. Who's the poor bastard this time?"

"Perhaps you'd like to tell me? You seem to be walking in awfully tardy this afternoon... What is it that would keep you so long that you might be so utterly lazy in your arrival?"

He smiled. The Mayor was looking between the two of you. He always loved these displays. He said it was like watching a television program.

"Heh. Well, I was merely strolling down the hall, Ms. Pyrope, when-"

You narrow your eyes. Cutting him off, you nearly growl, "You will adress me as Legislacerator."

And like that, the smile was gone. He could always tell. "Hey. What's going on, Tez? You never get this hostile with anyone but your scalemates."

You stand up, grabbing your cane. "It's nothing." you mutter, trying to look casual as you take your leave. You've already gone up several flights of stairs before you hear footsteps behind you. Freezing, you draw your canesword, trying to identify the intruder.

Red. It was either Dave or Karkat.

Not wanting to face either at the moment, you turn and continue up the stairs to the roof, at a hurried pace. You burst out onto the roof and sprint to the other side, stopping just before you can fall. Carefully, you sit down on the edge, your legs dangling. You put on a normal face just as you smell a warm, sweet smell behind you. Red. You try to smell for a distinction. C... Candy apple? That means it's Dave. He sits down next to you.

"Can I safely assume it's Karkat again? What happened this time?"

A soft chuckle escapes your lips. "We made up."

He glances at you. "Then what's the problem? Too clingy? Let me guess, he said 'I never want to lose you again.' Right?"

"No... He's just not acting himself. It's no fun. He's not getting defensive and he's being too much of a gentletroll, thinking he'll impress me."

He turns to face you completely. It registers that a scowl has been lingering on your face since he mentioned Karkat. You sigh, letting it fall away.

"You know, you wouldn't have any of those problems with me."

You freeze. What? When did this happen? Color is swarming to your cheeks and it's disgusting. Blushing always gives people the wrong idea.

He continues. "Really. It would be casual, whatever you wanted it to be. I wouldn't push you. I wouldn't yell, I wouldn't change if you didn't ask me to, and if you did I would try my hardest. I never understood what you saw in him anyway."

You risk a glance at him. He's put away his poker face, and is watching you with a quiet thoughtfulness. As if he's contemplating whether to go on or let you think.

"Actually, that's not completely true. I wouldn't push you if I didn't think you were ready for it. Like this."

You open your mouth, about to ask what the fuck is going on, when suddenly everything is peach cream and candy apple and white cake and licorice. There's a presense and pressure on your lips and there's a familiar smell in the distance, and you're so confused at this sudden turn of events, you push the boy away, and get up and run. You run and run and there are hot drops on your face and everything stings and spins and you collapse on the ground, shaking and sobbing and leaving trails of your distress as you crawl to the nearest room. It's Karkat's and the irony is stabbing you in the gut. You crawl up onto the human bed that Dave had (reluctantly) helped you and Karkat alchemize. You can't breathe and the world is spinning around you. You grasp onto the two scalemates that Karkat had let you keep in his room. Tiny dragon replicas of the two of you. Legislacerator Redglare and Threscutioner Greyrump. You cling to them and sob into their soft dragon heads as if they were your own grubs. After a while, you don't know how long, your tears run dry and you are so thirsty. Your head feels faint and your breath is shallow. You close your eyes. Your dreams are full of the scent of human skin and betrayal. The cherry red that walks into the room as you drift off is just an afterthought.