So this is the Karezi chapter, and it'll probably be pretty short. Flashbacks are in italics as usual, and there will be a lot of transitions. Hopefully it doesn't bother anyone. (I almost said trigger, since Kankri is my new favorite character. lol)
Terezi was sitting on her front porch, a newly purchased light yellow sundress sliding across smooth legs in the warm spring afternoon. Dave would be here to pick her up any time now, and her heart was souring and beating like a hummingbird at the thought of her hipster cowboy. He was taking her on a surprise date, and she wasn't allowed to know where until they arrived.
She stood in front of her home, making sure that Gamzee and Tavros knew the rules. They were not to open the door, she had keys and could use them just fine; they were not to answer the phone if they didn't know who it was, and she would be calling Tav's cell should she need to communicate with him. They were not to leave the house unless it was an emergency, or she had Okayed it previously. Tavros nodded, while Gamzee watched a butterfly roll past. She sighed, thinking that this would not end well. At least that's how she was explaining the butterflies in her stomach this time around. It wasn't that she had gone and fallen in love with the stupid, yelly idiot that was Karkat Vantas. That was ridiculous.
She got into his vinyl lined Mustang convertible, almost forgetting to cross her legs after being used to wearing pants for so long. She had re done her hair three times before finally just giving up and calling Aradia. Luckily she hadn't been with Sollux, or she would have come up with a lame excuse not to come. The quite beauty had helped her become prettied up, and just in time. It wasn't three minutes until Dave had pulled up.
Karkat's car was the junkiest muscle car Terezi had ever seen, and she rolled her eyes. She put her black jean, tee shirt clad self into his passenger seat, and her hair brushed but little more. She was wearing no make-up save her blue-raspberry lip-balm, which she always had on; making her look like she was oxygen deprived most of the time. He was blushing as she clicked on her seatbelt, and turned his radio on.
"So where are you taking me again?" She asked, eyes closed as she tried to find the seek button.
"Tell me when I find your station," He said, flicking the button himself, "And you can't know until we get there. A secret, I guess."
"That's fucking bullshit." She said, her raspy voice turning into a pout. It hadn't always been that way. Only since she had screamed for an hour and a half straight. The night of the triple-funeral of nearly everyone she loved. But that was a story for another time, preferably never.
"Yeah, well, deal with it." He said, refusing to meet her eye, instead staring at the empty road intently. She sighed, wondering why she had even agreed to this. Oh yeah, because seeing her little brother with his boyfriend had made her feel too lonely to ignore the slightly familiar scent rolling off of her in waves. Tiny waves, which only she could detect, but waves nonetheless.
"Can't you give me one teensy hint?" She asked, and Dave, being the cool kid he was, had of course, simply stared forward, a cocky smirk painting the parts of his face not covered by those ridiculous shades. Of course, she would prefer he take them off, but she didn't want him going blind from sun exposure, so you left them where they were.
"If I gave you a hint, it wouldn't be a secret, would it?" He said, and you pouted, though that had never worked for you in the past.
"Please, Dave?"
"Fine. I guess I'll tell you, but you aren't allowed to laugh at the sappy bullshit." He said, taking a moment to glare accusingly at her, the gesture getting through his glasses.
"I pinky promise." She held up her finger, and he sighed.
"We're going to my Bro's grave. It's his birthday, and I always bring him some flowers, and a fucking manga book. He loved the shit." Dave said, and your hummingbird heart turned into a rock, and you felt bad for bugging him now.
"Oh. I'm sorry, then." She said, staring at the ground as alternative rock poured from the speakers.
"You didn't kill him, some jackass with a knife did. Fucking three dollars was all he had. They say that he tried to save some kid who was getting mugged for drug money, and picked the wrong one." Dave's hands gripped the steering wheel harder, and she almost thought she heard a sob.
"Pull over for a second." she ordered, and, like the perfect gentleman he is, he listens. They are on the side of the abandoned road, and she lifted you from her seat, and into his lap.
"What are you doing?" He asked, and she simply snaked her arms around his neck, placing a small kiss to the top of his blonde head.
"You looked like you needed cheering up. I know that this is a sad day, but that doesn't mean I want to have you being all depressed, silly." She responded, smiling that contagious smile of hers.
"Come on, Karkles, We're going to need to have an idea where I'm going. You aren't really the sanest person, and I don't go to strange places with crazy people." She snapped, glaring at him, or at least the direction she thought was his.
"Fine." He relented, frowning harder, "We're going to an orchestra concert. I saw that you had Mozart and all that shit in you're house, and I figured that you would enjoy it. If not, we can go have dinner and I can romantically read to you about steak." He said, the car going a little faster as he became annoyed.
"That's…thank you." She said, never thinking that he would have taken the time to see what was in her house, especially since she had never let him in it. He must have peeked in when he came to pick up Gamzee.
"You're…you're welcome." His cheeks grew red, not really knowing what to do when they strayed from their usual banter.
"Really. It's more thoughtful than anything else anyone has ever done for me." She said, placing her hand on his in the center of the dash. He smiled, but then immediately quelled the expression. Not before she saw it however, maintaining the notion herself.
He had calmed down, and when the tears no longer threatened his eyes, she had allowed him to begin driving again. He told stories of his older brother, admitting he had never known him by any name but "Bro" until the funeral, when the name "Dirk Strider" was announced. He had almost thought he was in the wrong place, until he realized that there was only one dead strider. At least in reality. He told her of how dead inside he had felt, even saying that sometimes he thought that his brother, six feet in the ground and worm poop by now, was more alive than him. He proceeded to stipulate that his only reprieve from this feeling was with her, which brought a tear to her eye.
There were plenty of happy stories, like how he had walked in on his brother watching hentai once, and had completely freaked out, as any fourteen year old would. Or how, on his first day of school, his brother had sent him in anime cosplay, simply because he could. This made her chuckle, especially the blush that still came to his face at the former tale. In the end, they were both on a bi-polar roller coaster of stories and the emotions they invoked, especially with the wonderfully descriptive way Dave had of telling them. She had put in on one occasion that he should consider being a writer.
"If we're going to an orchestra, shouldn't we be dressed better?" Terezi asked, not even knowing if her clothing matched, though she thought that she had smelled purple and black jeans.
"What are they gonna do, fuckin kick us out. They can suck my dick." Karkat said, happy to be able to have him normal response to anything.
" I wouldn't say that; it's a hard offer to refuse, Karkles." She said, mostly to watch his eyes go wide as his face became redder than her converse sneakers, and chuckle under her breath at his reaction.
"DAMMIT TEREZI, STOP SAYING SHIT LIKE THAT WHILE I'M OPERATING HEAVY MACHINERY!" He shouted, which only made her laugh harder. He started cursing under his breath as she continued to laugh so hard her face turned red and her red glasses fell off.
"But your face… I can't… BREATHE" She said, wasting the breath she claimed to be missing on the words. He scowled, but on the inside he was smiling, if only to be able to hear her real laugh, and not the fake one she used when she laughed at her own awful jokes.
They were standing over Dirk's grave, and Dave was placing a single white lily on the simple marker, as well as the latest volume of Naruto. Dirk had come from this town, and had asked to be buried here, being why Dave used part of his inheritance to move from the city to the small town, something everyone thought him crazy for.
She was frowning in sadness, as once again tears fell from her eyes. She was happy that he had shared this with her, showing a great deal of trust, but at the same time, to simply have such an emotional thing pressed onto her so suddenly was taking an emotional toll.
They sat in the middle of the auditorium as the curtains opened, reveling a group of instruments. Classical music began to slowly glide from strings and breath, to the waiting ears of those present. Terezi had a soft smile, the music lulling her into a sort of trance as she calmed from her constant state of faked happiness, to one of truly feeling the emotion. She barely even noticed when Karkat pulled the trick so old it was out dated when they wrote the book, and yawned to put his arm around her shoulders. Nevertheless, she responded, leaning in to lean on his lithe chest. His face turned red once more, and he wanted to look away, but that expression of pure bliss was hard to stop looking at, and he was quickly becoming addicted to it.
"This is wonderful." She said softly, the rasp not catching so much when she spoke at this tone.
"Glad you like it." He said, truly meaning it. His heart was about to pound out of his chest while it thrummed like a snare drum, but that was beside the point. The point was that he had made the beautiful woman he had, even if he would never admit it to any but himself, fallen in love with.
Terezi fell asleep on the ride home, and when Dave woke her up by loudly blaring the radio to make her jerk awake, she scowled at him. Still, he walked her to the door, and she looked up at him expectantly. He caught on, and tilted her head to his, placing a kiss upon it. Like all the ones before it, it was nice, and left her feeling a little tingly. She parted from him, and stepped inside, waving a final farewell as the night ended.
They joked through the ride home, mostly Terezi baiting Karkat into various levels of annoyance by badly singing along to his favorite cheesy love songs. He yelled at her, saying that Adam Sandler was the king of romantic comedies, and she had to be some kind of moron to think differently. She replied that he had to be gay to watch romantic comedies without having a girl next to him. He scoffed, and she giggled.
They arrived at her home, and, like the gentleman that rested deep under his prickly façade, he walked her to her door, biting his lower lip like it was a piece of bubblegum. She laughed a little, and looked at him, waiting. He'd get the message eventually.
"I had a really nice time, Karkles." She said, and he flashed another small smile, leaning in a little bit, but then starting to lean back. Instead of simply letting him get out of her good-night kiss, she grabbed him by the black sweater, and dragged his lips to hers, gasping as sparks flew like a fourth of July fireworks show. He returned the kiss immediately, wrapping warm hands around her lower back, and flicking his tongue out. He may not have much practice, but he didn't read romance novels for nothing. Okay, he did, but that is neither here nor there.
"Can I see you next weekend?" He asked, and she smirked, looking him in the eye.
And then those eyes went wide.
"I. I can see you!" She said, looking at all of the intricate features of the human face she had forgotten.
"Yeah, it's not like anyone can tell you not to…" He was confused, until she smiled, jumping up and down.
"You don't understand, Karkles, I can see. As in, my vision is back!" She exclaimed, and he was shocked.
At the racket, she saw Gamzee's face looking through the glass of their front door, opening it up to see what was going on.
"What's got you flippin' yo wicked shit, sis?" He asked, eyebrow going up in confusion.
"I can see!" She said, running up to look at her little brother, waiting in his room upstairs.
"Bro, are you that good?" Gamzee asked, and Karkat, never one to pass up an ego opportunity, replied in the affirmative.
"Like fucking Jesus."
So not so short, but whatever. Hope you enjoyed the side pairing that I'm slamming down your throats!
Anyway, thank you for reading, and reviews make me update faster!