The soft screams of young teen girl's blared from the television as Dave and John sat in front of the television, munching away at popcorn, pizza, and chips. John had his head resting on Dave's shoulder whilst watching the film, smiling evily to himself. The idea that Karkat had been slaughtered tonight without anyone noticing yet, gave John a thrill inside of his tiny body.

He looked up at Dave with those blue eyes of his and said, "Dave, I have something to tell you."

The strawberry freckled boy looked down at John with those black shades on his face. "What is it?"

"You know, homecoming is coming up, right, so I was thinking that we could together. Like...not just friends, I mean a couple," John replied whilst thrumming his fingers on his knee nervously.

"Well, shit, I was going to ask you at school with all those ironic signs and jazz, but you beat me to it, Egbert," Dave said wrapping an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders. He gave the nerd kid a squeeze then pulled him closer.

John internally squealed as he looked up at Dave with pure love in his eyes. "Oh, Dave, good~"

Dave adjusted himself so that he was sitting right in front of John as the credits rolled on the screen of the television. The blond tilted his head to the side and went in for the kiss. The kiss began ever so slow, but very soon enough the boy's tongue slid into John's with a flick.

John's arms instantly wrapped around Dave's neck as he pushed the other down on the couch, deepening the kiss. The blond's hands went down John's sides ever so slowly to rest on his hips, and crept down to his ass.

Step Two. Complete.

Saturday came.

Sunday went.

Monday the news had gone viral that Karkat Vantas was missing, but they could not find the body. Just his cellphone. The cellphone had been found in the grass outside the school when a maintenance man was beginning to mow the lawn.

John came into school with a chipper attitude while many students were a mess. The nerdy teen came up to Dave's locker with that smile on his face. "Hey, Dave! Good morning! How are you?"

Dave shut the locker door with about as much force as a baby gorilla. "Good morning..." he replied with a shaky voice.

That struck a nerve with John. What. The. Fuck?! How could Dave be so upset that a jack ass was missing- well, dead! Not that everyone knew the truth.

"What's wrong?" John asked, putting a hand on Dave's, which was as cold as ice.

Dave took in a sharp, shaky breath. "Karkat is missing...They think he's dead. There was blood found on his phone... It's not like we were close or anything, but...he meant a lot to me as a friend," he replied.

John could tell Dave wasn't even looking at him! He knew Dave had to be looking down at his feet. This pissed John off immensely. What the hell, Dave?!

"Dave, you know, Karkat probably got pissed off and ran away," John said obviously lying.

"Maybe," he said shaking his head.

"Listen, this Friday is homecoming and we're going together, so that means we both will be together and having a lot of fun with Rose, Kanaya, Jade, and the others. Karkat will show up. I know he will. He can't miss homecoming," he said, smiling up at him.

John sat on his bed with a pencil between his lips while Melanie Martinez's song Teddy bear played in his ears from the speaker sitting on his desk. He stared down at the journal deep in thought. He had completed step one and two, but getting step three to work involved homecoming. If point A could keep everyone focused, John could go to point B and take care of step three all the way.

He pulled the pencil from his mouth and began to write down a few extra lines for what he could do. He would have to make sure that Dave wasn't around to see point A or B…How though?

The boy groaned as the lead snapped under the pressure he was putting on the pencil. "Fuck," he mumbled. He heard his phone ding twice, meaning a text from Dave.

He immediately snatched the phone off his desk and began to text Dave, who had asked what he was up to.

Tomorrow, Dave was coming over for help with his homework, so maybe John could skip ahead a few steps for something he had been wanting for a while. He would have to wait.

The raven haired boy put the journal under the mattress then he slipped under the comforters, holding a pillow to his chest. "Oh, Davey, everything is going to work out for the better. No one will ever hurt you again. I won't let anyone treat you like they treated me…" He shut his eyes for sleep.