KARKAT X T3R3Z1

Karkat Vantas carefully climbed up that ladder that led to his friend, Terezi Pyrope's house among the trees. He didn't seem to be in his normal, grouchy mood today, so he decided to spare that time with Terezi. But no matter how happy he was, he still couldn't STAND being up so high. How could she live like this? He thought to himself. He shrugged and observed the scalemates that hung from the tree branches around him. It was a colorful, but creepy sight.

When he finally got to the door, he reached out and knocked, hoping she was home.

She didn't answer.

He knocked again, this time yelling "TEREZI? TEREZI, ITS ME, KARKAT!"

Terezi Pyrope had been discussing important matters with Senator Lemonsnout, when she heard a crude knock at the door.  Smelling the faint scent of cherries, she immediately knew it was Karkat.  Terezi quickly glanced around the room. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Scalemates were scattered everywhere, red chalk and chalk dust were piled in random sections of the room and her cane was laying in the middle of the floor.

Terezi frowned.  She had to clean up for poor Karkles!

She dashed around the room, tucking all her scalemates into a pile, putting the chalk away, but licking up the remains and finally, she picked up her cane and strode to the door, opening it.

Karkat was leaning on the door slightly, waiting for Terezi to open it. He could hear her scrambling around in there for gog knows why.

Suddenly, the surface of the door was taken away, leaving Karkat stumbling into Terezi's living room.

Terezi laughed loudly as Karkat fell to the ground. He was irritated, that's for sure, but that was the funny part.

"H33H33, H3Y K4RKL3S!" Terezi lean forward, offering her hand.

Karkat ignored it, getting up by himself. "HI PYROPE." He wasn't going to let that little incident ruin his good mood! All was silent after that so Karkat took that moment to examine the room.

The scalemates were piled neatly into a corner and the chalk was put away, but her red drawings still marked the wall. Why would they not be? He slowly scanned all the drawings. Basically all of them were smudged by Terezi's tongue. Karkat glanced at the rest of the drawings, until he saw one that startled him.

Above her bed was a red drawing.

It was hard to see what it was, because obviously, Terezi had taken a serious licking to it. But if he looked close enough, it kinda looked like him and… her?

Karkat shook his head. It couldn't be. They were just morails, right? Nothing more. And besides, who knows what it could be! It was smudged like nobody's business! He sat down on Terezi's bed, crossing his arms, pretending that he didn't notice anything. This was a lie, of course.

Terezi sat next to Karkles. He seemed to be very…off.

"K4RKL3S! WH4TS UP?" She asked.

"OH NOTHING… WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DRAWING LATELY?" Karkat replied, trying to change the subject. To his luck, she didn't notice.

"3V3RYTH1NGS R3D!" She giggled excitedly, pointing to one wall that was covered with random doodles, all in red chalk.

Karkat smiled slightly. "OF COURSE EVERYTHINGS RED!" His smile grew wider as he poked her in the shoulder.

"WH4T M4K3S YOU SO H4PPY TOD4Y?" She returned the poke, but much, much harder.

"I HAVE NO IDEA HONESTLY. I JUST.... SORTA..." He tilted his head. "NEVERMIND. I HAVE NO IDEA. THATS IT." he added quickly.


"COM3 ON NUBBI3!" Terezi grinned widely. "1T'S NOT 3V3RYD4Y TH4T YOUR TH1S H4PPY! 1N F4CT, 1 DON'T TH1NK YOUR 3V3R TH1S H4PPY! TH3R3'S GOT TO B3 SOM3TH1NG UP!"

Karkat lifted his knees and hugged them to his chest.  Turning his head away from the blind troll, he said;

"NO SERIOUSLY. IM FINE. LET'S PLAY A GAME OR SOMETHING." He had an idea. "HOW ABOUT TRUTH OR DARE?"

Terezi's smiled faded slightly. She could tell what he was trying to do, but she agreed anyways. Maybe she could get something good out of him.

"OK! 1'LL GO F1RST!"

Karkat looked at his feet. "FINE. TRUTH OR DARE?"

"TRUTH!" Terezi blurted out without thinking.

"HMMM..." He pretended to be thinking of a question, even though he had a question in mind. "Do you like anyone?" He was talking normally, for he was quite serious.

Terezi's cheeks went teal. "Y3S." Before Karkat could say anything else or prod her more, she said, "YOUR TURN. TRUTH OR D4R3?"

"DARE." Karkat answered immediately. He wasn't going to let anything out. Not this time.

Terezi smirked. "1 D4R3 YOU TO 34T A WHOL3 P31C3 OF CH4LK." She took one off the floor and waved it in front of his face.

Karkat gagged. "UGGHH SERIOUSLY?" He snatched the chalk out of her hand. "FINE." He hesitated, and then took a large bite out of the chalk. It wasn't as bad as he thought, but it was still pretty bad. It was flakey and dry on his tongue. It had no flavor whatsoever, just as he'd expected. Karkat choked as he managed to shove the horrid thing down his throat.

"OK, SO THAT'S OVER WITH." He spluttered, still choking slightly. "TRUTH OR DARE?"

"D4R3!" She wasn't going to let anything out this time!

Karkat frowned. He had hoped that he could learn more about her uhh… feelings? Shrugging, Karkat tried to find a loophole. "I DARE YOU TO TELL ME WHO YOU LIKE!"

"TH4TS THE SAM3 TH1NG 4S TRUTH, DUMB4SS!" Terezi  slugged him the arm.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" Karkat rubbed his now bruised arm. "I DARE YOU-"

So after about ten minutes of daring each other, Karkat grabbed Terezi's shoulders and yelled;

"GOD DAMMIT TEREZI! STOP PICKING DARE!"

"H33H33 NOP3!" Terezi giggled. "3V3N YOUR 4DOR4BLENESS WONT M4K3 M3 GIV3 1N!"

At this, Karkat released Terezi, groaning. "FINE! NOW PICK ALREADY. TRUTH OR DARE?"

"D4R3!"

"OF COURSE IT IS!" Karkat rolled his eyes.  "CAN'T YOU SEE IM RUNNING OUT OF IDEA-" An  idea struck him.

"GOT IT! I DARE YOU…" He looked at her seriously. "TO STOP PICKING DARE!"

Terezi jumped so much that her glasses almost went flying off her face. "WH4T?" She stuttered, fixing her glasses. "T-TH4T MUST B3 4G41NST TH3 RUL3S!"

"WHAT RULES?" Karkat grinned and but his hands on his waist, claiming his victory.

Terezi sighed. "4UGHHH… 1 GU3SS YOU GOT M3! >:["

Karkat smirked.

But then he realized.

That it was his turn.

"OH F—"

He was cut off by that annoying question.

"TRUTH OR D4R3?"

"TRUTH." If he picked dare, then Terezi was probably just going to dare him not to say dare. So what was the point?

Terezi was quite surprised. "OK… 1F YOU S4Y SO…." She thought for a moment. "WHO DO YOU L1K3?"

After a moment of silence, Karkat shrugged. "NOBODY."

Terezi went numb.
She couldn't hear, taste or smell anything. The world around her was frozen. The depth in Karkat's answer seemed to shoot her in the heart, make her bleed her teal blood until it seemed to leak forever. She felt utterly alone in the darkness. Being sent out there, and abandoned. She should've tried harder to find her way back, but she just waited, until someone came to rescue her…

"TEREZI?"

Karkat's words snapped her back to reality.
She didn't know what to think. Her mind was utterly fuzzy. So, without thinking, she—

Karkat's eyes widened in surprise. Out of nowhere, Terezi thrusted her head forward, pressing her lips softly against his. He just froze, not knowing what to think. Even behind her red tinted glasses, he could see a steady flow of tears stream down her cheeks.  He blinked as she pulled away.

Karkat's reaction disappointed Terezi. He wasn't saying anything! She'd expected him to say seomthing, yell at her, maybe even kiss her back

But all she got was a dumbfounded Karkat.

Terezi ran. There was nothing else to do! Forgetting her cane she raced out the door. Not looking back as she quickly slid down the ladder, and continuing to run into the forest.

Poor Karkat watched her run. He did nothing to stop her, for he was still trying to process in his mind what had just happened.