Blood Ties, Breath Secrets

Chapter Fifteen

"No point in hiding, Vriska. I know you're the one who sent the message- after all, no one speaks like the Spiderb--tch. But who's that next to you? Is it Tavros? I didn't think he had the balls to follow you to something like this."

Karkat strode forward, pushing away the bushes that cloaked the unlikely pair. His eyes went wide in shock- but it wasn't fear in the curl of his lips.

It was anger.

"Dave? What the f--k are you doing with Vriska?" He snarled. "Are you hooking up with her? After all, it's pretty obvious you don't care much for whether or not they're dating someone." There was pure venom in his words- but Dave wasn't as hurt by it as he'd expect. 

After all, he deserved it.

Oddly enough, it was Vriska that stood up for him (or perhaps herself). "I happened to run into Dave in the woods- and we certainly weren't hooking up. My standards are higher than that. Plus, Dave is still head-over-heels for Jade no matter who he kisses."

"I'm not surprised you would think it's okay to cheat on someone you love. But for me, with my morality and such, I think kissing the ex of the person you're dating is a pretty awful thing to do."

Vriska glanced at Dave in sympathy before standing tall, eye to eye with Karkat. "I don't have any interest in being caught in your guys' crossfire. Work out all your s--t without me, because I'm leaving."

"Good riddance." grumbled Karkat.

Dave shot a desperate glance at Vriska's retreating back, pleading her not to leave him alone with his angry ex-boyfriend. Now was not the time to revisit those feelings- not now, not ever.

But Karkat didn't seem to have gotten the memo. He saw down, keeping a fair amount of distance between him and Dave, albeit close enough so that Dave could feel those red eyes burning into his soul.

"Dave, we need to talk."

"So you screaming insults at me is what passes for talking nowadays?" He spat, the anger thick in his voice.

"No, I mean like really talk. Because I'm not happy and you're not happy- and John sure as s--t isn't happy. We need to fix the pile of bulls--t you two got us into or everyone's going to be spiraling into a depression so deep not even Nicholas cage can pull us out."

"Fine." Dave sighed, relenting. "I get what you're saying- but how can we fix it? No one I've talked to has had any ideas and Jade isn't going to be speaking to me any time soon, let alone kissing and making up."

"Well, I doubt Vriska or Terezi give good relationship advice- but that's not the point, and that's not what's going to fix this."

"What the hell is?"

"We need to talk to both of them. Together."

Dave looked defeated. "That isn't going to work at all- are you crazy?"

"Maybe a little bit- but the thing is, that's not the only part of my plan. We need to do something before our big-a-s confrontation. We need to fix things."

"Fix what?"

"Fix things between us."

Dave groaned loudly, leaning backwards dramatically. "Sorry Karkat, but I don't particularly think that's possible. Between me breaking up with you, me denying my sexuality, oh and me kissing your boyfriend who is also my best friend..."

Karkat clenched his teeth so hard veins bulged on his forehead. "You don't need to remind me of that. I know it very, very well. But I have decided to be the better person and ignore the heaping pile of crap you've caused my life to become in lieu of fixing this."

"Look, I know I'm a jerk. I've been a jerk to you. And you have every right to hate me."

"But?"

"But you're right about one thing- I need your help to fix this stuff."

"Glad to see we're on the same page. Now, shall we start the session here, or should I take you to my nice cozy room with soft couches and inspirational posters on the walls?"

Dave smirked in spite of himself. "You haven't lost your sense of humor. That's one thing..." He paused for a moment. "That's one thing I miss about you."

Karkat blinked, looking momentarily confused.

"You miss me? I-" He stammered. "I didn't think you cared about me. Considering the way things ended, I just assumed -"

"That I hated you? That I was disgusted with you? That it was all a sham?" Dave stated in a cool voice.

Karkat nodded mutely.

"Well, that isn't true."

Dave sighed loudly, barely able to look at Karkat- but he held his gaze. "A lot of stuff happened when my bro found out and when he left. I was so disgusted with myself, so full of blame and self-hatred. I ended up taking some of it out on you.

"I thought that you were to blame. That it was your fault for making me the way I am... and making him leave. It was easy to forget those feelings, especially the ones I had for you. It was easy to replace all my love with hatred."

He shuddered, shoulders trembling. "But then John made me realize that it wasn't like that. That I wasn't disgusting or wrong or anything like that. That it was okay to be me.

"And realizing that made me look back on everything I've done... especially how I treated you."

"What exactly did you realize in your self-searching bulls--t?" said Karkat- but his usual malice wasn't there.

"I realized that I want to fix things with you."