The Tree in the Forest

Chapter Twenty-Three

~~~

  Karkat was texting you nonstop. You had the urge to tell him to stop because you're tired because you just woke up and to give you five more minutes.

  No, he made you come over. This is how the conversation went:

  Kat: Daaaave
  Kat: DaaaaAAAVE
  Kat: DAAAAAAVE. LISTEN TO ME.
  You: Omg, what?
  Kat: I have neeeeeewwwwws~

  He only used tildes when he was trying to get you to listen. You know his tricks.

  You: What?
  Kat: No! You have to come over.
  You: Why? I just woke up
  Kat: Okay, and I just got news. So get your cute ass over here.
  You: Ugh fine. See you at your house.
  Kat: <3

  Karkat didn't use hearts either. What type of 'news' does he have?

  Nonetheless, you got dressed to go over. Damn him and his dumb boyfriend powers that make you vulnerable to his suggestion. You're getting soft.

  When you got dressed, you left the apartment and walked to the bus stop, doing the routine of paying for a ticket and getting on.

  Someone looked at you for wearing shades on a bus, but it did nothing to you. You can wear shades if you fucking want to.

  You got to Karkat's house twenty minutes after he texted you. You knocked on the door and waited for him to come and get it.

  When he opened the door, his smile was wide and happy and his eyes shone with excitement as he yanked you down into a tight hug.

  "Jesus, hey," You chuckled.

  "Hey," He said. "Do you want to hear my news?"

  "Obviously,"

  "Okay, so something very important was told to me this morning," He trailed off a bit, pulling you in so that he could speak into your ear.

  "I don't have to take chemotherapy anymore." Karkat whispered. You broke into a huge grin and grabbed him, picking him up and spinning him in the air for a few moments before setting him down and kissing him.

  He made it. He made it! He made it!

  You couldn't believe it. He was going to live. You couldn't stop giving him little kisses and hugging him tightly.

  He held you back just as tight. You could feel him smile against your neck as you told him how happy you were for him.

  "Dad is in his room telling every single relative I have," He laughed.

  "Come here," You said, sitting on the couch. He came over and cuddled close to you, just as you had encouraged him to do. You held him to your chest, still mumbling about how happy you were.

                                    ~<>~

  You told Roxy, Rose, and Bro all about how Karkat was off of chemo and they smiled at you and told you to tell him that they said happy for him.

  You laid in your own bed that night, regardless of how much you wanted to stay over. Kankri had come over and Karkat said he wanted to spend time with him. You understood and he sent you off with a kiss.

  You smiled against your own pillow and contemplated telling John, but decided against it. He was busy with Vriska and you aren't going to get in between them. It'd probably be apparent enough when Karkat started coming back to school on a normal schedule.

You couldn't sleep. You wanted to do it could be the next day and you could go and hang out with Karkat all day. You'd hug and kiss him the whole day. You'd tell him how happy you were and how much you loved him.

When you fell asleep, you didn't dream. However, the night didn't feel long. It was like you blinked. You laid in your bed for a while before grabbing your phone from the nightstand to check the time. Your alarm clock had been sold months ago for extra cash. It wasn't anything special.

It was early in the morning. Only about seven. You rarely woke up this early. Actually, neither you nor Karkat were ever up like this unless it was during the school year.

You texted Karkat about an hour and a half later, telling him that you wanted to spend the day with him. He replied about half an hour later telling you that he was going to smother you when you got there. You smiled and did your morning routine. It was uninteresting, but you were still smiling.

When you got to his house, Cameron's car was gone and Kankri's car was sitting in its place. You just barely knocked on the door before Karkat swung the door open and pulled you in.

"Fuck, you need to stop doing that," You were laughing regardless, but he seriously needs to stop yanking you through doorways.

"Oh shut up," He kissed your cheek, pressing smaller pecks all the way to your lips.

"We should probably get out of the living room before Kankri wakes up or he'll give us a lecture about PDA." Karkat said, guiding you to his room.

Karkat's room was always neat. He put stuff where it went, unlike you. His bed was always made and his dresser didn't have random shit sitting on it.

  Karkat pulled you onto his bed quickly and you had to veer your body to make sure you didn't hit him. He giggled at the special care you took to not hit him. You just shut him up with another warm kiss.

  That kiss lasted a long time. Your lips moved with his as he wrapped his arms around your neck. You liked it when he did that. You also like it when he pulled gently at your hair and gripped your back tightly.

  You pulled back by barely an inch before kissing him again, sliding your tongue into his mouth. He still tasted like Cinnamon Altoids and strawberries and you loved it.

  You stopped again, putting your mouth on his jaw instead. Karkat gasped a little before bringing one of his hands to your hair. Fuck yes.

  You kissed farther down his neck until you were at a fleshy area. You put your lips around it, using your teeth to softly clasp it in place until you suck on it. It would leave a mark on his pale skin for sure. You don't know why the idea of him having to cover it turns you on.

  "Hey, Dave," Karkat murmured, making tiny noises at the things you were doing to his neck. You hummed, not wanting to leave your handiwork, but still wanting to hear what he has to say.

  "It's, what, nine in the morning? But here you are, giving me hickeys." You could feel him laugh a little. His neck vibrated gently against your face when he talked.

  "Do you not want me to?" You whisper against him.

  "I never said that," He urged you to continue by craning his neck a little. You happily went back to nipping and kissing the skin, taking in the taste of his skin and how he smells.

  You don't know why you don't do this more often.

                                      ~~~

Dude, this is about as close to smut as this story is gonna get besides that wet dream a couple of chapters ago. Writing smut is hard when you're a virgin.

But Dave loves hickeys. He loves giving them, getting them, the idea of covering them. He just loves it man. Hickeys are gr8 tho so I don't blame him.

This chapter was actually pretty long which is surprising considering the short chapters as of late.

But Karkat's off of chemo!! This is a major plot builder but I won't tell you what's gonna happen! Things will happen as they go.

Alright, I'll go now. Bye!

~Ghostie