All in Time

Chapter 22

  The medicine has been working. I was happy to finally be able to sleep throughout the whole night and not have nightmares.

  Karkat hasn't been noticing my progress, but it hasn't been a phenomenal improvement, either. Maybe once I'm on the medicine for a while longer, he'll notice. He is a busy guy, after all.

  I have been looking into getting a job. I've been browsing the Internet for hours, looking for a job that I'd actually have a chance at. Maybe I could work at a drug store like Karkat does. I wasn't sure.

I was making sure to keep an eye on Karkat even though he told me that he was okay now. I knew that that was what I told him, and I wasn't okay. But then again, he is stronger than me. He had the bravery for things that I knew I would have died trying to cope with.

Speaking of Karkat, I was laying in my bed, him laying on the other side, drawing. Karkat drew much more than I did. He was good at it, too. I wasn't, really.

"Hey, Kat?" I asked, trying to get his attention.

"Hm?" He hummed back, signaling that he was listening.

"I love you," I smiled, cuddling up closer to him. I made it close enough to press a kiss to his cute cheeks. I also gave a small peck to the tiny tattoo just beneath his ear. It made him tense a little and stop drawing. He put the pad of paper down and tackled me into a hug.

"I love you, too, you pale sack of shit," He laughed. I loved his laugh and his cute crinkly eyes. Karkat laid on my chest, sliding his hands up just under the hem of my shirt. He left them there.

"Hey, Dave? You know what you should do?" Karkat asked after a while. I asked him what.

"You should get a tattoo," He told me.

"You're crazy." I mumbled.

"And your virgin flesh needs some pictures," He gave my neck a small kiss, right where I liked it. It always made me melt like something that's been left out in the sun.

"I am not getting a tattoo." I stated.

"But why not? I have them everywhere and I'm just fine,"

"You've gotten them before. You know what to expect."

"Yeah, but you do know that I had to get a first one, right?"

"Let me see it," I finished the conversation. Karkat nodded and began pulling up the edge of his own shirt, lifting it off entirely. I looked at him while he looked for it, admiring his pretty figure. He eventually pointed to a small tattoo on his left pectoral. It was a little quote that was placed right above where his heart is.

One day at a time, it read. I knew what it was referring to and I wondered how long he'd had it. It was written in Courier font and was surrounded by other little pictures.

"When did you get it," I asked, reaching up to touch it.

"I'd say about three and a half years ago," He replied. He positioned his legs so he could cling to me properly.

"Do you really want me to get a tattoo?" I asked him.

"Do you want to?" He shrugged.

"Maybe. We'll see,"

***

  How did I let Karkat convince me that getting a tattoo was a good idea? I guess it was how excited he looked when I told him that I wanted one.

  Anyways, I was sitting in the lobby of a tattoo parlor, looking through folders of tattoos. Karkat had made an appointment a few days prior.