Primarily Yours

Chapter Sixteen

"Two years ago, my brother left me. He- he saw me with- my- my boyfriend. He saw us together, and it made him leave. He told me I was an- abomination. That I was disgusting. That he couldn't stand to live with someone like me.

"He was gone the next day. I ended it with- my boyfriend. I couldn't take it... I hated myself. He was disgusted with me, so why shouldn't I be too?

"Him leaving made me hate myself. I tried to forget about my failures. I made- I tried to move on. I dated someone else. A girl. I thought doing that would make him come back, that he would forgive me.

"But he never came back."

Dave sat back down, collapsing into his chair to the sound of slightly muted applause.

John took this time to slip quietly out of the room.

Why did Dave never tell him? Why did he keep so many secrets? John knew that Dave's brother had left- that was why he lived with Rose. But he never told him why. He kept it all a secret- so many secrets. Did he even know Dave at all? Could you love someone you barely knew?

John slumped against the wall, trying not to cry. He couldn't let Dave see him like this. He couldn't let anyone see him like this.

"John?"

He flinched, turning around and seeing... Dave. Dave, looking at him with sorrow.

"John, I'm sorry. I- I should have trusted you. I should have told you."

"Yeah..." he mumbled. "I should have. I thought if I kept it secret, I could forget about it. Nobody knew, John. Not Rose, not Jade, not anybody. But I wanted to thank you for pushing me to admit it. It's better know that I've let it out. I'm not afraid to me anymore."

"You shouldn't be, Dave. It's okay to be you."

He smiled warmly. "I know that now."

Dave leaned against the wall, the smile still etched onto his face. "So you've always been into me, huh? That was a shock."

John blushed deeply, his face turning the same color as his eyes. "I..."

"You thought I might dramatically take you into my arms and we ride off into the sunset?"

"M-maybe." mumbled John under his breath. This wasn't how he'd imagined.

"John..." he said softly. "I do like guys. I know that- accept that now. But I also like Jade. I love her. I can't leave her."

"I understand. I won't make you leave her." he said quietly, sadness filling his words. John didn't expect it to end up as a happily ever after- but the rejection still hurt.

"I'm sorry for hurting you. Do you think- we'll be okay? We'll still be friends?"

"I put up with your bullshit, Dave. We can still be friends." said John with a faint smile. "I think now, I'll be able to get some closure. Maybe be able to move on now."

Dave stood up, pulling John to his feet and wrapping him in a tight hug. "Thank you." he whispered.

John stood there standing, watching Dave walk out the building where Jade and Rose were waiting.

"Hey, f-kwad. That worked out pretty well." John knew that swearing.

"Karkat? Why aren't you leaving with the others?" John asked curiously.

"I stayed back. I wanted to talk to you- and to thank you for doing it. It took balls I didn't think you had."

"I have more balls than you!" cried John aggressively. But Karkat just smirked.

"Hey- you did a good job, really. Although I didn't come over here just to thank you."

"Well, why else did you come to talk? Was it because of my unbearable sexiness?" smirked John. Wait... was Karkat nodding?

"Something like that." he mumbled, his face turning the same color as his hair. "Now that everything has stopped going to h-ll, I was wondering... if you'd..."

"Spit it out, man!"

"You wanna go see a Nicholas Cage movie or something?" whispered Karkat.

John's eyes widened in shock. Did Karkat just... ask him out?

"Karkat- did you just do all that stuff so you could have an excuse to ask me out?" Because if he did, well, that's impressive. John figured he should say yes just because of how impressed he was.

"No, dumb-ss! I did really want to help Dave. I mean, it sucks that he dumped my -ss- but it wasn't entirely his fault. I wanted to fix things."

"You- you were his friend, I figured you could help. Sure you're a complete idiot- but it's oddly endearing. No harm in trying, right? Maybe we can help each other get over Dave."

"Karkat..." said John softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "That sounds awesome."

"Even if you totally suck for introducing me to all your bats-t crazy friends. I mean Jesus, those guys are insane! Vriska, Terezi, Eridan... well Nepeta is cool but..."

Karkat laughed lightly. "Yeah, they're all crazy. But it's not like your friends are any better. We're the only sane ones in our groups, huh?"

"I wouldn't call you 'sane'." teased John.

"So is that a yes?" asked Karkat hopefully. There was an innocence on his face- it was adorable, really.

"Yeah." said John. "It is."

He took Karkat's warm hand in his and they walked out to meet the others.

It seemed things had worked out alright for him.

"Hey, did Terezi ever say anything about that prank I pulled on her?"

Karkat's eyes went wide with fear. "You pranked Terezi?!"

"Well, Vriska did- but she made me help. We sent her to a LARPing session that was actually an LGBT+ support group. I think it happened while I was asleep. Why do you look so... scared?"

"Because she was crazy pissed about that! You don't prank Terezi, dude. If she figures out it was you..."

"Oh, don't worry. It'll be fine!" John cried cheerfully as he opened the door and went outside to meet the others.

"I HEARD THAT!" screamed Terezi, her eyes burning with anger behind her glasses. "THAT WAS YOUR IDEA, YOU LITTLE S-T?"

Before John could say anything, she ran up and punched him hard in the nose.

Maybe things weren't looking up after all- d-mn you, Vriska!

Karkat couldn't hide his smile.