When I called out Karkat's that morning, John had looked at me like he wanted to punch me in the face. I actually shivered under his icy glare.
"Why're we walking with him?" He hissed under his breath.
"I-I just... want to. I'm being friendly," I said. "We're being friendly. C'mon, it's just to school, 's not that far."
John just rolled his eyes and sighed. I thought he'd be in a sour mood all day, so when he came and sat next to me in homeroom, all smiles and laughs, I was surprised.
"Well, you certainly look like you're in a better mood," I said.
John smiled at me. "Yeah, I just had to... take care of something." He leaned against me and took my hand, lazily intertwining his fingers in mine. "Anyways, I was wondering if you could come over after school?" He looked away and bit his lip, blushing slightly. "My dad won't be home 'til 9..."
My cheeks warmed as well and I immediately got what he meant. "Uh, sure. I don't think I have anything to do tonight."
"Good," John said with a grin. He slid his arms around my waist, pulling me against him. In my ear, he purred, "Can't wait."
A shiver of arousal ran down my spine. At the same time, the bell rang, but I was too focused on John to notice. I also didn't notice when the teacher took attendance and Karkat was absent.
* * *
The rest of the day went by in a blur. Each time I saw John, he'd wink and smile smugly. I could hardly wait until dismissal. When the bell finally rang, I wasted no time hurrying to my locker to collect my things. As I rushed outside to meet John, I ran into someone. I mumbled a soft "sorry" but kept walking without turning to see who it was. In the courtyard, John was leaning against a tree. When he spotted me approaching, he broke out on a happy grin.
"Hey babe," he said. He took a step towards me, and I slid my arm around his waist, pulling him closer to me. He leaned forward, and gently pressed his lips against mine. It was, at first, a slow, soft kiss, but as John turned his head, it deepened and became more intense. He hooked his arms around my neck and pressed his body into my embrace. I stepped forward, pressing his back against the tree as he ran his tongue across my bottom lip. I parted my lips and felt his tongue enter my mouth. It brushed against mine and I moaned softly into his mouth. I ran one of my hands up John's back and tangled it in his hair. I knew it drove him crazy, and I was rewarded by the feeling of John's crotch hardening against my leg. I moved my mouth to his neck, gently sucking and kissing the sensitive skin there. I felt a shiver run through John as he dug his fingernails into my back.
"Dave," John said with a short chuckle, "we need to get home first."
Reluctantly, I pulled away. He slid his hand into mine and smiled at me. "C'mon."
The usually short walk from school to John's house took nearly 30 minutes because we kept stopping to make out against fences and trees and things. It was only through John's gentle persuasion that we made it to his house without having sex on the sidewalk. When we finally got to his house, we immediately dropped our things and pounced on each other. We kissed frantically, me pressing John roughly up against the door and him tangling his hands in my hair and moving his hips to grind our crotches together.
I pulled away, breathing hard. "C'mon, just a few more feet." John nodded breathlessly and took my hand, leading me to his room. As soon as we got inside, we collapsed in a heap on the bed. I straddled him and roughly pressed my mouth against his. I ran my tongue across his bottom lip, asking for entry. He parted his lips, allowing me to explore his mouth. My tongue quickly found his , and when they touched an involuntary moan was forced out of me. I felt John smile against my lips.
We broke apart momentarily so that we could both slip off our shirts. John's hands were cool against my bare back, and i shivered. I could feel how hard he was and my own erection was pushing against the crotch of my jeans. I shifted my hips around to rub out crotches together and John arched his back, gasping loudly. I moved my mouth to his neck, gently biting and sucking. I did it hard enough that I knew he'd have marks there in the morning, but I didn't care. John's hands reached down to mess with my belt, but I paused. I pulled away to look at him.
"Are you sure? I mean, I know you wanted to wait unti--"
"Don't worry about it," John said, his voice heavy with lust. He was undoing my belt as he spoke. "I want this. Sit back."
I obeyed, and peeled myself away from him to sit up against the headboard. I watched as John yanked off first my pants and then his. He crawled towards me and gave me a soft kiss. He kissed my neck and my chest and my stomach until he reached the waist of my boxers. There, he stopped and looked up at me through his eyelashes. His blue eyes shone with seduction and desire. He bit his lip and raised one of his eyebrows, asking for permission. I nodded frantically. John smiled and proceeded to pull down my boxers, exposing my aching erection. The cold air on it made me shiver.
John pursed his lips before lightly brushing them across the head and placing several feathery kisses along the shaft. I stifled a groan. It was excruciatingly gentle and only made me ache with need. Jon must've sensed me squirming because he smirked a little before finally taking me into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the head of my dick before bobbing his head down to take more of me in.
"A-ah... fuck," I hissed. "J-john's, that's--ah... f-feels..."
John ran his tongue down my shaft again and came back up, sucking a bit of precum from my slit. I threw my head back and gripped the sheets with white knuckles.
"F-fuck! J-john, don't stop..." I gasped, squeezing my eyes shut.
John pushed his tongue into my slit and I bucked my hips up, moaning loudly.
"Ah! Fuck, that feels s-so good..." I breathed, gripping the sheets in trembling fists. As John continued to suck me off, I felt tension building in my belly, and I knew I was close. John seemed to be able to tell as well, because he stopped suddenly. I let out a soft, involuntary whine of protest but perked up when I saw his pull a bottle of lube and a condom out of his bedside table. I raised my eyebrow playfully at him.
"Where'd you get that?" I asked with a short chuckle as he pulled down his boxers. When he did, I caught a brief glimpse of how hard he was himself and felt a little bad for paying so little attention to him.
John shrugged as he rolled on the condom onto my dick. "I like to be prepared."
Before we started, I hesitated. "Are you 100% sure--"
"Yes," John said urgently. He pushed his hips down, pressing the tip of my dick into him. "I want it. Please."
I smiled. "Say it again."
John looked at me with puppy dog eyes. "I want your dick inside of me."
"One more time?"
"I need you to fuck me, Dave."
Answering his pleas, I slowly pushed inside of him. John groaned as I did, squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his face into my chest. It felt amazing for me, but I stopped.
"Are you okay? Can I keep going?"
John nodded, but kept his eyes shut.
I pushed in further and let out my own groan of pleasure. Slowly, I started to thrust in and out of him. John's face relaxed and he let his head hang back.
"Shit... Dave..." he purred, his voice thick with lust. "Faster... please..."
I obeyed and started to pick u-p speed. This seemed to do the trick: soon John was gasping and moaning loudly. I shifted my hips slightly and he suddenly arched his back, pushing back with his hips each time I thrust in. He raked his nails down my back, and I knew that there'd be scratches in the morning, but I didn't care.
The tension in my gut returned and I had a feeling John was close as well. I could on go on a few more minutes until I hit my limit and let out a loud moan as an intense wave of pleasure rushed through me. I gave a few more weak thrusts, riding out my orgams, and John tensed against me as well as he came between our two bodies. We collapsed into each other's arms, flushed and panting.
"Dave," John breathed, "I love you."
"I... love you too," I replied. I was slightly surprised that I'd hesitated, but it didn't seem like John had noticed.
I slid out of him with a slight shudder and peeled the condom from my now flaccid dick. John used a wad of napkins to wipe the cum from our chests and wriggled into his shirt. I did the same and wrapped my arms around his waist as he curled up against me. The softness of the sheets and the warmth of John's body were too much for me and my eyelids quickly grew heavy. When I opened them again, John was facing me. He grinned a little and poked my nose.
"Morning, sleepy head," he murmured.
"Hey..." I mumbled groggily, smiling myself.
"You can't stay here all night," he said gently. "And Dirk'll get suspicious if you get home too late."
I stretched and yawned. "Yeah... I guess..." Reluctantly, I dragged myself from his bed and slithered back into my clothes. As I did, I felt John's eyes on my back. I sat on the edge of the bed and John scooted over to me and rested his head on my shoulder.
"Was it... good for you?" I asked softly.
"Oh yeah, totally. You were really good."
I smirked. "Yes, well, us Striders are basically sex gods..."
"Yeah right," John scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Get out of here, you. My dad'll be home soon."
I gave him a quick kiss before standing and leaving. When I got outside, I was a little surprised to find that the sun was going down. As I walked, I started to formulate the story I'd tell Dirk once I got home. I knew he'd see right through me if I just told him I was at John's all evening. But, as it turned out, I didn't even need to open my mouth.
As soon as I walked in, Dirk glanced at me.
"Hey," he mumbled at first. "Wait." He turned back towards me and looked me up and down. His gaze paused at my chin and his nose twitched slightly. "You and John did it, didn't you."
My cheeks flared hotly. "N--! We--! H-h..? What?"
Dirk grinned and chuckled. "Shoulda brushed out that whole sex hair business that you've got goin' on. And you've got a big ass hickey on your neck. And I can smell his cologne on you from here."
I self consciously ran a hand through my hair. "I-It's-- he wanted--"
"Chill out, bro, it's fine. It was bound to happen sooner or later. But I thought you were gonna wait until six months...?"
I shrugged. "I thought we were too, but I dunno. I guess he was in a really good mood after school?"
"Oh," Dirk said, snapping as he remembered, "that reminds me. There's someone in your room."
"What?"
"Karkat. I think he needs some notes or something from class."
"Oh..." I set my bag down and padded to my room. sure enough, Karkat was perched on the edge of my bed, a look of discomfort on his face. When he saw me his features relaxed a bit. He held my gaze for a few seconds before blushing bright red and looking down at his feet.
"U-uh, hey, D-dave..." he mumbled, pulling gently at his earlobe. "I-I wa-- I needed the homework for English, b-because I wasn't in class today and I was walking home and I saw your house and I thought I'd stop by, but you weren't home," As Karkat rambled, his voice grew softer and his face grew redder and redder until it seemed like all of the blood in his body was in his cheeks. "A-and your brother said to wait for you 'cause you'd be home soon..."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, I was..." I hesitated. When we walked to school in the morning, I'd gotten the sense that Karkat didn't particularly like John. "At the library. Must've lost track of time. And yeah, I can give you the notes."
I got my English notebook from my bag and handed it to Karkat. "Why weren't you in class today?" I asked him.
His cheeks, which had just begun to return to their usual color, flared bright red again. His knuckles turned white as he gripped my notebook harder. "I-I was... um... I w-was in th-the n-n-nurse's office..." He looked down and mumbled something that I couldn't hear. "U-um, s-see you at school..." he breathed softly. He clutched my notebook close to his chest and started to turn towards the door.
"Karkat, wait." When I called his name, he froze and I saw his shoulders tense. He looked at me shyly.
"Um... d'you... wanna come over tomorrow?" I said, then immediately backtracked. "I mean it's... if you have any trouble with the homework or something, we can work together... or something."
Karkat's face did an odd thing of flushing almost completely white and then immediately turning crimson. His eyes got a look of perplextion.
"I-I... u-um..." He looked down. I could see the hand holding my notebook shaking slightly. "S... sure..."
I smiled. "Great."
The corner of Karkat's mouth twitched into a brief, shy smile. "Yeah..."
"Well, see you at school."
Karkat raised his hand in a single wave and left my room. Not even a second after I heard the front door close, Dirk appeared in my doorway. He leaned against the frame, his eyes holding some kind of slight concern.
"What," I said flatly.
"Y'know, the entire time that he was here--which was a good 20 minutes, no thanks to you--he only directly looked at me twice."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What?"
"Once when I opened the door and for a second when I talked to him. That's it."
"Your point being?"
"He's not okay, Dave." Dirk's tone was serious and so was his face. "You need to--"
Suddenly, I was annoyed with him. "What? I need to do what, Dirk? Help a kid who I barely even talk to? How? With what?"
"Dave--"
"--You can't make me be friends with him." I didn't mean that. I didn't mean any of it. Honestly, I agreed with Dirk. He did need help. But I was too heated to try and think about what I was saying, so I just let myself spew whatever word vomit popped into my head.
"Look, I'm not trying to make you--"
"Then what are you trying to do?!"
"I'm trying to keep you from acting like a total dick!"
I was slightly taken aback by Dirk's outburst. "Wha--"
"That kid is not okay, Dave. Not in the slightest. I could tell just from talking to him. He's nearing his breaking point, and if you don't do something now, something bad is going to happen and you're going to feel terrible." Dirk closed his eyes and looked down, pressing his fingers into his forehead. When he spoke again, his voice was calm. "Look. I'm not saying you have to be BFFs with him. Just... keep an eye on him. Please."
I was still stuck on what he said before, but I let it go. "...Fine," I muttered.
Dirk exhaled softly. "Thank you." He left my room, muttering something to himself under his breath. I closed my door behind him and flopped back on my bed. It was warm where Karkat had been sitting.
Karkat... I shook my head gently. No. He's fine. He'd be fine. Maybe he was just having trouble adjusting to high school. It was probably just a temporary thing. Right? eventually, he'd get over it and everything would be fine. He had to. Right? And even if he didn't he wouldn't... do anything... He wouldn't do... that... Right?
Right?