With Eyes to Hear and Hands to Speak

Chapter 6: Of Bathrooms and Coming Out

John's POV

I was considering banging my head on the desk in front of me really hard. Not enough to kill me or anything, just maybe to like, knock me out.

Math was agony. I understood even less than usual, and I didn't even have Dave here to help me out. He was good at math. And sure, there was Rose, but from what I could tell she understood about as much as I did, and there was the fact that she was on the other side of the classroom.

The only highlight was that we had lunch right afterwards, and I'd get to see Dave. And the others. But mostly Dave.

When it was time to go, I walked out of the classroom and nearly straight into Dave. He grabbed my shoulders to stop me before I fell back.

*Careful there, Bert. Come on, let's go.* We walked to the cafeteria, and sat down at a table with about 11 other kids. I looked around, hoping that I could remember all of their names. To my left, there was Jade. On her other side was Feferi, who wore pink glasses and had a lot of hair. Then there was Aradia, who I'm pretty sure is Italian. Next came Nepeta, a short, dark skinned, Korean girl who loved cats, and next to her was her best friend... Equest? Echinus? No, no, it was Equius. That's it. Equius, who was really strong and was always sweaty for whatever reason.

Then there was Equius's boyfriend, Eridan, who had dark skin and black hair with a purple streak in the front. After that there was Vriska, the blonde girl who had thrown the note on my first day and Terezi, a blind red head who loved Dragons.

After Terezi came Sollux, the Spanish hacker dude with 3D glasses, then Tavros, who had a nose piercing like a bull and a really nice mohawk and Gamzee the 'creepy ass juggalo' as Dave called him.

Then Rose walked over, with her girlfriend Kanaya, who loved fashion designing. I looked over at Dave and asked, *Is the table always this crowded?*

He nodded. *There's actually another kid, but he's on vacation or something. I think he said he was coming home tomorrow.*

Wow. So that made... 16 of us. 16 teenagers crowded around a single lunch table every day. *What's his name?*

*Karkat Vantas.*

I swear, when I saw him sign that, my heart nearly stopped. Really? He just had to go here, didn't he? Well, this was going to be awkward. I got up and said that I had to go to the bathroom. I mean really? He just had to fucking go here?

Dave's POV

I started to get worried about the little dude. He had been gone for nearly 10 minutes and the way he looked when he had rushed out of here...

I stood up and told Rose that I was going to look for him. *Make sure he's ok.* I explained.

To which she replied, "Yes, go find your boyfriend, and please, bring him back in one piece, will you?"

*He's not-! Ugh, nevermind.* I walked to the nearest bathroom and checked all of the stalls, but no luck. I would've called out to him but- well, y'know.

I went to 3 other bathrooms before finding him sitting under the sinks in the one by Mr. Valdez's room. He looked confused, and his dark skin had gone a bit pale. But, other than that, he looked ok.. I walked over and crouched down to look at him properly. He looked back at me, but it was kind of like he was looking past me or something, and it was really fucking weird. So, of course, I did the only thing that came to mind.

I slapped him.

Not hard or anything, I'm not cruel, just to make him snap out of it. He yelled out and jumped up, hitting his head on the sink.

*Oh shit, dude, are you ok? Do you want some ice or something?* He shook his head slowly as Mr. Valdez walked in.

"Why are you two in here? Shouldn't you be in lunch? Why are you under the sink?" He directed his last question at John, who looked at me, confused, so I translated for him.

"Oh! We're here because... Dave was showing me around the school." He looked up at Mr. Valdez, who looked skeptical and sighed.

"Alright, just, don't get in anymore trouble. I won't write you up, but go back to lunch, ok? Show him around at a better time." He turned and walked out and I looked back at John.

*Why'd you just run out?* I asked.

*Can we just talk about it later? Maybe after school or just, over the phone or something? Well, like, texting, not calling, that'd be stupid. You wouldn't be able to say anything, and I wouldn't be able to hear you if you di-* I gently pushed his hands down and stood up, holding my hand out to him.

*Let's just go back to lunch for right now. We can worry about it later.*

~Time skip, brought to you by: Aradia~

When I got back home, I pulled out my phone to talk to John about what had happened earlier. I had been thinking about it all day, but I knew I had to wait until I got home to ask him about it.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 15:01

TG: hey

EB: hi Dave!

TG: so, about earlier at lunch

TG: what was that?

EB: darn

EB: I was kinda hoping you'd forget about that

TG: nope, not a chance Egbert

EB: ok, Karkat was a friend of mine in middle school

EB: except, well

EB: I didn't really see him that way

TG: how'd you see him?

I looked at the question, but I felt like I already knew the answer. Then again, he wasn't gay. He had said so himself.

EB: uh, the way I saw him

EB: was a bit

EB: well

EB: more

TG: oh

EB: yeah. So, I'll understand if you hate me now and want nothing to do with me other than pushing me into walls.

TG: well, there'd be more than a few things fucked up with that

TG: for one, my cousin, you know, rose, is dating a girl. Another, I'm friends with quite a few gay/bi/pan/ace people. Also, both of my brothers are gay. And I am too.

TG: and I know what it's like to be pushed into walls, and it's not really an enjoyable sensation

TG: so, hating you for whatever your sexuality is would be really stupid and hypocritical of me

EB: oh... oh yeah

TG: what is your sexuality anyway?

EB: uh, I'm bi.

EB: ...

EB: well this is awkward...

TG: well yeah, it is now that you said that

TG: great going there bert

TG: really, fantastic job

EB: if I'm bert does that make you ernie?

TG: damn right I'm ernie

TG: I'll be the erniest ernie to ever ernie

TG: it will blow your fucking mind at how ernie I am

We just talked for the rest of the day. The last message sent was something I didn't even see until much later. I had already fallen asleep.

EB: night Dave!

EB: <3

ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 1:57