Each Touch

I Don't-

Why do things loose their light? Is it because the darkness overpowered the good? Or is it because there is no use for life anymore...Most of the time it's because something inside had died. That goes for John Egbert, living in the shell of what he calls a body. There was no longer a shining light sparkling in his eyes, his smiles meant nothing, and his enthusiastic personality has diminished. He was like a living corpse.

Ever since Dave's birthday his spirit had leveled down to nothing, he didn't speak in class nor did he eat at lunch, gym was too much for him to do, classes were just blurred timeframe, he listlessly did group activities with his friends. John just honestly didn't feel like doing anything with his life anymore, but Karkat had dragged the boy back to his place to have a talk with him whether he wanted it or not.

Sitting John down on his bed, he pulled up a chair to sit in front of him, arms crossed against his chest and a disappointed look on his face. It wasn't so much that he was mad at John, no he couldn't blame John for what had happened, he was more disappointed at Dave and the fact that John had kept this from him for an entire week. The blond sighed as he uncrossed his arms.

"John, I'm not mad." said Karkat.

"I know." muttered John.

"Then stop looking so pathetic."

"But aren't you sad too?" asked John.

"What for?" questioned Karkat.

"You liked Jade, didn't you?"

Karkat's face lit up in embarrassment as he retorted back to John's accusation, "No! I didn't!! And I don't!! Whatever made you think that?! It's ridiculous!"

John smiled softly as he looked up at Karkat. What Karkat lacked was his own self awareness in the genre of romance, which is ironic because he always meddles in other people's love life...Irony.

His eyes softened as he looked back to the floor, smile dropping back to a small frown. His fingers fumbled with each other as he took in deep breaths to calm himself down; why did Dave effect him so much? Why did all of this have to happen to him? He did nothing wrong.

Images of Dave faded into his mind making John's face scrunch up as they were replaced by images of Dave and Jade together. His chest began to ache, breathing shortening as he held into his legs for support. Why was it now when he figured something out? Why didn't he realize it sooner? Karkat was right, he's always right.

"It shouldn't matter whether I tell you if I have friends over or not Kankri, they don't-"

"If I am not notified about their arrival how am I suppose to get the house prepared as to make sure they feel comfortable?" said Kankri staring down at his brother.

"They don't care whether or not-"

Karkat was interrupted by a small hic from John. He and Kankri turned to look at John who was trembling on the bed; you didn't need to see his face to know he was on the verge of tears. The younger Vantas looked back up at his brother an stuck his tongue out before moving over to John.

"Hey, John." Karkat said as soft as he could.

All the blond could hear was soft mumbling from him. "What?"

"I didn't do anything wrong!!" exclaimed John looking up at Karkat with tears streaming down his face, "I didn't...I didn't do anything g wrong so why is this happening to me!?"

"J-John calm down."

"I don't want to blame anybody, I don't want to hate anybody but my mind is telling me that this is all Jade's fault. If only she didn't come here I would have Dave all to myself."

Kankri sighed and walked over to Karkat, asking him if he could step out for a few minutes. His brother stared up at him before doing what he was asked. The older Vantas sat next to John in Karkat's place.

"Now John, I want you to take slow, deep breaths and talk only when you feel ready to do so." said Kankri.

John hiccuped and held onto himself as he started to calm himself down, a small whine of a sob escaped ever so often. He wanted his Dad, he wanted to be in his room, he wants all of this to never happen. His mind was telling him Jade was the cause of all of this, to despise her. His mind was telling him if he never met Dave, all of this wouldn't have happened and he would live a happy life. His mind was telling him...That he was in love with Dave Strider.

While Kankri and John were having a one on one talk, Karkat had hopped on his bike and pedaled his way over to Kanaya's place. There was no way in hell Karkat was going to let this slide, as rude and inconsiderate he may seem he was actually quite a nice person. He would stop at nothing to make sure his friends were okay.

13 minutes later the blond jumped off of his bike when he was in the driveway of the house, marching up to the door and ringing the doorbell. He tapped his foot as he waited, Kanaya finally opening the door to an angry Karkat.

"Oh, you did not inform me that you were coming over." she said.

"It's an important matter," said Karkat, "Where's that flower girl?"

"You mean Rose? She's in her room."

"Go get her, I need to talk to her."

The tanned girl let Karkat in before going to get Rose. She peeked in the room and told her Karkat wanted to talk to her; Rose arched a brow and set her book down, walking into the living room with Kanaya. She greeted Karkat and sat down on the couch across from him.

"What did you want to talk about?" asked Rose.

"You're going to talk to the Dog Girl and tell her to break it off with Dave." he said.

The blonde blinked a few times before looking over at Kanaya in confusion, "Jade you mean."

"Yeah, her."

"Well I'm sorry to say that Jade and Dave have not formed a romantic relationship."

It was Karkat's turn to blink in confusion, lips parting as he was trying to come up with something to say. Dave wasn't dating Jade? Then what John saw was a misunderstanding, but how is he going to convince him? People only believe what they see. He looked at Rose.

"Then you're going to help me get John and Dave back together." he said.

Rose smiled, "I did not know they were dating."

"They're not, but at this rate they'll never be."

"Well, shall we work to get your brother and John back as friends?" smiled Kanaya.

"Let's give them a small push," mused Rose, "I'm tired of waiting for my brother to make a move."