Each Touch

Dave

It was the day before Winter Break started; Karkat, Rose, Kanaya, and Jade had all come up with a plan to get Dave to explain the misunderstanding to John. Jade was torn when she heard the news from Rose and wanted to apologize to John but was interrupted by Karkat saying it was best if Dave said something to John first. After explaining briefly to Dave what their plan was, he agreed; he wanted to fix what was broken between John and him as soon as possible. 

The plan was to meet after school so they wouldn't get interrupted by other people. Dave would explain what happened between Jade and him, confirming that they didn't get together. Hopefully John would understand and the duo will be back to being best friends. 

"I hope this works." said Karkat to Rose in their last hour of class.

"I'm sure it will. Dave wants this to work too, he'll do his best to rekindle what he had with John." replied Rose.

"He better."

Dave was currently sitting in his desk, tapping on the top as he watched the clock tick away. This was his chance to tell John he was sorry and that they were still best bros, that he didn't go steady with Jade and everything was okay now. He wanted this to work. He needed this to work. Life without John, his walking safe haven, was like life without air.

Jade watched Dave with a sad expression. All of this was her fault. If she didn't get too attached to Dave all of this would have never happened; if she didn't fool herself into thinking she was in love with Dave, she wouldn't have asked him out and John wouldn't have seen. Her lips pursed together as she sighed softly, things needed to go back to normal with Dave and John. It's for the best. Knowing that she was the cause of this breaks her heart. She didn't mean to.

The bell rang, causing Dave to shoot up from his chair. He packed his things quickly and made a dash to their meet up place. He wasn't mentally ready yet, but he needed to do this. His heart pounded from worry as he neared the place he needed to be; John wouldn't be here for another 10 minutes, but that was fine. 

Karkat went to go get John, telling him that there was someone that needed to talk to him. John asked who it was with Karkat replying that it didn't matter. He pulled him along around the school meeting up with Rose, Kanaya, and Jade much to John's displeasure. Karkat stopped and spoke to them while John stood awkwardly in the background wondering who it was that needed to talk to him.

"Uhm, Karkat? Who's the person that needed to talk to me? I don't want to keep them waiting." said John pulling at the bottom of his shirt.

"Oh- right." said Karkat, feigning forgetfulness, "The person is in room B413."

The bespectacled teen blinked and waited a few seconds before realizing Karkat wasn't going to take him there. He quietly thanked the blond and turned to walk to the designated room with his heart pounding; who was it that needed to talk to him? With his fingers pulling at the bottom of his shirt, he thought through the list of people he knew.

"I haven't spoken to Vriska for awhile...Though I don't know why she'd want to talk to me," he said to himself, "I haven't spoken to Terezi much either..."

John neared the open door, cautiously stepping in. He took a looked around, his breath hitching. It wasn't Vriska, or Terezi, or any of his other classmates. It was Dave. He froze in his place when he saw his friend turn around; the shades John got for Dave when they became friends reflected him off of the black lenses. 

"John." said Dave.

It's been so long since he's heard his name from that voice.

The albino took a step forward, taking in a deep breath as he went over one last time on what he wanted to say. As he did so, he could see John's hesitation. It's been so long since they've been alone together. Their bond holding onto a single red thread ready to snap any second. His hands clenched together as he opened his mouth to talk.