Case 257

Chapter 22: Aftermath

And then you wake up alone on the couch. Several people are passed out around you on the floor and it is littered with paper plates and empty cups. "fuck" you check your phone and see that you have several unread messages.

Aradia<333: y0u passed 0ut s0 i had terezi take me h0me

Aradia<333: call me when y0u get this

June!: hey uhhhh so i think something bad happened last night?

June: i literally dont remember.

June: but dave is only giving one word responses which is really really unlike him and im nervous

June: if ur still there can u see whats up?

Lynn: hey! havent heard from u in a whole! whats up? lmk!! <3

shit

TZ: 1 TOOK 4R4D14 TO YOUR 4P4RTM3NT

TZ: 4LSO 1 H4V3 N3WS!!!!! COM3 TO MY ROOM WH3N U G3T TH3 CH4NC3 >;]

well thats.. ominous.

You call aradia. "hello?" she says "hey! i uh just woke up. got ur texts. how are things?" you ask. "things are good. your mom made me pancakes! are you okay?"

"yeah im totally fine!! just tired lol.. uhhh i think some drama shit happened so im gonna stick around and see whats up. maybe help clean up a little its kind of a shit show in here" you sigh. "alright! well ill see you later then! bye!" "bye :)" and you hang up. you quickly text terezi and thank you and let june know youre gonna see whats up with dave. you dont have time to get back to lynn right now that'll just have to weight.

So you make your way up to dave's room and quietly knock on the door. There's silence, so you knock again. "whos it" he says "its mari" you say "can i come in?" He sighs deeply, with the bellowing weight of a thousand whales at midnight. "fine" he says.

You enter his room and your immediate thought is 'damn bitch u live like this?' but u dont say it out loud because that would probably not be the best thing to say to someone your trying to comfort probably. "sooo... like what happened last night?" you ask gingerly. dave groans and you hear falcons in his throat.

"god. its like" he makes weird hand movements like hes groping a ghostly ass just in front of him "its not evn a big deal okay? we were under the influence fucken apparenty. gotta get to the bottom of who did THAT bullshit eventually but like it doesnt even matter it didnt mean anything and i keep trying to tell him that but he wont fuckin respond and his door is locked and i been slidin notes under there like a middle schooler in heat and i still aint got a singular god damn response"

"from karkat?" youa sk "yeah who else, mari?" he says it like its obvious. he notices you flinch and sighs "sorry i didnt mean ta bust on u like that. fuck i mean. that sounded dirty i mean like. fuck. i didnt get any sleep last night ive just been trying to figure out how to fix this shit" you nod sagely. "i get u bro" you say

"do u think that maybe.." you search for the words. "maybe hes mad because it did mean something to him?" dave blushes. "what??"

"dave have u ever even considered that karkat might have feelings for you?" you ask. he look so perplexed like you just spoke to him in a language neither of you speak.

"no. dude?....ette.. no. absolutely the fuck not theres no fucking way. the dude fuckin hates me" you appreciate the ette he tacked on to dude.

"ok but what if its a .. um... cal.. calgangerous... thing like vriska has for me?" you say. dave sighs "man i dont wanna deal with any of that bullshit. quadrants are so fucked up like who even wants to be part of that" he looks at you "oh um i mean unless you do then thats totally chill and epic but"