Chapter Text
John, untainted by meat nor candy, is starving.
Tick… tick.. Tick.. tick.. Tick.. tick.. T1CK..
Swung the unrelenting pendulum of the Egbert House’s grandfather clock. The clock in question was an unwanted present bestowed from the Lalondes in hope that its safekeeping within the walls can help prevent the beloved appliance from reaching extinction at the hands of a rather impulsive Dersitian former murdering agent. John Egbert, sunk in the grief of his father even a decade later, has grown to hate this clock. If not for Wildunlife conservation efforts spearheaded from his ectofamily he might’ve made the darn thing toast by now. Even then, it reminds him of his father. If not for the perpetual reminder of his inactivity but for the sheer classiness of a standing grandfather clock. The age and furnishing that’ll fit in right with a fancy hat, pipe, suit, and well groomed face. The likeness of either gentleman or gangster.
But now? That clock has no business in this establishment. It could never fit in this world. Its style has been redundant since the death of the old Earth, and its function pointless to an ageless god. Had he had a mortal life perhaps John would’ve learned to move on, but there’s no need for action in a perfect world.
He groaned. He laid stagnantly on the bed which more accurately acts as his tomb, encouraging his refusal to find happiness, in his pajamas which were never washed and has yet to wear and fray. Being a god without metabolism means you could never sweat or perspirate, therefore no need for cleanliness, and no need to eat. He lays as an ageless figure, not having physically matured since his 21st birthday. John doesn’t remember the last thing he ate and doesn’t care. His body was already perfected, not having any turbulent activities nor risk of disease.
But John still finds a way to be sick.
John is sick of his own apathy, and as a human would, he can’t help but dream of those he loves. And naturally it doesn’t take long to think of the trolls. While he grows stale Karkat and Terezi will continue to age on without them, unless Roxy conjures Questslabs for them, if she can do that? The thought of Aradia and Kanaya living on after the others passed away kept John up some nights, he isn’t the only one.
When was the last time he spoke to Terezi? He kept in touch with her the most while she voyaged in search of Vriska. Not as if Dave and Karkat haven’t been trying, she just responds to John more.
He tries not to dwell too much on implications, even after how much Karkat has insisted that he’s in ‘ABSOLUTE PITCH PERGATORY’.
And especially more so after Kanaya agreed with him.
…
…
He opens Pesterchum, and the last they spoke was last night, ending the conversation with yet more playful teasing. It’s 10 in the morning.
He opens the Pesterlog with Terezi. All the trolls migrated to Pesterlog since most Alternian software is incompatible with modern technology without making every single device that can read binary a bomb threat.
– ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC] at 10:41 –
EB : still kicking?
GC : T4LL 4ND PROUD >:]
EB : not really, you’re a bit shorter than me, and im only taller than rose and jane
EB : jake and roxy too, so i suppose im on the lower end of tall i guess, or maybe im high short? I’d ask rose but i she would probably say something nonsensical again
GC : R4N OUT OF TH1NGS TO T4LK 4BOUT??
GC : JOHN, 1F MOR3 HUM4NS W3R3 L1K3 YOU, 1 COULD 34RN QU1T3 4 LOT 4S 4 L3G1SL4C3R4TOR 1F B41NG STUP1D W4S 4 CR1M3
GC : 1T 1S UNFORTUN4T3, TH3N, TH4T YOUR PL4N3T 1NS1STS 4G41NST THOS3 1D34S
GC : YOU SHOULD R3TCON 4 M1LL1ON OF YOUS 1NTO 3X1ST3NC3 TO CH4NG3 TH31R M1NDS >:P
EB : perhaps, but they already dont like how much of a shut in i can be sometimes so i wouldnt want to upset them more
GC : ‘SOM3T1M3S’
EB : shush!
EB : i always come when im invited somewhere but if not i dont see why i couldnt just stay home
GC : H4V3 YOU CONS1D3R3D YOU M1GHT GROW UGLY 1F NO ON3S TH3R3 TO MOCK YOU?
EB : eh, i feel like im looking fine.
EB : would you like a picture?
GC : 3GB3RT YOU C4N’T B3 TH1S STUP1D YOUR3 M4K1NG M3 BLUSH >:]
The caliginous stuff again, it's a stupid cycle where John can’t have a moment of sincerity before she lays out the blackrom flirtations, he wishes he can stop walking into those traps she sets out. It sometimes feels like she’s trying too hard to make it blackrom instead of just, rom.
At the same time it makes her really fun to talk to, and he can’t help but feel addicted to their banter. It's a small thing he looks forward to everyday, even if he doesn’t know how to reciprocate, in a pitch way at least.
EB : where you at right now?
GC : GU3SS WH4T FUCK 4LL NOWH3R3
GC : 1’D B3 SURPR1S3D 1F 1 W4S 4NYON3 W1TH 4 COMPL3T3LY NONFUNCT1ON4L M3NT4L C4P4C1TY
GC : GOOD ON YOU FOR 4SK1NG 1T W4S R34LLY BR4V3 OF YOU
GC : “WOULD YOU L1K3 4 P1CTUR3?”
EB : sure!
GC : H3H3H3
The dork didn’t notice the quotation marks.
– gallowsCalibrator [GC] sent ectoBiologist [EB] VU31BF21DQWJD0W3NB.PNG –
It was a picture of Terezi in front of the endless void of Paradox Space. She is looking at the camera from a lower angle, her blood red eyes peeking over her candy red glasses. With a slight grin, her jagged upper teeth barely poked through enough to see. Her dimples showed and her cheek bones were well pronounced. They weren’t visible from before she left, in the picture her collar bone was barely visible amongst her freckled skin. Her rich dark hair went down to her waist by this point after years without service… The background wasn’t anything special, Paradox Space degraded similarly to its glitched state before John fixed everything.
GC : >:]
EB : terezi, you doing all right? You look like shit.
GC : >:O
EB : whens the last time you ate something, if you remember.
GC : 1DK
GC : M4Y H4V3 GOTT3N ON4 OF YOUR ‘HUM4N 4PPL3 JU1C3’ FROM 4 DOOM3D D4V3 L1K3 4 W33K 4GO
GC : B3FOR3 TH4T 1M OUTT4 1D34S
EB : *sigh* im surprised you have the energy to keep flying at this rate, how are you not starving to death out there?
GC : JOHN YOU R4C1ST TH1NK1NG TH4T TROLLS M3T4BOL1Z3 L1K3 YOU HUM4NS
GC : HOW 4R3 YOU SUR3 W3 3V3N H4V3 FOOD 3XTR4CT1N4TORS?
EB : um, right now when you said food extractinator..
EB : if it didn’t exist for trolls shouldnt you have said stomach?
GC : 4N 1NT3R3ST1NG D3DUCT1ON D3T3CT1V3 JOHN! UNFORTUN4T3LY 1M COMPL3T3LY 4PP4L3D BY HOW corr3ct YOU ARE
GC : *TH3 COURT R3S1GNS TH3 NOT1ON OF JOHN’S R4C1SM! TH3 CROWD LOS3S 1TS COLL3CT1V3 SH1T! TH3 PROS3CUT1ON3RS 4R3 H4T3SNOGG1NG TH3 D3F3ND4NT*
GC : *TH3 CO4RT IS ON FIRE*
By now John is walking around his house, peeking in his fridge for anything appetizing. There was a package of some Alternian style food he kept around for when one of the trolls came over. He couldn’t read the language but knew it was dense and nutritious according to Kanaya, ‘It Might Be Comparable To A Human Lasagna, I’d Wager’.
EB : id warp over with some food but i have no idea where you are right now!
EB : at least, i think its a where
GC : 1M F1N3
GC : NOT GO1NG DOWN TO M34SLY HUNG3R P41NS
John couldn’t help but flinch from reading that she’s in pain, he supposed it wasn’t the worst state he saw her but that was reaching ridiculous technicalities by that point!
EB : wait…
EB : terezi.. I have an idea..
GC : >:?
EB : use your mind powers, i can warp back to you.. Again, like your, other self did…
EB : no place like home?
GC : 4 CL3V3R THOUGHT
GC : GO B4CK TO B31NG STUP1D
GC : 1T’S 34SY FOR YOU TO S4Y WH3N YOU CL34RLY D1DN’T KNOW HOW TOUGH 1T W4S TO PROJ3CT YOURS3LF 4CROSS MY M3MOR13S!
GC : M4K1NG 4 ST4RV1NG BL1ND G1RL K33L OV3R 4ND SUFF3R JUST SO SOM3 DORK C4N S4Y ‘H1 T3R3Z1!’?
EB : *rolls eyes*
GC : 3GB3RT F1N4LLY GR3W 4 P41R >:]
EB : you were bleeding out from a stab wound, you kept going for a while after zapping me several times! Only once shouldn’t hurt you, probably.
EB : i hope..
It wasn’t easy for Terezi to hearken the idea of seeing someone alive again for the first time in years, and now she’s handed an opportunity that she knows is all up to her. She was looking for Vriska all this time now. She's worked hard, and she won’t even let herself take a moment to stop, sit, talk, rest, sleep, drink, eat… eat, rest…?
She hasn’t a clue on how she could describe this place. Paradox Space tends to favour being incomprehensible, sure, but she can’t even put a single thought into what transpired before her. An unsettling abstraction of offset tones of faded pinks, orange, greens and blues shrouded in black, and not even a good black, more like the charred gray of a ruined meal. There’s still some red but the vividness she yearned for was gone. The colours are washed and the patterns dull, and you’d have been insane or a fool to sense anything other than an indifferent chaos. Because there is no meaning to this endless void beyond the bubbles, it hadn’t for a long time, maybe it never had it to begin with. Why waste away in this apathetic waste of infinity?
She sniffs out into the void and reels in disgust, no, scorn of it all. She had no care for this dead landscape which reeks of a discarded easel whose paint has chipped off. Anything, anything, would be preferable. Terezi would sooner smell anything else, no matter how bad it tasted, how sick it made her, anything was preferable to the smell of absent, abandoned, apocalyptic, apathy.
But Terezi, despite it all, didn’t want to return as a useless waste of space. She sensed herself as belonging to this pathetic indifference. Because what colour could she bring to the already perfected Earth-C? Vriska could bring something because her mere existence is destined to change lives, and it's being wasted in this sea of indifference. She desperately wants to be the arbiter who invites that change, only if she can bring any sort of meaning to her own existence. Even if it means shackling herself to a tomb of her own making.
It’s frustrating then that the heir of the winds of change refuses to leave her be. She has always tried to rationalize any motive, any sort of plausible deniability, but she knows he means nothing but his absolute sincerity. As one of the few who can understand her, his inability to not give a shit about her well being is a plentiful source of frustratingly pleasant feelings. A blackrom critically endangered of going flushed. It was him who changed the fate of existence itself, who’s to say he can do the same for her?
Her starvation eats away at her.
GC : JOHN 1 DONT R34LLY KNOW
EB : terezi.
GC : STOP 1T! 1 DONT B3LONG ON 34RTH-C
GC : NOT W1THOUT VR1SK4
GC : H3H… 3V3N 1F 1 DO F1ND H3R WH4T WOULD CH4NG3 FROM M3 B31NG TH3R3 >:/
EB : gaagh!! Enough with this self-loathing crap you keep making up for yourself, its not healthy.
EB : well, neither is not eating, so at least let me feed you.
GC : WH4T3V3R! WHY 4R3 YOU SO 4NNOY3D FROM WH4T 1 DO TO MYS3LF
EB : im not annoyed, maybe frustrated a little..
GC : H3H3
EB : cmon, give me something to help you out here.
GC : M4YB3 BUT 1M NOT COM1NG B4CK W1TH YOU
GC : YOU ST1LL N33D 4 R34SON TO B3 “FRUSTR4T3D” W1TH M3 >:]
EB : sure, whatever that means.
Damn caliginous quadrant, he mulled over. He was already phasing in and out of wind mode while biding time, toying with his transformation. He sends a sole arm, palm open in the middle of Dave’s living room. It didn’t take long for him to notice and give a high five, before the disembodied arm thumbs upped and phwooshed away.
Meanwhile, Terezi rocketted to a random meteor to situate herself. She gazed at the situation around her to single out an idea to cement herself in. It took five seconds for her to discard this stupid notion for something a bit more personalized. She took out a polaroid picture from her Sylladex. It was taken by Calliope at a Carapatian news conference. It featured John, Roxy, Jade, Dave and Terezi. John Roxy and Jade were in a trio smiling towards the camera, Roxy holding up a half committed peace sign. Dave and Terezi were against the wall, leering towards the camera like the coolkids they are. Dave displays a thumbs up. Heh, even as she was slowly forgetting their voices she will always remember how he spoke, and how he slowly opened up during their time on the meteor. This picture was a gift from Calliope from the day before Terezi left.
With the thought of her friends in tow Terezi began emanating throughout all of Paradox Space the teal shaded powers of her mind, serving as a universal beacon for the heir. It wasn’t easy, naturally it demanded intense concentration but she powered through.
GC : OK4Y F1N3 YOU WON M3 OV3R
GC : CONGR4TUL4T1ONS YOUR CONC3PT OF TH3 D4Y SH4LL H3R3BY B3 D3CR33D
GC : ‘photogr4ph’ YOU GOT TH4T?
EB : yes thank you! Gimme a moment…
-- ectoBiologist[EB] ceased pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC] at 11:06 --
John grabs the food and does the windy thing. Engulfed in wind, he disperses throughout the room and phwooshes into the abyss of Paradox Space. Everyone on Earth-C could’ve filled a chill if they paid attention, but among all his friends and family it would be only his sister to notice.
Jade : i think john just left earth-c!
Karkat : ..HEH?
Karkat : WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘JOHN’ LEFT EARTH-C?!
Jade : didja not notice that? The, err, the windy thing!
Karkat : YES, TRUE, THERE EXISTS A WINDY THING ON THIS PLANET, ITS BEEN SEVERAL YEARS AND YOU'VE STILL HAVEN'T FIGURED THAT OUT?
Jade : nooo, not like that :B
Jade : didnt that wind seem pretty john like?
Karkat : JADE, IF YOU’RE SEEING ALL OUR FRIENDS IN COMPLETELY ORDINARY NATURAL OCCURRENCES I’D SEEK SERIOUS HELP.
Karkat : IF I STARTED SEEING JAKE IN THE RAIN I’D ASSUME I’VE COMPLETELY LOST IT. I SEE HIM EVERYWHERE ALREADY ENOUGH.
The two are situated outside of Dave’s place, near the front porch. Jade sat on the steps in the sun, while Karkat brooded underneath the house’s shade. It was still too bright for him to handle comfortably. Now that she mentioned it, the mild breeze in action was slightly different to the gust they felt before.
Karkat : ACTUALLY, THAT WAS A LITTLE WEIRD NOW WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT.
Karkat : HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT WAS JOHN?
Jade : i dont know! I can just tell
Jade : i’ve felt it before a couple months ago, and it turned out to be john entering paradox space for a bit
Jade : he told me he needed to breathe somewhere else for some reason :/
Karkat gave a heavy breath from his mouth, as if to prepare himself for something, but he just crouched with a mild air of calmness about him, solemnly looking out, not exactly in Jade’s direction.
Karkat : THE ONE TIME JOHN LEAVES HIS HIVE AND IT’S TO VISIT GOD KNOWS WHERE.
Karkat : WHAT’S HE DOING OUT THERE.
He tries to gesture sarcastically but it comes off as incredibly erratic.
Karkat : BINGO?!
Jade : looking for terezi, what else karkat :B
Karkat : THAT MAKES TWO NON-IDIOTS. THAT MAKES THIS BY DEFINITION THE SMARTEST ENTOURAGE I HAVE EVER HAD THE PLEASURE OF ACCOMPANYING.
Jade : hes been trying to convince her to come home for years now
Karkat : OF COURSE HE IS, HE LOVES HER JADE, IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH TO NOTICE.
Jade : i know! But to be honest im not sure if its even possible for him to have, err, black feelings? If you think terezi’s crush is that way… John wouldn’t hate someone except for superficial ways, like being the ‘bad guy’.
Jade : like “grr, i shall smite that darn ganondorf!”, i think troll romance is a complete loss for him :p
Karkat : OH ABSOLUTELY, HE’S HOPELESSLY EARNEST.
Karkat : I THINK THAT’S WHY TEREZI’S PITCHED FOR HIM. THAT POOR SOUL. CAUGHT IN HER WEB.
The two gave a moment of silence in respect to John’s situationship.
Karkat : SO.
Karkat : YOU’D THINK SHE’D VACILLATE TO FLUSHED EVENTUALLY?
Jade : swu- hwayw what?
Karkat : YOU KNOW, TEREZI FEELING RED FOR JOHN?? TYPICAL TROLL RELATIONSHIPS WITH CONFLICTED FEELINGS WOULD SLOT INTO ONE OF THE QUADRANTS OR COMPLETELY FALL APART. TRUST ME I'D KNOW.
Karkat : NOW HUMAN TROLL ROMANCE IS STILL NEW GROUND FOR ME, THIS IS IMPORTANT RESEARCH.
Jade : is the last few hundred years worth of troll/human romantic comedies insufficient :?
Karkat : I’VE BEEN BUSY WATCHING THE 800 SOMETHING SBAHJ REBOOTS.
Karkat : REMIND ME WHY WE LET HIM DECIDE WHAT SHOULD BE EARTH-C TROLL GILGAMESH?!?!
It was a mutual decision after they realised that Dave was the only person with storytelling experience. Rose was too busy writing half remembered Earth history.
Karkat : WHATEVER THE TWO HAVE GOING ON, GOOD FOR THEM. TEREZI DESERVES BETTER THAN DEALING WITH VRISKA OR MY BULLSHIT.
Jade’s ears perked up from the last part.
Jade : i know you two were close before the sburb session, what exactly happened?
Karkat : *GROAN* WE WERE CLOSE WHEN WE WERE KIDS. SHE WAS FLUSHED FOR ME, AND IN A WAY SO WAS I.
Karkat : I ALSO WANTED HER AS A KISMESIS TOO, I DESIRED HER IN ALL MY QUADRANTS. NATURALLY THOSE WERE SOME PRETTY FUCKING MIXED SIGNALS THAT SHE REALLY DIDN’T NEED AT THE TIME.
Karkat : I FAILED HER IN THAT WAY. I THINK BACK AND WONDER IF I MISSED OUT ON HER.
Karkat : PAR FOR THE COURSE ON MY END, I'M TERRIFIC AT DOOMING RELATIONSHIPS.
Karkat : ON THE METEOR I SPOTTED A DEAD GOD-TIER ME IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A DEAD NEPETA IN A DREAM BUBBLE; OUR'S HAD EXTREMELY RED, EXTREMELY UNREQUITED FEELINGS FOR ME.
Karkat : DON’T TELL DAVEPETA BUT I WONDER IF I FAILED HER TOO IN THAT WAY.
Karkat : I’D YELL ABOUT HOW MUCH OF AN IDIOT PAST ME IS BUT YOU GUYS HATE WHEN I DO THAT.
Jade : he was only 13, what you expect from him…
Karkat : BETTER?!
Jade : :B
Karkat knows better not to screw up his relationships now, he could only hope John doesn’t either.
Karkat : LETS HEAD INSIDE, I HATE IT OUT HERE.
Jade : maan but its so nice outside right now :/
Karkat : I DON’T GET THE APPEAL FOR THAT STUPID BALL OF IRRITATING FLAME, IT EXISTS TO ANNOY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
Nevermind he knows jack shit.
Jade : but i love the feeling of it on my skin!! You gotta learn how to enjoy it..
Karkat : NOT IN A MILLION SWEEPS.
She said nothing, but relented after a few seconds, stretching herself on all fours with a massive yawn, then heading inside saying she’s thirsty or whatever. Karkat followed suit, but paused right before the door, hand on the doorknob.
Karkat : . . .
Karkat : (I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW STUPID I AM)
He scurried inside to apologize to Jade.
Terezi sat at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a steep abyss upon this meteor she’s placed herself on. She recalls a familiar scene like this a decade or so prior, an eternal flame she’s garnered, a moment, if brief, she carried in comfort all this time. Even when they drifted astray, those feelings she shared with Karkat would remain everlasting. And so she waited for the wind boy to arrive, already having forgotten what he was coming for. Kicking her feet against the rock, hearing the rubble cackle below. A feeling washes over her, ever slight, ever present, engulfed around her, a sea of clarity, a gentle touch, however she can describe it. This feeling, this resonance, was one of the only things keeping her safe, even across the metaphysical plane. She can exist in this state eternally had she felt so.
But her hunger brought her back to lucidity, and she knows someone had to say something lest this relief go wasted and unacted on. She paused and snorted, covering her need to giggle relentlessly.
Terezi : SO
The air around her hitched, as if it was startled into silence.
Terezi : WH4T 4R3 YOU W41T1NG FOR, JOHN >:]
Suddenly, the area around her began compressing into a singular being, as if existence itself is leaking through a high pressure pipe into a singular point of focus. John begins materialising, it couldn’t be anyone else. Terezi remembers John’s smell. He materialised within ten feet and walked closer, he’s been rehearsing about what he would say for 3 minutes now. Where doing it man.
John : hi terezi!
Terezi : OH MY GOD YOUR3 SO FUCK1NG STUP1D
John : um..
She laughed in his face, hard, leaning into her cane, drilling into the stone beneath them. John can only stare at her whole form as if he wasn’t before, how she matured and differed since he last saw her.
Terezi : ST1LL W34R1NG TH4T STUP1D BLU3 COSTUM3
John : i guess? Its pretty comfortable, and i never had a desire to change it
John : like really! You gotta feel this stuff!!
Terezi : 1TS PROB4BLY JUST GONN4 F33L L1K3 D4V3’S 1M GU3SS1NG
She pinches his god tier hood. Up this close she smells the blood flushing underneath his cheeks.
God she missed that smell.
Terezi : N41L3D 1T. WH4TS 1N TH3 B4G 4NYW4Y?
John : oh yea, here you go!
John delivers the parcel to his friend, she snatches it away and devours the innards of the packaging, and eventually the packaging itself, loud enough that her snarfs echo throughout the valleys while she crouches over it. A bit demystifying but he wasn’t sure what else to expect.
John : god youre so fucking weird
Terezi : 1 LMVF HLL MY NGGGHS
John dusted himself before sitting on the ground next to her, looking around the rock he’s found himself on. He’s seen more interesting space rocks.
John : this place, feels a bit bland
He squinted into space.
John : what am i even looking at…
Terezi : TRUST- *COUGH COUGH* M3 1T SM3LLS L1K3 4SS 4S W3LL
John : how-, oh the synesthesia thing. Yea id imagine itll smell like crap, get a load of this garbage!
He gestures stupidly in the direction of Paradox Space, Terezi giggles at his silly notions.
John : …
Terezi : …
John : missed you.
Terezi : M1SS3D YOU TWO
John : we all do.
She flinched, and his heart sunk. The last thing he wanted to do was make up a sob song to make her feel bad but he wouldn’t ever lie to her face.
Terezi : TH3YR3 OK4Y, R1GHT?
John : dont worry everythings fine.
John : ive been stagnant, but everyones moving on with their lives
John : rose and kanaya are still married and happy together, which is no surprise to me thankfully.
John : karkat and dave are living together, theyre chill.
She smiled, if only a little, and it was genuine.
John : jade’s been busy a lot, she hangs out a lot at my place sometimes, if not crashing over at dave’s.
John : and roxy…
Terezi : >:?
He hesitated for a moment.
John : roxy’s doing great with calliope, theyre very happy together, whatever they have going on.
He can practically hear how much she’s grinning at him, John’s eyebrow furled and he glanced away.
Terezi : HMMMMMMM
Terezi : 1S TH4T 4LL TO S4Y ON TH3 ROXY M4TT3R
John : for now, yes, i hope.
John : …
Terezi : >:]
John : idk, maybe im missing out on something with them right now..
John : but.. Seeing them with callie, i didn’t want to, like, interfere i guess.
John : you know what i mean, right?
Terezi : Y34H TH4TS MOR3 K4N4Y4’S SHT1CK 1F SH3S DO1NG TH4T ST1LL
John : oh yea the auspiticism thing, but like, for red romance?
John : i still dont understand that quadrant..
He sat still for a moment, and seriously took a moment to think about how to word this.
John : when i, punched vriska away from you, was that an auspiticism thing?
Terezi : PFFFT, N4H
Terezi : MY F33L1NGS 4R3 H4RD TO 3XPL41N BUT TH4T D3F1N1T3LY W4SN’T 4N 4USP1T1C1SM MOM3NT
Terezi : H4NG ON…
Terezi : YOU KNOW TH4T ON3 G4M3 WH3R3 GR33N13 B3C4M3 TH3 F1N4L BOSS??
John : umm, greenie?
Terezi : YOU W4GGL3 W1TH TH3 W1GGL3 ST1CK
John : oh! Super paper mario! Yea i know that one! Roxy loooooooves that game.
Terezi : OK4Y OK4Y SO YOU KNOW TH3 W3DD1NG R1GHT, 4ND HOW TH3 UN1ON 1S SUP3R B4D FOR R34SONS
Terezi : 4ND GR33N GUY ST3PS 1N TO STOP TH3M
Terezi : TH4TS GRUB T13R 4USP1T1C1SM
John : hmm, yes i see!
He doesn’t get it.
Terezi : SO 1M GU3SS1NG YOU 4ND ROXY H4V3NT B33N UP TO 4NYTH1NG B3H1ND MY B4CK >:]
John : no not really, im wondering if im missing out, but its, hard for me to get out of the house for a while at a time,
John : not that i dont want to hang out with them, but part of me feels, like,
John : like theres no point if im just going to go back to being miserable at home
John : i kinda feel like that with everyone i guess
John : so why bother spending energy on it?
Terezi : …
Terezi : SO WHY D1D YOU COM3 H3R3?
The ambience lost its joyfulness as Terezi turned to complete seriousness.
John : because you were hungry, and if i did nothing i would feel terrible.
John : if you want me to leave then i can.
Terezi shot him a look of a death sentence, grabbing him by the sleeve and tugging him down, in realization of his mistake John wanted to puke.
John : terezi im sorry.
John : i came because seeing you hurting. It fucking broke my heart, and i would hate myself if i didnt do anything!
John : i dont want to imply that your search for vriska isnt worth it.
John : cause i miss her too. And i cant fully understand what you two had, its really strange to think about!
John : if i were you, i would probably be lost as well!
He spoke with sincerity, he smelt as though he was not far from crying. Terezi’s look softened in tone, no longer staring daggers through his nose, not that she can see, but the girl knows the best way to bear her fangs towards others. She opens her mouth to say something, before nibbling the inside of her lip in anticipation. He settled down to sit next to her.
Terezi : SO… 4FT3R COM1NG H3R3 TO S33 M3, 4R3 YOU GO1NG TO GO B4CK HOM3 TO B3 D3PR3SS3D?
John : im not sure, probably. But im happy i came to see you.
Terezi : WOW YOU R34LLY H4V3 NOTH1NG GO1NG ON B4CK TH3R3 HUH
The two hadn't realized how close they were now, only an arms length away. Terezi gave a soft, yet bittersweet smile, that John reciprocated in, the tension in their chests evaporating in heavy exhales.
Terezi : 1 W4SNT M4D B3C4US3 1 THOUGHT YOU W3R3 T4LK1NG 4BOUT M3 LOOK1NG FOR VR1SK4…
John : what did you think i mea-
John : oh wait a second..
Wow, im a real tool arent i? John gritted his teeth while thinking. They were shoulder to shoulder, ever slightly grazing against each other, before pulling away… but not really.
John : sooo are you okay, now?
Terezi : …I GU3SS?
Her stomach growls relented but she was still starving.
John : okay thats good.
John : …
John : mind if i stick around for a bit?
Terezi : 1 WOULD H4V3 H4T3D YOU 1F YOU L3FT
Terezi : SO ST4Y H3R3… PL34S3.
John : sure.
And so he did, staying by her side on this empty rock for hours, maybe days, neither of them were counting. John briefly returned to Earth-C to restore Terezi's supplies for the next while. Sometimes they'd chat, sometimes they flew around in their pointless attempt to find their friend. A couple times they'd bicker, other times they'd flirt, many times both at once. But no matter what they were together, it was the most that either has been with a single person this long for years, and with every passing minute, every passing thought, they couldn't stop wondering about each other’s soul, how they felt about them, and if the other felt the same. This was the last day they would be left wondering, alone together, sitting next to one other, restraining themselves from releasing all inhibitions. Terezi feels the pull to give up on finding Vriska, throwing it all away for a chance at happiness, to reunite with the people who actually give a shit about her. She starved for the redness inside him and her teeth grew dull without play, there wasn’t anything she needed more than to claw and rip into him and hear him bleed. And there was how badly John wanted to say his honest desires, and more so how he wants to express them, like a poison he feels as though he's rotting with these feelings trapped inside. About how he yearned to touch her, hold her, kiss her, and even how he wanted to…
To keep her safe, that's right, it was for her to be happy. John just wanted her to be safe, with or without his involvement, because it wasn’t her responsibility to make him happy.
But the two couldn’t stop their selfish desires.
He couldn’t ignore the beating of his heart no longer, Terezi can hear it too, not that she’s much behind him in that department, gritting the ground beneath her through her fingers. They could be gripping something else, a little bit more. They stopped pulling away from each other, they wanted to scream, a solid bead of sweat rolled down her arm, onto her fingers. She twitched from that feeling. John was solid red in the face, he couldn’t slow his breathing. They both knew this tension was fated to break, to shatter, fragment, disintegrate, or slowly die in agony. It was up to them for how to dispel it, if at all. Once more Terezi finds herself at the crossroads of fate, and a single action was all she needed to do.
She pokes at the top of his hand, it's hot to the touch.
Terezi : JOHN, HOW LONG 4R3 W3 GO1NG TO D4NC3 4ROUND TH1S?
She rests her fingers down against his. John’s hand turned and clamps around hers, flushed, snaking his fingers across and never letting go, twirling his thumb with hers.
John : terezi…
Terezi : JUST, DONT S4Y 4NYTH1NG STUP1D, NOT NOW
John : i know.. I think i know.. Do you?
He pulls in closer, bringing their heads together, stuck in this liminal state. Looking at each other, faces so close, it would be so easy. It's what they wanted so badly. Terezi is so close, so close to having a taste of his sacred colour, how ferociously it circulated his body. She didn’t want to let go, she quivered, it all comes down to this.
What are you waiting for, Terezi?
Terezi : JOHN WHY 4M 1 ST1LL OUT H3R3
Terezi : VR1SK4’S GON3 4ND 1 DONT KNOW WH4T TO DO…
She lamented in hushed tones, in whispers that came from her heart. John brings his other hand to hers and grips it tightly between them. A single tear drops down from her eye as her head tilts towards the ground.
John : terezi, come home with me
Hook, line,
John : if nothing else we can be sad together.
and sinker. The melancholy from Terezi completely vanishes, and replaced by the crescent grin of a madman, he almost could've sworn she slipped a giggle.
Terezi : JOHN, WH4T D1D 1 S4Y 4BOUT S4Y1NG 4NYTH1NG STUP1D
John couldn’t take a breath before Terezi shuts him up, stealing the air from his lungs. He choked on her mouth and wrapped his arms around her as she gripped his hair and threatened to tear it out. She pulls back and the two cough for a second before diving back in fully prepared, John grabbing her by the back so he can pull her in closer. In a cathartic furious release of years of pent up romantic tension Terezi bites down on his tongue between her canines, an anguished yelp came into her mouth. She hooked her entire body around his torso, pulled back letting a stream of spit connect their panting mouths, dripping down his chin.
Terezi : L3T M3 B1T3 YOUR TONGU3
John : wh-
Terezi : JUST L3T M3 B1T3 YOUR FUCK1NG TONGU3 DUMB4SS
She yelled in his face, steaming his glasses, blinding him.
John : yes!
He barely spoke out before Terezi dived back in, skewing the corner of his tongue between her teeth, breaking through his tissue as easily as a shark can rip apart a carcass through serrated teeth. A powerful agonizingly pleasured moan erupted in her body, the oral fluids seeping out stained crimson in his blood. At least the amount Terezi lets past their mouths when she isn’t devouring his tongue like a starving animal. She was a starving animal, she is the shark. It was vigouring, spurting out of his wound, powered by how fast his heart was beating. Every single trickle of red, oh god that red, which revitalized her taste buds, her sensory glands, rushing adrenaline from her brain, making her hairs stand on end. Curling her toes behind his luscious blue clothing, she couldn’t keep quiet any longer, moaning soft cries while gorging on his blood, screaming for more. John, dazed into obedience, didn’t even have the power to open his eyes, but he still desired as much stimulation he could garner from his lover. He smelt every inch of her face in front of him, tasting the blacked tongue snaking around his own, threatening to suffocate him. He couldn’t handle the lack of touch from his arms, digging underneath her shirt to caress her cold back. Her moans robbing him of any impulse control as the arousal constricts his higher order intelligence. John felt his back being gored by her fingers, he was reduced to being her personalized scratch post and he loved it, he couldn’t care less about how soaked his shirt was getting in his own blood.
But eventually they’d have to cool off, slow down, and enjoy themselves as people. Terezi stopped digging her clawed fingers in as soon as she felt her middle finger break skin, the first time she regained lucidity. She finally pulled away from his mouth staying connected through a viscous layer of red slobber. John was so dazed the universe was practically spinning around him. Terezi smelled the pungent scent of blood seeping from his mouth and back, and, as much as that smell brought her utter joy, no longer starving for it she fell in a deep pit of shame and worry for her lover.
Terezi : SH1T
Terezi : M4Y H4V3 LOST 1T FOR 4 B1T TH3R3
John : blehehehe.
He spoke through a dopey grin, his tongue still washed in candy-red.
Terezi : D4MN1T
Terezi : CM3R3 <3
She pressed the cut on his tongue between her lips, this time in a soft and gentle compression in an attempt to stop the bleeding, enjoying the flavour much more intimate than the sexually depraved self she was no more than two minutes past. The euphoria is replaced with romantic catharsis, an intimacy that speared through the darkness strong enough to conclude any love story worth its salt. John finally opens his eyes, even through his smudged glasses he sits in admiration of how gorgeous she is. Terezi can smell his infatuation, it was so embarrassingly obvious, especially in the midst of her makeout session with his desecrated tongue. In the deepest pits of his soul John has the inescapable desire to say something stupid.
For the first time this night he pulls away, Terezi almost whines but her focus spikes when feeling his lips come apart.
John : terezi, i..
Terezi : JOHN, STOP, YOUR3 ST1LL BL33D1NG
Terezi : PL34S3 DONT S4Y 4NYTH1NG DUMB, NOT NOW
John : i love you terezi, hahaha
<3< → <3
John : sorry.
She fully relented in the red her feelings for him grew to become. Letting go of her body, to rest herself upon his legs, nuzzling into his tummy. The only source of comfort and warmth for thousands of miles across both space and time. John doesn’t know what to do. After the profoundly sensual experience he just partake in he could only taste the iron in his bloodied mouth like an extremely rare steak, but the taste of her lips permanently etched into his soul. A smudge of black creased the corner of his mouth. Guided by instinct his hand slowly fell to her head eliciting a soft welcoming murmur, slowly scratching her scalp area around her horns. A shot of pain echoed through John’s body when he grazed over her shoulders, feeling every ridge of her bones poking through. Terezi’s dying out here.
Terezi : 1M SO T1R3D
Terezi : 1M T1R3D OF ST4RV1NG JOHN
He held her hand, it was cold to the touch, so he grasped as much as he possibly could.
John : terezi, do you-
John : …
John : can i take you home with me?
Terezi : …
Terezi : SUR3, WHY NOT
Somehow, this didn’t feel like she was giving up on Vriska, more like, ‘give me a moment’.
Holding her whole body flushed against his, her face nuzzling in his neck, John proceeded to carry her in his arms, arms scooping up her legs and back. He turned into wind, and traveled back to Earth-C.
They returned to dusk. John, not wanting her to be disturbed by the afternoon lights so much, ignoring the fact that she couldn’t see. He let Terezi down on the living room sofa and brought one of his plush blankets over her body, she was already being brought warmth, closing her eyes and sinking into the fabric. Had it not been for distant murmurs of crocodiles she may have thought that John lived in complete isolation, not that she can blame him. There was something else too, a precise consistency powered by weight and clockwork, a grounding noise that smelt like just her style.
Terezi : H3H, N34T M4CH1N3 YOU GOT TH3R3 >:]
John : oh the clock? Yea, i suppose…
Terezi has begun to lose herself to slumber. John thought about texting Dave or Karkat but decided to let her take her own pace. Hand on her shoulder, he sat next to her head, maybe he’ll stay here for a bit.
He proceeded to stay the night, drifting off in each other's arms.