Love is Blind, Terezi - Chapter 3

Karkat's heart felt like it was about to pound right out of his chest. His hands were so tightly clasped on his steering wheel that his knuckles were turning white. It was nearly midnight and he was almost to the old treehouse that brought back so many memories for him.

Karkat and Terezi had been friends all through elementary, middle, and high school. At the end of sixth grade, they vowed to build a treehouse that would be their official meeting place for when they needed to vent about drama. They had built the house all by themselves and it had impressively lasted all through high school without either of them being injured. Of course, Karkat had been pushed out of the treehouse multiple times by Terezi and had broken both of his arms, but that wasn't due to lack of safety from the house. It was mostly because of Terezi's twisted sense of humor.

After graduation, the two were reluctant to leave it behind. By that time, however, the treehouse was falling apart. So when they got to college, they found a suitable tree that wouldn't usually be noticed by campus police and rebuilt it. They had never been caught, whether by students or police, and after the two had stopped hanging out, Karkat still visited the treehouse to take care of it like the pathetic wuss he was.

Karkat pulled into the nearby parking lot and pulled the key out of the ignition, extinguishing the bright headlights. He waited in silent anticipation for what seemed like hours before another car pulled up next to the Neon. The purple Camrey parked in the space next to Karkat's car. Its lights, too, extinguished and the dark sillouette of Gamzee climbed out. Karkat did the same and saw him wave. "Hey motherfucker. Ready to get your Swift on?" he whispered in his gravely voice. Karkat rolled his eyes and just motioned the clown to follow him. They creeped up to the treehouse together and Gamzee silently pulled out his guitar. Karkat looked up at the lit treehouse and swallowed nervously before calling out, "Hey...Hey Terezi?"

The boards creaked as Terezi Pyrope stuck her head out the window. Her red hair swayed around the bright red glasses that hid her nearly blind eyes. She stared down at Karkat, confused. "Karkat, what the hell? It's been like half a year since you last even TALKED to me. What do you want?" He looked up at her with scorn. "Good to see you too, Terezi."

Terezi's lips pulled back to reveal her pearly white teeth and her (somewhat creepy) smile. "When you ask a girl who you haven't talked to in months to meet you at midnight, she'd probably think you're trying for a booty-call. Which I know can't be right, since you couldn't score tail if you tried."

Karkat smirked. "You're the one who showed up." And she laughed. That pitchy, terrifying cackle that drove him crazy in the good way and the bad. He missed that laugh. When her laughter finally faded, she asked, a little more friendly, "So, why am I here, Karkat?"

He took a deep breath. Glancing to the shadows where Gamzee and his guitar hid, Karkat said, "I...ah...I have something I need to show you- uh, tell you. That I've needed to tell you for a while." His voice cracked and Terezi laughed again. "Alright Mister Mysterious," she cackled. "Tell me."

"It's..." He rubbed the back of his neck before realizing that it was covered with his turtleneck. "It's not that simple." Terezi opened her mouth to speak again, but Gamzee cut her off and started playing the beginning notes to their song. She started saying, "That sounds like You Belong With Me-" before Karkat began to sing.

"You're messaging Dave Strider, he's upset
He's going off about you almost killing his best friend
Well he doesn't get your humor like I do.

I'm in the lab it's a typical Friday night
I'm coding all the kinds of viruses he doesn't like
And he'll never know your story like I do."

Terezi cackled, no doubt remembering the two incidents that had occurred during their freshman year of college. She obviously didn't take the song very seriously and was rather curious about where Karkat was going with it.

"Well he wears felt suits, and I wear turtlenecks
He's a cool kid and I'm an angry reject
Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find
That what you're sniffing for has been here the whole time.

If you could sense that I'm the one who understands you
Don't matter if you're blind, Terezi you'll see
You belong with me
You belong with me."

The grin slowly disappeared to be replaced with an expression of surprise. She blushed a bit, just enough to tell that she had never had anything like this happen to her before. She slowly and quietly made her way down the ladder to sit with her back against the tree in front of Karkat. Terezi continued to look at him with intrigue, quiet for once in her life. She began to realize Karkat's true intentions for singing this song.

"Up in our high school treehouse we embrace
Making up for all the shit and the fail we faced
Somehow you got me to sing a Taylor Swift parody
Well, I guess it's not all that bad.

And you've got a shit-eating grin that gives me butterflies
I love to see that spark of mischief in your eyes
You say you're fine I know you better than that
Why are you marrying a douche like that?"

Terezi turned scarlet suddenly, as if she didn't know that Karkat already knew about the engagement, or just wished he didn't know. She shifted her stare so as to not look him in the eye, but her gaze soon returned to the grumpy Karkat. You couldn't ignore his voice for long.

"Well he wears felt suits, and I wear turtlenecks
He's a cool kid and I'm an angry reject
Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find
That what you really need has been here the whole time.

If you could sense that I'm the one who understands you
Don't matter if you're blind, Terezi you'll see
You belong with me.

Standing by, just waiting at the lab door
All this time, how could you not know, Terezi?
You belong with me
You belong with me."

As Gamzee started the guitar solo, Karkat looked into Terezi's eyes for the first time since the song began. He couldn't see her eyes themselves because of the scarlet shades that covered them, and that was killing him. He couldn't tell what she was feeling or what the song was saying to her, and he was terrified of how she would react when it was over. As the guitar solo ended, he began to sing again.

"Oh, we'll have a lot like Serendipity, Jersey Girl, Love Actually
Miss Congeniality, oh, She's Out of My League
Kate and Leopold, the Switch, You've Got Mail, Just Go with It
The Proposal, Beaver Pitch, Crazy, Stupid, Love and Hitch..."

Terezi's jaw dropped slightly as he listed their favorite romcoms that they had watched together at their movie nights. She couldn't believe that he remembered all of those movies, let alone found a way to make them rhyme.

"Don't you know I'm not the only one who's felt this feeling all along?
I know you see, come on, Terezi.

Standing side by side at the lab door
All this time, how could we not know, Terezi
We never needed to see
Cause love is blind, Terezi.

Have you ever thought just maybe
You never needed to see me
Cause love is blind, Terezi."

As Gamzee strummed the final chord, Karkat let out a long breath of relief. He'd made it through without screwing up. Now all he needed was to know what Terezi had thought.

She stared at him in utter dumbfoundedness. After a few moments of suffocating silence, the corners of Terezi's mouth pulled up at the corners. It was a soft smile, very unlike her. She said a little bit queitly, but none the less jokingly, "I never expected you to be the type who serenades, Karkles." Karkat blushed as she used her old pet name for him, ashamed that it made his stomach turn over. She got up and dusted herself off before walking toward him, only stopping when they were nose-to-nose. Karkat's eyes widened, but he couldn't move.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Terezi whispered curiously. Her expression was unreadable, impossible to tell how she reacted to it. Karkat stumbled for words, embarressed by her closeness. "I-I don't know. Nerves, I guessed? Ah...Terezi, you'r really fucking close. Take a step back, you blind idiot." She shook her head. Karkat looked to Gamzee for support, only to find that he was gone. 'That jackass...' he thought, promising vengence on the guitarist. "How long have you felt like this?" she asked, her voice getting quieter. A sweat droplet rolled down Karkat's temple. He was not used to people being in his intimate space, let alone the girl he had just sang a love song to. He wanted to lie, tell her that it had only been a few months, a year at the most. But the truth was that he had liked her since they were just kids trolling each other on the playground.

The words just slipped out. "Ever since you pushed me off of the swing set." There was no way to make that sound any more stupid than it did. He said it in the stupidest quavering voice that he was unsuccessfully trying to mask which made the stupid words sound even more stupid. Terezi didn't laugh, but white teeth peaked through her soft lips as her smile widened. "Why didn't you make a move, you ass!" she said playfully in her normal voice, shoving him backward. Karkat stumbled and fell backwards. He propped himself up on his arm, steaming. "How are you supposed to tell your psychopathic best friend that you like her?! I was scared you wouldn't feel the same way, dumbass!"

Terezi kneeled down next to him. She leaned forward until her face was hovering right above his. Her red locks fell over his face, tickling his cheeks. "Wanna hear a secret, Karkat Vantas?" She leaned in even farther until her lips were brushing against his ear. She barely exhaled, "I liked you back. Wanna hear another secret?" She moved her face so close to his that he could feel her breath on his lips. Karkat's heart was beating so quickly that he was sure that she could feel it herself. Then she whispered the words that made it stop.

"I still do."

She kissed him. And it was a kiss that made all of the pain and longing and waiting worthwhile to Karkat. It was passionate, intense, and truly the result of romantic feelings being untouched for years. He sat up as he pushed the hair out of her eyes and cradled her face like it was the only thing he ever wanted to do in his life. They fit together like two puzzle pieces, finally put together. And when it was over, they stared into each other's eyes, never wanting to look away. But of course, knowing the two of them, it couldn't be a romantic and touching moment for long.

Terezi smirked. "About damn time, Karkles." Karkat's cheeks reddened again.

"Shut up."