Love's Not Fair - Chapter Three

==== > Be Karkat



You look around the grand hall, finding yourself already irritated with the simple existence of other people and trolls alike. You've been forced in to ridiculous dance after ridiculous dance, the first with the clumsy Princess Jade, and then  so on with the various Ladies and Princesses in attendance. Not the aquatic princess, Feferi, though, who had somehow managed to steal away Sollux to the castle fountain. Just like a sea dweller.

You spot John in the crowd on occasions. He's about as clumsy as his sister, and before long he's banished from the dance floor for it. You find yourself rolling your eyes at both his stupidity and his luck, but you can't help but notice how depressed this has made him. He's such a sensitive grubtard, you can't help but pity the fuckass a little. He was the one looking forward to the evening, probably thinking he'd infect more trolls with his friendship disease.

You somehow manage to escape the throng of guests, deterring them with dark glares and snarls whenever they approached you. It's not like you honestly cared if they liked you or not, the fuckers. If they'd had it their way, you and your father would have been culled ages ago, anyway, so there was no real fucking reason to be friendly with them in the first place.

"Will you stop it with that pouting fucking face, John?" you snap, bringing the young prince's attention to you. He really looks like the most miserable fucking idiot in the world, and you find yourself wanting to coddle him and tell him it'll be alright. You quickly shake the feeling, though, disturbed by the emotions.

"You're so lucky, Karkat," John whines, tugging on your sleeve like a fucking wriggler. "You can dance so well."

"It's just fucking basics." Your face heats up, but you hope John believes it to be a sign of his anger rather than a sudden rush of shyness. "I learned from my mother and grandmother Dolorosa."

"I don't have much time for dance lessons." John sighs like this is the biggest fucking disappointment in the world. "I'm lucky enough to be able to practice the piano, these days. So many lessons, all over the place." You raise your brow at the prince, wondering why this all bothered him so much. Personally, you'd be happy to be skipping your dance lessons altogether. It'd be much more interesting if you could spend your whole day in the training grounds, but apparently that wasn't the same for your human companion.

"Here, I'll…I'll fucking teach you," you grumble, and this brings on the biggest, stupidest fucking smile on to John's face, an expression that makes your heart leap and bound. It was a sickening feeling. "B-but not here, not in front of everyone."

"Right," John agreed before snatching your hand and dragging you off.

"What the--" In moments, you find the two of you have entered the castle garden. You haven't visited this place with John as often as you did as children, but the place doesn't look too terribly different. It's also relatively empty, the rest of the guests socializing inside. "The fuck are we doing here, John?"

"Over here!" John lets you go and bolts, leaving you scrambling to catch up. You had to give it to him, the idiot was fast. It was like he was flying, sometimes.

Eventually, though, you realize where he's going, and you watch as John runs straight in to the bushes at the end of the garden. You take a moment to pause, wondering if you can even fit anymore, when John shouts, "Hurry up, Karkat! You're so slow!"

"Fuck off!" you growl before jumping in. It's a lot harder to accomplish than it had been when you were younger, but somehow you manage to make it through to see the old willow tree. The hanging branches just barely wave, and you know John was already inside the odd rock formation. You hesitated. It had been years since you'd been in there. Was it still the same?

It was. The mushrooms glowed just as brightly, the area just as serene as you remembered. The only thing that had changed were you, and John, who smiled shyly at you in the middle of the cave-like place.

"We can dance here," John declared happily, twirling about once with his arms outstretched as if to emphasize the point. "Can't we?"

"I-I guess." You rub the back of your neck, as if pained, but really you're hiding another bizarre blush. It felt like flutter beasts were dancing in your stomach, and you couldn't figure out why. "W-well come here, fuckass, I can't fucking teach you shit when you're all the way the fuck over there." John was quick to comply, setting himself up in the proper stance for a waltz. It was a little awkward, considering the fact that you were so much taller than John and you had the play the woman's part in the human dance, but they somehow managed.

"H-how am I doing?" stammered John after a moment.

"You need to be the one fucking leading, buldgemuncher," you mutter. "And you stepped on my fucking feet five gog-damned times."

"I'm sorry." The prince's brow creased in worry, and you let out a huge sigh.

"Here, maybe if I fucking lead for a moment, you'll fucking get it through your damned think pan." You adjust his arms and your own accordingly, and proceed to show him how this shit is done. You can faintly hear the music from the hall, and dance accordingly. John stares up at you admirably, and you hope you're not fucking blushing again. The way those huge motherfucking blue eyes bore in to you was so fucking irritating. "And see, you move like this," you tell the human, who has been watching your every move like you were the only thing there. It was actually a little unsettling.

"You're really good, Karkat," he whispers, that smile of his growing soft as your dance comes to an end. For some reason, the two of you stay locked in that position, your hearts beating as one.

This is stupid, and you know it. There's no way you can be feeling like this, not around this idiot. Especially when you were supposed to be marrying Princess Jade when you turned sixteen, which wasn't too far in the future. Not to mention John was your best friend, despite how you might hide that fact.

But nonetheless, you simply couldn't help yourself, and before you know it, your lips have pressed against the softer ones of Prince John.



==== > Be John



Your heart seems to stop. You never expected something like this to happen in a million years, not with…not with Karkat! First of all, he was betrothed to Jade, your fucking sister. Second, you weren't, in no possible fucking way, in to guys!

So why were you kissing him back, marveling over the troll's rough, tender lips, and how he expertly kept those crazy-sharp teeth from slicing your more delicate skin. It was oddly fascinating, and…nice.

But no. No, this was absolutely wrong. While the feeling of enjoyment and the fluttering of your heart really fucking confused the hell out of you, there was still the huge factor blaring in your mind saying KARKAT WAS ENGAGED TO YOUR MOTHERFUCKING SISTER, DUMBASS.

Wherever the hell she was…

So when you and Karkat separated, you silently prayed it was a dream-at the same time hoping it wasn't-as the troll prince looked down at you. His eyes were filled with an emotion you didn't feel you could understand in the least, and it made you excited and frightened all at once. This intensified when you noticed he was leaning down towards you again, and you realized he was going to attempt to kiss you once more! With everything swirling inside of you, emotions that had you lost beyond all reason, there was only one thing your body seemed to know how to do.

You ran like a bat out of fucking hell.

At some point you felt like you could hear Karkat calling your name, over and over, but you ignored it. Your heart hammered heavily in your chest as you ran, leaping over hedges and flowerbeds as though you had fucking wings, just gliding everywhere. This wasn't news to you. After all, for three years now you'd been titled the swiftest person in all of Breath by several noted contests, so the fact that you could outrun the bulky Karkat without any problems didn't shock you.

But it did shock someone else, someone who had been admiring the garden as well, whom you seemed to practically run in to. She had long, wild hair. A troll, quite obviously, with blue painted lips and blue eye shadow, you noticed once you saw past her own set of glasses, and not to mention the most interesting set of mismatched horns.

"Good evening," she greeted, a strange sort of grin lighting her face. "You must be Prince John. I am Lady Vriska Serket…"



==== > Be Karkat



You call out for John, even run after him for a moment, but the guy's just too fucking fast. You sigh deeply, mentally berating yourself for doing something so motherfucking stupid. "Gog damn it all," you snarl, beating yourself in the head with your fist. You're glad no one's really around to see this, considering you look like a nut job and you'd probably be culled on the spot, what with all the muttering you're doing.

You kissed John. KISSED him! What in the actual fucking hell were you THINKING? That's just it, you weren't thinking. You just fucking went for it like it was the thing to freaking do, didn't you? Got all in to the romantic setting and the dancing and just BAM, sloppy makeout central. Of course John bolted, you would have done the exact same! Oh gog, what were you going to do?

Seriously, what were you going to do? You'd be sixteen in a few months, which meant you'd be MARRYING JADE in a few months, and there you were trying to make out with her fucking brother. Smooth move, dip shit.

When had those feelings even come up, though? You aren't really certain. For the longest time, the most you'd felt for him was blackrom. If you weren't next in line for the throne-tradition dictated that you, as a royal, only take one partner, instead of the typical two-you'd have seriously considered John as your kismesis, once upon a time. But this…this was different. Somehow, in the recent years you'd spent with the idiot, those feelings had changed. You were moirals, for so long, and that's all it seemed to be. And you appreciated his camaraderie. Perhaps muttered and grumbled and generally bitched about it, but deep down you had enjoyed his companionship.

But this…this was different.

Your feelings…had they really changed to flush, without your noticing? No, no that wasn't supposed to happen. At the very least, you'd been trying to maybe feel blackrom for Jade, hoping for flush instead. But she was pale to you, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Your thoughts were clouded with images of John, of how unbelievably soft his lips were, how fragile his body was beneath your grasp and how gentle you had to be because of it. The idea of it all made you suddenly feel protective over John, afraid that he would break if even the slightest thing went wrong.

Yep. Definitely fucking flushed emotions.

You needed someone to talk to about this, someone who wasn't going to flip their shit on you. Sollux? No, the bipolar fucker would just bitch at you about your duties and blah blah fucking blah. So who was there? Anyone you knew at the party?

Fuck, right! Of course! He wouldn't freak out. Granted, the conversation would probably be a little frustrating, but at least you could talk and he wouldn't blab it to the whole damn world, nor would he harass you about morals or anything like that. Hell, he'd probably forget about the conversation altogether, by the time morning came.

You went off to search for Gamzee.