"Alright, see you all tomorrow." You call out to the other and turn back around.

Just as you exit the gates, Karkat's voice stops you.

"Hey (y/n)!"

"Yes Karkat." You chuckle, turning around.

He stops about metre away from you and looks up at you. His face was flushed and you weren't sure if it was from him running or if it was from what he was about to say.

"I was just wondering if you'd like to go hang out at the arcade or something."

That was probably the cause of his red face.

"Okay, sure." You nod, smiling.

You turn around and both you and Karkat head off. You notice Dave in the corner of your eye and look over, waving at him. He glances your way and waves, when he notices Karkat walking beside you, his blond brow raises above his shades. You just shrug and follow alongside Karkat, looking forward. The day was quite nice, albeit a bit windy, so you're happy to walk.

"So, how'd you go at school today?" Karkat asks the most generic question, but you were happy to answer.

"It was pretty boring, as most school days are," You shrug, smiling, "what about you?"

"Well, Gamzee ended up coming to school and tripping on a bench," Karkat rolls his eyes, "I think he may have broken his nose."

You wince at the thought, you've seen someone break their nose and it looks horrible.

"Ouch."

"Yeah, go sent to the nurses' office near the end of the day so I have no idea if he did."

"Well I hope it's not broken." You hum.

"Well, with him it won't even matter," he shrugs, "he's always off his face."

Maybe you should try and change the topic.

"So, watched any good movies lately?"

"Hmm, not really, there haven't been any movies I'm interested in." he shrugs.

Eventually you reach the mall, last time you had come here, you bought stuff for your new room.

"So, where would you like to go?" you ask him, looking over at Karkat.

"Oh, uh, well, maybe we should go and grab something to eat." He shrugs, looking back at you awkwardly.

You laugh and nod, "sure."

"Alright, I know a good café." Karkat tells you and begins to lead you.

You take a seat at a table and begin to look at what they had.

"Hmm, I think I'll get the (fave flavour) cake and a (drink)." You sigh.

"I'll have a black coffee and a piece of apple pie." Karkat orders.

Now that you were both here, you had no idea what to talk about. You hadn't really ever had a long conversation with Karkat before, so it was pretty weird.

"So Karkat," you begin, "when you first talked to me on Pesterchum, how'd you get my handle?"

"Oh, well, usually I just search for a random person and troll them." he shrugs.

"Well, you're pretty bad at it." You snort.

"Hey, I'll have you I'm fucking fantastic at it." He argues.

"Uh-huh, whatever you say."

"Are you mocking me?!"

"I never said that."

"You don't have to!"

"Um, here's your food."

Both of you look up to see that waitress was standing by the table, two plates in her hands.

"Oh, thank you." You smile as she sits the plate in front of you.

You pick up the spoon/fork and dig in, a hum of joy escaping your mouth as you scoop up another mouthful.

"Don't eat so fast," Karkat scolds, "you'll be sick."

You look up at Karkat, who was still on his first mouthful.

"You're just slow." You huff, shoving the food into your mouth.

"No I'm not, you moron!"

"Um, here are your drinks."

The waitress sits the drinks down. You thank her and she walks off. You feel kind of sorry for her; she looked as though she hadn't slept in weeks.

You take a sip of your drink before continuing to eat.

"Listen, (y/n)," Karkat starts, sounding kind of down, "I'm sorry about not being able to do more, when... you know."

You stop eating and look up at Karkat; he was poking at his pie as if it was the most interesting thing in the room.

"It's alright," you smile, sitting your utensil down, "there wasn't anything you could have done. It was my past, so I dealt with it, sort of."

You were still kind of shaken up from that encounter, but like everything else, you pushed it aside.

Karkat looks up at you, a rare smile on his face, "thanks."

You grin and take a sip of your drink, "I'm just happy that you didn't stop talking to me after that scene."

"Well, that's a dumb reason to stop talking to someone." Karkat rolls his eyes, looking at you like you were an idiot.

"See, this is why I like you." You laugh.