"Is it done yet?" Karkat asked into the phone in a hushed voice. Equius, who was on the other line, sighed loudly.

"No, Karkat. It is not done yet. It may get done a lot sooner if you stopped calling me so many times a day to ask if it is done. I have already assured you that I will call you when it is ready. Understand?"

"Yes," Karkat sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Sorry, this shit is making me anxious and I just really want to see it done already."

"Well you have to wait, you cannot rush my work Vantas." There was an awkward silence for a moment then Equius spoke again. "I hear you and the Time God, Dave, are officially in the flushed quadrant." Karkat chuckled.

"Yeah. Let me guess, you heard it from Kanaya?" Equius grunted. "Yeah she's been going around spreading that shit like crazy. It's like the second coming of that one guy humans worship. She seems really really fucking happy because of it..."

"She has a right to. When you came back you practically bit his head off, now you're off on dates with him. I have to admit it is a remarkable improvement for you, I thought you'd never get past the incredibly embarrassing stage of your life when you clung to my hand and believed me to be your moirail. If that had gone any longer Nepeta would've let her jealousy get the best of her and that would not have of ended well for either of us."

"Heh, yeah. I don't think I'd want to face her in a shitty mood like that. The Nepeta on Beforus wasn't exactly the nicest person when she was pissed off so I can pretty much assume Nepeta here would be the same."

"...If it wouldn't be...too much strain on you I want to know what your Nepeta was like. She seems interesting." Karkat bit his lip and and checked the time.

"Equius as much as I would love to reminisce about my old days in Beforus with my old pitch flame Nepeta but Dave's coming home in like five minutes."

"I understand. We shall continue this conversation another time. Have fun out on your date with your matesprit."The two hung up and Karkat sat there on the couch, waiting for his matesprit to come home.

His matesprit.

Just thinking of it made Karkat's stomach turn to butterflies. He was so fucking happy now. Dave was his matesprit. They were dating and flushed and it was wonderful. It was like now that Karkat knew Dave was there for him, now that he knew for a fact he for sure wasn't a major nuisance, he felt better. He had Dave now and he was assured he had him. 

It had been a little over a month since he had that dream. The dream with The Peacekeeper and his younger self. He still didn't know what to make of it but he was almost positive it was something. It was always something. The one thing that stuck out at him, however, was the way he changed. It was weird seeing himself but it really wasn't himself.

Three to four sweeps ago he was a small fireball of fake confidence and an aura of anger. He cursed to assert his authority and had a seemingly permanent scowl on his face. Seeing himself in that way again seemed so...childish. All the needless curse words were kind of surprising and the glare he had on looked unnecessary. But it was how he managed to stay sane in his younger years on Alternia and during SGRUB.

Then there was his personality just a little over a year ago, on Beforus. The Peacekeeper was...a special kind of troll in Karkat's eyes. He changed so much, from the passionate young troll to an older, more mature troll. The Peacekeeper spoke like an ancient dignitary with such a strong voice. Really he reminded Karkat of his ancestors, or at least Vriska's ancestor. Her ancestor seemed to have spoken with the same confidence and the same goofy manner of putting words together that Karkat didn't really seem to get. Overall he was just so much...different. 

Then there was Karkat. Current Karkat. Karkat who barely cursed now and wasn't as loud and outspoken as he was in his younger years and when he did speak he wasn't as confident as The Peacekeeper. He sort of kept to himself but there were times when he would burst with laughter and chatter. Those times were mostly with Dave, Rose, or Kanaya. Sometimes Sollux. Karkat was always worried and wondering if the others would feel like they were getting a cheap knockoff the real Karkat, he had to admit he felt like a cheap knockoff. But Dave assured him no one cared, everyone had changed one way or another.

"I'm finally fucking home," Dave announced as he quickly shut the door behind him. "It was hard as hell trying to get through stand-still traffic in a motorcycle. I should've never taken the freeway." He plopped himself down right besides his boyfriend and wrapped an arm around his waist, kissing his cheek. Karkat grinned. "Sorry I'm late for our designated date night, but don't worry, I have the greatest thing planned out."

"I'm sure you do and I'm actually pretty excited for tonight's date night."

"You should be, there is no way in hell that your one year anniversary of reentering our lives was going to go unnoticed. We are going to celebrate the right way."

"And what would 'the right way' be?" Dave chuckled and shook his head, standing up and shrugging off his jacket.

"Nope, no way are you getting me to spill the beans on my totally romantic date idea. You just wait your cute little troll ass here for five, ten minutes tops, and I will be right back." Karkat rolled his eyes but nodded, playing along. Dave leaned down and kissed his cheek before giddily exiting the apartment. 

Karkat waited an entire eleven minutes before Dave returned, a little out of breath. "Okay, Okay its done. Come on." The troll stood up and walked briskly to Dave who gently grabbed his matesprit's hand and began leading him up a series of stairs. Before long they ended up on the very roof the apartment complex. Not too far away was a blanket spread out with a couple of candles lit. A small basket was there as well, most likely filled with the food Karkat liked most.

"I remember back on the meteor I told you about how I used to like stargazing when Bro was out late and I could have an actual quiet night, you said you never really got a chance to do that since there were always killer robots  or some shit around and well, y'know, I kind of figured you didn't get much of a chance to do that while you were our being Mr.Hero so I thought it'd be a nice treat." Dave smiled expectantly, waiting for Karkat's response. The troll didn't say anything, in all honesty he didn't remember ever telling Dave that but he was positive he did. He stared at the blanket down on the ground and the candles and the little basket, then he looked over at Dave, then he looked up at the stars. The night sky was beautiful.

Karkat smiled and looked back at Dave who was still patiently waiting for an answer. "It's great Dave, thank you." Dave smiled widely and he picked his boyfriend up bridal style, carrying him over to the blanket. He gently laid him down and stretched out besides him.

The two lounged there in silence just looking up at the stars. Dave mustered up the courage to slide his hand into Karkat's and Karkat happily responded with a gentle squeeze. 

"I can't believe it's been a year already dude..." Dave laughed breathlessly. "I just...Can I just say I'm proud of you? Like, really goddamn proud of you dude."

"Dave, there really isn't anything to be proud about."

"What? Of course there is! Listen, I'm gonna rant or whatever for a sec and I want you to listen to every goddamn word I say okay?" Karkat sighed and nodded. "Okay. Again, I'm really proud of you. Really proud of you dude. When I first showed up at Aradia's house that day I was scared as shit, I did not think you would be the same as I remembered and I was right. When you first came home you were, to be blunt, aggressive. You did not want Gamzee or Vriska or Aradia near you and you made sure they stayed away by fucking hitting them on the head. When you first came back you said you were scared of me and that hurt, but I just hoped it'd be a phase. About a month or so later and Sollux calls me to tell me you want to live with me. In all honesty that was the happiest and scariest day of my life. Karkat I was terrified of you. I thought you might wake up one night and gut me like a fish but you didn't. That day that you came to live with me I made a promise to myself and to you. I promised I would take care of you and help you get better. That shit wasn't easy, you know that. To be honest with you, I thought about just...giving up. There were times when I thought I was the shittiest person for you to be living with considering 'evil Dave' was still hanging around in your brain...I just thought Kanaya, or maybe even Sollux, would be a better option. I was scared Karkat. I was scared I wasn't doing anything but making you worse in every possible way and I only wanted what was best for you. Anyway, I still tried to help you out and help myself out. All in all it was tough as shit...but I'm...I'm really glad I helped you Karkat. I'm really fucking happy that you're back and I'm just...I'm elated that you're happier now."

Karkat had a small smile on his face. It made him happy to hear Dave say that, though he did feel bad for all the hardship he had put Dave through but the giant smile on Dave's face assured Karkat that everything was fine now and all was forgiven. They scooted closer to one another, staring into one another's eyes now instead of the stars.

"Karkat," Dave pressed their foreheads together, his heart racing, "I'm so proud of you and everything you've done. I love you so much, I hope you never forget that. And I'm not just talking that friendly love, y'know the kind for your friends and shit. I'm talking full on 'I want to live with you and hold you forever' kind of love." 

Karkat giggled and rested his hand on the side of Dave's face, his thumb gently caressing his cheek. "I love you too Dave." Dave's heart practically melted in his chest. Hearing Karkat say that after so long it just...it destroyed him. 

Dave hesitated a moment but he couldn't control himself. He leaned in and pressed his lips against Karkat's, kissing him sweetly and lovingly.