Please Don't Touch The Horns - Karkat

You flinch.

"You dropped this, asshat." It's him.

"Karkat. Hi. What a nice surprise," you say. He hands you a screwed up piece of paper. Please say it's not the the note. You unravel it, with Karkat still peering over your shoulder.

It's not the note. It's one of the many drafts of the note. You stuff it away quickly before he can read it. Since he has nothing better to do now he sits down next to you.

"I got your note. The one on pale red paper in silver gel pen saying 'happy birthday' in fancy-ass writing," he says grumpily.

"Someone's not in the best of moods. Did you read the message at the end?" you say, saving your work and shutting your laptop. You pack it away while he digs the note out and starts to read the rest in his head. He obviously didn't see it before.

He reads it, and blinks rapidly every so often as he does. A small blush starts to form on his cheeks and it deepens as he stares at the paper. You're pretty sure he's finished reading the extra two sentences you added in a fit of let's-make-your-crush-uncomfortable-ness but he keeps on staring at the paper. Finally he turns to look at you. His eyes are wide and his cheeks are scarlet, which you can't help but take a mental note of. Red.

"If you think stuff like that's going to work on me, you're wrong. Very, very wrong, _____." He stuffs the note back in my pocket again.

"Oh, but I know for a fact that it would work. Just let me try on you," you basically plead.

"No. I'm not being your test subject for a dumb magic trick."

"I think you'll find you'll enjoy it more than you first thought, if you just let me try." You move around behind him anyway, and at first he tries to push your legs away but you wrap them around his stomach, so he can't escape.

You rest your palm on the tip of his horn. "Now, just relax."

"If this is some sensual trick, it's not going to work, _____. I already know you have a crush on me."

You look at him - well, the back of his head - in surprise. Oh well. If he didn't deduce it from the note then he'd certainly find out now.

You spread your fingers down the rest of the horn and you're left cupping in one hand. You do the same with the other horn.

"Okay, so if you just stay with me..."

You gently move your palms over the tips of his horns and he shivers under your touch.

"_____, can you not do that? It's making me..." He wrestles with your legs as you suddenly swipe your fingers up, running them swiftly over the horns and into the air. He shouts out loud in surprise.

"The end." You unwrap your legs from around him and sit back where you were. "Hope you enjoyed the show."

"I did not. Did your little trick work? Was it to make me as uncomfortable as possible? Because it damn well worked," he scolds. You didn't think he'd be as angry after the "trick".

"Nah, I just needed to test it on someone with smaller horns."

"Is that how you go around seducing people?" You're about to retort when his lips press onto yours unexpectedly and you're so taken aback that you fall sideways onto the step. Great. Now it must look like he's got you pinned down.

He moves away, and he's blushing again. "So, do you, uh...wanna come back to mine?" You giggle. "Not to...! I just meant...if you..."

You laugh some more. "Yeah, sure. Maybe I can try a few more magic tricks on you."

A guy comes past holding one of the drafts of the note, and stops when he sees us.

"'Looking for a test subject for a hand trick involving horns. Find me before the magic runs out.'" he reads out. He looks at me and throws the paper on the floor. "Ugh. Gimme a break."

"It worked on Mr Grumpy here," you say, still underneath Karkat. The red-blooded troll realises this and moves off you quickly.

"Really, now? I don't think I want to know." He walks off. You watch him go and then look at each other.

"Were those...other ways of putting what you put on the note to me?"

"There were worse ones in there, trust me."