Chapter Text
Karkat fancies himself a master of romance. Terezi and Rose are quite keen to be declared the indomitable queens of thought and mind. Vriska just knows how to play people.
You, on the other hand, never had much in the way of social contact growing up. There was Trollian, of course. The occasional video log. School feeds delivered right to your home, which sometimes included a digital group work component. But for the most part, you had no idea how people actually spoke to one another, or how their bodies could telegraph an entire conversation in a language you doubt you'll ever be fluent in. Broadcast dramas and video grubs can only take you so far, and having spent well over a sweep in genuine contact with others, you know now that most films are melodramatic pantomimes at best.
It is because of this that you recognize what Dave Strider is doing.
You do not spend any more time socializing with him than is really required of you as his hatchmate's matesprit, but you understand him. He looks at everyone and every thing as if it is equally foreign. Most interestingly, he often has the same bewildered responses to Rose's inescapable bullshit as you do. That he hides it beneath a completely blank face threw you for a while, but you've said the same things at the same times as him too often for it not to shine through eventually.
In fact, it's that eternal facade of expressionlessness that is the biggest difference between you. You can tell what different shapes of smile mean, because you can make those shapes yourself. You simply attach the meaning they have for yourself on to other people. You know what anger looks like, or restraint, because you have made those faces, have hunched into those postures.
Dave does not.
So, you put it upon yourself to help him however you can. It wouldn't do for you to leave someone floundering in the same state of confusion you occupied only a sweep ago. Not when he's so easy to assist. Unlike so many of the people you've tried to help in your lifetime, Dave is an eager student. As long as you don't actually try to talk about anything, at least.
So, you leave him trinkets with notes attached.
When Karkat complains wildly throughout a communal meal one evening that Dave is ignoring him, for example, you begin planning a simple project that will take all of an hour to sew, though it ends up taking two more to alchemize the right fabric. That you have noticed no difference in the quantity of time Dave spends in Karkat's rather intense presence is not particularly relevant. You wouldn't pretend to understand whatever delicate balance they have between then.
Later that night, you deliver a small, firm pillow modeled after Rose's cherished violet shame cushion- tassels and all- to Dave's respite block. But unlike Rose's seadweller gaudy one, it is a mundane charcoal grey, embroidered with eye wateringly blue blossoms.
This Pattern Depicts A Particular Type Of Flower Which Often Grows In The Region Of Alternia In Which Karkat Resided
If You Give It To Him It Will Suggest To Him That You Have Thought About Him Enough To Ask Other People About His Home
I Would Also Suggest You Actually Ask Someone About His Home At Some Point Even if It Is Only Karkat Himself
This Will Indicate That He Occupies Significant Space In Your Mind Even When Not Physically Present
Without Such Obvious Gestures There is No Way For Him To Know This Unless Told Directly
And I Believe We All Know How Poorly Trying To Have A Direct Conversation With Both Of You Present Can Go
Your deliveries are intermittent, but frequent enough. You make them whenever the mood strikes. Another of them comes shortly after your own matesprit- not that you would ever make the mistake of calling Karkat Dave's Matesprit ever again- returns to your crafts block to knit a pair of gloves in the light which you radiate, and absolutely not sulk.
After you have prodded and fussed enough that the story comes out, you tuck down on your innate reflex to call it sweet that they are sharing Dave's craft. You even manage not to point out that you and Rose are also commandeering an entire room to stare intermittently at each other while working on leisurely design activities. It is, you have been assured at length, not the same thing. The concept of public spaces is still difficult to get used to, even after all this time.
The next evening, you pull yourself out of your pile and depart for the alchemization block in the early hours. After surprisingly little work, you have produced a charming string of crystalline beads. They capture even the dim, directionless light of the meteor's labs and throw out a litany of sparkles in colors you barely have the words to describe. When shaken, the dancing rainbows are accompanied by a pleasantly musical chime.
If You Continue To Manhandle Him Into Performing The Correct Musical Actions On Your Personal Property It Will Be Regarded As Establishing A Claim On Him
If He Continues To Allow This Without Fighting Back You Should Interpret It As A Romantic Gesture
And Romantic Gestures Are Usually Best Handled By Reciprocation
Even In Established Relationships
After a few weeks of Dave and Karkat becoming even more inseparable, to the extent that you have at least one confused half-waking daydream about them fusing into a single being, you are enjoying a fond night of Romantic Novel Exchanges with Rose.
Vriska arrives to do Vriska things, which mostly involve staring between you and Rose in a very meaningful fashion until you have both devolved into unstoppable blushing and Rose actually stutters over a line.
She makes an offhand remark about how you and Rose are even more pathetic and up in each other's space than the purrbeast twins- later revealed to be the name she has given Dave and Karkat for the night. Apparently, they've been watching films while Dave attempts to crush Karkat bodily.
You make a note of it, and a few nights later, you've alchemized an impossibly soft plush. You genuinely doubt its like could have existed in a real place, but fortunately you are all living in a sort of eternal void dream. You make an entire bolt of it, reveling in the way that it releases a faint grass-and-sunlight scent when crushed. You're going to make any number of clothes and accents from it, of course. But you first set about measuring the recreation block couch, and making a slip cover.
It takes a surprising amount of effort to fold it flat, but you persevere and eventually there is a roughly cubical pile of fabric with a note pinned atop it resting outside Dave's respite block.
Ignore Vriska Entirely
She Has No Idea How Upsetting Her Constant Need To Invade Everyones Privacy Really Is
Trolls Of Her Rank Are Rarely Given Boundaries As Grubs And She Is A Uniquely Insensitive Sort
As Long As He Cannot Smell Her Approach Karkat Might Not Even Notice At All
Also I Dont Know What Might Be On That Couch But Given The Amount Of Traffic It Receives I Would Not Recommend Putting Your Face Directly On It
Late one morning, Vriska announces that you're all going to start practicing for the eventual end of this voyage. Specifically, there's a war waiting, and you'll all need to be in peak condition.
Or, as she puts it, “We've gotta stop fucking around and actually do something because Lord Doucheface ain't gonna murder himself.”
You find the entire tournament thing hasslesome at first, but it eventually becomes a worthwhile distraction. Besides, Dave agrees with your constant bets against Terezi that Rose will beat Vriska. You don't acknowledge the thrill of vicarious joy that you get every time she pins your former moirail and takes the victory for herself, but it's still there.
You all learn to start scheduling Dave and Karkat's round last, and leaving them to their games. Sometimes, however, Terezi's writing updates the scoreboard with the results of matches that you were under the impression were not to be seen to their inevitable conclusion. Perhaps not so inevitable. You really don't want to believe Vriska's total inability to understand reasonable personal limits has brushed off on Terezi so quickly.
Regardless, you spend some time discussing healing items with Rose, Vriska and Terezi. It's only reasonable, you inform them, that everyone be ready to take care of themselves if they get hurt during these practice fights.
You pack a set of boxes that Rose brought you- white, hard shells with flushed red plus signs on them- and drop them off at each respite block a few nights later. Dave's doorway, however, gets two. Bound together with some silken cord, which conveniently also holds your note.
If He Refuses To Let You Take Care Of Him It Isnt Because He Is Upset With You
It Is Wildly Inappropriate For Anyone Other Than Ones Moirail To Help One Treat Such Injuries
But Giving Him The Kit Will Express That You Care About His Health And Comfort
He Will Be Grateful
On The Other Prong Please Dont Think Too Much About The Fact That We Are Saving Your Matches With Karkat Until The End Of The Roster Each Week
The Rest Of Us Strange And Troublesome Aliens Find The Intensity Of Your Fights Mortifyingly Intimate And Emotionally Exposed
At this point, however, Rose has begun to notice the care you are taking with her hatchmate. Or, potentially, Dave has said something to her. You don't pretend to understand the bizarre, apparently unromantic nature of Siblingship anymore than you would try to make sense of their alien taboos. It is simply something you have come to accept.
The next time you offer your unasked for but often heeded advice, it is with a deep plastic tray full of sealed bottles of chemicals. And, instead of being delivered to Dave's respite block, they are planted on a bare table in a lab you had assumed unused. It takes a fair bit of maneuvering to avoid catching the hook of your horn on the various wires hanging taut across its length.
Rose assures you that this is Dave's “dark room,” although the red light is quite relaxing, in your opinion, and not particularly dark. She also promises that these are the very same chemicals he is always alchemizing after he has been clicking his wholly mechanical camera everywhere. Humans, it seems, do not have digital cameras or grubs bred to excrete precisely mixed ratios of developing agents. You don't call it quaint, but you think it regardless.
I Know For A Fact That I Have Explained The Nature Of Controlled Positioning Of Anothers Movements To You Before So I Will Try To Be More Obvious
Has It Occurred To You To Allow Him To Control You Instead
The last of the gift/lesson combinations you give Dave is the one you are most proud of. It has taken you several perigrees of combining and recombining any number of codes and objects. Self help guides stolen from Tavros's former block. Documentaries about Alternian fauna from Nepeta's, and Alternian histories from Eridan's. Your own rather especially sordid novels, rife with the sort of detailed imagery that could make even the most experienced troll blush furiously. The western Human-standard Alternian dictionary you and Rose produced in an attempt to teach each other more about your respective worlds. Some of Terezi's legislacerative study manuals, dedicated to reading the faces and bodies of trolls on trial to determine the specific nature of their guilt and crimes.
Rather than a note, you merely translate the jagged alternian script of the data grub's title into the dialect of Human that Rose and Dave both read- as opposed to the ones that seem to be unique to one or the other.
A Comprehensive And Interactive Guide To Understanding The Implicit Information Held In Posture And Expression When Communicating With Alternian Trolls Including Threats Flirtations And Cultural References
You think that is probably explanation enough.
The first time Dave angles his chin trollishly down during an argument- instead of that ridiculous human habit of exposing extra neck when they're about to start a fight- you consider it a victory. Karkat is just staring, and you're fairly certain it's not because Vriska and Dave arguing is particularly entrancing.
That Rose, Vriska and Terezi finally stop having to complain about the way they keep parading their nascent relationship all over the meteor's so-called public blocks is merely a bonus.