Chapter Text
“Omg Dave, what about about this one?”
“She’s turning sixteen, Roxy, not six.”
The day before Nep’s birthday party Dave realized that he should probably get her a gift. Unsure how to shop for a girl he asked Rose to come with him but she told him she already made Nepeta a gift and was planning to go out with Kanaya later in the day, so Dave went with Roxy instead.
They had been walking around the mall for a few hours, hopping from one store to the next.
“Come on, at this rate just get her a gift card or something,” Roxy huffed. She put down the sparkly mermaid lip gloss set from one of the stands at Claire’s next to the matching furred diaries and compact hair brushes. “Do you even know what she likes?”
“Uhh…” Dave looked up at his sister, locking eye contact between sunglasses. He spun away from her and she turned to keep sorting through unicorn hair ties and sparkly jewelry.
turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]
TG: yo dude what does your sister like
TG: cause im getting nowhere here
TG: ive been stuck in this mall so long its getting kinda subliminal
TG: dude
TG: bro
TG: cmon
TG: i dont think its sparkly mercreatures from the depths of a preteen subconcious but who am i to tell
CG: SHUT UP DIPSHIT.
CG: NO, MY SISTER DOES NOT LIKE SPARKLY MERCREATURES.
CG: ARE YOU IN A FUCKING CLAIRE’S OR SOMETHING?
TG: maybe
TG: howd you know
TG: you uh frequent here often
CG: NOT ANYMORE, BUT WHEN MY SISTERS WERE YOUNGER YEAH.
TG: you sure it was just your sisters
TG: or do you secretly have a deep and devoted love towards beanie babies and sugary looking lip glosses that have probably wreaked some kids digestive tract
TG: is this where you get all your edgy eyeshadow and guyliner
TG: does claires have some sort of secret back alley emo section saved for the most elite members
TG: aka you and a bunch of twelve year old girls
TG: sounds kinda creepy honestly
CG: WHAT THE SHIT ARE YOU ON ABOUT?
CG: I HAVEN’T BEEN INSIDE A FUCKING CLAIRE’S SINCE I WAS 14 YOU IDIOT/\
CG: AND I DON’T WEAR EYESHADOW.
TG: sure
TG: you still havent answered my question tho man
CG: OH, RIGHT.
CG: SHE MAINLY LIKES CATS AND STUFF.
TG: so like cat what
TG: cat stuffed animals stickers weird cat ears
CG: EH, AS LONG AS IT’S A CAT SHE’LL PROBABLY LIKE IT.
TG: okay cool
TG: roxy calling me gotta go
CG: BYE.
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]
“Yeah, Rox?” Dave put his phone back into his pocket and looked over to his sister who was rummaging through little bins full of discounted junk.
“Are you done click-clacking on your phone, ‘cause I’m starving?”
“ I was talking to Karkat, but sure, we could go.”
“Finally-” she said, drawing out the “i.”
“Just give me a sec.”
Dave went to the back of the store where they had all their stuffed animals. He looked through them till he found a suitable kitty beanie baby. Its name was Sneaky and it was for some reason Halloween-themed despite it still being summer. It was perfect.
——————————————————————
The next day Dave didn’t wake up until after noon. He had been up late playing Monopoly with his siblings, which was an awful idea and should never be repeated. Still, he had great faith in his body clock to wake him up at just the right time he needed. Today, it had failed him.
Nepeta’s “Supurr Pawsome Purrthday Pool Pawty” (as was stated on the little banner Karkat had sent him last night) was supposed to start at 11 am, which means he was already an hour late. No big deal, really, cool kids always arrive stylishly late. But not to their friend’s/crush’s sister’s birthday pawties. And especially not when going to this pawty was supposed to make up for avoiding said friend/crush for weeks.
Dave rushed out of his bed and put on one of his shirts and some swim shorts. After spending a few seconds to calm himself down to perfect strider-stoicism he walked out of his room to greet the family. Rose wasn’t there, which was probably to be expected. He just wished she would have woken him up before she left.
He gave a few “hello”s and “good morning”s to the rest of his siblings who were sitting in the living room. Dave grabbed Nepeta’s birthday present which he had wrapped in some old wrapping paper from last Christmas. He made his way out the door and began the obnoxiously long walk to Karkat’s house.
The banner Karkat had sent to him told Dave to just walk through the back gate. The backyard wasn’t huge, but it was still decently sized. Plus incredibly packed.
The girl that Dave assumed was Nepeta (given the big birthday girl sticker she had attached to her shirt) was running around the grass with some other dude with a water gun. Dave couldn’t tell if the guy had already been sprayed a couple of times or if he was just that sweaty.
There was also this kid with a nerdy-looking space helmet and a girl in red sunglasses that Dave recognized from the skate park. Rose was there too, sitting at a table and sipping on Kool-Aid pouches with Kanaya. A little bit away from them was another girl with red sunglasses, these ones more oval, and next to her was Karkat.
He was wearing black pool shorts with little, red crab patterns and a similar baggy shirt to the ones he wears all the time. Dave kind of wished he wasn’t. Wait what. Who said that? Not Dave Strider, that's who.
Dave placed down his gift on a table that already held a bunch of others and walked over to Karkat, making sure to flip off Rose on the way over.
“Hey Kitkat, what's up?
“You’re an hour late you know.”
“Fashionably so.”
“Sure.”
The girl in the red sunglasses patted Karkat’s shoulder and gave Dave a large grin that bordered on malicious.
“Hiii, I’m Terezi. One of Karkat’s friends.”
“Sup, name’s Dave.”
“Oh, I know that already. Me and Karkat were just talking about you before you decided to waltz on over.”
Karkat slapped Terezi’s hand off his shoulder and put a finger up to his mouth, shooshing.
“Damn, talking shit about me. I’m heartbroken.”
“Is it really ‘shit talking’ if it's accurate, Strider?”
“Of course, 'cause there's not shit on me that could ever be claimed accurately.”
“Are you sure about that? Let me remind you that you’re late.”
“And let me remind you, fashionably late.”
“Really? Rose was here an hour before you. You’re telling me that you decided to stay behind just so you could be ‘cool’.”
“Why’d you put cool in quotes.”
Karkat raised an eye at Dave and scoffed.
“Maybe ‘cause you're a loser who could never be claimed as cool no matter how much you wanna joke about irony, which half the time isn't even irony itself.”
“I’m cooler than a dumbass wearing a shirt to a pool party.”
“You literally have a shirt on!”
“Well I just got here, you want me to walk down the street tits out?”
“Why does it matter? No one has even gone in the pool yet so why do you care?”
Uuuh, shit.
“Thought this was pool pawty.”
“Did you just say ‘pawty’?”
“No.”
Terezi laughed (very manically one might add) (this girl was totally evil) and said, “Come on cool kid, *we* can pawty.” She then grabbed Dave by the arm and dragged him over to the poolside.
She was already wearing swim shorts and a rash guard so she just right in, sending out a big wave of water and splashing it all over Dave. Over near some other tables, another boy who Dave was pretty sure was Karkat’s brother yelled at her not to do that as it was dangerous and would make the floor slippery. She stuck her tongue out at him and paddled up to Dave.
“You comin’ in or not?”
“Oh uh, don't really feel like it.”
“Really?” she laughed, “Lol. Sucks to suck.”
She then back stroked off to the other end, presumably to splash water at other unsuspecting children. Soon after Karkat walked over.
“It’s so fucking hot out here.”
“Maybe if you-”
“Shut it. Wanna go to my room?”
“You sure? Your sis won’t get mad you ditched her?”
“Eh, she’ll be fine. She’s busy terrorizing Equius soo.”
“Okay, cool.”
Then *Karkat* grabbed Dave by the arm. It was far less rough than when Terezi did it, more like he was leading Dave than dragging him. His hands were slightly rough but not rigged like Dave’s. The black nail polish on his fingernails was beginning to chip and there was already space between the polish and the cuticle. Looking up Dave noticed that Karkat was wearing eyeliner even now. It swept under his eye and was sort of smudged, making his dark circles look just a little better. They were still noticeable though and Dave wondered when the last time Karkat had slept was, or if he just always stayed up late.
When they were halfway to the patio door another lady walked out. She was an older lady with long black hair.
“Karkat? Come to the table darling, we're about to eat.”
“Oh, okay ma.”
Karkat let go of Dave’s arm and turned back around.
“Uh sorry, maybe later?”
“Sure.”
Instead, they walked over to the table where Rose and Kanaya were already sitting. Rose greeted him and Dave raised a dramatic eyebrow, giving her the side-eye. She just smiled and continued talking with Kanaya. The older lady (KK’s mom) returned a bit later, putting down a bunch of plates of stuff Dave didn’t recognize. It all looked like food though, so he ate it.
He’d honestly never seen that much stuff prepared for one person, or ever really. Nor this many people. Now they were all at the table, Dave could tell just how many people were there. It had to be over twenty. The helmet kid and his girlfriend were sitting on an opposite end, next to Karkat was Terezi and some other kid with a lisp. There were also other kids sitting around the pool, including Nepeta and her sweaty friend (Equius?).
Dave never really celebrated his birthday. He definitely never had a party like this. His friends would get his gifts and send them over mail, and his sisters would come down sometimes but they weren't always able to. Dirk didn’t know how to bake, so he never had a cake. The only time he ate sweets like that was when June’s dad would make them, and Dave had only visited June a few times.
By the time Dave finished eating it was a little bit past two. Karkat had gotten up a bit ago and was over by the pool with his sister. He looked over to Rose but she was still eating, spending most of her time talking with Kanaya in a strange back-and-forth sarcastic flirting dance.
Dave got up and began walking towards Karkat. When he was just a bit a ways away he slowed his pace, sneaking his way up to him. Karkat was sitting, legs dangling into the pool, so Dave crouched down before placing his hands on Karkat’s shoulders, attempting to scare him into the pool.
“Ah! What the fuck!” Karkat jolted a bit, but he didn’t fall in.
“Dang it, that’s too bad.” Dave tsked, draping his arms around Karkat’s neck from behind.
“What are you doing shitface?” Nepeta was sitting there too, looking between Dave and Karkat with an inquisitive expression.
“Oh nothing, just .. this.”
Dave placed his hands on Karkats waist and with a light push he tumbled into the water. Karkat resurfaced a few seconds later, eyeliner far more smudged than it had previously been.
“You asshole! What in the shit agh fuck! What is wrong with you?!”
“Come on Karkitty, don’t be rude. It was just a little shove.” Nepeta was giggling but trying to hide her smile behind her hand.
“It wasn’t asking you Nepeta.”
Slowly, Karkat drugged himself out of the water, soaking the ground in the process. It was very inelegant, despite what movies would have you believe.
“Huh, geez. Now my stupid shirt is sticking to my skin. Thanks a lot, ass wipe.”
Dave was about to respond when Karkat pulled his shirt up and off his body. Karkat was, a bit chubbier than Dave had expected. He had always assumed Karkat wore baggy clothes as some kind of style. It’s not like Karkat filled out his shirt, but it was more than Dave thought he did. Is that why Karkat always got upset about taking his shit off? He looked nice. Hot even. Uh. Yeah. That’s right. Were owning it this time. Karkat was really hot, okay? Super, and not just temperature wise yknow. Absolutely. Smoking. Like a suburban father’s Fourth of July barbeque or a house after the owner left their oven on or a sexy mob wife with a cigarette holder or-
“God this shits running into my eye.”
“I told you you could borrow mine Kat, it’s waterproof.”
“But yours doesn’t smudge like mine.”
“Just use eyeshadow then, mama has some and so does Meu.”
“Ugh, fine.”
Karkat got up and began walking back to the house when Dave put his hand out to him.
“What?”
“Can I come with? You said we would hang out in your room.”
“After you tried to drown me?
“Uh, yeah.”
Karkat sighed, pushing back his wet hair with his fingers.
“Fine, but I gotta fix this shit first,” he said, pointing to his eyes. “You know, thanks to you?”
“You're welcome.”
He scoffed and started towards the door. He didn’t grab Dave's arm this time, but he was pretty sure he was supposed to follow. Karkat walked up the stairs and into a bedroom that looked like it belonged to Nepeta. On top of the bed was a large white cat. It took a second for Dave to realize that it was real. It was curled atop some olive green blankets and leopard print pillows.
“That’s Pounce, she’s my mom’s cat,” Karkat said, breaking Dave from his kitty-cat-focused trance. “She’s old as hell. Plus she doesn’t like strangers so it best not to try and pet her.”
“Okay.”
Karkat rummaged through some drawers before finding Nepeta’s eyeliner pencil. He then went to his mom's room for her eyeshadow. Dave just waited outside. After getting everything he needed Karkat then led Dave to his bedroom.
The walls were a dark gray and plastered with different band posters. Karkat walked over to his desk and picked up a small handheld mirror before grabbing a towel to sit on the corner of his bed. The covers were black but his blanket was red and fluffy. Dave sat next to him before lying down close to the middle. They didn’t speak, but this time it didn’t feel as awkward. Karkat silently reapplied his eye makeup before closing his mirror and placing it on a bedside table.
He then got up and started looking through his dresser.
“Close your eyes for a second.”
“Huh?”
“Close em.”
Dave just rolled around and shut his eyes. After a few moments, Karkat sat back next to him on the bed. He had changed out his swim shorts for regular ones and had put back on a red and black striped sweater. It was a little sad but Dave didn't really care, as a second Karkat was lying done next to him. Well, he was a little higher up on the bed, lying more on the pillows, but it was close.
Karkat was on his phone, seemingly messaging someone, probably Kanaya.
“I broke up with my girlfriend last week.”
“Wait, what? What happened?”
Karkat put his phone done almost immediately, now drawn in by the discussion of relationship drama.
“Uh, we kind of just, grew apart I think.”
“Really? Did she get mad at you? Did she cry or did she not care?”
“She cried. I think she was a little mad at me too. Tried to crush my bones in a bear hug.”
“But you're still on good terms with her?”
“Yeah. We've been friends since forever. Don’t really wanna change that.”
“Hmm, but do you still like her?”
“Sort of.”
“You think you'll get back together someday?”
“Um, probably not.”
“Do you want to?”
“... No.”
Dave raised his arms, stretching himself out onto the bed. He shimmied himself over to Karkat, resting his head near the other boy's chest. Karkat was looking off towards the ceiling while Dave was looking off towards him, gaze blocked by his sunglasses.
“Why not?”
“Why not what?”
“Why don’t you wanna get back with her?”
“Oh… I- uh. Well. I kinda like… someone else now.”
“Thought you guys broke up last week.”
“Yeah, but I’ve liked this other person for a while.”
“How long.”
“I don’t know, two, maybe three months.”
“That’s not very long though. What makes you so sure? That it was worth it?”
“Worth it? I think it was. I think I was drifting away from her even before. I just never realized it. The way I liked her. It was different from before.”
“Then how are you sure you like this… new person.”
“I just am. I’m sure of it. I like them. I really, really like-”
“Dave.”
Karkat turned over, meeting Dave’s eyes behind his shades. Just to be sure though, Dave removed his sunglasses and placed them next to him.
“Yeah, Kat.”
“You’re kinda bad at this.”
“You think so.”
“Take it from someone who’s fumbled countless shitty confessions, you suck.”
“Wow. Harsh but probably true.”
“Definitely true.”
“How could you tell. Mr. Ace Ventura.”
“I didn’t, until just fucking now when you slipped your stupid sunglasses off.”
“Ah, so the Strider-eye-moment worked?”
“I don’t know, what was the point of your ‘Strider-eye-moment’?”
“To make you fall for me I guess.”
“Then no, you dork.”
“Oh.”
Dave grabbed onto his shades to put them back on but Karkat placed a hand on top of his.
“I didn’t- because I already like you, Dumbass. Let me finish my fucking sentences.”
“Heh, then when was it.”
“When was it for you?”
“I asked first, Kitkat.”
“Fine. I kind of always had a crush on you. Nothing crazy but, I just thought you were attractive.”
“Wow, shallow.
“Whatever, fuck you. When we started hanging out more it never went away. I just kept building up more and more reasons to like you.”
“Yeah, you do that to me too. You and funny, cute little face and stupidly hot body.”
“You think my body’s hot?”
Karkat raised an eyebrow, seemingly honestly surprised more than anything.
“Super fucking hot.”
“Okay, that's officially the dumbest shit you've ever said.”
“No, it's not, I’ve said some weird shit okay, don't discredit my genius.”
“Sure.”
“It’s not though. I like you a lot Karkat. A stupid, crazy amount. That includes your bod.”
Karkat sighed, taking his hand off Dave’s and putting it back to his side.
“Sure. Fine. Whatever.”
“So, you gonna...”
“Gonna what?”
“You know. Kuuuuh- You know.”
“No? What are you talking about?”
“Kiss. Are you gonna kiss me?”
“Oh! Uh, sure. I mean, if you want me-”
“Unless you wanted me-”
“I mean, I kinda assumed-”
“Yeah.”
“Uh-huh.”
Karkat had folded his fingers together and was now looking at them intently as Dave scanned each line and fold in the pillow next to him. Eventually, Dave sighed and propped himself up on the palms of his hand. He moved up to Karkat who was now looking at him again. Dave placed one shaky hand against Karkat’s cheek and leaned in till their lips touched.
It was a quick and soft kiss, but as Dave pulled away Karkat grabbed his sides and pulled him back in. They kissed for a while, slower are more enamored than before. Karkat tasted like coconut ice cream and rainy nights. Dave was pretty sure he tasted like spit. Karkat didn't seem to mind though, lacing his finger into locs and pulling him deeper and deeper into his embrace. After what felt like hours and five minutes all in one Karkat's mother finally called from downstairs, announcing it was time to sing Happy Birthday.
Karkat looked a little annoyed when he had to pull away, but Dave assured him that they could come back and do it all again.
"I mean, if you want to that is."
"Of course I do, Dave."
"You say my name like it's some kind of slur."
"Might as well be. A slur for shitty asswipes who talk nonsense and still haven't asked me to be their boyfriend."
"Oh, shit. Do you?"
"Do I what?" You need to be more specific."
"Okay. Do you wanna be my boyfriend?"
"Yes, I do."
"Cool."
Dave drummed his finger on his leg and looked off. Karkat flicked him and pulled him back in for one more kiss.
"Karkat!!! Hurry up!" yelled Nepeta from downstairs.
"Give me a second, geez!!"
Karkat huffed but pulled himself up off the bed anyway. Dave followed him out, shades placed back on his face and hands stuffed in his pockets. Karkat reached over and grabbed Dave's hand, meshing it with his own. Nepeta called one more time from downstairs and Karkat opened the door, walking out with Dave hand in hand.