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Karkat plopped down onto the couch, setting his husktop down onto the small table in front of him. It was...late? Early? Gog, who fucking new what time it was on this gogforsaken meteor anyways. While alarm clocks and daylight weren't there to signify sunrise or nightfall, and the humans were diurnal, everyone had kind of fallen into a sort of common sleep schedule, because, Karkat guessed, the need for sleep was common across most species. Unfortunately, he was not exempt from this rule. Fuck, the bags under his eyes were growing by the day, if that was even fucking possible at this point.
How long had it been since he’d slept? He honestly had no fucking clue. The days (well, “days” as in whatever felt like a day to everyone) all start to blur together after an all-nighter or two, even more so when the only sleep you do manage to get are fitful stretches of an hour or two, interrupted by-
No. Karkat didn’t want to think about that right now.
So instead, he pulled up a romcom. Not one of his favourites, but a good one. He wasn’t a huge fan of the way the main protagonist’s kismesis treated her (he like, DEFINITELY confuses platonic hate and pitch rivalry and it’s literally never addressed as an issue), but he could ignore that because this film did an excellent job portraying vacillation from pale to flushed, and how with a lack of open communication, both members of the relationship could be-
Karkat’s thoughts were interrupted by footsteps, and as he turned his head to inspect the source of the noise, he was met with a bottle of apple juice to the face.
“What the EVERLOVING FUCK was THAT for, bitchass??” Karkat yelled, bristling with annoyance. Seriously, what the fuck was that for?
Karkat’s eyes focused on the stupidest fucking blonde he’d ever met (not that he’d met many), wearing the stupidest fucking shades he’d ever seen. Dave fucking strider. Of course, who else would ruin his alone time with a BOTTLE of APPLE JUICE to the FACE?
“Woah Karbro, you might wanna take down your volume a few notches.” said Dave in that infuriatingly calm tone of his as he walked over to Karkat, hands in his pockets. “Like, turn that dial all the way down dude, you’re so loud, it’s like you’ve got the speaker turned to max and the downstairs neighbours are just trying to sleep, man. Karkles, my bro, my homeslice, I get that you wanna have an epic solo dance party but the volume has GOT to-”
“Okay I am NOT going to listen to your stupid fucking extended metaphor. I don’t have time for your asinine bullshit. What I would like to know is why the fuck THAT”, Karkat pointed to the offending bottle of apple juice as it rolled slowly across the floor, “just crashed into my fucking FACE.”
Dave shrugged his shoulders as he lifted his hands in a sort of ‘I dunno’ gesture. He didn’t have a real answer ready, he had just wanted to get Karkat’s attention, and hey, it had worked! He wasn’t exactly sure why he was so set on pissing the everloving shit out of his dear Karbro whenever he had the chance, but hey, he was pretty damn good at it. Karkat’s face was starting to flush, as it usually did when he was angry. Dave thought it was almost cute how quickly the troll got riled up.
Almost.
Definitely not thought. Nah man, they were just bros. Definitely. Dave had never seen this grumpy fuck as cute. Absolutely not.
“Thought you’d be thirsty after watching all those romcoms of yours and not actually getting any. It’s okay dude, you can admit it.” That should do it. Tantrum in 3...2...1…
Karkat couldnt believe the audacity of this fucking dimwit. He felt his face going bright red with anger. The nerve. Karkat was vaguely aware that he was walking directly into a trap, because for whatever reason Dave was always trying to piss him off, and it was annoying as hell. However, he didn’t care. If Dave wanted angry, he’d get angry.
“For the love of FUCK Dave, why do you always go out of you GODDAMN WAY to bother me? Would you mind just fucking RIGHT off and leaving me to my movies? And YOU’RE hardly one to insult MY relationship status. What, do you have some SECRET MATESPRIT I don’t fucking know about? Ugh, ‘Thirsty’ my ass. ANYWAYS, what the FUCK is your ISSUE, and why the everloving FUCK are you awake? Do you live only to make MY fucking life harder? You are SUCH a fucking SHITPRESS. Fuck you, Strider. Fuck you.”
Dave held back a smirk. Tantrum: achieved. But he wasn’t done yet, and this is the only thing he could really occupy his time with at this hour. I mean, everyone else was asleep, and while he should probably get to sleep as well, he just really wasn't feeling it tonight. Insomnia was a bitch, and making Karkat fly off the handle was way more entertaining than sitting with his own thoughts. He didn’t want to go down another spiral- that sucked. Yeah, he wanted to stick around karkat for as long as he could, he decided.
“Nah Karkles, I don’t really feel like fucking off quite yet. And, for the record, my schedule doesn’t revolve around bothering you. I’m a busy man, Karkat, and I’m taking time out of my Very Demanding Schedule to come hang with you right now. You should be honoured.”
Karkat ignored the nickname, as he always did.“Oh yes Dave, I am SO honoured to be in your GODLY PRESENCE. Let me GROVEL at your KNEES.”
Dave smiled. Karkat hadn’t stormed off, and he hadn’t repeated his demand for Dave to leave either, which, naturally, Dave took as an invitation to stay.
“Scoot over Karbro, I wanna see whatever shitty romcom you’re watching up close.”
Surprisingly, Karkat did without any argument, and didn’t complain when Dave sat down alarmingly close to him, despite the ample space on the couch. You’d almost think Karkat wanted to spend time close to Dave.
Almost.
Before Dave could even ask about the plot, Karkat started his rant. He talked on and on and on about the intricacies of the plot, which lead him to talking about how those intricacies applied to real life, and then to misunderstandings about the quadrants in real life, and honestly, Dave couldn’t really recall what else karkat had talked about. The troll sputtered on a bit more about his hyperfixation, and Dave listened. Well, he didn’t pay attention, but Karkat’s voice faded into background noise, and Dave liked it, observing the troll’s face as his yellowy eyes stared at the screen, focused as he rattled off about romance. Dave could almost call him beautiful right now.
Almost.
Karkat eventually talked himself out, and for the rest of the movie, the two didn’t exchange many words, except for a few mocking comments and questions from Dave, and a few fake-annoyed insults from Karkat. As the movie reached its climax, Karkat leaned in closer to the screen, and he felt tears pricking in his eyes. He felt himself immersed in the plot, and he really felt the emotions of the protagonist. He always got like this, incredibly attached to fictional characters. It had always been this way for him, and he wasn’t sure why.
As the music swelled and the protagonist finally confessed her flushed feelings for her moirail, who had been secretly feeling the same way for the ENTIRE film, Karkat felt his heart rate quicken, and when the love interest began to cry, Karkat cried with her.
As the movie drew to a close, Karkat noticed he had been gripping onto the fabric of…?...OH WAIT FUCK THAT’S DAVE’S CAPE ISNT IT- oh fuck oh fuck oh FUCK there was no way he was getting out of this one without Dave teasing the everloving shit out of him and he has to say something right fucking now or-
Dave watched as the movie reached it’s emotional climax- no, that was a lie. Dave was watching Karkat, actually, and fuck, when had this angry, grumpy son of a bitch gotten so fucking adorable? Like holy shit, he had never seen this side of his dear Karbro- eyes wide, brimming with red tears threatening to spill as he kept his eyes glued to the screen and and...grabbing Dave’s cape? And fucking holding it up to his chest like a blanket or some shit? Dave had half a mind to tease him for it, but he was too busy watching the boy before him overtaken by emotion at a shitty romcom and holy shit he could not believe that Karkat had a soft side and dear fucking lord why was his face going hot-
Dave was glad that the darkness of his skin doesn’t reveal the warmth in his face quite so easily as Karkat's did.
As the movie ended, Karkat seemed to drift back to earth- er, well, y’know- and realize exactly what he had been grasping onto. Just as he was winding up to apologize or insult Dave to distract from the situation or god knows what, Dave cut him off. “Damn, that wasn’t quite as shitty as I expected, Kitkat. Still sorta confused about troll romance but I cannot lie, that shit had a bro feelin’ a little sappy. Maybe your taste aint as shit as I always assumed it was.'' Annnnd pause… “Or maybe it is.” and honestly Karkat didn’t have it in him to argue so he just sighed angrily in response.
Dave pretended not to notice how Karkat set his fistfull of Dave’s cape down over his lap, sort of like a blanket.
Karkat pretended that the nickname “Kitkat” didn’t tint his ears and cheeks a light candy red.
“Hey fuckhead, are you done for the night or do you have it in you to watch another one of my ‘shitty romcoms’?” Karkat asked. He really hoped Dave wanted to stay, because now that he had company, he didn’t want to let it go, especially not Daves, for whatever strange reason that he decided not to think about too hard.
Dave very much wanted to watch another shitty romcom with Karkat, but he also wanted the troll to fucking sleep for once. Because he was pissier the more sleep deprived he was. And maybe also because at the end of the day, despite his consistent attempts to enrage Karkat, he cared about the troll. Probably a fair bit more than he let on.
“Karkat, my dude, my bro, I’d love to but you haven't slept in like...days, dude. Don’t you think you should like..at least try to get some sleep? Those eyebags are getting kinda concerning ngl”
Karkat was taken aback by Dave’s suggestion. He wasn’t really used to dave...openly caring about him? This was new and really confusing- but he almost grinned at the positive attention.
Almost.
“Okay, first of all, did you SERIOUSLY just say ngl OUT LOUD? In a FACE to FACE conversation? And second of all…” Karkat paused, deciding how vulnerable was too vulnerable. “...I can’t. I get...nightmares. Really bad ones. And I’d rather avoid them.” Karkat felt unsafe just mentioning the nightmares. When you spend your entire miserable existence fearing for your life, hiding from the drones and fucking praying that you survive, that shit sticks with you. Especially in dreams, and especially when you feel unsafe. Which is practically all the time.
Karkat almost thinks for a moment that he feels safe in Dave’s presence.
Almost.
Dave noticed Karkat’s body language suddenly shift in a manner indicative of fear as he mentioned his nightmares, eyes darting around and shoulders rising. That was one of those things that stayed the same across troll and human biology. The body language was pretty much the same, save for the growling and teeth baring and shit.
A plan popped into Dave's head. Karkat was already tired, yawning every now and again, and eyelids drooping. He just had to make his bro safe and comfortable enough to sleep. That should be easy enough, and if Karkat objected to anything he did, he’d just make up some stupid bulshit about Irony and back off. Easy.
“Aight Kitkat, another romcom it is.”
Karkat explained the plot of the next movie as he pulled it up, tripping over a few words in his exhaustion and kept his ramble uncharacteristically short. Poor thing was exhausted.
Dave waited roughly 15 minutes in (who was he kidding, he waited exactly 15 minutes and 3 seconds in) before pretending to stretch his arms. He felt like putting an arm around Karkat would be WAY too bold and like. Weird of a move, so instead, he tossed his cape around Karkat’s shoulders, like a blanket (unfortunately, this meant pulling the red fabric out of karkat’s lap, but sacrifices had to be made).
Karkat was struggling to pay attention to this movie, which was a sign that he was really, seriously reaching his limit. Suddenly, he felt something gently drape across his shoulders. He tore his eyes from the screen to inspect further, and he found...Dave’s cape? Holy fucking mother of... He felt his face heating up rapidly. Why??? Why the fuck was he so flustered over this?
He looked up to Dave, his calm face illuminated by the light of the screen. “Dave...what are you-”
Dave was not about to let Karkat ruin mission Karkat-goes-to-sleep. “Shhhh, bro, I’m missing out on the movie.”
Dave wasn’t even watching the movie.
They both knew that.
Fuck it. Karkat was going to make the best of this fucking weird situation. He grabbed the edge of the blanket- er, no, cape- and wrapped it tightly around himself, subsequently pulling himself just that much closer to Dave, who was warm. Comfortably so.
Fuck, he was so comfy.
Karkat continued watching the movie, but with the warmth of Dave’s cape, as well as Dave himself (whose leg was absolutely not resting against Karkat’s), he felt himself straining to keep his eyes open. His blinks started getting longer, and he started to close his eyes for longer and longer stretches of time before re-opening them. Eventually, Karkat closed his eyes with the intention of keeping them that way.
Karkat fell against Dave's shoulder, accepting his fate.
Karkat almost didn’t notice Dave’s arm wrapping around him, thumb rubbing slow circles into his shoulder.
Karkat almost didn’t notice Dave gently closing the husktop with his foot, careful not to disturb the sleepy troll too much.
Karkat almost doesn’t feel the weight of Dave’s head leaning back against his comfortably, a gentle, safe weight against his own head.
Karkat almost doesn’t hear Dave softly mutter “g’night, kitkat” into Karkat’s hair.
Karkat almost doesn’t whisper “night, strider” into the juncture of Dave’s neck and shoulder.
Almost.