Chapter Text
From the moment you see them, it pisses you off.
It’s a Thursday after school and Terezi is lounging near the big moldy couch in the rec room. You say 'near' because instead of sitting on it like a normal fucking human being, she has instead chosen to use it as her own personal backrest, arms draped over the cushions to remind you that yes this is her spot, and no, you can't sit down. Even if she isn't going to. One of her legs is folded in to form a lap, while the other sticks out straight in front of her, like she’s trying to take up as much room as possible. Which, now that you think about it.. she probably is.
Perpendicular to her, with his head in Terezi's lap and his legs all but blocking the doorway, is the second most annoying person in your life. Sprawled across the floor, he rests his head on Terezi's thigh, tapping idly on his phone while his right knee sways lazily to the beat of the ear-bustingly shitty music he insists on playing whenever he’s in your home.
“Sup Karkles.” he says without looking at you.
Make that the most annoying person.
“What are you doing here?” you ask, standing frozen in the doorway like a dumbass.
“Hiding from my social worker.” he replies with a snort. “What else?”
“Okay, better question: why the fuck are you doing that?!”
In answer, Dave lifts his left arm (which is bandaged) then lets it drop to the floor lazily, still without looking up from his stupid iphone.
Terezi grins playfully, showing teeth. Her clawed fingers comb idly through Dave’s blonde hair.
“What's got you in a tizzy, Karkles?” she asks.
“Nothing.” you snap.
You enter the room and settle down on the arm rest of the couch, since glaring at Terezi until she moves isn't really an option. She just shrugs and goes back to playing with Dave’s hair. Without meaning to, your eyes slide down to his arm. Not that you care, but hasn’t he shown up with injuries like that before?
“So is your brother abusing you or what?” you ask.
“What?” Dave laughs and shakes his head.
“Well, is he?!” you say, getting more pissed off by the minute.
“He's not. We just spar sometimes.”
“How is that better?” you mutter, but Dave isn't listening. He’s either too absorbed in whatever he's doing on his phone, or pretending to be. “Won't they get suspicious if you're not there?” you ask instead. He shrugs. By which you mean, his shoulder moves a millimeter.
“Probably. But Bro'll come up with something. It’s better than showing up like this.“ he says, and he has a point. Besides the bandage on his wrist, you can see the beginnings of a black eye showing from behind his shades and a yellowing bruise poking out of the collar of his shirt. You’re sure if he were to roll up his sleeves, there’d be more.
“Hmmm..” You continue to frown in disapproval, and Dave continues to ignore you, until finally Terezi sighs and breaks the silence,
“What do you want, Karkat? Your mega grumpy vibe is messing with our chill party.”
“I want to watch a movie.” you say, snapping out of your momentary lapse of sympathy. “Can't you two go somewhere else?”
“No.” Terezi states flatly at the same time as Dave says, “Sure. We can move.”
Frowning, Terezi opens her mouth to protest, but before she’s able to speak, Dave manages to get to his feet, grab his iPod speakers, and start moving in the direction of her bedroom. Because holy fuck, that kid is fast.
“Blarr.. fine.!” Terezi finally grumbles, scrambling up after him with a last glare in your direction. “Hey! Wait!” she complains at Dave, who is already half-way down the hall.
“Follow the sound of the music.” he jokes and, giggling, Terezi holds her arms out in front of her to mime fumbling around blindly, as if she doesn’t know exactly where she’s going after 14 years of living in this dump.
Terezi has been in the house longer than anyone. A straight up orphan-from-birth, she was in and out of foster homes right up until she went blind. But ever since the accident, people haven’t exactly been lining up to take her in. You’re weirdly okay with this. Like the stains on the carpet or the crappy N64, she’s become a permanent fixture here. And it’s nice to know there’ll always be a familiar face to welcome you back, with her psychopathic grin, when yet another foster home goes south.
Dave, on the other hand, was adopted a while ago by the guy he calls his brother. You’re not sure if the two are actually related, but you heard he tried to adopt Dave before and failed due to a disagreement about whether he could provide a safe home or not. That, presumably, is why Dave is avoiding his social worker.
You flop onto the couch as the two of them, their muffled voices, and the shitty music all disappear into Terezi’s room. Probably for sloppy make-outs. You hit play and try to tell yourself that you’re glad. That you prefer to watch movies alone. That some part of you doesn’t wish Terezi was out here watching (well, listening) with you, instead of in there with him.
---
When the movie finishes, you sit through the credits and continue to stare at the screen even after the clip that plays over the DVD menu has looped four times already. In the end, it’s your growling stomach that finally makes you stand up. It’s already 10 O’ clock, but you don’t feel like sleeping, so you head into the kitchen and grab a new bag of popcorn from the cupboard.
You hear footsteps on the stairs as you’re putting the bag in the microwave. Must be Terezi and Dave.. you think, bitterly. You’re only half right.
“Oh, hey Kitkat.” Dave says, leaning over the kitchen counter. “Your movie finish yet?”
“It finished ages ago. What have you been doing all this time?” you ask, by which you mean, ‘why the hell are you still here?’
“Just chilling. You know, listening to music, talking..” Read: sloppy make-out sessions. “You can join us if you like.” You suppress the urge to say 'hell no' and just go with 'no' instead. “Oh, well, cool..” he says, still lingering in the kitchen.
You turn around, wondering for the second time what he’s still doing here. “Do you want something?” you ask. You can't imagine he's forgotten where anything is, or that he'd bother to ask for permission before taking it.
“Nah, not really. Nepeta came in and started talking to Terezi and now the two of them are playing some kind of roleplaying game, so she's sort of hands-full at the moment.”
“You're not going to join them?”
“Not really my thing.” He shrugs. Not yours either. No matter how many times or how insistently the two of them tried to convince you to play with them. “..I was talking to Jade earlier -she says hi by the way-” (You have no idea who Jade is or why the fuck she would say anything to you) “But she logged off a while ago, so..” he trails off. You get the gist of what he's saying. He's got nothing better to do.
“So go home.” You have zero shits to give about his lack of entertainment.
“Nah. Bro's out still out. Won't be back till morning.”
“Don't you have a spare key?”
“I forgot it.” he lies with a small, sheepish grin that still somehow manages to look impossibly smug.
You know full well he intended to sleep over here in the first place, probably so he and Terezi can have sloppy make outs all night long. But he can’t just show up with a sleeping bag and a backpack like a normal fucking human being, no. Coming prepared wouldn’t be ‘cool’.
So instead he comes over to “hang out” for “a while”. And inevitably he and Terezi end up talking or playing video games until 2am, and then it’s: ‘Oh no, it’s much too late now. Why don’t you stay over, Dave? You can sleep in my room, Dave. Dave, do you want to borrow a T-shirt? Karakat, can you lend him some clothes? Oh, that’s right, you’re too short! Hahahahahaha!!!!!’
Dave waves a hand in front of your face. “Uh.. dude, are you okay?”
“Fine, why do you ask?” you say, digging your nails into your leg.
“Well, your popcorn is burning.” he says and flicks a finger towards the microwave.
Shit!
You quickly open the microwave, but you can already tell it’s too late. You tear open the bag and a cloud of disgustingly acrid smelling steam hits you in the face. Well, fuck. Pouring the popcorn into a bowl, you try to salvage what you can, separating the burnt-black pieces from the light brown only-slightly-burnt ones. Surprisingly, Strider comes over to help you.
“What are you even doing here?” you grumble at him quietly.
“I told you. I needed somewhere to lie low for a while, and TZ said I could stay over. She figured no one would notice one more kid in the house.” Indeed, no one had.
“But what are you doing down here?”
He turns and fixes you with a long stare. At least, you think he does, it’s impossible to tell with his stupid glasses on. God those things are annoying. How can he even see with them on this late at night?
“I thought we could watch a movie together.” he answers, finally.
For a moment, all you can do is stare at him. Whatever asshole-ish response you were expecting, this was not it. You narrow your eyes at him. “Why?”
“What? Can’t a guy just enjoy a good rom-com with his bro? Do we need to call the NCIS down here every time a-”
“We’re not bros.” you interrupt him. “And you hate rom coms.”
“I can like them ironically.” He counters.
You turn around to glare suspiciously.. At your own reflection. In those stupid shades. Damn, it’s hard to intimidate someone when you’re forced to watch how ridiculous you look.
“Fine.” You growl. “But if you say a fucking word, I’m kicking you out.”
“Deal!”
---
Amazingly, Dave keeps his promise and doesn't interrupt once. You glance over every now and then when the movie reaches a lull. His eyes are glued to the screen. One hand absently drags popcorn into his mouth. He's on the floor again, cradling the bowl to his chest. You can't help wondering what his angle is on all this. You've never seen him so quiet before. Did Terezi put him up to this? And if so, what does that mean? Did she feel sorry for you? Was she trying to piss you off? Or does she actually want the two of you to get along? And if so, was that because she wanted her friend to like you, or you to like her friend? Was she trying to get your opinion on Dave, or his opinion on you?
“Hey, Dave..” you mutter, but he doesn’t turn. Surely he can’t be that interested in the movie. “Dave. Dave! Hey Asshole!”
“Holy crap KK, you don't have to yell.” Suppressing a shudder at his newest nickname for you, you turn to glare.
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“You said if I talked during the movie, you'd kick me out.”
You roll your eyes and look away. You can’t believe you were about to ask for advice from this asshole.
The next hour and a half is passed in silence. When the movie is over, you turn. “There, that one wasn’t so-” Dave is fast asleep, his face smushed up against the couch cushion.
His mouth is part-way open and his glasses are pushed up on his forehead, slightly askew. He looks like a total dork when he’s sleeping. For some reason, the thought makes you smile. You wish your phone had a camera on it so you could take a picture of him. You even half consider getting him a blanket before you switch off the lights.