Work Text:
Dave Strider was perfectly fucking fine and everyone who thought otherwise could go fuck themselves.
He just needed that fucking noise to stop already.
There was something wrong with some machine deep in the meteor. None of them knew quite what it was and no one was feeling up to going all the way down there and messing with heavy machinery in the dark. They wouldn’t have even notice it since none of them bothered with that shit if it wasn’t for the banging.
A loud clanging was echoing through the whole meteor every few minutes. It was fucking annoying and wasn’t even at a regular pace so sometimes it’d stop for almost five minutes before going off again without any warning and Dave swore if it didn’t stop soon he was going to start tearing shit apart until it did.
He couldn’t go down there and fix it though, because he could only imagine how loud it was at the source if it was still sounding all the way out here.
It went off again and Dave felt himself flinch, fingernails he’d already chewed down to nubs clawing into the couch.
He tried playing music to block it out but that just freaked him even more, since he could still just barely hear the clanking and couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
Another bang, and Dave hunched in on himself. It happened much sooner than he’d expected this time, less than a minute had passed. He could feel his breath wanting to speed up so he tried to focus on that instead of waiting for the noise again, working his best to keep it as even as possible.
“I swear to fuck if that shit doesn’t stop soon I’m going to rip my ears off,” Dave shot up at the voice, not realizing anyone else was around. He’d been hanging out in the common’s room with everyone when the banging started, but left pretty soon afterwards.
Karkat walked into the room he’d hidden himself away in. Dave hadn’t even noticed when he’d opened the door. He was about to say something to the troll when the clanging caught him off guard and he ended up curled back in on himself. His hands flew up to cover his ears and fuck he just wanted this to stop.
He didn’t even know why it was freaking him out like this but fuck he hated it so much.
“Whoa, hey are you okay?” Karkat asked, coming over and sitting down next to him. Dave forced himself to nod, too busy keeping his breathing even to actually speak.
“You don’t look it,” he said, and Dave didn’t need to look up at him to imagine the concern on his face. It was pretty clear in his voice that he didn’t believe Dave in the slightest when he said he was alright.
“Just need it to stop,” he managed to mumble out. It was true, he just needed that fucking banging to stop already. It went off again and Dave was just barely able to hold back a small whine building in his throat.
Fuck, he was such an idiot. It was just a sound. He shouldn’t be freaking the fuck out like this.
“Hey, just relax,” Karkat was saying and Dave was tempted to get up and walk away again. He didn’t thing he physically could move from this spot right now though, which was the only thing stopping him. He could hear the uncertainty and worry in Karkat’s voice and fuck that bothered him almost as much as the banging did.
“W-what you talkin about man? I, Fuck, I’m so re-fuck,” Dave wasn’t able to finish his sentence, balling up further when the metal reverberated through the meteor once again.
“Dave, shit, it’s okay,” Karkat insisted and damn it he knew it was okay that’s why this was so stupid.
“I’m fine,” he snapped, hating the way his voice cracked. He was still not looking up, hands clamped over his ears and it was a good thing he’d bitten his nails down so low or else he would have broken the skin by now.
“Okay, okay, just um,” Karkat was muttering but Dave wasn’t paying him much mind. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter when the noise went off again and he wasn’t able to hold back a flinch when Karkat softly placed his hand on Dave’s back. He started running it up and down gently and Dave tried to focus on that instead of the banging.
“Shhh, just breath,” Karkat told him, and it was only then that Dave realized it’d completely forgotten about controlling his breath and was a hair away from full on hyperventilating. He tried his best to get it back under control, not quite succeeding as much as he would have liked, but it was definitely better than he had been.
That didn’t stop the whimper in the back of his throat from finally escaping at the next clang.
“Shoosh, you’re okay. What’s the matter?” Karkat was asking him in a voice much softer than Dave had ever heard him use before. It wasn’t that he’d never spoken softly before, but he’d never been this delicate with him. He’d never needed to be.
Yeah, as they got closer Dave knew he was opening up more and more to Karkat than he ever really had with anyone else. It was strange and he didn’t like thinking about it much, instead just kind of going with a whatever happens, happens view. He just really liked Karkat and was glad he had him as a friend, but this was something else.
He didn’t want Karkat to see him like this. He didn’t want Karkat to think he was weak and pathetic.
He didn’t bother answering his question, instead leaning further into him when the sound went off again. Karkat didn’t seem to mind, wrapping the arm on Dave’s back around him to pull him closer. Dave shifted, pressing into his chest and still not taking his hands away from his ears.
“It’s okay, shhh, you’re okay. I’m here, it’s fine,” Karkat was whispering to him. Dave wasn’t paying too much to what he was actually saying though. Instead he was just trying to focus on the sound of his voice instead of the banging, which seemed to be happening at an increasingly rapid rate.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck please make it stop fuck please,” Dave found himself muttering without meaning to. Karkat simply held him tighter, rubbing at his back again continuing to speak in that calming voice.
“It’ll stop soon, Vriska and Terezi went to go fix it. Just take deep breaths, you’re okay, it’s fine,” Karkat said. None of it was really getting to Dave though, who just took his hands from his ears and wrapped them around Karkat’s torso instead.
He was half a second away from crying at this point and he didn’t even know why. This was dumb he was so fucking dumb he shouldn’t be freaking out it was fine, he was fine, Karkat was right. Those thoughts couldn’t cut their way through the panic though, so he was left a whimpering mess clinging tightly to Karkat.
“Shoosh, you’re safe,” Karkat muttered into his hair. Dave found himself shaking his head because fuck no he wasn’t safe, couldn’t he hear all of that? He needed to get away he didn’t want to fight anymore. He wanted it to stop, why couldn’t he understand that?
“Fuck no please Bro stop it,” the words came tumbling out without thought and he didn’t even realize why he was saying because the noise was nonstop now, just a constant metal banging deafening him. He was shaking and there might have been tears but he couldn’t focus on that instead just clinging to the one holding him like a lifeline.
The absence of the noise was almost as startling at the banging itself. It threw Dave off guard, and he didn’t dare let go of Karkat for fear that it would come back the second he did. The troll was speaking to him but he couldn’t hear any of it over the ringing in his ears.
When that started to die down and several minutes passed in silence Dave slowly pulled himself away from the death grip he had on the troll.
“You okay?” Karkat asked quietly, although it sounded loud in the silence. Dave forced himself to nod, wiping away tears under his shades.
“Yeah, I- fuck, think you can like, not tell anyone about this?” he asked, relief flooding him when Karkat nodded.
“Of course, just, what happened?” he asked, and Dave sighed, leaning forward again to rest his head against Karkat’s chest. He didn’t even care anymore, he was so fucking exhausted and upset from that and Karkat didn’t seem to mind, just reaching up and carding a hand through Dave’s hair.
“Fuck, I don’t know. For some reason that noise just really freaked me out,” he said, which was the truth. He didn’t know why he’d panicked like that, it’d never happened before.
Okay, that was a lie. He had freaked like that, while on LoHaC. It hadn’t gotten as bad though, because he’d leave whenever it started getting too much for him to handle. He had no idea why the noises got him like that though.
“You were mumbling about your guardian,” Karkat told him, catching Dave by surprise.
“I was?”
“Yeah, you kept telling him to stop,” he explained. Dave sighed, wrapping his arms around Karkat once again. The troll seemed to hesitate for a moment before shifting so that they were lying along the couch.
This wasn’t the first time they’d sat like this, but before it had been from them both passing out after like five movies.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Karkat asked, worry clear in his voice. Dave shook his head, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feeling of Karkat messing with his hair.
“Later, okay? Right now I kind of just want to rest,” Dave said. He was pretty sure that later he would both regret and be glad that he told Karkat they would talk. There was no way he was going to just let this go, so he wasn’t getting out of it now that he said they would.
“Alright, but then we’re going to do this right. After your nap I’m making us a pile and we’re getting into this shit,” Karkat told him. Dave chuckled into his chest.
“I say, Karkat, are you propositioning me for a pale evening?” he asked, practically feeling the way he rolled his eyes.
“If I say yes will you shut up and go to sleep?” Karkat asked, a joking tone to his voice.
“Yes,” Dave answered.
“Then yes,” Karkat said. Dave shifted a bit, getting into a more comfortable position on top of the troll. He wondered if he should thank Karkat for sticking with him and keeping him as calm as possible during this whole fiasco.
Dave could feel Karkat cautiously take his shades off, placing them somewhere close by.
He decided against speaking for now, instead just snuggling up closer to Karkat and trying to sleep.
He could thank him later, once they woke up and were talking about this.
He was pretty sure Karkat already knew anyway.