Chapter Text
“ You’re the one they hired to teach me how to fight?”
His tone was almost offended, and Dave himself certainly felt offended. He could fight fine , okay, and Bro was too busy doing god knows what, so here he was, showing up for a job they apparently both knew he was underqualified for. I mean, tutoring a prince in the art of swordfighting? If he screwed this up, there’d be hell to pay.
“Hey, I’ve been taught by the best. You're just getting the same info secondhand,” Dave smiled with a completely fake confidence. “You should be more worried about keeping up with me.”
Karkat, understandably, didn’t look like he believed a word of that. It’s better than nothing, I guess.
“I’ll give you a chance. But you’d better be a damn good teacher, okay? If I get killed because you taught me wrong, I’m coming back from the dead to cuss you out for the rest of your natural lifespan. And once you’re a ghost, I’m kicking your ass myself if I can actually manage to do that despite your failings.”
“Uh- right. Understood.”
The first lesson was… rough.
“I know you can hit me. I’m not exactly fast enough for you to keep missing competely, unless you have roughly the same reflexes as a heavily sedated glacial treetrudger. It’s like trying to hit a barrel, I mean, seriously, this is either deliberate or completely pathetic. Actually try to hit me, you know, like anyone who legitimately wants me dead would do.”
“I’m not pathetic , I’m trying to keep from seriously injuring you!”
“And I’m saying not to! I need to actually develop my skill, okay? I won’t learn shit if you don’t even try. Hit me. I won’t say a word about it if you don’t tell my family that I’ve been practicing on my own behind their backs. I have basic knowlege of what I’m doing already- I’m just not
good
at it. I can take whatever you throw at me.”
Dave stepped back—
did he really want to risk accidentally kicking this guy’s ass?
Okay, admittedly he probably wouldn’t manage to do that. If they were both inexperienced fighters with basic knowledge, that leveled the playing field. He’d still go easy on Karkat, though; relentless beatdowns were more Bro’s thing.
He charged, thrusting the blade towards the troll’s side and leaving a small cut. The troll looked shocked for a moment, before grinning. “That’s more like it.”
The two fought on for hours, jabbing at each other with words and swords alike in an intricate choreography.
Karkat wasn’t the fastest or the strongest—even he’d admit that, it was hardly a secret that he was out of shape—but the prince was stubborn . Every hit landed made him more determined to win, every miss made him more confident.
Dave had a reputation to uphold. He was not about to lose to someone who’d never actually fought someone before, someone who could tell when he was or wasn’t throwing the match. He… didn’t really want to win, though. He could almost hear Bro scolding him for the thought.
And that was enough of a distraction — before he knew it, there was a blade pointed at his chest.
His first instinct was to fight back, until he heard his opponent’s voice.
“Do you surrender?”
Karkat had a smug look on his face, despite being sweaty and exhaused.
He’s kinda cute — uh, I mean, it’s just impressive he won, even if it was a fluke because I was distracted. Yeah, definitely just impressed. That’s all.
Their sessions continued this way, a rivalry and a tentative friendship forming between the swordsman and the prince— even if neither would openly admit to the latter.
“Would you— stop moving — so goddamn fast! Strider, are you trying to make me fall on my ass and face simultaneously?” the troll panted.
“Well, now I’m going to if that’s a possibility, that’s hilarious.”
“I’m glad one of us finds my suffering funny,” he grumbled, trying to sidestep and managing to trip over his own foot.
“Oh, shi-”
Dave tried to keep Karkat from faceplanting, grabbing onto his shirt, but forgot to take into consideration one tiny thing— he didn’t exactly weigh enough to counterbalance.
They both hit the ground hard.
There was a moment of stunned silence, before Dave let out a muffled laugh. “Shit, sorry, I’m not laughing at you, it’s just- the timing, it was so perfect, I swear I didn’t do that on purpose—”
“Dave, shut up.”
Glancing at Karkat’s face, instead of anger, he found a desperate attempt to force back a smile, which immediately broke the tension. They started laughing at the absurdity of the situation, even if the prince tried frantically to hide it.
It's unfair how gorgeous he is.
The grey hue shifting to a dull crimson informed Dave he’d said that out loud. If there was any doubt, the quiet “...Liar.” sure confirmed it.
“I’m not- I, uh, really do think you- have a really nice face. Shit, that came out weird, I meant that you're attractive. I mean like really smoking hot, like—”
“If you're making fun of me, this is a low blow. I know how I look.”
“Obviously not if you really think you’re unattractive. It’s not just about the physical stuff, either. You’re- god, I don’t even know where to start. I thought you’d be whiny as hell-”
“Off to a great start,” he groaned.
“Let me finish, and you are, but your bitching is endearing. You’re honest about how you feel about things. You say what you mean, even if it’s in a convoluted way. Sure, we argue a lot, but I know you don’t genuinely want to hurt me-”
“Debatable, when you start acting like an idiot I definitely consider it.”
“You keep trying even when you fail-”
“Am I supposed to just sit here and get my ass handed to me on a silver platter?”
“C’mon, work with me here, man. I’m trying to confess my innermost feelings and all.”
“...Is that what we’re doing here? Look, I know you’ll just end up talking around what you mean for hours if I don’t stop you now. You might not even get to it at all. So… for my part, know that– ugh, I hate this, I’m getting all nervous and sentimental, but I like your stupid face too, despite my better judgement.” He was blushing furiously, even more so as he hesitantly placed a kiss on the other’s cheek.
“...Love you too, Karkat.”