Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Light filtered through closed curtains in lines illuminating a grey face resting, pillowed, in large arms; black lips huffed shallow breaths that rose visibly in puffs of vapor. Seconds ticked on serenely as the troll slept silently for the first time in days, knocked out cold at his desk, pencil still held loosely in his hand. Loud, grating, shrieks broke through the comfortable silence as his alarm clock came to life, ruthlessly punctual. Karkat jerked awake suddenly, falling unceremoniously to the floor and the hormones in his head flooded with morning bloodlust, fueled by horrorterrors and instinct. Karkat rose quickly, half asleep he searched for the source of the ever growing noise, by the time he found the clock the red around his vision had dimmed and his heart beat had slowed; he huffed, annoyed, and flicked the alarm off.

Routine came and went as he blindly got ready for the day, finding himself in the bathroom before he was even fully conscious, he inspected the mirror, only to be received with a blurred grey form staring back at him; he opened the mirror in search of his contacts. They weren't colored anymore, the dark burgundy contacts that had once saved him daily from exposer, were chucked enthusiastically out the window by Terezi, the day the new heiress usurped the former monarch. Karkat remembered fondly the night of the coronation, he, and a small group of friends, sat huddled around the small tv in his apartment, waiting impatiently for the new queens first announcement.

To the shock, and disbelief of everyone, her first order was to abolish all laws on the discrimination of any and all trolls considered to be mutants or invalids, lime blood, red blood, and physically handicapped trolls, all were suddenly completely equal in the eyes or troll law. He can still remember Dave and Kanaya grabbing onto him and shaking him out of his stupor, Kanaya had been crying, and Dave laughing; John, who was smiling wide had hugged Karkat later, while Dave and Terezi were throwing the contacts, and Sollux and Kanaya were in the kitchen finding celebratory snacks. Karkat had never felt so secure being embraced by someone smaller then him, the hug last a few beats too long as John let Karkat cry on his shoulder, away from the others.

That had been more than three years ago, the new laws had been met with some resistance, Karkat couldn't count how many time he'd been harassed on the streets, but with time, and the help of the human government, troll society has come a long way to acceptance. By the time he was done reminiscing, he had put in his contacts, brushed his hair and was more or less ready for the day, he examined the mirror again and huffed at the large troll presented to him. Karkat was built like a soldier, tall, wide shoulders, strong arms, and while he used to have more defined muscle at his stomach, years of physical relaxation after the game had left him with a softer flat abdomen. He was intimidating, to say the least, sighing shortly he gave himself one last glance in the mirror before stalking out of the bathroom to the kitchen; where he was met with a bright fucking blue something, straight to the face.

John Egbert stood hunched over, hand across his stomach, near guffawing as Karkat was slammed to the ground, blue dyed whipped cream dripping from his face. Karkat was dumbstruck, sitting with his hands braced on the floor and eyes wide, as he watched a drop of cream fall onto his shirt....that's, not going to come out. John was still laughing, unaware merriment as he reveled in his victory.

And thus, he was left with no time to run, as the troll lunged at the human knocking them both back to the floor. Karkat looked downright murderous, which, coupled with the globs of bright blue covering his face and hair, only maybe John laugh harder. Karkat growled, getting his face as close to Johns as possible and, mustering as much threat as he could into his voice said,

"You are going to regret that." John stopped his laughter abruptly at the look in the other’s eyes, suddenly a little concerned, with his reaction.

"Uh, Karkat?" John hesitated as Karkat raised one hand to wipe off a smear of cream from his face, "It was just a-" The human was cut off by the malicious grin on Karkat's face as he wiped his now blue hand on the humans face and glasses. Laughing again, John resisted as the troll repeated the action to his hair and white shirt. Devolving quickly into a blue covered wrestling match, until John managed to roll Karkat over and directly onto the tin that had once held the whipped cream.

John considered it a win as Karkat jumped up to rip off his shirt and quickly stalk away to the laundry room in a desperate attempt to save it. Later, Karkat would call it cheating.

After Karkat spent, in John's eyes, way too much time trying to save his precious shirt, he, with stream of curses, finally resigned his poor cloth to its fate; tossing it in the trash and stomping back into the living room and kitchen area, where John sat looking as innocent as a mask man in a jewelry store, his clothes still covered in bright blue blotches.

"You are a festering pile of shit John Egbert." Karkat stated, walking past the boy to the fridge.

"It wasn't so bad Karkat, you have a million shirts just like that one." John barely dodged an orange that whizzed past his head. "Come on, don't be mad!" John pleaded. "I'll buy you a knew shirt, I promise."

Karkat turned to look at John, exhausted. "Fine." Was all he said before he turned back to the fridge to assemble his breakfast. John grinned brightly.

Sifting through the overstocked fridge, Karkat found his way to the milk and stood, marching tiredly over to the cupboard to fish out the only cereal that John didn’t devour within hours of its purchase. He poured the wheat thins generously into his bowl, much to John’s disgust and smiled slightly as he sat across from the boy.

They sat mostly in silence, Karkat engrossed in his breakfast, and John playing with a spoon absently; Karkat was content with the quiet, John apparently was not.

“So, how’s your novel going?” John asked, as though he hadn’t asked almost every morning since Karkat started his endeavor.

“Same as yesterday piss stain, absolutely fucking nowhere, the almost nonsensical and indescribable thought process that is my story line, never seems to deem itself ready to organize itself into a cohesive line of plot that I can so graciously bestow upon this miserable new universe we’ve made. God fucking knows we need some good literature out there, but shit if I’ll be the one to write it.” Karkat looked defeated by the time he was done, his cereal left forgotten in front of him; growing soggy.

John expected such an answer, but still felt a twinge of pity for his roommate. Moments ticked past in now awkward silence as John grasped at words to fill it.

Finally, he settled for, “Well, why don’t you let me read it? Maybe I can help you with some feedback!”

Karkat sighed and shook his head. “No, I’ve got to do this myself…it’s important.”

John wanted to pry, but thought better of it; instead he nodded, then stood and went to his room to change into something that wasn’t covered in whipped cream.

Karkat sat alone in their kitchen sulking for a few moments, before standing and dumping the remainder of his breakfast down the sink. When John made his way back into the kitchen, Karkat smiled slightly and made his way to the living room; know the other would follow.

Karkat stepped toward the front entrance to their small apartment and shucked on his coat, turning to John and smiling again. “Do you wanna come with me to Dave’s? He’s got a new album he’s working on and he wants us to listen to the demo.”

John smiled brightly and joined the large troll in the entryway. “I know that doofus, I’m Dave’s friend too.”

Karkat threw the other’s coat at him and walked out, again, know the boy would follow.

Chapter Text

Cold winter air swept across Karkat’s face as he and John trudged to his car. Slamming the doors quickly they turned the heat on high and sat for a moment, shivering, as the car warmed up. Karkat watched as John blew into his hands, trying to warm himself; the troll found himself mesmerized by the white air floating around the others face. John looked over and caught Karkat’s eye, the troll couldn’t help but give John a quick smile, which was returned in kind. Before long they were off into the city streets, and John fiddle with the radio as they went, slowly, through the morning traffic.

“The President and the Empress met today in the annual world peace meeting, discussing again they territory deals for the two species; while most have integrated into mixed cities, there are still tough negotiation of whether humans should be allowed to populate the more sacred lands of New Alternia.”

John huffed when every station was playing the political news, and eventually gave up on finding anything else.

“Her Benevolent Progenitor stands her ground that, while she welcomes the human race with open arms to most of the planet, the sacred grounds and cities that hold the brooding caverns, should be left to the planets indigenous people.”

Karkat slowed the car as they came up on Dave’s apartment complex, the troll struggles for a minute as he attempted to parallel park, before sighing in relief when he succeeds and puts the car in park. They both get out and quickly make their way into the pleasantly warm building. The door man nods to them as they enter, and Karkat gives a brisk nod back before catching up with John who has rushed his way to the elevator. John steps into the elevator as it opens, and jabs the close button when Karkat follows.

They ride silently up and exit on the fourth floor. John, energized as ever, power walks down the hall way, the troll steady behind him. As they reach the door, Dave steps out, running straight into Johns chest and stumbling backwards.

“Oh, shit hey guys, you shoulda told me you were coming. Head in I just gotta take the trash out.” Dave stalks down the hall way and Karkat and John enter. The apartment is as untidy as it was every other time they’ve come, a stark contrast to their own apartment, which Karkat keeps obsessively clean.

Dirk lays haphazardly on the couch in the living room, playing some xbox game or another; seemingly unaware of there being guests in his house. Eventually, he pauses the game and turns to acknowledge them; waving them both over. John joins him, giving the blonde a cheerful hello before grabbing the second controller; the two start v.s mode while Karkat watches content at a computer chair.
Dave returns and joins Karkat at the computer desk, taking his own seat and watching the two play. Dave looks over at Karkat and scoots closer, until the chairs bumps together.

“Hey.” Dave smiles.

“…Hey.” Karkat returns the shy smile, his face slightly tinged red.

Dave and Karkat have been…complicated, since the end of Sburb. The two of them were always together on the meteor, and at one point Karkat thought it was flush; but Dave always talked about sexuality and human romance and girls, mostly Terezi, so Karkat never brought it up. Eventually Karkat’s feelings were buried away deep, and the two went along as friends, though there are, moments, sometimes. Like these; that reminded Karkat of the crush that he was never meant to have, but would probably always be there.

“I’ve mostly finished one of the songs for my new album; wanna go check it out?” Karkat could see Dave’s eyes through his shades, and his heart thumped in his chest.

“Yeah sure, watching these two is about as entertaining as watching a train wreck.” Karkat and Dave stood and left John and Dirk to their fight.

Dave led Karkat to his room and flicked on the light, the large troll took a moment to be displeased with the mess before making his way to the computer where Dave was waiting; headphones in hand.
Karkat slips on the headphones, there is a moment of silence as Dave sets up the song and presses play. The song is good, as it always is, Karkat remembers the time on the meteor and shortly after the game when Dave would always show him the music before anyone else; trusting only Karkat to critique it. But, as time went on and they all settled around New Alternia, Dave drifted away from Karkat, moving in with his brother and starting up his music career. Karkat drifted too, writing his novel took up a lot of his time, only John seemed determined to bring him out of his room once and awhile to eat and socialize.
The song ended and Karkat took off the head phones.

“It’s great Dave.” Karkat looked down at the human and smiled, and for a second he could have sworn that Dave was blushing.
“Thanks.” Dave laughed, then paused before opening his mouth to speak.

At that moment John opened the door, looking cheerful, behind him stalking to his room, was a miffed looking Dirk.

“Hah, guys you should have seen, Dirk got his ass kicked!” Dave and Karkat chuckled, and John stepped into the room. “Can I listen to the new song now?”
John switched spots with Karkat and took his turn listening to the song. When it was over John gave his compliments as well, and they all moved to sit down; Dave and John on Dave’s bed and Karkat in the computer chair.

They sat critiquing the song for a bit, before slowly falling into comfortable silence. Until Dave broke it.

“So….I have request for you guys.” John perked up from where he was resting against the wall, Karkat turned his attention as well.
“Jake and Jade are coming back from their exploration binge of New Alternia.” Dave started and John grinned.

“No way! Jake and Jade have been gone for like a year and a half!”

“Yeah, they’re bringing presents from Rose and Kanaya from when they visited them in the main brooding cavern.”

“Wait how’d they even get in? I though Rose was the only human with permission from the Empress to be there?” Karkat questioned.

“I have no idea man, but we shouldn’t really underestimate Harley/English’s I guess.” Dave shrugged. “But that’s not the point, the point is, Jade is only visiting, she’ll be off again in a week to go visit Roxy, Jane and Calliope, half way across the planet.” Dave paused. “But Jake is settling down for good. He and Dirk kinda want to have some….personal time.” Dave sounded disgusted at this. “Which is why I’m asking…if I could move in with you guys?”

Dave looked sheepish, but John turned to face him, face full of excitement.

“Of course you can dude!” John beamed.

Dave looked at Karkat expectantly.

Karkat huffed. “ Why are you looking at me like a lost puppy Strider? What do you think I’m gonna say? No you can’t live with us? Of course you’re welcome to you fucking ignoramus.”

Dave laughed, and John gave him a fist bump. “Thank god, I really didn’t want to live here once the love birds get settled.”

Karkat and John chuckled, well, this should be fun.

Chapter Text

Boxes. There are so many goddamn boxes. Karkat stops half way up the stairs to his and John’s apartment, and Dave’s, his mind supplies, reminding him why he is in this current situation. Two weeks after Dave asked to live with Karkat and John, the troll finds himself heaving box after box of clothes, music equipment, photography equipment, and the occasional preserved dead thing, up a deceivingly long flight of stairs. Karkat huffs, and lifts the stupidly heavy box of speakers up again to resume his trek up to the apartment.

Karkat stomps through the living room and into the room that previously held John’s piano and gently drops the box of speakers next to the ever-growing pile of Strider’s shit. Said Strider was quick on the troll’s heels, placing his own box of dark room equipment next to the speakers. Dave huffs for breath before turning to Karkat, years without being forced to fight for his life left the blonde with less stamina then before, though Dave was anything but upset about the change.

“Okay, John should be up with the last box in a minute, turns out I have more stuff the an old lady with twelve cats and a hoarding complex.” Dave wiped sweat from his forehead and Karkat took a moment, like he often did, to appreciate the others dark skin and slim figure.

Unfortunately, this time, Dave caught his wandering eye. There was a long moment of silence as Dave stared at Karkat through his shades, expression strange. Karkat moved closer to speak, to make an excuse of some kind; Dave matched his steps. Closer than they’ve been in a long time, Karkat’s vascular pump beat frantically in his chest, he didn’t know what was happening, but he was unwilling to stop it.

Karkat watched Dave’s expression closely, waiting for him to slip; to show him something. But as soon as the moment started, it ended; Dave’s face twitched and he looked away, suddenly closed off, and Karkat was helpless to know what the other was feeling.

“Dave?” Karkat tried, but the other was quick to deflect.

“We should probably go find the dork in case he tripped over his own gambit and bashed his skull open.” And with that, Dave was out of the room, leaving Karkat confused; with a small ache in his vascular pump.

Karkat eventually followed to human out of the apartment in search of their third party, they didn’t get very far before stumbling upon John in the lobby, huffing his way to the stairs. Karkat watched as Dave strode over to help with the last object; his turntables. Dave and John lovingly carried the expensive equipment up the stairs while Karkat play support for if either lost their handle on it. Eventually it too was seated gently in Dave’s new room, the three men sighed in relief; Karkat and John leaving Dave to unpack and heading to the kitchen.

Karkat leaned over in the fridge and looked absently at the scarce amount of food they had stored, not sure what he was looking for, John huffed behind him.

“If you’re not getting anything then grab me some juice and get out of the fridge, you’re wasting cold air.”

Karkat grumbled something like, ‘what ever piss stain’ in alternian and grabbed the grape juice from the side door; shutting it behind him. Karkat could never understand why or how John drank that stuff daily, his disdain for the liquid showing clear on his face as he handed it to the human. John laughed slightly and took a swig right from the bottle; not like anyone else would touch the stuff.

“The festering swill is absolutely disgusting. I would hate to be your matesprite after you drank that shit, kissing you would be abysmal.” Karkat sneered at the offending substance with loathing only he could muster for a beverage.

John grinned, in a way Karkat should have known was sinister, and took a large gulp of the juice. John stepped closer to the large troll, lifting on his toes just slightly to reach matching height.

Karkat stopped; and so did his vascular pump, today was not a good day for the organ it seemed. The two were so close Karkat could feel John’s breath through his nose against his face. Karkat was lost, but again unwilling to stop the course of events. The troll realized too late what was happening, when John took a deep breath and sighed, long and deep right in Karkat’s face, making him breathe in the horrid smell of grape juice. Karkat cursed and turned away, holding his nose. John only laughed.

Before Karkat could do anything in retaliation, John floated out of the room, god tier powers helping him along. Karkat stood dumbfounded in the empty kitchen, angry, but with a distinct blush on his face.

Karkat realized then just how hard living with these two was going to be.

Chapter Text

Air blew softly through the open window in Dave’s new room, curling around him and making him shiver unpleasantly; he ignored it in favor of unpacking his more precious possessions and storing them safely in their new home. The room was small, made for storage rather than a living space, but it had a large closet in the far right of the room that was perfectly suited to be a dark room, Dave couldn’t be happier. In his apartment with Dirk there was no real place for his hobby, so most of the equipment was tucked away and hadn’t been used since the meteor trip; he was excited to finally get back into it. He found himself reminiscing as he unpacked his junk.

The first few months on the meteor had been hard. His new god tier powers were anything but a blessing, the constant thrumming tick in his head kept him up, screaming, for the first few weeks; no one on the meteor complained about the noise and he was grateful. Then there were the nightmares that haunted him when he eventually did rest. Blood and strife and Houston heat that beat him down almost as badly as his Bro did. Dave was angry for those months, he would lash out at anyone who tried to comfort him, talk to him, even be in his presence in a way he deemed annoying; The only person who withstood the abuse was Karkat. Karkat would follow him, unwilling to leave the boy alone for longer than a few hours. The troll would cuss and yell and drag Dave to socialize with the others, would fight back tooth and nail when Dave would lash out; until one day it came to a head.

Dave found Karkat on his own that night, he woke Karkat up from a dead sleep, and before Karkat could say a word, Dave collapsed in the small troll’s arms and cried. Cried until his face hurt and his chest didn’t, and Karkat just laid there, holding him, until it was over. After that they were inseparable, playing in can town, movie nights, long talks about the past, and the future.

At first they wer just best friends, making music and slam poetry together, strifing when one of them was frustrated, sometimes got a touch to close... but he wasn’t gay, and he didn’t want to be in any kind of relationship with a dude. That is, until his break up with Terezi and Karkat’s molt. Karkat’s puberty molt hit after all the other trolls on the meteor, and it did something different to each of them; so Dave had no way of preparing for what happened.

Karkat’s molt started unexpectedly, one day he was just, gone, and Dave couldn’t find him for three days. Eventually Dave found the troll, hidden deep away in the bowels of the meteor submerged in a recoperacoon. When Karkat eventually emerged, naked and exhausted Dave almost fell over. He was large, so large, with soft but defined muscle framing his entire body; his eyes shown bright red in a mountain of grey.

It was harder to talk with Karkat after that, Dave’s heart would speed up whenever he was in the room, small touches would leave heat blossoming in his cheeks; Dave was in turmoil. But after weeks of talking with his sister, and agonizing over it himself, he came to accept his budding bisexuality, and later his crush on Karkat. And then; the time on the meteor ended, and Karkat moved on, leaving Dave heartbroken in the dust.

Snapping out of his memories, Dave heard laughter coming from the kitchen, and watched through the open door as John floated past. There were a few moments of silence before Karkat rushed after the other human, and Dave chuckled under his breath.

It was good to have Karkat, and John, back in his life; even if not in the way he wanted.

Chapter Text

John floated lazily through the hallway away from a seething Karkat; he passes Dave and finds himself smiling as he makes his way to his room. When he touches down he briefly considers pestering Jade on the laptop sitting on his bed; but his eyes catch on the piano now taking up much of the space in his room and get pulled toward it. He sits on the bench and slides his hands along the keys; it was the same piano that was in his father’s study and the same piano that took the journey with him through the yellow yard, it was his last connection to Earth A and his Dad. He took a moment to think and began to play ‘how do I live’; for nostalgia’s sake. He found himself reminiscing.

John was happy, happier than he had been in a long time. In the game he found himself hiding, hiding behind jokes and smiles and, sometimes, anger. For him, being a teenager was hard, and he knew the others would understand, but he didn’t want to burden them with his petty issues. In John’s eyes, everyone went through so much more than he had. Every one of his friends had deep valid problems that overshadowed his own, those thoughts only fueled the flames of his depression, and those few years without his dad, without Dave, or Rose, or Karkat were the hardest of his life. He had Jade, but the Jade he had now didn’t remember that time on the ship with him. And when he first arrived on New Alternia he felt more alone than ever.

But right now, he was happy, he had Karkat and Dave with him and they were just as amazing in person as they were online, and John had never been so content as he is now. When Dave asked to move in he was ecstatic, before it seemed like Dave was drifting away, into his own little world, but now John knew that they would all be closer than ever; maybe a little too close for John’s comfort and…uh libido. John never saw himself as a homosexual, but he had long grown out of the slight homophobia he had at thirteen. He knew well that attraction can happen anywhere, if you were close enough with someone. And boy were his roommates attractive.

Dave was thin and tall and dark, he commanded respect, but at the same time he seemed fragile and….submissive; which fueled a fire in John that he wasn’t ready to admit to himself. And Karkat, Karkat was strong and sultry, his deep voice running down John’s spine with every word. John had trouble thinking clearly sometimes when those two were in a room together. But John had already sworn to keep those feelings away from his relationship with the other two. He was alone before, he wasn’t ready to lose them again because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.

The song ended and instead of picking up another, he decided to float over to his bed to pester his sister.

John: Hi Jade! :B

Jade: HI!!!! I’m so happy I’m back within visiting range of you guys! I missed you dorks :p

John: Yeah me too when are you head back out?

Jade: In two days. :C We should all hang out again one more time before I go!

John: That sounds like a great idea, I’ll tell Dave and Karkat and we’ll make a plan

Jade: Great! :B Speaking of your roommates, how are you doing with that? Dave moved in today didn’t he?

John: Yeah, he’s in the room where my piano used to be, I’m so excited for him to get settled, living with him AND Karkat will be great!

Jade: I’m sure it will be *winky face*

John: Jaaaaaaade not like that!

Jade: Sure thing, whatever you say c;

John: Uuuuuuugh

John Egbert [JE] blocked JadeHarley [JH] at 13:06

John sighed and pushed his laptop aside before flopping on the bed. He covered his face with his arms and tried not to think. Don’t think Don’t think Don’t think…and before long he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

When John awoke, unaware of falling asleep, twilight had fallen and the dim light coming through his window had long since dissipated. The human groggily sat up and stumbled out of bed taking in his familiar surroundings. After affirming nothing was out of place he shook himself awake and walked out into the hall. All the lights were off in the house, and John began to think the other two were asleep until he noticed blue light coming from the living room.

Karkat and Dave were on the couch, sitting close together and desperately battling each other in Mario Cart. John’s first thought was to make himself known, but he thought better of it. They looked so…happy sitting together as they were, tossing back and forth banter and loving insults; it made John think they were a couple. John was suddenly struck with a sense of being out of place, like he was intruding on something special, and a deep sadness washed through him. He turned to leave, as quietly as possible, but Dave spotted him first.

“John, John. You have to help me kick this smug fuckers ass. He thinks he can just blue shell right before the finish line and get away with it. Fucking despicable.”

John turned back and saw both men smiling at him, and his chest felt a little less tight. Lifting slightly into the air, John made his way to the couch, where the other two had made a space between them. Karkat hand him a controller and nudged him with his shoulder.

“Everything alright?” The large troll asked.

John smiled brightly as he chose his character.

“Yeah. Everything’s great.”

Chapter Text

Huffed breath and slick skin fill his senses. Unable to see, his nerves run hot with feeling. Hands rub at his horns and he melts into the human behind him, whispered words he can’t understand fuel his fire and he bucks his hips, bulge thrashing, looking for friction anywhere it can find it. More hands come to rest on either thigh and suddenly his bulge is incased in heat and slick, he thrusts his hips on instinct and the mouth on his bulge takes it in stride, swallowing him down without complaint. He thrusts harder, getting lost in the feeling, but the hands behind him don’t go without notice. They’re larger, and they move from the base of his horns, down his neck and chest roaming his body until one finds its place at his nook. Slick coats his thighs and the human’s fingers as they slip into him without resistance, Karkat arches his back and groans as the two sets of hands work him over. The human behind him still speaking gibberish that runs down his spine like fire, settling in his lower abdomen and building tension until he is about to burst. Everything is blurring; the feelings mix and meld until the troll isn’t sure which set of hands is which, he’s so close to orgasm that his can taste it. If only they would move a little faster he could-

Sharp buzzing noise shoots through his hearing passage and morning rage rushes through Karkat with a fierce power that he unleashes on the source of the noise. When he comes to, his alarm clock lay in pieces on the floor, and the troll becomes aware of the red slick soaking his thighs and pajama pants; he sighs in resignation and stumbles his way to the bathroom.

He busies himself with showering and cleaning up the bed sheets, tossing them in the wash carelessly and getting back to his normal routine. This isn’t the first time Karkat has dreamed about his hive mates, so he doesn’t pay it much mind. He knew his own feelings for the two humans, and also knew the futility in those feelings, thus he tried not to dwell.

Before long he finished up his routine and headed out to the kitchen, finding Dave at the table eating some disgustingly sweet cereal or another. Karkat walked up to the coffee maker and set it to brew before sitting across from the smaller man. Who smiles over his cereal in greeting.

“Where’s John? The fucker isn’t still sleeping is he?” Dave shakes his head.

“Nah, John went out to get Jade. The two of them decided night last night that she should come over today to say goodbye properly.” Dave stops for a second to sip the remainder of the milk from his bowl. “He only left a minute ago so he’ll probably be back in like half an hour.”

Karkat nods just as the buzzer for his coffee goes off, the troll stands and walks over to the machine, and he is painfully aware of the eyes that follow him. There is a moment of tense silence as Karkat attends to his coffee; Dave is the one to break it.

“So, uh, how’s Terezi?” Dave asks from behind Karkat as the troll pours cream into his cup, he stops at the question.

Terezi has been a sore subject between the two of them recently. Given their shared past with the girl it’s no surprise. But Karkat wonders why Dave has been seemingly so touchy about it lately.

“She’s still searching for Vriska, last I heard she went to see Rose in the caverns for another Seer’s incite.” Karkat went back to his coffee, pour a little more cream and three sugars into it before sitting back down.

“But she was in town recently, right?” Like two weeks ago?” Dave continues to push on the subject, Karkat gives him a look of confusion.

“Well yeah, she was here for like a day or two. Didn’t she go see you?”

Dave’s face goes dark and he looks away. “No, she didn’t.” The human looks back to Karkat. “But she saw you. So are you guys a thing or?” Dave seems to be trying to act casual, but Karkat isn’t buying it.

“What? No. What makes you say that?” Karkat askes matching Dave’s unwavering stare. There is another moment of silence before Dave finally breaks away, closing off like he did last night.

“Nevermind man, it’s none of my business anyway. I’m not trying to be some gossipy 40 year old soccer mom. Watching her neighbors through the window to get the latest fucking scope.” He shrugs and grins, but it doesn’t look sincere. “Look, uh, I gotta go, I still haven’t completely unpacked and Harley will definitely want to see my new room so…yeah.”

He stands to leave, but he barely makes it out of the kitchen before Karkat follows him. Grabbing his arm, Karkat turns the smaller man around.

“Wait a goddamn second Dave Strider. Something is up with you and I’m not letting you run to your room and stew in it like a goddamn wriggler!” Karkat only lets go of the others arm when he is sure he wont run away. “Tell me whats up. You’ve been acting weird around me since you moved in, shit, since we got of that god forsaken rock! Why are you avoiding me? What did I do?”

Dave doesn’t look away, just locks eyes with the troll and sighs. “Nothing it’s just.” He pauses, and Karkat waits patiently for him to continue. “You love her don’t you?”

Karkat wasn’t expecting that. He blinks confused and Dave takes that as his cue to continue. “You always have, haven’t you? In the game, on the meteor, you were always holding a torch for her, that’s why you never….” Dave trails off and Karkat is dumbstruck. It’s like he’s processing things at half speed.

“Which is fine man I get it, Terezi’s great….” Dave pauses unsure of how to continue. “Look I should go, I made things weird. Let’s not talk about it again I’ll drop it.”

And then it clicks, more like it hit Karkat like an oncoming train and he was run down by the implication. Dave turned to walk away, his face dark, but Karkat acted on instinct. The much larger troll grabbed Dave by the arm again and pulled him back toward him. It was only when Karkat saw the slight fear in Dave’s eyes that he realized he looked furious; he tried to soft his face. It must have worked because Dave relaxed in his grasp, looking at Karkat with more confusion then fear.

Karkat took a deep breath, as if to say something, but thought better of it. He lifted his hand not holding Dave’s arm and ran it through the smaller humans hair; pulling him close into a hug. But of course Dave had to go and ruin the moment.

“Uh, Karkat? Are you alright?” Karkat pulled Dave’s head away from his chest just far enough that they could see each other.

“Shut up, you blithering idiot.” Before Dave could respond Karkat leaned down and pressed their lips together, a little more forcefully than intended at first; but Dave took it in stride, and before long the kiss had softened and Karkat felt something in his chest come loose that had been there since the meteor.

They broke apart, and Dave went to speak again, grinning like an idiot or the first time in a long time; but, again, the moment was ruined. Jade, who had been in the doorstep for who knows how long coughed loudly. They put some distant between themselves instantly.

Jade sighed, not looking surprised, but irritated. “You fucking idiots!” She seemed to get more upset as time went on. Karkat looked at Dave confused, and Dave seemed to do the same.

“Don’t you fucking dare do that shit in front of John, do you hear me?!” Karkat was only more confused; tonight was just not his night apparently. Dave spoke before he could.

“Why would John care? He not a homophobe Jade, he’s past that shit.” Dave looked indignant, but Jade didn’t back down.

“Of course you isn’t you fuckass! He in love with you two! If he sees that you both are together it’s going to break him, and I will personally see to it that neither of you see the light of day again it that happens.” Jade was now furious, but stopped and took a second to calm herself; while Dave and Karkat took a second to comprehend this shocking turn of events.

Jade seemed calm when she next spoke. “John is going to come through this door any second, and you are NOT going to tell or show him you two are together. And when you do tell him at the right time, you are going to let him down so gently he falls on a pillow. You understand?” Karkat and Dave nodded in unison, unwilling to argue with the god of space.

There was a moment of silence, and Jade nodded, satisfied, stepping towards them with her usual smile. She walked over to the kitchen and placed two bags Karkat didn’t notice she had been holding onto the table. Just as she did John burst in with more bags hanging at his side.

“Hey guys! I brought Jade, and Jade brought snacks!”

After that, the night went on as normal, but Karkat’s mind was reeling, and he could bet Dave’s was as well. The one ever foreboding question in his mind was.

What now?

Chapter Text

John, hummed a light tune as he strode out the building of his apartment and to his car. He wasn’t fazed when he almost slipped on the ice patch by the driver’s side door. He wasn’t fazed when some asshole cut him off on his way to Jade’s hotel. He wasn’t fazed when Jade hugged him too hard and hurt his back or when he almost slipped on ice AGAIN while getting back into the car.

He wasn’t fazed.

In fact, he was quite happy as he drove the few miles back to his and the others apartment. He even enjoyed the pestering from Jade about his romantic troubles; if only because he missed her and hearing her talk was soothing after so much time. All in all he was having a good day! Until he got home.

Jade all but dashed into the building with two of the many bags of snacks she brought, leaving him behind to take in the rest. He stopped and said hello to the doorman, Gary, and stopped again to give the final place on the new elevator to an elderly woman, who lived a floor above him, and her grandson.

When he finally did arrive at his door he was tired but excited for the night ahead, and yes, still completely unfazed.

John burst into the apartment, in his same ‘Honey, I’m Home!’ manner, blindly hoping no one was directly behind the door and excitedly announcing to his roommates that he, and Jade, were here. To his surprise, instead of being in the living room playing some of the games on tonight’s roster, they were both at the entrance to the kitchen staring at the front door; looking visibly uncomfortable and somewhat scared.

This threw John off, if only slightly, but he quickly shook it off and strode into the apartment with renewed excitement. Jade chose that moment to walk out of the kitchen, shooting him a too big toothy grin that could only be rivaled by his own impaired teeth.

Yeah, this will be fine.

As the night progressed he came to realize this was in fact, not fine.

Jade was acting normal enough, bubbly and rightfully confident in her ability to whoop all their asses at Smash; Peach had never seemed so deadly and he was both pleased and happily aggravated about it. But Dave and Karkat were another story.

Dave was red faced and quiet the whole night, he could get out a snarky quip or two but they lacked the wit he so often brought to the table. Instead he was almost timid around John and Jade, and seemed to be avoiding Karkat all together, which was odd, but John couldn’t help but think if this is how timid the other might get if he were to tie him up and leave him begging on his bed.

…John quickly dispelled the thought.

Karkat wasn’t much better really, he was just as talkative and rude, but he too was avoiding Dave like the plague; and he seemed to almost flinch under Jade gaze, and avoided looking at John all together. John tried to play it off, he tried to enjoy this time with almost all his favorite people and was mostly succeeding! Then his hand brushed Dave’s, and the whole thing went to shit in John’s mind.

They were all getting particularly pounded by Peach and at the end of the match John had slumped into the couch next to Jade and Dave. Usually when their hands brush, Dave entwines their fingers and says some snarky come-on like,

“Oh sweet heart is that how you feel about me?”

And John would shoot back with some No Homo bullshit and the moment would be over. But this time, as his hand brushed the darker skin of Dave’s, still holding his controller dejectedly, Dave jumped.

Actually physically jumped up off the couch away from John’s touch.

Dave tried to play it of as wanting to ‘take a leak’, but John knew it had something to do with him. And that hurt in ways John couldn’t explain.

The rest of the night continued this way, just slightly off and driving John mad; and when Jade finally said goodbye, hugging each of them promising to come back eventually, and his two roommates shared a sigh of relief they didn’t think he saw, he started to really wonder what was going on.

The three of them silently gathered up the mess from the evening, and when everything was at least as tidy as it usually was, Karkat made a B line for his room, Dave close behind; but John let them go, he figured whatever was wrong with his friends would probably be fine in the morning or whatever. So John followed the two skittish boys into the hallway and they parted ways awkwardly for the night, neither saying a word to him.

Yeah…everything would be fine in the morning. Right?

Wrong.

Over the next three days John’s roommates danced around him like they were walking on eggshells. Barely talking to him and trying to not hold eye contact for longer that three seconds. It was exhausting.

He tried to be positive, tried not to think of all the reasons they would be upset; but the thoughts haunted him in the day. Were they fighting? Did Jade do something the night she was here? Were they mad at him?? The last theory hurt too much to dwell on for long, so he busied himself as best he could.

He took extra hours at work, teaching piano to elementary and middle school students. He skyped with Rose, and adamantly avoided talking about his roommates; she still seemed to hint that she knew what was up, but he ignored it. He even cleaned the house while the other two were away; Karkat didn’t comment on the notable improvement, which made John’s heart sink deeper.

At night he would take cold showers just to avoid fantasizing about the two men; because even that had lost it appeal in favor of panic and depression. Nothing was right in the apartment anymore, they didn’t have game night, never talked in passing, on the rare occasion when they ate together it was awkward and short lived. John was quickly going insane.

Eventually John was going to have to confront this. He prepared himself for the worst and promised him self he would ask them tomorrow.

…Okay maybe the next day.

Or the next.

The next?

Three days passed of John building up confidence and pussying out the last minute. This may have gone on forever, John would be stuck in awkward roommate limbo for the rest of his immortal life; he had almost accepted his fate when Dave, followed by a nervous Karkat, approached him after another awkward dinner.

John sat across from his roommates, chewing slowly on the Pad Thai he ordered from the Thai place down the street, and avoiding eye contact with them both. When he had finished as much as he was going to for the night, which wasn’t much, he hadn’t been eating a lot since things went to shit, he stood from the table with a mostly involuntary sigh that reminded him of his father when he was disappointed in him, and went to crawl in bed to simmer in his own angst.

He vaguely registered the sound of his roommates standing as well, but paid it no mind until he made it to the living room and he heard a feeble out of character call from Dave.

“John, wait.” John’s heart dropped in his stomach, as much as he hated the atmosphere that has plagued them, he still wasn’t ready to face whatever the problem was; regardless he stopped in his tracks and turned to face the others.

“We need to talk.” Dave sounded determined, and anxious, and John’s stomach flipped.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

The soft light of early morning flooded through the window of Karkat’s block, every morning the same as before; except it wasn’t the same. As with many mornings, Karkat laid still and awake on his sleeping platform, unmoving and relaxed, he watched the light wash over his room, something he never got to do on Old Alternia, and took in the serene feeling of contentment and pushing away all stress for a later point. Right now, he was happy, and he wasn’t alone.

A dark slim figure lay next to him on the platform, all lithe limbs stretched out on his stomach, fast asleep and beautiful. The pressure crushing his blood pusher brought a smile to his face, and he took a moment to appreciate the gorgeous human next to him. Dave was stunning, and Karkat had always known that. When he was six sweeps it annoyed him, the attractive blonde moving into his life without Karkat’s consent, when he was seven sweeps it frustrated him, his attraction to the human growing with his begrudging fondness, now? Now the lust had long since evolved into affection and Karkat couldn’t be happier to finally be with the man who had wormed his way so far into his blood pusher that there was no chance of removal.

Karkat brushed his hand across Dave’s cheek, unintentionally stirring the other from his sleep; he was met with a soft and tired smile and he couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty. Dave shifted closer to the larger man, fitting himself under the troll’s arm with his head on Karkat’s chest. They stayed like that for a long moment, both watching the sun grow in the sky and enjoying each other. Dave spoke first.

“What should we do?” Karkat knew what Dave was referring to, and suddenly the good feeling was a little less present. He took another moment to respond.

“Fuck I don’t know? What can we do?” They were still talking in vague terms, Karkat still unable to fully confront the problem. Dave sighed, and sat up.

“We can’t say nothing and let him panic. It’s been five days, and it pretty damn obvious that he knows something is up, we can’t leave him to assume shit; knowing Egbert he probably thinks he did something wrong.” Karkat sat up as well, the stayed that way, shoulder to shoulder as Karkat thought.

“We could always tell him.” He mused dejectedly, they talked about this almost every night since everything went down, and he knew Dave was getting sick of tiptoeing. “I don’t know what we would say though; hey John, sorry for avoiding you for a week! It’s just because we’ve been fucking around! No big deal. Except it is because you’re love both of us and we’re practically betraying you and lying about it!” The troll sighed roughly putting his head in his hands, “He’ll be either devastated or furious and I don’t want to cause either.”

Dave was quite for a second, then, “Well what if we cause neither?” Karkat looked at him, annoyed.

“Congratulations fuckwit, you have successfully discovered the goal of this conversation! Now if you could kindly put the sole two gears in your head to work, maybe we can find out HOW to do that.”

“No I mean… look, I don’t want to mess up what we’re doing, because fuck I’ve wanted this since the meteor, I’m was a pinning school girl longing for her senpai and all that shit, and tell me if I’m this is ridiculous, because it’s probably an awful fucking idea that wont even work and you’ll probably just leave my stupid ass for even suggesting it, but really believe me when I say it would only be in this situation I’m not some fucking che-“

Karkat stopped Dave’s nervous rambling with a quick but rough kiss, knocking his forehead against Dave’s. “Just shut the fuck up and tell me what you want. I’m not going to flip out, trust me.”

Dave let out a burst of air, before drawing it back in sharply. “Look, uh, do you have feeling for John?”

Karkat was taken aback, was this really the time for insecurities? He grabbed Dave’s hands. “Dave. You should know me enough that I wouldn’t fucking cheat on you, no matter what my feelings are toward anyone, I would never do something that stupid.”

Dave turned his head away a little, looking at Karkat’s chest instead of his eyes. “No, I was kinda suggesting the…opposite? Your statement applies to me to, I would never go do whatever shenanigans with anyone but you…unless you were okay with it? Dave couldn’t meet Karkat’s eyes as he waited for a response.

“What?” It was more confused than incredulous. “You want to split in to quadrants? I don’t think I’d like that, and I don’t even think John would.” Karkat tried to look Dave in the eyes, eventually succeeding.

“No, that not really what I mean, more like, we could all be in all the quadrants together, no splitting it up.”

“Oh.” Was all Karkat said. Dave scrambled to pick up the pieces.

“You don’t have to! We don’t have to, if you aren’t comfortable I don’t even want-“Again Karkat cut him off.

“…Yes.” Karkat said, and stopped there.

“What?”

“To your question early. Yes, I do have feelings for John.” Karkat paused. “On Old Alternia, something like that would get you culled on the spot, but fuck I’m already breaking norm by existing, and that Alternia is gone so, yes, if you want to try to get John to be with us both I’m okay with that. Honestly the idea is fucking fantastic, I never even entertained the thought that I could have you both.” The troll smiled. “Yeah, shit, now that I think about it, I really, really want this to happen.”

Dave sighed in relief and smirked. “Don’t get to excited, we still have to get John to agree. And I honestly don’t know how that will go, it could hit the fan real fast.” Dave moved closer to Karkat and pulled him down back onto the bed, he resettled himself on the large troll’s chest. “Regardless, it 7 goddamn a.m. and I’m going back to sleep, we’ll figure this out later.”

Karkat smiled, and the content feeling fell back on him, and before he knew it he drifted away as well.

Chapter Text

John stood very still in front of his two roommates, as if they were animals that wouldn’t see him if he just didn’t move. If he stood there long enough, maybe nothing would happen and he wouldn’t have to face whatever had been lingering in the apartment for the last week. Maybe he could just go on confused and worried for the rest of Earth C’s lifespan. That felt like it would be less painful than the nervous look Dave was giving him and the almost fearful face Karkat was making at the floor.

“Uh look, John, I know shit’s been...weird lately, like thirty elephants piled in the corner and nobody’s switchin’ their litter box weird, and I know you’re probably super confused and miffed at us acting like highschool girls after Becky got caught with Todd behind the bleachers, but-”

“I’m sorry!” John interrupted Dave’s stream of bullshit, his voice pitching with thinly covered panic, he couldn’t hold out through Dave’s anxiety rants right now. “I don’t know what I did wrong but, I know I fucked up somehow, if-if I made you guys uncomfortable or something, I’m sorry and I get it I can-”

Karkat stopped him. “John, shut the fuck up.” Clearly both of the humans were going to get nowhere at this pace. “There’s nothing fucking wrong with you or anything you did, this is an apology and an explanation, so if you can calm your shitbrained anxiety for .2 seconds we can get shit settled.” He shot a glance to Dave. “You too Dave, you fucking analogy marathon runner.”

The troll put his hand on John’s shoulder, which had deflated and relaxed tentatively for the first time in days as his worries about his friend being upset unwound just a bit.

“Let’s go to the couch, okay?” Karkat’s voice was much softer now and it relaxed John further, letting him smile just a bit.

The three of them walked the few steps to the couch and Dave and Karkat took their seats on it. After a moment's hesitation, John sat himself on the coffee table to face them both.

“Okay, so what’s been up?” John started, almost all of his frustration already having faded now that they were finally talking.

“Well..” Karkat started, but couldn’t seem to find the right words. Dave took a deep breath and picked it up.

“We started dating.” Dave‘s mouth ended in an awkward grimace, like he was admitting a wrong doing to a parent.

John’s head did a bit of a skip, his heart feeling a couple different ways all at once. Rejection, more relief that he didn’t do anything wrong, jealousy, attraction at the idea, shame at the attraction, worry about what this means, happiness for them, a maelstrom of different feelings washed over him at once and he didn’t know quite what to do with any of them. So instead he just said:

“Oh wow! Uh, congrats?” His words felt a little shaky coming out of his throat and they seemed to be fighting to stay in his mouth, but he didn’t know what else he could say. They’re happy. That’s a good thing.

“Jade caught us making out when she was here last week.” Karkat muttered, annoyed, into his hand. “She told us not to tell you. Because you had a crush on us both.” He looked like a very large disgruntled cat, dulled red slowly creeping across his face and ears as he leaned more into his hand to hide it.

John would have found it incredibly cute if he wasn’t sent into an immediate panic by the words he just heard. John didn’t think this emotional wind ride of a conversation could hit him with any more sucker punches, but here he was.

“Oh god no, I’m sorry, I didn’t, I mean, I wasn’t gonna tell you! Is that why you were avoiding me? Is it weird now? Oh god I’m going to kill Jade. I’m sure it will be Just. Fuck. Fuck. I’m so sorry I-”

John had stood up and began to float back and forth in a vague sort of pacing. Dave and Karkat both stood to keep at equal height and while John was still muttering apologies and embarrassments. Dave caught both of his arms and held the boy firm, the wind was lightly swirling through the apartment as Dave forced John’s eyes to meet his.

“John chill, it’s okay, you’re okay.” Dave knew well the type of panic attacks John was prone to, since far before the game Dave would spend hours on voice chat working John down from a spira. It was much easier in person.

Dave pulled John’s ever rising body down to be level with his own before shifting his hands up to clasp the side of John’s face, bumping their foreheads together. “Chill, we’re right here. We’re still here. *You* are still here.” Dave pulled John’s glasses off and then his shades as he felt the wind in the room calm and John’s breath slow from the rapid pace he’d gotten it to.

John’s feet hit the ground and he slumped a little onto Dave’s shoulder. He looked over at Karkat, who looked a little dazed and was blushing just slightly, but seemed to shake himself out of it as Dave and John pulled away.

“We aren’t mad or weirded out or want you to leave or any of that shit John.” Dave said, still in a somewhat soothing tone. “Actually we’ve got a kind of, confession.”

Dave hesitated for only a second before finally forcing out the thing that’s been rooted at this whole ordeal. “I like you. *We* like you. And we were kind of hoping…” Dave looked over to Karkat.

“Fucking just, John Egbert will you please go out with us?” Karkat finished the statement. There was a brief moment of silence between them as John processed the request.

“Yes.” It felt almost distant when John said it, as if he were a little out of it. But then excitement quickly filled him and the air in the room started stirring again, feeling like the breeze itself was filled with elation for John. “Yes! Fuck yes seriously?” He looked rapidly between the two, and Karkat stepped forward so they were all very very close. John hadn’t been sure what this conversation would hold in the days leading up to it, but this definitely was not it.

Karkat and Dave both seemed to relax as their worry finally subsided and Karkat heavily dropped his head onto John’s shoulder. “Oh thank fuck, this was way too stressful.”

“Heh, yeah.” John began floating them all, almost by accident, no one seemed to mind.

“John.” John looked up at Dave only to be pulled forward quickly into a clumsy, awkward, fantastic kiss. It felt like everything in paradox space was finally, finally in place, and the heavy weight of Karkat’s lips on his neck and shoulder set in stone that it was real. They were here, and this would be okay.