Work Text:
One-shot
The sound of footsteps in the corridors of the meteor lab was loud and metallic, echoing weirdly around Karkat as he walked past closed doors, barely glancing around as he did so.
There was a weird stillness in the air, and he’d only started noticing it recently; the thought was unsettling, and it surrounded him like a background noise slowly turning louder and louder.
At first, Karkat had not noticed it, only gradually coming to realise that something felt wrong, and his reaction had been to glare suspiciously at everything, including Dave, wondering what was causing his discomfort. It took him a couple weeks to finally pinpoint what was wrong.
It was silence.
The meteor had steadily grown silent over the course of the last few months.
There wasn’t something inherently wrong with silence –if anything, it made things a bit more bearable for him– but the more he thought about it, the more Karkat realised he actually didn’t like it. At all.
Kanaya seemed to be spending a lot of her time in the library room in the company of Rose –not really suspicious– but the two didn’t seem to talk much, and if they did, their conversations were always almost hushed, so much that whenever Karkat decided to join them there, he almost felt like he was intruding on them.
He was no idiot though, he knew something was brewing between them, and he was equally content for them and annoyed.
Unfortunately, because of that trying to talk with Kanaya on her own had grown almost impossible to achieve, as Rose was always with her. He could respect their need for solitude to solidify their bond, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a bit bitter about it. Seeking her out had become almost a chore, and Karkat was starting to miss his chats with his friend.
Especially with Gamzee not being there most of the time.
His moirail’s absence had been another thing Karkat disliked –maybe the Juggalo wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but at least he was someone to talk with. Without him, and with Kanaya busy with Rose, that left him with only Dave and Terezi to talk with.
On that side, things with Terezi were still a bit tense. He still felt a lingering pang of regret at his lost chance with her, but he accepted the fact that she had not chosen him, and he respected it.
That didn’t make the situation any less awkward, though, especially if Dave was added into the equation.
He couldn’t remember a time he’d been in the same room with her alone in at least half a sweep.
Dave, though…
It was true that he found Dave’s company less of a chore lately than it had been at first.
Karkat couldn’t say he had fun talking with him –they fought a lot of the time, and Dave seemed to like annoying him and riling him up far too much– but at the same time, more often than not they managed to be in the same room and actually get along.
If at first he had subconsciously retired to his respiteblock more often, spending hours on end watching his favourite romcoms in long marathons, coming out of his room to interact with the only living being on the meteor that seemed to not mind his company had soon become something Karkat did on a daily basis.
Besides, Dave himself often strayed far enough from New Can Town room to seek Karkat on his own, which was a bit strange but not all that unpleasant.
They still fought every now and then, but there was some sort of… truce between them. And it wasn’t because of Terezi either.
In a hidden part of his brain, Karkat knew that his only reason for disliking Dave so much, ever since the very start, was because of Terezi’s interest in him. Removed Terezi from between them, things had clicked. Like they were meant to be friends.
Maybe Strider hadn’t been his first choice, more like the only one left to talk to, but Karkat had learned to appreciate him nonetheless, and he could now look back and admit he’d been judging him wrong the whole time; he rambled about useless shit and often liked to rile him up, but Karkat didn’t feel pissed off anymore, he simply teased him back.
Karkat had learned he could enjoy the human’s presence and it made him feel good.
Now, with his uneasiness about silence hovering above his head like a beast of the sky ready to descend on him to feast on his mutant innards, Karkat was seeking out Dave for an entirely different reason. The silence bugged him. The meteor lab was almost too constricting, too silent, and Karkat felt like he was growing restless inside his own useless teenager body.
Dave’s presence, his useless muttering and rapping and teasing… it would help him dispel this feeling. Remind him that it was ok. There was still a long way to go before they reached the new universe.
Unfortunately, seeking Dave out proved to be almost impossible. Karkat had expected to be able to find the human in one of his common spots –their nutrition block, the ‘new can town’ room (though there was a high chance to see Terezi there, too), or his own respiteblock– but he’d been wrong.
Dave was nowhere to be found.
Karkat had found Rose and Kanaya in the library, as usual, sitting together and quietly reading, simply enjoying each other’s presence, and Karkat had retired quickly, not wanting to disturb them –they weren’t his target, after all.
The Mayor had been the only living creature in the ‘New Can Town’ room, which was somewhat puzzling. Karkat had expected to see Terezi there at least, as usual, but when he tried to think of the last time he’d seen her there, he couldn’t recall it.
Which was weird. Terezi had always been really devoted to the stupid can town, marching around smirking like she owned the place.
Making a note to ask Dave about it as soon as he found him, Karkat resumed his chase, growing more and more annoyed as his search was fruitless. The meteor lab had a lot of rooms, but most of them were locked close, and some parts of it were unusable.
Which only left the air vents (an amusing mental image, but stupid for obvious reasons) and the surface of the meteor.
Feeling like a troll with a purpose, Karkat walked up to the front door of the laboratory and pushed it open, peering on the desolate land outside, eyes trying to see something red among the dust and rocks.
The sky surrounding the meteor was pitch black, and for a moment Karkat felt a vertigo, his eyes unable to judge the distance between the nothingness and the meteor itself. This far into their trip, the green sun was now a small light lost in the distance behind them, and couldn’t be seen from the front of the meteor anymore.
There was no reference point in the space other than absolute nothingness, not even the dreambubbles they had passed not long before.
Gritting his teeth, Karkat stepped out of the lab and looked around.
He walked forwards, stepping through debris and fallen remains of what had been probably another building of the lab –an observatory, maybe– and glanced around, climbing on a broken wall to have a better look at the meteor’s surface.
It was eerie as usual, because unless he kicked up the dirt, creating clouds of dust, there was no wind on the meteor, and the atmosphere only existed because of the lab, a result of the game itself. The exterior part of the meteor was ugly, dead, and only served to remind Karkat of where they were.
His eyes zeroed on a small red patch, almost completely hidden by a partially crumbled down wall, so he quickly slid down his perch and moved that way, picking up his pace as he hurried over, words piling in his mind as he approached the human…
Dave was sprawled on the ground, arms abandoned at his sides, completely unmoving, and with his shades covering half of his face, and the other half relaxed in an unreadable expression, Karkat had the sudden striking fear that the human was unconscious.
He swallowed, shuffling forwards, almost worried –almost– but then Dave moved slightly, tilting his head to the side.
“Hi,” he stated, voice carefully blank.
The fragment of worry that had somehow managed to lodge inside Karkat’s chest vanished instantly.
There was absolutely no relief in his voice when he asked, “What the hell are you doing outside here?”
Dave’s reply, as usual, made no sense.
“Stargazing”.
Despite himself, Karkat glanced up, even though he was sure, one hundred and one per cent sure, that there was not a single star to be found in the dark sky surrounding them; and as expected, he could only see the almost deafening blackness, nothing else.
“Do you have to be so infuriating all the time? Did you finally go crazy? Please, do tell me you’re going to start hunting us down one by one, that will give me the excuse to pound you until you’re unable to move,” he hissed, then paused. “Strider, are you mad? There aren’t stars up there”.
Dave snorted, shaking his head slowly, and the small sound had the effect of dousing flames with an oil can; anger burned through Karkat’s lungs, building up from his pent-up annoyance, fists clenched and teeth gritted as he attempted to reign control of it to direct it all on Dave.
“I swear, of all the people I’ve been forced to share my breathing space with, you are the very absolute worst, Strider,” he grunted, hands balled into fists.
He was brimming with energy, partially caused by his sudden spike of worry and partially caused by his earlier uneasiness, and Karkat mildly wondered if Dave would mind sparring with him again.
“Yes, you say that all the time and yet you keep coming back, can’t deny the appeal of a Strider, huh?” there was a teasing smirk on Dave’s lips, and Karkat simply snorted.
He’s grown used to Dave’s comments, and they didn’t touch him anymore. “Yes, yes,” he replied dismissively. “Where else would I get my daily dose of bullshit otherwise, in this cramped rock hurling across infinity?”
“Karkat, Karkat, man, let’s not miss the point, just shut up for a moment and I might even indulge you with a proper answer”.
With a pointed glare, Karkat conceded, but not without clicking his throat in warning. He was there for a purpose, after all.
Instead of talking though, Dave patted the floor at his side, then flopped back down on the ground, unmindful of the small cloud of dust around his body.
“C’mon, get down here, let’s even it out, or do you like to tower above me?”
“Let me just point out that I’m taller than you,” Karkat replied, but complied after only a second of resistance. “Besides, I like when I can look down on you, it gives me more of an edge on you and your ego”.
“My ego will be forever one inch taller than you, Karkat,” was the amused reply. “And I concur, your hair is taller than me, not you”.
“Repeat that to my face, wanker,” there was a small smirk on Karkat’s face that the troll made no attempt to hide as he crouched next to Dave, staring straight at his face.
“Well, I would, but all I see is a sea of hair,” Dave tilted his head towards Karkat’s forehead. “Wouldn’t want to get too close, might disappear and nobody will ever find my corpse again”.
“God forbid I waste your body by letting it rot in my hair when I could use most of you for useful stuff. Like a doorstop”.
“I’d be the fanciest doorstop you’d ever get, Karkat”.
“I don’t think you’d shut up even then”.
Dave’s lips curved upwards, and he lifted his shades long enough to wiggle his eyebrows at Karkat, sliding them back down to hide his eyes again a second later; the casual, familiar gesture made the troll smile back.
Shaking his head, Karkat slowly shuffled down until he was lying down at Dave’s side, a bit disgruntled and still very much tense.
He kept peeking at Dave’s face then back up at the sky, the blackness spreading past his vision on all sides, the same empty darkness as before; it was just the same colour of Dave’s aviators, covering up his eyes and making it look like the shades were reflecting the empty sky in them.
Black and endless and empty.
All of sudden, Karkat felt the uneasiness grow and he hastily looked away.
“So as I was sayin’, I’m stargazing,” Dave’s voice broke the silence so suddenly that Karkat had to blink, surprised at the sound. “Thought it’d be the only appropriate thing to do on a meteor hurling through the universe, ya know? Looking up at the blinking lights and come up with better names for those constellations, since we’re technically gods and whatnot”.
“Dave, there are no fucking stars to gaze at, the sky is entirely pitch black, what the fuck are you really looking at?”
“Shhh, don’t break the illusion,” Dave leaned to the side, pressing one finger on Karkat’s mouth.
The skin felt almost cold against Karkat’s lips, sign the human had been outside for a while already.
“Sometimes I used to go on top of my apartment complex to stare at the sky,” hand retreating from the troll’s lips, Dave returned his gaze up at the emptiness above them. His words caught Karkat unprepared. “But fucking Houston had the worst star service. Light pollution at its worst, we couldn’t see shit up there”.
Karkat found himself speechless. Dave didn’t usually talk about himself or his time on Earth, and the fact that he was talking about it now, and with him of all people, left him baffled.
“I didn’t really care because the roof was meant for strifing, not stargazing, but I was curious either way,” Dave shuffled, attempting to shrug from his position. “There was a blackout once, and even now I am totally sure Bro did it. Can’t really prove it, but man I swear, he looked hella proud of himself”.
He paused for a second, then snorted quietly. “We strifed in the dark and when I couldn’t move anymore he sat on me and started telling me about stars. I’m pretty sure he invented half of the names”.
Karkat dared to glance at him, trying to remember how Dave’s Bro looked from the only time he’d seen him, catching glimpses on Terezi’s grubtop. He had a much clearer mental image of a strife in the dark, though –it was one of Crabdad’s favourite pastimes.
“If it helps, I could sit on your back while you’re reminiscing about your human lusus,” he felt a bit awkward at being on the receiving end of that confession, but it made him also feel good to know Dave trusted him enough to want to talk to him about his parental figure.
He glanced at Dave, and saw him silently shaking in mirth, so he smiled too, and the following silence wasn’t as uneasy anymore.
Just with his presence, Dave was able to make him feel better, even though Karkat would never tell him that.
“Did you know there’s a Cancer constellation?”
Once again Karkat was completely taken aback, and he whipped his head to the side to stare at Dave, who studiously refused to look at him.
“Well, there was. Earth’s no more. Well, mine. The Earth I lived on, I mean. Not sure what changed with the reset but it’d better have the same stars. D’you think your troll Empress set a base on the moon? Would be worse than B-rated sci-fi movies. Not cool”.
For a moment, Dave’s rant descended into quiet mutters, and Karkat settled back, eyes travelling back into the darkness. The emptiness quickly made him look away, but in order to keep his relaxed stance there was nowhere else to look at, and staring at Dave was a bit too forwards.
So, Karkat closed his eyes, breathing deeply and tuning out Dave’s voice as he continued ranting on about the Condesce. He didn’t seem he’d be done muttering to himself anytime soon, as he was prone to do lately, and Karkat had enough to think about on his own.
Dave had said there was a Cancer constellation, but Karkat wasn’t even sure he was telling the truth. Why would there be his sign in the human’s universe anyway? He wasn’t all that important, not enough to have carved something of himself into it when he’d created it.
Aside for giving it cancer.
Of all things Karkat could have offered a new universe, it was clearly a given it would be something rotten and mutated.
“There was one,” Dave’s soft voice cut through Karkat’s thoughts again, and Karkat blinked his eyes open, only to have fingers cover his vision a second later. “Shhh, don’t look, it’ll ruin the experience”.
“Dave–”
“I said shhhh, Karkat”.
With a grunt, Karkat gave up again and kept his eyes close, feeling the hand linger on his face for a few seconds before retreating, leaving his skin feeling almost cold.
“There was a Cancer constellation,” Dave repeated slowly, when he was sure Karkat wasn’t going to protest. “Really, there were all of them, so you’re not that special. Cancer was just the boring one. Hard to see too, pain in the ass to find in the sky”.
Karkat wanted to bristle at the not-so-veiled insult, but he was too busy grasping the concept that a part of him had been brought over to the universe he’d created. He guessed Dave had no reason to lie.
He had no idea why he was telling him that, though.
“Just thinking I’d share,” Dave commented, almost as if reading Karkat’s mind. “It’s too dark out there anyway, sort of missed the sight of shining dots above my head during training. You get used to ‘em for so long that this unnatural darkness is bound to be annoying”.
As his voice had lowered during the last part, Karkat feared Dave would once again fall into one of his one-sided rants, just like before. “How did stars look from your house?” though he’d asked that only to keep Dave’s attention on himself –he hadn’t searched for him far and wide only to be ignored while the human muttered to himself for half an hour– the question was a sincere one. He was actually curious about what sight humans saw in the skies at night.
“Oh, Karkat, do I sniff some interest on your side about my inferior, boring planet?”
Karkat snorted, almost opening his eyes, but a soft, breathless chuckle stopped him.
“No, I get it, I get it. Honest hour, is it. Then I’ll do my best to provide you some entertainment. The Strider Ride of Fun. Let me describe you the joys of human stars, alright?”
Dave’s voice was soft, slightly raspy, and he used far too many metaphors, but Karkat found himself quietly listening as the human spoke of the stars he could see from his house, slowly mapping the sky for him starting from the Cancer constellation.
One by one, through Dave’s vivid words, sometimes falling into curt raps, Karkat painted the stars on the inside of his eyelids, using his memory to fill up the blanks where words couldn’t reach until he could almost see those twinkling little dots flickering in and out of sight, Dave still coaxing his imagination going.
More than once Dave returned to the Cancer, his starting constellation, like a quick reminder, like he thought Karkat would forget about it, with a weird edge to his tone that made Karkat think he was a bit embarrassed; in a moment of insight, Karkat wondered whether Dave was actually trying to make sure Karkat was still listening, afraid that he would brush him off, like others did quite often during his long rants.
It made Karkat smile, keeping his eyes tightly shut but wandering with his hand until he found Dave’s arm, lightly punching it to reassure the idiot that yes, he was still paying attention.
Somewhere in the world of the humans, something of Karkat had existed, no matter how small and unassuming –if anything, that was what Karkat had tried to be like back on Alternia.
It was nothing, and yet at the same time, it was reassuring. Even if he died, the new universe would forever have something of him, and maybe those who knew would not forget about him.
And what made it matter even more was the fact that Dave, of all people, had wanted to disclose this piece of information with him, even if in an offhanded way.
Karkat’s stomach fluttered a bit, and he had to swallow, fingers digging into the edge of his shirt, holding onto it as he continued listening to Dave’s voice.
Sometimes, if he was honest with himself, he thought the way Dave was around him meant the human might be interested. Quadrant-wise. A casual glance, a pause in his raps, or just a feeling Karkat got from the way he acted… and Karkat would feel the same flutter inside his stomach, repressed but there. Fleeting as they were, those moments made him question his growing friendship with the human.
He was intolerably idiotic, and thought he was the coolest person around when it was obvious to Karkat that he was nothing but a dork, and yet… there was something about Dave that was intriguing, even attractive.
There were times when Karkat wanted nothing more than grab those shades hiding him away and rip them off of his nose, to face the Dave behind them on equal grounds, and demand to know what the human felt. If there was an option out or if Karkat’s brain had finally enough and had decided to jump into madness.
Other times, he just wanted to punch his nose. It was an equal desire.
Was it a quadrant? If it was, what about Terezi? Hadn’t they been red for each other? Wasn’t that the reason why Karkat had felt jealous and threatened?
Feelings could change in a sweep, Karkat himself knew that, especially since he had started thinking that Dave in his quadrants was a disgusting, bad idea, and now… well, now it was an entirely different thing.
Dave’s teasing voice managed to snap him out of his thoughts once more. “Tell you what, if we’re not too busy kicking some ass around, I’ll give you a guided tour on Earth’s stars when we get there”.
“Yes, I’ll be sure to book some time between fighting our enemy and saving this hellhole of a boring, foreign universe just to see some twinkling little shits that are stuck somewhere in the sky and that don’t give a fuck what happens on a shitty little planet in the middle of nowhere,” he snorted, rolling his eyes behind his eyelids.
“Now you get it, Karkat. I’ll make the tour worth your while, I might even show you the Cancer if you ask nicely”.
“What, didn’t you just say it’s hard to find?” he opened one eye, and was surprised to see Dave’s face tilted towards him, even though his shades made it hard to see if he was looking at him or not.
There was a curious tilt of his lips that made the grin on his face look warm, almost fond, but the moment Dave noticed him peeking it vanished, and he awkwardly shrugged. “Only if you don’t know where to look,” he amended, and tilted his head away, lips moving soundlessly as he seemed to say something to himself before biting on his lower lip to stop.
The flutter inside his stomach returned again, this time stronger, and Karkat watched as Dave’s cheeks turned red under the curve of his aviators.
Oh. Well, he had been wondering until then, hadn’t he?
Slowly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position; Dave remained sprawled on the ground, and it gave Karkat an edge as he shuffled closer, giving the human some time to realise what was happening, but not enough to let him move away.
“You do like towering on me, do you?” Dave managed to sound calm, but from this new angle Karkat could see the blush spread just a little bit more.
“Fuck you, for making things so hard all the time, it’s not like it’s a two-player game, no, you just have to snag all the rulebooks and play unfairly,” he grumbled.
He let himself flop down, hitting Dave’s chest with a shoulder and feeling a trickle of amusement when Dave choked out a strangled gasp.
“What–”
“I don’t know about you, but my back would prefer not to scream in pain when we’re finished with this desolate land and its dirty exterior, especially since there was a stone digging right into my spine,” he answered, jamming his elbow right into Dave’s side as he shuffled up a bit.
Now they were face-to-face, with Karkat pressing most of his weight against Dave’s chest, keeping him down.
“Get off. You’re heavy”.
Karkat remained unmoving, still looking down at Dave’s face, ignoring his shades. Dave breathed through his nose and tried to look unaffected, but the blush slowly spreading down to his ears told him another story.
“So, not gonna get up?”
“No,” he answered, smirking a bit. “I actually think you make a passably comfortable pillow, with your human meat sack,” he prodded him in the chest.
The squeal Dave made was entirely satisfying as he leaned up just enough to press his lips against Dave’s ones.
He felt Dave’s entire body stiffen under his own, so tense it was almost amusing, but he was far more interested in how his lips felt instead; one of Dave’s hands grabbed his shoulder, for a moment unsure whether to pull or push, only holding it.
Dave’s lips were dry, and Karkat instinctively licked them, muffling Dave’s soft gasp and smiling against them.
It wasn’t the best kiss by a long shot –Dave looked like he had trouble breathing through his nose, and he barely moved his lips, and Karkat himself wasn’t all that experienced either, overly eager and a bit aggressive– but it still felt good.
The fluttering in his stomach had reached impressive proportions, and he could feel Dave shivering under his hand, fingers splayed on the human’s chest to keep himself up; his skin felt awfully sensitive, and he tried not to focus on the way his body was pressed flush against Dave’s one.
The hand holding his shoulder finally seemed to resolve its indecision and tugged him closer, and Dave’s lips parted slightly, sliding against Karkat’s ones slowly, tentatively responding to the kiss.
Karkat almost pulled away when he felt something touch his other hand, eyes fluttering open, disrupting his concentration, but he calmed down when he felt Dave’s fingers intertwine with his own, the human’s thumb gently caressing the side of his hand.
It felt good. Everything felt good.
Exhaling softly, Dave moved lower and sucked gently on Karkat’s lower lip, the side of his shades bumping against Karkat’s nose, making him snort and finally push away, breathing hard when their lips parted.
For a split second, they stared at one another, and Karkat admired the way Dave’s cheeks were red enough that even his shades couldn’t cover the blush, lips slightly wet and appealing, breathing hard. He looked alien and enticing all the same, and Karkat wanted nothing more than kiss him again.
He knew that Dave was probably seeing a similar look on him, too. Or well, he hoped so.
Dave took a shuddering breath, then tilted his head to the side, his shoulders shaking softly as he exhaled in a quiet laughter. Karkat could feel the way his heart was racing under his fingers, but he said nothing, simply looking down at him.
Dave wasn’t laughing at him, obviously.
“Shit,” Dave licked his lips, and Karkat’s eyes zeroed on the motion instantly. “I… shit”.
Karkat snorted, “Good to know I have the ability to shut the great Dave Strider up, it might become useful later on, I will treasure this newfound power I have and only indulge whenever the timing is right”.
His voice was a bit throaty too, low and raspy, and Dave looked back at him. The shades annoyed the troll, but one of his hands was still trapped within Dave’s hold, and the other was pressed against the other teen’s chest, and he didn’t feel like working himself in a new position.
He was comfortable.
Dave seemed to understand though, because he removed his shades with his free hand, sliding them up to nest on top of his head.
“Better?” he wriggled his eyebrows, attempting to look dashing, but with his red cheeks and his slightly puffy lips, he looked anything but that.
“Yes, well, for a moment I thought I had been kissing a mirror, but oh, it looks like there was a face behind those shades after all”.
“Bet you can tell that from experience,” Dave smiled up at him, annoying and content and fuck, Karkat wanted to kiss him again.
“I see you still like to open those meatflaps for things that are nothing but useless vats of hoofbeastshit, I wonder why I thought that engaging in sloppy makeouts would change that”.
Dave’s smile didn’t waver. “Well, we’re not kissing now, are we Karkat?”
He craned his neck a bit, trying to reach Karkat’s lips, which were still close, but Karkat tilted his head back, so that Dave couldn’t reach him.
“Now you’re just playing hard to get,” Dave grimaced, seeming slightly annoyed. “Come back down for more of those makeouts, I haven’t had my fill yet”.
He managed to sound positively whining, and Karkat snorted, his shoulders shaking in mirth.
“Oh, I don’t know, should I?”
He inched down, just enough to press his nose against Dave’s, then retreated, and Dave slumped back down on the ground, groaning in defeat.
“Do I have to beg for those luscious lips? Do I have to tell you just how much it pains me to see them so far? C’mon Karkat, y’know how long I’ve wanted to get my mack on with you?”
Dave seemed to realise what he’d admitted, because his cheeks, that had been returning to their previous colour, flared back into red depths.
Although pleased, Karkat was in a similar situation; the reality of their kiss was finally downing on him fully, and with Dave’s admission, he was finding it hard to keep his own blush at bay, cheeks flushing into dark greys.
“I had thought you wouldn’t be one to dawdle and pine away, Dave… did I overestimate your Strider appeal?”
There was something extremely satisfying in being able to tease Dave back, especially after months of being on the receiving end.
Dave’s grimace, so embarrassed he almost looked horrified, was definitely worth prodding him, but after a couple seconds Karkat took pity of him, and leaned down, nuzzling the human’s cheek and peering up at his red eyes.
“Did I hurt your delicate Strider sensibility?”
“Fuck you,” Dave resolutely looked away, face burning red up to his ears, his lips curved into an appealing pout. “I’m as delicate as a brick wall”.
Karkat snorted, choking on his laughter as he slumped down on Dave’s chest, hiding his face in the crook of the human’s collarbone and holding onto his shoulder, shaking and pressing the bridge of his nose into the curve of Dave’s neck.
He felt Dave exhale again, his heart still fast against Karkat’s auricular sponge clot, then the soft, breathy sound of the human’s laughter echoed his own.
“I swear, if you mention your quadrants–”
“Nah,” Karkat peered up, admiring Dave’s jaw from this up close, glancing at the rest of his face, “it’s quite obvious, even to a brainless sack of meat, that we are settled red”.
“Oh, good, and here I thought this was going to end in a dramatically disturbing caliginous affair that would leave us both bloody and panting for breath, ready to be a midnight snack for dear Kanaya…”
“I don’t think she’d try to touch you without your permission, don’t be ridiculous,” he rolled his eyes. “But, matesprits are often known to indulge in less-than-vanilla encounters, if both participants are–”
“I’m not listening to that, I totally am not, lalalalala,” Dave shuffled, covering one of his ears with his free arm, but unable to cover the other as Karkat did not let go of his hand. “Hey, you’re ruining my tantrum,” he whined softly, but there was a clear edge of amusement in his tone.
“You’re a stupid head,” Karkat proclaimed, shuffling until he was once again pressing his nose against Dave’s one. “Remind me once again why I’m here?”
“… stargazing,” Dave replied quietly.
Karkat blinked, then tilted his head to the side, eyes glancing up at the empty nothingness surrounding them; he’d completely forgotten about his worry, about the silence on the meteor, about anything that wasn’t Dave. Yes, he hadn’t expected to fill a quadrant, but he’d known for a long while that Dave had the ability to fill the space around Karkat with something warm and pleasant.
“Yes,” he murmured in reply, looking back down and into Dave’s eyes. “Stargazing”.
Then, he smiled and finally allowed Dave to kiss him again.