Chapter Text
Dave was asleep, his dreams barely tinged with the feeling of his bruises and bumps as he found one of his doomed selves in his bubble, the most recent victim in his series of deaths. They conversed a bit, Dave doing his best not to look at the scar around the other's throat. There was a seriously strange occurance with his doomed selves getting beheaded. It was the sound of the door slamming that woke him. Letting out an annoyed grunt he went to turn, only to find that yes, his arm was still quite hurt, and instead he let out a hiss of pain as he opened his eyes. Karkat was pacing, hands sliding through his hair frantically as he walked in what looked to be a very well traveled patch of concrete. It was the cleanest bit of floor in the room.
“What’s wrong, babe?” Dave asked with a yawn. Karkat shot him a look that was mixed confusion and fear as he stopped.
“Gamzee’s gone, again, and he took that fucking fridge with him meaning he does not want to be found. The nook gurgling pustual has gone awol, and if its anything like last time, then there is no fucking way I am going to be finding him on this shit hole any time soon,” Karkat went back to pacing. “And now he’s on that weed shit and who the fuck knows what prolonged exposure to that is going to do!”
“Make him get the munchies like no one's business,” Dave offered as he started to sit up with a hiss. Apparently Gamzee had fucked him harder than he had thought, his lower body protesting every movement while his face thrummed gently from the broken, but set, cheekbone. The worst of it would be over in a few days, thank the stars for god tier.
“And where the fuck is he going to get the food? Gamzee could barely feed himself without daily reminders from me over my goddamn husk top. For christ sake, the last time he came back he looked even more like a skeleton than he did before he had turned homicidal.” Karkat was pulling at his hair as he said it. “I’m his fucking moirail! I should be there to make sure he doesn’t kill himself through starvation or just lose it! But I can’t do that if he can’t even fucking trust me enough with his all important ‘mission from the messiah's’!”
Dave raised an eyebrow at him. So Gamzee was still hearing voices, well that was great news. No wonder the chuckle voodoo’s had been doing such a number on him. Dave managed to sit up against the wall and stretched an arm out towards Karkat.
“Hey, just breathe. He’s done this before, and he can’t overdose on weed, he would fall asleep first,” Dave said gently, hand waving towards Karkat to bring him closer.
“You also said that we couldn’t get high off the shit from eating it,” Karkat pointed out and Dave sighed a bit, though his hand just motioned Karkat to come over. Karkat gave him a disgruntled look for a moment, like he would rather go jump off the asteroid, but a few seconds later he was crawling up on the bed and settling in on Dave’s good side. Dave wrapped his arm around Karkat's shoulders.
“This is more exhausting than when I had to keep my lusus from attacking my pan dead, cum guzzling, idiotic neighbors when they would walk on the fucking lawn,” Karkat muttered to which Dave did his best not to laugh. Karkat hesitantly snuggled against Dave, head disappearing into the skin of his shoulder, short horns just barely touching his hurt cheek. It made him wince a bit, but Dave didn’t pull away.
“Hey, chuckles will show up sooner or later. I mean, he has to come back and get his fix at some point,” Dave pointed out to which Karkat sighed, warm breath ghosting over his skin. Dave leaned his head against the wall, eyes closing.
“Wow,” he heard softly, and looked down to find Karkat studying his throat.
“What?” Dave asked, not moving as Karkat’s claw came up to trace the tendons in his neck.
“You must really trust me to show me your throat like that,” Karkat muttered, face going a bit red.
“Something you don’t seem to realize is that I’ve always trusted you, dumbass,” Dave ruffled Karkat’s hair a bit and got a slight glare. “Just enjoy bugging you too much.”
“Which is going to stop now that we’re red, right?” There was a small peak of hope in Karkat’s voice.
“Not on your life.” Dave said with a chuckle and ducked his head just enough to put a kiss on the tip of Karkat’s horn. He smiled when he saw Karkat shiver. “These things really that sensitive?” he asked, curious. As much as he had gotten to touch Gamzee, there had never been any actual exploration. During the first small bout of makeouts, before Dave had to pass out again, he had found that troll tongues were longer than humans. He had thought maybe it had just been Gamzee, but Karkat’s had been able to twine around his pretty damn well, though it wasn’t as long as Gamzee’s. Dave had also learned Karkat tasted really damn good.
“Shut the fuck up and just let me mull over the impending doom of my moirail in peace.” Karkat grumbled, but didn’t move as Dave started massaging the base of his horns. Another genuine smile tugged at his mouth as he watched Karkat’s eyes close, his face going somewhat lax as he massaged the troll’s scalp. When he added a bit of nail Karkat let out a muffled purring sound.
“Enjoying yourself?” Dave asked as Karkat shot him yet another, though half-hearted, glare through half-lidded eyes.
“Can you keep that tongue of yours from ruining everything or are you just cursed?” Karkat asked, eyes closing again as Dave continued to rub at his skull.
“It’s a gift, and you didn’t mind it that much earlier,” Dave added, bending to swipe a lick at Karkat’s nearest horn. The small whimper he got was well worth it. “God damn I am going to have fun with these.”
“Shut up Strider,” Karkat muttered. Dave did, going back to holding Karkat and looking into the darkness of the room. It didn’t take long for their breathing to even out and sleep to claim them.
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Dave shifted as the dream bubble disintegrated. He waved at his doomed self who had given him as much of an update as he could. There was something going on with the dream bubbles, something bad. That thought mostly drifted away from him with sleep when he attempted to shift, and got a sharp pain in his side. Eyes flying open Dave looked down to find Karkat wrapped around him, clawed hand gripping his side as his face creased. Dave relaxed, he should have been used to that already.
Less than a week from touch down and Gamzee was still nowhere to be found. It put Karkat on edge, and though it made Dave want to tear the clown's head off more than usual for making his Moirail panic, he couldn’t say he wasn’t enjoying parts of it. Mostly how he was now Karkat’s main form of comfort. He was learning a lot more about Karkat now that he wasn’t trying to prank him all the time, not to say he didn’t still poke fun at him and make him slightly uncomfortable. Now though, when Karkat got mad, he would give him a smirk and proceed to kiss him till the curses became little breathy sounds.
Dave was learning that Karkat really did give a shit about everyone behind his angry front. He was worried to death about Gamzee, not sure if the clown had managed to off himself in some part of the asteroid, or if he was in stalker mode again on Dave. Neither of them was sure which would be the preferred thing, though finding him alive and high as a kite would be the best situation.
Dave leaned down and pressed a kiss between Karkat’s eyes, making the troll settle a little and shift against him. He could barely see the top triangular scars on his back. Karkat had called them grub scars, from where his extra legs had fallen off during his first pupation. It had left him with just a small tail and learning how to walk on four, and then two legs. During his second he had lost the tail and taken the form he was currently in. He had told Dave that he and the other trolls would go through the last pupation stage at random, though Gamzee looked like he was going to go through it soon. His blood temperature had even started to drop which was a sure sign. Usually, highbloods were some of the last to go through the change, longer life spans and all, but with all the damage Gamzee had done Karkat wouldn’t be surprised if he was now at the life span of an olive blood. Karkat just hoped it didn’t happen when Gamzee was missing, or during the next part of the game, that could end really poorly. Dave just hoped he was around so he could poke the clown with a stick. Apparently, it was when trolls were at their weakest, and hot damn if he wasn’t going to use that against the clown.
Karkat’s breathing evened out completely and let out a slight mewl when Dave flicked his tongue against his horn. He could feel his morning wood jump at the sound, but didn’t get his hopes up. Karkat had wanted everything slow. Dave hadn’t even gotten to see the other fully nude except a few times when he ‘accidentally’ walked in on him changing. It hadn’t been fruitful though, Karkat’s bone sheath, or whatever it was called, was always in place, making him look like a doll with a red line down the center. That hadn’t meant Karkat was against heavy petting when making out, and Dave had only gotten away with coping a few feels here and there. Even before Karkat had allowed him to see him without the sweater he could tell he was thin, not sickly like Gamzee, but from stress and forgetting to eat at times. It left Karkat with a softer stomach than Gamzee. Dave enjoyed gently spread his fingers over it and making Karkat cuss while trying to wiggle away from the touches. It was the closest thing to ticklish Dave had figured out with him.
Karkat had started sleeping with him a week after the amazing cluster fuck that was the chuckle voodoos. For a while, Karkat had kicked Dave out, or left Dave’s room when he got tired. It had annoyed Dave a bit, especially when he had just gotten comfortable with his arms tucked in around Karkat, but he went without too much teasing. He was usually pretty tired too, if not ready to go jerk himself off in the shower. But then Karkat had shown up at his door one night, half-clothed, eyes rimmed red, and shaking gently.
“Is he back?” Dave had asked, the idea of chuckle voodoo’s attacking leaving him to wonder if he should be getting ready for a strife and fuck session.
“No,” Karkat had said hoarsely, pushing past him, “Nightmare.” That had been it before he had pulled off his sweater and slid into Dave’s bed in what looked like a pair of boxers. Dave hadn’t asked anything, just crawled in next to him and pulled him flush to his chest. He was proud to say he had only nibbled on Karkat’s horns and made a few candy corn jokes before finally letting the troll sleep. Dave had woken up a few hours later to a whimpering Karkat, having to cover his face and head in soft pets and kisses to make the noises go away. He had had no idea the dream bubbles could be so bad for trolls, that the only times Karkat could escape them was when Gamzee had done similar things to him while they slept. The thought had made Dave a bit jealous, it also made him want to hold Karkat tighter. The idea that their dreams could be so horrible without the chuckle voodoo’s was just such an awful idea to him.
Terezi had always shrugged the dreams off when Dave had asked about them, saying that her worst dreams came from more recent memories, and that even the bad ones from the past never bothered her much. She had done her time, set her verdict, and the gavilan had dropped. No reason to mourn split rope when it had done its duty. Especially when the neck had made a clean break, though Dave had a feeling there were a few necks that had just slipped and left things dancing in the air for a bit. Terezi didn’t talk about that stuff with him though. He was the escape from memories, Kanaya was the one she went to for those things.
Karkat, though, had a horrible time with the dream bubbles. They would usually pick his worst memories, times of panic, days the drones were heard outside his door as his lusus explained he was not the correct sweep. This was mostly his lusus hissing and crouching in front of him, snapping. Karkat had always feared the day his ‘crabdad’ would leave. Apparently when a troll started pailing the large lusus creatures would slip away and never come back, ready to take on their next troll. It sounded pretty damn horrible to Dave. All of it did, and when Dave made a joke about pails to Karkat he watched conflicting emotions cross his face. Apparently they were both a thing of sex and fear. Sexually provoking because they were what they used to catch their genetic material. Scary as fuck because the drones were the ones coming to collect them.
“Well I could always be your bucket,” Dave had teased, and hot damn if Karkat hadn’t turned the most delicious shade of red he had ever seen. Since that conversation, Dave had decided he would never use a bucket with Karkat, even if the troll insisted when they finally got to having interspecies sex.
Dave rubbed his fingers through Karkat’s hair, marveling at how much softer it was than Gamzee’s. Then of course Karkat bathed regularly. It was still coarser than human hair, but in a way that was like caterpillar fluff. He loved just running his hands through Karkat’s hair. In a few moments, he would have to wake him up though. Rose had called another meeting, and that meant rousing his ‘flush crush’ as Terezi had said jokingly. So far everyone had taken it pretty well. Rose hadn’t acted surprised in the least, though both Terezi and Kanaya had been a bit shocked. Kanaya had let it slide with a look of curiosity and few hushed questions to Rose while Terezi had grinned like an idiot and asked Dave all manner of questions. Dave had asked her once if she had ever had red feeling for Karkat. She had laughed.
“Oh they were around for a while,” she had admitted. “But after a time they just went a bit more to the pale side. I never could sort them out quite well enough to ever figure it out, and then with the game, the last thing I care about is quadrants. Let’s worry about that after we sentence Noir and have him hanging from his red miles.”
“So no holding it against me that I’ve got Karkat’s red?” Dave had asked, wanting to make sure they were still cool.
“Oh hell no. I thought you two might have been black if Gamzee hadn’t gotten you first, but if anything I think you need to give him a good long pailing. Then maybe there will be a day of semi-silence on this rock.” She had cackled then. The mayor had looked like he was debating on smashing his head in with the can he had been holding.
Karkat shifted next to Dave, eyes opening blearily. Dave smiled at him, letting his eyes move just a bit. He didn’t wear his shades as much around Karkat anymore, though it was still about 99.9 percent of the time. He always took them off when he slept, though, and at least let Karkat see them when he first woke up and when they went to bed.
“Morning babe.”
“Why do you insist on calling me one of your human wrigglers?” Karkat growled, pressing his face against Dave’s chest. Dave laughed low and rubbed Karkat’s head with the hand wrapped around his shoulders. One of Karkat’s horns pressed into the fading scar on his shoulder. It would never fully disappear, none of the scars would, but none would ever be as pronounced as they would have been had Dave not reached god tier. Dave always wondered why Gamzee’s had stayed so well while the others were just thicker areas of skin and fine lines. He sometimes wondered if those nights Gamzee had come in to watch him sleep he hadn’t made sure to deepen the mark a little. Would have made sense with the dreams Dave had had those nights.
“Better than calling you Angel isn’t it?” Dave asked, his other hand pressing gently against the marks on Karkat’s upper back. Where they hit near his shoulder blades made Dave think slightly of wings.
“You call me that again and I am not going to kiss you for a wee-” Karkat started but Dave’s mouth was already down and pressing against Karkat’s, lips quirked up in a smirk. The hand not trapped under Karkat slid down his side, squeezing Karkat’s ass through his boxers. God was Dave in love with that ass. Karkat moaned into his mouth as he massaged his backside through the cloth.
“When you finally let me fuck you I am going to bend you over this fucking bed and play with your ass the entire time,” Dave said against Karkat’s mouth, getting a moan and fisted hand against his chest. He could feel the press of Karkat’s bugle through his underwear against his leg, and not for the first time wished Karkat would just let him touch it already. Already knowing he was pushing his luck, but never one to pass up an opportunity, his hand slowly shifted from Karkat’s ass to his front. Gently he pressed against the bugle that was straining against the cloth, felt it twitching and attempting to wrap around his fingers. He got away with massaging it for a few moments before Karkat pulled away.
“Stop that you bulge sucker we need to get ready.” Karkat said breathily.
“You know, we could make that statement true if you would just let me get these off of you.” Dave pulled at the top of Karkat’s boxers.
“Fuck you Strider.”
“Where and when babe?” He couldn’t help but laugh when Karkat went red and kept laughing as the pillow came down on his head, Karkat releasing a rain of feathers over them as he swore continuously at Dave. Dave was a little put out when Karkat got off the bed a moment later, pillow shredded, and watched the way the boxers, which oddly enough didn’t have a hole in the front, slid low on Karkat’s hips. Dave fought a hard battle with his libido to follow Karkat into the shower, but in the end, his self-control won out, even when he heard the slightest breathy moan of his name under the sound of water.