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He hardly remembered it at all. He had walked into the kitchen to grab a drink. When he stepped foot through the doorway, a bunch of puppets fell down from the ceiling. It was all a lighthearted prank to everyone except Dave. He sprinted off into his room, sat down in a corner, trying to get away from the puppets, and he slumped down and his head was spinning and he couldn’t think straight and he couldn’t think he couldn’t think he couldn’t think he just couldn’t he couldn’t and--
Just like that, he had his own Aspect thrown back into his face, time jumping back inside of his skull. He had regressed, as he always does when the storm inside of his brain got too fierce, an involuntary self-destruct button to give him time to wind down from the horrors of his own perception. But this time, something was different. The worst had happened. He wasn’t alone. Dirk and Karkat and all the others followed him and saw him sitting on the ground, thumb half in mouth, tearing streaming down his face, obviously not himself.
He wasn’t sure if the cloudiness was just age regression memory or if it was because the incident counted as a traumatic memory that had to be shelved right the fuck away. All he was sure of was the sheer look of horror on his face when he walked back to the kitchen the next day to find everyone sitting down, staring at him, confusion and curiosity in their eyes. Dave stood there silently for a moment, trying to quickly calculate how he was going to dig himself out of this hole. He finally spoke. “Guys, you gotta move. I need to get to the fridge.”
Dirk walked up to Dave and put a hand on his shoulder. “Dave.”
Dave pushed Dirk’s hand off of his shoulder and started to briskly walk to the fridge. “No. No. We are not talking about this. No.” He managed to make it to the refrigerator door when he heard another voice call out behind him, this time belonging to John.
“Dave! We’re not mad or anything, just--”
“No. Shut up. Shut the FUCK up we are not discussing this. Leave me alone.” Dave tried to discreetly breathe slowly to avoid another age regression episode. He grabbed his apple juice and whirled around to abscond, only to be met face-to-face with Karkat. “Fuck.”
“DAVE.” Karkat did his best to make his voice sound less loud and raspy. “DAVE, ARE YOU OKAY?”
“Yeah I’m okay please let me go now.” Dave focused on his breathing and looked at the ground. He tried his best to calm himself down. No amount of breathing or counting floor cracks, though, could make him feel better, and Dave knew what was about to happen if he didn’t get out of there. Now.
“DAVE…WHAT EVEN WAS THAT?” Karkat looked puzzled. “YOU SEEMED OUT OF IT. LIKE REALLY OUT OF IT. LIKE, YOU NEARLY PISSED YOURSELF OUT OF IT. WHAT HAPPENED?”
Dave shuddered. He was really hoping to avoid this conversation. “Uh, it’s just, uh someth-hmm.’ He tried to breathe deeply and focus on his words. He had to get out of there. “When…something really bad happens, my mind kinda…jumps back a few years.” Dave seemed to fold into himself, avoiding the stares and whispers of the others in the room. “I-It’s not like I can control it. I can’t really help it.” The words he spoke were becoming harder to force out. Shit, he was closer than he thought. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
He was one foot through the doorway of the kitchen when Kanaya popped in. She was holding a red pacifier with a disc logo on it. “Dave, I Found This Under Your Pillow. Why Do You Have This?” With that, Dave lost his grip and slipped again, bursting into tears. He made a beeline for his room again. And everyone followed after him.
“Dave? Are you okay?” Dirk called out, flicking on the lights. Dave was crying in the same corner, now accompanied by many stuffed animals, muttering quietly to himself and rocking. Karkat went up to him.
“DAVE…?” Dave looked up at Karkat and his lip quivered. He started to cry again. “OH SHIT NO DON’T CRY.” Karkat leaned into Dave and gave him a hug. “THERE, THERE. YOU’RE OKAY.” Dave melted into Karkat and slowly began to hug back. They stayed like that for a while, in a soft embrace, until Dave spoke again.
“Alright, alright, I’m good now.”
Karkat let go of him and helped him get to his feet. Dave quickly wiped his thumb off on his shirt and put on a brave face. “Sorry everyone. Show’s over. You can all go now.” To nobody’s shock and surprise, everyone in the room stayed deathly still. Dave sighed. “Listen, I’m sorry for scaring you all, but I’m good now. I swear. I won’t let it happen again.”
Dirk groaned. “Ugh. Dave, shut up. None of us are mad; none of us care.” He shoved Karkat aside, much to the former’s very loud and obvious displeasure, and faced Dave. “We’re just glad you’re okay. This is all really really fucking weird but it’s harmless and, fuck, we’ve both seen worse ways of coping.” Both Striders awkwardly giggled. They most certainly had. “Whatever this is, I’ll support you with it.”
Kanaya pushed past Dirk. “Now That All Of That Drama Is Over And Done With, Why Don’t We Go Downstairs So We Can Relax For A Bit?”
John chimed in. "Yeah! I alchemized some new movies, we can binge watch those!"
Dave just smiled.