Let it be known, Dave did not strive to feel like anyone other than Dave Strider. But, in those few moments when he didn't feel like Dave Strider, he really hated how pathetic he seemed.

Dave Strider didn't always feel like Dave, you know? Dave Strider felt like Dave's coolest form. Something to strive for. Something to keep him waiting for the next day, because Dave had to become Dave Strider one day, right?

Until then, he pretended. But, unfortunately, even cool-kids had their off-days.

It was one of those days when he was just Dave. Except he didn't feel like Dave either.

He felt like something broken. And that sucked, plain and simple.

It hadn't just been 'the relationship' that made him as broken as he felt. Fuck, he had known it was there for years. Expected it to happen for all that time.

(Maybe there was just a hint of relief in the sadness and hurt?)

It was the fact that sometimes, when he was Dave and not Dave Strider, he could feel the seconds slip by. He could hear time leaving him.

He had felt that way for years. Even back when he was thirteen and waiting for something that never came along.

Maybe that was when it started? Maybe it had always been there?

Hell if he knew.

He only knew that David took the ticking away.

Man, Dave could talk hours about David, the red-hating weirdo he was. No, seriously, David hated red. That had to be a crime!

(He didn't really seem to like Terezi either, when Dave thought about it. Karkat, despite being fond of Terezi, never tried to push them to be friends like he did with most others.)

But, the irony was, David looked like Dave and Dave was the embodiment of red, with his freakish eyes.

David was just basically Dave with weird orange-tinted hair. And a really hot boyfriend.

Moving on, that shit was gone because it was moving at the speed of light like a boss.

Dave shifted.

.

.

.

And almost fell off his chair.

The fact that the room was pitch black was totally at fault.

Yeah, that was it.

Dave had never felt as scene-kid as he did in his dark room. He could write a fucking poem, but he didn't really feel like moving. Fuck, that seemed like the worst idea in that time.

The sudden light from the door opening almost made Dave jump. There would be no way anyone could make him move his ass from the chair. For anything.

(Like hell he was risking falling down because of someone. He was still cool, you know?)

The door closed with a sharp click. It sounded unnatural in Dave's quiet room.

The Strider almost assumed that the person left until he heard it.

Footsteps.

So the person didn't leave, Dave almost hit himself for that comment. Yeah, that's why he heard footsteps, he was a dumbass.

(He didn't hit himself, Dave wasn't certain if he could talk himself out of that one.)

The sound stopped just behind Dave.

Dave could hear the person breathing from that close. He relaxed.

There was something familiar about that breathing but it was muffled. Like it was from a dream he always had but always forgot.

(There was red, red like blood, like the lava, red like the blood Bro bleeded out of his chest wound-But there was also much grey, like the halls, like Karkat and Terezi and Kanaya and-)

Arms carefully wrapping around Dave's torso snapped him out of his thoughts. He expected his instincts to take over and to hurt the person but that never came. It was just a hug.

So he opened his mouth to tell Bro, only Bro would do that-oh shit, Bro didn't wear long-sleeved shirts.

Who. The. Fuck. Was hugging him.

Thinking more on the subject, he realized that the shirt was actually a sweater.

Only two people wore sweaters from the people Dave knew.

There was no way in hell one of them was hugging him.

It was that fucking too-big-for-him black sweater Karkat always wore. No matter what weather, Karkat Vantas would continue to wear his stupid sweater while somehow making people feel like shit no matter what.

Fuck, Dave was certain that only John was not affected.

Wait, no, that weird juggalo kid and David didn't seem to care.

But thinking of David kind of hurt so Dave told his brain to shut up because he was fine without it.

Not literary.

Karkat must have used Dave's wandering thoughts as a cover to move even fucking closer because Dave could feel Karkat's breath next to his ear.

Dave totally shivered because of the breeze. From the closed window. And it was hot in temperature. It existed, Dave was pretty certain the sciency term was what-the-fuck-Karkat and the lead scientist was we're-bros-you-shit.

Karkat said something into his ear but the only thing that Dave could concentrate was that fucking breathing.

He didn't really get what Karkat said but it must have insulted him, he was done with Karkat's shit immediately.

Coolsville just lost its only resident. Such a shame. It was a dying town anyway.

The Mayor was the shit so his town must be as well. Shit, what was the Mayor's name? Dave had just always called him 'the Mayor'. Fuck, he needed to ask that from the kid straight away.

Unfortunately Dave got occupied with his thoughts again. Karkat just shook his head – did he say anything, fuck if Dave knew, he was lost in his thoughts, remember? – and swirled Dave's chair around so they were facing each other.

Dave took in their position and allowed himself to become Dave Strider once more.

That had to be the only time where Karkat would look down on anyone. So Dave Strider smirked and opened his mouth to inform Karkat of that revelation, quite helpfully, if he said so himself.

Except Dave Strider fell immediately and only Dave was left once again.

There were certain things that made Dave pause. And what was happening in that moment beat the record.

It had to be written down. Preferably in the form of a rap.

(Except that would mean actually telling people some things made Dave Strider pause and he didn't think that they could handle that. Their small brains would explode because Dave Strider was actually a human being? See, Dave was just being considerate.)

One of those things was the fact that Karkat Vantas was kissing him.

It appeared that Karkat had assumed Dave's open mouth was an okay-to-put-his-tongue-in zone.

(Not that Dave was terribly annoyed at that.)

There was irony in the way he melted into the kiss. Of course there was. He was Dave Strider, everything was ironic. And what wasn't, was made to be ironic in the future (and anyone who mentioned a time when it wasn't ironic should be ashamed).

Dave thought about wrapping his arms around the back of Karkat's neck and he was just going to when he heard a scream of: "Wait, what?"

The voice was so sudden, sudden in the room where breathing was the only sound, that Dave jumped.

Let him tell you, it was the best jump in the would. It could win an Olympic medal.

It was totally ironic, the way he fell backwards.

With his chair.

And then he laid there, in his chair, his back hurting and the only thing he could think was: "Stairs are not my only enemy."

Karkat looked like he wanted to facepalm. Sadly Dave didn't drag him down. Damn, that would have been nice, to feel Karkat's body on top of his.

Maybe not the cursing though, he could live without that.

(He remembered a time before he met Karkat, there was that loneliness that never really got filled by anyone. And as soon as he heard that cursing voice, it felt like he was almost home.)

"What happened here?" Dave could recognize that voice from anywhere. Fuck.

He forgot why he was cooped up in his room in the first place. Well, one of the reasons.

David didn't seem all that fazed by the fact that his boyfriend and his twin brother were making out. Dave almost wished for his ability to not give a fuck about anything.

David walked up to Karkat and raised his hand. Dave was going to scramble up because what the shit dude, don't hit your boyfriend, that's not cool.

Instead, they fist pumped: "You go, what-ever-the-crap-you-call-it."

Karkat just frowned, looking almost puzzled: "Moirail, you shit for brains."

David offered Dave a hand up. He took it because David was still his twin bro and he refused to be afraid of a person who looked exactly like he did.

There were no tricks, just David helping his twin up: "Listen here, you little shit."

There, Dave thought, there come the threats for kissing his boyfriend.

"If you hurt my moirail, I will kill you, got it?" he went on describing all the ways he would kill Dave. Deficiently gory.

"Stop," it felt like a whisper but David stopped immediately. It felt like Karkat had said a code word for going too far.

That was what stop meant, didn't it?

Fuck.

And it was then, out of fucking nowhere as he watched Karkat and David look at each other with somewhat softened eyes, that Dave realized that David knew the term they used, he made Karkat say it just so Dave would know the term. Why, exactly?

It was definitely for Karkat's benefit, that much Dave knew.

"So, you're not dating then?" John looked at David and Karkat for clarification, the guy looked kind of uncomfortable.

"No," David sighed, "we've said that for years but did you idiots listen to us? Nooo, that would be too much to ask. 'They're perfect for each other' you said, never once asking if we were okay with that."

"Are Dave and Karkat a thing then?" John asked once again, "because you and Karkat kissed once, I think, but you said that was different."

Dave shivered at the memory. He was pretty certain that was the thing that made him escape (stride, he was cool about the situation, not like some teenage hormonal girl) to his room.

"Yup, official boyfriend-matespritship business happened here," Karkat seemed to smile at the second was-that-a-real-word? so Dave told himself to talk to one of them about that later.

Also moirail. Dave was finding out about that mysterious word that was completely platonic and allowed his twin to kiss his boyfriend.

That shit was not cool.

(Except the fact that it was still kind of hot but Dave noped that thought so fucking far away, he almost didn't see the image all over again.)


There. I give up. Take my fan fiction. I basically only write Davekat at this point and it might as well be my first official Homestuck fanfiction. The Davesprite in the pairing was something I didn't plan. This was actually supposed to be part of a bigger story but I'm a lazy shit so take what I gave you.

If people actually take up interest in the bigger story I might write it.

The thing with bigger stories is, more characters I might write wrong.