The first time Dave Strider saw Karkat Vantas, he didn't think anything of it. A quick glance across a crowded room in dim lighting wasn't anything to think about, after all, and he honestly couldn't see jack shit but silhouettes past a specific 8 foot radius around his immediate person. If someone had told him who the gray speck in his vision was, even, he'd be clueless. Because Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas worked in separate circles, and while a glance at a party wasn't uncommon, they were not acquaintances. They were not friends. And they most certainly were not lovers, a sharp laugh hence delivered at the thought.