Dave Strider, Knight of Time, woke up screaming in his bed, skin slicked with cold sweat. It was one of the stupid fucking nightmares again — he couldn't remember if it was the one where he was sinking to his death in a colossal smuppet ass, or if it was the one where Lil Cal just straight-up stabbed him in his sleep. There were a few regular uninvited asshole guests that fucked with his nights.
He didn't bother turning on the light. He'd claimed this corner of the labyrinthine meteor facility for his bedroom a year and a half ago. By now, he knew it on instinct, not that there was much to know: a little bed, a table that currently held a glass of water (easier than his Sylladex), a light switch on the wall, and the door panel, which opened — shocker — the door. Maybe it had been a broom closet for whoever designed this place. Not like it mattered at this point.
The nightmares had been rarer since he'd started playing the game. Naturally, his Derse self and the dream bubbles superseded them. But even on nights like this, or whatever passed for nights in the endless, tumbling darkness of the Furthest Ring, when there was nothing to do but normal sleep, they were rare. And in their rarity, they were all the more jarring.
"Stupid nightmares," Dave muttered into his pillow. "We need some more dream bubbles. Conventional sleep is for babies who violently overfill their stupid fucking diapers and smear their shit all over everywhere."
He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, trying to regain his cool. But afterimages lingered in his head, smuppets and Lil Cal and Bro's glasses. He shuddered.
"I'm gonna have to deal with the implications of these fucked up nightmares at some point," he said. "We'd better put some seriously good therapists into this new universe. Like, the best therapists possible. So good they make Sigmund Freud look like some dude who was super high and obsessed with incest. Which I guess he was already. But, like, even more so. Just a human pile of cocaine and incest. That's how good they'll be."
Then came a rapid knocking on the metallic door. Dave sat up, whipping his shades out of his Sylladex. The door opened with a whoosh. There stood Karkat, eyes baggy.
"Oh, hey dude," Dave said. "What's up?"
"OH, YOU KNOW, NOTHING SPECIAL," Karkat said, not quite at his usual shouting volume. "I WAS JUST TAKING ONE OF MY LONG, MID-SLEEP-CYCLE WALKS AROUND THE GIGANTIC METEOR THAT I DEFINITELY TAKE SOMETIMES WHEN I COULDN'T HELP MY STRANGE JOURNEY BEING INTERRUPTED BY SOME SCREAMING NINCOMPOOP, AND, WELL, WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO BESIDES INVESTIGATE? AFTER ALL, SOME IDIOT ASSHOLE MUST BE GETTING STOMPED TO DEATH BY A ROWDY BARNBEAST OR SOMETHING AND IS DEFINITELY NOT JUST MAKING A RACKET FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES BECAUSE IT'S THE MIDDLE OF WHAT WE'VE ALL KIND OF AGREED PASSES FOR NIGHT ON THIS FUCKING METEOR!"
"Cool, checking in because you heard screaming, got it, thanks," Dave said. He sat and stared at Karkat. He said nothing. For a moment, neither did Karkat, who held that little half-pout scowl he did after a righteous rant.
"SO ARE YOU GONNA TELL ME WHY YOU WERE SCREAMING?" Karkat finally asked.
Dave shrugged.
"WAS IT YOUR SUNGLASSES DIGGING INTO YOUR FACE WHILE YOU SLEPT, MISTER TOO-FUCKING-COOL-FOR-GRUB-EDUCATIONAL-PROGRAMS?"
Dave rolled his eyes, then realized his gesture was pretty empty, given that he was wearing sunglasses in a pitch dark room. Maybe Karkat had a point.
"Alright, yeah, it was me making all that noise," Dave said. "Just a bad dream."
Karkat's scowl softened, just a little. Just enough for Dave to notice.
"WAS IT ONE OF THE…"
"Yeah, same ones," Dave said.
Karkat crossed his arms and stared at the wall, blatantly concerned but directing it elsewhere.
"THAT SUCKS," he said. "I'M SORRY."
"Yeah," Dave agreed. "Thanks, dude."
Karkat's gray cheeks turned ever so slightly ruddy. He was cute when he blushed, Dave couldn't deny that. He smiled. They'd only started… whatever it was they were calling it a few weeks ago. Dave had a million reasons he wasn't comfortable with the ramifications of using the term "boyfriend," but the troll romance quadrants Karkat had explained weren't quite right either. It was complicated, yes, but it was nice, and nice is what he was happy to call it.
"So, yeah, I can probably just get back to sleep," Dave said.
"YOU DON'T KEEP GETTING NIGHTMARES, RIGHT? THEY USUALLY GO AWAY WHEN YOU WAKE UP?"
Shit.
"Usually," Dave half-lied. In truth, it was a coin toss as to whether or not he'd be able to get any more rest. He stared anywhere but at Karkat, grateful for his shades to hide behind.
"YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE ME UP SCREAMING ABOUT PUPPET ASSES IN TWO HOURS, AREN'T YOU," Karkat said, deadpan.
"Bro, I am not going to wake you up by screaming about being fuck deep in puppet ass in two hours," Dave insisted.
"AND HE THINKS I'M GOING TO TAKE THAT RISK OF HAVING TO DRAG MY ASS OUT OF MY WARM RECUPERACOON TWICE IN ONE NIGHT TO DEAL WITH HIS WILD FUCKERY," Karkat said. "IN THE NAME OF SWEET TROLL JEGUS, WHY WOULD THIS ALIEN BE SO FUCKING DIM-WITTED? MUST I REALLY EXPLAIN THAT, YES, I AM GOING TO HAVE TO SPEND THE NIGHT FOR THE SAKE OF HIS AND MY OWN SANITY?"
"If you want to cuddle, you can just ask," Dave said, lying down.
"FUCK YOU."
"We can do that too, I guess. I'm kinda tired, though."
Karkat's face went full candy red.
"NOPE!" he announced. "DON'T HAVE THE ENERGY FOR THIS JIGGERY-FUCKERY TONIGHT." He smacked the door panel, and the door whooshed open. "CALL ME IN THE MORNING, DAVE!" Karkat turned and started out the door.
"Yo, wait!" Dave called, standing. Karkat stopped, turned, looked at Dave. "I, uh… I want you to stay. Not like…uh… would you just stay, please?"
Karkat came back into the room. Wordlessly, he hit the door panel, then walked around to the foot of the bed.
"SCOOT OVER," he said. "I CAN'T SLEEP RIGHT WITHOUT A WALL NEXT TO ME." Dave nodded and obliged, storing his shades in his sylladex. The fit was narrow — there wasn't much bed to spare..
"We're going to have to spoon, dude," Dave said. "Here, you face the wall. I'll be big spoon."
Karkat obliged, and Dave slid in next to him. He curled an arm over Karkat's torso, and there they lay.
"THIS IS, UH… PRETTY CLOSE," Karkat noted, wavering.
"Yup," Dave agreed. There was an excitement he swallowed, keeping his voice as even as he could. He sat halfway up, tucking his arm under his pillow. But something in his shoulder wasn't quite happy, though, and he tried again, sliding his arm down between them.
"ARE YOU GRABBING MY ASS?" Karkat asked.
"Not trying to," Dave said, again shifting his arm, this time curling it around his stomach. His elbow dug into Karkat's back, though; he knew it was no solution.
"COULD YOU STOP BREATHING ON MY NECK, TOO?"
"Well I have to breathe," Dave said. "Not a lot of other space to do it, dude."
Karkat sighed.
"OKAY, TURN OVER. THIS ISN'T WORKING," he said.
"No."
"OKAY. SURE. BUT HAVE YOU MAYBE CONSIDERED 'YES?'"
"I'm not little spoon. I can't do little spoon."
"WHY THE FUCK NOT?"
"It's… fuck, I dunno, un-manly? I just don't do it."
Karkat turned onto his back and stared at Dave.
"SEE, THE TROUBLE WITH YOU AND YOUR SPECIES IS THAT YOU COME UP WITH THESE STUPID FUCKING REASONS FOR NOT DOING PERFECTLY REASONABLE THINGS LIKE TURNING OVER SO YOU CAN ACTUALLY SLEEP WITH THE PERSON WHO YOU JUST HALF-BEGGED TO GET INTO BED WITH YOU," Karkat said. "IS THAT A THING YOUR WHOLE SPECIES DOES? IS THAT PART OF THE HUMAN MATING RITUAL?"
"Yo, dude, I told you, I'm still getting used to this… dating another... guy stuff," Dave said, staring at his hands. "It's weird how much stupid shit I'm having to, like, deprogram myself from being weirded out by and saying."
"OKAY, WELL, THAT'S... I GET IT. BUT WEREN'T YOU ALSO JUST SAYING 'IT DOESN'T REALLY COUNT AS DATING ANOTHER GUY BECAUSE KARKAT IS A DIFFERENT SPECIES AND IT DOESN'T APPLY?'"
"Yeah, but…"
"THEN MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, WOULDN'T IT BE A REALLY CLEVER IDEA FOR YOU, MISTER COOL, TO TURN OVER AND STOP COMPLAINING FOR TEN MINUTES SO WE BOTH HAVE MAYBE A CHANCE AT ACTUALLY SLEEPING TONIGHT?"
"But…"
"HMM?"
"Come on…"
"HMMMM?"
"Are you really just…"
"YES, I AM DAVE. ALSO, HMMMMMMM?!"
"Ugh, fine, whatever," Dave said. He shuffled onto his side, staring into the dark room. Karkat rolled over and draped an arm across Dave's chest. He was warm — he was always warm, and warm was hard to come by in the Farthest Ring. Dave snuggled back into Karkat.
They lay there in silence together, breathing. Karkat could feel Dave's slow, steady heartbeat through his back. Something about Dave always smelt nice, too. Karkat let himself drift into the warmth, guided by Dave's heartbeat into weightlessness and peace.
Karkat dozed in and out a few times before he remembered what he said he'd do. He lifted himself onto his elbow.
"HEY, DAVE, ARE YOU…" he trailed off. Dave was snoring, ever so slightly.
Karkat smiled, broad and genuine, the way he rarely did around others. He watched Dave sleeping, and he felt something warm deep within him. Dave was cute enough when he tried to be cool, but when he was sleeping, when he was unconscious of how he looked… Karkat wanted to stay there forever, to just watch Dave sleep. He wanted to live in that peace. But he yawned, and he knew it wasn't meant to be.
Karkat lay down beside Dave, giving him a little squeeze as he did. Soon enough and sure enough, he, too, drifted off.
I read Homestuck in three weeks and all I got were these ships. Thanks to LumenInFusco. Hit me up on Tumblr or here or wherever if you enjoyed this.