A/N: This fanfiction is a gift for my lovely Hani. Happy birthday, darling! I love you so much and I wish I could be here with you. (Also, I'm really sorry for the PWP! I tried my best!)

Summary: You weren't completely sure when you'd started feeling differently towards Karkat. Was it living together with your best friend that changed things? You didn't know. The only thing you knew was that it had to be kept secret. No Sburb, Dave/Karkat, mild blackrom. This will be a oneshot!

Description: Dave and Karkat are both sixteen earth years and roommates in Dave's old apartment on LOHAC. While Sburb does exist, it is not majorly present in this story. In addition, the trolls and other beta kids still remain part of the plot. This story will be in Dave's POV and there will be a lot of silent commentary, considering Dave does like to talk to himself. He's also pretty dorky here, but his actual spoken dialogue will hopefully be at least somewhat in character.

Warnings: This story is rated M. It will contain:

-Language

-Adult content (yes, this means smut)

-Tentabulge/nook (Karkat does not have human anatomy in this story. If you are uncomfortable with this or it is just not your preference, I recommend you stop reading here.)

-Mild hornplay

-Some spoilers (if you have not read at least some of Homestuck)

Flushed Red

You were sitting in your room—working on some sick beats and sipping some apple juice—when Karkat walked in, unannounced. You nod to acknowledge his presence and swivel your chair back to your turntables when he startles you, suddenly appearing over your shoulder. You glance up, wondering what he wants.

He's looking down at you, surprisingly not giving you his usual death glare. Sure, his eyebrows are bunched up, but he doesn't seem to be visibly perturbed at the moment. It makes you a little uncomfortable and you clear your throat. "Hey, man, what is it? You're kind of creeping me out."

He snorts and invites himself to sit down on your bed. "Sorry for interrupting your 'sick beats'," the troll mocks. Oh hell no. You know that motherfucker likes it. You see him, tapping his foot ever so slightly whenever any of your newest tracks happen to be playing. He seems perfectly okay with your look of skepticism and continues, "It just so happens that there isn't anything to do around your shitty hive—apartment, whatever. How am I supposed to pick something to watch when none of your movies say anything about what they're about in the title?"

You roll your eyes. You have had this conversation before—multiple times, in fact. Plus, you were almost entirely certain he was complaining just to annoy you. Karkat knew exactly what movies in your massive collection he liked. "Whatever. What do you want me to do about it?"

"Just come out of your room for once and stop playing around on your stupid rap making thing," he responds, crossing his arms and leaning back on the headboard of your bed. You raise an eyebrow in surprise. Huh. You guess this was his way of telling you he wanted to hang out. Not that you minded. You wouldn't admit it out loud, but you were becoming pretty fond of the feisty troll. You guys were already best friends, you supposed, but living together had definitely changed the situation.

You resist the urge to smirk and instead nod in agreement, standing from your chair to follow Karkat into the living room, apple juice in hand. "So," you begin, plopping down next to him on the beat up sofa. "You talk to John lately? Last time I checked, you were in the hate quadrant with him, or whatever the fuck it's called."

To your major surprise—and maybe even satisfaction—he begins to blush heavily. He sputters and embarrassedly retorts, "Are you shitting me? No way, that was a long time ago."

"Sure," you remark sarcastically, but you can't help but feel a little relieved. You're not sure whether it's because you'd get jealous of their relationship or because you'd lose your two best friends, but you don't put too much thought into it. Karkat's blush is even deeper now, his infamous scowl strong enough it would definitely send you to the hospital (that is, if looks could kill). You raise your hands in a unthreatening gesture. "Whoa man, chill. It was a joke."

He growls a little and pulls a pillow to his torso. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just put on a movie already. My horns aren't getting any longer here."

You mutter under your breath how you can tell and he slaps you on the back, not hard enough to hurt but with enough force to make you chuckle. You flip through your conveniently placed CD case and almost reach for one of your favourites but then you remember.

Karkat loves ridiculously terrible romantic movies.

And rom-coms.

He notices your hesitation and shifts a little, reaching for the case. "Give me that, you're taking too long." You yank it out of his reach accordingly.

After a few more moments going through your movies, you finally decide on The Notebook. You're not sure why you have this in your collection other than for the sake of pure irony. Hell, you'd rather watch John's outlandishly extensive collection of Nic Cage movies than this garbage. But you're feeling hospitable, and slip the disc into the player anyway. Karkat falls into your line of vision and you stand there for a moment in front of the screen, staring like an idiot. God damn, he sure does know how to make himself comfortable on your couch. Well, yeah, he does technically live here too, but the way he is sprawled out gives you the impression that he just doesn't give even half a fuck about what you think. Which, to your confusion, you find kind of disappointing.

The sound of the troll barking at you to get the fuck out of the way wakes you from your daze and you attempt to save face by snorting and striding over back to the sofa, nonchalantly swinging your legs over him. He snarls and protests, "Holy shit, are you trying to crush me to death with your legs?" before quieting down to a soft grumble. The side of your mouth twitches, threatening a smile. He sure is cute.

Whoa, whoa. You did not just think that to yourself. Try again.

You attempt to casually look over at Karkat once more and see he is already engrossed in the opening sequence of Nicholas Sparks' apparent masterpiece of a film. His frown is gone and he sits wide eyed, staring at the screen intently. Your gaze drops down to his neck and you begin to imagine what it would feel like if—

No, no, no. Hell fucking no. You are not developing a crush—or flushed whatever the fuck it is in troll romance—on Karkat fucking Vantas. You tear your shade-covered eyes from him and attempt to focus on the movie. To your internal horror, you're beginning to unintentionally drop your cool façade. Surely if you did like him, it wouldn't be such a shock now. You'd have known before, right? It wasn't as if it appeared out of nowhere. But holy shit, was this a huge dilemma. There was no possible way it would work out. You guys were bros at best, and bros don't think about their other bros in the red quadrant. Your hand shakily runs through your hair as you attempt to compose yourself and try with all your willpower to not let Karkat catch on to your current panic-inducing thoughts.

It has to be the movie, you tell yourself. That was the reason. That dumbass romantic music was throwing you off. Or the fact that you guys were the only ones in the apartment. Something. Anything.

You abruptly stand up and head to the kitchen for something to help you pull yourself together again. Karkat glances at you for a moment but just as quickly turns back to the TV, seemingly not caring much about wherever the hell you were now that something had caught his attention and reeled him in. Short, quick breaths escape your mouth and you blink hard.

"Get your shit straight, Strider," you mutter, reaching for a stray bottle of AJ. "Fine. If you like him, you like him. Big deal. Calm the fuck down. He'll reject me, I'll get over it, and then the whole situation is out the window. Gone." You take a quick drag from your drink like you're taking a shot of liquor and sigh. Karkat was definitely making you lose your cool. By doing absolutely nothing.

Karkat's exclamation of "You're missing the best part!" is what finally gives you the push to go back and sit down. Was it even like this yesterday? Why were you so flustered all of a sudden?

Oh yeah, you'd been avoiding him. No wonder he was so desperate to hang out. You'd locked yourself in your room for the past few days, giving you the perfect opportunity to get away from this shitty new situation. But it was okay now. You were just going to do your best and keep things the way they were. Bros. Non-red quadrant. Chaste. Heterosexual. You nod to yourself and make yourself comfortable on the sofa, smushing your face into a cushion.

"Strider."

"Hnnng."

"Strider, wake up! Get off of me."

You blink slowly. When had you fallen asleep? Must have been that stupid movie you were watching a little while ago. You shift and groan a little.

Karkat sounds miffed at this point. "Dave!"

"Wha—?" you respond. All at once you realize you've moved around in your sleep and were no longer lying face first on a pillow, on the opposite side of where the troll had been sitting earlier. You were sprawled across his lap in the dorkiest way and holy shit—!

You scramble to get up, hoping that for the love of God you weren't blushing or visibly disgruntled. "Whoa, Karkles, sorry," you quickly blurt out with a nervous chuckle. He isn't too happy at the use of your humourous nickname and frowns a little. "Shit, how long was I out? You should've woke me up or something."

He crosses his arms and avoids eye contact, pulling his legs up to his chest now that they're free. God damn, are you embarrassed. "You were snoring, so I figured you were too knocked out for me to wake you," he defends himself. You're still reeling from the fact that you were somehow still alive to notice that he'd pointed out your snoring problem. You clumsily straighten your shades and announce something about going to take a piss before walking as quickly as you could without running to the bathroom.

You slam the door shut and lean against it heavily. "Shit."

You stare at your reflection, looking extremely red in the face and feeling very small. This could not be happening. Within the past couple of hours, you'd realized your feeling for one of your best friends, was caught staring at him, and fell asleep on his fucking lap. You were going to go hide—er, chill in your room until things sorted themselves out. Fat fucking chance you had any reputation at all anymore, aside from being a huge dork.

You pause. Were you overreacting?

Probably. But at this point, there seemed to be only two possible solutions to all this hullabaloo. You could just spill to the damn troll and get it over with or try to forget today's events and pretend it never even happened, thereby making your relationship with your only roommate extremely awkward and uncomfortable. Naturally, you were far more keen to opt to the latter choice and with a final mirror check, you walk out of the bathroom—you were pretty calm, thanks to a chance to think these through and the opportunity to make a cowardly decision.

You're very nearly at your room when that all too familiar voice stops you in your tracks, gravelly as ever. "Dave. What the fuck is going on?"

You consider flashstepping inside your room and locking the door, but against your better judgment you turn around to answer him. God, you were being such an awkward fuck. Could today get any weirder?

Karkat growls impatiently. Were you imagining it, or was his hair…puffing up? "Strider. I swear, if you don't give me a fucking explanation I'm going to lose my shit. You're being evasive as hell today and it's pissing me off. For the love of—"

You cut him off with an exasperated and dramatic removal of your aviator shades. He startles, eyes widening. Oh yeah, you've never showed him your eye colour before. You doubt he even knew what it was prior to this point, considering he'd never seen you without your shades. His tense stance becomes noticeably less rigid as he registers your Bright Ass Red irises with evident shock. "Karkat," you finally say. "I'm having a shitty day. I was just majorly humiliated and was seen in a totally dorky position by my best friend, not to mention the fact that I had to deal with the realization that I kind-of-sort-of-might-be-flushed-for-you." There. Finally. His mouth is partially hanging open, his expression showing he was clearly debating the classic fight-or-flight tactic. Not that you were expecting any different.

You turn to retreat to your bedroom but a grey-skinned hand clutching the arm of your shirt stops you. Turning to face Karkat reveals that he's frowning and flustered, but at the same time he seems…annoyed? There's an uncomfortable silence for a moment or two.

He clears his throat and releases your sleeve from his grip, dropping his fidgeting hands by his sides. "W-wow, Dave, you dumbfuck," he stutters, rolling his eyes. "You could have said something so it wouldn't have to have been so weird. And it's not like I think you're that cool in the first place, so the whole thing with you falling asleep on me isn't that big of a deal."

Relief floods over you, stronger than you'd like to admit.

Still, you keep your expression straight, raising an eyebrow and motioning for him to follow you into your room. You toss your shades onto a pile of dirty laundry and sit on the edge of the bed, with Karkat following suit. He looked unusually uncomfortable considering the fact that for the majority of the day, you'd been the one freaking out. Now you were almost eerily calm, and pretty damn satisfied at that. He hadn't reacted in the way you'd expected at all. No, he hadn't confirmed any feelings, but at least he hadn't embarrassed you even further with a negative reaction.

You stare at him wordlessly for a while until he starts to shift uncomfortably. He scowls and finally breaks the silence himself. "Look, it's really not a huge issue. Just…I'm not totally sure how to react to this kind of thing."

You decide it's time to break out the classic, famous, smooth Strider lines. You're finally comfortable enough again to be back to your normal ironically cool self. "You could always react by placing that mouth on mine, sweet cheeks."

He responded with a snarl so animalistic it scares you. He's suddenly ranting about how you took a completely serious situation and ruining it and that was such an incredibly offensive and cheesy line that he would never stoop down to that level and would rather be stabbed in the chest with a fork than kiss your filthy mouth.

And then he stops talking, abruptly.

Probably because you have your lips pressed up against his, successfully shutting him up.

God damn, are his lips soft. You honestly wouldn't have expected Karkat, of all people, to have such smooth skin, but now you couldn't get enough of it. And for some reason, Karkat wasn't protesting. Was he…kissing you back?

You were kissing Karkat fucking Vantas. And his hands were running through your hair, pulling you closer, a soft growl resonating from the back of his throat, and it was awesome. Yes, it was sloppy. Yes, you winced when you felt his teeth accidentally graze your lip a little too hard. But the chill you got when he purred and the goosebumps that appeared on your skin when you felt his tongue apologetically run over the wound his sharp teeth had caused was worth every awkward bump.

After what seemed like an eternity, you pulled away. You sat there, lightheaded and amazed, staring at the troll across from you.

His hair was slightly mussed and his usually grey skin had a tint of pink to it, bringing out what looked like freckles on his cheeks. His eyes were wide and for a moment, you were afraid he was either going to become angry or walk out, but when he opened his mouth, he had become a blabbering mess.

"Dave, I, I mean, I don't know if I'm feeling red or black or what but I don't know, I just, wow, I'm sorry, I don't fucking—"

You interrupt him. Yeah, he was definitely cute. "Dude, Karkat," you say, with a small, rare smile gracing your features. "It's okay. I'm not asking you to grow old with me or some shit. I just…like you, you know?"

Karkat blushes and avoids eye contact with you, staring at the disheveled mess of sheets and blankets on your bed. "Yeah, whatever."

You chuckle and to the troll's protests, you crawl on top of him and with a mischievous smirk, lean in close to his ear and whisper, "So, would you be mad if I kissed you?"

He squirms under you—where had his crankiness gone?—and grumbles about how you have already been making out for the past five minutes, do you think he is an idiot? You allow yourself a breathy laugh against his ear and slowly move your mouth down to that neck you'd been admittedly fantasizing about. You had a thing for biting and hoped the troll underneath you would be okay with it. Carefully, you make sure to start off gentle with your teeth, merely grazing his skin, before cautiously biting down.

Karkat tenses and you hope he's not mad, holy shit, but the whimper that escapes him goes straight to your groin. A thought crosses your mind about how getting a boner would probably be a bad idea, but it's too late to turn back now. You hear him slap a hand over his mouth in an effort to keep himself silent.

"God, you're cute as fuck," you murmur against his neck, kissing the skin and gently nuzzling him as you do. He grumbles quietly but to your satisfaction, you hear his breath catch a few times.

Wait. Where was this going?

You sit up and make eye contact with Karkat questioningly. You had just admitted your feelings to him a little while ago, and you didn't know if you were ready for something as big as sex. You definitely weren't going to do anything that Karkat wasn't ready for, whether you wanted it or not. But Karkat's flushed face and pouted lips and breathy gasps were testing your sense of self control. It would be awkward to ask but—?

You feel it. Oh, my god, you are sitting on his lap and his dick is pressing into you and holy fucking shit does it feel weird. You stifle a groan of combined surprise and admitted pleasure to ask the awkward question of, "So…I don't want to force anything that makes you uncomfortable, so how far are you willing to go?"

He growls quietly in evident annoyance—however, he didn't appear to be all that threatening considering his red face and submissive expression—and replies curtly, "Strider. Just take your god damn clothes off already. We're not turning back now."

You were nervous as fuck.

You sit on top of him for a moment or two more, saying nothing and staring at the increasingly irritated troll with wide eyes. This was really happening. It was all so fast, and you weren't sure if you would regret this later on, but you doubted it would be wise to throw away this golden opportunity. Karkat was seemingly okay with your flushed feelings towards him if he was down with sex, and you didn't know if you'd ever get this chance again. You hesitantly lean down to softly kiss him again, signaling your agreement on taking the next step.

His hips begin to jerk impatiently and you have to try with all your willpower not to give him the satisfaction of hearing you make any noise of gratification—yet, that is. You nibble at his lower lip as the two of you continue to kiss with as much passion as two inexperienced teenage boys can have. You reach up to do something questionable and are startled by the reaction.

Your fingers had barely brushed past his unexpectedly warm horns when he gasped and purred in an incredibly cat-like manner, digging his nails into your back. You grin cockily and lean back down to teasingly murmur, "Hmm, Karkles likes having his horns touched? There's something I wouldn't have guessed about troll biology."

"Shut up!" he snaps, but his voice gives way to another soft feline noise of enjoyment as you continue to fondle his adorably nubby horns. They're smoother than you expected, and though you didn't really understand how the hell touching those could turn him on, you weren't complaining.

Sitting up, you do your best to appear carefree and confident (in actuality, you were just praying you wouldn't blow it) as you run your hand underneath the hem of his shirt, successfully pushing it up his torso. He tenses up as you do so, and you're confused at what you see.

No nipples. No bellybutton. Everything else appeared to be normal, but the sight of what a male troll's body looked like gave you the hint that Karkat was probably in for a surprise when he saw yours. He begins to appear self conscious and squirms under you. "What is it?"

"Nothing," you reassure him, pressing your lips to his monochrome chest and working your way down. "You're just a little different than I expected."

He scoffs weakly. Just like Karkat, still keeping up the bravado even in the bedroom. "What the hell did you think? We're two different species, fucknut. I honestly c—ah!"

Your hand had brushed over the surface of his pants where the bulge was now increasingly prominent. You knew troll genitals had to be different than humans', but at this point you were driving blind. Half of you wanted to back out, but the more rational half told you that this was a dream come true; seize the day, you pussy. With a now determined smirk, you expertly yank his pants off—emitting a yelp from the troll beneath you—and devilishly lean down to drag your tongue over the fabric of his underwear.

Karkat looks to be in shock, staring at you open mouthed. "Holy shit," he finally says breathily. "This is really happening. Holy shit."

You chuckle, reaching up to ruffle his tangled black hair (to his disapproval). "Tell me about it."

You didn't really care at this point that this was probably going to make your relationship with your best bro awkward as hell or the fact that you had no idea what you were doing aside from your basic knowledge from watching years of porn online. You were about to have sex with someone you know knew you had liked for a really long time and that was really all that mattered. Besides, if you backed out now, you'd never hear the end of it.

You pull down his red briefs with slight hesitance, wondering what you'd see when holy fucking shit. Don't freak out, you think to yourself. For the love of all that is holy, don't freak out now. But how are you not supposed to freak out when his dick…or equivalent of one was grabbing you back? You weren't really expecting a tentacle to be in his pants, but there it was in all its glory.

You recall it being called a bulge and you carefully begin to stroke it, glancing up at Karkat for approval. His hand is covering his mouth desperately as little whimpers and whines escape through the cracks in his fingers. You must be doing something right, you think to yourself as you continue to play with him. It's the same tone as the rest of his body with a slightly reddish tint to it, and you were intrigued by the fact that it was so smooth to the touch it seemed to be self-lubricating. Near the base of it you saw another bit of his anatomy—what you remember to be called a nook—that you quickly decided you'd deal with later.

"Fuck, Strider," gasps Karkat. His chest is heaving heavily now and you don't think you've ever been more turned on. He's so ridiculously adorable. He motions at you to take your shirt off and you do so, to his obvious surprise at what he sees. He immediately pushes you down where he had been previously laying and tweaked a nipple with his forefinger and thumb.

You grimace in a failed attempt to keep a straight face and he rolls his eyes at you. Abandoning your chest, he reaches down to unbutton your pants.

"Really?"

You sigh. "What have you got against smuppets, Karkat?"

He groans and removes your boxers with his free hand, as his dominant one is busy pleasuring his bulge. He doesn't seem to question your foreign anatomy—perhaps he was unfortunate enough to have been taught basic sex education by Rose—and instead climbs on top of you until your bodies are pressed together.

You look at him curiously until you feel an overwhelming pleasure directly centered in your groin. His bulge is wrapped around your boner and it's the weirdest—yet best?—thing you've ever felt down there. "That thing has a mind of its own," you manage to joke before he cuts you off with another kiss, moaning past your lips. You're now the one bucking your hips like a desperate fool, dying for more of him. You wrap your arms around him as the two of you continue to grind against each other and to your horror, a loud, guttural moan escapes your lips.

You feel him smirk against your lips. That prick.

You continue to kiss until a particularly well placed movement courtesy of Karkat's bulge sends you seeing stars; your head throwing itself back and a breathy gasp piercing the room. You are frantically grinding against him now, feeling that familiar warmth at the pit of your stomach growing and begging for release. "Fuck, Karkat," you whimper. God damn, you didn't care about looking cool anymore. It was damn near impossible, anyway. "That feels so fucking great. Holy shit."

To your confusion, he nods sheepishly and stands with his legs on either side of you. You look up questioningly only to be blown away by the sudden tight warmth surrounding your arousal. You very nearly scream profanity at the top of your lungs as he begins to shamelessly ride you, his bulge stroking your dick as he does.

You are hopelessly lost in the pleasure. Your hands make their way to his waist and you grip it for dear life as he continues to move his hips up and down, the pair of you moaning and swearing without abandon. You sit up and fervently kiss his soft lips once again, your tongues dancing together amidst the heat of passion. His hands tangle themselves in your hair as he whimpers that he is nearly there between exclamations of "fuck," "holy shit, Dave," and "yes, please". You're very nearly there as well, and all hope of not coming inside of him is lost as he throws his head back with a loud cry, his gooey, bright red genetic material covering your chest and the sheets. You continue to thrust into him until you feel the tension rising up and—

You groan loudly like you never have before, digging your nails into his sides as you feel yourself come inside of his ridiculously tight nook. You gasp for breath, clutching at a still recovering post-orgasm Karkat. The two of you sit there for a moment, breathing heavily until the troll on your lap breaks the silence with a snort.

A snicker escapes your lips and the two of you are suddenly laughing at the top of your lungs together, Karkat falling off of you and rolling to the side, giggling. You use your hand to wipe off some of his genetic material from your chest and fling it at him; all while teasing, "Get this shit off of me!"

He smiles—something you don't think you've ever seen him do, and you're amazed at how sweet it appears—and flings himself back on top of you in a sticky, uncomfortable cuddle that you don't think you mind too much. You kiss the top of his head and he good-naturedly grumbles into a pillow about how he's not doing the laundry after this. You chortle and close your eyes despite being covered in Karkat's candy red genetic material, deciding that you weren't going to over analyze your flushed relationship with this crabby troll any more. With a last ruffle of Karkat's messy hair, you allow yourself a small smile and pull his body a little closer to yours.

Reviews would be much appreciated! :) this story was ridiculously rushed so I'd love some feedback~