Your name is Dave Strider, you're twelve years old, and there is a monster under your new bed in your new house. Bro says it's your imagination, but your missing apple juice and the snarls you hear at night say otherwise.
One day you come home from school and go up to your room. It's taken the bait; a whole 12-pack of the stupid school lunch apple juice boxes left on your bed. All of them are empty.
You make a plan of action. You'll wait till the snarling starts, then look under your bed and yell at it. Bro laughs at your plan, and offers you a smuppet to use as bait. You don't wanna touch the thing, but hey. You take it.
Your bedtime comes. The snarling starts. You dangle the smuppet by a string tied around its giant nose over the edge of the bed. It's like that one time John's dad took you fishing. You sit and wait. Something tugs at the smuppet, and you pull.
On your bed is a mangled smuppet. Clawing onto it for dear life is a fluffy black cat?
You're pretty sure cats don't have horns. Or bright red eyes.
It hisses at you. You grin. It's kinda cute. "Hi," you say. "I'm Dave."
It growls at you for a few more seconds, so you hold out your hand- that's what you do with unfamiliar pets, let them learn your scent, right?
It sniffs you and sits up. Now that it's not in feral attack mode anymore, it looks kinda like a human boy. If human boys had fur and pointy ears and claws and grey skin and horns.
"I'm Dave," you repeat. "What's your name?"
It looks at you for a bit. "Karkat," it says. You think it's a boy.
"Hi, Karkat. Wanna be friends?" you ask, a grin on your face.
"Kay," he answers.
The next day you come home from school with homework. Bluh.
"Hey Karkat!" You say, looking under your bed as soon as you're in your room.
"Sleeping!"
That's what normally happens. Karkat's nocturnal. He does his best not to keep you up on school nights.
Summer comes, and you find the best way to escape the heat and bro's training is to go nocturnal with Karkat. You talk a lot more often now. Mostly about stupid things, like school and species differences and rap.
Summer ends. Your sleep schedule suffers because homework, school, and Karkat. He helps you out with some of the homework, though.
Your birthday comes. You are thirteen. Karkat says in human terms his birthday is June 12. You remember him being a bit less grouchy that day.
Winter break and Christmas and new years come and go. Karkat doesn't celebrate them, so you hug him.
A girl in your class named Terezi says she likes you one day. "Well yeah, you're my friend!" you say in response. She says no, she like-likes you. You shrug. She storms off to her best friend Vriska.
You tell Karkat about this. He says she's flushing for you.
Is it strange you understand his nonsense more than regular human speech?
You apologize for being an oblivious douche to Terezi the next day. She kisses you on the cheek and says not to worry.
You tell Karkat, of cause.
Valentines Day comes and Terezi asks you to be her boyfriend. You say okay because hey, why not?
Is it lying if you say okay when really you only think of her as a friend?
Your friend john spends a lot of time with you, and people call the two of you gay. It means liking a person of the same gender as more than a friend. You don't like anybody as more than a friend. Except Karkat. He's your best friend.
The end of the year comes and with it a unit on human sexuality. There's straight, gay, these things called bi and pan (what even) and this thing called the aro-ace spectrum. You are amazed by the aro-ace spectrum. You honestly think sixth grade is too young to be sexually attracted to anybody, but the label aromantic. It fits you like a glove. You have a small grin on your face the rest of the day.
You talk to Terezi after school about your newly labeled aro-ness. She says she figured it out a while ago. She says that if you don't like her romantically then you aren't her boyfriend. You say okay, and part as friends for the summer.
You talk to Karkat, of course. He says "cool." There's a look on his face you don't really understand.
Summer comes, and you celebrate Karkat's birthday properly this year with apple juice. And swear words. You teach him all the swearwords bro ever said, and all the words you learned on the bus. He's fascinated with expletive words.
"These words are fucking great! Did I say that right?" He asks suddenly. You assure him that he did, and you swear his grin is brighter than the sun.
You also watch a ton of romcoms on bro's TV when he's busy. Karkat is a sucker.
Karkat falls asleep at six am after a movie binge. He didn't bother to retreat under your bed for once, and instead cuddled up next to you. "This is nice," you think to yourself. There were people cuddling in the romcoms you just watched. Karkat's drooling, haha. His face is so peaceful when he's asleep. He's asleep in your arms. You remember the romcoms you just watched, and how half of the time you were watching him. He is your best friend. You're aromantic! Didn't something on the aro ace spectrum involve emotional bonds? Haha bonds. God, you need to shut up.
You wake up Karkat, avoiding the hissing and scratching by whispering to him. "It's like seven am, and you were on top of my bed."
He yawns and slinks off to his hideaway.
You get up and pee, and then look up the aro ace spectrum on your computer.
There it is. Demiromantic, meaning only feeling romantic attraction to a person after having a stable platonic relationship with them. In other words, you fall in love with your best friends. Like you just realized you started flushing for Karkat.
You cover your face in your hands. What will he think? He's your best friend, and not even human to boot!
What if it goes away if you don't see him? He's a monster, why'd you even put up with him?
You pester your friend rose who lives in New York. It's way later there, she's probably up. She is. You ask her how to get rid of monsters, and if an exorcism would work.
TT: Well, no, exorcisms are meant for demons.
TT: This, however, might do the trick:
And she sends you a modified banishment ritual.
The next night Karkat comes over to where you are at the computer. "Dave?"
"Go away."
"Are you okay?" He's your best friend.
"No, I'm seeing a fucking monster standing in front of me, I probably have something not right in the head. Go away."
He doesn't. He sits on the floor in front of you. "Dave, you're my best friend, you have been for two years. I think you'd've doubted my existence way back when you were twelve, not thirteen and a half." The look from a while ago, when you told him you were aro, is in his eyes again. You recognize it now, from seeing it all too often at school.
It's hurt, with a tinge of- nope not going there don't get your hopes up Dave- lo- NO!- like?
God fucking dammit Dave.
"Yeah, well, fine. Even if you do exist you gotta leave me alone. You're a monster, and I don't know why I put up with you. Let alone since I was twelve."
He's crying now, softly. "Fine. If y- if you really want me gone, I- I'll go." He crawls under your bed and you hear muffled crying for a few minutes, and then quiet.
You've made a horrible mistake. God fucking dammit Dave. You idiot.
You sleep. In the morning you ask bro to buy you a new bed that doesn't have space under it.
"Why? There's nothing wrong with your old one," He says.
"Remember when I was twelve and convinced that there was a monster under it?"
He remembers.
"I don't wanna be reminded of my own stupidity."
He laughs at you. "Dave, bein' reminded of your stupidness ain't always a bad thing. It shows how you can learn and grow."
You think for a bit.
You're still not going to acknowledge Kar- THE FIGMENT OF YOUR OVERACTIVE TWELVE YEAR OLD IMAGINATION. That wasn't stupid.
Totally not.
You last for a week.
A single week, of playing video games(better on two player), watching movies(if those two had a romantic subplot this'd be beautiful), and training with bro(Don't think. You're a fuckin sword).
You aren't a sword you are a human boy in denial and in love with your best friend.
You stay awake until you hear some noise. "Karkat?" you whisper into the darkness. The noise stops. You really hope he's listening.
"Karkat I'm sorry. Sorry for being a shit and in denial, and making you cry, damn I'm sorry about that. It's just..." You can hear him breathing, you know he's listening.
"I pushed you away cuz I didn't wanna have a crush on you cuz you're my best friend and apparently I'm not aro I'm demi which means I fall in love with my best friends and I kinda did, so yeah. I'm sorry Karkat." You hope you're not crying. You're crying. God fucking dammit Dave.
He sits on the edge of your bed. "I forgive you, Dave."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's okay." He smiles at you and you remember what this mess was about in the first place.
"Wanna know a secret, Dave?" He grins at you like it's the best kind of secret, like finding an unopened bottle of apple juice.
"Yeah, go ahead."
"I'm flushed for you too." Again with his smile, like woWAIT WHAT.
"Wait." You say. "What." you sound so uncool. "What." Bro would laugh. "Really?" Oh good, real words.
"Uh-huh," he says, lying down next to you and he's warm and right next to you and your stomach has no mere flock or whatever of butterflies but an ARMY.
"So, um. What do we do now, cuz I'm actually kinda tired," you say, trying to fight the butterfly army.
He moves closer to you what is he doing oh my god he just kissed your cheek. "Goodnight, then, Dave." He smiles. Brighter than the damn sun.
"Goodnight, Karkat." You grin, closing your eyes. Your name is Dave Strider, you're thirteen and a half years old, and the monster under your bed turned out to be your best friend, crush and you think boyfriend. Holy crap have you had the best summer ever.