"There you are!" Karkat grabs Dave by the hand, tugging him down onto the couch. "I've been waiting for almost an hour!" It has only been about ten minutes really, but Dave is a Time player, so there is no excuse for tardiness. "Where have you been? These movie nights are a delicate tradition Dave, and I don't appreciate having my careful scheduling fucked with, and—" the beginnings of a rant tapers off as Karkat feels his face twist into a frown. "...are you crying?"
With an ease that surprises him, Dave nods. He pushes his shades up without the normal hesitance that keeps him from opening up, and Karkat is greeted by red eyes that make his heart twist with pity. Dave looks so tired, the bags under his eyes more like bruises, and his eyes are shining with unspilled tears.
Karkat shoves his budding red feelings into the back of his mind, finding it easy to reach out and cup Dave's face in a mock pap. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks quietly. Sometimes, Dave only wanted to be held and shushed rather than talking about what was actually bothering him. And, being the good best friend that he is, Karkat tries to respect that as often as he could.
Again surprising him, Dave nods. He shifts against Karkat, falling into their familiar spooning position and curling up to press his face into the small troll's chest. He doesn't speak immediately and Karkat lets him take as long as he needs. He distracts them both by threading his fingers through Dave's soft, pale hair and scratching at the human's scalp lightly in the way that he knows Dave likes.
His fingers stop when he hears the little sob Dave lets out, worried and alarmed. "Dave? Are you—?" He tries, but as soon as he goes to pull away, Dave's hand is on top of his, keeping his palm pressed to the top of his head.
"Don't— don't f-fucking stop," he hiccups around another soft cry and Karkat feels something disgustingly pale twist in his chest. "Please, Karkat, just… just please don't…"
Changing his hold, Karkat sits up. Dave lets out a whine of protest, but Karkat merely lets him settle and rest again, arms wrapped around Dave's waist to hold him against him. It's a bit more red than pale, but Karkat knows when Dave needs something to cling to, and he's always more than willing to be that something. His hand finds the back of Dave's head, cupping his fragile skull tenderly and gently running the tips of his claws through his hair.
"Better?" He asks quietly. Dave only nods. A quiet clicking sound has started up in the back of Karkat's throat, and he could have been embarrassed had Dave been a troll that understood involuntary pale vocalizations.
Their relationship would be a lot less confusing if Dave could stop being so pitiful.
"Karkat?" Dave doesn't move, but the tone in his voice lets the troll know that he's ready to talk, at least. "You… you're not going to leave, are you?" He asks softly.
The question is odd, but Karkat figures that Dave just needs some reassurance. After all, the other person he was incredibly attached to, his human guardian, had died fairly early into the Game. Karkat nods, giving Dave a little squeeze that makes him whimper pitifully. "I'm not going anywhere, Dave," he sighs. "I promise."
This time, Dave does shift. He pulls back just enough to tilt his head up towards Karkat. For such tired eyes, his gaze is piercing in a way that makes Karkat's mouth go dry. "What about when you die?" He asks quietly, his voice cracking. "You can't promise immortality, Karkat. Not like… not like what I have…"
Karkat frowns. Ordinarily, he wouldn't like Dave pointing out his lack of God Tier status, but something about this is… different. He hesitates to answer. "I… Dave, where is this coming from? We have a long way to go before that's a problem, don't we? We have to get through the battle with Jack alive first." He tries to make it a joke, but instead it makes Dave wince. He licks his lips slowly, swallowing hard. Sugar coating it isn't going to make Dave feel any better. "Yeah, I… I am a mutant, Dave. I would guess that I have maybe 13 or so sweeps before my inevitable demise. Kanaya and Terezi and Vriska— I— I mean, it's not exact, but I would guess at one or two hundred sweeps before they… I mean, we all have to at— at some point…" His explanation fades out. "...Dave, you've never brought this up before. Is there something… more? Something else that's wrong? That you're not telling me?" He presses.
Dave shakes his head. "No," he says, obviously lying. "Just… just don't freak out, Karkat. Please."
Before Karkat can ask what Dave is talking about, he gets his answer, albeit in the form of Dave's lips pressing to his. He stiffens, feeling the sudden and reflexive urge to shove Dave off of him. He puts his hands to Dave's chest to do just that, but the human's hands lock around his wrists before he can even try. In the back of his mind, that only makes Karkat's flight-or-fight urge even stronger, but the taste of tears on his lips and the way Dave is shaking against him makes him relax.
Karkat has kissed other trolls before, but that was nothing like kissing a human. Dave's lips are soft just like the rest of him, warm almost beyond reason. Not only that, but it's nothing at all like the awkward and tentative first kisses of his prepubescent days. There's intent in Dave's kiss, desperation and passion to such a degree that it honest-to-God scares Karkat. It feels like Dave is breaking against him, as if their lips locked together are the only things keeping him from shattering in Karkat's arms.
The transportalizer to the common room they're sitting in lights up, and Karkat manages to pull himself off of Dave's lips and get his head up in time to see the absolutely stunned look on Dave's face.
Dave?
Bewildered, Karkat turns to the human on his lap. "What—? But you— you're—!" The blond shuts Karkat up with another kiss, slipping off of his lap while he's distracted by the feeling.
He slips his shades on, not even glancing at his other self. His past self, Karkat realizes. This close together, the difference is noticeable. This Dave is bigger than the other one by just a few inches, his jaw more defined and his shoulders wider. The biggest difference though is the heart-wrenching sense of self-imposed maturity that future Dave is radiating in waves. The smile he gives Karkat isn't happy or fond or even teasing, like the ones that past Dave is always giving him. He's smiling, yes, but he looks absolutely miserable. Karkat wants desperately to pull him back down onto the couch. He wants to shoo past Dave away and shower this one with kisses and affection and pap him until he's not so terribly broken anymore.
Whatever happened to make Dave look so defeated, Karkat knows instinctively that he'll do whatever he can to stop it from happening. The only problem is, he doubts that there's anything more he can do other than soften the inevitable, painful blow.
"Immortality…" he licks his lips slowly and, even though Karkat can't see his eyes anymore, he knows exactly how those miserable, ages eyes are still shining with tears, "Immortality gets pretty lonely, y'know. It ain't all it's cracked up to be." He pushes his shades up to wink at Karkat, one tear dripping down his cheek as there's a flash of red-tinted light and Dave is gone in an instant.
"Did it help?" Rose's voice reaches his ears not two seconds after Dave arrives back in his own time.
John and Jade are there too, hovering closer to the wall instead of as close to Dave as Rose is standing. Dirk had offered to be there for moral support, but Dave had refused. As nice as he was, as much as Dave loved Roxy and Jane and Jake too, this was something just for the four of them. This was something that the others could never understand.
Dave looks over at his sister. His face must betray the answer because she only turns away from him, closing her eyes tightly to stop the tears from falling. Jade whimpers, her ears drooping, and John is quick to pull her into a hug, tucking her face against her chest as he struggles to be a comforting brother instead of crying the way he obviously wants to.
"No," he replies, his answer choked and hoarse. "No, Rose, it… it didn't help."
It's been one thousand, nine hundred and seventy-six years, two months, three weeks, five days, eight hours, nine minutes, and thirty-one seconds since Karkat quietly passed away in his arms, and Dave still isn't over it.
A/N: Inspired by "Still Here" by Digital Daggers. If you want to cry, I highly suggest listening to it.