(A/N: This chapter contains some smut near the end, involving male human parts as well as a male troll's bulge/nook)

It had been an exhausting couple of days. Dave opened the door of the apartment and noticed a little note from John. "Out with Jane for dinner and a movie - be back late!"

It made him smile. John was - well. His feelings for John were complicated. More complicated than he'd thought they would be, back before John came. That trainwreck of a first conversation - several trainwrecks, if he was honest about it - didn't make things any simpler, but at least John hadn't freaked out about it. And Karkat, well.

He missed Karkat. Nevermind that they were still here, sharing the same space. It was more that they hadn't actually been alone since John came and the presence of the third dude put up this weird wall between them. But if John was out now, and of course Sollux was out (because Sollux was always out, except for brief thirty minute gaps where he grabbed fresh shirts and underwear if he'd forgotten to wash some at Aradias). If he was in luck, Karkat would most definitely not be out. After the conversation he'd just had with Dirk, he needed some serious Karkat time.

And evidently luck was with him.

He heard faint music coming from under the troll's door, and knocked softly just to see what would happen. No answer. By that he assumed Karkat wanted him to come in, because let's face it, who would turn down Dave Strider's company? Not his best bro troll friend, that's for sure.

Not like they didn't just barge into each other's rooms anyways.

The music was coming out from under cheap headphones turned up way too loud on a troll in a black tshirt and jeans curled up in his bed facing the wall as he read some stupid textbook. Who reads a textbook? Seriously? Karkat, of course.

It could've been worse. Could've been a shitty troll romance novel.

Smiling, Dave snuck up behind the troll and put a hand on his side for warning before crawling in behind the other.

"What the - Strider? Fuck," Karkat said, yanking out his earbuds and glancing worriedly at the open door. "What are you thinking? John could -"

"John's out for the evening, douche," Dave said, ignoring the other's squawking complaints as he wrapped his arms around the other's smaller body. "You're warm," he murmured, nuzzling the other's neck.

"Yeah," Karkat said, calming down from the words and affectionate touch. "I'm always warm."

"What are you listening too anyways?" Dave asked, picking up one of the earbuds and putting it in. "Huh. And here I was hoping you'd be drowning in one of my sick beats, man. I'll have to tell Rose you're all up in her electric violin shit."

Snorting, Karkat reached up and pulled the headphones out of the jack before pressing play again. Haunting violin music filled the air.

Dave put up with it for a few moments, then groaned. "No, man no I can't. It's like having her here in the room with us, judging us. I can hear it in every slide of her bow, the little oh so polite condescending remarks. Turn on something else, please."

"Please? The great Dave Strider is saying please?" Karkat said, turning to look at him. It meant that Dave's fingers were able to push up one side of the troll's shirt and brush fingertips over his grubscars.

"Yes," Dave replied, smirking. "I'll say please again later if you pick some decent music."

The only thing hard to read about the look on Karkat's face was that there were so many emotions there. Overall the look said that he wasn't impressed with Dave's not-so-subtle come-on. Not yet, at least.

The way the troll moved as he reached up to fiddle with the music player was something that Dave could appreciate anyways, though. Soon the sounds were far more rock. The first song was even pretty damn familiar. "Hmm, from what I remember, you were the one saying please to that song," he murmured, moving forward to try and plant a kiss on Karkat's chest.

"Ugh, stop," Karkat said, pushing him back. "It's just on the same playlist, ok?"

His cheeks were tinged with pink, though, and he hadn't pushed him off the bed, so Dave knew he wasn't that pissed. Pissed enough to pull his shirt back down though.

"I want to talk, not fuck, bulge muncher," Karkat groused. "Well, first, anyways."

"Ugh, talk. You know that line is cliche as fuck, right? What, should I lie down for this? Is this going to be some sort of psudo-psychoanalyzing bullshit? Has listening to Rose got you all up in her headspace or something? I thought you were studying biology not psychology -"

"Shut the fuck up already, would you?" Karkat said, sitting up and hitting Dave in the shoulder.

"Shut up, talk, what the fuck do you want from me Vantas?"

"You're so fucking annoying, I swear. We barely have any time alone together since John's gotten here and you want to go straight to the sex?"

"Well, maybe? I mean, maybe first? It has been a while, after all -"

"Shit, really?" Karkat said, pulling his comforter into his lap. That was definitely going the opposite way of what Dave wanted right this instant. Less layers of cloth was always preferable. "I'm shocked you'd want my ass at all, anyways, considering that evidently neither you nor John motherfucking Egbert are fucking homosexual. Right? Isn't that what you said?"

Oh. Shit. Oh yeah. "Well technically I'm not, I mean -"

"Oh shut the fuck up you blithering poopchute, you know exactly what I meant, and your 'attracted to people not gender' or whatever doesn't get you a free pass for this because you fucking knew what he meant! To John motherfucking Strider, people probably come in two flavors, straight and 'normal', or not straight aka 'gay' and you fucking know that, you motherfucking cluckbeast!"

"Chicken. The word is chicken," Dave said, sitting up himself as he tried to salvage something out of this anger and guilt. Because yeah. He knew, of course he'd known. "Look," he tried to say, "He just up and asked me and I didn't know what to say. It just - it was the first thing that came out of my mouth, Karkat, fuck. I didn't expect him to, you know, just -"

"Just what, just come out and ask you, try to cut through all the blathering nonsense that was dribbling out of your lips? I mean you weren't exactly being subtle about it," Karkat spit out.

"Hey, I was trying to approach the subject gently, you know?"

"Bullshit," Karkat said, narrowing his eyes. "You were acting like you were fucking ashamed of who you are, who we are. I won't be your fucking dirty little secret, Strider. I won't play that fucking part. No at home has ever had an issue with who we are and I won't have starting out at this fucking university and changing all that just to act like some fucking coolkid. Coolkid, hah. Fuckboy, more like."

"Hey. Screw you," Dave said, angry now for real. "Fuckboy? Me? At least I'm not the one who up and fucking confessed to a guy while your boyfriend was right fucking there, Vantas."

Karkat was silent at that, looking away from him. Those words had scored a point, he knew. It didn't make him feel any better though. Just worse. They didn't really use the term boyfriend, always danced around it like it was something special to be used later. Well he had, now, and he wished he could take it back so it wouldn't be tainted with this moment from now until forever.

"It wasn't a confession," Karkat finally said.

He looked so - shit. So motherfucking pitiful right then. "Hey, hey," Dave said, reaching over to rub his fingers over the other boy's knee through the comforter. "Fuck, I know. I was just jealous."

Now all Karkat had to do was reassure him that there was no reason for him to be jealous, and things could all go back to normal. Dave could tell him how he'd talked with Dirk, how that had gone, that he'd even asked him for advice about talking to his friends about his sexuality. Everything would be fine.

Except that wasn't what Karkat said.

"Even if it had been a confession, it shouldn't matter," Karkat said, slow and tentative as one hand came out to tangle their fingers together as he looked down. "I mean, yeah we get rough sometimes, and I get angry with you, but I don't hate you. I can't really hate you, Dave. You're just too motherfucking pitiful. I know you too well."

Dave swallowed, tightening his fingers. "But, ugh. I mean I thought your spades was forever filled by past and future you?"

That got a little laugh at least. "Yeah. Though at the moment, that hate is fully platonic, let me tell you," Karkat said, glancing up at him.

"Do you really want to hate John?" Dave asked, watching as a helpless expression flitted across the other's face.

"No," Karkat whispered, looking away again. "No. It'd make things easier, but fuck. I mean, yeah. I don't really want to hate the idiot."

"But you like him," Dave forced out, feeling like he was just pushing his heart onto the blade of a super-shitty sword.

"Well, yeah. Technically."

"Is that why you don't want to -"

"What? Oh fuck no, you - Strider you are such a motherfucking idiot," Karkat said, before shoving the comforter away and pushing Dave back onto the bed before kissing him soundly.

"Oh, huh. Ok," Dave said, hands coming to rest on Karkat's ass just because it was handy.

"You, just, ugh," Karkat said, looking down at him. "I mean, you know Troll Romance is complicated. Besides, you like him too."

"What? I don- ok, well, shit since we're all going honesty hour here, maybe I do. A little."

"Hah! I knew it."

"Sheesh, Karkat, way to be a gracious winner here," Dave said, shifting under him to get more comfortable. "Does, uh. Does it bother you? Like, are you jealous?"

"Not exactly," Karkat said, tracing one blunt claw down the side of Dave's face. "I mean, I would be if you like, got together with him and went all monogamous and left me out in the cold like the matchstick girl or something, but I don't think you'd do that."

"Oh," Dave said, thinking a minute. "Hey, did you just simultaneously praise me for my loyalty and also insult me for thinking for a moment that you were going to dump me?"

"Nah," Karkat said, lips curling into a smirk. "I know you well enough that you wouldn't want to leave this 'choice piece of plump rump' on the table for someone else to steal away."

"Gah! Don't do that," Dave said, slapping said ass playfully.

"Sometimes people share, you know," Karkat said.

The words, coupled with the way the troll was looking at him, made blood start rushing south far too quickly for Dave's liking. "Share? Uh, that's like an extra helping of kinky squared there, Karkat."

"Yeah, well," Karkat said, cheeks flushing again, "Well maybe it is. And I wouldn't suggest it with just anyone."

"One big problem there, though. John is not -"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what he said when he was thirteen."

"Seemed pretty set on the subject the other night," Dave said, rubbing little circles with his fingertips, half interested in the conversation and half wanting to focus on what he had in his hands right fucking now.

"I'm not so sure about that," Karkat said. He was rocking his hips now, moving in response to Dave's hands in the most delicious of ways. "Wouldn't mind pushing to see for real, too. Seeing your pale skin next to that dusky tan he has. Watch him holding you back while I show him all your spots."

"Fuck," Dave said, moving a hand to unbutton his jeans and relieve the pressure on his cock before pulling their hips flush again. "That really what you want? What if he's standing over there in the doorway right now, hearing all the fucking dirty talk falling out of your mouth? What if he's over there going to come up behind you so we make a fucking Karkat sandwich? That what you want?"

There was a look of real alarm in Karkat's eyes as he glanced back to the empty doorway. "Strider? Man, what the fuck, don't fucking -"

Snorting Dave flipped them, making short work of the other's jeans and tossing them at the door to close it. "Relax, kitten. It's just fantasy. John won't be home for a while, we're safe."

"Fuck," Karkat said, pulling off his shirt and lobbing it at Dave's face. "You're such a dick sometimes, I swear."

"You want this dick," Dave replied, shimmying out of his own clothes and waggling his cock at Karkat.

"Psh, I don't know," Karkat said, looking to the side and feigning disinterest. "Maybe all this inanity has turned me off."

"I don't think so," Dave said, pushing the other boy's thighs apart and looking down at the bulge starting to thrash free from his nook. "Still look pretty interested to me."

"Yeah, well maybe I just want you to sit and spin on it, nooklover."

Dave licked his lips. "Not gonna argue with the last of that, at least. First part we'll see. Right now, though - Nook! It's what's for dinner!"

"Fuck, Strider!" Karkat said as Dave pushed face-first into Karkat's squishy bits for some seriously sloppy makeouts. "At least - you're fucking - doing something useful with your mouth for once," the troll gasped out, clawed hands coming down to pluck the shades away into safety before coming back down to play with his hair. Dave really really loved the feeling of Karkat's hands in his hair. Those claws could - and had - break skin, but right now all they were doing was moving him around to exactly where the troll wanted him.

Soon his face was sticky and wet, Karkat's bulge writhing above him. It was probably jealous. Dave sucked at the folds of Karkat's nook for a while, listening to the chirps and moans the other was trying to keep quiet even though there was no one else in the apartment. Someday, he wanted to really make the troll lose it, totally wreck him, record all those sounds and mix them into an oblivion where only he and Karkat knew what they were. Someday, someday.

He moved, worming a finger and then two into the other boy, amazed at the pulsing wet heat of his inner walls. The bulge's patience was rewarded with his mouth as he looked up at Karkat's face. He loved watching how his lover reacted to his mouth. His shoulders were flushed red with his blood color, pupils blown wide with want. He was pushing down on Dave's head now as the bulge twisted deeper into his mouth. One clawed hand suddenly moved up to turn up the volume on the music as another of their favorite songs came on, and Dave knew that the music just pushed Karkat all that much higher.

Dave pulled off the other's bulge and kissed his way up the flat planes of the other's chest. He had to take his hand out to hold himself up, and the frustrated little noise Karkat made as he did just made him that much harder. Finally he made it to the other's mouth and kissed him hard as the other's bulge wrapped around his cock, greedy and wet and hot and tight and fuck that was amazing. Karkat's hands were on his ass now, claws sinking in with that stinging bite of yes more please and Dave couldn't wait much longer.

"What do you want, Karkat," he said, moving his mouth from the other's to lave at an overly sensitive ear as one of his hands grasped a nubby little horn. "What are the rules today, how do you want it, fuck -"

"Fuck me," Karkat hissed out.

"Yeah, that's the idea, but - ahh," Dave moaned, cock complaining at the loss as Karkat's bulge started to uncurl.

"Fuck you spatterbrained idiot get your cock up in my fucking nook before I - ah - fuck!"

This, Dave thought as he thrust in deep, was pure heaven. If heaven was a furnace that rippled with every passing heartbeat. He opened eyes he hadn't even known he'd closed and stared down into Karkat's, loving the flush, the red that his lover was so often unwarrantedly ashamed of. To Dave, it was just beautiful.

"Like that?" Dave said, smiling at the amusement he saw in Karkat's eyes.

"Yes," Karkat said, legs wrapping around his waist. "Look at that. Dave Strider gets an A on finally following motherfucking directionssssss..."

Dave chuckled, thrusting in again and holding it, loving all the little microexpressions that were that much clearer without his shades. Karkat's hand was in his hair again, but just to brush it back before pulling him down for a kiss, slow and languorous as they moved together.

It wasn't outrageously mindblowing. Wasn't a fuck that would rate a triple dick on the pornvid scale. Just gentle and tender and intimate in a way they both liked. Sometimes at least. Sometimes they liked it hard and fast. Chocolate ice cream. Cherry Garcia. Vermonty Python even, sometimes, if things were really crazy. Maybe even Mission to Marzipan.

Vanilla was good, though, warm and rich and satisfying.

Dave moved a hand down between them, grasping the bulge that was flailing for its own version of attention, tangling it in his fingers. Karkat groaned into his mouth with that, nails scratched up his back and dug into his shoulderblades. The pain was sweet, sweet pleasure that just edged him on, made him tug at the bulge in his hand even though it wasn't really made for that. It slipped through his fingers and came back for more, though. It was good like that. Maybe he'd love it and squeeze it and name it George. Maybe he wouldn't tell Karkat, because Karkat would kick his ass out and finish on his own.

"What are you laughing at, Dave," Karkat muttered against his lips.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Good. Now move your ass. Faster."

Chuckling again Dave said, "Yes sir." Then he moved his ass.

The hand not on Karkat's bulge shifted to play with on of his horns again as their tongues thrashed together in a kiss where no one was fighting for dominance because they were both just fighting to taste more of each other. Sink deeper, get closer. He loved this. Loved all of this, the movement, the feel, the sound, the smell, loved Karkat -

"Fuck!" He hissed, head thrown back as the claws scratching all the way down his back tipped him over the edge and spilled him over into the vice-tight heat around his cock. He dropped his head back down and bit at Karkat's shoulder as he rode it out, trying to keep in that zone of sweetness as long as he could. The feeling of Karkat spasming around him in pleasure definitely helped. "Fuck, Karkat," he muttered again, moving to kiss the other deep.

"Yeah," Karkat murmured, nudging him to roll over so that they were lying on their sides.

Dave slid a hand down to the thigh draped over his hip, smiling as he nuzzled against his lover's nose, basking in the afterglow. There were kisses after good sex like this, if they had time. Kisses and cuddles and general happiness, until Karkat got uncomfortable and went to go get himself cleaned up. Dave thought about mentioning that John might have a bucket in his room to help, but for once he didn't want to ruin the mood.

Instead he just traced a heart on Karkat's thigh, watching as the other boy looked up at him, first in inquiry, then with a smile.

"Yeah, you too, idiot," the troll said, gentle and calm. "You too."

"Good," Dave said, feeling the peace settle deep in his bones. He had a lot of fucked up things in his life, a lot of them ones fucked up because of him, but this was good. This was right.

He planned on keeping it that way.

If Karkat was right, though - if there was a chance - and they could do it without fucking this up -

Well then shit. Maybe he could have his cake and eat it too.

Someday.