"Hey." Gavin mumbled to the sleeping neko on the bed, lightly prodding his side. "Get up." The deliberate way he swished his tail and smiled made it clear he was actually awake. Gavin rolled his eyes and continued to poke him, chuckling a bit at the cute way the neko would twitch and cringe while stubbornly staying curled up. He grabbed his shoulder and lightly shook.
"Get up, Karmene; I want to show you something." The shorter man whined in protest, pulling his quilt up over his head. Gavin huffed, glaring down at him; he stepped aside for a moment, and Karmene yowled as the mattress was suddenly tipped, dropping him to the floor. He murmured childishly and reached for his pillow, pulling it under his head. Gavin growled lowly; the little bastard was doing this on purpose.
"GET YOUR ASS UP!" he shouted loud enough to raise the dead, but just below the volume that would wake up their kids. Karmene cringed, his hands clamping over his sensitive feline ears. Gavin walked out of the bedroom semi-patiently, muttering.
"Don't you know cats sleep up to 18 hours a day?" Karmene asked playfully. "I never knew you were a morning person anyway, Harvey."
"DO I HAVE TO COME BACK IN THERE?!" Gavin snapped at him from the staircase, and he sighed loudly in exasperation, standing and carrying his pillow as he walked after the tall man, finding him downstairs in the kitchen.
"This better be good." He pouted, leaning on the kitchen table. Gavin just chuckled, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands.
"Should be." He smirked. "I wanted to show you a magic trick."
"Gavin Harvey, You woke me up for that?"
"Yes. I think you'll like it." He held out the deck to the short cat-man and turned his eyes away. "Take your pick." Karmene slipped one of the cards out and studied it.
"Put it back." Gavin said predictably, and he did so. With deft, speedy hands, he set the cards on the kitchen table in 4 stacks, all of them inevitably containing 13 cards except the last one.
"I'm missing a card." The tall man murmured. "You did put yours back, right?"
"Wouldn't you have noticed if I hadn't?"
"Yes. I suppose I would have." He suddenly picked up Karmene and sat him down on the counter, making him just below Gavin's eye level; He leaned close and let their noses and foreheads touch. "I believe I can find it though." He smirked playfully, the smirk widening as Karmene blushed.
"What do you mean?" the neko asked a bit cautiously. "What are you trying to-" He was silenced by a kiss forced onto his lips, his cheeks instantly burning red as he relaxed into it.
A light tickle of Gavin's fingers on his neck coaxed Karmene to pull away, a blissful smile on his face. He blinked curiously when he noticed Gavin held something in his teeth. The taller man smirked as he pulled it from his mouth and unfolded it, revealing it as the missing King of Hearts.
"And there's your card." He chuckled, going back to the table and scooping up all the cards as Karmene watched.
"H-How did you do that?" the neko asked, somewhat dumbfounded. Gavin snickered as he shuffled the cards again.
"I can't tell you." He shrugged. "Wanna see another one?"
"…Can you do the one you just did again?"
A playful sneer found Gavin's face again. "Of course; it's pretty simple." He started to shuffle the cards again. He looked up as Karmene's hands gently rested over his and spirited the deck of cards away.
"Without the cards though, Harvey." Karmene purred, hiding the deck behind his back. The taller man chuckled again and leaned over him, lightly wrapping his arm around his waist as he kissed him again. Both of them could feel a metaphorical flame relighting, a feeling of comfort and warmth originally brought on by a grade school crush that they had both missed for quite a long time.
"Wow; clearly, we're interrupting something." Karmene flinched away from the kiss at the sound of Karkat's smug, amused voice.
"I agree, little brother;" Kankri smiled, reaching up to the top of the fridge and pulling down a box of cereal as his brother dropped some bread in the toaster. "We've obviously walked in on another horrible fight."
"Don't you two have school or something?" The Makara huffed, lifting Karmene off of the sink.
"I do." Karkat chuckled. "We were just coming down to get breakfast."
"Are Kurloz and Gamzee still asleep?" his father asked, keeping a much more believable straight face.
"Dad, Kurloz wouldn't wake up if you threatened death on him." Kankri chuckled. He suddenly tensed and spun around to see that Kurloz had approached him, grumbling inaudibly. "Or maybe he's already up…"
"Don't be so scared, kid;" Gavin smirked. "He always does that." Kurloz gave a tired smile and handed Karkat a gift bag.
"Oh, thanks." The smaller boy said, his ears perking up happily. "I can't believe I almost forgot this!"
"Good luck, kitten!" Kankri called as Karkat took his piece of toast and ran out the door.
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As Karkat shoved his coat into the closet in the back of the classroom, his ear twitched to a familiar snicker. In his peripheral, he saw the psionic aura forming around his gift bag and quickly picked it up.
"Sollux, stop it." He huffed, glaring at his friend.
"Is that the gift for Terezi that Strider told me about?"
"He told you?!" Karkat snarled. That punk would get it later.
"Chill out, Fluffy." The Gemini smirked. "You're lucky he didn't tell TZ."
The neko huffed. "He better not have… I worked too damn hard on this."
The Captor boy's mismatched eyes took on a slight hint of uncertainty. "KK, I can't help but get the feeling this is real important to you. Like 'that-time-you-had-a-crush-on-me' important."
"This is nothing like that;" the Vantas boy barked indignantly. "I know Terezi."
"Yeah, that's my point; are you sure this is a good idea?"
Karkat just rolled his eyes with a slight smile, walking to his desk. There was no way this wouldn't work. He knew Terezi better than anyone else did. They had been friends forever…
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Later that day, during the lunch period, Karkat nervously approached the young Pyrope girl, tapping the shoulder that wasn't covered by the sling.
"Uh, Terezi?" he asked shyly, though he tried to disguise it with a little flare of bravado.
"What's up, Karkles?" the girls smirked, looking back at him. Her eyes settled on the bag in his hands. "Ooh, what do you have there?" Karkat's friends and a few other kids watched with anticipation.
He held out the bag, a slight blush across his face as she gently took it.
As she pulled out the tissue paper, her face lit up with happiness. "Oh, Karkles!" she squealed happily, pulling out the red Scalemate. "Where did you get this; it's adorable!
"I-I made it myself."
"All by yourself? It's nearly perfect! I'm speechless."
"Really? In that case, do you think I could ask you something uh…a bit personal?"
The students watching from across the room were silent as they observed the young neko ask a simple, though quite weighted question. The look of slight surprise and uneasiness that crossed the Pyrope girl's face as she answered made them worry, and seeing Karkat's entire being twitch in attempt to hold back shattered emotion was pretty hard to watch. Of course he gave some excuse when Terezi tried to comfort him, and he said with a forced smile that she could keep the Scalemate before turning to walk away. Terezi looked just as upset to see him go, but she knew from experience that she couldn't go after him.
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"Karkat, come down from there!" Sollux called up into the tree outside the school. Recess was going to end soon, and he had been up there since before lunch ended. The only response he got was the sound of shifting leaves. As easily as he could just yank him down with his psionics, the Vantas boy was pretty broken up already, and pissing him off definitely wouldn't help.
"If I had my wings, I could probably get to him…" Tavros lamented with a sigh.
"Even if you did, you don't know how stubborn the cat can be." Vriska scoffed. "He'd be back up in that tree before his feet touched the ground."
They didn't hear the stoic coolkid walking up to them. "A'ight, where is he?"
"What are you doing here?" Vriska asked venomously. "Where's Pyrope?"
"She said it would be better if someone else talked him down; there's no way he'd let her see him this upset." He stepped up to the tree trunk and looked up, noticing the fluffy grey tail despite the dark cover of his shades. "Yo, Vantas!" he shouted.
"Piss off, Strider!" the neko's voice sounded choked and angry.
"Yeah, you were the perfect person to talk to him." Sollux laughed.
Dave rolled his eyes. "Aw, c'mon, shorty. You gotta talk to somebody."
"Why? I'm just fine!"
"Yeah, is that why you ran yourself up a tree?" When he only heard a low snarl in response, Dave glanced at the others. "Ya'll can stop staring, y'know. I can handle him."
They all gave him skeptical looks, but Sollux and Vriska knew Dave wouldn't say another word until he knew they were gone, so they took Tavros and walked to the far side of the field.
"I got rid of them." He called up. "You can cut the tough guy act."
"I am tough, you idiot…"
"If you're so tough, then act like it and come down from there! 'Rezi ain't worth all this sh-" He was cut off by Karkat suddenly dropping out of the tree and harshly grabbing the collar of his jacket.
"Take it back!" the shorter boy snapped, shoving Dave against the tree; his eyes were a bit red with rage and suppressed sadness. "You worthless ass, take it back! Terezi is the most important girl I know! She's the best friend I ever had!" He started to lose control of himself, sniffling softly as tears started to run down his face. "A-And she always will be!" He didn't stop the Strider from pulling him close when he started crying. "Dave, why am I so stupid?" he asked in a shaking voice after a couple minutes, clinging to said coolkid's jacket like he would disappear if let go.
Dave sighed, softly rubbing Karkat's back; he never was the best with emotional situations. "You're not stupid, Karkitty. Some people just can't date someone they've known all their lives. It makes them feel vulnerable or some crap like that."
"But that's my point! I've known her for so long…I should have known she wouldn't go out with me..."
Dave honestly didn't have much of an argument to that. "A crush can make ya crazy sometimes." He said instead of some smartass quip that would have pissed the neko off. When Karkat still didn't look up at him, he lifted the boy's chin himself.
"Hey…" he said really softly, so that even Karkat could just barely hear him. "What do you say we get out of here?"
"What, like cut school?" the young Vantas asked, and Dave chuckled.
"Yeah, sure. Look at you; you need a break. The day's almost over anyway."
Karkat gave a slight chuckle of disbelief, wiping a tear from his cheek. "And how do you propose we do that? We can't just leave our bags and books here."
Dave only smirked…
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Karkat lay groaning on one of the beds in the nurse's office. Dave had mentioned that drinking that potion would make his stomach hurt, but he hadn't expected this. Dave was on a nearby bed wincing occasionally, but he seemed to be able to handle the pain a lot better. Sollux walked in, lugging Karkat's backpack on his shoulder. He gave the neko a sympathetic smile.
"What has Dave gotten you into?" he whispered with a smirk, and Karkat gave a pained smile as he watched the Gemini leave.
The nurse approached Dave's bed and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I called the high school; your brother will be here to get you in about 15 minutes. Karkat, should I call your dad?"
"N-No…" Dave whined. "He can come with me and Dirk; we'll call his dad, I promise." The nurse looked at him skeptically, so he put on a sad, hurt voice that Karkat was surprised he could pull off. "Please? His dad works today, and just look at him: he won't be able to wait until his dad gets here."
The woman sighed. "Alright, he can go with you if that's alright with him." They looked at the other boy, and he gave a slight nod, his ears folding as he cringed at another sting of pain.
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"Where the hell did you get that potion?" Karkat growled after he and Dave were safe in Dirk's car. A simple antacid dissolved in water had made the pain stop.
Dirk chuckled. "Bought it from some sweet lady's corner store. She's nice and stuff, but I'm pretty sure she's nuts. She told us that her brother's a maniac." Karkat shrugged and curled up on the backseat of the car, resting his head on his backpack and letting his feet rest against Dave's leg. The youngest Strider glanced at him, his shades hiding the concern in his eyes as they always did. He reached over and lightly petted the boy's side as one would a normal cat, but he didn't even acknowledge him other than a twitch of one ear.
As the car stopped outside the Striders' apartment building, Dave nudged his barely responsive schoolmate out of the light sleep he'd let himself slip into and coaxed him out of the car. He was still pretty quiet, and his eyes were constantly on the ground. He also was still unresponsive to touch, which, for a Vantas, was just not normal.
"Here, little man." Dirk sighed, tossing Dave his backpack. "I'm going to work early today. You runts better not burn the place down before I get back."
"Whatever." Dave chuckled, pulling out his keys and leading Karkat into the building. As the neko glanced toward the elevator, the Strider grabbed his shoulder. "The damn thing's too slow. I'll race you up to the top."
Karkat rolled his eyes, but shrugged his backpack on and followed Dave to the stairs.
"Alright, man. You go up this stairwell; I'll go up the other; and I'll be waiting at my apartment for ya when you lose." Karkat gave a slight smirk as he watched the taller boy walk to the stairwell all the way down the hall.
Dave chuckled, giving Karkat a vague signal with his hand before running up the stairs as fast as he could. When they had been little kids, Karkat had always been faster than everyone; it most likely had something to do with his cat DNA, and probably the fact that he walked on all-fours until he was three. But Dave had been in training most of his life; Karkat would definitely get a run for his money. As Dave stopped at the door that led out of the stairway to the top floor, he panted heavily; maybe it had been a while since he last ran all those stairs in one sitting. The door suddenly opened, and he blinked in confusion as he looked up.
"Can you hurry up?" Karkat asked softly. "Your neighbors are giving me weird looks." Dave huffed, but smirked at him, putting an arm around his shoulders, and leading him to his apartment. The young man in the apartment across the hall was indeed giving the neko an unsettling glare. Dave held the Vantas boy protectively to his side, keeping him from looking at the man as he led him toward his apartment.
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"Take your shoes off, shorty." Dave smirked as he let him in. "I'm the one who cleans the floors." Karkat shrugged and kicked off his sneakers in the foyer, walking into the small apartment's living room. He set his bag to one side of the couch before flopping onto it, curling in on himself until he took up a fraction of one cushion. Dave would never understand how he was able to do that, but he did know by now that Karkat only did it when he was upset. He sighed and sat on the opposite end of the couch.
"Vantas," he said calmly, elbowing him. "Look at this." The smaller boy huffed and looked up at the television for a moment. It was one of those clip shows that show idiotic people hurting themselves. Dave smirked a bit when he heard Karkat's slightly repressed laughter at the strangers' expense.
The Strider was sure Karkat had fallen asleep after nearly 20 minutes of silence, and a slight cloud of fatigue was starting to hang over him as well. All of a sudden, he got a sharp, swift kick to his arm, which had been resting lazily at his side.
"Ouch! What the hell, cat?!" He snarled, glaring at the neko, who he was surprised to see sporting a mischievous grin.
"I just remembered that you never took back what you said." He smirked; then, he kicked Dave's arm again, not surprised when he braced his arm against the hit this time. "And that was for losing the race that was your idea."
Dave growled at him, getting up onto his knees. "You're asking for a fight, runt."
"No, I'm not." Karkat smirked at the bemused look on Dave's face before pouncing on him and pinning his shoulders. "I kick ass first and ask questions after, dumbass." He could just barely see the coolkid roll his eyes through his shades before he was pushed off and onto the floor.
They went back and forth like that for a good few minutes. If Dave pinned Karkat, the neko could kick him off with a surprising amount of ease. If Karkat pinned Dave, the Strider would just pick him up. Dave ended the playful strife by flipping Karkat back onto the couch and wrenching his arm behind his back. Considering how naturally flexible the neko was, it did take some effort to get him to actually feel it.
"H-Hey!" he yowled. "You asshole! Stop it!"
"You won't jump on me again?" the coolkid bargained.
"Fine! Jeez…" he hissed at Dave when he let go, rubbing his shoulder and going toward the far side of the couch again.
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Karkat suddenly jolted awake; how long had he been out? At least an hour, according to the nearby wall clock. He stretched groggily; he couldn't even remember falling asleep. He noticed Dave sprawled on his side of the couch, his shades pushed up onto his forehead. His catlike instinct taking over, he crawled over and gently pawed at the Strider's face. Dave gave a soft murmur and waved at the air in his sleep. The neko smirked and pat the Strider's belly, tracing vague little shapes with his fingertips out of boredom. The coolkid twitched and made a sound like a little snicker. Snickers turned to giggles as Karkat started scribbling his fingers across his stomach and sides. Soon, Dave was laughing and waking up, immediately trying to shove the smaller boy off.
"Knock it off, runt!" he cried, but Karkat had managed to pin Dave's legs and wasn't intent on letting him go just yet.
"I didn't actually think you'd be ticklish, Strider." The neko taunted, smirking. "Something tells me that would pretty much debunk your coolkid status." Dave yanked one of his legs out from under Karkat and kicked him off, readjusting his shades over his eyes before smirking at the neko boy. It was officially on, and that, of course, meant Karkat was immediately running.
"Yeah, you better run!" the Strider called after him, a chuckle in his voice as he jumped over the back of the couch to tail him. The apartment was clearly not big enough for reckless chase games, so the two boys were mostly bouncing off the walls, Dave constantly thinking he had Karkat cornered and Karkat easily slipping away from him. The smaller boy suddenly ran into Dave's room, and the coolkid couldn't catch him before he slipped under the bed.
"Dammit, Karkat!" he huffed. "You know that isn't fair!" Dave hadn't been able to get under his bed for a good few years now, but Karkat, being freaking Karkat Vantas, could still fit under any bed you showed him.
"I can't hear you." The Vantas laughed. "I'm enjoying my victory."
"You did not win; you hid like a damned coward!"
"It's not being a coward; it's strategic. Plus, I'm not hiding; I'm right in front of you. If I were hiding, even your ninja training wouldn't help you find me."
"Are you saying I'm not a good ninja now?!"
"You said it, not me; but I meant that I am a better cat than you are a ninja."
"Why don't you come out here and strife with me again? Then we'll talk."
"Nah, I'll stay here for a while..." Karkat suddenly smirked. "I wonder what the others will think when I tell them you're ticklish."
"You little asshole; you'd better not!"
"I don't know; it's pretty funny."
"You're just as bad as Eridan used to be!"
"What?! I am not! Eridan was a big-talking punk!"
"Yeah, and you're a hit-and-run punk. That's probably even worse now that I think about it. At least big-talkers don't just attack people like you did."
"Are you being serious right now?!" Karkat hissed at him, crawling from under the bed. He was confused to see that Dave wasn't around. "Strider?"
"You idiot." Dave laughed from his place on top of the bed, grabbing Karkat before he could run and proceeding to tickle him stupid.
"You hypocrite! Let me go!" The Vantas was laughing helplessly.
"You know what you gotta say, punk." Dave smirked, knowing he had the boy at an impasse.
"Y-You're just as much a punk as any of us!" Karkat squealed.
"What?! Oh, now it's on, shorty." Dave instantly doubled his assault on Karkat's waist, keeping the neko trapped under him the entire time.
"I-I won't say it!" he said surely, only to completely fall apart when the Strider tickled his feet. "Alright, alright! I won't tell them you're ticklish!"
Dave stopped his attack, but smirked down at him. "I don't know if I can trust you just yet…"
"Oh, get off me, Strider!" Karkat was still smiling as he shoved the taller boy.
He chuckled and got up. "Yeah, I got a better idea anyway:" He waited until Karkat looked at him curiously. "Fridge raid." The cat boy's eyes lit up like neon and the pair must have looked like little kids rushing to the kitchen like that.
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When Dirk walked into the apartment a couple of hours later, he wasn't surprised in the slightest to find the kitchen a mess and the two little brats fast asleep in Dave's room. Probably in a food coma, if the victimized refrigerator was any indication. Dirk peeked into his brother's room, which was kind disheveled as well. Dave was sprawled out on his bed, snoring; Karkat was curled up in a little ball against him, Dave's trench coat over him like a blanket and Dave's shades on his forehead. He was purring softly, and Dave's fingers were tangled in his hair near his ears.
Dirk rolled his eyes and smirked; at least the cat was finally smiling. He walked over and took Dave's shades, setting them back on the little Strider's face. He lightly flicked Karkat's ear, making him growl and swat at his hand.
"Dude get up." He said stoically, and Karkat groaned as he stretched and looked up at him. "Your dad called; I gotta take ya home." The neko boy's ears drooped slightly, but he gingerly climbed over Dave and got off the bed.
"Do we have to go now?" he asked, tossing Dave's coat over him.
"Yeah, man; your dad said the school nurse called him, and he's mad 'cause we forgot to. He wants you home now." Karkat pouted a bit, but gathered his stuff and followed Dirk out the door.
"Can we stop somewhere though?" he asked.
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When the youngest neko returned, he was hours late and had a sad smile across his face.
Kankri immediately approached him, as concerned brothers often do. "Kitten, are you okay? Dirk called me while he was at work and said you were upset."
"I'm fine." He said automatically, going upstairs; he was carrying a bag of fabric with him again.
A/N: I know the scene with Gavin and Karmene at the beginning is kind of out of place, but I planned to put it somewhere, and I couldn't think of anywhere else. ^^;
