It became a regular thing.
It's been a whole two weeks and Karkat has been driving Dave home after work everyday. It shouldn't be something that made his life feel more stable, as the car ride usually was spent by them fighting over what to listen to on the radio or bickering about something nonsensical. His life as he knew it was a mixture of work, Sollux's unpredictable mood swings and Gamzee irritating the hell out of him; this was something nice and acted as a constant. Dave never disappeared for days on end, making him worry. Dave never had huge mood swings, causing Karkat to worry about his indulgence in alcohol. Dave didn't bring up the past like Terezi and didn't bother him by trying to talk about 'bettering oneself' like Egbert.
This was simple; there was no complicated back story, or trying to weasel one's ways into the others personal life. They joked around, Karkat got worked up and Dave teased him about it. They talked about things like music and popular culture, and they parted with no strained emotions. They were coworkers and pals, nothing more, and it was nice for the both of them.
It was nice for Karkat, who was more often than not stressed out about something and beating himself up over it. He needed something in his day to get him away from focusing on all the bad things that have accumulated over the years. Dave, who often felt abandoned, spent way too much time on being different and needed someone who didn't care about what he decided to do with his life. Basically, he needed someone who was just there and was never emotionally distant.
Them spending time together had become a normal thing, but things between them wouldn't be so simple forever.
"Welcome to my sweet bachelor pad, please keep both feet on the floor at all times." Despite him taking him home for the past two weeks, this was the first time Karkat has ever been inside of Dave's apartment, which was as crappy as he imagined it to be. It was smaller than the flat that Gamzee and himself shared, and about just as messy; though instead of pizza boxes, Faygo bottles and marijuana-related products littering the place, so the things that cluttered his home weren't exactly trash.
First thing he noticed was the electrical cords everywhere. Literally, everywhere. They twisted along and across the wood floors, finding their way into the electrical sockets and machinery like an ex girlfriend finds a way to intercept your mail. There were speakers in the corners, and an old, but new-looking DJ set up against the back wall accompanied by a large collection of records. His walls were covered in both posters and art alike, placed without any thought of design what so ever.
This was only the beginning of the clusterfuck that was Dave Strider's apartment.
"I'd hardly call this a 'sweet bachelor pad'. Any girl coming in here would walk right back out," he commented, staring at one of many jars scattered along various surfaces that held preserved dead animals. Ducking under a string that was held up from two opposite walls, he made his way through the room, careful not to touch the hanging photographs above. "Are those katanas?" he asked, looking at the swords neatly placed on a wall. He could imagine Dave enjoying a handful of strange hobbies, but he would have never guessed him to be one for novelty weapons.
"The best a hundred dollars could buy." Okay, maybe not novelty. Karkat took off his jacket, throwing it over the back of the couch. Now he was left in his gray flannel button-down and Def Leppard shirt, completing the grungy look with tattered jeans, and he sat down on a rather nice leather couch. This was probably fake leather, he took another look around the room, definitely fake leather. After Karkat didn't get one of Dave's so called 'brilliant' Austin Powers references, he ended up getting the albino to agree to watch the movie with him. He could only hope that this would be better than the time John made him go see Con Air with him. That kid was five kinds of crazy for that greasy actor, Nic Cage.
The spot next to him sunk as Dave took his seat, and the blonde passed him a can of Coke. Karkat was barely able to stop himself from rolling his eyes and opened the soda, giving the television a scrutinizing look as the movie started.
"Prepare to witness the best spy-related movie to grace this earth. If you feel yourself becoming sick, the bathroom is down the hall to the left, so please don't shit yourself."
Karkat scoffed, drinking nearly half the can as he waited for Dave to get the movie the play. "Please, this is about to be as exciting as watching Law and Order with Terezi." Most of the time he felt like she insisted on watching those rotten Law shows just to bother him, but she actually had a genuine adoration for them. "In fact, it will be so bad my digestive track will come to a complete halt. You're going to be the one to pay for my surgery when this is over,I swear. I can't believe-" His mouth was covered by the hand of his friend, who was looking at him, possibly in disapproval. There was no one of reading him, Dave still insisted on always wearing those dull sunglasses of his.
He switched the hand to a finger, keeping it over the glaring man's lips. "Shut up, time to have your mind blown."
As far as he was considered, his name was Dave Strider, and this was the first time he's woken up to the smell of sunscreen. He opened his eyes groggily after a moment, but everything in front of him was still dark regardless. To solve the problem, he removed the shades, letting them hang off the collar of his shirt.
Right, there was a reason as to why he woke up in the middle of the night. He looked over to the source of pressure on his side and was greeted by the sleeping face of Karkat Vantas. Dave sat still for a moment, noticing how bizarre it was to see such an angry guy look so relaxed. This was the one and only Karkat Vantas, shortest and more intimidating person on Earth, Hell-bent on tearing the world apart by his never-ending sass. Yet here he was, sleeping like he didn't have a care in the world. Dave could even say he looked downright cute, he could almost reach over and fluff his white hair.
He didn't though, instead opting for ungracefully getting off his ass, letting his newest friend fall down onto the cushion. He didn't wake, even though his legs hung off the couch's side and looked to be in a generally uncomfortable position. Feeling kind tonight, Dave lifted his legs and placed them on the couch, and left to retrieve a blanket. This was five miles beyond weird, people never stayed over at his place like this, and this was the first time he woke up near another person in years. Usually by the time he woke up whoever he slept with last night was long gone.
Which made things ever stranger, since this situation was purely nonsexual. You might as well plant some promise rings on them and name Dave virgin Mary for not tapping that ass. Waking up next to someone after not boning them? Blasphemy.
This incident of them falling asleep to a dumb spy parody wasn't planned, but oddly enough it wasn't uncomfortable. It didn't make him feel awkward, and he didn't have second thoughts of choosing what course of action he should take. Besides, if he did wake Karkat, he'd probably just throw a fit or something along that line of action. Gently, Dave put a blanket over the sleeping man before walking to his own room. There he was able to strip down to his boxers to sleep comfortably, and crawled into his bed.
If he was being honest with him self, underneath the calm demeanor he was nervous. Dave was never one to make friends that actually bothered with you outside of going out. Hell, the only friends he really had were Rose, John and Jade, which he known since he was a little brat. He didn't expect to hit it off with anyone, especially not at work. After talking with Terezi for a bit he thought that it would be the ginger girl that hailed from Denmark that would come over for movies, not some boy with a hundred different problems eating at him.
But they got on well, he was fun guy, always getting worked up over something. Perhaps it could be called endearing to some people, but to him it was just entertaining how he channeled all his anger and frustrations to the little things. Including himself, most people just kept everything remotely emotional hidden away until it blew up in their face. Though, it did seem like the anger that Karkat did steam off was only the tip of the ice burg as he always seemed so stressed out and tired regardless. Someone who is simply angry doesn't look like that.
More importantly, he didn't ask questions. Dave wasn't a guy to put his feelings on a parade, and he preferred to express them abstractly, not have a chat about them over coffee. That was a reason why the relationship he had with Rose was so rocky, since she always tried pulling that psyche 101 shit on him. Don't get him wrong, they were tighter than leather pants and he'd probably die for her if she needed it. But, he would still just step around all the emotional counseling bullshit by using some stupid joke and then avoid her for a short amount of time. He repeated this until the occurrences happened less and less. Even Jade wouldn't just let things be once they started dating. It took them a few months to be back on speaking terms after he cut it off.
This was nice, but he was lucky he had already [i]three[/i] friends who stuck by him for all these years. After-all, two people could only tease and tolerate each other for so long, right?
It was the morning after, and the only reason why Karkat woke up was because of a bomb going off in the next room. He shot up, hair disheveled, and his arms out in front of him ready for combat. The only noise that followed the explosion was a curse word and someone moving around in the room behind him. He turned his head from the side to side, noticing how barely any sunlight was able to make it's way into Dave's crummy apartment. Now that was nice. He spotted his glasses on the floor and put them on, the world around him suddenly becoming crystal clear. Well, it almost that clear, he needed to clean them after being on the floor like that.
After putting himself together he decided to check out the source of the noise by peering over the couch. Dave was busy in the kitchen, picking up shards of glass, which he assumed was from a broken plate. Alright, so there wasn't a bomb after all, that's good; but not knowing why he was still in Dave Strider's apartment was still a worrying him. All he remembered was watching that stupid spy movie that had Mike Myers' terrible face all over it. Next time he was picking the movie. He'd show that air-headed, lanky blonde a good film if it's the last thing he'll do.
"Good morning, Snow White." Karkat debated on throwing something at the prick he called a friend, but was deterred by the smell of delectable breakfast food. "Ha-ha. Don't quit your day job, funny guy." he said bitterly, watching curiously as Dave came towards the couch and passed him a plate that held a whipped creamed covered waffle. Karkat made a face and Dave laughed, already stuffing his face with the sugar-packed food. "Don't try to deny it, this food was made by the Gods."
Not wanting to hear anymore of his lame jokes, Karkat turned on the television and tested the food by poking it with his fork. "Did something embarrassing happen last night? Was there another bet that I forgot about?" he asked, making a jab at how Dave would always make the excuse of losing a bet the first few days of Karkat driving him home. He took a bite out of the breakfast bread, thrilled that it didn't taste like garbage.
Dave only shook his head, and Karkat wanted to punch him for still wearing those dumb aviators even in the morning. "This is literally all I had for food, I haven't shopped in awhile."
"You work in a supermarket."
Dave stopped eating and his head titled towards his plate, mocking a breakthrough revaluation. "It's a bad habit." Karkat snorted, he didn't doubt that, and the two of them ate the rest of their breakfast while watching particularly obnoxious morning cartoons.
Seriously, thank you for the feedback you guys are giving me. I really, really appreciate it. So, thanks. Sill on short chapters, but they should lengthen up as the story progresses.