Last night almost felt like a blur.

The taste of Dave's lips against your own was incredible and the two of you had stayed together for a long time like that. You held one another and embraced in a way you had never even considered before. When he stopped calling you his brother you thought that meant your relationship had decreased. What it had become now, however, was more than you could comprehend.

After the kiss, he was slightly more awake but you told him to get some sleep anyway. He protested a bit but after another kiss he settled into his bed. You left his shades on the table beside him and slipped into the hallway where you were greeted by two tapping feet and a pair of folded arms.

Karkat stood on the left, his arms folded and one foot tapping. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth were grinding together. Beside him was John, a mirrored foot tapping and his hands on his hips. You wondered how long they had stood there and perfected their stances.

"Uh," you stammered and their glares hardened.

Karkat mocked your noise before putting a hand against the wall. It was clear you weren't going anywhere.

"I know Dave forgave you," John started, "but we don't trust you one bit. We were the ones he came to after you hurt him and now you think you can just show up and make it all better?"

"Well that ain't happening!" Karkat cut in and John nodded. "You're a piece of shit and you ain't allowed here. Leave Dave alone. If I had known you might make it through to this world, I would have-"

You took a deep breath, "You would've what? Ruined Dave's one shot at making amends and getting past this because of your own selfish ideas?"

John and Karkat exchanged glances.

"I know y'all don't understand it or want to believe it but I'm different. I ain't his dad, or his big brother, or fucking any of that shit. I'm just his friend. And he's giving me this chance and I ain't blowing it cuz y'all fuckers think you can manipulate me into being who I used to be."

"Huh? Manipul-"

"Yeah. I get it. You want me to hit you so you can tell Dave I'm still the same as before. But I fucking won't. I'll just stand here til you let me leave."

Karkat grimaced and he sprung towards you, his fist aiming right for your face. Too easy. You ducked to one side and he missed. You flash stepped beside John and gave him a quick smirk before waltzing right out the front door.

You awoke to shouting and a slammed door and quickly emerged from your room. "Bro!?" you shouted and found John sitting quietly on the couch and Karkat looking huffy and puffy beside the door. "What just…?"

Karkat shot daggers at you and John stuttered. "We just thought that if we scared him, and confronted him, he might-"

"What? Snap his fingers and admit he was lying the whole time? Look guys….I appreciate y'all care about me and shit but goddamn I'm an adult! I can make my own decisions! And Bro is one of 'em. He's my choice and my responsibility. So just...just leave us alone...we're happy. I'm finally happy."

John looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry…"

Karkat spoke and you moved your gaze to him. "Sorry? For fucking what? You forgive him all you fucking want but I ain't."

You shook your head and scoffed and pushed past him and out the door. Bro was standing right outside the door, almost like he had been waiting for you. You smiled as you approached him and almost magnetically your hand found his. He smiled down at you before his lips twitched. "This is weird, huh?"

You shrugged, "Who ever said Striders were normal?"

Bro rolled his eyes, "You've gotta stop believing all that shit about being a Strider I spewed when you were little."

You shook your head, "Nah man, most of it was true. Your Strider pep talks were probably the only positive thing I had growing up." You meant it to be encouraging but Bro just winced and looked down.

You held his hand in silence for a minute before speaking again. "But yeah. It is kind of weird. But...a good weird."

Bro snickered, "Who could take 'good' away from making out with my baby brother?"

"I ain't a baby."

Bro pushed his glasses down his nose so his eyes burrowed right into you. "You sure you ain't a baby?" He smiled as he lifted up your hand and gave it a kiss. You blushed and nodded.

He shrugged as he started to pull you away from the door. "I guess you're right. You made this world so it's up to you if this is weird here."

You smiled as you swung your hands and walked beside him. "I guess. In that case, this is probably cool. I was enjoying this place with John and Karkat...but it's fucking different with you." You eyed your hands and slowly noticed Bro doing the same. You were just walking down the street like this without a care in the world. No one had any right to stop you. You were happy with him.

"Bro…" he panted against your neck and you clamped your eyes shut. The heat was pooling in your lower body and your fingers were touching anything and everything they could reach on the boy.

You lifted up his shades so you could see the passion in his eyes but were met with something else. He was crying. His irises were clouded with fear and you put your hands on either side of his face.

"Dave? Dave, what's wrong?"

He continued to sob more audibly this time as you rubbed a small circle on his face with your thumb. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry…" you begged over and over before you opened your eyes and were met with silence.

You're eyes adjusted to darkness and you registered the faint breathing of the person beside you. You were cramped together on the hospital bed in your room. It was the middle of the day. You took a deep breath and wrapped an arm around Dave's sleeping body. He snuggled closer to you and you reached up to your own face to wipe away the tears.

You wondered if he was still so frightened of you. You wondered if you'd ever be able to do those kinds of intimate things with him in the first place. You slowly let out another breath as you kissed the back of his neck and held him against you. You didn't sleep.

Once you awoke, the first thing you did was give a sleepy kiss to the man behind you. His eyes were open and he was staring at the ceiling. "You're up?" You asked.

Bro snickered, "It's like 3 pm."

"Oh."

You smiled as you shifted around to bury your face into his neck. His smell was intoxicating. You felt him shiver as your nose brushed against his skin and you felt a hand under your chin. Bro lifted your face and gave you a light kiss. You breathed for a moment before he pulled you back in.

He was warm and gentle but the connection was stronger this time and you could tell he didn't want to let go. You felt his tongue run the length of your lower lip and you smiled into the kiss as you parted them.

You pulled away and he breathed into your face, hot and heavy. Your face was bright red. "Sleep well?" he asked and you nodded. "You know you snore?"

You snickered, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," he replied as he pulled you closer. "Fuckin loud, too. You didn't always do that." You felt him bury his face in your hair and leave a delicate kiss on the top of your forehead.

You stretched your arms out and sat up. His arm stayed on you until you swung your legs off the bed and stood up. He made a sound of protest and asked where you were going. "I'm fuckin hungry," you replied and he smiled. You wandered into the kitchen with Bro close behind. The fridge was empty except a pack of beer of an unopened gallon of apple juice.

"Man, what do you even eat?"

Bro nodded his head towards the trash can where you could see an overflowing pile of chinese takeout containers. You nodded in understanding. It reminded you of the empty pizza boxes stacked in your own place. Like father like son, you thought but shook the idea away. Bro wasn't your dad. He never had been.

And yet, cutting that familiar tie still felt wrong. No matter how many times you told him differently, he would always be your brother. He was your caretaker. He raised you, shitty as it may have been. That's something you can never just brush off so easily.

You were caught up in your own mind when you registered bro speaking to you. "Well?"

"Huh?"

He laughed. "What do you want me to order?"

You shrugged, "Whatever, dude."

"Aight." he pulled out his phone and began to place a call. You wanted to sit in the living room and watch movies like old times but it was empty. The whole place was completely void of furniture or anything that gave it any homey feelings.

You sat on the floor against the wall and watched Bro on the phone. Finally, he ended the call and walked towards you. He squatted down in front of you. "What's up?" he asked and you shrugged. He made a face and you shrugged again.

"I dunno man something just feels...off."

He sighed as he moved to sit beside you and wrung his hands together. He sat with his knees scrunched up, his arms dangling over them. "I get it, kid, I do. It's weird. I'm your bro and-"

"Nah," you interrupted, "that ain't what I mean. I mean...it's weird to like...pretend you aren't my bro? You are and like...that's okay? I mean...I don't care. It doesn't bother me." He grew silent for a minute and wouldn't look at you. "Does it bother you?"

"No... No...just...I don't know, Dave. It may not be weird now, but like how are you gonna feel when we-"

"Fuck?"

"I-yeah…"

You shrugged again and your lips pulled up into a smile. His face was growing red. "Is that what's on your mind, Bro?" He shook his head and started to stammer. "I'm telling you. I don't fucking care. At all." He continued to try and explain it away, to try to make it as less weird as he could possibly manage. When he wasn't looking, you leaned closer and kissed him on the cheek. He stopped and looked at you. "Quit beatin' yourself up. There's like 8 thousand reasons I shouldn't fucking be here right now but I am. You ever asked yourself why?"

"Every goddamned day," was his answer.

"Cuz I love you. You're my Bro...and we're moving past that shit. Right now."

Bro looked at you confused as you leaned closer and gave him another kiss on the cheek, then on the lips. You crawled closer to him until your lips were locked and your arms around his neck. Your chests were flushed together as you leaned against him, parting his knees with your body. His arms were confused at first. Wasn't he a sex-expert or something? What in the hell was he doing? Eventually they found their way to your back. His nailed scraped against your spine. One hand found the back of your neck.

You placed your hands on his shoulders as you pushed yourself away from him for a moment to catch your breath. You kept your eyes locked together as you breathed heavily in unison before your mouths crashed back together in desperation.