Dave woke up sometime later. For the first time in weeks he felt well rested. Karkat's hand was still in his, but Karkat's body was slumped over, no blood, he was asleep himself. Dave felt oddly comforted by it. The fact that Karkat wasn't in a more comfortable position suggested that Karkat fought sleep for Dave's sake; that is until he had no choice but to give in. It was nice to know the troll had stayed by his side, like a protector…like a knight. Dave couldn't help, but roll his eyes at himself. How fucking cheesy was that? That wasn't even ironic. No, he didn't think that, not really, it was something his still sleep-addled brain thought. Not his real thoughts, no way. Still, he couldn't help but notice how peaceful the troll looked in his sleep. Less agitated, less annoyed, almost content. He actually looked kind of cute…who thought that? Not Dave, no, he wasn't gay. No, not at all. It's not that he was against homosexuality, it just wasn't ever something he considered himself to be a part of. He had never had crushes on guys, it just wasn't something he experienced. Then again, he didn't really ever have a crush on anyone. He had kind of always been preoccupied by avoiding puppets and keeping out of sight of his bro.

Dave wanted to get up, but kind of felt bad about letting go of Karkat's hand. He had really appreciated the troll's compassion for him. He wanted to return the gesture, but at the same time just because he did it for Dave, that doesn't necessarily mean that Karkat needs it for himself. Hmm…what to do…

It ended up being a non-issue though, as Karkat woke up during Dave's deliberation. Yawning, he asked "Morning fuckass, finally get some sleep?"

Dave nodded, "Yeah, thanks."

Karkat just nodded at him. Dave started to get up, this whole thing was now starting to feel awkward. As he was making his way out of the room he spotted an odd looking garment on the floor. "What's that?"

"IT'S NOTHING GET OUT OF MY FUCKING ROOM!"
Dave could tell his volume increased due to embarrassment rather than anger, it held a squeak quality to it. He couldn't help but smirk and pick up the raiment. It was an adult sized onesie, in shape what Dave would guess was a crab. It was red and the feet were pointed like little crab legs. No, claws, he could guess that was due to practicality though. Why did Karkat have this? Before he could ask Karkat ripped the piece of clothing out of his hands. The trolls face was incredibly red. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"

"I don't think anything dude. Seriously, I've seen far worse, you sleep in animal pajamas, what the fuck do I care?" Truth was he had a set too. They were black and shaped like a raven…Jade had given it to him last year for his birthday. They were actually perpetually captchalogged, he just liked having them even if he was too embarrassed to wear them.

Karkat was a little taken aback; still, he wanted it the reason why it was there to be straightened out "We found them during our game, one each in the shape of out lusus. I just like having it around." Karkat's blush only got deeper.

"Dude, it's cool…" Damn it. After helping him sleep and this whole confession, or whatever the hell it was…now Dave felt like he owed Karkat some sort of confession of his own. For the first time in ever he uncaptchalogged his garment. "I have one too, Jade gave it to me, It's ironic now, considering Davespirte, so maybe I'll start wearing it." Truth was he had always wanted an excuse to wear it, now's his chance.

Partially for his own enjoyment, partially to reciprocate the comfort Karkat had bestowed upon him, Dave put his kigurumi on over his god tier pajamas. The black outfit and the hood which came to a point in order to mimic a beak, created a wonderful contrast on his pale skin and blonde hair. Karkat's blush grew a little deeper, Dave looked really cute, as well as a bit striking at the same time.

"Come one, put yours on." Dave said.

"What?"

"It's cool dude, c'mon I know you want to wear it and I don't want to be the only one in this kind of get-up."

Karkat wanted to yell at the hipster, but couldn't deny he had wanted to wear this for a while. He really loved his lusus, even though it was a pain sometimes. And while this may be a cheap substitute, when he wore it, it felt like his lusus was still with him. He could never wear it around the others though, they'd call him a wriggler. Dave though, Dave seemed different. Hell, he even put on his version of the garment. So it was okay, okay for this one time. Karkat put it on, completely flushed. It may have been okay, and Dave wasn't teasing him, but it was still embarrassing; dressing up like this.

"See, totally ironic."

"Yeah…whatever"

Between the blush and the cuteness of the outfit, Dave couldn't deny to himself that he thought Karkat was adorable. …In an ironic way of course. Always about the irony. The boys just sat together, silence draped across the room. Neither really knew where to go from there. It's not like they were openly even friends at this point. Right now they were straddling between begrudging tolerance and possible amicable terms. It's not like they were bros.

"Dave?"
"Yeah?"

"Why did you really have us put on these things?"

"Cause it's ironic…"

Karkat gave him a look that clearly read "stop fucking with me."

"I just like them and you really did me a solid by letting me sleep in your room with you. You clearly like these things too, so it seemed the least I could do was give you an excuse to wear it."

Karkat visibly relaxed, satisfied with the motive. Dave's only real lies involved "irony", if he wasn't saying that word or giving a long convoluted monologue, it could probably be assumed that he was speaking the truth.

So, the boys sat there in awkward silence until they heard shuffling in the vents. They quickly removed their kigurumis, Dave left Karkats room, but was back when he needed to sleep again. Karkat didn't mind. Truth was that morning (or whatever, how can you really judge time of day on a meteor?) was the first time he had really slept well in a while. Just like Dave, he was constantly on edge. A life-long fear of getting culled will do that to a person. Now, it seemed like nobody cared, but he couldn't shake that worry that had always been part of his existence. Dave got it though, and so the boys were able to take comfort and find camaraderie in their mutual anxieties. Guarding each other while they slept more out of paranoid habit than necessity. That night it became a regular sleeping arrangement for the two.

Notes:

I kind of thought that Dave would at first be subject to hetero-bias. Thinking he was heterosexual because it is seen as the default in society. After his talk with John in the comic, I viewed Dave as going through a kind of series of realizations. First that he is not heterosexual, then trying to define it, getting tired of labels, taking a good look at the way society views relationships, etc. It's just kind of a background thing, probably only a few small references throughout the story, but something I wanted to address nonetheless.