Chapter One:
Karkat's POV:
Karkat sighed as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. His deep brown eyes were half lidded and glossy with sleep deprivation. His body slumped against the marble counter in front of him, seemingly ready to collapse.
He normally didn't mind his late night shifts at the local grocery store; not many people came in and those who did were usually blissfully silent and did not tempt his anger. However, after (finally) completing his final week of college before his thankfully long winter break, he was exhausted. The work near the end had been grueling.
"This is ridiculous; who's ever heard of someone coming to a bakery at one o'clock in the morning?" he grumbled out tiredly. "I just wanna sleep." He crossed his arms on the counter and placed his chin on them. He wasn't talking to anyone since he usually covered for the lazy asses who didn't care enough to come in. He couldn't blame them; if it weren't for the fact that he needed to eat that week and couldn't risk getting caught off duty, he would be right along with them.
His eyes began to drift more and more closed by the second, and he delighted in the thought of perhaps finally getting enough sleep to actually get him through the day. He was very nearly there, just in that slightly uncomfortable and irritating area where you're partially aware that you're falling asleep and at the same time just want to get there.
But then fate had to come strolling in with a pair of sunglasses.
The store had an odd set up: by the front door were produce and most of the checkouts, plus the return center where a specific stoner usually sat, playing his music way too loud for comfort. A little farther in and there were a bunch of freezers along the walls with milk, butter, cheese, eggs, etc. lining the shelves. Then, at the very far back were a few glass walls and a door which led to the bakery/cafe sort of place. The place was a common corner store that helped out the community as best it could by having cheap prices and fairly good quality food.
Karkat liked working at the bakery part of the store because of the people that worked alongside him and the customers.
Excusing a few of the assholes that would come in for their daily muffins and pastries and such, the people that came in were fairly nice and polite to Karkat. They would say thanks and tip generously before going along on their way. At night there was hardly anybody coming in.
Karkat's coworkers consisted of Jane, the owner's daughter, Nepeta, who'd gotten the job just to be closer to Karkat, Terezi and Sollux who didn't give enough of a fuck to show up half of the time and then there was John, Jane's younger brother. He was a nice kid, a year or two younger than the others. He'd gotten the job like Jane had, using a family connection and mostly just hung around, eating whatever was available except for cake. God knows why he hates it, the shit's fucking delicious, but I guess that's just another reason why he's a weirdo.
"Yo." a smooth voice spoke. Karkat winced at the crack in the silence, but remained otherwise still. "Hey." it said again. A low growling noise escaped Karkat's throat, still not moving. "You sleepin' on the job, or what, 'cause I have to get a cake ASAP and I don't have time to be makin' it on my own." the voice prodded, revealing a Southern accent that was foreign and rare to find in the middle of Washington, especially during the winter.
Karkat lifted his head up to glare furiously at the Texan man who had robbed him of his sleep. He was met with platinum blonde hair, incredibly pale skin and a pair of sun glasses. The man's face was slender and chiseled. Karkat couldn't say much for the guy's body since most of it was covered in a thick winter coat and the rest was just skinny jeans.
"Ah, so he lives." Shades said sarcastically. "Now, about that cake."
Karkat grumbled angrily and stood up straight. "What do you want, asshat?" He asked rather loudly. A single blonde eyebrow was arched over the avatars.
"Asshat? Is that any way to treat a customer?" He lifted a single scolding finger. "Should I tell a manager on you, mister?" Suddenly he was talking to Karkat like he was a toddler who'd spilled his juice on someone's head.
Karkat gave him a strange look, but snarled soon afterwards. "Just choose a cake and tell me what the hell you want on It." he snapped, impatient. The guy on the other side of the counter withdrew his hand and put it in his pocket. He turned his attention to the large book with the different cake flavors, sizes, the kinds of frosting you could get, and more. There were some birthday cakes in there with those little candy action figure things as well as some of that edible printer picture stuff on them that featured everything from Transformers to The Princess Frog. Karkat took a deep breath and turned around to start gathering some frosting. The cakes were already pre-made, stored in a large industrial sized freezer. All you really needed was the frosting and decorations.
"Gimme a marble cake with vanilla frostin' on it and blue around the edges. I'll tell you what to put on it when that's done." Shades said flatly.
"Okay, just take a seat and wait." Karkat commanded, slipping on his jacket that was hung by the freezer. He always left it there since it made it a lot easier not to freeze your ass off while you searched for the right cake. It was just a normal freezer with normal temperatures, but it was huge. He grumbled unintelligibly to himself as he started searching for the chocolate and vanilla marble cakes. He heard some footsteps out by the counter and commons area and knew that Shades must've taken a seat like he'd been told to.
Dave's POV:
There were some soft grumbles and angry cuss words being mumbled the entire time Dave sat there. He chuckled to himself. Geez, this guy is so pissy. He thought to himself. Is this really the guy John had wanted me to meet? Dave thought back to earlier that week when John had gone on and on and on about this "Karkat" dude. Again.
"He keeps on wanting me to eat cake, but I just don't want to. One time, he actually tackled me and tried to force the cake into my mouth! He's insane, I swear!" John said as Dave nodded and made a noise of agreement, trying to concentrate on his video game. "And he's angry literally all the time. I don't think I've seen him smile once."
"How's he not been fired by now if that's the case?" Dave asked, grunting angrily as he lost yet another game. Stupid computers. It's not even fair, they know all of the moves while we've got to figure them all out for ourselves. He grumbled to himself as he shut off the console, deciding to actually talk to John for a while.
"Well, he's kind of the only one who actually works. Terezi and Sollux aren't there too often and since Jane is still in college she only works in the afternoons. Nepeta shows up whenever, hoping when she shows up that Karkat'll be working there, even though she doesn't bother to ask for his work schedule. And Karkat works nights and pretty much any other time that doesn't interfere with his classes. But, I think he's graduating this year." John went on. Dave furrowed his brows in confusion.
"So this guy's like, the angriest dude you know, right?" he asked. John nodded. "And the only reason he hasn't been fired is because he works hard." Dave recapped. John nodded again. "I'm kind of having a hard time believing that. I mean, if he's super rude to the customer's, wouldn't he just be fired? Can't they find somebody better?"
John shrugged.
"Alright, I've got to see this dude for myself."
And that landed him in the position he was now. He watched from a distance as Karkat stumbled out of the freezer, shivering. He set the cake on the counter and stripped himself of his jacket, hanging it back up on its hook by the metal door. He dug around through a large bin in the corner of the kitchen until he pulled out a few tubes of icing. "Alright, what do you want on it?" he barked after smoothing a large amount of frosting over the top of the cake. Dave allowed himself a small smirk as he stood back up and walked over to the counter.
"Hmm, let's see. . ." he rubbed his chin as though in thought. He kept the act up for as long as he could, pretending to think about it while actually scanning the snooty boy behind the counter. His arms were crossed across his chest as he tapped his foot impatiently. Large black bags sagged underneath his mahogany brown eyes that, despite relaying anger, twinkled with curiosity. His lips were curled up into a scowl that added a touch of severity to his appearance, but only a little. His hair was an unkempt mess that seemed to defy the laws of gravity, sticking up every which way and getting in his face. Dave tried to keep his thoughts straight, but he could not resist the gay thoughts because, Oh shit, he's hot.
Dave cursed John in the back of his mind for not mentioning that Karkat was attractive, this was so unfair. Dammit, dammit, dammit! Why'd he have to go and be cute, goddamn, this is so not cool, oh shit, was I staring? What if he noticed? No, he couldn't have, your shades dipshit. Oh god, he's saying something.
Dave's internal panic was luckily paused in its tracks by a gruff voice clearing its throat. Dave's head snapped up to him. "So are you going to ask for something on it, or am I just going to be sending you packing with a blank cake?" He asked, sarcasm permanent in his voice. I wonder if that's how he always sounds or if he's actually sarcastic all of the time. Dave found himself pondering.
Dave remained silent, causing Karkat to raise an eyebrow at him. "Hello? You alive in there? I asked you if you actually want something on the fucking cake." He waved a hand in front of Dave's shades, emphasizing that he was tired of waiting.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Just put, "To the Derp-iest Nic Cage Fan in the World" in dark blue frostin'." Dave said, hoping he didn't lose too much of his cool there. Karkat snorted a bit of laughter as he grabbed the white tube of frosting.
"" The Derp-iest Nic Cage Fan?" If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were talking about one of my coworker's younger brother, John. Man that kid has a problem." Karkat chuckled, shaking his head as he skillfully scrawled the words out onto the cake, smiling to himself as he did so. "He hates cake though, so it must be for someone else." He mumbled to himself. Dave smirked.
"No, it's for him." Karkat looked up at him, surprised. "John's like, my best bro. This is his birthday cake."
"Uh, but isn't his birthday in April?" Karkat asked, finishing up with the letterings. He placed a seal of sorts onto the frosting tubes and tossed them back into the plastic bucket behind him. (Dirty, dirty minds, get your brains out of the gutter, not like that!) Dave smirked and shook his head. "Course it is. But it's like this running joke that we have. I get him a cake five months before his birthday and another one five months after; he does the same for me." He answered. It wasn't a complete lie; it used to be a thing that they did. But that had been years ago. They'd long since stopped doing it after realizing that cakes cost a lot of money, money they needed to buy other things like internet or actual, healthy food.
Karkat gave him a strange look, like he was thinking hard. "Hold on a goddamn minute, you're him, aren't you? You're that fucking Strider guy that John blabs about all the time. You're him, aren't you?" Karkat asked while not really asking. His voice was accusing, like he knew that the answer was yes already.
Karkat's POV:
Goddammit. John could've at least mentioned that he was hot. Karkat thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him.
Dave smirked again and said, "Ah, so the little dweeb talks about me? I feel so honored." He held his hand out to Karkat. "Dave Strider, at your service."
Karkat cautiously took his hand and shook it.
"Karkat Vantas." Was his reply.
"I know."
Karkat blinked. He felt an uncomfortable rush of cool air hit his hand where Dave had been holding it once they let go. His hands had been cold to begin with; freezers weren't exactly a tropical paradise and due to it being cold outside the owners kept the thermostat down more than the workers would prefer, but it was only to save some money. Dave's hand had been warm though, skin nice and smooth. He brushed off that weird though quickly though and turned around to go digging in the back for one of those case things they used to put over the cake so it wouldn't get ruined or anything.
"And just how the hell would you know that?" he asked over his shoulder, rummaging around and making quite a bit of noise.
"I'm not the only one John talks about." Dave mused. "The kid could go on and on about you and he has already." He didn't know why, but knowing that this stranger already knew a few things about him through a certain high schooler sort of freaked him out.
Karkat stood up straight after finding the right sized case and put the cake in. "Alright, that'll be $12.58." Karkat spoke, dropping the topic before it got out of hand. He just wanted this Strider guy out of his hair and out of his life.
Dave paid and grabbed the cake, ready to walk out before he turned around. "It was really nice meeting you, Karkat." He said smoothly before disappearing out of the store faster than humanly possible, leaving a puzzled and intrigued Karkat behind.