Chapter Text
==> Dave: Wear the tights. Be the cutie.
You don't need to tell you twice.
Well, technically they're actually stockings, but whatever. You pull on the deep red thigh highs, sliding them up your leg and stopping just about halfway up your thigh. You admire yourself in the mirror; tights, briefs and your long sleeve broken record shirt. Oh yeah, you look cute as fuck. You turn around and check out your rear, somehow infinitely cuter now that it's flanked by your new thigh highs. So ironic. Irony is of course your only motivator here.
Yep, strictly irony.
You spend a few more minutes basking in the irony, striking a few different poses and maybe taking a selfie or two before you decide it's time to put your jeans on and get some breakfast. You pull on the nearest pair of black skinny jeans and head out into the kitchen. Karkat's sitting at the table, munching on some cereal, clad in his usual turtleneck with a sour expression on his face. He raises his head to regard you with casual enmity as you stroll across to the fridge.
"Morning, asshole," he greets you.
"Morning, shitlord."
You open the fridge and grab a small carton of apple juice, turning and kicking the door shut with your heel as you rip the straw out of its plastic prison and pop it into the top of the container. Karkat watches you with indifference until he looks down and glances back up at you with a confused look.
"The fuck are those?" he asks, nodding downwards. For a nanosecond you freak and wonder if you actually did put those jeans on before you walked out. You quickly regain your calm because sweet mother of mercy what the fuck kind of idiot are you, you put them on like, less than a minute ago. The break in composure goes unnoticed by Vantas; all he sees is the usual Strider cool. Unbreakable. Unstoppable. Invincible.
You resist the urge to burst into a Bon Jovi song and glance down at your feet, still clad in the deep red of your stockings which you did forget to put socks on over. Damn. You look back up at him and offer a mockingly apologetic reply.
"Socks?" you say slowly.
Karkat's face falls into a familiar hate-filled glare. "Fuck off, Strider. I know they're socks, for fuck's sake."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Because they're bright fucking red!"
"Surprising? I wear a lot of red."
"You never wear red socks."
"Correction: you've never seen me wear red socks."
"Because you don't wear them."
"Why is this a problem?"
Karkat stops and looks alarmed for a minute, as though he just blabbed when he shouldn't have. He looks back at his cereal and starts poking it with his spoon.
"Nevermind."
"Hey, c'mon Vantas, what's up?"
"I said nevermind."
"And I said what's up. So what's the deal?"
"It's nothing," he glares at you. "I don't like change, is all."
"Seriously?" you give him an incredulous look. "How the hell did you end up playing the game then?"
"Well I didn't exactly get a fucking choice in the end, did I? Besides, I can handle big changes with time, but I don't like small changes."
"What?"
"Small things, you idiot. Like what time the bus arrives, what temperature I shower at, what colour fucking socks you wear. Little things."
You peer at him in silence for a while.
"Karkat, are you serious?"
"Shut the fuck up, it just makes me a little uncomfortable okay? Small things staying the same make it easier to deal with big changes. I guess? I don't know, I'm not a fucking psychologist!"
"Maybe I should call Rose then."
"NO! You don't need to do anything, fuckass, just leave it alone."
"Alright then, well I'll try not to make any little changes around the place."
He looks at you, almost fondly for a moment, and then goes back to his cereal. "Thanks, Dave."
You give him a quick smile. "No problem, Karkles."
"I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT!" he swings an arm at you but you're already up and at your bedroom door.
"But that would be an unnecessary small change, Karkles. Wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable, would we?"
You duck into your room and close the door behind you moments before Karkat's spoon slams into the wood where your head just was.
***
Hell yes.
Still looking cute as hell. You stretch out on your bed, sticking your legs up in the air and looking up and down at the shapely fabric. You love these stockings. Rolling over, you check the clock - 11:00pm. Vantas is probably in bed, so you allow yourself the luxury of improving your current outfit a little bit. You take off your shirt and throw it on the floor, walking over to your closet and opening the sliding door.
You open a drawer and move an old record shirt out of the way, revealing your bra and panties. The scarlet material matches your stockings perfectly, as they should considering you bought them as part of a set. Or rather, had Rose buy them for you. You glance at the panties and then look down at your briefs, considering putting them on, but then decide against it, putting them back in the drawer under the old shirt. You're not sure if you want to go that far just yet.
The bra, however, is perfectly fair game. You slip it on over your arms, and reach around behind you to do up the clasp. After some fiddling, you get it clipped in. You pull the cups down to cover your nipples and grab some rolled up underwear to stuff into the empty space. You make a few adjustments here and there, then slide the closet door closed and look at yourself in the mirror. You strike a stereotypical anime girl pose; legs together, hands clasped behind your back, chest pushed out, head turned away with an embarrassed look.
Fuck yeah, you almost make yourself blush with how adorable you are. Your heart skips a beat as a knock comes from your bedroom door.
"Dave?" you hear Karkat call from the other side. "You awake?"
"Yeah!" you blurt out just a little too quickly, and it's all you can do to leap into bed and throw a hoodie on, pulling the sheets up to cover your lower half before Karkat opens the door and waltzes in.
"I can't get to sleep," he mumbles, rubbing his eye with one hand. "Do you wanna watch a movie or something?"
"Um..." you can't even think about anything besides hoping to god that the sheet is covering enough of you. "Sure! What do you wanna watch?"
"I don't know, I was thinking you could choose since I've chosen the last three we've watched together," he yawns.
You fumble with the sheet and it rides up slightly, exposing more of your calf than you'd like. Karkat looks down and cocks his head.
"Those are some high socks," he says. "You're wearing them to bed?"
"Yeah, they're uh... they're warm."
"Why don't you just use a blanket instead of one sheet?"
"I really like these socks."
He peers at you suspiciously. "You can't have had them for long; if you love them so much surely I would have seen you wearing them more often."
Your brain starts working in overdrive trying to think of something to say. "Uh... well..."
"Are you hiding something, Dave?" Karkat asks.
"No."
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not."
"What's under the sheet, Dave?"
"Nothing."
"Dave..." he sighs and starts making his way towards you. "Come on, show me."
"NO!" you recoil and tuck your legs further up under the sheet. Karkat grabs the sheet and rips it out from under you, exposing your lower half for all to see. Well, all two of you at least.
Karkat gazes at your scantily clad legs a little longer than it would take for the shock to sink in, then turns away with red cheeks. "Fuck. Sorry."
"It's okay," you say after a while.
"Fucking shit I'm so sorry I didn't know you were..." he trails off and you finish for him.
"A cross-dresser?"
He almost turns back to face you but then remembers that you are still very much uncovered and quickly snaps his head back to stare at the floor.
"Yeah," he says.
A few moments of silence pass before either one of you say anything. You don't bother to cover back up; you feel strangely... liberated? You really have no idea, but either way you're not in any great hurry to get any more decent than you are now.
"So," you say. "Still up for that movie?"
"I'm... just gonna go."
Karkat walks out of your room and closes the door behind him. You can't tell if he was sad or angry or upset, or just confused. You curl up in your sheets and think about what to do.
***
turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]
TG: hey
TG: look im sorry you found out like that okay
TG: i mean it was bound to happen eventually
TG: i guess i just envisaged me being more... clothed when i told you
CG: AND WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING TO TELL ME?
TG: i dont know man
TG: when i felt ready
TG: im sorry okay
CG: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SORRY.
CG: I'M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE SORRY.
CG: I SHOULDN'T HAVE TRIED TO PUSH YOU WHEN YOU WERE TRYING TO HIDE IT.
TG: dont worry about it man im cool with it now
TG: i mean at the time yeah kind of a dick move
TG: but its cool
TG: thats just you being you
CG: WELL, I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW I'M OKAY WITH IT.
CG: I DIDN'T MEAN TO GIVE YOU THE IMPRESSION I WASN'T WHEN I WALKED AWAY LIKE I DID.
CG: SO, YEAH. IT'S OKAY. I'M ALRIGHT WITH IT.
TG: thanks man
CG: I'D BE A BIT OF A HYPOCRITE IF I WASN'T.
TG: wait what
CG: I MEAN
CG: FUCK
CG: NO
CG: AS IN LIKE
CG: NEVERMIND
TG: karkat
CG: OH FUCK IT.
CG: AS LONG AS WE'RE HAVING STARTLING REVELATIONS TODAY.
CG: YEAH, I DO IT TOO.
TG: really?
CG: YEAH.
TG: wow
TG: for real?
CG: YES, STRIDER. FOR REAL.
CG: I DO THE CROSS-DRESSING THING TOO.
TG: well shit
TG: thats
TG: cool i guess?
TG: i mean of course im totally supportive and all
TG: obviously
TG: i just had no idea you were into that
TG: dont trolls hate fashion anyway though so how do you distinguish between girl clothes and guy clothes?
CG: WELL, BRAS ARE AN OBVIOUS DIFFERENCE.
CG: BUT BESIDES THAT, THERE ISN'T REALLY ANY STRICTLY GENDERED CLOTHING, NO.
CG: BUT KANAYA ALWAYS LOVED FASHION AND CLOTHES, AND SHE MADE A LOT OF... FEMININE LOOKING STUFF.
CG: AND I GUESS I ALWAYS KIND OF LIKED IT.
CG: I THOUGHT IT WAS...
CG: PRETTY.
CG: I GUESS
TG: yeah man i know what you mean
TG: girls clothes are way cooler
TG: but anyway
TG: shit well this is still a bit surprising honestly
CG: YEAH. FUCKING DITTO.
CG: THIS IS SO WEIRD TO TALK ABOUT.
TG: well maybe we could stop talking about it
CG: YEAH.
TG: on one condition
CG: OH FUCK ME.
TG: you show me what youve got
CG: WHAT
TG: you wanted to watch a movie right?
TG: so lets get all cute and shit and watch a movie
TG: might help to normalise it
TG: you know
TG: shock therapy
TG: i think thats what that means anyway
CG: FUCK NO.
TG: aw come on karkles i bet youd look positively adorable in a pair of tights
CG: FUCK OFF STRIDER
TG: please???
TG: i dont want this to be a weird thing between us
TG: so lets just fucking do this and make it not weird
TG: by embracing it ironically
TG: strider style
CG: NO.
TG: come ooooooooooon
CG: NO.
TG: come oooooooooooooooooooooooooooon
CG: NO.
TG: ill make popcorn?
CG: OH MY FUCK, FINE.
CG: JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
CG: JUST...
CG: LET ME GET DRESSED.
TG: no probs ill get the movie set up
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]
***
==> Dave: Wait for Karkat.
Holy shit. Wow. You're actually pretty fucking nervous about this.
What the hell were you thinking? You just asked your best bro to watch a movie with you while you're both cross-dressing. What the fuck is wrong with you? This whole situation is just beyond weird. Karkat's probably trying to find somewhere else to live by now. He's probably calling John or something, asking if he's got a spare room where he can crash for a while. Goddamnit Strider, calm the fuck down. You're losing your cool - oh fuck what are you saying you lost your cool the moment Karkat walked in on you. Now you're sitting here on the couch in your broken record shirt, briefs and a pair of fucking bright red stockings like a fucking moron.
The door to Karkat's room opens and he pokes his head around the corner.
"Promise you won't laugh," he says.
"I promise, dude, don't worry about it," you reply, struggling to keep your voice intact.
A moment passes and Karkat Vantas steps out of his room, clad in his usual oversized turtleneck that covers his groin, stopping just short of his sheer stockings covered in grey hearts.
Holy fucking wow. He...
... actually looks kinda hot.
Whoa what you mean where the fuck did that come from you're straight you swear.
You realise you've been staring at him for way longer than you should be, so you glance up from his legs. His right arm is crossed over his chest, hugging his left arm tightly, and on his face is perhaps the most embarrassed look you've ever seen. His cheeks are flared bright red, and his eyes are cast off to the side, refusing to look at you.
"Stop staring, asswipe," he says in a voice that's almost fragile.
Right, shit, you're staring again. Stop that.
"Sorry," you say, tearing your eyes away from him and looking at the TV.
You wait patiently as he walks over and sits on the couch and curls up into a little ball, hugging his legs and peeking out over the top of his knees. He looks positively adorable and holy shit focus Strider just turn the goddamn movie on.
"Hope you like romcoms," you say sarcastically and he turns his head to look at your for a minute, and you swear you catch him glance down at your legs before turning back to face the TV.
***
Oh my god why did you have to pick a fucking romcom.
You guess you thought it would make Karkat feel a bit more comfortable since he loves that shit - which seems to be working for the most part, though he hasn't said anything since it started, which is a bit unusual - but your choice has had the unfortunate side effect of leaving you bored shitless. You rest your head on your fist, right leg crossed over your left, thinking about how stupid the characters are and how cliche this whole thing is. You don't even care about the plot, you stopped giving a shit about what was actually happening half an hour ago.
The movie must be coming to an end though because the guy is currently running through the city with a worried look on his face, being an absolute idiot while sappy music plays in the background, so you figure this must be the stereotypical "I realise what I've done now I have to chase her down and win her back" ending. Karkat, meanwhile, is staring wide-eyed at the screen, and you wonder how the fuck he can be so interested in this stupid shit. You're pretty sure he's already seen this movie before anyway, so it's not like the ending should be a surprise to him.
About twenty minutes and a lot of passionate smooching in the rain later, the credits start to roll and you stretch, giving out a satisfied groan. You glance over at Karkat and he seems to look a little sad; he's still curled up into his little ball but his eyes are droopy and downcast. Normally you'd just assume he's sad because of the movie, but this one had a happy ending (you think) and besides, he's fidgeting quite a bit. He glances over at you then hurriedly turns back when he realises you're watching and hugs his legs closer in.
"You okay bro?" you ask. "It wasn't that sad. In fact, I'm not sure it was sad at all in the end."
His eyes flicker to one side, away from you, and he turns his head slightly.
"It's nothing," he says. You sigh.
"You are such a shit liar. What's up?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit."
"Fuck off!"
"Hey, clearly something's wrong okay? Whenever you say 'it's nothing' it's always something. Come on, spill it."
"No."
You sigh again.
"Fine, just sit there and fidget all night then," you move to stand up.
"Wait!" he cries, abandoning his curled up position and nearly falling off the couch as he throws down his hands on the space between you and props himself up on all fours.
You lean back in your seat, all thoughts of going to bed gone. Karkat looks at you in a way he's never looked at you before. His face looks sad but his eyes are filled with... something else. Is he moving closer to you?
He stares into your eyes as his head moves in closer, then suddenly your lips meet his and holy shit what the fuck you're kissing Karkat.
And... you kind of like it?
You throw caution to the wind and decide to think about your sexuality another night, instead wrapping your arms around him and pulling him closer. He crawls forward and swings his right leg over you, and then he's sitting on your lap and holy fuck he's straddling you. The kiss breaks off and he looks down at you, cheeks aflame once again. You know what that look in his eye was now.
Desire.
His hips suddenly seem to have a mind of their own and start rocking back and forth, rubbing his crotch up against yours. That's odd, it feels kind of... flat? You feel your pants getting tighter as your member begins to stiffen, and you can't bring yourself to break away from his gaze. Right now he's the only person in the world that you care about. You run your hands up his back and it sends a shiver down his spine, and you can feel every vibration and goddamn does it feel good. His sweater rides up and you can't resist a glance down to see what he's been hiding underneath - a pair of black and grey striped panties.
Well holy shit. Vantas has got more balls than you it seems. Except not entirely because yep, that surface is totally flat. You put it down to weird troll biology and look back up at him; he's even more embarrassed than before now. You lift the sweater up further and reveal his bare chest - no bra, apparently - and start kissing the grey skin. You hear him gasp and his hips continue to rock back and forth, faster now, and you can't help but buck your hips in reply. A small moan escapes his lips and goddamn is that hot. Your hand snakes downwards and you're about to cop a feel of his behind when he suddenly grows tense and claps his hands on your shoulders, pushing you back.
"Stop," he says firmly.
"Huh?" you ask, confused.
"I - I just want to stop," he repeats, climbing off you and standing up in front of the TV.
You sit there for a moment, bewildered. "Okay," you say eventually.
A moment passes and he hugs himself, keeping his legs closed tightly together.
"I'm sorry, Dave," he says eventually, and starts to walk about to his room. He reaches the door and opens it before turning to look back at you.
And then he walks inside and closes the door behind him and leaves you sitting on the couch wondering what the fuck just happened.