Work Text:
Karkat groaned disdainfully as he checked the clock on his phone. It was nearly midnight and he still had a mountain of work to do for college. He was using all of his willpower to try and keep himself from falling asleep, but he was completely exhausted. Karkat flipped through one of his huge textbooks, but found himself nodding off again before he realized it. He jerked himself awake again and sighed deeply. He kept at his work for about a half hour until he had almost given in to sleep. Karkat was startled awake by the sound of a knock on his door. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep for a moment, his face plastered to his biology book.
“Karkles? Are you still alive in there?” asked his roommate through the door.
“What do you want, Strider?” groaned Karkat in fatigue and annoyance.
Dave entered Karkat's room carrying a mug of hot chocolate for him. He knew how hard his roommate had been working all evening to get his work done.
“Geez, Karkles, you're almost never up this late. Hell, you're usually out like a light by nine.” said Dave, hiding the slight concern in his voice.
“Yeah, well at least I'm being productive instead of partying all night like some people I know.” retorted Karkat, not looking up from his work. Dave rolled his eyes and walked over to Karkat's desk.
“Whatever, bro. You've been at this for a long time.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” grumbled Karkat, glaring at Dave. “Unlike you, I actually give two shits about getting good grades in my goddamn classes. Now, if you don't fucking mind, I'd like to get back to that.”. Dave would be lying if he said he wasn't a little worried about his best bro. He had been staying up later and later by the day, and he'd been losing a lot of sleep.
“(sigh) Alright, bro.” said Dave, wrapping an arm around Karkat's shoulders. Karkat flinched a bit at his touch, as if he had been falling asleep again. “Just try to get some sleep, 'kay?” asked Dave, placing the mug on Karkat's desk and walking back towards the door. “You get even more bitchy than usual when you're tired.” Dave remarked before he shut the door.
Karkat rolled his eyes and went back to his work. “Sometimes I question why I'm friends with that smug bastard.” he thought. He glanced over at the cup of hot chocolate sitting on his desk. He picked it up and took a sip. Karkat's eyes widened as a wave of warmth washed over him. He smiled weakly.
“Although, he does know me well.”. Karkat's mind wandered back to his roommate. Even though Dave could be an annoying jackass sometimes, he had always been good friend to Karkat. He admired Dave's confidence, and how he never seemed to worry about anything. He liked the calm tone of his voice, even though half the stuff he said was utter bullshit. Then there was the teasing. It annoyed Karkat to all hell, but part of him sort of liked the attention. He would never tell Dave, but Karkat kind of liked the way Dave would scruffle his hair when he teased him. He found it... comforting in a way? Before he knew it, Karkat found himself with a huge dorky smile on his face, and a light red blush on his cheeks. He snapped himself back into reality and forced the thoughts out of his head.
“Oh no. No no no no no. There is no way in hell you will ever like Strider! You guys are strictly platonic!.... he is kinda cute though.” thought Karkat, his face getting a few shades redder.
“FUCK!! HELL. FUCKING. NO. Just forget about it and get back to your work, dumbass.” Karkat shouted in his head. A knot formed in his stomach when he remembered all of the schoolwork he had to do. He desperately wanted to sleep, but he couldn't let himself fall behind. Karkat rubbed his eyes and went back to work.
Later that night, Dave awoke to the sound of keyboard clicks and halfhearted cursing. He rolled over in his bed and looked at the clock. It read 3:25 am. “Oh for god's sake.” sighed Dave as he got out of bed. He marched across the hall and stopped at Karkat's door. He knocked a few times.
“Karks? You're still awake?”. There was no reply. “Karkat, I know you're awake in there. I heard you half-assed cursing all the way down the hall.” said Dave. Dave heard Karkat grumble something like, “Fuck off, fuckass.”, but his words were sleepy and slurred together. Dave opened the door and sure enough, there was Karkat, still awake and tapping away at his keyboard. He walked over to Karkat and waved a hand in front of his face.
“Yo, Karkat. Why the fuck are you still up?” asked Dave.
“S-shut up...Terezi.” said Karkat groggily.
“Um, try again Vantas.”. “Shit, I mean... Gam..er...Aradia...” Karkat trailed off.
“Dude. It's Dave.” he said.
“Oh...right.” sighed Karkat, his eyes still glued to his laptop.
“Karks, you need to get some sleep.” said Dave bluntly.
“Shut the f-frick up Strider, I'm fine. Y-you bugged me about this like five minutes ago.” Karkat grumbled.
“No, that was five hours ago. It's three in the fucking morning.” said Dave exasperatedly, pointing to the clock on Karkat's laptop.
Karkat squinted a bit. “...huh...well I'll be damned.”. That was it. Dave had heard enough. That adorable little dude was going to get some sleep if it was the last thing he did. Dave spun Karkat's chair so he was facing him, and he knelt down so that they were at eye level. Dave felt a pang of sadness when he made eye contact with his friend. Karkat's eyes were bloodshot, and the bags under his eyes were even darker than usual. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. Okay, he was definitely worried now.
“Karkat. Listen to me. For your standards, you've been staying up ridiculously late lately. Now are you going to go to bed, or am I going to have to drag you there?” asked Dave, although it sounded more like a declaration than a question.
“D-Dave, unlike you, I actually have r-responsibilities to a-attend to, for starters, a-and I don't want to fail my motherfucking classes, now stop trying to be Kanaya, and leave me the fuck alone!” Karkat retorted angrily.
Dave frowned. “Alright Vantas, you asked for it.”. Dave quickly stood up and picked Karkat up, hoisting him over his shoulder.
“WHAT THE FUCK STRIDER?! PUT ME DOWN!!” shouted Karkat.
“Dude, no. I'm doing this for your own good” said Dave flatly.
“(growl) AS IF YOU WOULD KNOW WHAT MY OWN GOOD IS!”. Karkat tried to free himself from Dave's grasp, but to no avail. Dave almost effortlessly threw Karkat onto the bed. Before Karkat could even try to get up again, Dave had crawled into bed with him and wrapped an arm around him, restraining him from getting up. Karkat struggled and kicked, but Dave didn't loosen his grip.
“DAVE, Y-YOU...y-you...d-don't understand...” Karkat trailed off. He didn't have the energy to fight anymore. He stopped struggling, tears stinging his eyes.
“Shit.” A stab of guilt hit Dave when he heard Karkat choking up. Dave let go of Karkat and sat up. He expected him to shoot out of the bed as soon as he let go, but Karkat didn't move.
“Fuck, Vantas.” muttered Dave. He heard nothing but a few shaky breaths from Karkat, who was clearly trying to keep himself from crying. Dave rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what else to say.
“Karks, look at me.” said Dave. Karkat didn't move.
“Dude...(sigh)...please. Please look at me.”. Now he stirred a bit. “Yeah yeah, I said please, don't flip your shit. Y-you're right. I don't understand. But I want to understand. I'm pretty much sacrificing my cool here, but bro, can you..please tell me what's wrong?” Dave asked, not bothering to hide the concern in his voice or keep a stoic face anymore. There was moment of silence. Finally, Karkat shakily sat up and turned to face Dave. Karkat's cheeks were stained with tears.
“...Karkat...”. All of a sudden, Karkat threw his arms around Dave, hugging him tightly and gripping the back of his shirt. Dave let out a small gasp. He hugged Karkat back, rubbing his back in efforts to comfort him.
“..Shoosh...it's okay Karks, Strider is here...shooosh...” said Dave calmly. He let his friend cry over his shoulder until he finally calmed down.
Karkat slowly loosened his grip on Dave. They let go of each other and Karkat looked away sadly. Dave gently brushed a bit of Karkat's hair away from his eyes. Karkat looked up at him, blushing slightly. “...so, are you ready to tell me what's wrong?” asked Dave.
“...S-Strider... (sigh). Y-yeah.” muttered Karkat. “It's kind of about my parents. See, I had a really hard time keeping up with work in high school. I had a lot of trouble getting my assignments in on time, and my parents were getting really fed up about it. They kept reminding me how much money they were putting in to my education, and didn't want me wasting it on my shitty grades.”.To Karkat's surprise, Dave was listening intently to his story. He continued. “By some miracle I graduated high school. Before I came to college, they threatened that if I fell behind again...they would cut me off.” Karkat explained.
“Fucking. Jerks.” said Dave sternly.
“I know! I've been trying so hard to keep up, but do you have any idea how stressful it is?! Hell, if that happens, then where the fuck will I go after college?! I won't have enough money for my own place, or not much of anything for that matter! ...besides...I really don't want to let anyone down. But the worst part is, no one fucking cares.” Karkat said sadly, looking away and gripping his arms a bit.
“...I do.” said Dave.
Karkat looked up at him in surprise. “W-what?” stuttered Karkat. Dave smiled warmly. “Karkat, I care. I do care that you're stressed beyond belief. I do care that you've been losing sleep. I may not act like it, but...” Dave took Karkats hands, threading his fingers through his. Karkat blushed, his heartbeat quickening. “...I care about you. And if that shit with your parents cutting you off ever happens, you can stick with me.” Dave finished with a smile.
“Holy shit.” thought Karkat. He was utterly speechless. Karkat had no idea that Dave cared about him this much, let alone cared at all.
“Dave...thank you. Y-you...you have no idea how much this means to me.” said Karkat, managing a weak smile.
“Heh, there's that smile. Haven't seen it in a long time.” said Dave teasingly, scruffling his hair. Karkat's blush deepened.
“Dammit, Strider! Stop being so fucking cute! Remember Karkat, strictly platonic, strictly platonic, strictly....you know what? Screw it. I love this bastard.” he thought. Karkat reached up and hesitantly removed Dave's shades, revealing his bright red orbs.
“K-Karkat, what the fuck?” Dave questioned. Now Karkat could clearly see Dave blushing with a surprised look in his eyes. “Alright, Vantas, no backing out now.”. He carefully set Dave's shades aside. By this point, Karkat was surprised that Dave didn't snatch his shades back right away. There was a short minute of silence, Karkat's own heart beating loudly in his ears. Before Dave could react, Karkat threw his arms around Dave's neck, pressing his lips against his.
Dave's eyes widened when Karkat kissed him. “Holy. Fucking. Shit. The butterflies in my stomach are having a goddamned rave. This adorable little ball of anger I've been crushing on. Kissed. Me. First.” thought Dave, his heart racing. Karkat pulled away, blushing profusely and covering his face with his hands in embarrassment.
“Fuuuuuuuuck! Why the fuck did I do that?! S-Strider, I-I...”Karkat trailed off. It took Dave a moment to snap back into reality. He chuckled a bit at how cute Karkat was when he was flustered. Dave carefully moved Karkat's hands away from his face and planted a kiss on his forehead.
“Love you too, Kitkat.” said Dave with a loving smile. Karkat tried (and failed) to hide his blush. He let out a long sigh.
“...Y-yeah. I-I love you. There, I admit it. Happy?”. “Heh heh. Very.” said Dave, cupping Karkat's face in his hands and leaning in for another kiss. He was much more relaxed this time, easing into the kiss and tangling his fingers in Karkat's messy black hair. Dave wished that that perfect moment could last forever. Slowly, they pulled away from the kiss, Karkat moving down and planting gentle kisses and nibbles along Dave's neck. Dave blushed deeply and let out a small gasp. Karkat had found his weak spot. He hesitantly pushed him away, giving him a smug smile.
“Easy there, Vantas. Someone still needs to get some sleep.”. Karkat looked slightly disappointed, but then let out a long yawn and nodded.
“Y-yeah, you're probably right.” said Karkat with a sleepy smile. With that, Karkat finally laid down and let himself relax. It wasn't until then that Dave realized how tired he was too. He reached for his shades and was about to get out of bed, but stopped when he felt Karkat tugging at the back of his shirt.
“No, stay.” he mumbled groggily.
Dave chuckled a bit and laid back down next to Karkat. “Heh, alright.” said Dave, wrapping an arm around him. Karkat did the same, nuzzling into Dave's chest. “'Night, Karks. I love you.” he whispered before they finally drifted off to sleep.