1. Strawberry Fanta
It’s his day off. Dave Strider usually always knows what to do on his day off, for the past couple of years he would just show up at his best friend Karkat’s place. But for the entire last month he hasn’t even seen Karkat at work let alone gotten a text or anything. He kept asking around at work too. Nepeta was the one who introduced them but she didn’t know where he was either. Kanaya was another one of their friends who happened to work at the hospital. Though she seemed to be strangely avoiding Dave too.
Though it was easy for her to do that. She worked up on one of the floors, Dave worked down in the ER cleaning rooms.
Dave sighs, sitting upside-down on his couch in his apartment. He pushes himself to sit up. Deciding enough is enough. He’s just going to see Karkat at his house right now. He gets up and starts packing up his usual bag. Nothing like the “usual bag” of three years ago. Instead of monster hunting gear now he would just carry around a laptop, the chargers to his phone and laptop, his headphones, and a couple of snacks. Usually some kind of doritos and a couple bottles of apple juice.
Hefting his bag over his shoulder he pulls out his phone and texts Rose, a habit he never got out of, making sure someone knows where he’s going at all times. He tells her he’s heading to Karkat’s place. She just sends him ’Alright. Be safe.’ back. Then he’s out the door.
Taking a bus and arriving at Karkat’s about twenty minutes later, he knocks on the door a few times in a row and tries not to let his mind race about what could have happened to him. Why would he just disappear for a month like that? Not answering any of Dave’s messages. Is…there a chance that… maybe Dave should have brought his old hunting gear. He still has it, tucked away somewhere in a closet at his apartment. He does his best not to let his anxieties show as he waits for the door to be answered.
---
Karkat hasn't been sleeping well, a fact that's apparent when knocking on his front door, a good two rooms away, is enough to stir him from a restless sleep. He lays in bed for a good minute staring at the ceiling until there's a second, impatient string of knocks.
"Fine, fine. Fucking Jehovah's Witness, Girl Scouts, don't care who you are-" He leaves his bed in a state of disarray, hands dragging down his face.
He makes it to the door (but not before nearly tripping over his couch). "Fuck- Kanaya, it's midday, weren't you the one that said I should-" It's not Kanaya at his door, it's Dave. His 'best friend', or so the blond would say. "Oh."
He should've expected Strider would do something like this after he'd basically ghosted him, showing up at his house at what, ten in the morning? "...Dave, hey."
He eyes the bag resting against the other's hip, and then glances out at the street past him. "You woke me up." It's a matter of fact, emphasized by his deep set frown and the worsening bags under his eyes. "What do you need? You could've sent a text."
It's a lie, Karkat's not been checking his texts. He is physically incapable of doing so, actually. He knows Dave's left him a whole backlog of shitty metaphors and he is kind of thankful he’s unable to catch up on all that.
"Whatever it is- couldn't it have waited until, I don't know, a more reasonable time?" He stands strangely far from the door, feet pointedly resting right before the beam of sunlight leaking in. "You know, any time that isn't when I'm trying to sleep?" But it's not like Dave would know that he's shifted his scheduling around, Karkat never told him.
---
Relief fills Dave once he sees Karkat opening the door. He's safe. He shrugs his shoulder with the strap of his bag over it and he says. "Dude. It's like three in the afternoon."
Dave is already pushing his way past the door and stepping into the living room as he continues talking. "Sorry for wakin' you up man but I just had a fuckin' emergency. The emergency is called severe lack of Karkat time. You've left me hangin' for a month havin' to pick up whatever scraps I could toss into the fuel tank to keep me goin' but it just ain't enough. No texts, no calls, no nothin' I'm wasting away over here man."
He drops his bag on the couch then turns back to Karkat. "So what's up anyway? Nobody else knows what's going on, or at the very least they just wouldn't tell me."
---
"Three in the..." Karkat takes a second to glance behind him at the nearest clock, and Dave's right. "...It might as well be ten." He crosses his arms, leaning against the door once he closed it after Dave. It's dark, not only are all the lights off but every single curtain is closed and all the blinds are shut.
Karkat has the decency to turn on a small lamp near the door, dimly lighting the living room. "Nothing's up," he bristles. "I just forgot to tell you that I got moved around at work. I've been busy with nights now, sleeping during the day. I thought Kanaya would've told you."
It's another lie, he distinctly remembers telling Kanaya to tell nobody nothing about his new arrangements. "She must've forgot." Hopefully she'll forgive him for throwing her under the bus if Dave ends up digging. "Also my phone broke like last month, new number. I blame being tired on not telling you that first." At least he's started to backpedal the lies.
It's only after he's gotten the pertinent information out that his brain finally registers what Dave's actually saying. "Lack of Karkat Time is an emergency dire enough to warrant the like fifteen to twenty minute bus ride here? Shouldn't you have other things to do today? Or not..." He'd already forgotten it was afternoon.
---
Dave starts looking through his bag, pulling out an apple juice and cracking it open while he listens to Karkat. Though hearing Karkat go through this explanation he purses his lips a bit, taking a sip of the apple juice and then closing it again. He furrows his brows as he tries to think of the reasons Karkat gives him.
They really just sound like excuses and he says. "I mean, that's a lot of shit to happen in a month but we both know most my free time is spent hanging out with you." He fidgets with the apple juice bottle in his hands then he says. "I don't really believe you saying that nothing's up." He tries to think about why Karkat just wouldn't want to see him for a whole month, he's having trouble coming up with anything so he reaches up and rubs the back of his neck as he finally caves and asks. "Did I do somethin' to upset you?"
---
"I- God no, Dave." Shit, Karkat was being a little brash, but when was he not? "I just lost track of the time, still trying to adjust to the new sleep schedule and everything. I've really only been talking with Kanaya because she's the one person at work I actually know that runs on mostly the same hours that I do now."
Karkat circles the couch, sitting across from Dave and reaching for the TV remote to start some background noise. He flips through channels idly, landing on one that's playing Serendipity.
"I've just... I’ve not been very sociable recently. You've always called me crabby, and that couldn't be more true right now. Note to our employer, don't switch Karkat's shifts to the point of making him borderline nocturnal!" As if he hadn't requested the move himself.
"So. That's probably why. New number, new work schedule. I'd give you said new number but I don't have it memorized yet and my phone's plugged in next to my bed." There's a silent ‘I'm not getting up right now’ that’s missing. "So again, no, Dave. You haven't upset me, as much as I enjoy screaming and making you think otherwise sometimes."
---
Again, he can't hide the clear relief that washes over him when Karkat confirms he's not upset with him. He then shrugs. "Alright man, I mean if you're cool with it I can just hang out here and we can worry about the number thing later. Maybe we can like order a pizza and just chill? Play some video games or watch a movie like usual."
He reaches forward to set his apple juice down on the coffee table then he opens his bag to rifle through it, and pulls out his laptop. "You're also way behind on listening to my new mixes so we gotta remedy that real fuckin' quick." He then pauses, holding his laptop half-way open as he looks over at Karkat. "I mean, if you're not too tired to hear 'em. You don't work tonight do you? Or did the days you work change too?"
---
The tension that Karkat didn't realize had a chokehold on him starts to fade as Dave's already thinking up things for them to do. It's as if they just saw each other the other day instead of an entire month of silence.
"That's a loaded question. I work from about 9pm to 5am, the days are technically the same, but since it's overnight and it changes it gets a little fucky."
He turns the TV volume further down and gives Dave a side glance. "Even if I wasn't too tired, you'd have to tie me down and use forceps to keep my ear canals open to listen to your 'mixes'. You should start calling them shixes." Not his best work when it comes to insults, but he knows Dave gets the point.
"But I do have tonight off, so I guess we can do whatever inane thing you want to. I'll even pull out the board games and cards, but my Uno deck is missing all the reds." Courtesy of a new friend he'd made. "And pizza sounds fine if there's pepperoni and red bell peppers."
---
Karkat saying he works 9pm-5am gets that anxiety ramping up in Dave again and he says. "Jesus Christ dude. That is probably the worst sudden shift change I've ever heard. Who decided that?"
When Karkat insults his mixes he just grins and opens up the laptop the rest of the way, turning it on and making his way towards where his more recent mixes are saved.
When Karkat says his uno deck is missing all the reds, Dave's brow raises and he says. "Dude, how'd you manage to lose just all of one color?"
---
"I have no fucking clue. I woke up one day and the schedule was just different, and it's stayed that way." He knows that's not exactly how it works, there'd need to be clearance and checking for if he has the availability to take those shifts, but... Well, Dave's not stupid, but Karkat knows he isn't a super sleuth.
"No- close that." He jams a finger into the lid of Dave's laptop as the shitty music starts to play. "We have Serendipity for background noise, Dave. We have John Cusack to thank for this afternoon's white noise." He gently presses on the lid until it's stopped by Dave's hands actively on the keyboard.
But on the topic of the cards... "I- okay, there's this crazy bitch that's a friend of Kanaya's and she tore up all the red cards." Well, she didn't just tear them up. She bit them to shreds and then some, sucking all of the color off the silk cardstock. "She did it right in front of me and then reshuffled and put them back in the box."
---
Dave decides he's not going to question more on the schedule change. He knows that they can't just change someone's schedule without getting any sort of consent for it but clearly there's something going on that just makes Karkat think night shift is going to be better for him.
Which Dave is pretty sure is a terrible idea. He knows just the kinds of terrible things that lurk in the night. Karkat doesn't know any of that. Maybe... just to be safe... Dave should switch his shift. Just to make sure Karkat doesn't get hurt by any of those said lurking creatures. Sure it's been a while since Dave has hunted. But it's not like he's going to be hunting again. Just being ready to defend his best friend. That's all.
He snorts a laugh and rolls his eyes, lifting the laptop screen to pause the music. Then he shuts it and sets it on the coffee table. "Whatever man- we can watch your shitty romcom while we catch up. But you can't keep avoidin' my beats forever."
He stands up from the couch and starts walking to the kitchen. He decides he'll make himself at home by setting his snacks out on the counter and putting the rest of the apple juice he bought in the fridge. He raises a brow as Karkat talks about Kanaya's crazy friend. "What the fuck? What, does she just hate the color red or something? Bummer because that's like one of the best colors dude. As you can tell on account of my kickass red hoodie, I am a fan of the red club." Dave honestly doesn't really care when it comes to colors in general. But he does tend to wear a lot of red. It's just what looks best on him.
---
"I can tell." Karkat stares at the entire ensemble, even down to the red parts of Dave's shoes. "It's a good color." Maybe he's staring at the other's shoes slightly longer than necessary.
"But no, it's actually her favorite. She ripped them all up so that, I don't know, I couldn't have them?" It's getting harder for him to layer on the lies, but it's for Dave's own good, isn't it?
"She also licked all the cards. Like I said, she's crazy. Her name's Terezi, not that you'd know her. Maybe Kanaya's mentioned her to you, I don't know if she would." Karkat turns on the movie subtitles, idly fiddling with the broken backing of his remote. It constantly falls off and causes the batteries to fall out too.
He's made an array of new friends over the last month all thanks to Kanaya, friends to help him... settle in. Terezi just so happened to be one of them.
"Anyway, I know you've got your apple juice, but do you want some water too or something? Coffee?"
He'd get coffee himself if the liquid didn't sit sourly in his stomach every time he's tried so far.
---
Dave snorts a laugh again at the idea that someone ripped up all the red cards so Karkat couldn't have them. He opens the fridge as Karkat says the girl's name is Terezi.
He knows a Terezi and it's not like it's a common name...could Karkat be talking about the same... Dave looks in the fridge and says. "God damn dude, did a red 40 monster just come and throw up in your fridge or something? I don't think I've ever seen this much of one color in here." Usually Karkat keeps his fridge pretty well stocked with honestly easy to make things but there's usually at least some kind of vegetable in there.
He sets his apple juices that he's not currently drinking in the fridge and he grabs a strawberry Fanta to hold up. "Since when are you into Fanta?" He's mostly teasing but he's honestly...a little worried that Karkat might be going through something that he's not talking about. He puts the Fanta back into the fridge and closes it. Then he straightens up and says. "Nah man I'm good, you look like a fucking wreck anyway, what kind of friend would I be to barge in and expect you to hobble your way through the kitchen making me refreshments."
He comes back into the living room with his bag and one bag of doritos. Dropping himself back down on the couch, bag on the floor and tossing the doritos onto the coffee table for now he says. "Also are you talkin' about Terezi Pyrope? Because I've met her before."
---
Oh God, the fridge. "Wait- I'll-'' He spoke too slow, looking at the god awful treasure trove of red things. Red Gatorade, strawberry Fanta, packs upon packs of red jello.
"...Yes, actually, Terezi Pyrope." He ends up taking a second to think of how to approach the deal with his fridge and how red it is. Not only because of the contents but because of a recent spill now staining one of the inner shelves a dark crimson. "And I'm not really a Fanta guy, strawberry Crush is better." But strawberry Crush was too... too pink. It didn't have the same taste. "The store was out of the two liters of Crush, though. It's a new thing I'm trying, lots of sugar. Coffee has made me feel... not great recently. Trying to replace it with sugar to get my energy for the night. There's also otter pops in the freezer."
And of course, they're all red. The only vegetables or fruits in sight are red bell peppers, red delicious apples, and cherry tomatoes.
"It's... new, but it's not bad. Half of that shit is terrible for me but it tastes alright."
---
So the same Terezi, Dave nods and says. "She works with Rose."
He listens to Karkat's Crush vs Fanta rant as he sips his apple juice and lounges back on the couch. Now he's decided to kick off his shoes and get comfortable, sitting sideways on the couch and leaning on the back to face Karkat.
He furrows his brows in concern and he says. "Seriously man...are you okay? Because like... you don't seem okay. Did something happen?" He hates poking and prying into people's personal business. Rose does it all the time and it really pisses him off. But he's just...worried about his best friend.
---
An awkward laugh rips itself out of Karkat's chest. "That's a loaded question, am I ever okay? I'm always screaming and complaining about something or other, aren't I? But... No, it's fine. Just the new schedule throwing me out of whack. Can't a guy clean out his fridge and replace it with anything and everything red enough to dye my insides like a maraschino cherry?"
The stupid smile on his face isn't doing him any favors. "I mean, like I said I broke my phone like a month ago. Got mugged on the street walking home." A very boring retelling of a life changing night. "The guy didn't even take my wallet or anything though, literally just attacked me, broke my phone, and now I'm here. I guess... Things have been on the decline?"
Karkat sinks into the back of the couch, staring up at his ceiling fan. "I don't know, the past month has been a bit of a shit show and I'm sorry for not reaching out. It shouldn't've come to the point you had to barge in here."
He stands, smoothing down his pajama pants. "I'll get my phone so you can get my new number, stay here."
Karkat slinks off into the darkness of his house, turning the hallway corner to get to his bedroom. He leaves Dave alone for all of two minutes before he's walking back into the area illuminated by the lamp. "New area code and everything since my last number was from my hometown."
---
Dave just listens with that concerned look on his face. Then Karkat just casually slips in that he got mugged and Dave's jaw drops. "Holy shit you got mugged dude?" Okay. That's it. He's switching to nights. It's been decided at this moment.
"Fuck- dude no I'm sorry, I can see why you've probably been on a bit of a spiral if someone just attacked you. Where were you walking home from?" He waits patiently for Karkat to hand his phone over. Already opened to the contacts. He quickly adds himself and sends himself a message. Not paying any attention to what other messages might be there because he's not about to break trust by going through his friend's phone. He hands the phone over then picks up his own to update Karkat's contact info.
---
"Just home from a bar, I was getting some drinks with Kanaya to celebrate a patient she'd been working with for awhile finally getting discharged. The guy'd been at the hospital for months and the recovery was really rough."
Karkat takes his phone back, setting it face down on the coffee table. "Kanaya's actually the one that scared the guy off." But not before some damage had already been done. "I guess I'm just... Anxious working nights. I've been clinging to Kanaya like a baby since, as if I haven't already been guilty of that."
He inhales sharply, holding the breath in for a second before exhaling. "It's not really that big of a deal, it's in the past and I'm slowly adjusting. I bet this time next month it'll all be fine and I'll be back to regular grouch-levels, as you'd say."
---
Dave is thinking hard as he's listening to Karkat. Thinking about why he could have been attacked. Thank God Kanaya was there but... "Dude... I'm so sorry."
He can't keep himself from saying it, because it's true. He is sorry. Sorry for not being there, sorry for not checking in sooner.
He's frowning even as Karkat attempts to reassure him. "I mean...it seems like it's a pretty big deal dude but okay- whatever. I'm not gonna like try to force you into having to think about it more or whatever. I just-" He takes his own deep breath then reaches to run a hand through his own hair. "Please don't push me out, okay? I wanna be here to help you, we're bros remember?"
---
"Of course, Dave. I should've said something sooner myself. I've just not seen the sun in a while." He'd like to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. "If you're, and I can't believe I'm saying this- you think a month away from you would cure me- but if you're down to hang out during nights then… we could arrange something later?"
Karkat knows how awkward it'd be with Dave's day shifts since it's not like the guy would flip flop his schedule on a whim just to spend time with him. 'Best bro' or not, it's just not reasonable. He can't remember the last time Dave actually did anything that was reasonable, though.
His eyes slowly narrow, inspecting Dave's expression. "Don't do anything insane to make time for me though, Dave. Don't stay up all night after a tough shift or anything else crazy, okay? You understand that? Tell me you understand that, right now. Tell me you're listening, because honestly I wouldn't put it past you to have zoned out by now."
As much as he calls Dave a chatterbox, Karkat is just as guilty.
---
Dave grins as Karkat insists he not do anything "insane" in order to spend time with him. With a laugh he says. "I mean, you know me, I'm gonna do what I wanna do. And whatever it is that I wanna do you can scold me for it later if you want but that doesn't mean I'm less likely to do it."
He takes a sip of his apple juice again, then continues. "Shit I might even just talk to Nepeta about it and get her to dare me to do it. Now we know that'll make me guaran-god damn-teed to do it. You know how it is." He shrugs as if this is just casual conversation.
---
Karkat huffs, pushing his face into his hands with a groan. "I do know how that is. I still can't believe you went for the gum. That shit is so unsanitary and gross."
A good while ago, the two of them and Nepeta had been walking down the street. Karkat couldn't recall all the details if he tried because he had spent a good two minutes holding Dave back once Nepeta dared the blond to eat a chewed piece of gum off of a lamp post.
"I can't erase that shit from my memory if I tried, it's the only thing I remember from whatever we'd been doing. I'm only like sixty percent sure that Equius was there too." Which is a conclusion made solely on the fact that wherever Nepeta went, her taller and broader other half would follow.
"You don't have to eat chewed gum to hang out with me, so you shouldn't need Nepeta to dare you to do anything." Karkat spreads his hands out, motioning to Dave. "If I find out later that you've done something that is fucking balls to the walls crazy, I will ignore you for a week on purpose. I'll even block your number momentarily so you can't even send me shitty memes instead of just not responding to you."
Because the last thing he'd want is Dave to get a wise idea and end up getting attacked at night too. "To set in how much that'd suck for you, I'm pretty sure I unknowingly gave you a free trial."
Karkat pushes himself up from the couch, circling the back to enter his kitchen and reach into the depths of his fridge for one of his new Fanta sodas.
---
Dave just starts busting out in laughter when Karkat tells the gum story. "Dude. I had to prove myself. I was the new guy in town and everything. Pretty sure that gum was sour apple flavored too." Dave remembers that he managed to get it by finally pretending he wasn't going for it then flash-stepping to it after taking a couple of steps away.
It was… incredibly gross. But the look on Karkat and Equius' faces were priceless. He had felt sick for a few days afterwards to which he can remember getting lectured by Karkat. Then Karkat visited his apartment for the first time on his own with a paper mask on and a bag full of soup and cold medicine.
It was Dave's first experience living completely on his own so no, he didn't have any and it's not like Bro ever took the time to teach him or Dirk to shop for themselves. They had other shit to learn.
He's mostly pretending to listen while his brain finds itself going down memory lane as he grins. He rolls his eyes and says. "Okay yeah man, whatever, I promise. No crazy plans just to hang out with the coolest guy in the world. Got it. But it's also not like I'm doing anything else with my time so like, I don't see the big deal." He pulls out his phone and decides now in the low light is a perfect time to take an ironic selfie, peace sign and all. Hell yeah.
He sends it to Rose with the caption: 'The Beast is awake, and I've infiltrated his lair.'
---
"There are other ways to prove yourself than that." Karkat shuts the door to his fridge and then leaned against it. He lived alone, so he didn't have anything against drinking straight out of the bottle. It's not like Dave would want any.
Maybe he should've asked just in case- but Dave did already comment on the fact he didn't need anything. "You looked like shit, I know you felt like shit, and seeing as we haven't had a repeat yet; you have seemingly learned shit. Crazy as that is to say, seeing as you never seem to do that."
He sets the bottle back on the counter, giving Dave another glance over. It was... Honestly really sweet of him to come and visit. Had he told him that already?
"...By the way, thanks for coming over. If I didn't say it already. Even if I'm running on maybe two hours of sleep since I kept waking up what felt like every ten minutes. I uh-"
His eyes fall on the fruit bowl on his kitchen counter and he abandons his soda in favor of grabbing two of them. One for him, and one is thrown in the direction of the couch for Dave. "-Catch." He only realizes last second that maybe he shouldn't have thrown it.
---
Dave chuckles while still scrolling on his phone. When Karkat thanks him for coming over he shrugs and says. "Dude it's seriously no problem at all. I-" And then there's an apple coming for his head and he quickly moves his free hand up and catches it inches from his face.
There's a long pause where the two just stare at each other. Then Dave takes a bite of the apple like nothing just happened and he says. "Dude you almost took my head out with this thing. How hard did you think you needed to throw it?"
---
Karkat blinks, staring into the open space between them. "I didn't throw it that hard, did I?" He looked down at his hand, twisting his wrist this way and that. "It was just a toss." He insists.
But maybe there was a little too much strength behind it, a fact that made him feel a little unwell. "...You're okay, though?" He quietly crept up to the side of the couch Dave was laying against. "No heads flying off today?"
Karkat cradled his own fruit in his hands as he took his spot back on the couch, soda forgotten and going flat on the counter. "You'll warn me in advance if your head is going to fly off, right? Or should I be giving you the warning? Watch out for flying objects, Dave. Identified or not." He pierced the deep red skin of his apple and just let his teeth kind of... sit in the fruit.
---
Luckily Dave is pretty invested in scrolling social media on his phone while the two of them talk. Not noticing the way Karkat is eating his apple. "Yeah man I'm fine. As you can see I'm a fantastic catch."
He points at himself with his thumb with the hand still holding the apple. "Nothin's gonna cause this guy's head to fly off anytime soon so don't you worry yours."
---
Karkat glances at his friend across the way, making sure Dave is thoroughly distracted before the color starts to slowly drain from the fruit's skin. It starts to turn a dull gray, looking slightly rotten and shriveled.
"Oh shit, I got a bad one. How did I not notice-" He pushes up from the couch with his excuse, throwing away the apple that was threatening to crumble into a strangely mushy dust. "Yours is fine, right? I swear Kanaya just bought these yesterday." He proceeds to scoop up the bowl and turns his back on Dave, piercing a second apple and sucking the color out of it completely. "At least the rest look fine." He sets the bowl back in place with two left, throwing away his most recent victim with a random crumpled napkin that was cluttering the counter. Now that he was up again, he also returns the soda back to the fridge.
---
Dave is completely distracted. That is until Karkat specifically announces that he got a bad apple. So he looks up, confused on how Karkat got all the way to the couch with a bad apple. But he doesn't see what it looks like when Karkat throws it away.
"Yeah... mine's alright." He doesn't see Karkat "eat" another apple. He sets his half-eaten one down on the coffee table. Then he starts pulling up a pizza app on his phone and he says. "I think it might be about time to order that pizza, what do you think?"
---
"Sounds good. I might save a few slices for myself in the fridge and you'll take the rest home." Karkat's back on the couch when he responds, looking to the movie that's a little more than halfway over. He'd ended up tuning in about forty minutes into the film.
"If you don't mind." He looks to Dave again. "Pepperoni and red bell peppers. No greens, yellows, or oranges." He was putting his foot down about his topping choice. "Feel free to do a half ‘n half pizza if you're not alright with those toppings. I'll pay for it, even. The graveyard shifts are good for giving me a slight raise." Not a monumental difference from the mornings, afternoons, or evenings, but the extra bits and change does add up.
"Red bell peppers are just the only good bell pepper, and you can't go wrong with pepperoni. You can agree with me on that, right?" He meets Dave's eyes behind the other's shades, trying to hold uncomfortable eye contact as best as he could; even though he couldn't tell if he was even making eye contact to begin with. Dave could've been looking anywhere.
---
Dave waves a hand when Karkat offers to pay for it and he says. "Don't worry about it man, I've got it. It's no big deal." He orders the pizza the way Karkat asks for it and he says. "Dude of course. I'm a pepperoni guy all the way."
He sets his phone to the side after finishing up the order. Then he stretches his arms over his head and pretty much stretches himself out all over the couch as far as he can stretch, making himself at home as if he never left Karkat's house.
He turns his head to look over at Karkat looking at him. He smiles and raises a brow. "Dude you don't gotta stare me down, you know I'll eat basically anything."
---
Dave's feet end up in Karkat's lap with the way he's reclined, thankfully without shoes. "Yeah, just, use me as a footrest, why don't you." It didn't bother Karkat too much, though. "Am I a good foot rest for your stinky feet?"
Though, now that he mentions the smell, there was something strangely sweet in the air. It couldn’t be a candle left burning seeing as the only candle in his house was in the bathroom.
He continues to stare Dave down, but not because of the toppings anymore. "Are you wearing some sickly sweet cologne? It's like... Apple pie? Only you would find an apple-scented cologne, wouldn't you? I mean, it's not bad, it's... It's actually really nice."
---
He laughs. "Yeah man I'm pretty comfortable like this, thank you for the sacrifice you've made in order to be my footrest. I dunno if I would be comfortable any other way."
His head rests on the arm of the couch and he rests his hands over his stomach while looking up at Karkat from this position. It's not like being all in Karkat's space was something new. Dave was kind of like that with anybody he got close to. He never realized just how much of a touchy person he was until moving up here and meeting his new friends. To this day he's pretty sure one of the best things he gets at work is a bear-hug from Nepeta everyday.
So he's definitely been in this position where he's resting his feet on Karkat and laying back, plenty of times before. But...it feels different. Something feels different. Maybe it's the way Karkat is just staring him down? He furrows his brows confused when Karkat asks about cologne and Dave shakes his head. "Dude. If you ever find an apple pie cologne you have to call me first thing. That sounds fucking incredible. But no man, only thing I did before coming in was take a shower." Maybe Karkat could smell his shampoo?
---
"Apple-scented shampoo?" Of course that existed, he's seen watermelon shampoo too (even though that was for kids). "Whatever it is, it's really sweet."
His eyes still linger, boring into Dave's signature shades. If he stares in one place long enough he could pick out the other's eyes. Maybe he should stop staring.
So, Karkat stops, looking back at the TV. "That's all I can smell. Better than smelling like a garbage dump, I guess." He gently sets a hand on one of Dave's ankles and gives him a soft pat.
"I now realize how awkward this conversation feels, so I'm going to explicitly change the topic. How's the last month been for you? What were you filling your free time with when you weren't bothering me?"
---
"I try to mix it up sometimes but yeah I got apple scented stuff this time. I'm not really beating the apple guy allegations." He just stares back at Karkat. It's like the other’s eyes are trying to pry their way into his soul. Dave can feel his heart beat pick up slightly and then he feels cold fingers touch his ankle and he flinches back slightly. "God damn dude, you need to get yourself some mittens."
He realizes Karkat asked him a question and he just shrugs as he relaxes back on the couch. "Literally just sitting around my apartment and trying to find stuff to do there. Nepeta invited me out a couple of times but..."
'It's not the same without you'
"I wasn't feeling it."
---
"Oh, Dave..." Karkat stares at him as if he's some sort of wounded animal. "I should've said something, Kanaya should've said something. I've been running around with her and a few other night shift people. Like Sollux, I didn't even know we had an IT department at the hospital until I saw him lurking around at night. I guess he gets all the issues done during the graveyard shift so people during the day can't constantly bother him."
He takes his hand off of Dave's ankle, holding both hands up to start using them to emphasize his words. "That guy is a total prick by the way, day shift is lucky they can't bother him. He's all holed up in an office on the second floor."
Karkat grumbles, leaning into the back of the couch and pressing into it hard enough that he sinks in slightly. "A lot of the night shift people are whack jobs, I wish Kanaya was there the whole time instead of just my first few hours. One of the only good people is this guy named Tavros, he's a nurse and a total pushover. Not that I push him over or anything, I can just tell he'd cave like a house of cards if you asked him to do anything."
He continues to clue Dave in on what he's been up to. A lot of it involves Kanaya. It's... Almost like he replaced Dave with her in the last month with how much he's mentioning her. "-So we went and played Bingo at midnight and it was fucking awful- Terezi stole my little dotter thing because it was red."
---
He waves a hand. "Dude seriously it's fine. You got busy, I get it. I think it's great you're making new friends though." He smiles at him genuinely then just spends time listening to what he's talking about. Pulling at some thread on his hoodie sleeve as he listens.
He snorts a laugh. "You guys went out to play bingo? That's fucking incredible." He tries his damndest not to feel jealous of Kanaya getting to specifically spend so much time with Karkat in the last month. That's silly. Not her fault Karkat had to switch shifts either. He does get a genuine laugh thinking about Terezi stealing the dotting thing. "Dude, she's obsessed huh?"
---
"She's so obsessed." A small smile spreads across Karkat's face. "I'd suggest you come with us next time, but it's probably for the best if you don't stay up until midnight."
He reaches over Dave's legs to grab the TV remote off the coffee table, deciding to just completely mute the movie at this point. "So you know what? I owe you for the last month and for the unforeseeable future if things don't line up. Put on your shitty mixes, Strider."
He sets the remote back, trading it for Dave's laptop and shoving it into the other's lap. "I don't know when the next time you'll barge into my house at an ungodly time is, so make it count. Tell me every awful meme that's been unset and play every crappy song."
Because Karkat has to make up for lost time, and for future continued lost time.
---
The way Karkat is looking out for Dave by pointedly not inviting him out because it'd probably be better for him if he didn't stay up kind of...pisses him off a bit?
But he stays quiet on it, for now it's better to not argue and to instead just spend what time they have together. So when Karkat offers to let Dave show off his mixes he grins and just takes the chance. He sits up as he is handed his laptop and he scoots forward slightly which causes his legs to be in Karkat's lap instead of just his feet.
"Alright man check it-" He starts at the first song he made the first time he's had a day off to himself in a while. He had sent Karkat a message asking if he wanted to hang out but got no response. Then he had messaged Nepeta but she had told him she was already out with Equius for some one on one time. And he didn't wanna intrude on...whatever they've got going on.
That's not exactly what he tells Karkat, what he tells Karkat is the inspiration he felt when looking out from his balcony and watching some birds hanging out in some bushes near the sidewalk. The way the birds were singing, there are quite a bit of instruments in this mix that sounded like birds singing. But no vocals. Dave rarely actually sung in any of his music.
They get to the third track and there's a knock on the door. "Oh shit, that must be the pizza. I can get it."
He sets the laptop down then walks over to the door to answer it. He grabs his wallet, gives the delivery driver a cash tip then pulls the pizza in and closes the door. "Hell yeah pizza time."
---
As much as Karkat likes to rip on Dave's mixes, they've actually never been that bad. Except for the ones that he knows Dave makes shitty on purpose. Everything else, though? It might not be his personal music taste, but he won't deny that they're good.
When Dave's coming back with the pizza box, Karkat clears out a space on the coffee table for it. "I'll get some paper plates. Want me to grab another one of your apple juices while I'm up?"
With the plates in his grasp and a hand on the refrigerator, Karkat tilts his head to the side. "Also, I liked the bird one, but uh... Was that a fucking turkey call I heard at the end?"
---
He sets down the pizza and when Karkat offers to grab him an apple juice he says. "Oh fuck yeah man, you know me so well." Then he laughs and says. "Yeah dude, all birds are welcome in the birdsong. I might make some more versions of it, each ending with a different bird call, what do you think?" That's...mostly a joke, Dave didn't really do series when it came to music. Didn't really have a theme around any "album" he put out on his bandcamp. That just wasn't his thing. He was more of a singles guy.
Only continuous project he really ever had going was his comic. And updates on that have been pretty scarce lately.
---
"I think that'd be a terrible idea." Karkat says as he drops the new juice bottle into Dave's lap. He separates the paper plates and grabs the first slice from the pizza, picking the toppings off to eat them on their own.
He then pulls the cheese off, slapping it onto Dave's plate. "For you, no extra charge and no need to thank me."
Karkat has to turn his back on Dave to his newly deconstructed slice so that he can just lick the sauce off. Dave doesn't need to see that. "Pizza places that put diced tomatoes in their sauce need God. Chunky pizza sauce is disgusting." But it's also disgusting to be licking said sauce off the pizza instead of just eating the pizza like a normal person.
---
Dave blinks a couple of times when suddenly there's extra cheese on his plate from Karkat. "Oh shit, thanks?" He's a little confused but he isn't going to judge if Karkat's developed new and weird eating habits over this last month. Hell Dave always rips the crust off of his pizza slices and eats those first before eating the rest of the pizza. They can just eat pizza weird together.
With some crust still in his mouth he says. "You know-I could have ordered it with no cheese on one side."
---
"I didn't know they offered that." His slice of just pure pizza crust is abandoned for him to grab a second slice. He deconstructs it in the exact same way, giving Dave another glob of cheese. "But now that I'm thinking about it I can see why. Lactose intolerance and what not."
His stomach starts to feel uncomfortable when he's halfway done with the second slice of sauce, so Karkat slaps it onto his plate and sets it down. "This shit is so greasy, I can physically feel all my arteries clogging. Look at me, is acne threatening to show up?"
He glances at Dave, seeing him holding his crustless pizza. "Holy shit, how do you hold that without getting sauce all over your hand? Oh, let me guess- you don't. Not to insult you or anything, because I'm also being weird as fuck about this pizza, but the crust is like a handle."
---
Dave starts to laugh with the hand over his mouth that he still has pizza in. He sets his plate down and uses the edge of his hoodie to wipe his mouth off a bit. Holding his hand to his face until he finishes chewing. "Dude it's like- you gotta eat it from the most dull part to the best part of the pizza. Also it's not like there's that much sauce on it."
However he does look down at his hoodie he just got grease all over. "But you're right, I think this is the greasiest pizza I've had in a while. What the fuck did they do to the poor thing?"
He's chuckling as he sits forward slightly on the couch then he tugs his hoodie off over his head so he's just in his shirt and jeans.
---
"I'm traveling through a sea of chunky marinara just to get to pockets of oil. High risk for the opposite of a fucking reward." Karkat crosses his arms over his chest, realizing a little too late that they don't have napkins before his shirt now smells like pizza at the sides.
"I did not think this through... I'm getting napkins." He rises from the couch, quickly washing his hands in the kitchen before placing a good stack of paper towels on the coffee table. He has to reach over Dave's head, getting another whiff of the delicious fruity scent.
"Whatever that shampoo is, I can smell it over the pizza. That's a wonder of man, it's so much better than the scent of an edible heart attack." He taps his pinky finger against the side of Dave's shades. "I need that in a candle, whatever it is. It might be able to help me mask the scent of Terezi drooling everywhere when she comes over next." ---
Dave laughs again, tossing his hoodie to the side of the couch, reaching for his pizza, he shoves one of the cheese globs in his mouth. Setting his plate back down on the box as Karkat sets down the paper towels and he reaches for a few.
His mouth still full he says. "Myhero!" Grabbing a couple of paper towels he cleans off his fingers and mouth again.
His shades being flicked by Karkat he leans away a bit and he says. "Whoa! Hey man, not cool. Getting your grease fingers all over these priceless babes." He pulls off his shades and leans over to the lamp to try and get a better look at the "damage."
Then he says. "Dude that's insane because this is literally just store brand shit. Did you just suddenly gain super smell or something?"
---
"..." Karkat hesitates for a noticeable amount of time. "People don't just gain a sense of super smell, Dave. That's fucking stupid." If Dave were to say a single word about Karkat leaning slightly closer to him over the couch, Karkat would immediately deny it. "It's- it's sweet. Like not inherently fruity- but there is apple in there... Maybe it's something else mixed with your shampoo."
Karkat makes a motion to fluff up Dave's hair, but stops himself before his hand makes contact. It'd be weird to do that, wouldn't it? "Did you bathe in frosting or something recently? Hike up to sugar mountain and get some grains stuck in your boots?"
He finally takes his place back on the couch, folding a paper towel over one knee to have one at the ready while he goes back to attacking his pizza with his tongue. "Maybe my nose is broken. Whatever it is- ugh, all I can describe it as is if it was a food it'd probably taste fucking amazing... I sound like Terezi."
---
Dave is deciding to be pretty willfully oblivious to just how weird Karkat is being. He's just come to the conclusion that...well...Karkat just went through something that can be pretty traumatic with the mugging. Then his routine being thrown off probably isn't helping.
He looks back over to him. Totally stares at the way he licks the pizza sauce for a totally reasonable amount of time. Totally not thinking of anything else. Why would he be thinking of anything else?
...What were they talking about?
Oh yeah.
Dave smells really good apparently. "Dude maybe you should get checked out to make sure she didn't infect you with anything. I haven't seen her much, but when I met her at Rose's office she called me like, I dunno, cherry bomb or something. I don't really remember."
---
"Cherry bomb? You're clearly an apple guy." Karkat grumbles under his breath, two slices of pizza now 'finished' and abandoned on his plate. "I work in a hospital, I'd know if I need to go to a doctor." Which, he absolutely could not for… reasons.
On the coffee table in front of them, his phone vibrates with enough intensity that it walks a few centimeters to the left.
"Shit." He trades his plate for his phone, sliding the info bar down from the top. "Fuck! It's Friday. Kanaya wanted to... get drinks and uh- dinner, later tonight."
Karkat glances at Dave, lowering his phone slightly. "Would you want to tag along?" Kanaya would probably kill him. It's not exactly just going to a bar or restaurant, but...
No. Kanaya would just have to deal. He's been avoiding Dave for a month, he can't just keep mentioning Kanaya and leaving the blond out of the loop. "It's just a thing we've started doing on Friday nights. Getting a drink or two at this one place, complaining about work, and other things." Other things that would have to go unmentioned in Dave's presence.
---
At first Dave feels an uncertain anxiety start to creep up in him when Karkat mentions going for drinks and dinner with Kanaya. It's silly to feel....maybe even just a little jealous of Kanaya spending more time with Karkat. So he stamps down the feeling. Taking another bite of pizza.
But when Karkat asks if he'd like to tag along that anxiety washes away and he gives a casual smile. "Hell yeah dude. I'm always up for going out and I'm not doing anything later. I'm not gonna be intruding on anything if I do tho, right?"
---
"You shouldn't." It wasn't like anything too important was happening. "Some of the other night shift people might show up? It's just kind of a place we all end up going to because it's open all night. It's better than a 24/7 McDonalds."
But that was still later in the day. Karkat sent Kanaya a quick text telling her Dave would be tagging along, to which she responded by asking if he was done avoiding Dave.
In order to not pop a blood vessel, he set his phone down and let it vibrate as another unseen text came in. "She says it's fine. It's the same place we did Bingo at."
It was like a cross between a community center and a dive bar, a strip club without the neon lights or strippers. The one thing it did have, in plentiful amounts, was some strange characters.
"The night shift staff like it a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if most of them are there tonight just for shits- without the giggles. I'll drive us later and we can just... chill until then. God, I never realized how much of your vocabulary I've picked up over the years."
---
Dave lights up a bit hearing that this wasn't just a Karkat and Kanaya hang out that he was pushing his way into, but it was a night shift friend group hang out. "Oh shit? That actually sounds awesome. I'd love to meet more of your night shift friends."
He glances down at the phone as it vibrates again and Karkat doesn't pick it up. But he turns his attention back to Karkat, deciding not to ask what Kanaya might have actually said.
Karkat says they can just chill until then and Dave chuckles. "Dude you know I'm all about chilling. Maybe we put away the rest of this pizza then we can put on another movie to talk over?" He's already getting up to put the box away in the fridge and throw away their paper plates.
---
Karkat watches him go, seeing the light reflect off of all of his red things once Dave opens the fridge. It bathes Dave in the same candy red and he looks sunburnt until the door closes. "Yeah, that sounds just fine. Serendipity is almost over anyway, so I guess it's your turn to pick the flick."
He browses through channels before giving up on cable and turning to Netflix. "Also, I wouldn't say most of them are friends, it's just... Sleep deprived assholes. Some of them work at the hospital, and then there's those like Terezi that have shifts elsewhere." Karkat mutters. "I don't know if there's any people you'd recognize except for Kanaya and Terezi?"
There weren't many people Karkat could think of. "The only ones from the hospital are Sollux and this guy named Tavros. Maybe Vriska, but she quit awhile ago and she's out of town so she wouldn't be there."
He has to think about the type of crowd he's going to be bringing Dave to. "Look, some people there can be really weird. Borderline crackhead on the side of the street level weird. So just stick with Kanaya and I in a corner somewhere and enjoy whatever 80s-90s music they'll be playing."
---
Dave has to move just a couple of things around to fit the pizza in the fridge but it works. He comes back with an apple juice, and a new glass of Fanta for Karkat. He takes the remote and settles into the couch right next to Karkat as he starts looking through movies to pick one.
He hums and says. "I think Rose has told me a little bit about Vriska but I've never met her." Though he raises his brow at Karkat's warning and he snorts.
If only he knew what Dave had been through before.
A club with potentially weird people is nothing. "Dude. Don't worry, it's not like I've never been to clubs before. I know how to take care of myself, okay?"
He picks a random movie, sips his apple juice then says. "But if it makes you feel better, I promise to stay close to ya, okay?"
Then he settles into the couch as they get into the movie. He's not sure when he falls asleep, somewhere between conversations towards the beginning of the second movie. With his head resting on Karkat's shoulder, closed bottle of apple juice in his lap as he snoozes, and shades pressed against his face.
---
Karkat ends up gently pulling Dave's shades off his face so he could be a little more comfortable, as well as turning off the lamp so they were just sitting in the light of the TV. With Dave so close to him, he could smell that sweet scent again. Karkat decides now is the only time to figure it out and gently sniffs at the air, leaning into Dave slightly. It was like candy with an undertone of nondescript fruit. There sure was apple, but that was probably from the mentioned hair products. The sugary smell seemed to just be coming from under Dave's skin. From his... blood? Karkat straightens up against the back of the couch slightly when the realization hits him.
When 8pm rolls around, about thirty minutes before he was supposed to meet Kanaya, Karkat was conflicted. He pauses the movie, looking to where Dave was leaning against him. It feels like a dick move to wake him up. He is still in his pajamas, though, and he still has to drive them there. He couldn't cancel on Kanaya at the last minute, especially after inviting Dave with no warning. "Dave." He speaks softly, trying to rouse the other gently with just his voice. When it didn't work, he reaches an arm around Dave's shoulders and gently shakes him.
"Hey, Dave. You need to get up, I need to put some real clothes on before we leave. We're supposed to get there at 8:30."
---
Falling asleep on Karkat was hardly a new thing. In fact when they started having movie nights at each other’s places, Dave often fell asleep on him towards the end of the night. And he'd always be woken up the same gentle way.
Sometimes just talking to him worked, especially the first few times he fell asleep on Karkat and was still a bit jumpy. Nowadays he's found himself the most comfortable with the grumpiest guy he's ever met. So when he's lightly shaken he just reaches a hand up and breathes in deeply, exhaling slowly and rubbing his face as he mumbles. "Oh shit...I fell asleep? Sorry about that man."
He pushes himself to sit up straight slowly. "Sorry, lemme just release you from your Dave prison. There you go."
---
"Your shades are on the coffee table." Karkat idly comments as he gets up and stretches. "Put my arm to sleep, man." He rolls the shoulder of said arm as he walks into the darkness of his house. He's been saving a lot on the electric bill having the lights off nearly all the time, there just... Wasn't a need for him to turn them on.
He pulls out his usual favorite sweater and some jeans, smoothing out the denim after getting his shoes on. "Oh, by the way, they don't care about outside food or drink so feel free to take an apple juice with you. Pretty sure there's still one in the fridge."
He grabs the abandoned one that had been in Dave's lap while he slept, trading it for the last one in the fridge. "Ready? Want to just... Leave your shit here and we'll come back after?"
---
He reaches forward and grabs his shades. Just resting them on top of his head since the house was so dark right now anyway. "Man if your arm is asleep maybe it just needed a nap too, you know?"
He gets up and gathers his things. He finishes off the last of his current apple juice and throws the bottle away. Grabbing his hoodie he ties it around his waist then he makes sure his wallet and phone are in his pockets. Deciding to leave his keys on the coffee table since Karkat will be driving him anyway.
"I'll take my hoodie in case it gets cold, and my phone and wallet but I'll just leave my keys here." He gives Karkat a teasing grin and says. "That way you'll have to spend a little more time with me." He sticks his tongue out then flips down his shades over his eyes and says. "Alright man, I'm ready to roll."
---
"Alright then." Karkat leads the way down his driveway, unlocking the Civic and settling into the driver's seat. He unlocks Dave's passenger door from the inside, and even props it open slightly for him. "It's like a ten minute drive, don't make me regret giving you radio duty."
Every red light seems to drag on, making Karkat impatiently tap his fingers against the wheel. A ten minute drive turned into fifteen, and they thankfully managed to get a parking spot pretty close to the door. "I'm telling you now if you get shitfaced drunk I will take care of you, but I will also make fun of you."
Karkat unbuckles his seatbelt, but stays in his seat. People walk by the sidewalk in front of them, entering the dimly lit building. Karkat's phone going off catches his attention and he gives it a quick glance. "Kanaya's already inside if we want to go in too."
He was hesitant to let Dave in. This'd only be Karkat's fourth visit to the place and he'd yet to really see what the crowd could be like. What if some fight broke out? What if Dave took a barstool to the head? That could happen at any bar, though, couldn't it?
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Or we could sit here for another five minutes for no reason."
---
Freshly rested from his nap, Dave seems as energetic as ever hopping into the passenger seat and pulling his seat belt on. He smiles wide when Karkat gives him radio privileges. He decides to not make him regret it, especially because they only have a few minutes and he's pretty excited to see this bar he's never been to.
He sings along to the music and laughs when Karkat says the thing about him getting drunk. "Dude...that's sounding awfully close to permission to let fucking loose." He leans over the center console and in a teasing voice he says. "You promise to take me home with you tonight then?" He laughs when Karkat pushes him back to his seat.
When they pull up he unbuckles his seat belt then rests his hand on the door handle. Excited to meet Kanaya inside. But Karkat is seeming to hesitate. He gives him a smile and he says. "Dude. It's gonna be fine. I don't know what you're so anxious about but I'm ready to go have a good time. So let's go, okay?" He opens his door but waits for Karkat to open his own before getting out.