Re: Unspoken Attraction (Dave/Karkat)

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave dragged a hand over his eye until it clung to his chin, grumbling as walked over to his discarded pants and dug around in his pockets. He fished out his phone and called John, not in the mood to text this time.

[solarOrigins]

John answered on the second ring, sounding out of breath. "Y-Yeah? I-Is something wrong?" he panted. "Sorry, had to run from the kitchen to get my phone"

[raunchyJanitor]

"Yeah, Karkat's got an infection and I've gotta clean it out." Dave eyed said troll as he spoke, sticking his free hand in his pocket as he shifted most of his weight onto one leg. "He won't let me anywhere near him though 'cause it involves a knife. Your advice: I need it."

[solarOrigins]

"Oh, wow. Never thought I'd hear that from you. Um, yeah, you don't want to openly get anywhere near him with a knife." John stated. "Um, you could always try evoking the survival reflex. That would keep him calm and still for the most part. The trolls told you about that too right?"

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave grumbled, rolling his head back to stare at the ceiling as he held the phone in place over his ear. "No. They failed to mention that. Now spill the beans."

[solarOrigins]

"Well, their horns are pretty weird, you see?" John giggled. "Mostly their like regular animals horns, but they're covered by a layer of skin that has a lot of nerve endings in it. They're sensitive depending on the troll, but what's important is under the horns are lots and lots of tiny blood vessels, which reminds me, when you cut the infection, you might want to put him in the shower or something so you don't get blood all over, cause it will bleed like you killed him. Anyway, back to the point." John's grin could practically be heard over the phone. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, Trolls used to take the horns of other Trolls that they had defeated in combat, and ripping them out, or course, killed the other troll. The defeated trolls started going limp when they felt pressure at the base of their horns, hoping that it would make them seem pathetic enough to spare. Eventually it developed into a reflex, and so its an important survival reflex. Just don't let him know you're gonna do it, Karkat doesn't like his horns messed with."

[raunchyJanitor]

In hindsight, Dave probably shouldn't have asked for John's advice as that just opened the flood gates to a dorky history lecture. He could even hear the nerdiness heighten in his friend's voice as he rambled on about the evolution of the troll. If he didn't stop him now, he would probably be stuck all day listening to him rave over the phone as he delved further into uninteresting details. "Alright, thanks; I'll let you know how things turn out then." Not waiting for John to go on one of his extra long 'good bye's, Dave hung up the phone immediately and shoved it in his pocket, readying himself over how he was going to go about this. So, he just needed to grab Karkat's horn and he'd go dead possum on him, right? Sounded simple enough. That and the troll had most of his nails filed so he didn't need to worry too much over getting scratched; it was just the teeth that would be his main concern.

Sure, he could try and flashstep over to the troll and pinch his good horn, (God did that sound weird) but he would probably end up getting bitten in the process. He could move swiftly, but he couldn't teleport for Christ's sake. Karkat was in defensive mode right now and it's not as though he could get behind him since the wall was in the way. They were just going to have to do this later then, when the troll wasn't panicking. "Ok Karkat. I'm gonna grab us lunch while you stay put and let that infection spread." He headed over to his nightstand and put on his shades, adding, "I should be back in about half an hour, give or take."

[solarOrigins]

Karkat's growling softened and his body relaxed little by little, though he kept sending glances at the knife concealed in the desk. Food ment Dave wouldn't come after him with the knife. That was good.

[raunchyJanitor]

It didn't really matter that Dave was still in his pajamas since he was just walking over to the WinCo across the street, even if it was noon. He went back to his crumpled pants and grabbed his wallet and keys, pocketing them as well. "Alright, don't get yourself killed while I'm gone," Dave advised before stepping out of his room and leaving the apartment, locking the door behind him.

He walked all the way to the store, j-walking across the street since traffic was at a near standstill and there was enough space between the cars for a person to simply stroll around them. At the store, he bought a couple of pre-made sandwiches in the fresh food section and a carton of milk, storing them all in a plastic grocery bag. The trek back to the apartment wasn't as easy as it was getting to the store since traffic had picked up the pace a bit, but just as he had told Karkat, he was back home in about half an hour's time.

Dave shut the door carefully behind him, calling out as he set the plastic bag on the coffee table, "Ok, I'm back. Hope you like ham."

[solarOrigins]

Karkat was slouched down on the couch, reading his book. There was something smug about his posture.

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave got out the milk carton and headed into the kitchen, pouring two glasses of milk and discreetly adding something to one of them. He put the carton away in the fridge and took a seat on the couch beside Karkat, drinking from one of the glasses to show that this was his drink, not the troll's. He placed the other glass on the table where it would be closest to Karkat and put his own drink closest to himself. He then pulled out a sandwich from the bag and unwrapped it, taking a large bite out of it as soon as the meal was liberated from its plastic wrap confines.

[solarOrigins]

Karkat glared at the milk, then at Dave. Shifting slightly, he lashed out with his foot and knocked the glass off the table and upending it on the floor. The look he gave to Dave after that was one of clear distrust.

[raunchyJanitor]

"If you didn't want milk, you could have just asked," Dave stated calmly, pausing before he took another bite from his sandwich, "Oh wait. You couldn't have, could you?" That was a dick move. Well, Karkat had started it, so, dick moves all around. It's not like he was trying to drug the troll to take advantage of him. He was just trying to prevent a repeat from last time. It wasn't his fault Karkat was too stupid to know what was best for him.

[solarOrigins]

Karkat's eyes narrowed and he snapped his book shut, standing up and stomping back to Dave's room. He made sure to slam the door before going to his corner and throwing the beanbags across the room, sitting with his head against the corner. He didn't cry, he didn't pout. He stewed.

He hated that he had been grubbed how he was. He hated how unfair it was that he couldn't talk, that the only way he could possibly express himself was by writing down or typing words that would never be able to come out of his mouth, and every second of his life was emotional agony that he would never ever truly fit in because of it.

[raunchyJanitor]

Great. Now Dave had upset the over-emotional dumbfuck. He didn't pity the troll's situation. He pitied the people who had to put up with how poorly Karkat took his disability. If he stormed out of a room every time someone took a cheap shot at him, Dave couldn't imagine Karkat ever being in the same room with all of the other trolls for longer than three minutes. No wonder he bitched so much online.

He placed his sandwich on the table and went into the kitchen, coming back armed with more stain removal and a dish rag. He sank to his knees and started scrubbing at the milk on all fours, his expression unreadable, but his mind already working on how he was going to take care of that horn. If he left it alone, it would gradually get worse over time and if there were as many nerves as John said there were, it would only hurt more. Hell, it could probably kill the troll if it was left untreated for too long. It looked like his next plan of action would have to be whenever the troll fell asleep. No, he shouldn't wait that long. If it hardly took that much time for the wound to show clear signs of infection, he could only imagine how much worse it could get over night if that plan failed.

[solarOrigins]

Karkat sat in the corner for a little while before getting up and sitting at Dave's computer. It took a little bit to hack into the computer and get onto Dave's pesterchum. From there he got a hold of Sollux, which why he thought that was a good idea, he would never know. As soon as he even tried to talk about his feelings, sollux was ripping on him, first about being a girl, then about his mute state. This is how it always ended, with someone ripping on his mute state until he had to leave the chat, which he did, to go sit back in his corner and sulk some more.

Sometimes he wished he would have just let Jack kill him when he had the chance.

[raunchyJanitor]

Once Dave was finished cleaning up the milk and had placed the glass back in the kitchen, he put the cleaning supplies away and quietly ate the rest of his sandwich in the living room. When he was done, he put away Karkat's sandwich in the fridge and added his own emptied glass of milk in the sink, rinsing it out along with the one before.

If he went into his room, there would only be uncomfortable, spiteful tension between them. But if Bro came home to find a butt hurt troll, he would probably force Dave to apologize one way or another for something the troll had brought upon himself. Karkat could sulk and fester and knock over whatever the fuck he wanted like an overgrown brat just because he couldn't cope with his less than ideal life style.

This was one of the reasons why Dave found Karkat to be so unreasonable: Tavros didn't have fucking legs, yet he dealt with his problem just fine with a positive attitude. So he had a wheelchair to get around, well Karkat had hands and that trilling thing to communicate with. So Karkat will never be able to sing or laugh, well Tavros will never be able to swim or dance. They were pretty much in the exact same, shitty boat, yet only one of them was being a big fat douche about it.

[solarOrigins]

Karkat slowly drifted lower into his feelings of self loathing. He wished he could be more like Tavros. Or maybe he wished he could be more like Gamzee, a troll that didn't give a fuck about what others thought. Tavros who couldn't feel ill will towards anyone, not even the very troll who crippled him. Tavros was stronger than Karkat could ever be, he just lacked the outward confidence to be a leader, whereas Karkat lacked the inward confidence to think of himself as anything other than the lowest trash. That's why he was so convinced that the only one that could possibly be his kismesis was himself, because no one else could compare with the hatred he felt for his own faulty body.

[raunchyJanitor]

To Hell with it all. Dave was going to take care of that infection whether Karkat wanted him to or not. The door to his room slowly creaked open and Dave's head popped in, eyeing Karkat in the corner. His expression was still blank as ever, even as he pointed at the sulking troll, "I'm sorry about the jibe about you being a mute. That was poor sportsmanship on my part. But if you let that infection worsen, you could lose your horn." He stepped inside, closing the door carefully behind him as he continued, "If you lose your horn, you could die. If you die, I'm going to be buried in a shallow grave right next to you after Bro throttles me to death for letting your infection spread." Dave crossed his arms and leaned against the door. "I do not want to have to wrestle you to the ground, Karkat. I don't want to hurt you. I can not afford to hurt you. I had no original intent to hurt you. How many times am I going to have to say this before you get the picture?"

[solarOrigins]

Karkat halfheartedly threw the notepad at Dave from his sylladex. At this point he was starting to consider just letting Dave rip the whole damn horn out and bleed to death. Dave didn't even seem to get that no matter how many questions he asked him, Karkat would never be able to answer him back. He curled back around himself tightly, allowing himself to just kind of fall on his side in his empty corner.

[raunchyJanitor]

The halfhearted toss was easily dodged by Dave as he moved in closer to where Karkat was curled up in his little ball of self loathing. Dear God this was pathetic. He couldn't bring himself to be mad at the troll when he was like this. You don't kick people when they're down and Karkat appeared to be way, way down in the dumps.

Dave sat next to Karkat, not really caring if the troll lashed out at him. It was better if there were more marks on him than on Karkat if there was a struggle as he quickly pulled the troll upright and tugged him backwards onto his lap. He moved as fast as he could as he trapped the troll's arms in front of him in a tight hug, Dave's legs entwining over Karkat's to lock them in place. It was a rather awkward position, but at least it would keep the troll still for the most part. His head was tucked downwards against Karkat's back as he muttered, "I'm not letting go until you snap out of this."

[solarOrigins]

Karkat didn't even try to fight back. He just kind of stayed limp and allowed himself to list to the side, without growling or anything. Mostly he didn't really care at this point, but there was also that little part of him that hoped Dave would just leave him alone.

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave couldn't decide which was more troubling: how depressed the troll had suddenly become or how freakishly unresponsive he was being. He had been expecting at least a bit of a brawl from him, not a silent acceptance of death. One of his hands slid up and gave Karkat's arm a friendly rub down as he turned his head and nuzzled into the troll's shoulder blade. He was really pulling out all of the stops here, trying to be affectionate like Bro had told him to be.

[solarOrigins]

Karkat moved his arm away from the comfor.ting gesture and let it go limp again. He didn't want to be comforted, especially not when Dave was forcing it from himself to try and make Karkat trust him, or whatever the fuck he was trying to do.

[raunchyJanitor]

Going rag doll limp during a hug reminded Dave how he would be whenever he was hugged by John, though he knew that Karkat wasn't trying to ignore his affections to be cool. Now Dave knew how it felt to be on the giving end of the rape hug what with him being the only one consenting to the hug. Since Karkat didn't want to be comforted, he might as well get down to business. The hand once trying to pet the gloomy troll's arm slid up to the side of his head, contradicting firm though gentle kneading pressing along Karkat's scalp. Trailing fingers reached their target and the youngest Strider's middle and forefinger scissored around the bright, undamaged horn's base, his palm sliding over the smooth, alien appendage before the rest of his fingers wrapped around and gave a light squeeze. He hoped to God that John hadn't been lying or he was going to feel creepy as fuck doing this to the little guy.

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