Re: Unspoken Attraction (Dave/Karkat)

[raunchyJanitor]

Tavros had to take a bit longer to clean up since he still had quite a mess going on inside his nook, that and he wasn't exactly a speed demon in comparison to Bro.

Dave plopped down beside Karkat, wrapping an arm around him and tugging him close. "So how'd you like the arcade?" He asked, wishing to ignore the obese, neon elephant parading around them for the moment.

[solarOrigins]

Karkat wrapped his arms around Dave's neck and wriggled his way into Dave's lap to purr and sort of coo at him comfortingly. He had thought the arcade was alright, but he was more worried about Dave and what had him so spooked. He nuzzled his neck, pressing little kisses to it.

Bro dressed in some nice clothes and walked back to tap on the bathroom door. "Tav, I'm gonna go get Dave and Karkat, they're probably on the roof. I'll come back for you then we'll go for dinner"

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave wrapped his arms around Karkat's back and smiled gently in turn for the troll's display of comforting affection, sighing deeply. He felt so much better, holding Karkat and relaxing against the other's warmth.

A twinge of guilt pained Tavros when he thought about Dave, not sure how he was going to react when he was confronted by Bro again. He doubted that the younger Strider was going to take be able to take it all in, um, stride. "Uh... o-okay," he hollered over the noise of the shower water, adding quickly, "Be careful!" Why did he say that? Of course Bro was going to be fine. What could Dave possibly do that could hurt Bro? He's hardly ever even nicked Bro during all their strifes together, what did Tav have to worry about? Still... unrelenting even in its improbability of Bro getting into any sort of real danger, he worried.

[solarOrigins]

Bro headed out, making sure to close the apartment door firmly behind him, and headed up to the roof.

Karkat's purring grew louder with Dave's arm around him, and he could feel the tension beginning to ooze from his shoulders. He continued to nuzzle Dave, slipping his head under the larger's chin and pressing sweet little kisses to the skin there. He didn't even stop when Bro stepped outside.

"Dave, I guess we need to talk." Bro stated, leaning back on the closed door and crossing his arms. "About what Just happened I mean."

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave stared at Bro from over Karkat's shoulder, pressing a kiss to the troll's ear. "Hold on," he mumbled, hoisting Karkat off his lap and scooting out from under him. He got up and moved towards Bro, his eyebrows narrowing into an angry brow as he approached him. "So let's talk."

[solarOrigins]

Bro sighed, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of nose. "I guess its pretty obvious that Tav and I are a thing now. And, look, I'm really sorry Dave but I didn't want to tell you because, well, I figured you'd be pissed about it. And we didn't think you'd be home for a little while, which is why you walked in on what you did"

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave took a deep breath before he replied, his expression settling for one of sheer scorn towards his older brother. He wasn't going to mask his emotions, not now, not for any reason when the very person who mentored him to do so was scarcely worth a teaspoon of frog bile right about then. "You know, I always thought you were kind of creepy. Like the smuppets and everything, I've gotten over that now, but it's as if just when I'm getting over one freaky, uncool, not-at-all brotherly thing that you've thrown at me, you chuck another at me. This takes the cake, Bro. No, understatement, wrong; it takes the whole gog damn bakery."

Dave leaned in so that Karkat couldn't hear him, hissing below a whisper, "How long have you been fucking around with him?"

[solarOrigins]

Bro let his hand told back across his chest. "We've been a thing for a little over a year. But I didn't touch him until his birthday. He's not a kid, and he really hasn't been for a while."

Karkat watched Dave's back with a frown. He wasn't sure what they were talking about, but he could tell that it was upsetting Dave more.

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave sneered at him, growling, "You're absolutely right-- he's not a kid; he's a teenager. You, however, are not a teenager, Bro, no matter how much you might act like one. You should be married to some broad by now with a kid of your own. That's how old you are. He's not old enough to drink. He's MY age. You're dating someone your baby brother's age. Do you get how fucked up that is? Because if you did, I seriously doubt we would be having this little chat right now."

[solarOrigins]

"Dave, I'm talking about his maturity. We've only been a thing since he was seventeen. Closer to 18 if you want to be specific because I kept saying no. I said no to him for over a year. And I know I'm not a fucking teenager, I know all those things. Fuck, Dave I know how fucked up this, but I'm doing it so he can be happy. Or is he not allowed to be happy? I've tried to tell him he's better off without me, with someone his own age, but you know what? Sometimes age is just a number because you're honestly attracted to them for who they are and not what they look like or what they can do. And you know what? I care about him too. I care about him like you care about Karkat. And I would honestly try harder to get him to be with someone much better for him if I didn't already know it would probably kill him" Bro replied.

Karkat frowned, keening slightly in worry at the tones they were exchanging. He thought he may have heard his name and it brought the thought that this may be his fault to the forefront of his mind.

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave scoffed, not believing a word of it. "Is he pulling some kind of shakespearian, 'I'll die without you' thing? You are seriously buying that? Do you even realize how sick you sound when you say 'age is just a number'? Do you know how many pedophiles quote that? Yeah, he consented, alright, good to know you're not a rapist, but come on. If you really loved him, you wouldn't have indulged him. If you were honestly thinking about what was best for him, you wouldn't have let him have you."

[solarOrigins]

"no, that's not what I'm saying. Depression is a powerful thing Dave. Imagine what it would be like if you couldn't Have KK. Like, he's likes you, but he's shacking up with sollux or something. And you're begging and begging for him to give you a chance, but he won't because you don't know sign language or something. That's pretty stupid right? Well that's about what Age is to a troll. So long as a troll is old enough to pail, then as far as they're concerned they can be matesprits or kismesis with any other troll old enough to pail, so long as they are old enough to pail. So in their eyes its perfectly acceptable for a 9 sweep old and say a 19 sweep old to fill a pail together." Bro stated with a sigh.

That time Karkat definitely heard his name. He furrowed his brow and bit his lip.

[raunchyJanitor]

"News flash: We're not in Alternia any more, Dorothy. Don't you dare fucking make this about me and Karkat. At least I am dating someone my age. Yeah, I'd be crushed if he did that. I'd be depressed, I'll admit that, but you know what? I'd get over it eventually. Not soon, but eventually. Neat thing about relationships, you don't die if you don't get the one you want. I swear to god that if you tell me trolls will literally die if they don't get to keep their first matesprit, I, for the life of me, am not going to understand why you didn't explain that in the first place." Dave was fuming by this point, his hands clenched into fists.

[solarOrigins]

"You know what? Fine, I get it. I'm the fucking lowest trash to walk the earth. I'm the lowest of the low." Bro snarled. "Why don't you talk to Tavros. Obviously I'm a good for nothing sleeze in your eyes, so just go talk to him so you can take me behind the fucking toolshed and put me out of my misery."

[raunchyJanitor]

Dave retrieved his sword from his strife sylladex, slamming Bro against the door to the roof with his arm digging firmly into his brother's throat, holding him in place. After all, he didn't want the slippery bastard to flash step away. Striders were as dangerous as barracudas in wide open spaces, but cornered... they were fish in a barrel. "Now why would I do that? So you can shove your hand up his ass and puppeteer him around to convince me that what you're doing with him is all hunky dorey? That I should just look the other way when he starts getting one too many pubes and you dump him like one of your whores? No, thank you."

He jammed his arm harder against Bro's throat, enough to start cutting off a good portion of his oxygen supply. "I'll cut your gog damn fingers off next time I catch you touching him. No tool shed required."

What the fuck was he saying? He had never actually threatened his brother before, that is, nothing beyond childish 'death' threats that many rivaled siblings made to one another with no real intention of going through with. It was like right now, he needed to slay this disgusting monster of bullshit before it corrupted everyone he cared about, regardless of the fact that this very same monster was the closest thing he had to family.

[solarOrigins]

Karkat made a shrill little noise of terror, scrambling backwards and to his feet. Dave- he had never seen Dave like that before, he wasn't even that scary in the game, and he didn't know what to do but he was scared.

Bro let out a wheezy breath. "Fine. How about I stay up here and you go tell him he doesn't have to worry about me touching him ever again." he inhaled shallowly, Dave doing a spot on job of cutting off his air supply, but then again he wasn't fighting back. "I get it, he's too young and I'm too old, its sick and wrong and I deserve this. I saw this coming, and that's why I didn't want to tell you. Just calm down before you scare off Karkat again. You can take whatever the fuck you want out on me later."

[raunchyJanitor]

Why wasn't Bro defending himself? No, worse than that, he was agreeing with the atrocities his little brother was preaching him to be. That wasn't right. It wasn't like his brother to accept insults. Bro's defeated behavior had completely thrown him off course. This vessel was set for purging the seven seas of Bro the monstrosity, not chucking harpoons at a hacked up dolphin.

Dave glanced away uncertainly from Bro and over to Karkat, then back again. Wonderful, now he had scared the day lights out of Karkat. He'd bet every penny imbedded in their carpet that Karkat was going to hide from him like he was running away from a psycho, because that's exactly what Dave was acting like. A fucking psycho. This day couldn't possibly get any better.

Reluctantly, Dave's arm pressed off of Bro's neck and he took several steps back, captchaloging his sword with a sigh. "Get out of my sight." He left enough space so that Bro could leave through the door, but even if he decided to hang out on the roof with Karkat, he wouldn't stop him. Karkat would probably flee to Bro's side after Big Bad Dave's display just now, because the troll didn't know any better. Or maybe he did. Maybe Dave was the only real monstrosity on that roof. "Before I change my mind."

[solarOrigins]

Bro didn't even bother flashstepping away. He just forced himself off the door and walked off behind the air conditioner. Once he was out of Dave's sight, he leaned against the unit and slid to the ground to rest his head in his hands.

As predicted, Karkat ran to him. He wasn't even completely out of sight before Karkat was rushing after him with small distressed noises, sending terrified looks Dave's way before vanishing out of his sight.

[raunchyJanitor]

Bro didn't flash step, but Dave did. He needed to know the other side of the story because reason dictates that fair judgement can be best found through examining every possible perspective. So onto the other side of the story he flew.

Tavros was finished changing into his clothes and was going to head back to the living room to finish putting on his shoes when Dave was opening the door to the apartment again, only this time he was staying inside when he shut it behind him. There was no sign of Bro or Karkat following after him if he was shutting the door behind him. Negotiations must not have gone over so smoothly, as he suspected, but had hoped against all the same.

"So, Tav," Dave began, crossing his arms, but before he could continue, the troll cut him off, his voice faltering. "I know it sounds, stupid, and um, pretty cliche, to tell you this, Dave, but it's r-really not what it looks like."

"Tell me what it looks like, Nitram. Describe this vivid painting until even the blind can admire its beauty."

"It's-it's, um, kind of a long story," Tavros mumbled, eliciting a broken chuckle from Dave.

"You don't say?" Dave replied flatly, staring at Tavros intensely enough for the troll to start squeezing at his arm and grimacing.

"As in, you should probably, uh, sit down for this," Tavros insisted, gesturing towards the futon.

Dave gave one look at the furniture in question before returning his gaze back to Tavros, shaking his head as he returned with a solid, "Fuck no," and walked over towards the kitchen instead. He pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting his arms over the back of it with his head resting on top.

Tavros followed after him and took a seat in the chair beside him, proceeding in the uncomfortably silent pause with, "I'm not really sure where to start."

Dave tipped his shades down to eye Tavros incredulously. "From the beginning would be great."

[solarOrigins]

Up on the roof, Bro sat with Karkat curled in his lap. The troll was still quivering in fear and couldn't even sign to tell Bro what was wrong, but he knew anyway. Before, when Karkat was just getting used to Dave, Bro had taken the time to find out just why Karkat was so skittish. Turned out, Karkat had skimmed Dave's timeline while they were in the game and had seen Dave tear apart imps and things, and he had seen him once or twice when he was angry and it frightened him with how much Dave was capable of, and when he found out Dave didn't care much for him when he still had a crush on John, he was afraid of what Dave might do to him if he made him mad.

Now Bro was stuck cleaning up all the Hard work he had put into getting Karkat to trust him, and it was all his fault, which only added insult to injury.

It was hard enough to believe that Dave would even let Karkat run to him after their little 'discussion' let alone leave him alone with him after all that he accused him of, for what he was guilty of. He was a monster, he knew that, he knew that and he should have held his ground and continued to say no, but he couldn't say no to Tavros, not when he was like that.

He hushed Karkat softly, petting his hair as the littlest troll clung to him fearfully.

[raunchyJanitor]

Tavros told Dave an elaborate love story about how he was in cahoots with Bro, but that was okay, because Bro waited until he was old enough for them to do stuff with each other's naughty bits and everything was sexy peaches between them from then on.

Only there was a lot more to it than that, like the giant guilt trip that assaulted Bro the instant Tavros declared a love interest in him. Bro pulled all the stops to stop this before it hit the last stop light. He ignored Tav, gave him the cold shoulder, gave him kind of awkward, very slight insults that weren't really heart felt but were meant to keep the troll off his back and out of his pants. This went on long enough for Tav to start to think that it was all heart felt, that Bro didn't really like him, at all, if not in fact rather despised him for bringing up his love confession.

And so depression set in. Not the, 'we have no money, everyone is starving', depression, but that love sick hopelessness that occurred when Bro unknowingly had convinced Tavros that the troll was incapable of ever finding a romantic partner. He had never said anything like that to him, but being rejected enough times from the same person started to make Tavros lose faith in his ability to ever find a matesprit.

In an obscure attempt to gain some sort of romance with Bro, Tavros had given kismesises a shot, which had been laughable and pathetic when he attacked Bro and was brushed off by a flash step. Always with the flash stepping, it was so un-nerving a thing to do while up close, like a person vaporizing in the middle of a hug.

But back to the sappy love story.

Romance was not something he cared to reflect upon, the inevitability of his species' extinction ending with these last trolls, including himself, ill-equipped to create new life helped bring about this disinterest in flushed feelings for much of anyone. Flushed quadrants were leaned more towards the process of reproduction, not personal interest.

But Tavros felt a strong interest in Bro. A very strong interest. It was so strong, it would leave Equius in a bath of sweat in pure blue envy at the sheer might of this interest he held for Bro.

So back to the depression. Tavros was broken up over Bro rejecting him, so he quit taking care of himself. He forgot to be hungry most days, sleep rarely presented to him its warm embrace, and all that he could think about was Bro. He could have handled it better, could have moved on with his damn life, but he couldn't. It was like his psyche and body were at a perpetual stand-still until he could be convinced that Bro didn't feel the same way about him. He and Bro slept on opposite sides of the futon, as far apart as possible. Tavros had even heard Bro fall off his side of the futon one night, having rolled himself so far off the edge of the bed to try and keep himself at a distance from the troll.

He reminded Dave about those months that he hadn't been sleeping well and "looked like he was suffering insomnia in a manure truck," as Dave had put it so delicately one morning at breakfast.

And then one night, it happened. Tavros started crying in the middle of the night. He didn't know why, he tried to stop, but his tear ducts were just having none of it. Then the impossible happened. Bro had slid over to Tavros' side of the bed and was hugging him, telling him that he didn't mean a word of those things he said, that if Tavros was just a little bit older, he would never have put him through that. He just wanted Tavros to be sure that this was what he wanted before ramming into it and getting way over his head.

The number one thing Bro kept telling him was how fucked up it was. He said it like a mantra under his breath every time Tavros held onto his arm or laced fingers with him, like a reminder that he was terrified of forgetting whenever he was around the troll. He refused to kiss Tavros for months into their relationship until he neared the age of 18 at the very least. Tavros was only able to sneak a peck on the cheek when Bro was asleep, and even then the man was on guard, covering his head with a pillow instantaneously after Tavros's lips met Bro's cheek and some times Tavros got trapped in an awkward, pillow to face mouse trap.

Then on his 18th wriggling day, Tavros finally got to kiss his matesprit and a lot more that Dave implored him not to go into detail about just as he began to. He had never seen Bro so freaked out in all the years he had known him until that day, like he was going to get shot in the head later that night instead of have incredible, alien sex.

Eventually, the longer they dated, Bro's mantra stopped, either that or he had settled to keep it in his head. He started returning Tavros's affections, he stopped asking for Tavros's permission to touch him, although that took a great deal of time to get him to stop doing, and an even longer time to get Bro to take the reins.


"So now," Tavros growled at Dave, finishing up his story. "I am going to have to start from square one, because you had to guilt trip him."

Dave began gently, his voice eerily monotonous, though there was a very destinct rage lingering behind each word. "Tav, I thought my brother was raping my friend, okay? What the fuck did you expect me to do? I fled like a pussy, so when I saw him again, I wanted to fix that, I thought I was fixing my mistake for bailing on you by telling him to stop fucking touching you. I must be mixed up in the head for seeing my full grown guardian fucking my friend who is almost half his age and thinking 'RAPE'. Yeah, that's me, bad Dave, not having the balls to run in and shove him off of you like I should have if he REALLY HAD BEEN FUCKING RAPING YOU. That would have made this whole prancing parade easier for all of us, wouldn't it? We could all have had a nice big laugh over my mistake."

Tavros sat through Dave's speech, stunned, at a loss for words, though when they came, Dave was already getting out of his chair, grabbing the troll and holding him in a painfully tight hug. That was not what he had expected.

"I don't give a fuck about your sappy love story bullshit, Tav. I just needed to know that my friend wasn't raped. That's all I needed to know," Dave snarled, his hold on Tav like iron, face buried into Tavros's neck. "Jesus, christ, you're my friend, okay? I'm not made out of stone, I flipped out, I didn't know what to do, so fuck you, but I care about you, you little shitwad."

He had never told Tav that he cared about him, just kind of shrugged and said 'sure, whatever' when Tav asked if they were friends once. That had really been about it. Dave was throwing down all the cool cards, just dumping the wheelbarrow he had of them at Tav's feet to tell him that he was scared of his buddy getting fucked up by his brother.

[solarOrigins]

Up on the roof, Bro sat with his back to the air conditioner, Karkat turned sideways in his lap with his head resting on his chest. He was vaguely wondering what was taking so long, what Tav could be telling him and Dave's plausible reactions. He had been planning to take everyone out to dinner to celebrate Tav's return, but he doubted Dave wanted to be anywhere with him right now.

Karkat was drifting in and out of focus in his lap. Luckily Dave didn't scare him bad enough to start the troll crying, but Bro was rubbing his back gently anyway. It kept the troll calm and mostly spaced out so he wouldn't freak out on him.

Karkat purred softly, closing his eyes and letting Bro pet him.

[raunchyJanitor]

"Um, where's Karkat?" Tavros asked suddenly, causing Dave to stiffen in shock.

Dave must not be as a good of a matesprit as he was a friend, which was pretty shitty either way. "I left him with Bro."

"You left him with Bro, after you were under the assumption that Bro was a rapist?"

"I thought I had scared him enough not to touch Karkat, I mean, I pulled my sword out and threatened him and--"

"YOU PULLED YOUR SWORD OUT?!" Tavros yelped, squirming out of Dave's arms to look at him in horror. "Is Bro alright? You didn't hurt him, did you?" Well, hurt him beyond psychological damage, as it had already been established that Bro was back to his guilt tripping ways.

As it turned out, Tavros was a better matesprit than Dave was.

Dave squinched up his face, aggravated over how one massive mistake piled onto the next. "He's fine, I didn't hurt him, I just tried to shake him up a little. It's Karkat who's probably flipping out right now." And you left him up there, you dumb son of whore hopping bitch.

Tavros stared at Dave in frustration, as if wanting to call him a hundred, rude, insulting things and shove him for being such an idiot, but none of them came. Instead, he grabbed Dave by the wrist and started marching towards the door, growling, "We are fixing this, right now, no running away. You are going to apologize for what you said."

Dave didn't argue, following Tavros out the door and hurriedly locking it behind him with one hand as Tavros lead him up the stairs and onto the roof.

"Bro! Bro, where are you?" Tavros hollered as soon as he pushed the door open to the roof top, looking around for them on the empty expanse. He didn't have to search so hard when his nose picked up their scent around the air conditioner and he dragged Dave with him over to machinery, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration, but mostly worry. He just needed to see for himself that Bro was okay.

Dave didn't have to be dragged up there, he would have run if he had to, and it was unsettling to see shy, timid, nervous Tavros take over like this, though under the circumstances, it was completely understandable.

[solarOrigins]

"I'm fine" Bro replied with a sigh. "Just getting what I deserve you know?" His hand stilled on Karkat's back, and he let his head thunk back against the air conditioner.

Karkat looked up at their approach, eyes widening at Tavro's presence. He skittered off Bro's lap, to try and hide behind him.

[raunchyJanitor]

Tavros didn't pay much mind to Karkat as soon as he spotted his matesprit, hurrying over to him and hugging him.

"Dave didn't know we were dating, he didn't mean any of those things he said," Tavros muttered to Bro, eyeing Dave over his shoulder and growling, "Isn't that right, Dave?"

Dave nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes facing his feet. He couldn't bring himself to look at Karkat, ashamed of his behavior, frustrated over leaving Karkat alone up here with Bro. The poor little guy probably still had no idea as to what the hell was going on. He would have snatched the troll up in his arms and held him, like Tavros was trying to do with Bro, only he knew that he shouldn't, not after that look Karkat gave him when he armed himself. It didn't feel right to grab him and hold him like he wanted to, but rivaled with himself not to. So he didn't. And that might be a mistake.

Well.

He'd just add it to the nice little mountain he had made of them. What could one more do?

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