Unspoken Attraction (Dave/Karkat)

Dave grimaced. He shouldn't have brought this up now ever. This was stupid, he was stupid. They could have just had a perfectly dandy ol' time dealing with Dave's emotional crisis bullshit without bringing up this unwanted romance that should have been put down faster than Old Yeller the first time the abomination took root in Dave's brain.

This was the same guy who raised him, changed his diapers, dealt with his annoying toddler ass. Of course he wouldn't think of Dave as anything other than the same little baby boy he taught how to walk, much less, treat him any differently than one should treat their little baby brother.

So then why would the same guy sexually toy with his little brother's crush? Fuck someone his little brother's age, his little brother's friend no less, tell his little brother that he was not beyond fucking his friend while his little brother slept in the same bed? The same guy that would not blanch, flinch, nor cringe at the thought of sharing images with others of his little brother finger fucking himself.

But that's what poker faces are for and that's where Dave got his wires crossed.

Dave's wires were the spare electronics in a cardboard box at a thrift shop, i.e., all over the fucking place.

What he thought was the potential of romance was really just his brother doing a shit job at creating a strict line between what is and isn't appropriate sexual conduct between siblings. Everything he felt towards his brother, that wasn't romance, that was just idol worship. Yeah. That's what kids are supposed to feel towards their guardians.

Then why did this still hurt so much?

"I'm okay, I'm fine," Dave hissed between sobs, wiping the tears away with his good hand.

Bro pulled Dave back to his chest. "Obviously you're not" he mumbled, wrapping his arms around Dave again.

Dave cried harder when Bro pulled him back into his arms, crying for reasons that Bro never needed to know about, feelings his brother couldn't reciprocate. He was the sobbing little shit Bro raised on his own, nothing more. Dave already had Karkat and John. He shouldn't be so greedy. Yet the rejection still felt as harsh as if Karkat himself had refused him.

Bro shushed him gently. "Hey, let's finish up in here and lay down. Its been a long two days for you."

"Yeah... yeah okay." Dave slowly pulled away from Bro again so that he could reach the faucets and turn off the water. He was beyond clean by this point, his toes and fingers turned into prunes after enduring the spray for so long. When he brought his hand back up to rub his eyes, they still felt hot and puffy from crying.

Bro reached out and grabbed the last two dry towels, offering the first to Dave. "You can sleep, or watch some tv or anything you want, okay? I can even ask about room service"

Dave didn't trust his voice when his throat felt so taught from crying, so he just nodded as he took the towel and quickly replaced it with the wet hand towel around his waist.

Bro used the other towel to gently dry Dave off, keeping his touches extra gentle, before turning it on himself.

Dave rung the hand towel a few times before taking it with him and their dirty clothes into the bedroom.

Bro waited until Dave was gone to take his wet boxers off and drape in on the edge of the tub, wrapping the towel around his waist. He followed Dave out then. "Hand me my jeans will you?"

Dave sifted through the clothes until he found Bro's jeans, handing them over to Bro.

Bro nodded his thanks before moving to put them on under the towel, commando.

Dave directed his attention towards dumping the dirty clothes in the straw hamper by the bed, vaguely surprised that the place actually provided one of those. He then flopped onto a corner of the bed, dragging one of the bed's pillows over his head to block out the light from outside.

Bro looked up when Dave flopped down. "Gonna put on clean clothes?"

Dave a made a noise through the pillow like it was too much effort, drawing his knees up towards his chest.

"You're gonna regret it when you get cold" Bro stated. "Want me to order lunch or anything?"

"Do whatever," Dave replied, lifting the pillow just enough so that his speech was legible.

Bro sighed before coming over to gently lay on the bed next to him.

Dave grabbed the edge of the bed cover and pulled it over his side, providing some lazy form of warmth for him.

Bro smiled, and rolled onto his side and pulled Dave to him. "Hey."

Dave straightened his legs out and pulled the bed cover further until it covered both of them. "Sup."

"I don't know, why don't you tell me little man" Bro chuckled. "I guess its nap time if you're all ready to cover up."

Dave scooted closer until his damp hair was pressed against Bro's chest. "Or we could gossip and braid each other's hair."

"Sorry, I can't do corn rows." Bro snickered. "Though gossiping is still on the table."

"But corn rows would make us look so classy in court," Dave chuckled.