Unspoken Attraction

It had been a long plane ride. Long and trying and just plain unpleasant. Karkat was rubbing at his eyes before the elder Strider even got them onto the bus. He was damn near silent (well that was obviously not his fault, Troll Biology was different than Human biology so he couldn't help but grunt and growl when he was jostled, that had nothing to do with his faulty vocal cords) the entire time, just enough to pique the Strider's interest.

He had been informed that Karkat was the angry little troll that typed in capslocks all the fucking time, and it stood to reason that he was just as loud in person. It was worrying that the little troll (little guy barely came up to his chest and his horns didn't add much to him either) hadn't uttered a single insult the entire forty five minutes he had been in sunny, sweltering Houston Texas. Even more worrying, the troll hadn't complained about the heat even once, and Bro could see the pink tinted sweat starting to soak into the neck of the grey shirt he wore.

By the time Bro was guiding his house guest off the bus at the corner right by the apartment building he lived in, he had it all figured out. It had to have been the cruelest of pranks for them not to warn him, cruel for both the Striders and the troll, but ingenious none the less. But Bro suspected that with all the last minute planning both parties were making so the troll wasn't left alone and vulnerable, the minor, yet important detail had been forgotten.

Rather than risk the elevator, even though Karkat looked ready to pass out under the skin toned makeup and cheap shades that hid his trollish pallor (Bro did not trust the elevator, it made weird noises and shook. Occasionally even dropping a few feet while it was running. The cable was going to snap and drop someone to their death one day, he knew it.).Bro gently lifted him, holding him against his chest with one hand and his suitcase over his shoulder with his other, carrying him up the dozen or so flights of stairs and then into the significantly cooler apartment on the top floor.

Karkat let out a nearly soundless sigh of relief at the change in temperature, practically boneless in Bro's hold.

Crouched at his computer, a lone Dave Strider resided, his shadeless, dark rimmed eyes staring at his computer screen as if in the hope that his reflection would breathe inspiration for him. Yes, he need only stare long enough into his tired eyes and this award winning rap would surely write itself.

A gurgle erupted from his stomach, a desperate plea for his attention if he ever heard one. Also, it made for a damn fine excuse to drag his fine ass to the kitchen. With his shades situated back on his face, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and hair mussy from over combing it with his fingers, Dave emerged from his cubbyhole. His bare feet shuffled across the apartment and into the kitchen, the muffled shift of feet dragging over carpet and then onto tile pausing with the eruption of swords spilling from the fridge. Casually, he avoided slicing his feet open and retrieved a bottle of aj.

Yes, a nice, frosty brew and then he'd get right back to that rap.

Interrupting his thoughts mid-swig, was the sound of the front door opening, followed by an unfamiliar sigh. Poking his head from the kitchen, Dave spotted his brother and a tiny brunette boy in his arms.

"Welcome back."

"Good, you're up and about. Means I don't have to drag your ass out of bed." Bro stated, gently setting Karkat down on the futon. "How's the writing going?"

Karkat shifted to get comfortable before he was out like a light, drooling quietly onto Bro's pillows.

Dave glanced towards his room, sipping his apple juice before answering his brother. "It's... going." Going nowhere.

"Still got your writers block?" Bro asked, setting Karkat's bag down behind the futon. "Need me to strife it out of you?"

Dave moved up to the futon, leaning against it so that he could get a look at their new house guest. "I'd take a sword through my skull if it'd give me something to write about."

"You don't mean that" Bro scoffed.

"Maybe, maybe not. Let's try it and see what happens," Dave grumbled, hanging over the side of the futon with his arms tucked under his chin.

"He look interesting to you or something?" Bro asked with a raised brow

More like fucking adorable.

"I guess." Dave drank more of his apple juice. "He sleeping out here?"

"Nah. Most of Tav's shit is still out here. Can't have his scent soaking into it all for the few weeks he's staying while Tav is gone. He'll have to stay in your room. That's why I tossed the bean bag chairs in there at you earlier. Robert said he nests in them or some shit" Bro shrugged. "Besides, its probably not a good idea for him to be out here when I get home from my gigs. Probably forget he's there and flop down right on top of him." He made a flat motion with his hands.

" 'Sides, if he has one of those night terrors Robert says he's prone to about the game, its better if its your shitty selfies he wrecks verses my mixing gear."

"Stow away my easily breakable shit. Gotcha." Dave avoided the temptation to reach down and start playing with the troll's hair, noting that he still had his horns. Not many of the trolls could afford to keep their horns, save for Sollux and Nepeta. He was sure they were easy enough to hide with a beanie, but with the Texan heat hitting them hard this summer, Dave wasn't so sure how the little guy was going to survive out there.

"You'll have to watch him while I'm out" Bro stated. "I'm not sure Trolls were made for heat, especially with this heatwave going on. I doubt he'll be able to go out in three pounds of foundation with three digit degrees."

Bro moved around Dave to the kitchen. "To check one issue from the list, Robert was thoughtful enough to send a list of shit the troll deems edible."

"Couldn't he just tell us what he likes?" Dave asked, curious as to why a list needed to be made. "Or does he have some kind of food allergies?"

"Most of the trolls still have trouble remembering what all the different foods are I think. Robert just thought this would be easier." Bro replied "You want lunch?"

"Yeah, we're running low on frozen food." Dave took another sip of his apple juice before standing up straight, leaning with his back against the futon. "Should I move him before the couch starts soaking up his scent?"

"I think he's fine for now. I'll have to change the sheets before Tav comes home anyway" Bro replied "What are you feelin like?"

Dave stretched his arms over his head. "A sub sounds pretty good right now."

"Subway, Jimmy Johns, or somewhere else?" Bro asked

"Jimmy Johns."

"Go ahead and order then. My card is where it usually is" Bro replied, coming back out of the kitchen with a small bottle of AJ.

Dave glanced at the apple juice in Bro's hand, an immature side of him bristling in the back of his mind about how all of the apple juice in the fridge some how belonged to him because it was his favorite beverage. However, his brother was the one who paid for food, and just about everything else, thereby, Bro could start eating the TV if he wanted simply because of the fact that it was technically his property.

He shifted off the couch and over to Bro's trunk of junk, pulling out a burger themed wallet and heading towards the kitchen. He started looking up the number to the place on the sticky note of fast food places beside their home phone, his hands busy with getting one of the cards out of the wallet.

"Don't bother ordering for the short stack. I'll make him some macaroni or something later when he gets up." Bro stated

Dave gave his brother a thumbs up as he placed the order, asking for the usual for his brother as well as for himself. As soon as he was finished, he put the card back in the wallet and the wallet back in the trunk, careful as he closed the lid so that Karkat wouldn't wake from it.

Bro sat on the coffee table with a grunt and grabbed the xbox controller. "You have a corner set up for him in there?" he asked as he turned the system on.