Unspoken Attraction (Dave/Karkat)

Once Dave finished pouring water into the cooking pot, via soup can, he got another can out from a cupboard, another 'sh-plop' arriving soon after. He wasn't adding two cans of soup to feed two people, he was just really hungry, that's all. Even the really gross sound it made wasn't throwing his appetite off.

After adding another can of water and tossing the empty soup cans in the garbage, he decided to go check up on the little bundle of dickweed in his living room. "Where do you want me to set up your bean bags? Because if you don't tell me now, I'm not going to set them up at all."

Karkat, automatically assuming Dave could see him since he currently had his blanket tugged up over his eyes, made a shrugging motion. He honestly didn't care in the slightest.

"I can't tell, are you heaving again or are you shrugging? Because either one doesn't really answer my question." Dave stated, leaning against the side of the futon.

Struggling a little to get his hand free of the blankets, he thrust his first upwards with his middle finger jutting into the air. He held it there for a few moments before pulling it back under the blanket and curling up in a tight little ball, a suspicious little mound in the middle that was probably the bundle from before.

Barely a few seconds after Karkat's middle finger was brought back down, as that seemed to be the only language the little shit spoke, a bean bag came flying at full speed to the side of the troll's head.

"Fine, you wanna do this? You get ONE bean bag. And you're sleeping out in the living room with Bro, who also snores like a fat pig by the way." He was going to let the troll sleep in his room, but if the troll was going to be such a fuckwad about everything, Dave couldn't see how sharing a room with him would be any more pleasant.

Karkat hissed sharply, jerking into a tighter ball in a motion so quick, it knocked the beanbag off onto the floor. His hands came up to cover his head, tugging the blanket up as well.

He quivered lightly under the blanket, the attack having been uncalled for in his opinion, not to mention the fact that it had hurt. This was exactly why he hadn't wanted to come here, but it was either here or to the lalonde's again, and Mom's passive agressive strife and Rose's critical analysis had him terrified within the first hour, there was no way he would live if it was attempted again.

And he couldn't go with Jade because he couldn't swim and she couldn't understand him at all.

Dave climbed onto the futon from the side, plopping himself next to Karkat. He was getting nothing from the guy. Zip, nada. It was almost disturbing how silent the troll was being to the point that he wondered if something had happened on the way over that Bro was too much of a dick to give him a heads up about before hand. Nobody was this quiet: not even sick, grumpy people. Was there a death in the family? Did his pet run away? Did he even have a pet? He didn't think that trolls could keep pets without eating them, except for maybe Tavros of course.

He decided to just not say anything for a little while, settling for watching the lump of blankets curl in on itself.

Karkat's trembling eventually ceased, but he didn't move from where he was curled in a ball. He was breathing deep and even, trying to pretend that he was asleep in the hopes that Dave would leave him alone. At least if Dave left him alone, he could drag the beanbag chair over to a corner and curl up for the remainder of the month he would be staying there.

Dave watched Karkat go into a false slumber and decided to do the same, even though he had soup in the kitchen that he was waiting for. It wasn't as if he was really going to pass out, he was just doing this to see how far he could go before the troll would break his silent streak. That and to just bug him, which was kind of obvious because this fake snoozing involved him stretching out on the couch and trying to use the troll like a cushion, pressing his back heavily into Karkat and yawning extravagantly, "Ohhhhh maaaaaaaaaan, what a dayyyyyy. I think I'll just go to sleep right now on this lumpy-ass pillow."

His feet pushed against the rail of the futon for support as he continued his backwards assault on Karkat, pushing the troll further into the futon. He twisted his shoulders from side to side as if he just couldn't get comfy enough on the 'lumpy-ass pillow', completely poker face about the entire ordeal.

Karkat tried to wriggle away at first, and when Dave flopped down on top of him, his face was forced into the cushion, cutting off his air supply. He panicked and went into full struggle mode, thrashing under Dave until he managed to thrash his way out from under Dave onto the floor, one of his horns catching hard on the coffee table with a loud Crack! He let out an agonized keen, his hands clutching head, cupping his horns for safety, as translucent cherry tears dribbled down his cheeks and onto the carpet.

His whole body shook, making it hard for him to get up, so he just quickly kicked out until he was edged tightly over in the corner where he could curl into a ball of misery.

"Ah shit." Gravity just had to work against Dave all the time, now didn't it? If it wasn't falling down stairs, it was smashing trolls' heads into coffee tables. In the immortal words of a pop culture reference, which is ironic because those things should die out after two week's worth of use: he dun goofed.

The boy in deep shit slipped off the couch, watching the sobbing ball of gloom from a distance. Bro was going to kick the ever loving Christ out of him. Ok. Ok. He could fix this. It was only a little after nine now and Bro said he wouldn't be back until two so that at least left him with about five hours to resolve this. It was bad enough that he had done something this intensely uncool, having not expected the troll to fall into a tearful mess like a child with a stubbed toenail, but he also would have Bro with his foot so far up his ass he would be able to taste the shoe laces.

Fuck, Karkat had to be at least eighteen, why the fuck was he sobbing like a baby? Was he really that much of a wuss? How old was this guy anyway? And he STILL wasn't saying a fucking word either, not even an 'OW' or a 'FUCKASS' or--

That's when it clicked.

This was beyond just ignoring Dave and being an asshole which the troll clearly was by all the middle fingers he brought up as though it made him appear to be one intelligent person worth listening to. No... Anyone with functioning vocal cords and a brain would have spoken up, especially judging by how painful that cracking sound was. And that was just it. Karkat must not have functioning vocal cords.

Therefore--

"You're mute, aren't you?" Dave asked, not even really expecting an answer since the troll was too much of a wreck for him to expect a response that wasn't a middle finger or something equally as mentally stimulating. "Fucking Hell-" He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, a flurry of curse words sounding under his breath. He made a mute troll cry. Wow. This was perfect. It was time for him to back the fuck out.

"Ok- know what-? I'm checking on the soup now." He stepped back slowly before flashstepping into the kitchen, rubbing under his sunglasses and still cursing like mad as he paced around the tiled floor. Fuckingfuckfuckfuck, he didn't know what to do with crying people. Crying people that were his age. And that had a penis, or something similar to one to some extent. Oh great, and now to tally it up, he abandoned the ball of sob in the living room- just one more thing to tally up on his list of BAD MOVES.

Karkat curled tighter into a ball. Troll horns were only mildly sensitive, they really couldn't feel much touching them unless they were being outright fondled. The way his horn had caught the table had actually hurt about the equivalent of being shot simply because it had got the nerves on the horn and the super sensitive nerves at the base. In fact, it had so much force behind it, the base of Karkat's horn was bleeding; he could feel the slickness of the blood against his skin.

Having your horns ripped out and bleeding to death was a real threat to trolls, there were a lot of little blood vessels that were right under the horns and if they were to be ripped open, only spontaneous medical attention would give the troll a marginal chance to survive.

He wanted to go home. He wanted to call Mr. Egbert to come get him. Karkat would rather be with Rose than where he was at that very moment. He no longer hated Dave Strider, he was terrified of him. Karkat wasn't actually a brave troll. When he was leading the 12 of them through sgrub, he only put on a brave act, pretended to be a leader so that they could all survive. Now he couldn't even call up the mask to hide how pathetic he was when he was cowering in fear.

The soup was still nowhere near done, just as Dave had suspected it would be, but he had to pace around the kitchen a few more times before he was calm enough to head into the living room again. Spotting the mutant red blood staining one of the troll's candy corn horns, he flashstepped back with a first aid kit from the bathroom. He swore that if he had accidentally cracked the troll's head open, he was going to give himself the biggest guilt trip in the history of man. Cautiously, he stepped near the quivering troll and flicked the lid of the kit open, trying to find something that might help.

Dave placed the kit by his feet after pulling out some rubbing alcohol and a small white handkerchief from a little stack of them in the case, dabbing a bit of the liquid onto the white square. "Sit up so I can see your horn." Not that he expected the troll to actually listen to him since he seemed to be in too much of a state of shock to move much of anything, but it seemed like it couldn't hurt to ask.

Karkat edged farther back into the corner, curling tighter with a slightly hysterical sounding keen. His hands curled farther around his horns protectively as his mind screamed 'OH GOD, HE'S GOING TO RIP IT OUT AND KILL ME!' Karkat was terrified of the man leaning over him now, all he had wanted was to curl up in a corner and be left alone and before he came out here John promised that Dave would want nothing to do with him so he could just stay in a corner the entire time. Why did John have to be so wrong.

"Stop acting like a maggot, or worm, grub, whatever the fuck troll babies are called," Dave muttered as he squatted next to Karkat, placing the rubbing alcohol beside him. "I'm not leaving you alone until you're all better, you know that right?" He sat on his ass casually even though internally he was panicking over the troll not letting him dig himself out of this six foot grave he had dug himself into.

"I can wait here all night little dude." Or at least until the soup was done or when Bro got back. Oh Gog how he prayed that he wouldn't have to wait until Bro came home.

Karkat let out a terrified little trill at what he perceived as a threat and curled into a tighter ball. He just wanted to be left alone, that's all he ever wanted here!

"You know, for a mute, you sure do make a lot of noise." The Strider stated, pulling out his phone. He started texting the youngest Egderp for help as fast as he could mash the buttons, regardless of what hour it was in Washington right now.

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Yo, John, your boyfriend is crying right now. How do I make him stop?
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From: Dave

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geeze, what did you do dave? i promised him that you would leave him alone while he was there, why do you have to prove me wrong? he doesn't like you, bro, he's scared of you!
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From John

Karkat trilled again, softer. The troll noises such as the growling and chirps and trills didn't come from vocal cords like they did with humans, they came from his chest and diaphragm, coupled with the air rushing from his mouth, kind of like whistling. He couldn't help making them, it was instinct.

Dave glanced back at the trilling troll then back to his phone, texting away furiously.
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Yeah, thanks for telling me about your little promise ahead of time, could have saved me from the load of shit I'm in right now. So how do I plug the water works? I can't leave him alone now though, I don't want him to get blood on the carpet.
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From: Dave

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blood?! what the fuck did you do to him dave?! karkat's sensitive! the only way i know how to get him to stop crying is to get my dad to calm him down, you're n your own there.
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From John

Karkat's trill increased in volume again.

Dave continued to ignore the feral noise coming from Karkat, trying to keep himself from getting any more ticked off with the troll. It was his own fault that the troll was making those sounds in the first place, which was really just pouring salt in the wound when he thought about it like that.

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Then what the fuck does Mr. Egbert do to calm him down?
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From: Dave

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i don't know, he never lets me stay for it. and you never answered my question! why is he bleeding?! what did you do?!
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From John

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I admit to nothing. There isn't even all that much blood.
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Blood was leaking onto the carpet from Karkat's horn, leaving a puddle of candy red around the troll's head. Dave went back and deleted the second sentence.

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I admit to nothing. It's merely a flesh wound. Now tell me what I need to do to make him stop balling. Find out your dad's secrets and text me back. Tell him the troll stubbed his toe on some shit or whatever.
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From: Dave

He was seriously considering slipping the troll a ruffie if it would get him to calm down long enough for him to clean up the mess Karkat was making. What was sad was that he wasn't even ironically thinking this- they actually had a bottle of ruffies in the bathroom.

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dave, my dad isn't even in the same state! i can't ask him! he's in like new york or something right now! geeze! bandage him first, then worry about making him stop crying. where is he bleeding anyway?
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From John

Karkat's keening softened to a low whine. He was starting to feel a little dizzy.

Dave texted quickly when he noticed the troll's face grow pale.
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Fuck, brb
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From: Dave

"Ok, Egderp isn't being any help, as usual, so before you start to pass out from blood loss, let me take care of your horn." Dave shifted onto his knees and reached over to Karkat's horn with the handkerchief, adding guardedly, "Don't bite me either or you'll regret it."