Hot for Strider (Karkat/Bro)

"Where is the bathroom?" Karkat asked, almost hesitantly. He was clearly uncomfortable at the thought of changing in front of Dave.

He pointed at his door. "Down the hall to the right. First door on the left. I'll take your clothes to the laundry room when you come back out." He pulled his phone out and sent a text to John. "S'up Derp? Karkat is staying over her tonight."

Karkat nodded, quickly moving to the directed door.

'whoa! really?' john text back, clearly excited

"Yes, really. Appearently Sollux kicked him out of their house and won't let him back." Dave shut his phone and flopped backwards.

Jeff was sitting on the couch, playing on his xbox again. Lil Cal still had a controller too. He looked over at Karkat when he exited Dave's room. "Feelin any better? Need a towel or anything?"

Karkat shook his head quickly, the slight flush returning to his cheeks as he hurried to the bathroom. Once he changed he came back out, the pants threatening to fall from his hips, even though no one would see anything since the shirt practically swallowed him whole. He stuck his head in Dave's room. "um, I'm dressed" he mumbled.

'dude that is so awesome, not the kicking out part, the part where he's staying at your place. what's he look like? is he still the same grouch as before?' John texted back

"He's pretty much the same, minus the grey skin and horns," Dave sent back. "Same piss poor attitude. Bro was hitting on him, I think. I don't know. He's so weird sometimes." He stuck his phone into his pocket and got up. He took Karkat's wet clothes from him. "I'll be back in a minute."

Karkat nodded hesitantly, following him to the end of the hall. He looked over at the tv, where Bro and Cal were playing, before speaking up softly. "Can I, um, sit and watch you play?" he asked

Jeff nodded, without looking away from the tv. He patted the spot to his left on the couch, before quickly putting his hand back on the controller. Dave glared at the back of his head, before continuing down the hallway. Bro wasn't usually this nice to his friends. He didn't treat them like crap or anything, he usually told them to leave him the hell alone though.

Hesitantly, like he wasn't used to interacting with people older than him, he moved and sat on the futon next to him. He watched the game progress in silence.

"Hey, wanna play?" Before Jeff let Karkat reply he took the second controller from Cal and handed it to Karkat. He stopped the race he was on the went to the two player select screen.

"Oh, um, sure" Karkat mumbled, taking the controller and selecting a racer. "Um, I'm not really very good at playing racing games" he admitted softly.

Jeff chuckled as he reached over and ruffled the smaller male's hair. "We can't all be as awesome as me. You seem like you're pretty close to it though."

Dave was frowning (because pouting is unironic and uncool) as he watched the other two. Bro was never this nice to any of his friends. Not even John. Dave was pretty sure his older brother wasn't too fond of the younger Egbert though. He usually never asked Dave to play either. He'd play by himself or play with Cal.

Why was he being so nice?

"You, um, you don't have to be nice to me out of pity or anything, you know" Karkat mumbled. "I get by the way Dave keeps glaring at you, that you're not usually nice to people?"

Jeff slung his arm around Karkat, while only using his right hand to control his car. It wasn't working out too well. He didn't give a shit though. It was just game.

"I'm only nice to the cuties like you."

Karkat blushed, his racer crashing into a tree on screen. "A-Are you coming on to me?" he squeaked

Jeff was smirking as his car crashed into a wall. "Maybe." Dave huffed and crossed his arms. Was he seriously gonna do this shit?

Karkat could practically feel his face burning. "I-I'm only 17 you know. Y-you could get in a lot of trouble for that!"

Jeff only winked. "It's only illegal if you get caught."
If he didn't know Bro would beat the shit out of him and then some, he would have punched his brother. He saw Karkat first. He knew Karkat first. They were closer in age too and probably had more in common. Why could Bro find someone closer to his age? Or at least someone Dave didn't like too? If he knew the older Strider didn't know about his crush he would say he was doing this to be a dick.

After a minute of silence, Karkat gave a little snort of amusement and gave Jeff a little shove. "You're just fucking with me like an asshole" he accused happily.

Jeff had moved his arm and had both hand back on his controller. "Not yet. I could be fuckin you later tonight though. Dave snorted before going to his room and slamming the door. Bro was such a dick. He pulled out his phone to John. "My brother is the biggest asshole on the planet. He keeps flirting with Karkat."

Karkat laughed. "I'm not one of your video game whores" he smirked "You have to put a little effort into the wooing to reel in a real romantic like me"

'hahaha oh man, that sucks dave. good luck with that'

Jeff tossed aside his controller. He leaned over and threw both his arms around the smaller male this time. "A little effort? I can do that."

Dave was fuming as he replied to John's text. "He always pulls some stupid shit. Always bothering my friends."

Karkat laughed, shoving at Bro. "Okay, you've made your point" he smiled. "You can stop now"

Jeff nuzzled him and purred. "Maybe I don't wanna stop."

Dave was laying on his bed now. "Is your dad ever a dick like this? Or I am just extremely unlucky?"

'nah, my dad's just embarrassing when ever i bring people around'

Karkat stopped shoving Jeff and just let him hang on him as he continued to play. "Whatever floats your boat I guess."