Chapter Text
You're working late, covering for someone, really, scrubbing at old coffee stains in the shitty wood counter and serving to old people's every needs. You've also noticed there's a lot of younger kids in tuxedos, suits, and dresses. Big ass sparkly dresses, and on top of that, is the dead giveaway: corsages on girls' wrists. It's a local high school prom night. Which is good for business, you guess, more tips for you and less stank of old pruney elders.
To clarify: you are not a high schooler, you are Dave Strider, sophomore in college, and you work at a 24-hour diner in Texas. Looking around, there's lots of couples, but at one booth, sits a dark-haired kid in a white button-up and slacks, staring out the window with his coffee all alone. He's in your section, so you approach him with your pad of paper and pen.
"Good evening, welcome to CoCo's Diner, are you ready to order?" You recite, watching him just about startle and look up at you. He looks Mexican, and very feminine. He may not be a he, just a girl in a button-up for all you know, they could tell you they're a girl or a boy and you'd believe either one.
...Rose would hit you over the head for thinking something so fucking ignorant.
The person speaks up, clearing their throat, "No, thanks." They take another sip of coffee and look back out the window.
You take that response without question and retreat back to your spot behind the counter and sit on a stool, watching for tables who look like they're waiting for assistance.
Your co worker comes over and joins you behind the counter on the row of stools. She's a nice, sometimes sassy girl named Peregrine. Obviously, the name's weird as fuck, and when you asked about it she joked "my parents like birds." That was enough for you.
"Pretty busy tonight, yeah?" She says to you, and you nod back to her. "Did you talk to that kid, he's the only one over there all alone."
"I noticed. But no, I didn't talk to them."
"What an unfortunate night to be here like that."
You don't wanna pity the kid, so you shrug, then you're waved over by a group of three old men who would like their bill. You quickly produce it and walk away to allow them their privacy or whatever.
A hot plate is slid onto the counter from the kitchen, so you pick it up and deliver it to its table before reciting the usual script, "Can I get y'all anything?" The table unanimously agrees that, no, they don't need anything.
You're allowed a moment to sit down again and then Peregrine gets up to help someone in her section, so you're sort of sitting there alone looking around. Everyone appears to be temporarily satisfied, except the kid by themself, who looks to be out of coffee.
You go over to them, pouring a new cup, and they politely nod some sort of thanks. A little shy, you think. You're a little curious, so you talk to them.
"Mind if I sit?"
The high schooler bites their lip a little but nods, watching you in an almost... Suspicious fashion. You sit down and put the coffee pot down.
"Y'get date-ditched?" You ask, and you think the person expected the question because there's a small sigh from them. It's subtle and quiet, but there.
"No, we planned to go our separate ways." Something about the way that's said leaves you with a suspicious over their genuineness.
"Is that sarcasm?"
"What, no. I'm serious. She wanted to go with a boy because she's not out to her parents yet, so we went together and then we separated." The small explanation he quickly blurt out seems to surprise even him, like he didn't mean to say it. "Not that it's your business." You hit the nail right on the head with that one.
You laugh, putting your arms on the table and overlapping themselves over each other, "So you were her beard?"
"We were each other's beards- why the fuck do you care!" There's a tinge of pink that comes over his face, like he certainly didn't mean to say THAT.
You laugh again, "I was just curious I guess. If you haven't noticed, you're the only one in here dressed up without a date."
The kid's eyes skim over the tables behind you before he focuses back on your face and begins to drink his coffee almost in an angry fashion. The guy is straight up chugging it.
You're pretty sure he's also on his third cup and it's almost 11PM-- the kid must love pulling accidental all nighters. You then notice he has circles forming under his eyes. Poor guy. He looks young too, like he's an underclassman. His date must be an upperclassman, you think.
That prompts you to ask, without regard for possible reactions, "What year are you?"
Somehow, he picks up on exactly where that was going, "I'm eighteen, a senior. I know, baby-faced dwarf, that's me." Oh shit.
Admittedly, he's pretty spot on. You thought he was a girl earlier. Baby-faced describes him fairly well too; soft features, no facial hair, no acne, round eyes, and pretty short. It'd be hard to tell with anyone else when they're sitting, but this guy can't be taller than five feet.
"Oh. Damn dude, you could've fooled me. But I'm pretty sure dwarves are like, at least five foot three."
"Oh fuck you, okay, two inches of difference means nothing." The way he says the insult, you can tell he's not serious about it. Possibly even enjoying the conversation. You know you are.
You also notice he says two inches of difference, which means he's actually an inch taller than you thought. You internally sarcastically applaud him.
"You measure without shoes on, right? Because then it doesn't count." You retort, poking fun at him a little.
"You're the shittiest waiter I've ever met. Do you insult all your customers?" Peregrine passes you by, apparently doing you a favor and picking up the slack you accidentally missed. You should be getting off your shift soon, anyway.
"Yeah actually, I hold state record for crying customers. I don't remember the last time someone walked out without bawling their eyes out." The corner of your mouth turns up in almost a smirk.
"I'm not crying yet, I have a feeling you're lying to me." The guy shifts a little, tucking his feet under his legs. That's kind of a weird way to sit in a booth, but alright.
"I'm getting there, hold your damn horses."
As if he's been continuously keeping up a façade of intimidating anger, his expression breaks into a coy smile and he looks down into his coffee. Cute.
"I've done it again, breaking the customers of CoCo's." You joke.
"I'm still not crying, your record is in jeopardy until I weep like a baby." He's back to his pointed angry look.
"Psh, lighten up man."
"I'm just saying, I expect the big guns."
"Right, well, show's not over. If you still want me to come through on that though, I get off work soon."
And just as quickly as he broke that smile, he broke his angry expression and looked almost dumbfounded. Yeah, you think dumbfounded describes it well. The guy stirs his coffee in a profuse fashion and you think you've put him on the spot, embarrassing him.
You take your arms off the table and look back at Peregrine, who looks like she's doing alright on her own.
"Um, yeah, about that." You look at him and he's looking at the floor, "Sounds cool. I mean, hanging out with you or whatever, not being hypothetically insulted to tears." You snort.
"M'name's Dave."
"Of course it is. Also, you're wearing a nametag."
You look down at it and cover the name before pointing at your face. "My eyes are up here, asshole." That gets a funny little laugh out of him. "I was kind of prompting for yours, actually."
He brings his cup (which you're pretty sure he's emptied by now) up to his face and mumbles something into it that sounds like kitkat. If he was named after a candy, you would lose your shit right there.
"Say again?" You ask.
"Karkat."
"Like..."
"Yes, car and cat. But with K's and one word."
"Karkat. It's interesting to say the least."
He gives you a look that says he doesn't pride himself on how "interesting" his name is. This guy is really expressive too.
Peregrine comes over and asks Karkat if he'd like his check, which he replies to in a somewhat more polite and shy voice that, yes, he'll take the check. Then she tells you that your shift is over and you can go if you sign out, so you look at Karkat and tell him you'll be right back before you get up out of the booth and go into the back room.
You tell Peregrine to let you take Karkat's check and she shakes her head at you like you're silly or something. But you pay for it anyway and come out to sit with Karkat again.
He looks you up and down briefly, "Do you have the check, I'm done here."
"No, don't worry about it."
"What do you.. Oh, come on. It's less than five dollars, let me pay for my own drink."
You make up some bullshit for your petty flirting, "Your senior prom was kind of ruined, jus' lemme do this much."
There's some gears turning in his head like he wants to protest more but doesn't.
"Wanna go then?"
Karkat stands up and you follow lead, realizing just how short he really is, especially in comparison to you, and you think he's noticing the difference like you are. In fact, he looks mad about it, or his expression just has that extra pinch of anger in it.
You're beginning to become convinced his resting face IS angry, and somehow that works, like he's just usually like that, but in a non-scary way.
Karkat asks you where the both of you are going and you say you don't know, which is true, because you're still wondering about that. He scoffs but you think he's intrigued, which is what you're hoping for because you do like him.
After asking a few questions, inconspicuously getting an idea on where to go first, the both of you land in an old wood-fire pizza parlor to get a couple slices to go, and then you take him to a park-like place where you can just talk. It's on a hill and peacefully dark, and as a plus, it's so late at night no one is around or there to make noise.
So talk you do, and you learn Karkat has a big brother, two parents, and a couple of pet hermits, he also likes video games and does some coding, and he has a lot of internet friends. You tell him you do too, although what little he has to say about his own friends is very funny and very interesting.
Karkat also tells you what high school he's going to and tells you some stories about his time there, all of which are thoroughly hilarious, and you conclude he's a pretty good story teller, to say the least.
Of course, he asks similar things that you asked him, so you tell him about your family of two, although you moved out as soon as you could so you don't see your brother much, but leave out that it's on purpose. You tell him you've never had pets because your house was always too dangerous and you don't know how to take care of one in the first place, and for some reason that makes him laugh.
He also asks about your high school experience so you tell him you went to a high school about two counties over and it was "just okay". You keep it curt because you never found it very interesting and your life was mostly pretty mundane and you think Karkat gets that.
Quickly enough, you're in comfortable silence and watching the distant lights of businesses and cars and street lamps and you can't help think that, firstly, the view would be a pretty cool poster or album art, and secondarily, you accidentally made this super cheesy-romantic.
You're also fairly sure Karkat is totally buying into it and you're even more sure when your sides are touching and his hand twitches next to yours in the grass like he's waiting for someone to make a real move. And you're pretty tempted, you think you're feeding into your own unintentional romance scene.
He asks you about your dating life actually, which guarantees you're on a very similar thought track.
What do you mean, you ask.
I don't know, just, who was the last person you saw, he requests, still looking out over the lit up horizon.
You tell Karkat about this nice girl you used to know who had crazy black hair and a one-of-a-kind laugh that was both scary as hell and admirable. You also tell him that she was blind but she never seemed lost in where she was going, which was just another -ism of hers. But you conclude by telling him you were just too good as friends and nothing else and he nods thoughtfully.
"Why do you ask about that, anyway?" Not that you're offended by something personal, but it is a little unexpected.
"I dunno. I'm just wondering.. Curious, I guess."
"Curious?"
"Yeah."
You look at the cars below too, remaining quiet for the time being.
"Curious about what?" You then add.
"Um." He starts. You feel a little self conscious suddenly, "Texas is... Texas. A random guy sort of asks me on a date-type thing, I don't know what to think. Are you actually even queer?"
Woah, now you're a little offended, "Damn, at least you're not stepping around the subject. What do you mean am I even actually queer?"
"Well fuck, I didn't really mean it like- okay, I just have a little doubt, you could be pulling some elaborate malicious prank on me for all I know, there could be cameras in those bushes at the ready, prepared to film my humiliated face when you call me a fag and make me eat dirt."
"That got... Really elaborate." He rolls his eyes. "Is it 'cause I said I dated a girl?"
"Maybe a little, but mostly because I'm paranoid about this shit."
"Fair enough.. But damn, maybe I don't mind either which way. This isn't some prank, man, don't worry about it."
"Oh great, I'm told not to worry, all my nerves are calmed."
You kind of feel bad, if he hadn't previously accidentally blurted out he's gay, you'd probably feel pretty similar. And, considering that, you try to provide a bit of reassurance that you think you would want if you were in his position, and take his hand in yours, intertwining your fingers together.
Karkat just stares at your hands, like he is completely enamored by the jigsaw puzzle of palms and phalanges, and for the near-dozenth time, you think, "Cute." He really is.
He looks up at you, almost starstruck, as if holding hands is the motherfucking present he's been wanting all year for his birthday, and then he straightens up to kiss you on the cheek, so painfully close to the corner of your lips.
Despite his grumpy exterior, you think Karkat is surprisingly sweet and down to earth, and on top of it, you're beginning to think, "holy shit I've met my other half." Which is, of course, shockingly intrusive, but there it is.
After a while, you get off the grass to walk back into town and you offer to drive him home. He nearly shouts, why the fuck were we walking when you have a goddamn car, but you think you can tell now that he's not really upset.
He lets you drive him, with his directions, and stop in front of his house to say your goodbye's. You tell him you hope his prom night didn't totally suck and he jokes that, yeah, it blew. You laugh.
Before Karkat exits your car, he demands for your phone and puts his phone number into it (thank god, because you almost forgot), then he kisses your cheek again and runs to his front door. Somehow something so innocent is totally working on you, too.
You drive away when the door closes and your phone is already buzzing. At a stop light, you read the text and see that Karkat sent himself message from your phone that says "I'm Dave and I have crabs." That dork replied to his own message with "I know."
By some miracle, you are attracted to someone who does something like that and your stomach is doing acrobatic fucking pirouettes. You cannot believe even yourself.