Dave Strider stifled a yawn as he sat cross-legged on the floor of Karkat's hive. He had been watching Alternian movies with Karkat for the past 6 hours. Although he did not particularly like any of the movies Karkat showed him, and although he was beyond exhausted, he wanted to stay. Dave would do anything to spend time with Karkat, including sitting through hours on hours of troll Will Smith's seemingly endless bullshit.
"I heard that fucking yawn, Strider." Karkat paused the movie and crossed his arms. "But I agree. This movie is boring. Do you wanna watch-"
"How about we not watch another movie?" Dave suggested. "I dunno, they're kinda lame."
Karkat rolled his eyes. "Oh sorry. Did I not meet Douchebag Strider's expectations? Oh! The tragedy!" Dave elbowed him in the ribcage. Rubbing his wounded side, Karkat said, "You know, you can drop the act around me."
"The... act?"
"The cool kid act." Karkat explained. "Like, you know. The way you have to act like a douche and do that ironic shit I still don't understand. And the way you pretend not to have feelings and wear those lame ass shades all the time."
Dave clutched his shades to his face self consciously.
"Why do you wear those hideous things? Do you use those to hide your emotions? You're a really sensitive guy under those shades, aren't you?" Karkat teased. "C'mon, take 'em off. I don't care if you cry all the fucking time. You don't need to wear those around me anyways."
"Karkat...." Dave bit the inside of his lip. Why was Karkat teasing him about this? He couldn't show anyone his eyes, especially not Karkat. They'd all think he was a freak. And besides, it had taken Dave so long to get this close to Karkat, and he wasn't ready to lose him.
Before Dave could think any more, Karkat snatched the glasses off his face. And of course, the first thing he could say was, "Your eyes. Holy shit."
"I know, I know, I'm a fucking freak. They look hideous. It's humiliating." Dave covered them with his hand so Karkat couldn't see them any more.
"No, they look cool. Let me see them again."
Dave shook his head. "No. I don't want you to see me like this. Just give me back my shades."
"Why are you so self conscious about it? Jegus." He moved Dave's hand from his face.
"Because they're bright candy fucking red. It's weird."
"I don't think it's weird." Karkat looked into his eyes.
"Well you should. I look like a god damn mutant or some shit."
Karkat flinched at the word "mutant".
"Um Dave?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm a freak too." Karkat bit into his thumb.
"What the fuck are you doing? Are you Eren Jaeger now? Are you going to turn into a fucking titan?"
When Karkat let go of his thumb, it was dripping candy red blood. "Just like your eyes." Karkat whispered as he showed him.
Dave smirked. "So we're both freaks."
"So we are."
They stared into each other's eyes. For the first time, Dave didn't feel embarassed of his eyes and Karkat of his blood rushing to his cheeks. They were both freaks, but they were freaks together.
