Work Text:
For Dave, one thing that’s super particularly awesome about domestic life with his cool alien boyfriend is that he doesn’t get nearly as many nightmares anymore. Maybe there’s something about the presence of another close to him when he sleeps that tricks his brain into feeling safe enough to not bombard him with weird trauma nightmares, nightmares that his sister would love to sink her psychoanalytic teeth into. Karkat has told him that he shares the sentiment, and that knowing Dave’s there has helped him when he wakes up at night, terrified because he thinks he hears a drone. So overall, it's a mutually beneficial thing for them to hunker down to cuddletown every night.
One night, however, Dave’s suddenly taken out of the land of beautiful and awesome dreams by a quick movement next to him, and a saddening loss of warmth. In his sleepy state, he barely processes it until he realizes that the amorphous blob across from him on the bed is slightly trembling under the comforter, the comforter that he ripped off of his partner just a second ago when he suddenly flinched away.
As soon as he processes what’s going on, Dave shifts over to attach himself to a dubiously sleeping Karkat and feels the troll’s breathing steady slightly as warm and safe arms wrap around him and cling to his chest. Dave nuzzles his head into the space between Karkat’s shoulder and his neck, groggily pressing a soft kiss there, even though it’s really just his shirt so it’s more like kissing fabric, decent fabric of course and it’s soft too so it’s not, like, unpleasant but that’s actually not important right now. He lifts his head and whispers.
“Hey Kat?”
The troll hums a muffled noise of acknowledgement.
“Are you like… good? Because you kind of just violently flinched away from me in your sleep and then started? shaking? and that seems like a cause for concern if you get what I am saying if you’re picking up what I’m putting down, and-,”
He cuts himself off as Karkat pulls away and for a second Dave’s concerned that he did something wrong or spoke too much when the other had probably just had a nightmare or something normal, and that there wasn’t any need to blow it out of proportion. Thankfully, his train of self-loathing and other related thoughts is promptly stopped as Karkat rolls over to face Dave and scoots down, shoving his face into Dave’s chest. He wraps his arms around Dave and squeezes, staying there for a moment, then pulls away and tilts his head up to face him.
He opens his mouth like he’s about to start talking, then thoughts flash behind his eyes and he closes it, staying uncharacteristically quiet. He purses his lips like he’s considering how to explain what’s wrong without sounding like he’s insane. Dave reaches up his hand to card his fingers through Karkat’s soft curly hair in an attempt to come off as supportive and understanding. He’s not the greatest at emotional situations like this but he likes to think he’s improving or that he has improved. And, Karkat’s reassured him so many times that he’s honestly doing great but the Strider-patented self-doubt tends to creep the fuck up on him.
“Um, so,”
Dave realizes he was zoning out and returns his attention to the boy that’s wrapped around him and still making the same contemplative expression (which is honestly really adorable). He stares back at Karkat, eyes wide, and nods at him to signal he should keep talking.
“Sometimes, when I have a weird or bad dream, or even when I’m just sleeping, I will roll over or shift and then all of a sudden it’s like I’ve been frozen. And when that happens I just can’t move, and it feels like there’s a really heavy weight on my chest and, uh..”
He takes a sharp breath in, like he’s still sort of remembering that he can, and he’s safe. In response to that, Dave holds him a little tighter, rubbing his back in an attempt to be comforting and to silently communicate to his partner that he’s listening, and he’s here. Karkat leans into the touch and something in his face softens in tandem.
“It’s really fucking weird, that’s all. Makes me feel uneasy. And usually I have to flinch away when I’m able to get out of it because I’m sort of trying to move the whole time and when I finally can it’s like a sharp movement, if that makes sense,”
Dave looks down at him expectantly, ready to listen more, but Karkat just shrugs as if to say, ‘Oh well, that’s all’. So he pauses to take it all in, pulling the other boy closer and petting his hair. A low rumbling starts up in Karkat’s chest and he nuzzles up into Dave’s neck. They lay in silence for a while, enjoying each other’s presence and warmth. Momentarily, Dave wonders if he should ask if there’s anything he can do about this, and then he suddenly remembers that Karkat has told him about how it was an adjustment to sleep on a human bed (sleeping platform, as he calls it) rather than what he was used to, and He suddenly feels guilt twist in his gut.
Karkat notices him shift ever so slightly as if he’s uncomfortable, and he pulls away to look up at his boyfriend. Dave tries to avert his gaze but without his shades to hide behind his eyes are full of emotion, and his face is an open book. Karkat frees a hand from around Dave’s waist and brings it up to cup his boyfriend’s face, reassuringly stroking his cheek under his eye with his thumb.
“You literally can’t hide from me, Strider. What’s up?”
Dave looks back at him sheepishly, and leans into the troll’s warm hand.
“Do you think that that’s happening because you’re sleeping in the bed with me and not in one of your troll.. slime cocoons?”
Karkat immediately rolls his eyes at that and for a second Dave feels an intense urge to deflect or maybe just run away and hide forever, but before he can begin his spiral down a rapid train of self-deprecation and other related thoughts, Karkat cuts in, smiling .
“Dude, I can practically hear you thinking, chill. And also I think it’s just as much as it is my generally horrible sleep health and consistent nightmares that I’ve had my entire life. So it’s not really your fault, if that’s what you’re asking,”
Dave slowly nods at that and lets himself relax. He still feels a vague resounding feeling of fear in his chest, but it quickly melts away into comfort as Karkat gently scratches behind his ear, careful not to press too hard with his claws. The previous negative feelings that were in his chest and his stomach are replaced by a soft warmth, much like the literal warmth that constantly emanates from his heater of a troll boyfriend. He’d love to keep talking, but he’s now realizing that he’s honestly not sure what time of night it is, and now that he’s made sure that his boyfriend is okay, the sleepiness is getting to him. So, he pulls Karkat back to his chest, and the troll snuggles up into him, and they pull the blanket back over the both of them, as they fall asleep intertwined.