Chapter 4
Your name is Dave Strider and you’re watching as life flashes before your eyes. Not your own life—fuck no, you would not want a play by play of that, ha ha ha, no fucking thanks—but rather, you’re watching life itself flash before your eyes. It’s blooming, growing, branching, and you’re in a state of euphoria as you get to witness it. You’re even controlling some of it, your hands outstretched and shaking with energy as the raw power of time glides through your fingertips.
You’re pretty sure this is heaven.
Jade is across the field of wheat, raising the land up to create a large hill while Jane creates new species of plants to decorate it. The three of you have been out here all morning, expanding life across this once barren plane. You’ve gotten really good at aging up specific subjects to help jumpstart evolution. Your favorite is the field of apple trees, which was one of the first things you completed today. (And yes, you already plucked a whole bunch of them to make some juice from, which Jane agreed to do as long as she could use some of them to bake a pie).
Ever since you reached godtier, you hated every aspect of your newly found status. Your planet was boiling and unbearable, and the way that scraping metal and coppery smells always hung in the air was enough to make you gag. Being a Knight seemed like a huge joke; you’re not brave, you’re not a hero. There was no fucking reason why you should be called a Knight. But the Time…
Vinyl whirrs beneath your fingertips, a vibrating pulse skidding over your skin with every second that passes. The bass pounds in time with the heartbeat of the universe, and it’s like you’re living inside a speaker. Time is like the music you’ve always loved, and music was the only thing keeping you alive throughout your disaster of a childhood.
Using your powers to cause the blooming of life in your own world is the best thing you’ve done since becoming a god.
But, immortal or otherwise, you can’t keep this up all day. Your arms are exhausted, and you’re so hungry that Jane heard your stomach groaning in pain from nearly two yards away. You all wish you could stay out here for longer, but after several sighs and very long blinking of tired eyes, you mutually agree to head home for the day.
Karkat moved out of your room four days ago, and since he left you can’t stand to be in there by yourself. You’re terrified to sleep alone, as stupid and irrational that fear is. Luckily Jade doesn’t mind you crashing with her.
As you cross the threshold of your apartment, you suddenly find yourself face to face with your own mirrored image. The only difference is that up-close-Dave is definitely not Dave because there are no shades to cover up those neon green and tangerine eyes. You blink once, twice, and the other Dave copies you.
“Sorry,” they say as they step back. Your vison takes a few seconds to snap back into focus, but it does and, oh no shit, it’s Davesprite.
Davepeta?
Whatever.
Not-Dave has a frown on their face that you just know is hiding a grimace. Clearly someone isn’t happy to see you. Now that you think of it though, you can imagine why. You haven’t had a single one-on-one conversation with this dude since you chatted up Davesprite back in The Game. And that was like, forever ago. (You know the exact length of time it’s been, but you refuse to acknowledge your internal clock because you’re tired and stubborn).
“Nah, my bad,” you say, holding the door out and stepping aside.
“Ladies first,” they say with a smirk (a Strider smirk at that, the bastard). “I realized I forgot something anyway.”
Not-Dave turns on their heels and disappears down the hallway towards their room. You glare after them, moving slowly enough so that you’re still lingering in the hallway when they’re ready to walk out the door again.
“You’re in a good mood,” you say pointedly (with more snark than you originally meant to, fuck you almost sound like Rose).
“Is that not allowed?” they ask with a playful grin. “Is happiness a privilege for the gods?”
“Cut the crap,” you sigh. “You going to see Karkat?”
“Maybe,” they say, turning to walk past you.
“Yeah well tell him to set a date for later tonight so I can kick his ass!” you yell childishly after them, even after the door had closed. You can just imagine the shit-eating smirk on that imposter’s face, and it makes you want to scream in frustration. Instead you ball up your fists and stomp into your room, determined to send Karkat as many flirtatiously black messages as possible. You're already looking forward to whatever spades-shaped attention you'll be dishing out at him later.
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“Hey asshole,” Karkat greets you, his voice grating.
“What’s up piss baby,” you grin down at him. “Miss me?”
He responds by landing his fist in your gut, and you laugh through the pain. You shove his shoulder, and he only stumbles a little before settling himself down in the grass. You’re sure that you both notice this is where you consummated your black rom relationship. At least, the dusty pink across Karkat’s cheeks indicates that he remembers. You plop down on the ground next to him.
“Rose told me you and Jade have been real fuckin up close and personal lately,” he says, staring out at the horizon.
“Like you haven’t been bulge deep in pussy too?” you snort, and his face twists up in disgust. Fuck, you love when he looks like that, so offended and annoyed but also loving the way you speak to him on the same level as he does to you. Maybe you really were meant to share a spades with this guy.
“Gotta say, I’m kinda flattered that you’ve got a total Strider fetish, though I’m not sure how they feel bout you only going after them as a photocopy version of me,” you say.
“Fuck off, you’re so fucking pretentious,” he snaps, baring his teeth at you. “They’re nothing like you, for starters, they’re not a completely insufferable douche.” He punctuates his sentence with a shove to your shoulder, which you allow to topple you over since you’re weakened with laughter. This only pisses him off further, and soon he’s kneeling over you poking at your chest hard enough to leave bruises as he snarls. You let your shades slide off your face as you laugh at him, and you definitely notice how he stumbles over his profanities as he looks into your eyes.
“Kar,” you say between chuckles, your hand wrapping around his to stop the attack of pokes. “Dude, chill for like two seconds, okay?”
He groans out a sigh, reluctantly closing his mouth and glaring at you.
“Man I think we were meant to be together,” you say. Karkat nearly flies off the handle again, but your hand to his mouth stops him. “Shut the fuck up and let me talk. I’m saying like, no matter which square you wanna put us in, we’re always gonna be good together.”
“You’re disgusting,” he huffs, pulling his hand away from you. “Blatant quadrant blurring, courting without a specific quadrant in mind-”
“You gonna tag my triggers, Kankri?”
That earns you a punch to the shoulder, which you agree you deserve.
“All I’m saying man,” you continue, sitting up beside him. “Is that we’re fuckin meant for each other, ya know? Like, we’re hella in hearts or spades, we’re always gonna have each other.”
“This is so gross, I regret creating humans with such a fucked up concept of romance,” he grumbles half-heartedly.
“Dude, you made us like you,” you say, your hand finding his. “All rearranging quadrants and candy red blood.” That line earns you a glare, but also a reassuring squeeze to your hand.
“Good to know the entire human race is fucked up thanks to me,” he mutters, turning back to the horizon. “I fucking get what you mean though…whatever it is, I feel it too. Like having you in my life is a universal constant, no matter what the fuck else is happening.”
“Yeah,” you grin. “And I don’t give a shit how many times we shift quadrants, as long as we stay together somehow.”
The atmosphere is quiet then, still and borderline peaceful as you both stare out at the horizon. The band of star-speckled galaxy stretches over the sky, and you immediately think of Jade. It’s stupid how this all worked out, how after all that fighting and anxiety over possibly ending up alone had you working things out and being with two amazing people. The thought that this is your world dawns on you. You’re literally a god, you’ve earned this new universe, so maybe you do deserve to be happy within it.
“By the way,” Karkat breaks the silence. “Those nightmares I was having. If you fucking care to know, might actually be important.”
You look to him and frown, pointedly raising an eyebrow because, really dude? We were at a perfect place to end that conversation.
“I talked to Rose about it,” he continues. “And she said that she saw something coming towards our universe. She can’t tell what it is yet, I guess it’s shadowed or something? She and Terezi are using their Seer bullshit to try and figure it out before it gets here.”
“Could it be something bad? Like, another session or something?” Please, fuck no, you cannot deal with that shit again. You honestly think if you get thrown into another Game you’ll find the most ironically heroic way to kill yourself.
“Who fucking knows,” he sighs, running his hands through his hair. “I have to trust her when she says she knows what she’s doing, trying to keep it quiet until they’re sure of what’s going on. Just thought I should tell you though.” There’s a glint as he glances at you, that creepy night vision film over his eyes briefly flashing in the dim light.
“Shoulda known,” you grin. “Shit had been going too easy. It’s about damn time something interesting happened.”
"Guess so," Karkat huffs. You barely have to glance over to see the tips of his sharp fangs poking over the chapped skin of his lips. You want to bruise those lips with yours, you want to scoop up the tiny troll and completely destroy him just to make him yours. Usually this kind of possessiveness would scare the shit out of you, but you know that he feels the same exact way. Passively, as the wind blows a few leaves from the trees, you wonder if he's thinking the same thing. It makes you laugh.
You laugh, because everything hurts and nothing is okay. You laugh because he’s beside you, because you don’t even have to open your eyes to know the expression on his face. His sigh echoes through your mind when you’re in bed alone, and sometimes when you’re in bed with Jade. Yeah you’re not gonna lie, as far as Karkat is considered, you’re head over heels for the asshole. Quadrant blurring, probably— it’s probably gross but you’re cool with smearing those romantic squares all over the damn place as long as you still get to laugh with him.
Karkat is yapping in between your laughter, and the rough skin of his hands is like sandpaper as he swats at you. He can't hide his grin either, though, and somewhere within the mess of tangled limbs and heavy breaths, your eyes lock with his. Something is happening, something big, something important. The Game apparently isn't done with you, and you're so tired and used to being fucked over that you're ready for it. You've got Karkat beside you, you've got Jade and John and Terezi-- shit, you guys will definitely be okay.
You grin at Karkat, laughter dying in your throat as your grip finds the scruff of his hair. There's an unignorable flame in the core of yourself, telling you that you can keep on making that upward movement, no matter how much things change.