Davekat One Shots

Heart to Heart

Dave sat on the edge of the wooden bridge, he always came here when he needed to think deep about something. The bridge went across a small creek in the woods between his and Karkat's neighborhood. Karkat was his best friend, a small statured boy who had a bad temper. Karkat and Dave went to the same school and had science together, they met when they got assigned a project together. They've been friends for 6 months now, and although Dave pissed Karkat off, Dave knew Karkat was happy he was around (though he didn't express it much).

Here's the elephant in the room: Dave has been crushing on Karkat for about 4 months now, though he would never admit it. Dave Strider was too cool and swag to reveal such embarrassing emotions such as love, especially for another boy. Dave knew that if he walked back to his cramped apartment, his stoner brother Dirk would ask if he had some hot girl cheerleader on his mind. Dave never had any romantic feelings towards women; he tried to just so he could appease his internalized homophobia and his brother's high demands, but it just never did anything for Dave.

Dave was so lost in his contradicting thoughts that he didn't even notice the sound of the faint leaves crunching. Dave thought it was Karkat, but it was worse. Dave looked up to see his brother, holding his skateboard under his pit.

"What's up, Davey?" Dirk sat down next to Dave on the edge of the bridge.

Dave grunted. "whaddya want"

"I don't know, I just wanted to see what you were doing here."

"why do you care? shouldnt you be off having the best sex of your life right now"

Dirk nervously chuckled. "Bro, I know I was a shitty brother in the past but I want to be better. Please let me try."

It went silent between them.

"where are you even coming from"

Dirk smiled, "Amanda's house."

"you mean that hot cheerleader youve been seeing for three weeks now"

"I knew you'd remember her eventually!"

"how come she never comes over then"

"Have you seen our apartment? It's a fucking mess, dude. That shit won't impress a lady. Now enough about questioning me, what about you?"

"i..." Dave trailed off, getting lost in his thoughts. Now was the perfect time to ask Dirk about relationships. Relationships have never been Dirk's forte, but like Dirk said, he wanted to be a better brother. It wouldn't kill him to ask.

"ok lets say theres this girl that goes to my school and shes really cool but shes like the tiny angry tsundere type of chick and shes also in my science class but thats not important and anyway i wanna ask her out because shes super dope but like i dont know how and idk ive never had these types of feelings before so like what do i do" Dave slowly turned to look at his brother.

Dirk cracked a smirk. "Wow. That's. That's a lot, little bro."

"please just help me i dont know what to do and its kinda killing my brain"

Dirk smiled mischievously, but didn't say a word.

"what"
"dirk what is it"

"Is it that Karkat kid?"

Dave's mouth went wide open.
"WHAT"
"HOW"
"HOW DI"
"HOW DID YOU KNOW"

Dirk shrugged coolly. "Brother's instinct, I guess. There's nothing wrong with being gay, man."

"but"
"but you"
"you always pressured me to hook up with a girl"
"just like you"

"Actually... I'm..." Dirk looked away from his younger brother, the smile wiped clean off his face.

"Dave, I'm gay too."

"huh"
"huh."
"well what about amanda"

"Yeah, I... I made her up. She's not real."

Dave sighed. "so you made me ashamed to have a crush on a boy when youre literally in the same boat dirk wtf"

"Yeah I..." Dirk trailed off, but then continued. "When you were only a few years old, Ma always made me afraid to be gay. She always talked bad about gay people and how they were a mistake in our society and how could a man ever love a man and blah blah blah. And this was when I just started crushing on Jake, so of course I was afraid to be gay."

"wait jake childhood best friend who moved away during high school jake"

"Yes, childhood best friend who moved away during high school Jake. But anyways, I was worried that if Ma found out I was gay, she would do something bad to me. You don't remember this since you were so young but Ma was a severe alcoholic. Like she couldn't go one day without drinking at least four bottles. And if she found out I was something she was personally against, I knew I was dead meat. And then, well..."

Dirk paused for a long time. It sounded like he wanted to cry, but no tears were to shed.

"Then she died. From alcohol poisoning. She was supposed to have a liver transplant since her right liver wasn't doin' too hot, but I think even she knew she was dead meat way before her surgery."

"but"
"what does this have to do with now"

"Well after Ma died, I was the one taking care of you. She had already done her damage to me, but I was still afraid of coming out, even though I knew it was apparent that I was gay. So I always pressured you to be straight, because I didn't want you to have to go through the same shit as me. I know it was a shitty thing for me to pressure you like this, but I was only trying to protect you. But now that I'm saying all this out loud, I realize how fucked it was. I'm... I'm sorry, little bro."

Dave was speechless. He's never heard his brother apologize before.

"dirk"
"man"
"shit dont make me cry too"

Dirk slowly smiled, a single tear running down his cheek. Dirk wiped it before it could reach his chin, but then Dirk looked up at the clouds.

"Regarding your friend, I think you should do what I was always afraid to do."

"whats that bro"

"Go get him. Go ask him out."

Dave slowly smiled before pulling his brother into a hug. "thanks"

Dirk, surprised at first, returned the hug. "No problem, bro."

The Striders separated before Dave hopped off the bridge. Dave ran in the direction of Karkat's neighborhood, but Dirk called out to him. Dave turned around, facing his brother who still sat on the bridge a couple feet away.

Dirk smiled from afar. "Tell me how it goes, brother."

Dave smiled wide, before turning back around and continuing to run to Karkat's neighborhood.

Dirk hopped off the bridge, pulling his phone out of his jean pocket. Jake's contact was pulled up in Dirk's phone- he was going to do something he should've done a long time ago.

He was going to ask Jake out.