Heartbeat [DaveKat]

All Day

Karkat groaned and complained for the whole half hour of walking, which wasn't unexpected. Dave did his best to ignore the complaints, taking dips and turns throughout the trees and reassuring Karkat that this was better than sitting around.

"Seriously, Dave, you're going to get us lost. This is ridiculous." Karkat walked slowly behind the taller boy, his arms crossed on his chest. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

Dave shrugged, turning as he walked to face Karkat, trotting backwards. "Nah. That's what makes this fun." He smiled, turning back around and taking another turn.

Karkat looked around, then quickly picked up his pace to catch up. "I don't find getting lost in the woods very fun. It could get dark soon."

Dave stopped, putting his hand on the trunk of a tree and swinging around to face Karkat. "It's fine, dude. I've done this before. You gotta trust me!" He held out his other hand, smiling at the smaller boy. Karkat took his hand with a reluctant sigh, following him deeper into the trees. The boys were quiet for a few minutes, Karkat admiring the life around him while Dave still tried to navigate just where he was trying to go. After a while, he spoke up.

"Ah-hah! What's this?" He said, letting go of Karkat's hand to gesture towards something in front of him. Karkat looked forward, snapping back to reality, and stopped walking in surprise of what he saw. A large quilt was laying out in an open space in the trees, where the sun shone down. There was a small brown basket sitting on it, next to a portable DVD player.

He squinted. "Um, what?"

Dave chuckled a little, walking over to sit on the blanket and patting his hand next to him to signal Karkat to sit down. "Come on."

After a few more moments, Karkat made his way next to Dave, sitting down across from him. "What is this about?"

Dave shrugged, pulling the basket closer to him and opening it up. "I dunno, figured it'd be cool to get you out of that crowded school. Is this a problem?"

"Uh- I, well-" Karkat stammered, unsure of how to take in the fact Dave had set up a picnic for him, of all things. "No. It's okay. Just really unexpected. No one has ever taken me on a picnic before."

A smile crept onto Dave's face. "Well, then today is your lucky day. You've got a cool friend like me who can do that kinda stuff for you." Dave began pulling a few sandwiches wrapped in plastic out of the basket in front of him, setting them next to it.

"Friends do that? Y'know, set up this kinda thing?" Karkat was weary of the gesture, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh... yeah, yeah I mean, why not?" Dave shrugged at the other boy, offering him a smile. He moved one of the sandwiches in front of Karkat, then pulled out a container of strawberries. Karkat's expression changed quickly.

"Ooh, strawberries? Those are my favorite," he said with a smile, taking the container in his hands and opening it up.

Dave laughed at his demeanor, pulling out a fork. "Yeah, I had a feeling you'd like them."

Karkat paused with a strawberry half-way to his mouth. "Wait. Did you, like, see this? Like, look into the future or whatever to see me enjoying strawberries?"

"Um-" Dave stuttered, shrugging awkwardly again. "I dunno, yeah? Only for a minute though. Sorry man, I just, figured it would make planning this a little easier."

Karkat looked at him, then down at the strawberries. "I guess it's not that weird. I mean, at least I get these." He popped a whole berry in his mouth and smiled as he chewed. Dave was relieved that he didn't get any weird criticism over the fact he used his power to see something about Karkat. He felt a little bad about it, but it wasn't the first time he had done it. What's the worst that could happen?

Dave's thought was cut off by the boy next to him mumbling through his food. "So, what movie did you bring?" He asked, nodding towards the DVD player.

"Oh, right!" Dave reached back into the basket, pulling out a few movie cases. "Alright, I've got the second Avengers movie, Now You See Me, and Moana." He held up each case as he listed them off.

Karkat's eyes lit up. "Oh! Moana! I love that one." He pointed a finger at it before putting another strawberry into his mouth. He watched Dave smile and put the disc in, setting the player up in front of them. He pulled a few juice boxes out of the basket (which received an eyebrow raise from Karkat) and then sat back on his elbows to watch the movie begin.

__________

Karkat cried. Like, a lot. Dave had seen him get emotional over movies, but not quite like this. He had to hold back a laugh as he sat up, lowering his shades with one hand to get a better look at Karkat. "Dude, are you good?"

Karkat nodded, his eyes gleaming with tears. "Yeah. Yeah this song just really gets me."

Dave looked at the screen, then back to Karkat. "We're like, five minutes into this. And it's a happy song."

He received a harsh glance from Karkat, then put his hands up in mock defense. "Okay, okay. Just eat another strawberry, you dork."

__________

By the time they had gotten through all the movies, it was dark. They smacked throughout all of them and the basket was left empty. Karkat looked up at the treetops, suddenly taking note of how dark it had gotten.

"Oh my god, what time is it?" He asked glancing around frantically.

"Uh," Dave said, pulling out his phone. He let out a small laugh. "It's like, 8:30 already."

Karkat held a hand to his face. "We've been out here all day. How did it get so late so quickly?"

Dave shrugged. "I dunno, man. Movies kinda get you caught up pretty easily." Karkat stretched his arms out in front of him and began to stand up. "I guess we should probably head back to the school, then.

"Hey, wait-" Dave reached his hand up to grab Karkat's wrist, keeping him on the ground. "Um." He took a deep breath, then slowly took his shades off and looked at Karkat straight on. "There's, um, actually something I've been meaning to ask you."

Karkat's eyes glanced down at his hands, which Dave was now holding in his own. He looked back up to Dave and noticed his cheeks flush in the dark as he started to speak again. "This is probably gonna sound really lame, but, I didn't wanna take you here as a friend. I mean- yeah, of course I like being your friend and I like doing friends things and all..."

Karkat gave him a confused look as Dave started to ramble, now looking anywhere but at Karkat. "It's just, uh, I don't know, I know that you've only been here for a few weeks now and I still don't know you all that well, but. God I don't know how to say this right Karkat, it's like-"

"Shut up." Karkat said, suddenly leaning forward so his face was centimeters from Dave's. "What are you trying to say?"

Dave breathed out slowly, and closed his eyes for a moment. His face got hot as Karkat hovered right in front of him. "Karkat, I wanna kiss you right now."