"focus, dave." jane was helping dave summon his weapon. "clear your mind."
dave exhaled, his eyes closed and hand in front of him. his mind as clear as he could get it and completely focused. the gems decided they should try helping him and rose summon their weapons, more and more imps have been coming to earth.
"any luck?" dirk whispered to jane as he walked outside to the duo.
jane shook her head, "nothing. maybe you should try."
dirk nodded. "alright so instead of doing that, try thinking of people you like. it's what i do, kind of reminds me that summoning my weapon allows me to protect them, y'know?" for a second, dirk looked at jake who stood by the window, before his gaze returned to dave.
dave thought about dirk. he thought about rose, john, jade, roxy, but nothing seemed to work. he concentrated on the people he cared about most, but nothing was working.
he shook his head, "i can't do it." dave opened his eyes and looked at dirk. "sorry, it's just not working."
dirk sighed, "i'll see if roxy's done helping rose." he left and jane looked sympathetically at him. "it's okay dave, you'll get it eventually."
dave looked at her, "and if i don't?"
"well you don't necessarily have to use a gem weapon," she suggested. "you could use a regular one!"
"yeah, i guess." he looked at roxy, who was ecstatic.
"rose has a wand!" she said. "it's purple and cool!"
dave sighed, "neat."
roxy frowned, then smiled again. "don't worry, davey, you'll figure it out!"
"yeah, hopefully." after a moment of silence, dave spoke up again. "how'd rose learn?"
"i told her to imagine something, anything at all, and sort of draw energy from it? if that makes any sense." roxy's statement turned out as a sort of question. "she said it worked though, so that's good!"
dave paused, what could he draw energy from? stars. he thought about stars, thought about all the constellations and stars he could think of. sygnus, sirius, ursa major, ursa minor, canis major, canis minor, altair, lyra. for a moment he felt some sort of energy. he thought about his favourite, cancer. thought about karkat. a rumble in the city interrupted, and the object that had started to form in his hand fading. he turned his head to see the gems running towards the imps that were there, human gems and trolls as well.
dave watched as rose finally joined them, her wand summoning all sorts of spells. the imps were completely recking the city. some of the trolls were knocked down, dave could definitely see equius helping nepeta up, vriska helping john. it looked like chaos. he had to help.
he didn't notice himself start to run, it just kind of happened. he had reached the city when he saw karkat hit down from the building he was fighting on, and dave felt a rush of energy. he ran to the troll and just as karkat was to be struck, a red sword cut through the imp. seeing karkat, the only one who seemed to truly understand him hurt like that made him feel nothing he ever had before. it was a sting in heart, a tightening feeling in his gut, and a will to do something about it. seeing the one he loves like that, he had to protect him.
a rush of adrenaline and he was killing imps left and right, making sure no harm would come to karkat. making sure no harm would come to anyone. he couldn't let anyone get hurt.
the human gems watched in awe as he fought along with the others, he seemed so skilled all of a sudden. after a moment of surprise, they fought with him. the imps were killed. all of them.
dave stood panting, looking at all the gems that had replaced the imps. he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see dirk.
"you did good, great." he corrected himself. "how'd you do it, though?"
dave shrugged, "i have no idea." he turned his head to see karkat, who was beginning to wake up. he felt the familiar pang in his heart when he saw nepeta tackle him in a hug. he turned back to dirk.
the elder strider noticed his gaze moving to the troll, and raised an eyebrow. "was it because of him?"
he shook his head, "no of course not. can we go?" dirk raised another eyebrow, but nodded. as dave turned to leave with dirk, he saw nepeta kissing every inch of karkat's face. dave swore it got harder to breathe.
//
when the moon had finally risen, dave sat on the roof. "striders don't cry," he mumbled to himself, despite the tears spilling down his face. "striders-" he couldn't even finish the sentence, he put his head in his hand causing the shades to move up. he had a skill for being able to cry quietly, which he was thankful for, but there was still someone who heard him. someone who didn't want to disturb him. someone who was a troll that thought it was best to leave him alone. but karkat didn't listen to what he thought.
"dave?" he froze. not him, he pleaded silently. anyone but him.
he inhaled, not moving his hand from his face. "hey, karkat." his voice was shaking, "what's up?"
karkat's chest tightened and he immediately ran to dave. "what the hell is wrong?" he cursed at himself, he was never good comforting other people and it was obvious.
"i'm fine." he said a bit too quickly. dave inhaled, "i'm perfectly fine. nothing's wrong."
"like hell nothing's wrong, i'm not falling for that shit." hesitantly he reached a hand out and around dave. that's when he broke down completely. the blond turned to karkat and wrapped his arms around the trolls' waist, his head buried in the crook of his neck. karkat, being kind of awkward, just kind of rubbed his back trying to calm him down. this had never happened, usually dave was so calm and collected.
"i'm sorry karkat." his voice was muffled slightly but the cancer could hear it so clearly, and it hurt his heart. "i'm so sorry."
"what the hell are you sorry about?" karkat was beginning to cry as well, red tears joining clear to stain his sweater but he couldn't care less.
"for doing this." dave tightened his grip on the troll.
karkat shook his head, "don't be. you can't keep up that coolkid facade forever. but really, what's wrong?"
"i can't-" the blond's sobs interrupted him. "i can't tell you."
"dave you can tell me anything." after months of talking on the roof, it was surprising to karkat that dave thought he couldn't trust him.
he looked up at karkat. the his cheeks were stained with tears and his red eyes were glossy. "promise this won't ruin our friendship?" karkat nodded and dave took in a breath.
"i love you, karkat." the trolls' eyes widened. "i love your unique nubby horns, how angry you get over the smallest things, i love all your stupid insults that usually make no sense. i love the fact that you've continued to come up here with me, everyday."
"dave i-" karkat tried to speak but dave cut him off. "you're with nepeta, i know and i'm sorry for even bringing this up."
"nepeta?" karkat almost laughed. "dave i don't like nepeta; she's flushed for me but i don't return the feelings. if you had let me finish i would've said i love you too." he gave a smile.
dave smiled back, and without even thinking his hand was behind karkat's neck and they were kissing. after a moment of shock, because holy shit that was sudden, karkat kissed back. the two boys sat under the stars, lips locked and still crying. it was perfect.
