Rock Bottom (Captorcest)

Reassurance

Dave's apartment is strange as it is homey. Karkat and Gamzee are head to head in Mario Kart on the couch, Gamzee chuckling at the shiny colors of rainbow road, and Karkat loudly declaring his dislike for all of the computer characters. Dave stood in front of you with a generally relaxed stance and a carefully placed smirk motioning you to just drop your bag beside the couch and he could show you around. He shows you to the kitchen, littered with two liters and unopened bags of Doritos for later. He showed you his room and told you where the bathroom was, and pointed to another door with several scratches seemingly quite deep, and had a few puppets in front of it.

"That's bro's room. Don't go in there unless you want your ass handed to you."

"I see." You nod and with a crinkle of your nose you both retreat to the living room. Karkat passed the finish line proceeding to scream victoriously as he jumped onto the couch, and Dave smirked giving him a carefully restrained thumbs up as if to seem not so excited. You watched him with a bit of a smile. The night proceeded as you would expect, video games galore and plenty of supposedly ironic statements from the youngest in the Strider family. When you go to grab another energy drink from daves fridge that you didnt need, Karkat cornered you and began to question.

"Sollux."

"Hey Kk."

"How's it been? Haven't heard from you in awhile."

"Heh...Yeah. It's been fine."

"Latula still there I'm guessing?"

"...Yeah."

He gives you this look that you didn't want to see. You wanted to classify it as pity but you weren't sure. You suppose you should have kept up with him more.

"I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't be. It's not you're fault. How are things with Eridan?"

He smiles and looks around with a little shrug, as if he was a child trying to keep a secret.
"Oh, were doing well."

"Oh my god kk you fucking sap."

"Hey shut up you must have looked so much worse than me with Mituna!"

You froze up temporarily and frowned. He instantly caught his error and meekly apologized. He understood, he took part in venting to Karkat when he finally couldn't take it anymore and Karkat dragged it out of him, knowing full well he wouldn't tell anything otherwise.

"Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it..." You shrug as if to wave off the entire situation. "Tell me about you and Eridan."

He goes into this long detailed explination about being taken to this fancy restaurant and a movie then Eridan swooping in and being extremely romantic, even getting him flowers. They ended up cuddled together, and Karkat had never felt happier. You are disappointed in yourself when all you can think of is when Mituna took you out. You finally scathe through the roadblock named Karkat Vantas and get back to the livingroom, now having forgot your uneeded energy drink. You sit back down on the couch, and the rest of the night is a haze, but you still think of it as fun.

When the night turns into morning, you and Gamzee are the only ones awake at 4:00 in the morning. You both just stare at the movie that had been playing in the background for a large duration of the hang out. He looks over to you from the otherside of the couch, and clears his throat before speaking.

"Karkat's been telling me you're motherfuckin' jumpin off the deep end."

You roll your eyes and manage to lazily turn your head to the armchair Karkat had fallen asleep on, Dave on the floor in front of it snoring lightly.  You manage to rasp out a response, voice heavy with sleep you wanted to have.

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"He ain't tellin me much don't get your motherfuckin boxers in a hike, just been tellin me you got it rough."
You don't respond at first, letting silence tinge the air as if testing the waters before shrugging and looking back over to him.
"I guess."

"If you ever need help, I'm your man."

"Thanks for the offer, but I really don't enjoy talking about things. I'll be fine."

"I ain't talkin about that kinda help brother. Sometimes substances is all ya need." 
He chuckles dryly and you stare at him a moment before it clicks in your head that he's talking about drugs. You never did drugs. You didn't have a plan to either. You were a good kid, at least, in your mind. And you planned to keep it that way. He beats you to the chase of declining.

"It aint no biggie brother, I understand you don't wanna all up and get your chill on. It's different for everyone, you don't gotta do a thing you don't wanna."
You nod, and it's left at that. You and him share the couch and you sleep rather peacefully. When morning comes you dress after showering, repack your bag, and say your goodbyes. When you reach Gamzee he requests your phone. He puts his number in there and adds this dumb little face at the end, You raise a questionable brow and he says, "Just incase a motherfucker changes his mind."
"I won't." You manage to whip out. But for some reason, you didn't want to be so sharp with him. He was just offering the one comfort he thinks could help. "But thanks. I'll keep in touch. I had fun."
He nods and you leave. When you scroll through your contacts and see his name, youre much more reassured than you probably should be. 

When you get home you're surprised to see Mituna sleeping on the couch, a videogame controller lazily hanging from his hand, and a note from Latula on the counter. "Be back soon sug. Just running around for a bit and visiting some old friends. Keep safe and call me or Sollux if you need anything."

You smile at her gentle words and leave to your bedroom shutting the door behind you, and settling down at your computer. You wasted plenty of time as it was, you needed to start your homework. You had an essay due by Monday mid-day and still plenty of reasearch that you didn't do for it. Not to mention the coding you needed to catch up on. With Latula out of the house, you figure it will be some quiet time to have to yourself without worrying about anything. Half way through typing your first paragraph theres a knock on the door. "Come in." 

Mituna wobbles in rubbing some sleep out of his eyes, and climbs in bed beside you. He lays his head on your chest and watches you work, eyelids slowly falling again. You can't repress the smile that slips on your face, and you manage to kiss his head without jostling him or the computer. In that moment, all seemed right with the world.