Dave gently slid Karkat back onto the bed, eyes flickering frantically over his face. He looked a bit flushed, mind stalling as he hovered above him. "You okay?" Karkat tried to prompt him into moving again.

He smiled shyly. "Yeah, um. Sorry. It's just…" He swallowed. "I don't think we should go all the way if you're still drunk."

A kind of itchy feeling pulled at Karkat's chest. He pouted, jutting out his bottom lip. "I'm totally sober enough to make this decision. Promise. No later regrets." Karkat slid his arms around Dave's neck to pull him closer. "Besides, you've already done it with other people, right? And I… I want to be that close to you too."

Dave's mouth thinned out into a line and his eyes lit up with surprise. He shook his head frantically. "What? No no no no no. I've never gone beyond kissing before."

Karkat stared up at him gaping. "But… I mean, you always made it seem like…" He tried not to smile, but a mischievous grin was inching up the corners of his mouth as something clicked into place. "Dave, who was your first kiss?"

Dave covered his mouth, his skin flaring up bright red. "You."

"Oh my god!" Karkat wacked him in the shoulder with his pillow. "You acted like such hot shit all this time, but you're a goddamn virgin too!"

"I get it. It's hilarious. Stop laughing!"

Dave sat back, pulling away and, oh no. Oh wait. No no no. Come back.

Karkat caught his sleeve and stopped him from scooting further away. "You dork. I'm not laughing at you really. I mean, I guess I am, but I promise it's not a bad thing."

Dave was caught between hurt and confusion. "How does being laughed at constitute as a good thing?"

Karkat bit his bottom lip. "I sort of like you like this. Honest and," Now Karkat's face was heating up, "kind of cute?"

Dave's mouth petered into an almost smile. "You think me being a virgin is cute?"

"I think you being just as inexperienced as me makes me feel a little more at ease." Karkat sat up and set his hands on Dave's shoulders. "I think you trying so hard to hide that is fucking adorable." He pushed a little of his weight forward and Dave fell back into a sitting position. Karkat climbed into his lap. "And I think you getting flustered over your first time is totally okay and actually encouraged. I like seeing you like this." He smiled down at Dave's face, a black eye finally rimming the outside of his left socket. "I like it when you're open. It makes you more human."

Dave sucked in a breath and tightly pulled Karkat closer, his face burrowing into Karkat's chest. He mumbled something into the fabric.

Karkat rolled his eyes but patted Dave on the back of his head. "Can't hear you, asshole."

Dave turned to the side so he could speak, "Since you like it when I'm being honest, I love you a whole lot and would very much like to be invited to your pants party down south now please."

Karkat groaned. "Wow. You ruined the moment."

Dave looked up at him and cupped his cheek. "Sorry, man. You're gonna have to teach me the ways of romance. You know now that I'm not actually the master seducer I appear to be." He let out a shaky sigh, nervous. "But I'll try my best for you."

He pulled Karkat's face down to his, pressing their lips together. He gave soft, feathery kisses. Sensual and excruciatingly slow. Hesitant and gentle, as if Dave thought Karkat might turn to glass and shatter in his arms if he dared to be rougher.

One of Dave's hands slid up under his shirt, fingers gliding smoothly up Karkat's spine. He shivered at the light touch, opening his mouth to let out a small gasp. With his lips parted, Dave hungrily deepened the kiss, tongue finding easy passage inside.

Curiously, Karkat removed one of his hands from Dave's shoulder and undid the button and fly of Dave's pants, watching his face for a reaction. Dave closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Karkat's neck, letting out short, warm breaths against his skin.

Taking that as a sign of approval, Karkat dipped his hand inside Dave's jeans and felt around the outline of what was definitely Dave's dick. The slight contact made Dave flinch forward, as if he was asking for more with his entire body. Karkat happily complied, pulling it out of his boxers and beginning to rub along the shaft.

The sight of Dave jerking and making hushed noises against him made his own body react and he tried to whisper into Dave's ear, "Can you… maybe touch me too?" Dave nodded into his shoulder.

He followed Karkat's lead, reaching into his pants and carefully pulling him out. Karkat noticed Dave was mirroring his movements, sneaking downward glances and observing how Karkat was moving his own hand, just to see what he might like.

Karkat licked his lips.

He leaned down to talk into Dave's ear again. "Dave, can you lean up? I want to kiss you." Dave's ear tips went red and he shuddered. He shook his head. Karkat smirked. "No? Why not?"

Dave's voice came out breathy and needy, "Karkat." His little pants were coming out more rapidly, hurried. Karkat worked his hand faster. Dave gasped and both his hands flew up to Karkat's shoulders. "Wait! Stop! Karkat, I don't want to finish by myself!"

Karkat scooted closer and wrapped both Dave's and his hands around them. Dave's wide, frightened eyes locked with his. "Then kiss me until I'm as close as you are."

Something in Dave's temperament switched. His brow unfurrowed and his lids lowered into a serene expression. But, as always, his smile stole the show, rising up to crinkle a few laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. The face Dave Strider was making was the purest expression Karkat had ever seen on a person and he immediately wanted to kiss it silly.

But Dave had apparently reached the idea first, diving in eagerly to capture Karkat's mouth and hold it against his. With his lips preoccupied and his lower parts happily receiving just as much attention, Karkat could feel himself being pulled closer and closer towards release.

From hearing the noises Dave had started to make, Karkat could tell that he wasn't far off either. Karkat worked their hands faster, rutting up against Dave to create more friction. They had stopped kissing at some point, opting instead to just breathe in each other's air.

With a jerky shudder of Dave's hips, he came, and the sight of him weakly clinging to Karkat as he rode out his climax, pushed Karkat into following. The stillness that followed was tranquil and euphoric.

But their post glow was interrupted way too soon by a stickiness Karkat wanted nothing more than to clean from his hands. His attempt to get up was foiled, however, when Dave fell forward, onto him, and pressed his body to the bed. "Dave!" He tried to call out, winded, "Get off, you giant lug! I need to shower, or, at the very least, remove your spunk from betwixt mine fingers. I'll wipe it on you! Don't think I'm above that!"

Dave's arms went around him snuggly. He sighed into Karkat's collar bone. That small release of tension and expression of genuine happiness stopped Karkat from saying anything more.

"I love you." The words came out like a flighty reminder. As if Dave was planning to say it often and without reason or prompting in the future.

Karkat pressed a soft kiss to his temple. "I love you too."

A racket woke them around seven in the morning. There was screaming coming from outside. Karkat leapt from his bed and tried to get to the window as Dave commandeered his pillow and clamped it down over his head. It looked like Kankri was getting all sorts of riled up out front.

Karkat hastily threw on some pants and a t-shirt. He picked up Dave's clothes and tossed it onto him. "Get dressed. Shit's hitting the fan."

Dave groaned.

Karkat rolled his eyes and went to sit on the edge of the bed. "You're gonna miss your morning kiss."

Dave's head urgently popped up, the pillow sliding off. "I'm up. I'm up. Where's my promised smooch, prince charming?"

Karkat ducked down and gave him a chaste one before getting back up. "That's all for now. I gotta see what's happening downstairs."

Dave mumbled to himself, but complied.

Karkat's dad must have come home at some point during the night, because the smell of freshly baked pancakes was wafting out from the kitchen. After a quick peek inside, it appeared Mr. Vantas had already come and gone. Karkat wondered if he had seen Dave and what he might have thought of Dave sleeping over.

Or what he thought when he spotted Cronus lying unconscious on the front lawn.

Karkat grabbed Dave's hand and tugged him towards the door. He opened it and Kankri's hollering immediately switched from being directed at a groggy Cronus, just having woken up, to Karkat, "Karkat! What in God's gracious name is going on? I leave for one night and Cronus is locked out of the house and forced to sleep outside? Is that what I'm seeing?"

Being put on the spot wasn't doing much in the ways of coming up with answers quickly. Karkat's mouth opened but words weren't following. Then Dave stepped forward. "Your boyfriend is a fucking scrotum pincher."

Kankri put a hand to his chest, offended. "I beg your pardon?"

Dave put his hands on his hips. "He's a real sleezeball behind your back. Tries to put the moves on Karkat when you aren't lookin cause you haven't been slippin him the D to get his rocks off."

Kankri's face turned red and Karkat almost thought he might be having a heart attack from hearing Dave's vulgarly worded explanation.

"He's a rotten bastard so we kicked his sexual assaulting ass to the curb." Dave ended his sentence with a flourish, snapping his fingers above his head. "Because nobody is touching down on my man except me."

Karkat buried his face in his hands.

Kankri's voice came out surprisingly meek, "Karkat… Is this… true? Has Cronus been making… advances towards you?"

Karkat frowned. He really didn't want to break his brother's heart. But shit needed to change. He just had to keep reminding himself. It wasn't his fault. Cronus ruined his relationship with Kankri. But there was still a small nagging fear that Kankri might blame him. That he might be considered a homewrecker of sorts. He nodded. "Yeah. It's true. Last night he came on to me… pretty strong."

"Pretty strong? He was trying to lay waste to Karkat's precious virginity." Dave tugged him close, hanging an arm off of his shoulder. "No worries though. He handed it off to me for safe keeping. It's no longer in danger of being stolen."

Kankri looked appalled.

It was nice to see Dave was back with a little more confident after last night, but Karkat was still gonna rip into him later.

Kankri looked devastated about the news for about three seconds. Then his face went stone cold. His voice was ice when he addressed his soon to be ex, "Cronus."

Cronus held the back of his head, looking dazedly up at him.

"Get the fuck off of my lawn and never come near me or my family ever again. We're through."

Cronus' eyes narrowed into slits. He wobbly got to his feet. "Oh, well that's just fine! Fuck you guys anyway!" He started to limp forward. "All of you are just a bunch of prudes!"

Dave stuck his foot out and Cronus tripped, falling face flat onto the pavement. He smiled down at him something sinister. "Prudes that know how to file police reports if you don't leave quietly. Let me tell you, man. The police are never happy about handling domestic disputes, especially if they might tip into sexual assault charges."

Cronus got up and immediately hauled ass to his car. He sped off so fast his Chevy left tire tracks.

Karkat awkwardly shifted on his feet, not knowing what to fill the silence with. "Um, so… Dad made pancakes before he left?"

Kankri sighed tiredly. "Thank you, Karkat. But I think I'm going to go for a little walk first to clear my head. You and your," he waved his hand around flippantly in Dave's direction, "knight in shining armor should go ahead and enjoy yourselves first." He gave a tentative smile. "I'll be fine."

With Kankri gone and the two of them alone again, Karkat found himself absentmindedly sliding his hand into Dave's. Dave gripped him back, tugging him close. He mused to himself, "So. Loose ends are all tied up. No more bad guys hiding around the corner. No more tropes or mutual pining. What happens now?"

Karkat shrugged. "I don't really know? Happily ever after?"

Dave grinned. "That doesn't suite us. How about, 'Happy. Even after'?"

Karkat leaned into his side. "You know, I like that better."