#i think this might b my first davekat post ?????

[turquo1s]

msp DAVEKAT

[maedaex2combo]

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Warnings: Strong language(?)

Pairings: Karkat x Reader, Dave x Reader(?) (Gender-neutral!Reader)

Summary: You’re a little bored today, like most days, on this damn meteor. Everyone else is busy, so you have no choice but to hang out with Karkat. This probably won’t go well. Or will it?

A/N: Ahhh! This is my first fanfiction I’m ever posting. I’ve written fanfiction for a while, but I’ve never really wanted to post it. I suppose I’m starting today! I’ll definitely be writing for other characters in homestuck, but also different series/fandoms! I hope you enjoy this cute little wholesome piece I wrote while I was rereading the comic. Sorry if I’m not great at writing for certain characters, I try my best. If anyone wants me to make a follow up on this story, let me know! I wasn’t gonna make another part honestly, but I might if people want it, or if I just feel like it one day. :b (Disclaimer that I’m a huge DaveKat shipper and if I write a sequel or more about this timeline it will probably heavily include Dave lol sorry)

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===> Be Y/N post-scratch (pre-retcon)

You are now [Your] and [Name], respectively.

You let out a deep sign. You’ve been staring down at this notebook you were doodling on for so long, you feel like your neck might just be stuck in a hunchback position permanently once you try to look up. You stopped doodling in the book a while ago, just blankly staring into space, thinking about random things. And by space you mean this book, which you were drawing galaxies and shit on.

Your mind wanders a lot these days. You cant even keep track of how long you’ve spent on this damn speedy ass meteor. It was interesting for the first week maybe, but it’s gotten a little boring. It feels like an eternity since you guys departed from the green sun.

Oh well, you’ve seem to come-to out of your imagination so you might as well take in your surroundings now. You hesitate for a moment at the very real, and totally not preposterous idea that your neck might actually be stuck in position. And that when you try to lift it up it’ll snap, and you’ll paralyze yourself, and then you’d just have to writhe embarrassingly on the floor in front of your friend.

Nah, just kidding. That wouldn’t happen. That’d be terrible though.

Anyways.

You lift your head up and take in your surroundings. You’re in, what you like to call the “library-living-room”, of the meteor. No one else calls it that, but you think you might be getting Rose in on it, since she referred to it as such during your last conversation a couple hours ago. Speaking of Rose, there she is, like probably 6 feet away from you, engulfed in some book as always. She looks really focused, but also happy! She always seems to have this slight smile whenever she’s reading, like she’s always happy to be gaining more knowledge. It’s really cute honestly. Rose and Kanaya are your best friends at this point, you practically spend all your time around them.

That, however, is starting to be more and more of a problem. It’s obvious to anyone around those two that they’re SO into each other, and it kinda makes anyone feel like the third wheel if there’s not a 4th person around. Most of the time anyways. I mean, they are still friends, but they have this like really subtle, mutual way of flirting with each other sometimes. It’s really cute x2. But, in short, you gotta give them their alone time from time to time. Time time time. You wonder where Dave is.

Speak of the devil, Kanaya just walked in!

….

What?

Did you think I was referring to Dave? No, I was just talking about Kanaya, that transition totally made sense!

“Hello, Rose. Hello, Y/N.”

You wave to her with a smile, leaning back on the wall behind you.

“Kanaya, I’m glad to see you.” Rose says to her “I wanted to show you something.”

“Show me something? What is it?” She replies, bending down to have a look at something rose is referring to.

You wonder why she didn’t want to show you, even though you’ve been sitting in the same room in silence for like a couple hours now. You decide not to say anything, you’d probably come off as jealous or bitter or something. Your words tend to come out the wrong way sometimes.

Kanaya sits down next to her and they begin to talk. You start drowning it now, zoning out again. You admire the two in front of you, they’d be so good together. You can’t wait for it to just finally happen already.

After a bit of your mind wandering, you come-to again. The ladies are giggling and having a moment now. One of THOSE moments. You decide you should take your leave at this point.

You stand up. “Hey y’all, I’m gonna go find Dave. Any idea where he is?”

They look up at you as you walk over. “I passed by him earlier, it looked like he was going to that chalk drawing room he, Terezi, and the mayor are always in.” Kanaya responds to you.

“Chalk drawing room?” You giggle “I like that name. Did you name it that?”

“Well… no, I called it that just now… because I’m not quite sure how to refer to rooms here. I suppose it’s hard to give directions. I’ve never realized this.” She says, now a little flustered.

“Should we start labeling the rooms?” Rose suggests. “We could always number them, in descending or ascending order from the roof or floor respectively. Hell, we could even label them with letters. Though, I am forewarning that the former system would probably be more confusing than the previous alternatives.”

This conversation kinda blows. You totally just interrupted whatever sweet moment they were just bonding over. You gotta go!

“Well, you guys let me know if you decide, but I’m just gonna keep calling them goofy names anyways! Thanks though, Kanaya! I’ll see you guys later.”

They can’t really say anything else, because you’re already leaving as you say your goodbye. They can only nod and wave in response before you disappear into the hallway.

You shudder as you quickly make your way to the chalk-drawing-room. Why is it always so cold only in the hallways specifically? Maybe it was your imagination, but you always moved pretty quickly from room to room anyways. It gives you the creeps to be out here alone. Honestly everywhere in the meteor-lab gives you the creeps, you always try to stay with someone as often as you can. And also to try and use the transportalizer as often as possible. But of course, the one to your destination just broke recently, due to DaveKat fighting shenanigans.

Chalk-drawing-room…. You think about whether you really like that name. You kinda wanted to call it mayor-town-room, since the whole room is covered in the mayors little town area that Dave and Terezi collaborated on. You guess you can call it chalk-drawing-room though, only because kanaya said it, and it was kinda adorable!

You finally make it to the chalk-drawing-room, and you peer inside to see if Strider really is in here. And there he is! Standing on a desk/table. What is he doing? You move in a little further to get a better look.

Oh my gosh, Terezi is on his shoulders! They’re drawing something way up on the wall. Honestly, this is a pretty impressive effort they’re making right now, even though you’re pretty sure Dave could just fly up there, right?? You kinda just stare at them for a while. Totally not in a creepy way or anything.

Then suddenly, they’re starting to lose balance! Oh god, they’re gonna fa- and down they go.

You gasp quietly and cover your mouth to silence it. You’re about to go see if they’re alright when- Oh. Actually it seems like Dave kinda caught Terezi. So she must not be hurt.

“dude are you okay? i told you this shit was not a good idea.”

“1M F1N3!!! YOU TOT4LLY BROK3 MY F4LL! SHOULDNT 1 BE 4SK1NG YOU TH4T??”

“oh yeah im fine. that definitely wouldve made me break a butt bone or something if I wasn’t like. this awesome god tier motherfucker. that can fly.”

You notice he’s hovering right above the table.

“Y34H, WH4T3V3R. BUT DONT S4Y TH4T. 1T R3M1NDS M3 OF H1M.”

“right. sorry. but look, bottom line, i totally just saved your ass. literally.”

“OH WOW D4VE, YOUR3 SO R1GHT. TH4NK YOU SO MUCH FOR S4V1NG M3. *ROLLS 3Y3S DR4M4T1C4LLY*.”

“dont start roleplaying with me out loud.”

“1M NOT ROL3PL4YING, 1 4M JUST D3SCR1B1NG TO YOU WH4T MY 3Y3S WOULD B3 DO1NG 1F TH3Y COULD! 3V3N 1F TH3Y COULD DO 4 ROLL, YOU WOULDNT B3 4BLE TO S33! 4ND 1 WOULDNT B3 4BL3 TO S33 1F YOU D1D 31TH3R B3C4US3 W3R3 BOTH TOT4LLY 4W3SOM3 SUNGL4SS W34R3RS!!! >:]]]]”

“oh damn i thought you wouldnt able to see for a totally different unrelated reason.”

“1 KNOW D4VE. 1 W4S JUST TRY1NG TO COMPL1M3NT US BOTH.”

“yeah, were pretty awesome.”

Yknow, you wonder why you’re still standing here, observing their conversation. You guess you would have walked in and asked if they needed help or something, if you didn’t get this like- weird vibe from what’s happening right now. It’s almost like…… oh man. Yeah it’s like what you feel when you’re around Rose and Kanaya. They’re not really flirting, but it just feels weird to interject. He’s holding her and they’re having a bonding moment, and- oh okay, she just licked him. You’re hoping she was like getting chalk off him or something. You decide to back out now.

That made you feel… weird. Definitely contradicting with some feelings you may or may not have had for Dave. For years. That’s okay though. We’re just not gonna think about it.

Now you’re getting a little anxious. You’ve been in the hall too long without someone else. What if he were to just show up and slaughter you right now???

“He” being Gamzee. Ever since you got to the meteor (via jades weird portal body) and the trolls told you guys what awful things Gamzee had done prior to arriving at the green sun, you have been a little scared shitless of him. It seems like no one else feels this way really, besides maybe Kartkat, but he’s the one who keeps the guy under control. Everyone else just doesn’t care, or wants to go kill him themselves (which honestly you wouldn’t be apposed to). You’re probably the weakest one out of everyone here, since you never ended up reaching god tier, and you’re not a troll who grew up being trained for this type of thing.

You just want to avoid him at all costs, which hasn’t been a problem since no one really sees him besides Karkat, as mentioned. But you always stick around Kanaya just in case, since you know he’s especially avoiding her.

But anyways, the hallway just makes you feel vulnerable. Every now and then, you’ll hear a slight honk while you’re walking, and it makes you pick up to a sprint. You just wanna get off this fuckin rock already.

Alright, think. Who else is there left to bother? Rose and Kanaya are busy, and so are Dave and Terezi. So then…. Ugh. Karkat. Well, it beats being alone!

You start to speed walk towards the grumpy trolls room. Hehe. What a funny name you just now came up with, that he totally wouldn’t understand, because it’s a highly complex human media reference that trolls definitely do not have. You make note to tease him about that later.

Your shoes clank quietly on the floor as you walk at a slowly-fast(?) pace.

Wait.

Did you hear that?

…..

honk

Oh..

honk

Fuck.

honk

NO.

HELL FUCKING NO. BOOK IT, YOUR NAME.

You are now running, like a god damn marathon Olympian. Is marathon running even a thing in the Olympics? WHO CARES. WERE JUST RUNNING REALLY FAST, OKAY?

Finally, you see Karkats big metal door in sight. You know it’s his door because he carved his damn symbol on it super big.

Once you reach the door, you knock. Politely, of course. No point in him being pissed at you more than he probably already will be.

…

…

…

honk.

OH GOD DAMN IT OPEN THE DOOR.

You knock again, this time definitely not in a polite manner.

honk.

YOURE KNOCKING QUITE A LOT NOW. GEE ITD BE NICE IF AN ASSHOLE TROLL OPENED HIS DOOR FOR YOU RIGHT ABOUT NOW.

“KARKAT ITS ME CAN YOU OPEN THE DAMN DOOR” You yell, still knocking obnoxiously.

AND HALLELUJAH, IT OPENS! And with a very pissed off Karkat behind it, no less.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU-“ You cut him off immediately by pushing him inside with you.

“CLOSE THE DOOR!! CLOSE IT CLOSE IT!” You shout.

“OKAY OKAY FUCK IM CLOSING THE FUCKING DOOR!” And he complies.

The door shuts, and you don’t think you’ve ever felt so relieved. Besides maybe when you found out that Rose and John weren’t dead that one time you found their bodies on the Skaia Battlefield. Dang, that feels like forever ago.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?” Karkat yells, snapping you out of the thought you were just having.

“Oh. Sorry. It was like, a really long walk to your room. And you know I get paranoid being alone for too long.”

“YEAH I STILL DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HELL YOU’RE SO PARANOID ABOUT. GAMZEE HASN’T SHOWN HIS FACE TO YOU GUYS IN LIKE. ALMOST ONE OF YOUR HUMAN YEARS. I THINK.”

“Yeah, but you never know! I’ve made it a point to avoid him, so if I let my guard down, that’s when anything could happen!”

“THAT’S THE STUPIDEST FUCKING LOGIC IV’E EVER HEARD.”

“Yeah well, whatever. You just don’t get it.”

“WOW, OKAY. I’M GONNA IGNORE HOW TOTALLY IGNORANT AND UNTRUE THAT STATEMENT JUST WAS. JUST KIDDING! THAT WAS FUCKING IGNORANT AND UNTRUE. I KNOW BETTER THAN ANYONE WHAT THE FUCK THAT’S LIKE.”

You don’t really say anything to this, you know he’s right. He had told you about how terrifying it was that day Gamzee went on a rampage. You cant even imagine… being around while he’s ACTIVELY rampaging. You shudder thinking about it.

“ANYWAYS, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE? DID ROSE AND KANAYA KICK YOU OUT SO THEY CAN SNOGGLE OR SOME SHIT?”

“No, I kinda just escorted myself out so they can do whatever. Snoggling could be something they’re doing right now, I dunno.” You walk further into his room and take a seat on the floor next to his computer.

“OKAY. THAT ONLY ANSWERED ONE OF MY QUESTIONS THOUGH.”

“Oh yeah. Well Dave and Terezi were busy too so I-“

“WHAT WERE THEY DOING?” He cuts you off. God he’s so easy to read.

You roll your eyes, an action which he can clearly see because you don’t wear sunglasses, and he’s not blind.

“They were drawing in the chalk-drawing-room, aka mayors-town-room.” you answer “and they seemed busy, so I didn’t wanna interrupt.”

“BUSY DOING WHAT?”

“Okay. Well. I just told you they were drawing. But I’m assuming you mean more specifically. So, honestly they were just having a moment when I walked in. I didn-“

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN A MOMENT???”

“Yknow, like, they seemed like they were getting all close and shit so I didn-“

“HOW CLOSE.”

This is getting comical. You kinda wanna tell him something obscene, just to see what he does. But you stay composed.

“I don’t know, Dave was helping her draw something up high, then they fell, he caught her, and then terezi was all licking his face so I was like ‘im out of here!’”

You can see him get a little red in the face, to your slight amusement.

“SHE LICKED HIM??? THEY DONT EVEN TRY TO HIDE IT ANYMORE”

“Haha neither do you!! Plus, she licks everything. I’m sure she was just trying to see something on his face or-”

“WHY WAS HE EVEN HELPING HER WHEN HE COULD JUST DO IT HIMSELF?! GOD THEY ARE JUST SO-“

Aaaand he’s ranting. And he totally ignored what you even said. You listen when he rants, but it’s hard to keep up sometimes. He just keeps at it for. so. long. And it’s usually just a lot of internalized rage for himself that he turns outwards. We know this.

“SO ANYWAYS,” you shout, cutting him off mid(?)-rant “like I was saying, I came here because I had nothing else to do. And I don’t want to be alone.”

“OH GEE THANKS. NICE TO KNOW I’M THE LAST RESORT. YOURE A REAL FUCKIN PAL.”

“Well excuse me, you don’t really like to make our interactions all that gleeful!! I always get a headache around you cus all you wanna do is rant about how obsessed you are with your ex-mate-whatever!!” You shout back. You weren’t really expecting that to come out, but there it is. “Everyone else is just way more inviting! Rose and Kanaya are always my go-tos. And then Dave.”

“WHAT ABOUT TEREZI?”

Youre surprised he didn’t have a comeback to what you just said before that. “Um, yeah, I dunno I guess she’s the next pick. I don’t think she likes me all that much, though.”

“WHAT? WHY WOULDNT SHE?”

Okay. Weirdly, you noted that that seemed like a compliment.

“I dunno! Maybe I smell bad.”

“YOU DONT FUCKING SMELL BAD.”

Noted, again.

“I know dumpass, I was kidding.”

“SHE’S PROBABLY JEALOUS SINCE YOU SPEND SO MUCH TIME AROUND DAVE.”

“pssssh. I doubt that. She doesn’t seem like the type to get petty about that stuff, unlike a certain troll I may or may not know.”

“OKAY I DIDNT INVITE YOU INTO MY ROOM TO MAKE JABS AT ME OKAY? IM TRYING TO BE FUCKING CIVIL.”

“I mean, technically you didn’t really invite me at all.”

Why. Why did you say that.

“OOOOOOHHHH. OH SHIT. YOURE SO RIGHT. I DIDN’T, DID I? YOU INVITED YOURSELF, HUH? WOW WHAT A REVELATION. ITS ALMOST LIKE I DIDN’T WANT YOU HERE IN THE FIRST FUCKIN PLACE.”

Goddamnit.

“Whatever! Can we just talk about literally anything else! Or even just not talk at all!”

“SURE. WHATEVER.”

You glance around the room a bit. There’s not much in here, but he’s made it his own with a little decorating. Pretty much everyone has their own rooms, besides you. Embarrassingly enough you convinced Rose to share a room with you. You feel bad, but you try to give her as much space as she needs. She doesn’t really like to spend much time alone either anyways, you think. She’s like your sister at this point, and you’re glad she’s so kind to you.

“Hey, Karkat do you have anything I can read?”

“WHAT? NO. WHY THE FUCK WOULD I?”

“I dunno. I see you reading sometimes. Also there’s literally a book sitting right there on your couch.” You point towards the trollian novel (as seen in comic) that’s sitting on the not-so-comfy looking vintage couch. Where did he even get that?

Karkat quickly retrieves the book and walks over to a chest to stuff it inside.

“I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING FOR YOU TO READ.”

“Come onnnnnnn. I’m so bored. Reading an alien novel would literally be so much better than anything else I could possibly do on this rock right now.”

“EVEN IF I DID HAVE BOOKS, WHICH I FUCKING DONT. YOU WOULDN’T EVEN BE ABLE TO READ THEM, THEY’RE IN OUR WRITING.”

“Oh, Kanaya actually taught me how to read it!”

“WHAT?! SHE DID?”

“Well, I mean, I still kinda struggle with it. It’s kinda confusing. But yeah, I think I mostly got the hang of it. Kinda.”

“HUH.”

“Karkat please, spare me of my boredom. If you don’t have books then, is there literally anything else we could do?”

It’s silent for a moment, and he’s just kinda staring at you with that scowl he always has, crossing his arms.

“I… OKAY I DO HAVE BOOKS, BUT YOU WOULDN’T LIKE THEM.”

“What?! You don’t know that.”

“YES I DO. YOU WOULD DEFINITELY MAKE FUN OF ME FOR IT.”

“Oh, no I promise I will be so tame about it! I won’t criticize your literature- well I mean I probably will, but in a good way!”

“NO WAY. NOT HAPPENING.”

“Cmon, it’s not like you wrote the books! Just let me see!”

Karkat sits on the couch and pulls out his computer, probably intending on ignoring you now. You will not stand for this. You take it upon yourself to retrieve the treasure yourself.

You get up and dart for the chest to your right.

“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING-” He quickly stands up to go after you.

But it’s too late! You’re getting that book! You’re opening the chest!

[You got: Erotic Trollian RomCom novel!]

Wait- what kind of novel?

You stare at the weirdly intimate and partially nude troll drawing on the cover. Huh.

But not for long before Karkat snatches it out of your hands. You forgot he was hot on your trail, kinda got mesmerized for a moment.

“DON’T GO FUCKING RUMMAGING THROUGH MY STUFF OR YOU CAN GET THE BIGGEST FUCKING ONE WAY TICKET OUT OF MY FUCKING ROOM.”

“Okay, okay! I just want a damn book to read!”

“I TOLD YOU!!! YOU WOULDNT LIKE ANY OF THE BOOKS I HAVE!”

“WHY NOT?!” Now you’re shouting. He always gets you like this.

“BECAUSE!”

“BECAUSE WHAT??”

“BECAUSE I FUCKING SAID SO.”

“THAT DOESNT MAKE ANY SENSE!!!”

“ITS BECAUSE THEYRE ALL FUCKING ROMCOMS! OKAY?? THEYRE ALL SAPPY ASS TROLLIAN ROMANTIC COMEDIES WITH ALL OUR FUCKIN ALIEN QUADRANTS AND SHIT.”

You stare at him for a moment. And he stares at you, he’s basically heavy breathing at this point.

You start to snicker, and then that turns into a laugh.

He blushes a little, but he turns away so you don’t see.

“SEE?? THIS IS WHAT I MEAN. YOU’RE JUST FUCKING JUDGING ME.”

“NO IM NOT!!” you shout back, still giggling a little.

“THEN WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!”

“I don’t know!! It’s just funny! I didn’t think you’d be into that type of writing! But hey, I like romcoms too!”

“YEAH RIGHT. FUCKING BULLSHIT.”

You stop laughing.

“What do you mean “yeah right”?? It’s true!”

“LIKE FUCK IM GONNA BELIEVE YOU. YOURE JUST TRYING TO CONVINCE ME SO ILL GIVE YOU A BOOK AND THEN YOU CAN RAG ON ME ABOUT HOW AWFUL MY TASTE IN WRITING IS OR SOMETHING.”

“Ugh!! You are IMPOSSIBLE sometimes!!! Actually, I take that back! All the time! How do you know anything about what the hell I’m going to do?!”

“IT’S OBVIOUS.”

“Is it though?! You don’t even know me Karkat!! We’ve probably spent all of like three whole hours together as long as we’ve been on this damn meteor!! And we’ve been here for forever!!! You don’t know anything about me!!!”

“I WATCHED ALL FIVE OF YOU HUMAN FAILURES GROW UP.”

“SO WHAT?! That means you know everything about me? That doesn’t mean JACK SHIT! It just means you’re creepy! Here I was thinking maybe I could try to find SOMETHING to bond over with you! But no! You wanna be a crabby little jealous shut-in who just self deprecates all the time!! It’s getting old! Who even cares if I did think the book was stupid! If you like it then it shouldn’t matter what other people think!!”

“…”

“Whatever! If you’re just gonna refuse to have even a remotely nice interaction with me, then I’ll just leave!! That’s what you wanted right? Well here I fucking go! Thanks for nothing!!”

And thus, YOUR rant was over. And you start to make your way towards the door. Truthfully, you don’t want to leave. Even if it meant arguing with him, it just occurred to you how much you really don’t wanna go back into that hallway. Please stop me. Please stop me. Please-

“WAIT.”

Phew.

You turn around, crossing your arms and giving him a good glare.

Oh man. As soon as you turn around you almost lose your demeanor because you realize he’s pouting. He looks.. kinda… dare you say-

“ALRIGHT. I’LL… I’LL LET YOU READ A BOOK, OKAY? IM SORRY.”

You immediately light up. “Yay!!” You say as you make your way back over to him.

He looks at you for a moment.

“DO YOU REALLY LIKE ROMCOMS TOO?”

“Yeah, of course! That was like probably my second favorite genre.”

“YEAH WELL… IT’S FULL OF TROLLIAN CULTURE AND QUADRANTS AND STUFF LIKE I SAID. SO YOU’LL BE CONFUSED.”

“Maybe.. but can’t I just ask you about it? I mean, I think your quadrant romance is kinda interesting.”

This kinda shuts him up for the time being. He’s probably flustered, but you don’t really think too much of it.

Suddenly he just walks away from you, further into the room.

“Hey! Where are you going?” You call to him.

But he doesn’t answer, so you decide to take a seat on the couch. Oh wow. This was actually more comfy than you thought. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, you guess.

And then he’s back. And he’s holding a book, but it’s a different one from before. And when you look from the book, up to his face, the two of you make eye contact for a moment.

“HERE. READ THIS ONE.”

Your eyes light up a little. You take the book out of his hands and he watches you fan through the pages. It’s a pretty thick novel.

As you read the description on the back, Karkat goes and takes a seat on the other side of the couch, picking up a book on the floor under it.

“So, is this one like your favorite novel, or did you just pick one at random?” You ask.

“THAT ONE… IS MY FAVORITE.”

“Damn, okay! Starting off with the best then. Are you sure you don’t wanna give me a shitty one so my expectations aren’t so high after my first read?”

“NO. THATD BE STUPID.”

“Haha yeah. I’m kinda worried now though, what if I don’t like it? If it’s your favorite-“

“DIDN’T YOU JUST GO OFF ON ME ABOUT HOW I SHOULDN’T GIVE A FUCK WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK, DUMBASS?”

“Oh yeah, I did, didn’t I?” You facepalm yourself internally. How’d you forget that?

“BUT JUST.. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT WHEN YOURE DONE.”

“Really? You WANT to know what I think?”

“I MEAN YEAH. I NEVER REALLY HAD ANYONE ELSE TO TALK TO ABOUT THIS STUFF. ALL MY FRIENDS WOULD GRILL THE FUCK OUT OF ME IF I TALKED ABOUT IT WITH THEM. I’VE NEVER REALLY… KNOWN ANYONE WHO ALSO LIKED ROMCOMS.”

“What about-“

“JOHN DOESNT COUNT. HE HAS SHIT TASTE.”

You giggle at this, and really take in what he said about not having anyone to indulge in this stuff. It’s kinda sad. From what you know, troll culture seemed pretty lonely when quadrants weren’t involved.

“Alright then. Lets talk about the book as I go! It’ll probably take me a while to read though, im a little slow with your language.”

“OKAY. SURE.”

And then the two of you are reading, on opposite sides of the couch. Five feet apart cus you’re not gay. What a stupid fucking reference. Id stop writing right now if I could bring myself to. But I must continue.

Seriously though, it’s pretty peaceful. For the first time ever since meeting Karkat, being in his presence was actually helping you to relax. Everytime you finished two chapters you would stop and discuss it with him a little. You both had the same thoughts for the most part, so it was really chill.

After about 12 chapters, you figured you needed a break. You closed the book and took a big stretch with your arms. Karkat looked up from his own book to watch you curiously. Totally not in a creepy way or anything.

“Well. I think that’s enough for now” you say, satisfied.

“REALLY? YOURE NOT GOING TO READ IT ALL RIGHT NOW?”

You would almost think that was sarcasm, if he didn’t have such a seriously confused look on his face.

“I mean.. no. I don’t really read whole books in one day. Do you?”

“YES.”

“Oh wow. You’re committed then.”

It’s a silent for a moment. Kinda in a awkward way. Kinda.

“So, didn’t you say before that you had more than one copies of this book?” You asked.

“YEAH. WHY?”

“When was the last time you read it?”

“UHHH. I MEAN I GUESS ITS BEEN A WHILE NOW, I USED TO REREAD IT REALLY OFTEN SO I PRETTY MUCH HAVE THE WHOLE THING MEMORIZED. BUT ITS BEEN A PRETTY LONG TIME SINCE I READ IT LAST.”

“Thennn… would you wanna read it together?”

“WHAT? WHY?”

“Because! Then we could experience it at the same time and talk about it together!”

“THATS WHAT WE’VE BEEN DOING.”

“Yeah but it’s not the same because you’re reading something else! You’d be more invested if we were both reading it”

“I JUST TOLD YOU I PRETTY MUCH MEMORIZED THE WHOLE THING.”

“I know I know. I just thought it’d be fun.”

You frown a little, disappointed. Theres another silence.

“ALRIGHT. FINE.”

You immediately light up again.

“WHY DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS WITH ME SO BAD?”

You pause for a moment. Why DO you want to do this so bad?

“I don’t know! It just seems more fun than reading it alone. It’ll be like our own book club!”

“WHAT’S A BOOK CLUB?”

“Uhhh it’s pretty much what we’re doing right now. A group of people get together, read a book separately, and then discuss it with each other every few chapters or something like that.”

“THAT SOUNDS STUPID AS FUCK.”

“Haha yeah.”

“DID YOU HAVE A BOOK CLUB?”

“Oh no, that shits boring. It’s only fun in this context because im reading an alien book with an alien who’s actually interesting.”

Oops. Did you just compliment him?

Karkat: Compliment noted.

“OH. OKAY.”

The air is actually weirdly awkward now. Karkat doesn’t seem nearly as mean or angry as he usually is. You had a theory that was actually a big softie under the exterior, but you’re still kinda surprised he can be so tame.

For the next several hours the two of you read the novel separately, discussing every now and then about it. Once you finished the book, in one day, you had a pretty heated discussion about the ending.

Then, when you decided you were pretty tired, he walked you over to you/roses room. Rose was already asleep, so you had no problem parting from him and getting to sleep as well.

END OF DAY 1.

[strititty]

For the ask game - Alpha Dave?

oh shit its my boy!!! can do, friend. ((this also ended up having a lot of fic recs as i continued to answer, my bad. if you're in my strain of ao3 you'll probably have read these, but if you haven't... please enjoy!))

My NOTP for them 

i don't really have a notp with him, i don't think... i don't have a lot of those in general ??? if it's well written i will read it, tho i'm much more likely to do so if it involves some of my preferred ships, which are...

My BROTP for them

ok i have a few answers for this like a copout but first of all i think that alpha dave/john crocker is a friendship that should last the ages. second of all alpha dave/beta bro can be a really interesting dynamic however you slice it. the run and go has one of my favorite depictions of them together.

My OTP for them 

alpha dave and alpha rose... the alpha universe gives me so many fucking feelings wrt them. i've read so many good fics about them and their relationship--the fics aren't always romantic, but i strongly feel that out of any version of dave and rose these two would have the closest thing to a fullblown romantic relationship, as tragic as it may be.

also even in a non-tragic non-canon timeline they're just kind of perfect, like. laura's written not just one but two fluffy/funny alpha rose/alpha dave fics that i have reread quite a few times.

My second choice pairing for them 

what would my life be without alphacest. alpha dave/dirk is just my particular brand of... so usually i write it as 'guilty older dave worried about fucking up his teenage brother/son while dirk is just ALL the way in'.

i also enjoy asshole alpha dave, tho, or a dave who thinks he's doing right by dirk but is definitely not?? just. oh my god. i could link so many fics right now. i love good writing. i love alphacest. i love these two fuckers. here's a regency era asshole davedirk series (read all of that author's fics plz they're so good) and a good older brother dave fic (ditto)

My fluffy pairing for them

i feel i ought to mentioned davekat somewhere on this list, so i might as well do it here!! i like it as two goofy idiots where dave drives karkat up the wall. so you know, like all of davekat? there's a currently ongoing fic about karkat as a movie critic that i like a lot and need to catch up with.

My angsty pairing for them 

so i got a buddy who infected my brain with noncon davecest and their aus feed a certain brutal itch.

(also, daverose again. i love it as a tragedy. you know that post going around that's like "the love was there. it didn't change anything, but it matters that it was there." you know that one? oof.)

My favorite poly ship for them 

i don't have a huge amount of poly ships for him but i did once write a jane/alpha dave/jade fic that i had a lot of fun with, and i am always here for striderpile.

My weirdest pairing for them

my oc/canon ship that turned into an oc/oc ship. i will not elaborate sorry.

canon-wise it's not THAT weird b/c i don't consider it too much of a stretch, but holy shit alpha dave<3<the batterwitch. also, alpha dave/hal?? not explored enough imo. gotta do some more with it.

[abundantchewtoys]

Homestuck Candy p17-23 (holy shit)

So, yeah, this baby coming up.

I wonder if there's going to be callbacks to Dirk's art for Caliborn in any form. ("jake no, what are you doing - to our baby?")

John can't erase this baby in any case, since no retcon powers.

I wonder if we're going to learn its name. I kind of like one of Blaperile's theories, that he would name a boy after his Dad... It would reveal one of those long hidden mysteries in Homestuck.

Otherwise... Liv? :P

Theresa, after Terezi?

---

Page 17

Oh wow.

OH WOW.

Yeah, now we're getting to the juicy bits.

The candy is turning into diabetes around John. Details about the past are getting vague for his friends, the harmony trumping the validity of their experiences. It's all turning out a lot more existential for John in this path than I thought!

"Harry Anderson Egbert", heheh. But yeah, John has a good point. He wants his wife to have some identity, but it's like she's ... malleable, or something. Everything shapes around each other and forms the least offensive shape.

On the one hand, I want to imagine Vriska Lalonde-Maryam and Harry as childhood friends, growing up together.

On the other hand, I wonder what there is in store for this John. He's lost his retcon powers. But he says Terezi is the only thing that still makes sense to him. So maybe, if he rejects this reality, he can escape it again?

It all is going to depend a lot on what Terezi has to offer. (Going by the assumption it really is Terezi, by the way, not an imposter.)

It would really be something if this John, a twenty-four year old now, crosses back into the Meat timeline. He'd be leaving a lot behind, and frankly, be a shitty husband and father by going through with it. But yeah, Meat John is dead, has been for some time.

Jegus, John keeps filling his own dead self's shoes. Alternate John who dated Vriska. (Okay, in fact, in that situation, it was more of an inversion as the other John continued his developing relationship. On the other hand, for Davesprite, alpha John must've felt like the replacement John in the beginning.) Post-Retcon John who was killed by Typheus. Even Poppop Crocker, when he met up with B2 Dad.

The Candy path is definitely shaping up to be quite suspenseful, all expectations be damned!

---

Page 18

Wow.

Jake's so much more mature here. I want to see more of this man.

So yeah, it had occurred to me that part of the reason Gamzee hooked up with Jake and Jane could be because he was somewhat thinking of a) the other Page he was attracted to, and b) the Hope and Life players in his session, who were close to him on the hemospectrum?

But... I hadn't imagined Gamzee being Jane's kismesis. But it works so well. Got to say, it brings back memories of him on her land during the session.

So Jake and Jane had a baby! The first cross-species naming, then. After Tavros.

It's remarkable, isn't it? Dad, GCATavrosprite, Jasprosesprite^2, Nannasprite, Nannasprite*2... They fell on the wayside, we have no idea what happened to them. The sprites could've dissolved, we didn't seem them in the official credits after all, only the extra possibly outside-of-canon snaps, explaining why Jake would name his firstborn after Tavros. But Dad?

As for Jade and Davekat. Wow. Well, I guess, I really want to know now whether this revelation is also canon.

Cause Jade is either intersex or trans now, after fusing with Beq. (Also, it might be a dog penis, but capable of transferring human DNA? *Shudder.*) I can understand this would make her uneasy in exploring sexual options with Dave.

Wow. Yes, it seems that things are, in a very different but equal sense than in the Meat path, very raw and heartwrenching in this timeline as well.

At the start of the page, I started thinking for a minute that Gamzee would also find something off about the timeline. It would have been something for him to join John in pursuit of relevance, truth and all that. But no, it was just to bait Jane, it seems. If anyone, it would be Jake who might go through something similar as John.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Still said to see Jake getting the small end of the relationship stick, once again. Boy has no luck in love.

It was interesting to get Jane's honest take on politics on Earth C. If she and the others had just been honest with each other, they might have been able to struck an accord. Alas, through Dirk's meddling, it was not to be.

Also, it was funny to have Gamzee refer to the 5000-year skip in sweeps. Yeah, that... That doesn't convert well.

---

Page 19

Wow that took a turn!!

I thought it might have been time for them to discuss their relationship. How Jade has turned into the third wheel stopping the Davekat bicycle from taking off.

(Those references to Jane and Jake, I could've gone about.)

But then.

Something hit.

I thought instantly it would've been the other Jade. A moment or two I thought an ecto baby or First Guardian infant, for these three to take care off in lieu of a biological child. But no.

It's really REALLY the Postscriptum Jade!! (Well, I hope it's her, and that the Postscriptum doesn't take place on Future Candy Earth C.)

She "escaped" the black hole, into relevance, the PS said. So... It seems... As if...

Dirk was very much wrong.

Candy Earth C is going to play an important part in what's to come, yet.

Unless this Jade has only come to lift some of the people here away, like the mentioned Blue Fairy.

But in any case... It seems Davebot and Aradia can't be far behind.

This idyllic fantasy, who's already shown cracks, is about to be shattered.

What hit Jade, though, it almost seemed like those shards from the Furthest Ring, though it was called massless, here.

---

Page 20

Wow.

So, this Jade is suffering from a metaphysical poison. Just like John was from Lord English's tooth. Only... This Jade went into the black hole, and last we saw she was okay.

Is it because she's back in the "real" world that it's affecting her now?

For a minute there I thought Jane and Kanaya and Karkat could actually *explain* their grievances to each other. But no, alas. Karkat, validly I must say, just exploded with everything he's pent up.

Gotta say, if the trolls are getting antsy in this timeline, just imagine how it was going to pan out in the Meat timeline! I'm reminded of the troll rebellion that was referenced in the non-canon snaps.

Also, of course. OF COURSE, these Vriska and Tavros would clash on their first meet. Everyone should've seen this coming.

If anything salvages this scene, it must be Jake being able to placate the two toddlers. It's that sort of attention that Joey and Jude deserved to get from their Pa.

It's interesting to note how Rose is no longer sure about their situation. Maybe that's the influence of this corpse and its heavily-dripped-in-canon origin.

Roxy keeps being almost a vanilla version of herself, although the intent to hold a corpse party is horribly in character for her. Still, she feels less *real* than the other characters, who all seem to be kind of recovering from their diabetes-filled state.

John and Roxy, and Dave, Karkat and Jade are in dire need of some therapy, in any case. It was nice to see Karkat telling Gamzee off though. And weird to see Jane and Roxy keep jumping to his side. Like, they have no idea of the history here, and seem to think anyone can redeem themselves if they try hard enough. It kind of shows how they're not really all that streetwise.

Oh, forgot to mention - John has a moustache now. A manly one. Dear god, he's gone full Sassacre :P

---

Page 21

WHAT THE SHIT.

WHAT THE SHIIIIT.

WHAT THE SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT.

Roxy was right. The chances of all of them coming together like that, with all the stuff going on between them, are so infinitesimal.

But then she got into labor, and I thought that was that.

But

But

So, Aradia and Sollux turn up, and when I heard Jade had the shard still in her torso....

It would seem that this Jade isn't Postscriptum Jade... Yet.

Aradia and Sollux found a way out of the Furthest Ring on their own??? And somehow ended up on Earth C without explanation. Just when last page I almost thought as if all missing trolls mentioned in the epilogues' ToC were going to end up appearing as babies to the characters.

Karkat and Jane are in dire need of an actual debate.

Rose's lack of a good consolation was hilariously described.

But of course, the meat (Meat) of this page.

Is that Alt Calliope found a way through the Black Hole into the Candy path, and sent Reload Jade's corpse through it.

And just like in the Candy path, alpha Calliope is scared off. But it bears mentioning that Calliope herself was acting kind of weird, and was weirdly absent for a lot of the pages. It almost seemed to set her up as the narrator of this path, trying to give everyone what she thought they wanted. The fact that she and Roxy "broke character" for a moment was one of the things pointing in this direction.

But now Alt Calliope is here.

The narration is about to force everyone to confront who they really are. For better or worse.

I wouldn't be surprised if this ends with Candy Earth C as the battlefield seen in the Postscriptum. But what does that imply for Meat Earth C, where Alt Calliope ALSO put her influence to work.

She may claim not to influence, but even when she retreated into the narration, the atmosphere wasn't just magically improved over there.

Aradia and Sollux talking with Gamzee was... weird, but funny. I wonder if they are supposed to have aged some sweeps in the meantime. We know Gamzee must be about 8.5 sweeps now, while Karkat and the other trolls are about 11 sweeps.

I guess it's time we learn what Alt Calliope understands under "protecting" a world. I don't think Meat Dirk is coming over there, though I'm unsure what his grand design really is.

---

Page 22

Oh my god.

what is happening.

So Alt Calliope's influence didn't really do anything at that point but upset the group.

And now a 3 year time skip took place. So... wow. They're all 27 now.

And the troll ghosts that were sucked into the black hole are appearing everywhere now. The government is going bananas, but in fact, it must all be repetitions of the same 24 trolls, how weird is that.

I'm sure that in due time, some human ghosts will be appearing too. But this is just getting ridiculous.

Karkat went underground and into the resistance. Jane, as the shadow president, is secretly maneuvering things to invade the troll kingdom. This was supposed to be the Candy path, I thought it was going to be all shits 'n giggles!!!!

I do like that John, finally, after years, is starting to realize Terezi doesn't share anything about her at all. He asked for a picture, which I guess is nice. But, just like in the Meat path, he's torn up about the girl that he didn't stay with.

This has "disaster waiting to happen" written all over it.

Calliope seems to hunker after Roxy, but she still doesn't act on those feelings. It's like a twisted inversion of the Meat path.

It's like, all the sugar we started with has been turned into energy, and the rush has dissipated, and now there's only a tummy ache.

---

Page 23

Wow.

What the shit.

I could only root for John and Tavros' relationship. Seems like the little man is very sharp for his age. Since Harry is into atomic clocks as well, it seems that the tradition of children being into adult subjects like philosophy and psychology and science, continues.

But alas, it was not meant to be.

John finally couldn't take it no more, he had to scream what he'd internalized for so long. But it turned into something really messy, towards Jane and Jade. All valid points, but by losing control he most importantly scared Tavros and Harry Anderson.

The reaction of the other people was so... empty, though. Non-confrontational to a fault.

And I agree with John, Gamzee has apparently set himself up as Jane's subjugglator.

For all that Alt Calliope was saying, she sure seems to have NOT used any influence, though. And things very much have gone to shit here.

It was very cool to get to know Tavros and Harry Anderson as people, though. Tavros is indeed a kind of brother, biologically, to John (and Jade, and a half brother to June and Joey) in appearance. But it's like, personality-wise, he's more like a sad but smart version of Tavros. While his speech is colored in Gamzee's purple, ugh.

And Harry Anderson... A prankster in the making, for sure.

So, what is Terezi going to talk to him about? Is she talking to him from the end of the Meat path, just before she left Earth C? Or is she talking to him just after the other John died. :(

I can say this: I didn't think for a millisecond I would get THIS attached to people from the Candy path.

[caledfwlchthat]

Characters:  John Egbert, Dave Strider, Karkat Vantas Ships:  John/Dave/Karkat, John/Dave, Dave/Karkat, John/Karkat Other Tags:  Post-Retcon Meteor, Dream Bubbles, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Xenophobia, Closets, Coming Out, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Troll/Human Sloppy Makeouts, Polyamory Negotiations, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Fat Vriska Jokes, Unreliable Narrator, References to Depression Rating:  Not Rated

Hi followers, now that Polyswap reveals are out (a few days ago now), I can fess up to writing this 20 kw JohnDaveKat thing about making out in literal supply closets, that I wrote for @cassandraooc (check out her art and AO3, she’s tops!).  Shout-out also to @katreal-fic for her help as a sounding board and general pompoms while I was writing this.

R^4 fans:  this was my May/June, I have not forgotten you!  But if you like all the dream bubble romance and the awkward poly negotiations Rose and Kanaya have been having about Dave, you might give this one a look too.

Process discussion (as best as I can recall it) under the cut, as with other swap assignments I’ve done, for anyone who’s interested in the (long, spoilery) story of what the hell I was thinking exactly when I wrote this thing.

So my giftee’s prompts were -- by her own admission -- written in a bit of a sleep-deprived haze (I had to laugh as I read them, haven’t we all been there at some point, I know I lost some sleep over mine).  We were each required to provide between three and six prompts for polyships (3-6 characters each) that we wanted to see depicted in gift fic or art.  Cassandra’s OT3 was JohnDaveKat, which sported a string of elaborate sub-prompts (“medievalstuck!”, “soulmates!”, “haunted house!”, etc.) -- along with an invite to not use any of those and just write whatever I felt like.  Other prompts for Dave/Sollux/Karkat, Jane/Callie/Roxy, and Rose/Kanaya/Jade were basically completely open-ended.

I’m trying to remember exactly how I seized upon the idea I ended up executing.  Although some of my other works feature polyships, such as Kankatrezi (The Cafe Mocha Caper) and Daverosemary (foreshadowed in R^4), the process of how they got together is important for me in ways that I don’t care about as much for canon ships.  I felt some resistance to just picking one of the ships and starting to write it as if it was already established.  Also, people who know my writing know that I like to stick close to in-game or post-game AUs, or at least the broader Homestuck setting, rather than non-game AUs or other settings that remove the characters from the context that made them who we recognize them to be.  So I was going to need some runway and a satisfying premise to run along it with.  But by golly, if Cassandra wanted JohnDaveKat, she was gonna get JohnDaveKat.

The JohnDaveKat prompt I personally found most hilarious and awesome was

John gets turned into a Trickster, and finds Karkat and Dave. In the ensuing candy fueled mess, a lot of pent up emotions and secret crushes get revealed, including Dave realizing and admitting that John was probably his first crush on another boy though he was in denial at the time, and Karkat admitting that his own pitch crush for John never went away. (For his part, John finds out that he might, in fact, be a bit of a homosexual.)

Another JohnDaveKat prompt that turned out to figure in heavily later with the work I ended up producing was

John decides to surprise Dave and Karkat with a visit, only to find them already *quite* busy. Before he can think of what to do or do enough thinking at all to leave, he gets caught, and Dave notices evidence of interest, knows Karkat's still got some pitch feelings, and has some of his own, suggests maybe John stay a bit and they talk over some things and maybe do other stuff later too.

Going with Earth C could also bring the Epilogues material into play, and I briefly toyed with an Epilogues-related scenario that could score multiple polyships at once, before remembering that the Epilogues are hugely polarizing and maybe I want to be double sure about my giftee before giving them such a gift in a fan swap.  A combination of Tumblr-stalking, re-reading the prompts and discreet inquiries showed that my idea wasn’t going to work, largely because Ultimate Dirk is a legendary piece of shit and his presence over against End-Of-Act-7 Dirk would cause real friction with Cassandra’s requests -- which leaned fluffy and offered bonus points for “DirkJake” and “Dirk and Dave being good bros who love each other”.  Maybe I could have just done something similar in a separate Earth C AU without a lot of the Epilogues baggage, but by that point the specific discarded spin on the idea had so thoroughly colonized my brain that I just had to ease the whole thing carefully onto the shelf.  I’d still be keen to write that other fic sometime.  Just not for this particular fill.

So, I took a break for a few days before revisiting the prompt and asking what else I could do.  When I think of John, Dave, and Karkat together, my mind goes immediately back to the “EVERYBODY STFU, I HATE YOU BOTH ETC” memo, in which Karkat tries to dissuade Dave and John from encouraging Terezi’s and Vriska’s flirtations, respectively.  This convo is burned into my head because I’ve VA’ed it -- I draw a lot of inspiration for character dialogue from the time I’ve spent doing goofy voiceovers for them.  And there is a lot of grist for the mill here:  Karkat alluding to his pitch crush on John, Dave making fun of Karkat for being gay (while not realizing or admitting how he might be projecting), John being totally clueless about whether he’s attracted to Vriska.  All of these are compatible with the “pent-up emotions and secret crushes” Cassandra asked for, and favors Dave <3 Karkat <3< John as a baseline.

Now, one of the reasons I love writing dream bubble fic is because I am fundamentally lazy.  I can basically use any canon Homestuck pesterlog as a prompt and run with it.  So that’s what I did here.  In the moment that they realize that it’s a dream, the participants are forced to reckon with the way dream bubbles respond to their innermost thoughts.  Deep desires manifest in weird ways; emotional distances contract, go non-Euclidean.  Despite this, the association with dreams simultaneously offer a layer of abstraction or remove to Dave and Karkat -- allowing them to access and slake those deep desires without having to take responsibility for it, either with themselves or each other, during waking hours.  In that sense, John opening the closet is like walking in on them a second time -- the dream bubble itself is their main outer closet, and they already know the jig is up when John diverts the pesterlog down Memory Lane.  This then raises the question of whether they might have wanted John to discover them, deep down?  Perhaps John’s convenient remembering is a sort of wish-fulfillment dream summoning.

From there I already sort of had the fic’s contours and decided it would be best written from John’s POV.  The other nice thing about the dream bubble setting was that it let John participate even during the meteor journey, when Dave and Karkat must have been messing around trying to reverse-engineer their own sexual preferences.  How gay is Dave, and how troubled is he about it at this point in his history?  How does he feel about John finding out?  Does Karkat somehow have some symmetrical hangups that leave him struggling as much as Dave, or is he just a giant crab?  (The literal vs metaphorical closet thing was accidental at first, but once I discovered that I ran hard with it.)

There were still some problems I struggled with, such as how to get John to fall for Karkat pitch-ways when he’s said in canon that he isn’t gay, and when Karkat has said in canon that he’s not pitch for John anymore.  The second problem is easily dispatched by pointing out that Karkat isn’t a reliable narrator of his own preferences, by construction.  As for the first -- John might be no Casanova, but he loves his friends and is fiercely loyal to them, and he also saves his anger for either really important moments (like his GAME OVER fight with Caliborn) or utterly trivial moments (like Con Air not being as good as he thought).  This seemed like a good place for the former.  Once that was laid out, the trio coalesced nicely -- Dave and Karkat need John to keep them honest, and John needs Dave and Karkat to keep him anchored.  John <> Dave and Dave c3< (John <3< Karkat) were dynamics that just showed up on their own.

The interpretation of the ending is left open, but the other difficulty I left unresolved is the timeline mismatch between pre-retcon and post-retcon, and the question of which John it was exactly that showed up in Dave and Karkat’s shared dream.  Pre-retcon Davekat didn’t happen because Dave and Karkat were fighting over Terezi, but post-retcon John died in the explosion of LOWAS and couldn’t live happily ever after having so gloriously enabled post-retcon Davekat.  And I wanted them to live happily ever after.  The two most obvious interpretations I could think of were (a) the three are all on Earth C and dreaming together of each other -- or, more poignantly, (b) pre-retcon John is starting to integrate some of post-retcon dead!John’s memories.  The second possibility leads in the direction of Ultimate John (what would that even be?) so I made sure to place the ending in a time frame that gives the Epilogues a miss -- although the background DirkJake also signals that this is probably an AU that diverges after the ACT 7 victory.

All in all this was really fun to write!  There were lots of other great prompts in the collection, but the ones that grabbed me looked like they would spawn more 20-30 kw novellas and I need to get back to my poor neglected serial!  I’m looking forward to making my way through the treats that others posted, eventually adding some of my own, and of course going through Cassandra’s other stuff.  (Maybe that awesome fantroll Friendsim project will be the next thing to eat my life after this.)