The Blood I Spill for You

Do I Just Sing Myself Happy Bithday?

Dirk almost crashed into the car in front of him when he saw it. A simple missing poster attached to a light post with a familiar face, despite must have being taken many years before. This could change everything. Dirk quickly, and illegally, parked his car and stepped out, casually walking up to the poster to make sure it was who he thought it was. Dirk almost smirked when his thoughts were confirmed. The photo was a little blurry and outdated but there was no doubt.

Without hesitation, he pulled out his phone and dialled the faded number.

    "Come on Karkat, you can do this."

    "No I can't! I can't do this!"

    "Listen to me, yes you can. Don't worry, I'll be right here to catch you."

    "With those puny human muscles? You'll drop me!"

    "Hey! My muscles aren't puny!"

    "Dave, I can't do it," Karkat was shivering. Dave softened his face as much as he could with the shades on. He wouldn't dare take them off in public, even if they were the only ones in the park.

   "Look at me," he said. Karkat glanced down at the human, who was holding his arms out to catch him. Even though they both knew it would never work, the troll still felt an odd comfort in the gesture.

   "You're going to be just fine. It looks high, but I promise it's safe to jump down," Dave soothed. After many minutes, Karkat took a deep breath and nodded his head, "ok. I can do this."

   Dave smiled, "of course you can. Come on, jump down." Karkat squeezed his eyes shut, holding his breath.

   "Three," Dave started counting. Karkat's heart was pounding.

He's going to die.

   "Two."  He can't do this!

   "One."

   With a shriek, Karkat pushed off the branch under him and hopped down from the young tree. Dave didn't even attempt to catch him, that would be dumb, but he was right at Karkat's side to pull him into a comforting hug. Karkat was panting, refusing to open his eyes. He wrapped his warm, grey arms around the Strider's middle, burying his face into his chest.

"Shh, it's alright," Dave tried to comfort. But the effect was ruined when he failed at suppressing his amused giggles.

Karkat looked up angrily, "what are you laughing at Strider?!"

This only made Dave laugh harder. Quickly calming down before Karkat starts yelling, the blond let his hand play with the long, black hair.

"Nothing. It's just, you're the one who thought it was a good idea to climb that tree in the first place," Dave explained. The troll pulled away to glare at the tall human, though not far enough to get away from the small scratches at the base of his skull.

"It didn't look that tall!" Karkat defended, scowling. Or, he would have scowled if Dave didn't start scratching in between his horns. He immediately broke down into a deep purr and encouraging chirps. Damn it! Damn Strider and his cheap cheats.

   "You think all it takes is a little- o-oh!" Karkat choked. His legs felt like they might just collapse as Dave switched to massaging there gently. He purred so hard his chest was almost hurting. Almost.

   Dave smirked as the short angry troll pushed into his hand like some sort of kitten. A really big kitten. Looking for something study to keep him from falling, Karkat settles for using Dave's hips. The blond started to massage the bases of the horns, figuring there were a few nerve endings there.