
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/3908836.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Homestuck
  Relationship:
      Dave_Strider/Karkat_Vantas
  Character:
      Dave_Strider, Karkat_Vantas
  Additional Tags:
      Eventual_Smut, Anachronistic, Songfic
  Series:
      Part 9 of NSD_Writes_Homestuck
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-05-13 Updated: 2015-05-15 Chapters: 2/? Words: 2369
****** My Xenological Romance ******
by NothingSoDivine
Summary
     Karkat can sing.
     A little anecdote of Karkat and Dave forming a friendship pre-retcon
     timeline (because I hadn't reached the retcon yet when I started and
     it doesn't really fit with the retcon??? idk, man, idk).
Notes
     I haven't actually finished reading it, but I liked the idea, so I
     stole it. *shrugs* sue me.
  This work was inspired by
      In_which_Dave_catches_Karkat_singing_in_the_shower_(ON_HIATUS) by
      fukmylyf
***** S. I. N. G. *****
Holy fucking shit.
If you were a religious guy, you'd be pretty fucking sure you'd died and gone
to heaven. Either that, or an angel had graced your meteor with its presence.
But you're not religious, so the only explanation for the sounds you're hearing
at the moment has to be either human or troll. Rose and Kanaya are in the
library - you just came from there - and Terezi's either with psycho-clown-boy
or the Mayor in Can Town. Therefore, the only possible explanation for this
heavenly sound emanating from the bathroom is one Karkat Vantas.
And holy shit, can that boy sing.
He's got this voice that you can't put words to, it's... it's not anything like
you expected from someone who spends all his time yelling. It's pretty fucking
versatile, from the sounds of it, and it's sending shivers down your spine that
are ending up somewhere else entirely.
It sounds like he's singing something you recognise - well, you don't recognise
it, per se, but the lyrics are in English, so you figure it's from Earth. He's
singing along with something he's playing, some rock 'n' roll or something like
that, and it's not your type of music, but it's... not that bad, actually.
Okay, it's pretty good. Of course, the fact that Karkat's singing along helps.
Fuck, he's got pipes. Then the song switches, and holy shit you cannot believe
this guy.
He's a fucking soprano.
What the fuck.
You take a minute to reconcile your higher brain functions with the fact that
he was just singing some headbanger shit, and now he's singing like an
operatically-fucking-trained soprano. What the fuck.
Okay, you have to record this kid.
You can't even remember what you were here for originally. Whatever it was has
been long since wiped from your memory. Your entire consciousness is now
fixated on the need to get Karkat into your makeshift recording studio and get
him singing. You're fumbling with your iShades, trying to get the video
function working, when suddenly he stops.
You almost call out, Dude, why'd you stop singing? but then you realise exactly
how creepy that would sound, so you just stroll nonchalantly in like you were
originally planning to do. There's this vaguely grub-shaped thing sitting on
the counter by the sinks, and it appears to be blasting the music out of
surprisingly powerful speakers. You can hear Karkat bustling around in one of
the shower stalls, humming quietly to himself.
Oh yeah, you were planning on showering. That's what you were going to do. You
knew there was something you were planning on doing. You strip off your shirt,
grab a towel on your way past the stack, and head for the last shower in the
row, the one with the red plastic curtain that you've claimed as your own
personal space.
"Hey, Karkat, nice singing, by the way," you call out on the way past his
shower stall.
The rustling behind the curtain stops, and Karkat pokes his head around the
plastic curtain. "What?" His gold-and-silver eyes are wide. (He's so fucking
cute, what the fuck, why is he so cute if he's such an asshole.)
"Heard you singing," you explain. "It was good. Could I maybe record you
sometime?"
"You weren't supposed to hear that," Karkat says. He's blushing. (What the
fuck. Too cute.)
"Why not?" you ask, pulling off your shades and toeing off your shoes as you
stand in the corridor between the shower stalls. "You weren't exactly keeping
quiet. Besides, it was good."
His face is going the most magnificent shade of red. "Shut up."
"Man, come on, I'm not going to judge you," you defend, tugging off your socks
so you're standing there in just your jeans. The next song is coming on, and
usually you'd be kind of a tiny bit embarrassed to admit that you know it, but
this is Karkat, and he don't give a fuck, so you dictate the words right at him
as they play. "Sing it out. Boy, you've got to see what tomorrow brings."
He rolls his eyes, but you continue.
"Sing it out! Girl, you've got to be what tomorrow needs."
"You're an idiot, Strider," Karkat sighs, shoving the yellow plastic curtain
aside to reveal himself standing there in nothing but his boxers. You
surreptitiously admire the view.
"For every time that they want to count you out," you continue, starting to
sing. "You'll lose your voice every single time you open up your mouth."
Karkat just stands there, leaning against the wall with an unimpressed are-you-
fucking-kidding-me-Strider look on his face, as you sing the chorus with more
feeling than you've ever put into speaking. You've never sung this song - any
song - above a tiny murmur, and you're pretty pleased to find out that you're
actually not that bad. By the time you finish the chorus, Karkat's look has
morphed to if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em.
"So you really don't mind my singing?" he asks over the second verse.
"Dude, are you kidding me?" you ask back, incredulous. "Who do I have to fuck
to get you into a recording studio?"
Annnnnnnnd the blush is back. (Goddammit, he's so cute but he's so hot and it's
not fair.) "No fucking required. Just say the word."
You flash him a rare grin and start back in singing: "You've got to make a
choice if the music drowns you out."
Karkat returns the grin, and as the music continues, he joins in. "And raise
your voice every single time they try to shut your mouth!"
Fuck, he's got a great voice. The two of you sing the chorus in tandem, and
it's fucking magnificent. Karkat sings the way he does everything: with
unbridled passion that he desperately tries not to show to anyone else. By the
time you reach the bridge, you're singing right in each other's faces.
You pause with the music. You're about two inches from kissing.
You lock eyes with Karkat. He looks so apprehensive. You jerk back, shout the
next line, "Keep running!" and then you're back in rhythm, singing like neither
of you give a flying fuck about whatever other shit is going down on this
meteor, because at the moment, neither of you does give a flying fuck.
The song ends, and you spend a moment in tense silence before the next song
comes on - something with piano and violins and suddenly holyfuckheavymetal.
You don't really pay attention to it. You're holding Karkat's gaze, almost as
if the two of you are both expecting and dreading whatever's going to happen
next.
You're the one who breaks eye contact. Turning, you head into your shower
stall. Behind you, you hear Karkat resume his rustling around, and as you turn
the water on and crank it to hot, the music quietens. You hear it fade out of
hearing range as the door shuts.
You step into the shower, still humming.
Sing it for the boys
Sing it for the girls
Every time that you lose it sing it for the world
Sing it from the heart
Sing it till you're nuts
Sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts
Sing it for the deaf
Sing it for the blind
Sing about everyone that you left behind
Sing it for the world
Sing it for the world
***** Yes *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"Are you sure about this?" Karkat asks you for probably the three hundredth
time.
"You'll be great, don't worry," you soothe, continuing to dick around on your
laptop to get all the settings sorted out for recording. You managed to
alchemize a fucking soundboard - it took forever, but you somehow managed - and
all the other shit you're about to need, but all you can do is hope that nobody
makes any noise that the mic will pick up, because your room isn't
soundproofed. "You know the song, what is there to worry about? Just sing it."
"But... what if it's no good?" Karkat presses, staring down at the microphone
in his hand as though it's a bouquet of overly-symbolic white lilies he's
brought to his best friend's funeral.
"You mean, if you mess up? We record it again. Easy." You plug in one last
cord, flip the power switch, and you're good to go.
"No, I mean, what if I just don't sound good?" Karkat clarifies.
You stop what you're doing to turn and give him a look. He looks so earnest.
"You are kidding, right?" you ask.
He looks at you like you just shit on one of his romance novels. "No," he says,
like it's the most obvious thing in the universe.
You blink behind your mirrored lenses, but don't reply. Instead, you pick up
your spare headphones, which are plugged into your laptop.
"Here." You nestle them over Karkat's slightly-pointy ears, nudge the
microphone up to his mouth, slide on your own set of headphones, and reach for
your keyboard, fingers hovering over the spacebar. "Ready?"
He shakes his head, but you start it anyways.
As the intro starts playing, he lowers the mic and looks up at you with his
eyes full of panic. (God, his eyes are expressive. Yours are the same, which is
partly why you keep them hidden.)
"I can't do this, Strider," he says. "I can't do this."
You hold out a hand to him, as though you're about to set it on his shoulder or
pap his face or something. "Shhhh," you tell him. It's not quite a shoosh, but
it's close enough to do the job without infringing on psycho-clown territory.
"Nobody's going to hear this except us, remember? It's just for fun."
Warily, he raises the microphone back to his lips. You reach over to the sound
board, nudge the volume up on the input from the mic, and he starts to sing.
Goddamn you love this song. You're not even entirely sure how you found it -
probably one of those eternal YouTube mixes you'd put on as background noise or
something, you really have no idea - because it's not your type of music, but
you can't seem to stop listening to it. And even though the original is pretty
fucking good, you can already tell that Karkat is going to do it justice.
Taking his cues from the original recording, he lets his satiny-smooth voice go
a little bit rough around the edges, and at the end of the first verse, he lets
his voice drop off the note with a little growl that sends all kinds of shivers
down your spine. You are so keeping this one.
The way his voice goes breathy, like he's so turned on he can't breathe, on the
last line before the chorus is so perfect that you have to bite your lip and
clench your hands into fists to keep from doing anything stupid like tackling
him and kissing him (which would absolutely ruin your friendship, not to
mention what it would do to your recording equipment). You fiddle with the
dials, tweak the way his voice is coming through your headphones until it
sounds just like him, like he's breathing right in your ear with that growling
trollish undertone blossoming through his words. Fuck, you wish he was.
You glance over at Karkat. His eyes are shut as he croons into the mic like
he's trying to seduce you even though you know he isn't. He's getting more into
the music, moving a bit to the beat as he sings. His mouth is forming the words
loosely, languidly, but without lagging behind the music, and when he finishes
he slips the very tip of his tongue between his teeth and and smiles lazily
around it. A little nagging voice in the back of your head reminds you of what
you have to do with the sound board, so you return to futzing with the dials
and sliders and you turn off the mic just in time for Karkat's eyes to flutter
open as the music dies down.
He doesn't speak until you stop recording and pull off your headphones. Then he
pulls off his own with a shy smile and an anime-girl blush.
"How was it?" he asks.
You hold out your hand for a fistbump. "Bro, that was fucking awesome."
He grins and bumps knuckles with you, handing back the microphone. You turn for
half a second to put it away, and when you turn back, Karkat's flumped across
your bed.
"I want to hear it," he says, and you shake your head.
"It's not finished, Karks," you say. "You don't want to listen to an unfinished
piece of music, do you?"
"Yes, I do," Karkat replies instantly, and you sigh.
"Fine," you relent, swinging your laptop around and saving the file quickly
before jumping back to the beginning of the track, "but it won't be perfect."
"That's okay," he murmurs. "I want to hear it anyways."
You unplug the two sets of headphones, rearrange some cords, plug in your
speakers and press play. Almost instantly, the sound blooms throughout the
room, just loud enough to fill it without being deafening.
You glance over at Karkat. He's got his eyes closed, brows furrowed ever-so-
slightly as he rolls his shoulders to the beat. You reach over and pull in the
bass, turning it up carefully until it thrums through your bones.
The song flies by, far faster than you realise, and as the music dies back
down, Karkat opens his eyes and grins.
"It's good," he decides, sitting up. "It's pretty good."
"All right, now out you go," you reply, making a shooing motion with your
hands. "I have editing to do."
He grumbles under his breath, but lets you shoo him out, and you shut the door
behind him before returning to your computer. You've got one thing to do before
you do any editing.
You turn on the music, lie down on your bed with your face in the part of the
blanket that smells like Karkat, and jerk off to the sound of his voice.
If you'd only, if you'd only say yes
Whether you will's anybody's guess
God, only God knows I'm trying my best,
But I'm just so tired of this loneliness.
Chapter End Notes
     And there's a playlist now! :D It includes the songs that don't have
     lyrics mentioned, too, in case you're curious about what those songs
     were. It can be found here - it's not finished yet, because neither
     is the fic, but it's going to be updated regularly to reflect the
     songs I use.
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!
