Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Dude, check this out. I learned a new trick.”

“I don’t want to see any more of your ‘tricks’.” You don’t even look up from your book. You’re pretty sure Dave just likes to fuck with you any time you try to get any reading done and you’re not going to give him the pleasure of knowing that he is indeed distracting you.

“No no, you definitely want to see this one. Coolest shit I’ve figured out how to do yet. Finally found some use for these time powers, dude.”

“...Pretty sure you’ve found plenty of use for your time powers, asshole. Go bother someone else. I’m busy.”

“You’re not even reading that right now.”

“Because you’re bothering me!” You glance up at Dave, just fast enough to make sure he can see the scowl on your face. “Fuck off and let me read.”

Dave does not fuck off and let you read.

Instead, he flops down on the couch next to you. “C’mon, Karkat. Let me show you the thing. It’s really cool.”

“If it’s so cool, go show someone else.”

“Naw. Wanna show you. You’d really just give the chance to be the first person to witness this to someone else?”

“Yes. I would.”

You have to admit that you’re a little curious, if only because Dave has had zero interest in using his “time powers” since he’s arrived on the meteor. You’re not about to tell him that, though.

“Fine. Guess I’ll just hang out here, then.”

He goes quiet after that… too quiet. You glance to the side and find him just sitting there, messing around on his phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Hanging out. Just like I told you, man.”

“You’re being annoying is what you’re doing.”

“I’m literally not doing anything? How can I be annoying?”

He smirks at you because he knows exactly what he is doing.

“Ugh. Just show me your trick and then fuck off.”

“Knew you couldn’t resist this shit. Okay, watch.”

Dave reaches over and… rips the page of your book.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” you screech. “Your ‘cool trick’ is just destroying my property? What gives you the right to—”

“Shhhhh. No, shut up. Seriously, it’s fine. Watch.”

Dave reaches out for your book again, but you pull it out of his reach. “Watch as you continue to rip my book? Thanks but no thanks.”

Dave groans. “I’m not gonna rip it again. Just let me see it.”

“No.”

“Give me the book.”

“No!”

“Fine. Guess I can’t fix it, then. Your loss.”

You eye Dave suspiciously as he goes back to whatever he was doing on his phone.

After a few minutes, you toss the book into his lap. “I don’t see how you can fix it, but fine. Just know that if you rip it again I know exactly where you sleep.”

“You don’t, but whatever. Not gonna be an issue. Watch.”

You do as Dave says, if only so that you can keep an eye on your book. He doesn’t rip it again, just opens it up to the page he’d already had his grimy hands all over, then sets it back in his lap.

Both hands hover over your book for a moment. You watch as Dave seems to concentrate on whatever it is he’s doing.

There’s an odd flash and you startle, but it’s gone just as quickly as it came.

Then, Dave hands the book back to you. Good as new.

“Neat, right?”

You run your fingers over the page. There had definitely been a rip there before, right down the middle, but it’s completely gone now. Almost as if it never happened.

“How in the hell did you do that?”

“I told you. Time powers.” He waggles his fingers at you. Before you can say anything else about this honestly impressive use of his powers, he’s up off the couch and flash stepping out of the room.

You roll your eyes, then go back to your book. “What a show-off,” you mumble to yourself.

You forget about Dave’s new trick for a few hours as you continue to read your book. Suddenly, you’re reminded of it when your book starts to glow. You hear a faint ripping sound, seemingly out of nowhere.

You definitely didn’t rip anything.

You turn your book back to the page Dave had ripped, then repaired, and find it ripped once again, in the exact same spot as before.

“That fucking idiot.” You stand up from the couch and storm off out of the room. You’re not exactly sure where you’re storming off to, but you’ll figure that out once you get there.

Luckily, Dave hasn’t gone very far. You find him in the meal block, tinkering with the sludge-creating machine you’ve all collectively come to call the “coffee maker”.

“Your trick doesn’t work!” you shout as soon as you see him. “It’s still ripped!”

You wave the book in Dave’s face and he smacks it away. “Aw, what? Get that thing outta my face. What do you mean it’s still ripped?”

“It ripped again!”

“Not my fault you ripped your book, dude.”

“No! You ripped it. It’s ripped in the same spot. It did it while I wasn’t even on the page.”

“Oh. Well, shit. I’m still getting the hang of this trick, I guess.”

“You guess? You ruined my book.”

“You can still read it just fine, dude. Here. I probably just didn’t uh, set it back far enough. Let me see.”

You don’t really want to trust him with your book again, but it’s either that or just tape it back together. If there’s any chance that the tear can be completely erased, you’d much rather go with that outcome.

Dave takes the book again, opens it to the torn page, sets it on the counter. He holds his hands over it, just like before, and you watch as he just sits there for a moment, likely concentrating on whatever it is he’s actually doing.

There’s another flicker of light, but this time it doesn’t go away.

“Oh, shi—”

Dave cuts himself off as the light flickers again, brighter this time. You can hear the faint sound of… ticking?

A clock.

The ticking begins to ramp up, creating a deafening sound as it increases in volume. You cover your ears but that doesn’t really seem to do anything to block out the noise.

Fortunately, the noise and the light go away soon enough.

Unfortunately, you seem to be left with a still-ripped book and a… pile of clothing?

You stand there for a moment in shock before whispering, “Strider?”

The pile of clothing moves. You bend down to inspect it.

It moves when you hesitantly place a hand on the lump, and you jolt back. “...Dave?”

You lift up Dave’s cape and are immediately met with the sight of red eyes staring back at you from a face that, while familiar, is far smaller, far younger than you’ve ever seen.

“What the fuck did you do?” you ask him.

He doesn’t respond. You barely have time to properly look at him before he’s bolting up and out of the room, the cape of his now oversized godtier outfit trailing behind him in a flash.

Luck isn’t on your side as you search for Dave for an unknown amount of time. Having no jackass Knight of Time rattling off numbers next to you has its downsides, you guess. That thought makes you begrudgingly realize that you might need some help, given the massive size of this meteor.

“What do you mean you ‘lost’ Dave?” Kanaya asks when you try to explain that you all need to go look for him. “If you two are playing hide and seek, I do believe it’s cheating to ask for assistance."

“Why the fuck would we be playing hide and seek? Something happened and we need to find him!”

“Perhaps you should explain what happened?”

The lack of urgency is starting to piss you off. “He shrank himself or something? I don’t know, okay? He was doing some new ‘trick’ of his to fix my book and—”

“Shrank himself?” Rose cuts in. “I hardly think he has the correct powers for that. What sort of trick was he doing?”

You don’t want to say you don’t know again, but you really have zero idea as to what is going on with this situation right now. “He ripped my book, did some weird shit with his time powers apparently to fix it, but then it ripped again. He said something about not going back far enough? And then there was some bizarre light when he tried to fix it again and he was smaller. He ran off before I could actually talk to him and see what the issue is.”

“He was using his powers?” Rose looks concerned now. “Let’s go find him and get to the bottom of this.”

The three of you split up to go continue the search for Dave, after you fill them in on the places you’ve already searched.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

GC: DO3S D4V3 KNOW TH4T SOM3 T1NY COOLK1D 1S RUNN1NG 4ROUND TH3 M3T3OR?
CG: OH MY GOD YOU FOUND HIM.
CG: WHERE IS HE? WHERE ARE YOU?
CG: IF YOU LOST HIM I SWEAR TO GOG I WILL SCREAM.
GC: VR1SK4 C4UGHT H1M
GC: SHOULD W3 PUT H1M ON TR14L FOR 1MP3RSON4T1ON?
CG: HE'S NOT IMPERSONATING ANYONE! STRIDER CLEARLY DID SOMETHING FUCKED UP WITH HIS POWERS.
GC: 4ND YOU D1DN'T F33L TH3 N33D TO 1NFORM US 4BOUT TH1S? TSK TSK K4RK4T! WH4T 1F W3 H4D DON3 SOM3TH1NG TO D4V3, 4SSUM1NG H3 W4S 4N 1NTRUD3R?
CG: JUST BRING HIM TO THE COMMON AREA. THE REST OF US WILL MEET YOU THERE.
GC: GOT 1T BOSS >:P

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You message Rose and Kanaya, telling them to regroup and meet up with the rest of you.

Minutes later, you're met with the sight of a very small, very young version of Dave, sound asleep on the couch.

"Little brat bit me when we first found him," Vriska complains. "Had to put him to sleep to get him to come with us."

"I'd expect nothing less. You're lucky he didn't have his sword," Terezi tells her.

"Pft. I'm always lucky. Doesn't look like Strider is, though."

Vriska's right. Whatever time Strider sent himself back to was an incredibly poor choice on his part (not that you think he actually made a conscious decision to do this).

When he ran off, he luckily took the shirt and cape portion of his godtier outfit with him. He's covered, but not enough that you can't make out the grotesque amount of bruises, new and old, littered over his arms and legs.

You're willing to bet there are more where you can't see, too.

There are cuts, too. You recognize one particular one on his cheek— nowadays, when he's the correct age he's supposed to be, the raised, angry red cut is a faded, white scar.

"You should wake him up now, Vriska. We need to see if he remembers anything, or if he truly is the child he appears to be," Rose says.

You think that it would be fucking hilarious if Dave managed to retain his memories, considering he bit Vriska. Before you can entertain yourself with the thought for too long, Dave is awake and forcing all your attention back to reality.

Dave doesn’t run away again, thankfully. He does jolt upright and look around at you all with the most startled look you think you’ve ever seen on his face.

“Hello, Dave,” Kanaya says gently. “Do you know where you are?”

He scrunches up his face. Without the sunglasses, and possibly because of how young he is, it’s so easy to see exactly how he’s feeling. It’s weird.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Rose answers for him. “How old are you, Dave?”

“This is so stupid,” Vriska groans. “Are we just going to sit here and ask him a bunch of questions? This is a waste of time.”

Dave looks absolutely terrified as he looks at all of you, eyes darting around. The expression he gives you all isn't one you've seen before on his face, but it's certainly one you're familiar with.

He's young, not as good at concealing things as his older self is yet, but you still see him fight to school his expression and honestly? It's a little heartbreaking.

You might have had to hide your whole life, but you could at least be openly scared in the privacy of your own home, with your lusus there for comfort.

You notice Dave squint, then hide his face in the cape that's wrapped around him. Rose asks him what's wrong.

You get an idea, and rush off back to the meal block, where the rest of Dave's things are still laying on the floor. You rummage in the pile of clothing, finding Dave's sunglasses in no time.

Before you go back to the common area, you grab some juice out of the thermal hull too. It’s not the “AJ” Dave always talks about, since nobody has figured out how to alchemize that yet, but you hope it does the trick anyway.

"Here." You hold out the sunglasses to Dave, who snatches them from you the second he recognizes what they are.

They're too big for his face, but he does seem a little calmer with them on.

Dave takes the juice too, though less enthusiastically than the glasses. He doesn’t complain about it, at least.

"Should get him a pair that actually fits," you say. "And clothes, probably? Who knows how long he's going to be like this, and I don't think he'd appreciate us just letting him run around in a cape and shirt with nothing else."

"I'll go take care of it." Kanaya heads out, presumably to the alchemiter.

Terezi trails off after her. "Gotta make sure she doesn't make Dave anything his coolkid self wouldn't approve of," is what she says. You're certain whatever she comes up with isn't going to be something Dave would normally wear either, but you can argue about that later.

You're left with Vriska, Rose, and a still scarily-silent Dave.

"Do you humans not talk as kids or something? He's definitely past his first pupation. Say something, you're boring." Vriska goes to poke Dave, but you swat her hand out of the way before she can make contact.

Dave flinches anyway, then goes completely still, as if trying to hide the fact that he flinched in the first place.

"Humans don't have those and you know that," you snap at her. "Leave him alone, he's not here for your entertainment."

"Gross, gonna get all protective of a wiggler now?"

"He's still a person, you ass. We don't need to make this any harder for him than it already is."

"Agreed," Rose says. "Why don't you go help Terezi? We don't need you here poking and prodding at Dave."

Vriska rolls her eyes. "Fine. I didn't want to hang out with you losers anyway."

"Sorry about her," Rose says to Dave.

He doesn't say anything in response, which honestly is disconcerting. From what you saw of Egbert's life, human children did seem to talk? Perhaps it's because none of you are his guardian?

"We should try to keep him with one of us at all times until we can figure out how to fix this," Rose tells you.

"Okay? You take him, then. I don't know anything about human wigglers."

"He's hardly a 'wiggler'. How old are you Dave? Three? You never answered that question.”

He scrunches his nose and holds up four fingers.

"My apologies. Four. He is probably fine to sleep in a room alone, but none of us have rooms close to his if something does happen."

"So move him to your room or something."

"Hm. If he's amenable. We'll see."

Kanaya and Terezi successfully alchemize some clothing that fits Dave, and fortunately he is not at an age where he's completely helpless, because he puts things on himself when they're offered to him.

Unfortunately, he's still a child, and one who doesn't know his right from his left at that.

"Your shoes are on the wrong feet," Rose tells him. "Want one of us to fix them?"

Dave looks down at his shoes, frowns, then walks over to... you?

You just stare at him as he looks up at you with a blank expression. You're used to that expression from his older self, but it looks wrong, somehow, on such a young child.

"You want me to help?"

Dave nods, then plops down on the floor.

“Hm. It seems you’ve been chosen for childcare duties, Karkat. Congratulations.”

You glower at Rose in an attempt to make her take back what she just said because no. Absolutely fucking not.

When she doesn’t back down from your frankly impressive scowling, you groan. The fact that you’re sitting on the floor, putting Dave’s shoes on the correct feet for him and neatly tying the laces, probably doesn’t exactly help you to look intimidating. “Why me? You’re his hatchmate! How about you watch him until we figure out how to fix him.”

“Dave,” she says, instead of actually responding to what you said. “Do you remember who I am?” The way she speaks is quiet, far more gentle than you’ve heard her speak to anyone, let alone Dave.

Dave shakes his head.

“I’m Rose. Do you want to come hang out with me?”

He shakes his head again.

“See? That settles it.”

“It most certainly does not settle anything! He probably doesn’t want to hang out with me, either.”

“Do you want to hang out with Karkat, Dave?” Rose gestures at you. “Since he hasn’t properly introduced himself, that’s Karkat. You probably picked up on that fact, though.”

Dave kicks his feet for a moment, inspects the laces on his now properly tied shoes, then nods.

The look Rose gives you is far too smug.

“Ugh. Fine. What should I do, then?”

“He’s old enough to tell you what he needs. Just keep an eye on him. We’ll all be around to help too, but he seems like he doesn’t really care for the whole group.”

“Uh, maybe because you all keep getting in his face and asking him shit?” And talking about him like he’s not there. Which you are currently doing. “Whatever. Wanna, uh, watch a movie I guess?”

Dave shrugs, but he follows you when you go to push some pillows off the couch and get a movie setup, so you’ll take it as a yes.

It’s unnerving how quiet Dave is. Granted, you’ve never spent any amount of time actually in the presence of human children, but wigglers are loud, even before they learn to speak. Even Rose has been asking him questions and talking to him as if she expects an actual answer.

He’s asleep right now. He’d passed out again halfway through the movie you’d put on. The only noises he makes now are soft, even breaths, quite unlike the mumbling you’ve heard the couple of times you’ve caught Dave passed out in here before.

“Children around his age generally do speak, though I’m no expert,” is what Rose says when you ask her about it. “But as far as he’s concerned, we’re all strangers to him. I don’t remember being particularly chatty around strangers when I was a small child, either.”

“But he doesn’t say anything.”

Rose gives you a look that you’re fairly certain is more amused than anything else. “I do believe I’ve heard you tell Dave he should talk less a number of times.”

“Yes, and it is somehow more annoying when he doesn’t say a single word. Never thought that would be an issue for me either, but here we are.”

“Well, hopefully we’ll figure out how to get him back to normal soon. Then he can go back to talking all our ears off.”

He does not go back to talking your ear off, at least not today. You end up just hanging out in the common area, watching movies on your husktop for lack of anything better to do (as if that’s any different than usual).

You think he is about to speak to you multiple times, based on the way he inhales as if preparing to respond to something you or Rose say, but then he just goes quiet again.

Rose gets up to leave part way through your second movie. “I’m going to attempt to make something in the kitchen. Want to come with me, Dave?”

Dave stammers out, “No,” then shakes his head. Rose looks surprised, but quickly schools her expression into something more pleasant.

“Alright. I won’t make you.”

She leaves with a quick wave in your direction. Dave doesn’t wave back.

You’re not exactly sure what that was all about, but it’s not like Dave is going to tell you.

You can’t help but to keep asking him questions, anyway. If only because apparently being able to sit back and watch a movie in peace for once is driving you insane.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go with Rose? Or Kanaya? Hell, even Terezi would probably be a better choice than me. But I can understand not wanting to since she’s with Vriska all the time and Vriska fucking sucks.”

Dave giggles, then immediately covers his mouth. Huh.

You frown at him. “You can laugh. I’m not gonna stop you.”

Dave just swings his feet, kicking the heels against the bottom of the chair he’s sitting in. He continues to not say anything, even when you put on another romcom, which you know he’d complain about if he were his usual self.

“What the fuck is that?”

You catch Rose in the hallway, dragging some sort of small, squishy platform covered in fabric that looks suspiciously like something Terezi would scribble.

“Oh, good. I was hoping I’d run into you. This is for Dave. I didn’t want to drag his bed all the way from his room to yours, so we alchemized a more appropriately sized mattress for him to sleep on.”

“Why does he need to sleep in my room?”

You had been headed toward your room with Dave trailing along behind you, but only because Vriska had come in to complain about nobody listening to her “brilliant ideas”. She seemed to put Dave on edge, and she definitely annoyed the hell out of you, so you’d left as quickly as possible.

“Like I said before, it’s safer if he stays with one of us. I’m more than amenable to taking him with me, but I’m not going to force him when he clearly doesn’t want to.”

That’s understandable, not wanting to force anything when he already seems scared and confused, but you ask one more time anyway. “Are you sure you don’t want to go with Rose? She’s your hatchmate. Or shit, your, uh, “sister”. Probably makes more sense,” you say, as if that will somehow convince him. “And you don’t even like me.”

He purses his lips, an expression that honestly looks ridiculous on his small face, and shakes his head yet again.

“See? Have a fun sleepover with Karkat, Dave.” She seems more relieved at not having to watch after him, instead of being offended that her so-called human “brother” doesn’t want to spend time with her.

You should probably wonder why Dave won’t go with anyone but you. But honestly? You’re too exhausted from the events of the day to even begin to think over why that might be.

You wake up to a loud crash. The commotion makes you bolt upright, and you frantically look around for the source of the sound.

Your startled gaze meets Dave’s wide-eyed one. He must have actually taken his sunglasses off to sleep is the first thought that passes through your mind.

The next is, Why the fuck is he going through my closet?

The doors to the closet are wide open. Dave is sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by hangers, sweatshirts, and the rod that should be secured to the wall and holding up said hangers and sweatshirts.

If this were business as usual, you’d definitely yell. You’d ask him what the fuck he’s doing going through your things, or why he thought he had any right at all to be snooping around.

This isn’t business as usual, though. You watch as Dave’s lip starts to tremble, hear the way he stammers when he mumbles, “I’m sorry.”

His voice is shaky, quiet. It’s a higher pitch than you’re used to, but still obviously Dave. It’s odd.

Dave shoves his hands over his mouth, as if he agrees with your non-vocalized assessment of his voice sounding “odd.” His eyes somehow go even wider, terror written all over his face.

You’re beginning to realize that, for some unknown reason, Dave just doesn’t want to speak, rather than being unable to.

You don’t yell. You’re not exactly quiet, never have been. But you don’t lose your shit, so that’s something. “Are you okay?” you ask, a little dazed.

You seriously don’t know what the hell you’re supposed to do right now.

Dave doesn’t uncover his mouth or speak again, just nods like he’s been doing.

“What the hell did you need in the closet?”

You both just stare at each other. You really hope he’ll just say something, because you’re not sure you want to sit here asking yes/no questions until you manage to land on what it is he’s doing.

Just as you’re about to give in and do exactly that, you hear Dave’s stomach grumble, loudly, and you’re thankful for the clue. “Are you looking for food?”

He nods.

“There’s no food in my closet. It’s in the meal block.” You pause, realizing he probably doesn’t know what a “meal block” is because humans insist on using pretentious ass words for everything. “The kitchen.”

Dave shakes his head. You really wish he would stop doing that.

“We can go to the common area first, and you can wait there?” you suggest, hoping he was protesting the “kitchen” part of what you said and not something else.

“Okay,” he mumbles.

“Okay,” you repeat. “But you have to stay there while I go to the kitchen. I don’t think either of us want Vriska finding you again if you run off.”

The look Dave gives you is incredibly unamused, so you assume he agrees.

You sit on the couch, coffee in hand, while Dave makes himself at home at a table, a bowl of human “cereal” in front of him.

You’re actually thankful that Past Karkat had given Rose and Dave shit for eating the strange food before, or else you’d be at a complete loss as to what to give Dave since he apparently refuses to go into the meal block.

You watch Dave shovel the food into his mouth for a second, then pull out your palmhusk.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT]

CG: QUICK QUESTION: IS IT NORMAL FOR HUMANS TO KEEP FOOD IN THEIR RESPITEBLOCKS? IN THE CLOSETS?
TT: Saying “quick question” does not mean that you are going to get a quick or easy answer, Karkat. You should know that by now.
CG: FUCK YOU.
CG: IT’S A YES OR NO QUESTION.
TT: It really is not. It’s difficult to say what is or is not “normal”.
TT: I for one prefer to keep food in the kitchen and have no issue doing so.
TT: My mother kept alcohol in her room, but I rarely found food items in there when I happened to be poking around.
CG: IS IT NORMAL FOR *DAVE* TO KEEP FOOD IN HIS?
TT: That is an entirely different question than the one you asked. Thank you for specifying.
TT: He does have a tendency to hoard food in his bedroom, yes.
TT: And various other rooms and closets around the meteor.
TT: I could probably get into my theories as to why, but I doubt you’d be interested.
TT: I am interested about why you’re asking me this, though.
CG: HE WAS DIGGING AROUND IN MY CLOSET FOR FOOD EARLIER AND THEN HE REFUSED TO GO INTO THE MEAL BLOCK WHEN I TRIED TO TAKE HIM IN THERE.
TT: Ah.
TT: Yes, that does fit in with my theories.
CG: I’M REALLY NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR THEORIES, BUT THANKS FOR GIVING ME A SOMEWHAT SUCCINCT ANSWER FOR ONCE.
TT: My pleasure.
TT: How is Dave doing, outside of any food-related incidents? Has he spoken to you at all?
CG: NOT REALLY.
CG: HE SAID HE WAS SORRY FOR KNOCKING SOME OF MY STUFF OVER AND THEN LOOKED FUCKING TERRIFIED AND HASN’T SAID A WORD SINCE.
TT: Hm.
TT: Well, I guess that is a good sign, even if he hasn’t spoken again since.
CG: I GUESS.

Rose begins typing something in response, but you’re distracted by Dave tugging at your sleeve.

“What?”

He holds up a piece of chalk, as if that explains anything.

It does give you an idea, though.

“Do you remember Can Town at all?”

He shakes his head. You pocket your palmhusk for now and motion for him to follow you, hoping that this version of Dave is as enthusiastic about The Mayor and his town-building project as the one you’re used to seems to be.

Rose comes rushing into the common area while you and Dave are sitting in there eating breakfast. It’s been about two days since “The Incident”, as Rose has taken to calling it, and something about her expression as she opens her mouth to speak says you should actually listen to her right now. “Karkat, you said your book ripped itself the second time?”

“Huh?”

“Your book. Dave ripped it, fixed it, and then you said it ripped on its own in the exact same spot?”

Dave looks up from his bowl of cereal. He gives you a confused look, then mumbles, “I ripped your book?”

Both you and Rose stop your conversation. You’ve both heard him speak before, but nothing more than one or two words so far.

The utterance is a bit off, with “ripped” sounding more like “ribbed”, but you can still make out what he’s saying just fine.

“Don’t worry about it,” Rose tells him after a long pause. “Karkat isn’t mad, right Karkat?”

“Uh. No, not mad about it. It’s fine.”

Dave doesn’t look entirely convinced. The suspicious look on his little face is almost adorable, though you’d rather die than voice that aloud, especially to Rose.

Once Dave goes back to eating, you return to the previous conversation. “Why are you asking about the book?”

Rose uncaptchalogues her violin bow and holds it out. Upon closer inspection, it’s clearly been bent down the middle. “This just happened to mysteriously bend itself while I was holding it just moments ago.”

“And…?”

“Whatever he did, it’s clearly capable of undoing itself.”

“So we what… Just wait for him to age back up? You do know that could take sweeps, right?”

“Not necessarily. Did you notice anything else about the quality of your book? Was it just the rip that was fixed?”

You try to think back, but you honestly hadn’t been that focused on inspecting the entire book. “I have no idea,” you tell her.

“Well. This particular bow happened to be in a state that it hasn’t been for years, just moments before it bent itself. I was quite perplexed when I pulled it out of my violin case and it no longer had the usual signs of wear and tear that I’ve become accustomed to.”

You sigh in frustration. “Can you get to the point?”

“I am getting to the point. It’s not my fault if you can’t follow me.” Rose rolls her eyes at you, as if you’re the one being difficult here. “My point is, it likely won’t take years for Dave to catch up to his proper age. My running theory is that he was somehow returning these items to a previous state of theirs, years in the past, but whatever he did isn’t permanent. It simply wears off after some time.”

“My book only took a few hours to wear off,” you point out.

“He likely didn’t send it back as far as he sent my bow. If you didn’t notice anything off about the appearance, he probably returned it to a state it had been in only hours or days before.”

“So when is he going to go back to normal?”

Rose shrugs. “Without knowing when exactly he bent my bow, there’s no way to tell. The good thing is that it would have had to be within the last few months, since we haven’t been here that long to begin with.”

“So it could take months, or it could happen any minute now. Got it. Wonderful.”

You look over to find that Dave is watching you both now, his focus on you obvious despite the fact that his eyes are covered. You feel bad for, once again, talking about him as if he wasn’t sitting right there.

Rose must notice too. “I believe I’ve got some markers in my sylladex,” she tells him. “Want to color?”

He mumbles, “Yeah,” and you both go to join him at the table, your conversation temporarily forgotten as Rose looks for the markers.

While she takes care of that, you try to remember where Terezi keeps her stash of paper.

You wake up to soft, stifled crying coming from the bed across the room— when you look over, you see that Dave has pulled all his blankets over top of him.

You don't want to startle him, so you say, "Strider? Fuck. Dave? Are you okay?" before getting up to go check on him.

His sniffles stop for a second, then a quiet, "S-Sorry," comes from under the pile of blankets.

"It's okay," you tell him honestly. He doesn't seem to like the gentle way that Rose and Kanaya speak to him, seems to respond the best when you just use your normal speaking voice, but you also don't want him thinking you're angry when you're not. You're at a loss for how to comfort him, though. "Want to go get a snack?"

He shifts under the blankets, and you wonder if he's nodding or shaking his head. Then, his head pokes out from the pile. "Do you ha– Do you have Doritos?"

His eyes widen when he stammers. You don't comment on it, instead rolling your eyes and responding, "We have something resembling your Earth Doritos, yes. There's probably a stash in your block. Your room. If you don't want to go to the meal block."

He speaks slower, more deliberately, when he says, "My room isn't here."

"Right. Whatever, want to go look for snacks?"

"N-not..." he pauses, looking frustrated with himself. "Not in the kitchen."

You figured. Room stash it is.

Dave follows you through the halls of the meteor, down to where you know his block is. You've only been there once before, but Rose did mention his food hoarding tendencies, so you’re hoping there actually are some of the snacks he likes in there.

If not, you'll just leave Dave in the common area and "brave" the meal block without him again. But it feels a little cruel, leaving him by himself when he's still sniffling and looking shaken up.

When you get to his block, you find the door unlocked, so you luckily don't have to struggle with that.

Dave immediately runs over to the closet and pulls the door open. He makes a delighted noise at first, then huffs in frustration when he reaches up and finds himself too short to actually grab the chips that are up on a higher shelf.

You grab them, easily snatching them off the shelf and handing them down to him.

"Thanks, Karkat."

He doesn't quite say your name right, just like he doesn't quite say anything with that "K" sound correctly, but again, you don't comment on it. You try to hide your surprise at the fact he's said your name at all, and instead sit down on the floor with him.

He tears into the bag of not-Doritos and starts shoveling them into his mouth. He usually eats his food quickly, but you don't think you've seen him quite like this, as if he thinks they're going to disappear if he doesn't consume them as quickly as possible.

“My bro has one of those.” Dave gestures over at his own turntables after he’s done with the Doritos. “Are they yours?”

You snort. “No, absolutely not. They’re uh, a friend of mine’s.” You’re not really sure if Dave could exactly be considered your friend at this point, but you don’t need to have that conversation with this younger version of him right now. Especially since you’re uncertain as to whether or not he’s going to remember this later once he’s back to normal.

“Can I touch them?”

Dave’s fingers are covered in Dorito dust. You watch as he licks it off, creating more of a mixture of saliva and Dorito dust than actually cleaning himself up. If you let him play with the turntables, he’s likely going to just get the crap all over them.

That’s not really your problem though, is it? “Go ahead.”

Dave doesn’t even try to hide his look of delight, not like you know his older self would. He grins at you, then quickly pulls himself up and runs over to the turntables.

You watch, amused, as he starts randomly pressing buttons and turning knobs. The turntables aren’t even on, aren’t actually doing anything, but that doesn’t seem to bother him one bit.

Something seems to change after that. Whereas Dave would barely speak to you before, only mumbling single-word answers or short sentences, he is now just as eager to talk your ear off as he usually is, when he’s his correct age.

It’s just you, though. If he’s chatting away in the common area and someone else shows up, he immediately clams up. If you’re in your block and someone comes knocking, he goes right back to refusing to say a word. Rose gets single word responses out of him sometimes, but that’s about it.

“Good morning, Karkat, Dave,” Rose says when she comes into the room you’re currently occupying. “This is an odd choice of movie for a child.”

You glance at your husktop, where yet another romcom is playing. It’s not like it isn’t “child-friendly”, at least by Alternia’s standards. “He picked it. The cover was funny, apparently.”

“And he told you that?” Rose sounds surprised. “I didn’t realize he actually spoke to you.”

“He won’t stop speaking to me when nobody else is around. He’s almost as bad as he normally is at this point.”

Dave glances over at you and scowls. “I’m not bad,” he tells you in the most offended voice you think you’ve heard from him yet.

Immediately after he says that, he freezes, then glances at Rose. He’s got his sunglasses on, but you can still tell that he’s got that same scared look he got the first few times he stammered or mispronounced something in front of you.

Rose looks at you, then turns to Dave. “Karkat simply means that you are talking more. He says things in a rather odd way sometimes, doesn’t he? Nobody is calling you bad.”

Dave just looks at her for a minute, then glances at you. He seems to be struggling with something, but eventually he settles on, “You talk odd too.”

Rose laughs at that. “We all do in our own ways.”

Rose sits down in one of the chairs that she and Kanaya typically occupy, and pulls out her knitting needles.

“What’s she doin’?” Dave whispers to you about ten minutes later.

“Go ask her,” you say in your usual talking voice. “Rose would love to explain the intricate process of knitting whatever the fuck that thing is, I’m sure.”

“I really would,” she replies, attention still on her knitting. “If only someone would ask me what I was doing so I had an excuse to talk to them.”

Dave doesn’t say anything right away, but he eventually gets up and moves over a little closer to Rose. “What’re you doin’?”

You turn up the movie when she starts going into a detailed explanation of her knitting process. Dave isn’t nearly as talkative with her yet, but he does ask a few more questions, including whether or not he can put his grimy hands all over Rose’s yarn.

You try to stifle your laughter at the expression she makes when Dave runs his fingers over it before she has a chance to answer. You’re pretty sure she hears you anyway.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

TT: I believe I’ve found some more items that Dave tried to “fix”.
TT: A couple of the mugs in the kitchen shattered while sitting in the sink.
CG: ARE YOU SURE *YOU* DIDN’T JUST BREAK THEM?
TT: Are you implying that I’m erroneously blaming Dave for every broken item I come across?
TT: While that is tempting, I assure you these genuinely did break out of nowhere.
TT: I’m uncertain as to their state prior to breaking, but Kanaya and I are now checking other items in the kitchen to see if anything seems out of place.
CG: OUT OF PLACE HOW?
TT: Like I said before, my bow was clearly in a condition it hasn’t been in for years.
TT: We are looking for anything that looks to be too “new”.
CG: WILL THAT ACTUALLY HELP WITH ANYTHING? SEEMS LIKE YOU’RE JUST WASTING TIME, HONESTLY.
TT: Perhaps. But finding any other items he’s potentially done this to and seeing if they also return to normal could potentially give us some more information about this process.
TT: Kanaya and I are still convinced that he will just go back to normal by himself. Your book, my bow, and these mugs all did. We just have no idea what makes them catch back up to our current point in time.
CG: IT’S BEEN A WEEK. ARE WE REALLY GOING TO JUST KEEP ASSUMING HE’S GOING TO GO BACK TO NORMAL ON HIS OWN?
CG: SHOULDN’T WE BE TRYING TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?
TT: Unfortunately, Dave himself is the only one who would be capable of actually doing anything about this, and I doubt he can do anything in the state he’s in.
TT: We are also a ways off from the next closest cluster of dreambubbles, so a Dead Dave can’t help us right now.
TT: He seems to be happy for now, at least.
CG: I GUESS.
CG: FUCK. HOLD ON.
TT: Is everything okay?
CG: DAVE IS “HAPPILY” KNOCKING OVER ALL MY SHIT WITH A PRETEND SWORD.
TT: Delightful. Have fun! Do let me know if anything changes.
CG: YEAH SURE.

tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

“Dave, what the fuck?”

Dave grins at you, seemingly unphased by your shouting. “I’m fighting a dragon, Karkat. I got it.”

You look at the “dragon” (your desk chair). “You know, Terezi has some toy dragons. She’d probably let you play with them.”

Dave immediately starts shaking his head. “Toys are for babies,” he responds, as if he’s not currently using a broom handle to battle a fucking chair.

You roll your eyes. “Fine. Just put the “dragon” back at my desk when you’re done with it.”

“Okay!”

You're in Dave's room, dragging out more of his various art supplies so he can color, when it happens.

That same ticking you'd heard the day Dave accidentally aged himself down starts up and you freeze. Dave looks at you, wide-eyed, before he also seems to freeze, though not of his own volition.

The ticking increases in pace.

You close your eyes in anticipation of the burst of light you assume is going to appear, just as it did before.

It does.

The ticking stops.

Something rips. In rapid succession, you hear a thud, an incredibly embarrassing squeak (?), and then Dave is shouting, "Holy shit, Vantas, get out."

You open your eyes, briefly take in the sight of Dave laid out on the floor (had he fallen?), barely covered by torn clothes that clearly no longer fit him, and then you're bolting from the room with a, "Fuck, sorry," in place of any sort of proper farewell.

It's only when you get back to your own room, face flushed, that you realize you should probably make sure Dave is actually okay.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling turntechGodhead [TG]

CG: ARE YOU OKAY?
CG: I KNOW YOU TOLD ME TO GET OUT, BUT IF YOU DON'T RESPOND TO LET ME KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE AND NOT, I DON'T KNOW, DYING FROM MISUSE OF YOUR OWN STUPID FUCKING POWERS, I'M COMING RIGHT BACK TO YOUR ROOM TO CHECK ON YOU.
TG: im alive

turntechGodhead [TG] is an idle chum!

Well. You guess that is enough of an answer for now.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling tentacleTherapist [TT]

CG: DAVE IS BACK TO NORMAL.
CG: I THINK, ANYWAY. AS NORMAL AS HE USUALLY IS.
TT: You think?
CG: HIS CLOTHES DID NOT EXACTLY "AGE" WITH HIM AND HE TOLD ME TO GET OUT OF HIS ROOM, SO I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO ACTUALLY ASCERTAIN WHETHER HE WAS ENTIRELY BACK TO HIS USUAL SELF.
CG: AND I'M PRETTY DAMN SURE HE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK TO ME NOW.
TT: Oh my.
TT: I'll message him to check in. Thank you for letting me know.
TT: And for keeping such a good eye on him this last week. I appreciate it.
TT: I'm certain he will too, once the embarrassment wears off.
TT: That is, if he remembers anything. I suppose we'll have to see if he does.
CG: I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU COULDN'T KEEP AN EYE ON HIM, BUT WHATEVER. YOU'RE WELCOME.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling tentacleTherapist [TT]

You try not to worry about Dave, because he is no longer your problem (should have never been your problem in the first place), and instead just enjoy having some time to yourself without him trailing around behind you.

“Has Dave spoken to you at all yet?” Rose asks the next time you run into her.

“No. Why would he?”

She “hmmms”, as if that answers your question. “He hasn’t really spoken to me, either.”

“See, it would make sense for him to speak to you. Him not talking to me isn’t really that out of the ordinary.”

“Dave has spoken to you multiple times prior to all of this.”

“He runs his fucking mouth, but he doesn’t actually talk to me. I doubt he’s going to be in any hurry to talk to me about… you know. Whatever the fuck all that was.”

“He isn’t exactly the most open person, no.”

Rose’s palmhusk pings and she almost looks hopeful, but then her expression settles when she looks at the screen.

“Not Dave?”

“No, Kanaya. I’ve got to go help her with something. Let me know if Dave gets in touch with you?”

You doubt he will, but you tell Rose you’ll let her know anyway.

At first, none of you were exactly on any sort of regular schedule, given the fact that you are on a meteor hurtling through space and not on your home planets. You’ve all still fallen into somewhat of a routine over the past few months, though.

That’s why, when you give up on sleeping and go to make some coffee instead, you don’t expect to find anyone else up. They’re all usually in their own blocks by now, if not sleeping, then at least pretending to so they don’t have to deal with everyone else.

“Shit!” Dave nearly jumps out of his skin when you walk into the kitchen. “Oh. Hey, Vantas,” he says after he turns around and sees that it’s you. “Sup.”

His attempt at being nonchalant completely fails, since you both know you startled him just now. You don’t point that out, though.

“Just getting some coffee.”

“Lucky you, I just made a whole pot of the stuff. All yours.”

He tries to flashstep out of there, but you’re quicker than he is for once and grab ahold of his shirt sleeve before he can abscond. “You made a whole pot of coffee and didn’t even pour yourself some?”

He pulls his arm away from you and you let him. He doesn’t move to leave the meal block again, but he doesn’t try to grab a mug or do anything else, either.

“This is awkward as fuck,” he mumbles. You’re honestly not sure if he meant for you to hear that, so you don’t respond.

You grab two mugs, pour coffee into both, and then hold one out for him. “Here. You can run off now, if you want.”

He clearly does want that, but he at least has the decency to say, “Thanks, man,” before he ditches you this time.

You’re not expecting to hear from Dave any time soon, if ever again, so you’re surprised when he pesters you only a few hours after you ran into him in the meal block.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

TG: so that was a fucking weird week right
TG: what am i saying of course it was weird for you howd you even get stuck with babysitting duty that must have sucked
TG: my memories are a little foggy not gonna lie like yeah it happened last week but it feels like im trying to remember something that was actually years ago
TG: but not quite the same way as remembering stuff from when i was actually that age idk its weird im trying not to freak out about it
TG: especially on you you dont care if im freaking out about it aint need to bother you with that shit
TG: anyway wanna just uh
TG: forget that shit happened and never speak about it again i think thats the proper protocol for when you have to take care of the kid version of some dude youve only known for a few months right

If you’re being entirely honest, you have a million questions for Dave related to “that shit.” Acting like it never happened isn’t going to answer those questions, but Dave completely ignoring you because you refuse to let go also won’t answer those questions.

You decide to agree with him, if only because he’ll probably end up rambling about it at some point anyway. It wouldn’t be the first time he told you all about something he claimed to have no interest in discussing.

CG: I’M ASSUMING THAT HAS LITERALLY NEVER HAPPENED TO ANYONE OTHER THAN US, SO WE ARE PROBABLY THE ONES WHO GET TO DECIDE WHAT THE “PROPER PROTOCOL” IS.
TG: right yeah
TG: cool
CG: VERY “COOL”.
TG: what dont put it in scare quotes man i feel like you dont actually think this is a cool plan when you do that
CG: WE DON’T EVER NEED TO TALK ABOUT LAST WEEK AGAIN. OR THE FACT THAT YOU’VE BEEN COMPLETELY AVOIDING EVERYONE THIS WEEK.
CG: ACTUALLY, YOU SHOULD GO TALK TO ROSE IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY.
CG: I’M ASSUMING YOU’D TALK TO HER BEFORE ME, THOUGH.
TG: oh yeah no i havent
TG: she pestered me a few times and uh yeah not really ready for all of THAT psychoanalysis bullshit right now
TG: sorry i sent myself back to literally the worst fucking age possible
TG: outside of being an actual baby i guess i dont think i could look any of you in the eye ever again if you had to change diapers and
TG: im stopping myself right there i dont even want to think about that
CG: THANK YOU FOR HAVING SOME SEMBLANCE OF SELF-RESTRAINT.
TG: yeah no prob
TG: so
CG: SO?
TG: wanna watch a movie
TG: i seem to remember that being the number one dave and karkat activity during that time we are absolutely not talking about
TG: and i think ive earned the right to show you some of my movies given how many of yours i watched
CG: OH.
CG: I’M CERTAIN I’M GOING TO REGRET IT, BASED ON YOUR ABYSMAL TASTE IN ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? SURE. LET’S WATCH ONE OF YOUR SHITTY MOVIES.
TG: youre the one with shitty movies dude but fuck yeah lets go ill meet on the couch in ten minutes

turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You quickly grab your husktop, and a couple of your own movies, just in case. You’ll complain about it, of course, but you’re kind of looking forward to actually hearing Dave’s running commentary on them for once.