[By this stage, Dave isn't the only one with reservations, even if Karkat's are somewhat more difficult to put into words. The trouble is that by troll standards there's nothing wrong with the story at all; keeping people as slaves for any purpose is ludicrously commonplace and, as one might expect, a fairly common trope in certain types of literature (i.e., trashy romance, a.k.a. Karkat's grubloaf and tuberpaste, q.e.d.). From that perspective, of course memorizing the texture of Dave's hair and enjoying the relative quiet of the moment, the closeness, takes up far more of Karkat's attention. Between that and regulating his voice to something not shout-volume because even he can recognize when that might ruin a moment, yes, fine, even an undisputed authority on all things romance like Karkat can miss a few hints. A few.
It's a lot harder to ignore the potential awkwardness of reading what he's reading when Dave interjects with a comment like that, and after a too-long pause where Karkat does nothing more than stare at the last few lines and wonder what the fuck his moirail is talking about, he blanches, whips the book shut, and flips it over to inspect the summary written on the back. "Damen is a warrior hero who blah blah brother seizes power blah blah sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a" oh motherfucking hell.
Groaning, Karkat reopens the book to the page they'd left off, slaps the whole thing over his face, and slumps in place as much as physically possible for someone who's already lying down. How the fuck had he not. ARGH. Is he fucking braindead??]
Dave, if you pity me you'll agree right now that that didn't just fucking happen.
[The words are muffled but still intelligible, and if it weren't for how much it would probably hurt his cartilage nub, Karkat would probably follow them up with a facepalm x2 combob and then maybe defenestrate himself. Because.]
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It's a lot harder to ignore the potential awkwardness of reading what he's reading when Dave interjects with a comment like that, and after a too-long pause where Karkat does nothing more than stare at the last few lines and wonder what the fuck his moirail is talking about, he blanches, whips the book shut, and flips it over to inspect the summary written on the back. "Damen is a warrior hero who blah blah brother seizes power blah blah sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a" oh motherfucking hell.
Groaning, Karkat reopens the book to the page they'd left off, slaps the whole thing over his face, and slumps in place as much as physically possible for someone who's already lying down. How the fuck had he not. ARGH. Is he fucking braindead??]
Dave, if you pity me you'll agree right now that that didn't just fucking happen.
[The words are muffled but still intelligible, and if it weren't for how much it would probably hurt his cartilage nub, Karkat would probably follow them up with a facepalm x2 combob and then maybe defenestrate himself. Because.]