Davekat

Davekat, or Red Knight District[1 ] is the slash ship between Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas from the Homestuck fandom.

Canon
At first, Dave and Karkat did not get along well, and rarely talked to one another. Dave believed Karkat to be a shouty, romance-obsessed troll who liked things intentionally to bother him. Their only conversations before Act 6 was a memo where Karkat got mad at Dave and John for seemingly having crushes on both Terezi and Vriska, respectively, warning them not to engage in sloppy interspecies makeouts, although Dave called out his hypocrisy when he expressed interest in Jade and John in a later memo.

Upon the two of them actually meeting, they get along even worse, partially due to them competing over Terezi. Their dislike for one another only increased when Karkat tried to split Terezi's time with both of them, which dissolved into a penis ouija and Karkat getting tangled up in Dave's cape. Their relationship after this becomes so strained that Karkat comes to view Dave's actions as black advances at one point, stating that he is not interested in that kind of relationship with him.

By the third part of Openbound, however, the two seem to have become friends of sorts and interact relatively often, with Dave stating that most of their conversations are childish and embarrassing. In later conversations, it is revealed that they consider each other bros and best friends, with Karkat even expressing worry that their friendship would diminish after Dave reunited with John.

In the retconned timeline, Dave and Karkat developed a much closer relationship during the meteor trip, possibly due to not having to compete over Terezi. They can be seen playing hopscotch and ring-around-the-rosie, holding hands, and Karkat can also be seen playing with Dave's turntables next to him. Dave can also be seen cuddling with Karkat while watching movies, which he later mentions having done so frequently. They have been confirmed to be in a romantic relationship by Vriska and Jasprosesprite^2.

Vriska suggests that Dave and Karkat may have had some sort of complicated romantic situation where the two of them vacciliated between multiple quadrants at once, and Jasprose says to Nepeta that Karkat is "involved with someone else now in [the flushed] quadrant." Davepetasprite^2 also states that it "f33ls right still" to have a crush on Karkat, much to the surprise of the Dave part of them, and that it is not something that they are internally conflicted about, possibly suggesting that Dave may have had a crush on Karkat, even before the retconned timeline.

Karkat's last line in the comic expresses concern for Dave, hoping that he is okay, and, in Act 7, when Dave arrives on the victory platform, Karkat gives him a hug and smiles. On Earth C, they are shown to be spending a lot of time together, having a picnic with Jade, and hanging out as rulers of the Troll Kingdom.

Fanon
Davekat is one of the most popular ships in the Homestuck fandom. On AO3, Davekat is the most-written ship for both Dave and Karkat. It's also the most-written ship in the Homestuck tag, above Johndave. The ship primarily raised in popularity after their penis ouija, due to the common 'opposites attract' trope (which is a misinterpretation of their characters, seeing as they are very much two sides of the same coin), but it truly sailed when the Vriskagram flash launched, where the ship was teased many times until it was eventually confirmed by Jasprosesprite^2.

Some fanfictions of the two may involve the Humanstuck AU, an alternate universe where the Trolls are human, perhaps in a modern setting or something else entirely.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Dave/Karkat tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Dave/Karkat tag on FanFiction.Net

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Trivia

 * Dave had a heart on his bib from his early childhood, while John had a spade on his shirt. This plays into their relationships with Karkat, seeing as Karkat had black feelings for John (which is represented by a spade), and Karkat and Dave are in a red relationship (which is represented by a heart).
 * Dave and Karkat are both associated with the colour red, and are both knights in the game. They both have abnormal features for their species that they hide, Karkat's being his mutant red blood, and Dave's being his bright red eyes.