Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4295925.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Homestuck
  Relationship:
      Aradia_Megido/Dave_Strider
  Character:
      Dave_Strider, Aradia_Megido
  Additional Tags:
      Time_Travel, First_Time, Fluff_and_Smut, Tentabulges
  Collections:
      Drone_Season_2015
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-07-08 Words: 2141
****** A Princess, A Queen ******
by secondhandact
Summary
     There's passages between this world and another one, across the
     universe and on the other side of Time.
     Whether Dave realizes it or not, Time is his Aspect, and that means
     he has access to things that other people don't. Like the caverns
     between realities, where Time doesn't sit still and everything isn't
     exactly how it should be.
     It's a place that he can use to escape, somewhere he can go to think,
     where nobody else can find him.
     But Dave isn't the only being across the multiverses who is connected
     with Time, and he's not the only one who wants a place to hide from
     the real world.
Notes
See the end of the work for notes
The first time he met her, he was five, and so was she.
As he stared up at the grey-skinned girl, so tall and different and strange,
she assured him (with a giggle and a smile) that five for her was not the same
as five for him, and that she would always be his friend, now matter how much
time had passed or how many years were between them.
The second time he met her, she actually looked like she was around his age,
and she shied away from him the same way he’d flinched back from her when she
was taller and brighter and older. Because she’d once told him to, he waited in
the middle of the cavern on his knees until she peeked out from behind the rock
where she’d hidden. When he saw her bright yellow eyes, he told her it was okay
and he wouldn’t hurt her, and they could stay together for as long as she
wanted. They spent hours that day playing tag and hide-and-seek in them caverns
behind the locked doors of the old apartment building where Dave lived.
Her name was Aradia, and he thought she was a princess.
===============================================================================
The apartment building where Dave grew up was ramshackle and old, with more
boarded-up windows than open doors, on the rough side of town and the wrong
side of the tracks. Dave didn’t know the names of anybody who lived on his
street, but he didn’t care, because living in this beat-up old town meant
having lots of places where he could play and explore.
The first time he found another door that connected to Aradia’s world, he was
ten and had only ducked into the condemned building to hide from the people who
were chasing him. (Sometimes living on the bad side of town meant hiding from
the bad sort of people, but Dave was always faster than they were.) She was
older than him this time, wearing a robe with a hood and with weird wings
glittering behind her. She hadn’t asked any questions—she never did—instead,
simply taking him by the hand and leading him back to the cavern that connected
to the apartment beside his home.
On the way, she told him stories of how he would someday be a Knight and they
would be guardians of Time together. She spoke of the days (except she called
them perigees) in the future when they would navigate these caverns together
and know all of their ins and outs. He asked if he was with her now, in another
place.
She smiled, kissed his forehead, and disappeared down one of the many tunnels,
leaving him to navigate the rest of the way home.
He was eleven, and he was sure that someday she would be his queen.
===============================================================================
More often than not, the Aradia he met in the caverns was older than him, and
she told him cryptic stories of the future he would have putting hints in plain
sight that only made sense long after events had happened. He always teased her
about them, an they would go round and round with playful jabs about how and
why she couldn't tell him exactly how things were supposed to be. The few times
when he was older and she was but a child, he served well in his role as
Knight, comforting her when she was scared and vowing to protect her with every
chance he got. His time outside the caverns was spent training: he fenced,
sparred, spent hours watching movies and reading books, anything he could do to
hone his skill. After all, he had a queen to serve.
If anyone had told him that he would spend most of his days in the service of
alien royalty, he would have laughed in their face.
===============================================================================
He was fourteen the first time he said it aloud. The expression on her face was
so astonished that he almost wished he could take it back.
“Why do you think that I’m a queen?”
Dave could feel his cheeks burning red. “Well you are aren’t you? I mean, I’m
your Knight, and I serve you—and stuff.”
Aradia laughed. (He loved it when she laughed.) “I never meant it like that! I
just meant—we both serve Time. you as the Knight—the defender—and me as the
Maid.”
Dave groaned, falling back on the cave’s cool floor, throwing an arm over his
eyes. “What does that even mean!?”
Aradia laughed again. “All things in time.” Then she elbowed him like she'd
made the funniest joke in the world, and her expression was so sincerely amused
that he couldn't help but laugh, too.
===============================================================================
He was sixteen the first time she kissed him, and he was almost positive that
she was younger than him.
Still, he let go on for longer than he should have (her lips were satin-soft
and warm against his) before he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed
her gently away. Her eyes were wide when she looked up at him, and it made his
heart ache.
“Don’t you want this?” She asked. “Aren’t you ready?”
Dave hesitated, wondering what she knew—so much younger than him!—and what he
himself must have told her in what was her past and his inevitable future. “I’m
ready,” he answered finally, “but I don’t think you are.”
===============================================================================
The next time they met she was older, wiser, and more gentle than he’d ever
expected her to be. Somewhere in the back of his head, he was aware that it
should have been a momentous occasion—he was, after all, Losing his Virginity
(capitals necessary)—but it almost didn’t feel like one. She showed him just
how to touch her and where, how his fingers needed to press and what his hands
should do when his mouth was working, and—
At the end of it, when they lay curled together with candlelight reflecting off
the craggy ceiling, he asked her if it had felt like that for her, the first
time she’d done anything with anyone.
“Oh, no,” she answered, tucking a stray strand of hair behind one of her ears.
“You made sure it was wonderful.”
“I did?” He hoped he didn’t sound as bewildered as he felt.
“You did.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead. “And because of tonight, you
will again.”
He swallowed, closing his eyes. “How will I know when you’re ready?”
She smiled and didn’t say anything, snuggling closer to him and kissing him
until he wasn’t thinking anymore.
===============================================================================
She was right, of course.
He knew.
===============================================================================
She’s sixteen (seven and a half sweeps, he whispers in his mind) and so is he,
and they’ve spent hours laying in the mouth of one of the caves near Aradia’s
home (she calls it a hive), staring up at the sky. They’ve exhausted all the
topics of conversation they can think of, and now, Dave’s content to lie in
silence.
Her hand is resting beneath his, and it’s a nice feeling.
“Y’know, it’s been almost a whole sweep since you told me I wasn’t ready.”
He isn’t expecting her to break the silence, and when she does, he shifts,
supporting himself on his elbows so he can look down at her. She’s not looking
at him, of course. Her eyes are still on the sky. “That’s more than two years
for me.”
She nods, keeping her gaze fixed on the stars. “I’ve been doing a lot of
thinking since then. About us,” she continues, still not looking at him. “About
what we are. About what you mean to me.”
Dave swallows. He didn’t know his heart could beat this fast. “Yeah? And what
did you decide?”
Now her gaze shifts to meet his. “I decided that I trust you.” She smiles. (His
heart almost stops.) “And that’s what matters most, isn’t it?”
Barely daring to breathe, Dave nods. “Yeah. I think it is.”
This time when she moves to kiss him, he doesn’t stop her, and it isn’t until
he’s tugging her shirt over her head that he pulls away. When his mouth touches
her again, it’s to press a trail of kisses across the hollow of her throat (she
gasps when his teeth hit her collarbone, just like he knew she would). His hand
is on her thigh when she reaches for him, and he pushes gently at her fingers.
“Not this time,” he promises. “This time is just for you.”
Aradia nods, and as he pushes up her skirt, she lays back, closing her eyes.
Honestly, he’s glad for the education her future-self had given him, because
otherwise he would have been confused as hell with what she’s got between her
legs. Her tentacle (bulge, his mind supplies helpfully) is only just starting
to peek out of the slit between her legs, and he massages along the length of
it, pressing gently at the hard exterior until it opens up enough to give him
access to the hole (nook) she’s got hidden there. When he slips a finger into
her, she sighs, and when he kisses the tip of her questing bulge, he can
actually hear her breath catch.
Oh, yeah. He’s got this.
By the time he’s done working her with his mouth and fingers, the ground
beneath her is damn near soaked with her fluids, and it takes him a couple
minutes to wipe his face clean. (He leaves his hand between her legs while he
does, though. Her bulge does all the work for him, slithering through his
fingers and wrapping around his wrist, and even the lightest of motions with
his fingers is enough to make her squirm.) She’s breathless at this point, and
when he withdraws his hand, she grabs almost desperately at his wrist. “Dave—”
He’s struggling with his pants. “Yeah?”
She pulls at his wrist until he’s looking up at her, and he’s surprised to
realize there’s fear in her eyes. “Am I ready?”
The smile he flashes at her feels bright enough to rival the sun. “I think you
are. And if you think you’re not—remember, I’m here to take care of you.”
It only takes a little bit of adjusting before he’s where he needs to be. Her
bulge curls around his shaft, and the slick sensation of it sliding against him
is one of the best things he’s ever experienced. He groans, rutting against
her, and she moans in response, the sound breathy and light.
It takes only a few moments before she’s rocking up against him (just like
she’d told him she would), and her nails are sharp as she grasps desperately at
his hips. “Enough teasing.” It’s half-demand, half-plea, and she bucks almost
hard enough to throw him off. “Please.”
Dave slides his hand between them, untangling her bulge from his organ. “Your
wish is my command.”
It only takes a couple seconds for him to position himself properly between her
legs, and when he enters her, he seals his mouth against hers, tongue swiping
over her bottom lip (carefully, though; her teeth are sharp and he’s not
stupid) as he shimmies his hands over her sides. It’s not hard to find the
sensitive scars that her older self had named ‘grub scars’, and as he scratches
his nails across them, she whimpers, her inner walls clenching almost painfully
hard around him.
With Aradia, it’s less thrusting and more grinding, and he keeps one hand on
her side while the other massages at her writhing bulge. Her nook ripples
around him, squeezing at him as he rocks into her, and she’s panting beneath
him, clutching at his arms. When she makes noise, it’s almost always his name,
whimpered against her forearm while she arches beneath him. “Dave—oh, Dave—”
Dave himself is incapable of words. He’s done this before but this still feels
new, and she’s amazing, perfect, more than he had ever dreamed of, and her nook
is clenching at him harder, encouraging him to move faster—
She comes with a cry that echoes off the walls and into the night, coating his
entire lower half in her fluids, nails biting into his skin. It’s impossible
for him to hold back, so he doesn’t, bowing his head against her shoulder and
gritting his teeth, choking on her name as he spends himself inside her, his
own pleasure so overwhelming that he almost can’t breathe. His whole world is
her, just her, nothing but her, and when he sinks next to her, she turns
against his chest, covering his throat in soft kisses.
“My Knight,” she sighs, tucking herself against him.
My Queen, he thinks, burying his face against her hair and closing his eyes.
It’s the only time they’ve ever slept next to each other, and it’s a first for
both of them.
End Notes
     This was actually really enjoyable to write, and it was so sweet that
     it was hard for me to make it super explicit. Dear person I wrote
     this for: I'm really sorry if it isn't explicit enough for you!
     I do not actively ship DoubleTime, but this was fun. I also do not
     usually write in third person, so, uh...apologies if it reads weird,
     because I'm used to using 'you' in place of 'he'. Yep.
     Thanks for reading!
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