Davekat Apologist

dave sleeps straight and silent like a plank of wood, karkat sleeps crumpled up like an animal and is prone 2 snoring. he drools a bunch too, because that's just part of having an overbite. and isn't a problem when you sleep in slime, which is his defense when it's brought up.

the snoring doesn't bother dave, in fact he finds the sound soothing. he doesnt snore really loud, it’s kind of gentle and rumbly. and the way he still looks grumpy even when he's sleeping is pretty endearing, so sometimes dave will just watch him snooze for a bit. it's rhythmic and relaxing & something to focus on if he can't sleep.

karkat has his own dedicated pillowcases that are extra-thick for the drooling & they gotta be washed nightly. typically dave will switch the cases for him in passing.

sleeping in a bed is also one of the rare times where someone would get to see karkat in something that isn't long pants and a long-sleeve shirt, especially in warmer weather, because karkat is abnormally committed to wearing the same outfit out every day. so it's a very rare privilege and dave likes to see him in short sleeves.

it actually ends up working really well for both of them even though they're polar opposites, because dave finds a lot of comfort in the steady quiet noise, and karkat is sensitive to sound so the fact dave is a quiet sleeper is good for him too. & they both find having each other there helps against sleeping alone drastically. makes it easier to remember they’re in a safe space.

ofc karkat does the same thing to dave, i.e. watching him sleep sometimes. he never really gets over how nice dave's eyes look even when they're closed. typically though watching dave sleep ends up making him snort because dave will just faceplant the pillow *hard* and karkat wouldn't even believe he's capable of breathing in that position if he couldn't see his lungs expanding in real time.

they both have a lot of trouble sleeping. while dave tends to have trouble *falling* asleep in particular, karkat tends to have more trouble *staying* asleep. once dave is out he's typically OUT on a good night, and although karkat gets to sleep faster than him he's more likely to wake up in the middle of the night. this works out great, because if dave's face is ever visible it's because he was watching karkat until he dozed off -- and that means karkat gets to watch *dave* sleep til he can get back to sleep himself. so they feed into each other sleeping better, if that makes sense.