Okay, so the thing with the incest in AIKASS. I’ll get into it here but please be aware for anyone considering reading there are some spoilers for the early parts of the fic in this.
Earth B/Post-Scratch/Alpha Dave and Rose meet each other when they are very young in this story. Dave develops a crush on her and basically they are each other’s only support system growing up long distance from each other, doing all they can to stay in touch through the foster system etc. They go through Some Heavy Shit. By the time they are adults, Dave has fallen completely in love with Rose. However, he found out Rose is gay in their teen years, and has never acted on his feelings because of it.
They have no idea they are related, and (minor spoiler for what WON’T be in aikass) they never will. However, we as readers know that technically Dave and Rose have the same genetic parents. So it is biologically incest. And early on AIKASS (SPOILERS for the first few chapters) we find that Rose’s psychic abilities went on overdrive during Rebranding Day (the day the Condesce revealed herself and Jane entered the medium in canon) and she had a total episode where she basically saw The End of Humanity and foresaw the atrocities that Condy would visit upon Earth B and glimpsed her and Dave’s role in it. Dave is literally physically with her when this happens. And in that moment of weakness when they’re facing the fact that the world is going to end and there’s nothing they can do to stop it but they know they’ll fight and die anyway, Things Happen Between Them.
Dave and Rose’s relationship is HELLISHLY STRAINED throughout all 30+ chapters of AIKASS so far because of this, this moment informs every interaction they have and is a big part of the Inciting Action for the entire story.
I can’t emphasize this part enough: every Fucked Up Thing that happens in aikass is dealt with openly, honestly and brutally. People talk about it. There are consequences to things. Nothing is swept under the rug.
SO. It is ultimately a DaveKat fic. They are the primary pairing and they are the ones whose developing relationship is in the spotlight. But Rose is JUST as primary a character as the two of them are, and Dave+Rose and Karkat+Rose’s relationships are just as important and expounded on. Dave and Rose learning how to move past what happened and figure out if they can Be Okay platonically after that. (I won’t talk about Rose and Karkat’s relationship because HELLA SPOILERS but it’s basically adorable purely platonic big sister/little brother.)
So. The incest definitely exists and is a driving factor for the story, and Dave’s feelings for Rose are an enormous part of his character (especially in the flashback scenes of them growing up.)
Again, they have no idea and will never find out, but YOU know. So you have to decide for yourself if that knowledge combined with what’s going on is gonna trigger you. Remember - YOU and your mental health come before fanfiction!
A general warning to everyone though, really: AIKASS is a VERY INTENSE FIC. It doesn’t pull punches. There are two explicit suicide attempts in like the first two chapters. Mind the tags and be careful. It’s my favorite fic of all time (and not just because my wife writes it) but it is not fucking around with depictions of mental illness and ethically fucked up situations.
