John didn't do it.
He was framed, okay?
He hadn't even known Mark for that long. They were out together after curfew. Mark had wanted to show John something - he'd never found out. Mark was killed in cold blood by three Blacksuits, tall men with more speed and power than they feasibly should have. Inhuman, that's what they were. They may have been trolls at one point - they all had large orange horns. Except one. He had small nubs of horns, and John guessed he was the youngest. That one just walked up to the two of them and shot Mark. He handed the gun to John, smiled, and then the three of them abruptly disappeared, leaving a fresh corpse and a very confused John with a gun.
His Dad hadn't even bothered trying to get him out of the trial, simply shaking his head. His sister was no better, giving him scared puppy-dog eyes and biting her lip before looking away. She never looked at him again.
And here he sat, on the top bunk of an empty cell in the hellhole that was Furnace Penitentiary. He had been there a week, which seemed an awfully long time to not have an annoying bunkmate. Being sixteen, he naturally ignored the Blacksuits opening his cell door. He heard a short yelp, that sounded almost human, and that caught his attention. He snapped his head in their direction.
They were shoving in a kid with silvery blond hair and a face that, even with the aviators the guards obviously didn't care about, was confusing. It was pale and thin, both sharp and slightly chubby at the same time, though the rest of him was tall and thin. Apparently he was indignant as well, brushing off his shoulders with a huff. John assumed him to be roughly a year older, even though it was hard to tell with his shades and abnormal height.
Thinking it was a good idea to wait to pass judgement on this sdouche/s new fish, John kept his mouth shut as he watched with curious eyes.
The kid looked up, staring wordlessly for half a second before moving forward to settle on the bottom bunk. He hummed quietly, and it sounded familiar but John wasn't paying attention. He leaned over the side of his bunk to continue staring.
The blond huffed, looking a little annoyed.
"What?" He asked quietly.
His voice was like satin on velvet... red velvet cupcakes...? Something like that. John bit his lip for a second, quelling the emotions and smiling instead.
"I'm John."
The blond was most obviously staring, but he kept his cool facade and paused before answering.
"Yo, John, I'm Dave."
His velveteen voice had a light Texan underlay, and John had to swallow and take a second to compose himself.
"Hi, Dave, nice to meet you."
Dave snorted.
"You don't sound like the murderin' type." He noted lightly. John bit his lip, quickly pulling back up to his own bed and turning to face the wall. That was most definitely not something he wanted to talk about. Dave made a small noise, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with John. He would get around to explaining it.
John heard the usual blatant whistling of the bull-horned Blacksuit as he walked down the hall next to them. John leaned over his bed again, giving Dave a cold look.
"Cover your ears." He said point-blank, covering his own as he sat back up. Not a second later the siren went off, earsplitting screech that lasted a few seconds before being replaced by complete and total darkness. Dave's humming was gone, along with his air of impertinence. John sighed.
"You're welcome." He said quietly before attempting to fall asleep.
Dave jolted awake to extremely bright lights switching on without a moment's notice. With a yelp and a muffled curse, his hands flew over his eyes in a heartbeat. Once he adjusted, he noticed John was leaning down to watch him again, with this weird look on his face. As Dave sheepishly put his hands down, John burst into a fit of giggling laughter, causing him to fall onto his rump on the floor. Dave let out a ipffft/i and chuckled, standing to help him up. John took his hand annoyedly, pulling himself up and grumbling a thanks as he brushed off his legs, stalking out the gate.
Dave followed, wondering what kind of friends, if any, John would actually have. When Dave caught up, he noticed John actually looked intimidating. He was still small, but he walked with an air of 'leave me the fuck alone' and had a cold look in his eyes. The moment he stepped into the cafeteria he relaxed again, giving Dave a smile and looking around.
Once they got their quite frankly unappetizing sslop/s food, John led Dave to an empty table. He say down, looking as if he was used to being alone, before starting to eat. Dave followed his example and took a bite - it was gritty, lumpy, chewy, and above all salty. It still wasn't as bad as oatmeal. Dave hated oatmeal with a burning passion.
They sat there in silence for about five minutes before someone sat next to Dave. John looked up, clearly surprised. He looked a bit like John, actually, with his glasses and buck toothed smile. But he was quite a bit older, and had a completely different air about him.
"Hello, chaps!" He said with a giggle. "How are we today?"
Dave gave John a look, like, 'Do you know this guy?' John simply shook his head. Them Dave noticed someone standing behind the odd Englishman, looking a bit doubtful of John and Dave.
"Jake, I-" He protested quietly.
"Oh, nonsense, Dirk! Come sit down!" The first one interrupted, patting the table space next to John.
When he reluctantly sat down was when Dave got a good look at him. He bit his lip. This guy looked so much like his brother. He had the same silver shade of hair, gelled up and back spikily, with a few sharp locks hanging over and under his pointed, anime-like shades, and a few shades paler than even Dave. Naturally, this was unnerving.
He seemed to be looking at Dave in the same way, but before either of them could say anything, John spoke.
"Hey, I'm John, and this is Dave. He's my new bunkmate- they brought him in yesterday."
"What lovely names! As you probably already guessed, I'm Jake and this is smy/s Dirk."
Dave looked up at Dirk again.
"So, Dirk, where ya from?" He asked.
Dirk gave him an odd look before answering. His voice matched Dave's accent perfectly, like two pieces of a puzzle.
"A lot of places. Texas. West Virginia. Massachusetts. California. Kansas. Boise. Here."
Dave scoffed.
"You have to be shitting me. Who are you, and why the hell do you look like my brother?"
Dirk cocked his head.
"It's scary that I could ask the same of you."
They all looked up as the siren signaled the end of breakfast. A tall man in a black suit with nubby horns grabbed their arms, 'escorting' them roughly out the door into another room. John pointed out that they were both on lunch duty, and took his hand in a manner that should have been uncomfortable or even childish to Dave, but only made his breath speed up and his heart beat faster. Still, he wormed his fingers out of John's grip. He didn't need that right now.
When they entered the clean, cast-iron kitchen, Dave contemplated talking to John about his feelings. He abruptly shut his mouth when three trolls walked in behind him. One had small, rounded horns, not unlike those of the other Blacksuit, and a mouthful of sharp teeth. The other two looked to be related, sporting the same dual sets of horns and fangs, and a yellowish tint to their skin.
The taller one sported a helmet over long black hair, red and blue visor covering most of his face.
"H14Y, 1'M M7IHNU4!"
He said with a grin, rather loudly. He had a bit of a speech impediment, garbling his words.
"ii'm 2ollux, and thii2 ii2 KK." The other one said with a quiet lisp, gesturing to the small-horned troll when he did not introduce himself.
"IT'S KARKAT, DOUCHENOZZLE." He shouted, attempting to smack the wire-framed 3D glasses off his face. "NOT YOUR STUPID ACRONYMS."
"...'M Dave." He replied. They seemed to already know John. Speaking of John, he apparently knew what he was doing, putting ingredients into a large machine.
(Authors notes)
Hey so I know I said I would start this on tumblr, so... I did! Tell me what characters you'd like them to meet next! :D