Summary: On a hard day for John, Vriska might just be able to help make him feel better.

Disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck!

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"Eg8ert, what are you doing here?" Asks Vriska, her voice cutting through the human's revere. John looks up at her, startled; he hadn't expected to see anyone here—which was one of the reasons he'd come.

"Nothing much." He says, looking at the troll as she sits down across from him at the little café's table. She motions for a waiter then orders a cup of some troll drink, making it apparent that she's planning on staying as long as he's here.

"So, Vriska." John says as the troll he is addressing takes a sip of some steaming, purple liquid. Usually he would be happy—ecstatic even—to see his friend, but today has been hard and he isn't in the mood to talk to anyone, not even Vriska, who he always seems to be in the mood to speak with.

"Yes, John?" She says, oblivious to his mood.

"Uh, what are you doing here? This café isn't close to your hive." John says. Actually, it isn't close to the hives or the houses of any of the people he knows, not even his own. He had to take a train ride to get to the little café.

"I like the drinks and food here. I discovered it a little while 8ack and come here whenever I have free time. What a8out yourself? Why would you come all the way out here?" Vriska answers.

"Uh, same." John lies, deciding it's easier than telling her that he came out here because he didn't want to see anyone. The troll girl might get offended by that, and besides, he doesn't want to talk about why he doesn't want to see anyone.

"Hm." She says as if she doesn't really believe him. "I'm actually sort of surprised to see you out and a8out today. I thought you'd 8e at home."

John swallows hard. So she remembered? He wonders if there's anyone else who remembers what today is. Probably not.

"I didn't expect you to remember. I didn't expect anyone to remember, actually." John admits. "I'm kind of happy that you remember what today is." This causes Vriska to blush.

I h8 t8lking to him in p8rson. She thinks to herself. I c8n't think 8nd then type something out; I h8ve to s8y something right aw8y. I 8lways get flustered.

"Y8h, well, I remem8er this kind of stuff. It's important to you hum8ns, so why wouldn't I try 8nd remem8er?" She says after a moment, looking down at her drink.

John smiles for the first time that day, knowing that she's getting flustered because he thanked her.

"So, what is that drink supposed to be, anyway?" John asks, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, do you want to try it?" She asks, pushing it over to him. He looks down at the liquid, not really sure that he wants to try it. It's purple mixed with brown and, when swished around in the mug, has the consistency of mud. She's looking at him expectantly, so he takes a small taste. It's horribly bitter and tastes disgusting, like monkey butt or something along those lines. He makes a face and passes it back to Vriska, taking a drink of his coffee quickly afterwards to rid his mouth of the taste.

"I t8ke it you didn't like it." Vriska says, laughing at his facial expression.

"No, not really." He says, laughing with her. John feels a lot better now that he's with Vriska, and is actually pretty glad that they ran into each other.

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After about an hour of sitting in the café together, talking and laughing, John and Vriska realize that it's already really dark out and that it's late.

"You get off at station three, right?" John asks Vriska as they walk towards the train station in the dark, damp night. The weather forecast said that it's supposed to rain within the hour.

"Yup. You do too, right?"

"Mmhmm." Says John as the buy their tickets and head on to the train heading home. They sit down on a corner bench on the nearly empty train, John looking around at the people on the train wearily, Vriska looking around and not really caring about the shady looking people scattered here and there. John starts twiddling his thumbs nervously, remembering a news story he heard of the other day.

"Hey, Vriska." He whispers, still look around the train.

"Hmm?" She asks, resting her head on his shoulder and yawning.

"Did you hear that story about the people who ride trains late at night and attack people for money? Apparently it's a group of mixed trolls and humans." He says quickly. There are both trolls and humans on the train, all of them shady looking with large scars over various areas of the body.

"Yeah, so?" She asks, yawning again.

"Well, we're on a train, late at night, and there is a group of trolls and humans on here, too."

"Don't 8e so worried. Everything will 8e fine. I highly dou8t that these are the people on the news. Just calm down and w8 for our stop; we have more than half an hour left." Vriska says lazily, drumming her fingers against John's knee.

John sighs and tries to relax, looking around one last time at the people around him. He then looks at Vriska's head on his shoulder. It doesn't bother him, he actually likes the warmth it provides. They're unofficially together as a couple, so it seems natural to him that she would use him as a pillow. Suddenly he realizes that there is a shadow darkening the space in front of him. He looks up quickly and sees one of the trolls on the train standing in front of him. The troll is huge, definitely more than six feet tall. Not only that, but he's wide; he looks like he could take out a baby elephant just by sitting on it. John's heart rate speeds up, worry running through his body. The troll opens his mouth to say something.

"Either of you got a smoke?" He asks. John sighs, relieved. They weren't about to get mugged, the guy only wants a cigarette.

John feels Vriska move slightly next to him and sees that she's offering the troll man one of her cigarettes. When the troll has it in his mouth, she moves up her hand and lights it for him, too. As she starts to move her hand back, the troll catches her hand and pulls her up easily, pulling her arms behind her back with one hand and putting the other over her mouth.

"Give me all the cash you've got or the girl gets it." He says around his cigarette. His hands are huge, and he could easily snap her neck with just a quick flick of the wrist. John notices that all the other passengers in the train car have stood up, surrounding the guy holding Vriska, obvious backup.

"I told you!" Says John as he stands up slowly and pulls out his wallet. Vriska rolls her eyes, looking disgusted at having a not-so-clean hand over her mouth. John reaches into his wallet, grasping a small tube and pulling it out quickly. He presses a button on the side of the tube and watches as it opens up to form a hammer. He takes out a couple of the guys surrounding the big guy and Vriska, then moves to take out the others. They're weak and only have small weapons, so it takes him less than a minute. He hears a deep cry of agony and then a loud thump and turns around to see Vriska standing over the troll man who had her before; he's out cold.

"Very nice." He says, leaning down to help her collect the dice on the ground that she used to beat her opponent.

"You weren't too sha88y yourself; you took those guys out awful fast." She says, taking the dice that he hands her and putting them in a pouch by her side.

They move all of the guys to one corner of the train car and call the police so that they can take the group into custody once the train stops. They then sit on the bench in the opposite corner of the car, Vriska placing her head back on John's shoulder.

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Once the train stops the two run out of the doors as soon as they open, not wanting to be questioned by the police. They run all the way to Vriska's hive, which is closer to the station than John's house. On the way it starts to rain, so by the time they get there they're both soaking wet. When they reach the hive, Vriska walks up and unlocks the door and goes inside, John following automatically. Once inside the hive, Vriska switches on some lights and heads into the kitchen, then sets a pot of water on the stove, setting it to boil. Then she rushes into her bedroom, coming out a few minutes later with dry clothes on and some clothes for John. One time he stayed over when Vriska was sick and he left his clothes at her house on accident, and she never got around to delivering them back to him, so there they have stayed. He goes into the bathroom and pulls on the dry clothes, then goes back out into the kitchen where Vrikska is making human tea; she likes it enough that she does not mind drinking it when John is over, even though it's not her first choice of drink.

They sit down in Vriska's living room with their tea and look at each other. Both of their hair is dripping wet, making their dry clothes wet around the collar. They laugh at this, then sit in silence. In that silence, John remembers the reason why he was in the café in the first place. Vriska seems to understand what he's thinking, because she takes the tea out of his hand and places both of their mugs on the coffee table by the couch, then scoots towards her friend.

"I'm really sorry. Do you want to t8lk?" She says, showing her gentle side for once. John shrugs in response, so Vriska moves in even closer and puts her arms around John in an embrace.

"How old would he have 8een today, John?" She asks quietly while John wraps his arms around her, returning the hug.

"He, uh, Dad, would have been forty seven." John answers, trying his best not to choke up.

"I have an idea." Vriska says jumping back suddenly, startling John. She stands up and rushes into the kitchen, then comes back after a couple of moments, holding a red, rectangular box that John recognizes all too well.

"I saw this the other day at the human grocery store and thought of you." She says. "I also have a 8ox of candles. There are pro8a8ly forty seven, 8ut if not I can go 8uy some more. This only takes like twenty minutes to make and cook, so…?"

John stands up and walks over to Vriska, kissing her on the mouth gently and quickly. Within two seconds he's stepped back and has grabbed Vriska's hand, pulling her towards the kitchen.

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I hope you enjoyed that :D This has been my first Homestuck fanfiction, so if you review please be nice about it! On that note… Please review! I love to receive feedback. This is my favourite Homestuck couple so I would like to know if I did well before I write a bunch more of these XD

~otakuLove67 has ceased pestering fanfictionReaders~