Chapter One
Adjustments

Aradia crinkled her nose. The house constantly reeked of drugs and sex, though it wasn't nearly as strong upstairs. It wasn't any surprise to her. She'd heard things about Damara, seeing as her best friend's brother was very explicitly involved with her for a long time a few years ago. The girl now residing in Aradia's basement barely spoke English, and had nasty habits of smoking anything she could get her hands on, and almost any guy, too. It was a foul smell, and Aradia wasn't used to it yet. She tried to ignore it, pulling her headphones on further so she could continue watching Indiana Jones on her laptop. It was her own silly tradition to watch the trilogy every year before school started. Usually her dad would watch it with her, but things were strained in the household lately. A loud string of Japanese obscenities streamed upstairs, its volume pulling Aradia from the movie. She slammed her computer shut as she cast the headphones aside, and marched downstairs.
"Dad!" she called. She wasn't sure her father was even home, as she'd lost track of the days throughout summer. Peeking into the garage, Aradia checked for his car. Sure enough, it was gone. She was stuck at home with Damara. Aradia let out a groan, leaning her head into the wall. The pictures wobbled slightly around her. Her dark eyes fell onto one. It was an old picture, and she was very young in it, standing between her parents. Her mother, Rachel, was very beautiful. Aradia's heart whined. She wished she'd been able to know her mother better. Her dad was great, though a bit overprotective. Another loud Japanese curse emanated from the basement as Damara stomped up the stairs.
"Anata ga mine watashi no kuso o yabutta!" the older girl screeched. Aradia raised her hands gently, trying to defer any anger directed at her.
"Damara, I don't- I can't understand what you're saying!" Aradia explained. She knew bits and pieces of Japanese, but could never formulate sentences herself, or decipher what Damara was saying when she spoke fast and angry. Damara paused, giving a fake smile as she spoke slower.
"Anata ga mine watashi no kuso o yabutta," she repeated. Aradia furrowed her brow, still unsure of what Damara was trying to say.
"Your… what?"
"You go in basement?! You break my things." Damara's grasp of English was about as strong as Aradia's grasp of Japanese. The two had their differences to begin with, and the language barrier did not help whatsoever.
"Damara, no, I… I never go in the basement!" Aradia shouted back. "I don't appreciate you blaming me when you don't take care of your own things. It's not my fault you're too strung out to notice!"
"Little bitch," Damara spat, smiling a mean-spirited smile as the words escaped her lips. Aradia gave a small gasp before turning away and returning to her room. She opened the laptop. Indiana Jones began playing again automatically, but Aradia was more preoccupied with Pesterchum. Luckily for her, Sollux was online.

apocalypseArisen [AA] began pestering twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: hey sollux?
TA: what
AA: can i come over for a while?
AA: i'm not handling this whole sister thing very well
TA: well what the fuck makes you think my house is any more stable
TA: my dads are fighting, tuna is throwing a tantrum, and my uncle simon is here
TA: it's a fucking shit show right now
TA: kind of driving me crazy
AA: well if you don't want me to add to that mess its fine
TA: you know its not that i don't want you here i just don't think it will help you any
AA: okay
TA: what even happened anyway
AA: damara
AA: she blamed me for breaking something and called me a bitch
AA: and i think she was glad to hurt me
TA: wow
AA: yeah i mean i knew she was bad from when she was around tavros's brother all the time but i don't think she was ever this bad.
AA: theres some part of the story missing
AA: but yeah im not… feeling too good about the family right now
TA: well AA you can come over if you really want
AA: oh wow don't be so persuasive sollux
TA: AA come on my family is so god damn embarrassing
AA: hah
AA: you shouldn't be embarrassed of them
AA: for the record i like your family
TA: yeah i don't get that you're smart enough to know better
TA: youre not supposed to like my family
TA: what are you like my girlfriend or something

Aradia smiled at her computer screen. Sollux was too easy to talk to, and he was fun to be around. Aradia had spent more time at his house since the family dynamic got turned on its head. It wasn't hard for Damara to get on Aradia's nerves, and any time she went to her father, the answer was "it's an adjustment period". So she went to Sollux's place, or Tavros's or Feferi's, but usually Sollux's. Not only did Aradia like his fathers, but his fathers liked her. That was more than she could say about her dad's attitude towards Sollux. On more than one occasion, he told Aradia he'd slice the fingers off of any boy that tried to touch her, so Aradia didn't invite friends over very often.

As she made her way down the street, Aradia thought about her friends. There was quite a large group of them, most of them friends of friends, but all of the kids were about to start high school together, and they all got along fairly well, depending on who you asked. Tavros was Aradia's best friend. They roleplayed when they were younger, playing a lot of silly games in the park with Terezi and Vriska as well. His older brother taught both of them how to play Pokémon, too, and they all spent some time doing that together. Sollux was someone she'd met in middle school, and they'd always gotten along. Sollux was very cynical, though, and needed someone lighthearted to get him to smile. Which was rare anyway because he was embarrassed about his braces. It was through Sollux that Aradia met Karkat. He was a grouchy little boy, too wary about showing his albinism to stop dying his hair or wearing color contacts even though it was fairly obvious to everyone he had the slight mutation. He cursed and shouted a lot, and between his and Sollux's bickering, it was obvious they were best friends in spite of it. Their group expanded when a girl named Nepeta joined them halfway through 8th grade. She was nice enough, though Aradia couldn't say they were very close, nor were she and Kanaya. Terezi and Vriska, she knew well since they played together as kids, and stayed a pretty close-knit group through their school days. Not that she liked Vriska all that much. She was something of a bully. Equius, she didn't meet until late last year, after Nepeta joined their little gang. For some reason the hulking brute of a boy and the small girl were best friends. He kind of weirded Aradia out, for the most part. Gamzee had always been more of Karkat's friend, and quite frankly, Aradia didn't know him that well. The last two "members" of the kids' little gang were Eridan and Feferi. Nobody really liked Eridan that much, but they put up with him for Feferi's sake. She was such a nice girl, and for some reason had elected to stand by Eridan when he moved to their town. The two were almost always seen together, and it made Aradia wonder, but she'd known Feferi since they were in kindergarten, and let Fef do whatever was going to make her happiest.

Aradia sighed as she let herself in to Sollux's house. She looked at herself in the mirror perched in his entry hall, brushing a dark strand of hair out of her face. His house was loud, as to be expected when it was packed to the brim with 5 brash men, and especially since Sollux's dads were arguing. Aradia made her way into the main room, where Sollux was trying to ignore his family by sitting on the couch playing video games while his uncle Simon tried hopelessly to jostle him into conversation, and Mituna was trying to pull the controller out of his hand. She silently stood behind the couch, hearing snippets of the conversation between Carl and Barry in the kitchen behind her.
"…but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be concern—Aradia!" Barry stopped midsentence and embraced the girl. It was always a warm welcome for her in the Captor household. Aradia giggled and returned the hug, Sollux pausing his game to watch. She greeted the rest of the family one by one, before sitting down next to Sollux.
"It's so nice to see you again, Aradia," Carl said warmly. She smiled at him with another small laugh.
"Shame we missed your father's wedding," Barry continued as he peered into the fridge. Aradia's face flushed with anger and she sank into her seat next to Sollux. Simon glanced at her, and she eyed him back, though remained silent. He tented his fingers, merely watching as the girl leaned into Sollux, who considered for a moment wrapping an arm around her, only to succumb to his hesitation. While Aradia was well aware of this, she only gave a content smile when Sollux resumed his game. He didn't stay wrapped up in it for very long, however, as Mituna began insisting on being given a turn, so the boy hesitantly tossed his brother the controller.
"What, aren't you gonna play me Sol?" Mituna hissed through a deep speech impediment.
"No. Knock yourthelf out, lother," Sollux lisped back.
"Afraid I'm gonna kick your ass?"
"Fuck that noithe… I have a guetht, Tuna. Don't be rude."
Aradia dared a glance upwards at Sollux's uncle Simon again. He was still watching the two of them, his fingers tented. A thickness settled in the air before he spoke.
"You remind me of Hana…" he murmured. It was nearly inaudible, but Aradia's heart dropped. She had no desire to have anything to do with that woman, and wasn't thrilled about having her around, especially after seeing what a bang-up job she'd done raising Damara.
"Yeah, she's… my stepmother. Hana Megido-Droog," Aradia answered quietly. Simon didn't say anything else, and Sollux just watched her from his peripheral vision.
The five Captors and Aradia sat down to dinner, in which Simon got emphatically angry about the days he spent working for Miss Peixes and Mituna, being himself, picked up on his uncle's volume levels and added to it with strings of shouts and curses about his own group of friends. Aradia remained quiet. She knew there was no way to calm the older brother down, and she didn't really know how to gauge Simon yet, so she, Sollux, and his dads tried hopelessly to carry their own conversation. Once they were finished eating, the two thirteen-year-olds were dismissed as the adults cleared the table. The volume levels only decreased slightly as Sollux and Aradia sat in the bedroom he shared with his brother, and Aradia swore she heard what sounded like a few dishes breaking, but it was enough solitude for the two to finally be able to talk.
"So what's your uncle doing here?" Aradia asked. The man had a strange aura, and she wondered how he knew her stepmother, but it wasn't a pressing wonder.
"He quit hith job. I gueth hith both wath really over-demanding, and hath been for yearth, and he finally blew a gathket working for her. Tho he'th crashing here until he findth thomething elthe."
"Well, he certainly does add to the volume level around here," Aradia answered with a giggle.
"I mean, we're uthed to the noithe, but Thimon getth going, and it thetth Tuna off too, tho he'th throwing tantrumth and getting mad at thtupid shit Cronuth thaid like a year ago, and it'th ridiculouth. But my dad ith all defenthive for him, thaying 'he'th my brother and we need to be there for him, Barry' and they're fighting about that, too, tho it'th a whole meth right now." Sollux sighed, falling onto his bed. Aradia laid down next to him and they both stared at the ceiling together. "Tho how'th the Droog houthehold going?"
"Megido-Droog now," Aradia corrected him. "And not good. I mean, my dad really does seem to be in love with Hana, which is… good for him, I guess. It was a really dark time after my mom died for both of us, but Hana is horrible to me, and Damara is worse. It's just… weird around there lately."
Sollux rolled onto his side, looking at Aradia from behind his glasses. She watched his heterochromatic eyes study her, one a burgundy-esque color, blurring somewhere between red and brown, and the other a deep, rich blue that felt like the ocean. "I think we both jutht need thome time to adjutht."
"Yeah," Aradia repeated, "time to adjust."