Chapter 1

Dave woke up, blurry eyed and confused, this didn't look like his house. He stood up and left the room, looking for John and Karkat. He didn't see them. He went to his car. He looked up and saw the sign on the door of the building he had just walked out of. It read, "Drinking Contests every Wednesday, last man standing wins." He sighed and got into his car and drove home. He arrived twenty minutes later, seeing no cars in the driveway, he went inside and fell asleep on the couch.

Dave woke up again, even more blurry eyed than before. He heard voices and saw two people talking over him.

"Should we wake him?" Karkat asked.

"No, let him sleep," John told him. "He'll need it." They walked away leaving Dave where he was. He stood up and went to the kitchen. He took a Poptart, eating it without heating it up. He walks to his room and puts on his headphones. He listens to Deadmau5, trying to get some new DJing ideas. After a while, he hears a loud thump coming from down the hall. He leaves his room to investigate and he see that one of the framed pictures has fallen off of the wall. He puts it back up and knocks on John's door.

-John's perspective-

After quickly telling Karkat to let Dave sleep, John went back to his room and opened Pesterchum. He looked to see who was online and started pestering Rose.

- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 14:24 -

EB: hi

TT: Hello John

EB: do you know about Dave's… problem?

TT: Yes. He frequently speaks to me about it

TT: Why?

EB: he came home this morning with a hangover Karkat and I assume he was at the local bar's drinking contest

TT: That certainly is an issue

TT: Have you spoken to him about it?

EB: not yet but I was planning to later today

TT: Don't waste time. Go talk to him now

EB: ok I'll tell you how it goes

EB: bye

TT: Farewell

- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 14:34 -

John closed his laptop and was about to get up when someone knocked on his door.

"Come in," he called. Dave opened the door and walked in. "Oh," John said. "I was just about to come find you. I need to talk to you about something."

"About what?" Dave asked.

"Your drinking." The silence that followed was a terribly long one. "You need to stop."

"John, you know very well that I do not have a drinking problem," Dave responded, a bit angrily.

"Dave, you come home drunk almost every night and you barely make it to your room without passing out"

"You said almost every night."

"You know exactly what I mean."

"What are you going to do to stop me," Dave began yelling. "I can make my own decisions."

"I'm worried about you Dave. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Whatever. I'm going out." With that, Dave ran out, grabbing his keys. He pulled out of the driveway and drove back to the bar. When he got there, he ordered a beer and told the bartender to keep them coming. After a few of them he went to go get in his car, but the bartender stopped him.

"Hey buddy, I can't let you leave like this, you're a wreck."

"Oh yeah? Watch me." Dave shouldered past the bartender and drove off. As he was driving, his drunkenness caused him to drive erratically. He was swerving all over the road until he ran a red light and hit a car crossing the intersection at seventy miles an hour.

John and Karkat arrived at the hospital a few minutes after getting the call. They rushed to Dave's room. The nurse tried to keep them out, but their combined strength helped them push past and enter the room. They saw Dave lying in his hospital bed looking lifeless. More nurses appeared, pushing them out of the room and closing the door. John fell to the ground, crying, saying something about how it was his fault Dave had gotten hurt. Karkat started shooshpapping John, to no avail. John sat down on a bench in the waiting room, falling asleep quite quickly. Karkat cam to sit next to and stayed awake until a nurse told them that it was time to leave. They got into their car and left. When they got home, John ran straight to his room and cried himself to sleep. Karkat stayed up watching a Romcom but fell asleep in the middle. John spends the night tossing and turning, his nightmares a series of possible car crash situations that had landed Dave in the hospital. Karkat spends the night peacefully sleeping with no thought as to what was happening in John's room.