Chapter One
You sit alone at a bar, waiting for your drink to come so that you can drown your sorrows. The bar is polished neatly, and you find yourself staring down at your own reflection in it. You glare at yourself, baring your fangs. Earth life has made you even more miserable. Despite the fact that humans and trolls constantly mingle, and even get into relationships - although they're too dumb to understand the other three quadrants - you are alone. Your already minimal amount of friends either stayed on Alternia or made new, better friends. Depressing, self-destructive thoughts swim around the back of your mind, but you're too good to let them all come forward.
A martini glass is placed in front of you, and you look away from your damn face. You've decided to get a human drink mixed with an Alternian one. You take a sip, the burn of alcohol filling your stomach and the sweet taste of strawberry covering your taste buds. You shiver a little. It's a bit less strong than last time, or maybe you're just getting used to it. Either way, it's powerful. You take another sip as a man sits next to you. He smells strongly of cologne and hair gel. This overrides the amazing taste of strawberry, and causes you to set down your drink and look at him in disgust.
He looks back at you, a smug smile on his face. He's a troll as well, with sharp teeth and violet eyes. You don't even care about your candy red ones anymore; no one gives a rats ass about blood on Earth. That was actually your primary reason for moving here, not that you'd admit it openly.
"Hey there sweet thing." The pungent smelling male says. His voice is almost as greasy as his hair, and his Italian accent almost makes you laugh.
You do not actually laugh. You give him an annoyed look. In a flat voice, you respond, "What the fuck do you want."
"Whoa, no need to be harsh, chief. Was just sayin' hello." He throws his hands up as he says this, trying to seem casual. What a douche.
"Hello." You don't think you like this man very much.
"You look a little bit young to be in a place like this." He leans slightly closer to you. His drink arrives and he takes a big swig of it.
You shift slightly. You had been using a fake ID for nearly a sweep. No one ever questioned it here, though. This hole-in-the-wall shitty bar would probably give alcohol to a grub if it had an ID. With less confidence than usual, you state that you're eleven sweeps, even though you are only nine. The man can probably tell you've just lied, but he simply shrugs.
He edges closer to you. "Got a name?"
"Do you?" You narrow your eyes at him.
"Cronus. Cronus Ampora." He smiles again, and takes another sip of his drink. "Your turn, babe."
You wrinkle your nose and tug at the hem of your sweater, plucking a loose string. "Karkat." You say this roughly. You don't enjoy talking to strange men at bars. Certainly not ones who call you "babe."
He pulls a human cigarette from his back pocket and sticks it in his mouth. He leaves it unlit. You find this strange. You've seen humans using them the right way. You turn back to your drink, hoping he's done with you. You take a bigger sip, wanting to finish and get out. He chugs his drink and promptly orders a second one.
"So what brings a pretty thing like you out to this crappy ol' place?" He's talking to you again. Why. His words are starting to slur just slightly. You decide you really don't like him.
"Cheap alcohol." Go away. Please go away.
"I see." Dammit. "You're still pretty young though, ain't ya? Why ya drinkin' already?" He's prying. His next drink comes, and you notice that it is considerably larger than the first one.
"That's none of your fucking concern, Ampora." You continue staring at your glass. The sugars are starting to do their thing, and so is the alcohol. Stuff seems a bit fuzzy. You still hate this man.
"Please, please. Call me Cronus if we're gonna use our names here." He's twirling the cigarette with two fingers now. "An' I'm just curious, don't gotta get all snappy with me." You tilt your head, looking at him out of the corner of your eye. He's got a dumb grin on his face. You would love to hit him, but he could probably hit back twice as hard. He's a lot bigger than you. As if he could tell you were thinking about striking, he pulls off his leather coat and hangs it over the back of the chair. His muscles are far bigger than yours could ever be. He notices you looking at them and nonchalantly flexes.
"I'm not checking you out, you pretentious asshole." You sneer. The nerve of this guy.
"Why ya gotta be like that, Karkat? You only just met me. Are ya always like this towards strangers?" He pouts.
"I'm only 'like this' to people who start hitting on me within six fucking seconds of meeting me. Are you seriously so god damn desperate that you'll philander around with anyone who passes by? That's pretty fucking sad. I mean, what the fuck do you think you're doing? Who the hell even are you?" Your voice raises slightly with each word. Your friends didn't nickname you shouty for nothing.
"Alright, alright, calm down. Don't make a scene here, you'll attract unwanted attention." He grumbles, taking yet another large swig of his beverage.
You grunt, and then it goes silent for a while. Cronus finishes off his drink again and calls for a refill. You're nearly done with your first. A small puddle of the pink tinted liquid shimmers at the bottom of the glass. Obviously you're going to want more. You usually spend hours here with your thoughts and drinks. But this fucking son of a bitch won't leave.
"So you're here by yourself, are ya?"
FUCK.
"Yes. I am."
"Kinda dangerous, don't ya think?" His words are even more slurred. He's very close to you. When the fuck did he get this close. Your heart pumps faster and you feel your face turn a bit red. Go away go away go away go away.
"No." You almost squeak, your voice cracking. Fucking hell you are nervous.
Cronus puts a hand on your leg and you try to wiggle out of the way. He grips it tighter. His yellow nails are digging into your jeans. "A gorgeous face like yours shouldn't go home alone in the dark." He has an idiotic grin on his face again. His hand moves further up your thigh.
You can't breathe, or say anything. You never learned what to do in this kind of situation. Never had you even considered that this might happen. His hand is very hot, and he's way too close. You shut your eyes, petrified.
A chair scrapes up next to yours. Oh god you're going to die. This asshole is going to get what he wants. And then kill you like the lowblood scum you think you are. An arm comes around you. "Hey babe! There you are!"
That was not Cronus's drunken voice. You've never heard this voice. You open your eyes. A different man, a human man, has his arm around you. Cronus looks at the human as well. "Thought ya said ya were alone here." He drawls, pulling back. His hand drops lamely to his side.
"Well he ain't alone anymore." The human replies. He has a light Texan accent. You stare at him. He might be looking at you, but his eyes are shielded by black aviators. "I'm his boyfriend, thank you very much." Your mouth drops, but you quickly close it. This guy's trying to help. Of course. "We've talked about the drinking, sugar. You've gotta come home now."
You are still slightly dumbstruck. Who the fuck is this guy? He could be just as creepy for all you know. But... He isn't intoxicated. "R-right. Sorry let me just... Pay." You pull some human money out of your pocket and toss it on the bar, then you stand. You're slightly tipsy, and the man with the sunglasses holds you up.
"Later." He waves at Cronus and hurries you away from the bar. You stumble over your own feet. His arm remains around you, clutching your shoulder. The two of you exit the shady place and step into the street. It's dimly lit and very cold. He walks you over to a metal bench and sits beside you.
"You ok there dude?" He questions, probably looking at you. You can't really tell.
"Yeah. I suppose I should thank you." You mutter, rubbing your eyes. You refuse to acknowledge the tears that were almost there.
"Hey it's no problem man. Glad to help. The name's Dave, by the way. Dave Strider." He crosses his legs. You notice that his shoes are bright red.
You nod, still dazed. "Well uh. Thank you, Strider."
"Yeah sure. You should probably go home now."
You hesitate. He's going to want to help you. You're obviously in no condition to walk back on your own. He seems ok enough. Certainly better than that troll. You feel very violated and you do not want to have that happen ever again. "I assume you're going to walk me there." You say, sounding disgruntled.
"If y'all will let me yeah I'd like to. I mean, wouldn't want anything else to happen to you." He responds, frowning slightly. "That guy was really fucking creepy, y'know. Everyone in that bar is sketchy as fuck."
"You were in there too." You say. "Why should I trust you?"
"I just saved you from a guy who probably intended to fuck you, that's why. You don't need to trust me but hey if something else happens you'll be thinking 'fuck I sure do wish that handsome blonde fellow had walked me home.'" He doesn't breathe once during this. You do not hate this guy, but he's quite talkative.
"Alright, fine, Strider. Carry me home bridal style for all the fucks I give at this point." You attempt to get on your feet and fall back down immediately, landing on the human's lap.
"I think I might just do that." He lifts you easily as he stands. You're still pretty tiny, even though you're close to adulthood. You cross your arms and glare up at him. Infuriating, but yet you feel safe.
"Where do you live then?" He asks after remaining still for a solid minute.
"Oh, uh, right." You give him your address and he starts walking.
"Didn't catch your name." He says, attempting to make conversation. As if things weren't already terribly awkward with him holding you.
"Karkat Vantas." You look up at him. "Why the hell do you have shades on? It's almost midnight."
"Why's an underage troll out drinking at a crappy bar with cheap alcohol?" He responds without missing a beat.
"Why's an underage human doing the same thing?"
"Why don't you mind your damn business? And I hadn't drunk anything yet. I was only in there for five minutes before I saw you getting felt up and decided to help." He adds. "If we're gonna get into the deep questions at least attempt to be my friend first."
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" You question, kind of wanting to be Dave's friend. He seems cool. But also kinda douchey.
"Well I live two blocks down from you." He replies, turning on to your street. You just say oh. He says yeah. Then no one says anything as he walks up the street. He sets you down on the step in front of your apartment building. He rolls up your sleeve and pulls out a sharpie, then scribbles his phone number on your arm. You don't even care.
"Text me if you feel like it. Stay safe, Vantas."
"Thank you." You say meekly. You open the front door. "No one has ever done such a nice thing for me before, actually. Not even people I know. So I really do mean it when I say thank you, Dave Strider. I think-" You turn to look at him, but he's vanished. "Oh. Well that's great. Fucking talking to myself again. Thought I got over that." You sigh and walk up to your room, the door shutting heavily behind you.