Scratch School - A Humanstuck AU

Chapter 1: Vantas Family Bonding

Summary: Karkat and his older brother Kankri head to a Seattle boarding school, much to Karkat's dismay (he also falls down a lot).

Pairings: Karkat x John, Roxy x Calliope, possible Jake x Jane or Dirk x Jake (I'm keeping the pairing possibilities pretty open at this point)

This is my first fic, so please feel free to leave suggestions / criticism in a review! ^-^

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Andrew Hussie owns Homestuck. Please don't sue me. Cover image credit: incessantly phlegmatic . tumblr . com

"Karkat, I'm not going to ask you again. You need to get out of bed this instant".

Karkat moaned, muttered an explicative or two, and looked up to face Kankri, who was looking down at Karkat.

"Karkat, if you want to make sure you get to the school in time to claim your dorm, I have to insist that you get yourself out of bed. And I certainly can't be late for my first day on the job. You have one day to move in before your classes start, for goodness sake. Now please, get ready, or we'll both be late."

You groaned again. Kankri was being as insufferable as ever. What good reason was there to get out of bed? You'd just moved into Nevada a month ago with Kankri, so it's not like you even had any friends to go to. Hell, you didn't even know anyone! Not that it mattered; you only decided to stay in this apartment for a month or two. You'd spent the entire month keeping yourself in your room, browsing the internet or listening to music, and only leaving to eat or use the bathroom. You've also spent a lot of time chatting your friends Gamzee and Sollux back home. God you missed them. You never realized how much you loved those annoying little pricks until you moved away. And now, you're gonna be moving away again, living on your own in some god-awful boarding high school in Seattle. It's not the school part you're worried about; you were much smarter than nearly all the kids in your high school back home (not that you'd let anyone know it). Just the thought of sharing a dorm with some stranger or having to deal with living in a place where you knew no one made you cringe. You were notorious back home for your grouchy attitude towards nearly everyone. It's not like you didn't have people you liked or that you didn't care for others, but you've had a lot of trouble with bullies and making friends since you were little. After a while, you developed an antisocial attitude made it pretty hard to start relationships. And if you were being totally honest with yourself, you used your crabby charade to help hide your own insecurities. But it's not like you'd ever admit to that.

You sighed, and struggled to open your still-heavy eyes. At least this meant you got to move out of Kankri's place. As much as you loved him for being your big brother, he could be such a pain in the ass. You shuddered to think of what he would be like as a professor. Just your luck; he gets a teaching job at a boarding school, and insists that you attend there. You made sure not to sign up for sociology; you got enough lectures from Kankri at home, and certainly don't need any at school.

Fuck this, you think to yourself. You toss and turn in your bed, trying to unroll yourself from your blanket. Why the fuck is it so hot in Nevada? But before you can finish that thought, you accidentally roll over a tad too far, and the next thing you know you're lying on your bedroom floor with a dull pain in your forehead. "Shit", you curse under your breath. The perfect start to the perfect day. There wasn't any point in getting back into bed, so you begrudgingly pick yourself off the floor.

"Karkat, are you OK in there?", you hear Kankri yell from the shower.

"I'm just peachy, asshat", you retort sarcastically. You stumble tiredly over to your closet and grab the first things you see - a long sleeved maroon-colored T-shirt and your favorite black jeans. They're a bit ripped up, especially in the knees, but you just couldn't bring yourself to part with them. Besides, the rips make them look "vintage" or "grunge" or whatever. You've never had much interest in fashion (or much knowledge on it). Just as you're about to get undressed, you hear Kankri open the bathroom door yell, "Karkat! You may use the shower now. You'll be bathing in the dorm's facilities from now on, so you might as well get one more shower in". Great. Just another thing to hate about living on campus. You pick up all your shit and head over the the bathroom. Your bedroom lies right next to Kankri's, both of which open out to the main living space. The bathroom is over to the right, next to the kitchen. Your shared apartment with Kankri was far from luxurious, but it seemed like a palace compared to what you imagined the dorms at the school to be like. You head over the the bathroom, yell at Kankri to go brush his hair somewhere else, then promptly undress and hop into the shower. You let out a deep breath. You really don't want to be doing this. Not that you had much choice; you couldn't afford an apartment on your own, and you can't mooch off of Kankri for forever. Ever since mom died, Kankri had always felt responsible for you. You do realize how hard that must have been on him; Kankri has the maternal instinct of a lobster and the social skills of pigeon. He might not be much, but he's all you really have. You and he both know that he's a brilliant scholar and lecturer, but he'd been working long hours as a waiter to make ends meet. He's still in his twenties, so it took him forever to find decent teaching position. Once he was offered a job by the boarding school, he knew he had to jump at the chance. You close your eyes look down, letting the water run over your hair and trickle down your face. Even though you would never admit it, you were nervous. Hell, you were scared out of your mind! What if people didn't like you? You could get beaten up, rejected, and you'd have to deal with people you didn't even know! And you'd be living with some totally random roommate that you've never met... what if he was a jerk? An asshole? A freak? And what if people saw through your whole "I don't care" act? What if you were going to be all alone? What if they realized that you were afraid?

...

Alright. There wasn't any point in avoiding it any longer. You turn off the water and towel dry your hair before stepping into your clothes. Just as you're about to leave, you stop and look at yourself in the mirror. Your ebony hair is still a tangled mess (not that you care), your face is spotted with freckles, and your previously-tan skin has begun to lose its color since you moved. Your slightly short yet slender frame is far from imposing, but at least it doesn't make you stand out. You've been told since you were a baby that you have beautiful eyes; a deep bright brown that almost looks red in the right light. But over the past few years, your vivid eyes have been drowned out by the dark bags beneath them. You remember to quickly brush your teeth before heading out to see Kankri set and prepared to go; he'd already packed all of his things and most of yours. "Are you ready yet? We really do need to be departing soon", he said impatiently. "Just a sec, Kan. I need to grab my clothes-" "I already packed them", he interrupted. God, why does he always interrupt you? It's so annoying. "Everything you're going to need for school is already in the bags", he said while handing you a giant and tattered-old rolling luggage bag. "Now, if you're finished getting ready, let's leave immediately".

"Fine."

...

The drive to Seattle was almost as painful as the tumble you took down the stairs of the apartment building. You could have sworn that the asshole standing next to you tripped you, but one moment you're struggling with your luggage and the next you're lying face down in the lobby. Kankri was convinced you'd had a concussion, but you were able to talk him out of driving straight to the emergency room. "Does it still hurt?", he asked from the front seat. "The only thing that hurts is this shitty ice pack you're making me wear", you snap. "And why the fuck is it so crowded back here? I can hardly breathe". Kankri couldn't fit all the bags in the trunk of the Prius, so he did his best to fit some in the back seats. It was a perfect plan - except for the fact that he made you lie down in the back. "Karkat, you need to lie down to ease your possible concussion. I would let you sit in front but-" "IT'S NOT A FUCKING CONCUSSION YOU DIPSHIT", you yell. You really shouldn't have said that. Realizing what you've said, you grumble an apology. You didn't mean it. But these nerves are really starting to get to you. God you're such an asshole. No wonder you're scared you won't get anyone to like you; who'd wanna be associated with a grouchy little fuck like you? There's not even any point in trying to-

"It's OK."

Kankri interrupts your train of thought. After pausing for a moment, he continues. "You're nervous, aren't you?" God dammit. You hate it when he does this. How can he always see right through you? You roll over and face the seat, bracing yourself for another one of Kankri's famous five-hour lectures. "I know you are, because I'm a bit nervous myself". Wait... what the fuck? This isn't like Kankri at all. "You... you're going to be just fine, Karkat. Think of it as a fresh start, for the both of us." And that was that. No lectures, not scolding, nothing. Just... whatever the hell that was. It didn't really make you feel any better, but you appreciated it nonetheless. You roll around to face him "Uh... Thanks, Kan", you stutter. He smiles at you weakly through the rear-view mirror, then returns his attention to the road. You're both feeling pretty awkward after such a sappy conversation, so you both silently agree to spend the rest of the drive in silence (or at least the next hour or so). You try to kill time however you can for the next hour; the drive from Nevada to Seattle was around 5 hours at best. After watching the rain fall across your window, messing with your Nintendo DS, listening to music, and chatting Sol for a few minutes (before you lost your cell phone connection), you gradually fall into an awkward and disorienting sleep.

...

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

"OBEY THE POSTED TRAFFIC LAWS, YOU VACUOUS RUFFIAN!" You instantly sit up straight, your body tensing like a startled cat. You see Kankri hunched over the wheel, driving along a crowded city highway with an intense mask of fury on his face. "My apologies for waking you, Karkat. That hooligan was speeding in the carpool lane when he clearly only had one person in the vehicle! He nearly cut me off, the brute. Regardless, we'll be arriving momentarily". "k..Kankri, what THE FUCK? I thought we were going fucking to crash! Don't... don't scare me like that! Jesus!", you rant, still disorientated from waking so suddenly. Kankri really gets into his "I must fight for social justice" mood when other drivers don't obey traffic laws. After calming down and assuring yourself that you aren't about to have a stroke, you take a moment to look out the window; thick overcast with a light rain. Classic Seattle weather. One of the few things about the move that you found bearable was the fact that you wouldn't get to see the sun very often; the two of you never really liked each other anyways. After pulling off the highway, Kankri began attempting to locate the school with his GPS. While he was inputting addresses and following directions, it gave you a chance to soak up the scenery of the city. While the sky needle was relatively impressive, your irritation with your situation made everything else about the city seem stupid and uninteresting. Finally, Kankri was able to find the school, nestled deeply in the heart of the city's downtown.

...

The Headmaster was creepy as fuck. Kankri left to go sign in with the other teachers, so he left you all alone for initiation. Once the two of you had finally arrived, the headmaster was finishing up his initiation speech. Just the usual "blah blah I hope you all succeed blah blah you are the future blah blah no weapons on campus blah blah". But he really was pretty creepy; his skin a ghostly white, his head as shiny and bare as a bowling ball, and he wore an outfit that looked like it belonged to a leprechaun Halloween costume. His name tag read "Dr. Scratch". After the initiation (which you spent the entirety of browsing Tumblr), you each received a dorm-room number. The campus had four main buildings; one large one which held all the classrooms, and four more smaller buildings arranged around the center one, forming a half circle with the main building in the center. The dorms were on the bottom of the map, at the southern end of the semi-circle. You were dreading meeting your roommate, so you spent some time aimlessly wandering the campus. The library building was quite impressive and had lots of private reading rooms; you made a mental note to hide out there if you wanted to stay away from people. The sports building was quite lavish, but the thought of any physical exercise made you cringe. The recreation building had quite a lot to do as well. As for the students, most of them either seemed to be the stuck-up preppy type or the delinquents who got sent to boarding school because their parents wanted them out of the house; when you walked past, they either sneered or scowled. You try to give them your best "whatever" look, but you're first impression of them have already started diminish whatever shred of confidence you might of had to begin with.

...

After stalling for as much as you think you can, you finally decide to face the inevitable. You've been hanging outside your dorm room for 10 minutes now; room 413B on the 4th floor. On the other side of that door lies the chump who got stuck living with you for the next four years. The dorms are separated by gender, so at least you won't get some bratty rich-girl. But what if you end up with some bratty rich boy? You can see him now, standing on the other side of the door, calling his billionaire daddy and complaining about how he needs some new fancy Egyptian bed sheets for his room or some $200 shoes to match his uniform. Or maybe it will be some ridiculous skater-punk kid. He'll have his hair all spiked up and dyed red or something, and be wearing chains and leather and smoking a cigarette. You'll walk in and he'll give you some intense scowl that screams "I hate everything, but I especially hate you, you uncool nerdy little fuck". God, this was going to be awful. But you couldn't stand sitting out here thinking about it any longer. After standing in front of the door for another 3 minutes with your hand on the knob, you get up the courage to go in. "Fuck, I hate this school", you whisper. You grab the door and fling it open.

...

"Eeeeek!"
You stare at your roommate, whom you've just scared into screaming like a schoolgirl. "Oh, gosh, erm, sorry! You just, kinda surprised me, that's all", he stutters. "Well, you must be Karkat" "Erm, yeah, sorry for scaring you", you say awkwardly as you walk tentatively into the dorm. He offer's you his hand. "Nice to meet you", he says with a beaming grin. "I'm John. John Egbert.