"But Alya you don't understand!" Marinette whispered frantically to her friend, who was absently scrolling through her phone. "They just kissed her, and then they killed her. There was zero hesitation, these children have been through too much."

"Mm hmm," Alya hummed, making her disinterest clear as her eyes blankly traced her phone's screen.

Marinette was freaking out over that webcomic she liked - Home Struck? - once again. She didn't do it often, they had only met at the beginning of the school year and it hasn't updated since before then, but when she did, Alya couldn't handle it. This was probably the only thing that Alya couldn't help her friend through. Well, not that she couldn't, more that Marinette turned completely irrational - more so than usual - when she was freaking out over it, and Alya had zero context for the freak outs. She had tried to read it before, but it was some American thing with weird made-up terms and no sense of logic. Even now, months later, she could still remember the confusion she had felt when she had to "name" the character. Needless to say, she had no idea why her friend liked it, but she could tolerate the interest. Until she became Marinette's go-to for whenever The FeelsTM happened. Now, this was probably the only thing she didn't actively try to help her best friend with. It didn't help that she had been freaking out over it the day before too. Something about it updating almost every day until the thirteenth?

"Nino, you don't get it!" The familiar voice of Adrien Agreste coming from a little ways away, somewhere else in the courtyard, caught her attention. She was about to look around for him and Nino, to invite them over to save her from this hell - Sorry Marinette, but I've been listening to you rant for twenty minutes now after hearing about it all day yesterday - when she heard some very familiar words. "They just kissed her, then ran their claws right into her chest!"

But he couldn't possibly be talking about the same thing as Marinette, right?

"Yeah dude, you've said that at least three times already," she heard Nino sigh.

Marinette was still quietly chatting her ear off, not wanting anyone else, especially not Chloe, to know that she liked that weird webcomic, but needing to talk about it. Alya had made a rule of No Homestuck Calls After 10 p.m, leaving Marinette to stew until morning and leaving her desperate enough to risk Chloe overhearing.

"Dude, you know I love you, but I don't even know what half the words you've been telling me even mean," Nino continued. He sounded as exasperated as Alya felt.

"It means that these children are so desensitized, that Davepeta just kissed and killed Jade without any hesitation!" Adrien seemed to have taken up the same tactic as Marinette, distressed whispers in the hopes that no one would overhear. She probably wouldn't have either, but they were close. She dared not look up to find where, she'd rather Marinette think her disinterested in the conversation that eavesdropping on a possibly-similar one while tuning her out.

"I love Davepeta, but they really need to learn to chill!" Marinette's words drifted to her as she realized that both she and Adrien had said that weird word - or was it a name? - Davepeta. They said it differently, Adrien's pronunciation coming out clunky and awkward while Marinette's flowed off the tongue, but it was undoubtedly the same word.

Holding back a smirk, she chanced glancing up and saw Nino and Adrien a few feet away, standing idly. Adrien hadn't seemed to notice them yet while Nino was looking directly at her, subtly begging her to save him as they made eye contact. Nino was undoubtedly an amazing friend, one of the best, but she was certain he was in a similar boat as her. It's hard being a friend to a Homestuck while not being one yourself, it's hard and no one understands. Subtly turning her phone on silent, she sent Nino a text.

Alya- Is Adrien talking about that webcomic thing?

Alya- Home Struck?

Nino 3- ye hes crazy bout it

Nino 3- he reads fanfics on the reg

Nino 3- sometimes hell text me 2am sobbing cuz he red a sad 1

Alya- Interesting…

There was a pause, a devious smirk appearing on her face as she could see Nino glance at her in vague terror.

Alya- What would you say if I told you Marinette /also/ likes Home Struck?

Nino 3- maris a nerd?

Nino 3- god these 2 r /made/ 4 each other

Nino 3- pls tell me shes also really in2 magical girl animes itd be perfect

Alya- I'll get back to you on that one

Alya- In the meantime, want to ditch these two to talk Home Struck to each other while we can finally get some sane company? ;)

Nino 3- fuck yes

Glancing up at Nino, she gave him a smirk before she called out to him. "Hey Nino, Adrien!" Alya yelled, startling Marinette and Adrien. They weren't very far, so she wasn't too loud, but the sudden noise definitely cause both of her friends to jump.

"Alya!" Marinette hissed in terror as realization struck, though she was ignored.

"So Marinette was just telling me about this webcomic she reads," Alya started after a quick exchange of greetings, completely skipping any form of tact. "Home Struck, I think. I couldn't really get into it, what about you two?"

Glancing at her friend and the panicked look on her face, Alya had the decency to feel a twinge of guilt. After all, she knew Adrien liked the comic, Marinette did not. Having to suffer through at least fourteen more days of this, however, easily pushed it away.

"Oh, Marinette, you read Homestuck?" Adrien asked, excitement rivaling a puppy clear on his face. Marinette's own expression seemed to have turned carefully blank, and all Alya could think at that moment was Error: Marinette. exe has stopped working. "Did you see the new update?"

Suddenly, Marinette seemed to have completely forgotten that she was talking to Adrien Agreste, the boy she could barely speak a word to. "The one with Jade and Alt Callie at the Green Sun?" she asked, her fists clenching and unclenching quickly. The same excitement and anticipation as the day Alya had said she'd look up Homestuck easily visible. At Adrien's nod, she continued. "Can you believe how Davepeta-"

"Just kissed her!" Adrien finished. It was obvious both had been dying to have a talk - a real, actual, two-sided conversation - about this for a long while. "And you think she's gonna wake up because of some Sleeping Beauty-type thing, but then they just stab her!"

With a smirk, Alya grabbed Nino by the elbow and started pulling him away. My work here is done.

She knew she was freaking out in public, but she couldn't stop. Some vague part of her was yelling at her, screaming that she was being the biggest dork in front of Adrien Agreste, screaming at her to stop being so lame in front of her crush. That part of her barely registered. After all, Adrien Agreste was the one who had started this conversation, obvious fishing for the topic from Alya aside, Adrien Agreste was smiling as he freaked out right along side her, Adrien Agreste who was currently telling her theories he had come up with over the years that he'd never had a chance to share before.

"You know how Karkat being a limeblood is a popular fan theory?" he asked as he leaned on the wall next to her. That small part that was yelling at her to be nervous was currently screaming about how the position might look to others, but she didn't pay it any mind. "I don't think that's the case."

"Hm? Why not?" Marinette asked. She hadn't really given the theory much thought, it was already so widely accepted by the time she had joined the fandom she didn't really even question it.

"Okay so-" Adrien starts, and suddenly, he's in his own little world as he explains details from the comic. Things that she could easily remember, things that she could only vaguely recognize or that had only been mentioned once, even things that she had only barely noticed upon a fourth reread. She wouldn't have thought Adrien as a theorist, but she supposed he had to be doing something with his much-too-free time.

So caught up in their conversation, they didn't seem to realize how quickly time was passing. When they realized the time, they were both slipping into class two minutes late, arriving before Ms. Bustier, though only barely. Both had the biggest grin on their face for the rest of the day.

It was midnight. Homestuck had updated hours ago, but she hadn't been able to read it until just now, so busy with homework and her designs. Tikki was asleep, and with Alya's "No Homestuck" rule, she had no one to talk to it about. Glancing away from her screen on the image of Terezi, Dave, and Dirk about to fight Spades Slick and Lord Jack towards where her phone sat, begging her to use it. But who would she even call about this other than Alya? Then, she remembered what exactly had happened earlier that day, and whose number she'd had. Taking a deep breath, she sent a text before she could chicken out.

Marinette- hey adrien, it's marinette. i got you're number from Alya. have you seen the new upd8?

She was startled when she got a new text almost immediately.

Adrien 3 3 3- IT'S JUST SUCH A DIRECT FUCKING PARALLEL I CAN'T

Well, she wasn't expecting that. Who knew Mister Goody-Twoshoes swore so casually in the face of Homestuck. Suddenly, she wasn't nervous, and the need to vent was back.

Marinette- there was literally no difference besides context and spacing!

Before either of them could send another text, her phone rang. With wide eyes, she realized Adrien was calling her. Ignoring the bout of nervousness that was oh-so-close to returning, she answered. She didn't even have time for a proper hello before she heard Adrien sobbing from the other side.

"Dirk and Davesprite even both type in orange! In the exact same RGB code!"

"Dave's adorable little note finally came into play!" Marinette was suddenly screaming and sobbing right along side him, though hers were quieter, muffled by a pillow she had grabbed in anticipation for the update.

"'It's probably just Jade,' Dave, why are you so unaffected, my first thought was Bec Noir or PM."

And suddenly, like some silent signal, they both went from exchanging thoughts on the update to incomprehensible screaming. As weird as it sounds, it was nice. Screaming over fictional characters with a friend who screams right with you. It was just icing on the cake that that friend turned out to be the boy she was crushing on. She knew some of their interests crossed, like a love a Jagged Stone, but knowing that Adrien liked Homestuck? That he was as much of a nerd as her that he's literally crying with her through the phone? He suddenly felt a lot more… something, than before. Not human, when you start off hating someone, their flaws can be obvious. Reachable, maybe? Yeah, definitely reachable. Before, though she knew he had flaws, he was still on a pedestal too far out of her reach. Now, knowing he loved this webcomic that she was normally embarrassed to admit to reading? It was like he was on her level, or at least close enough that if he held her hand she could pull herself up alongside him.

By the time their screaming had died down, Marinette's screen had gone black. Wiggling her mouse, she quickly exited off of MSPA so as not to get a second wave of The FeelsTM and checked the time. It was almost 1 a.m.

"We should probably be going to sleep soon," Adrien said after a few moments of silence. "Don't wanna be too tired tomorrow."

"Yeah," Marinette agreed, the silly smile back on her face. "Good night!"

"See you tomorrow!" Then, they hung up.

Closing her laptop, Marinette could only smile at the ceiling, her phone held contentedly in her hand. Realizing she'd have a lot of questions to answer at school if she didn't call Alya now, she sighed and sent Alya a text.

Marinette- so adrien and i just spent the last hour freaking out about homestuck.

Not two seconds after she sent that was she answering a call from Alya. "Tell me everything!" was practically screamed in her ear. Though she rolled her eyes, that smile was still on her face.