Terezi Pyrope had never been on good terms with her mother, they always seemed... Too similar. And whenever she got a job opportunity in some city, The City of Skaia to be exact, they had to pack up everything from their warm home (It never snowed there, a tropical place which had nice bright days) and leave. Terezi didn't want to leave, she had a lot of friends there.. Not really. She was more of a hermit, mostly because she didn't like getting picked on for her eyes. She would much rather be blind than what she had now, but that was another story.
Her mother was stressed from the move, because her older sister didn't help all that much, but instead packed up her own things that she wanted to keep. Red shades, a skateboard, and her retro consoles. That left Terezi and her mother to pack everything. It wasn't long to do so, but took much longer without the extra set of hands to help. Finally, they moved out, made it to town, and unpacked in their new home. Coincidentally, it had a nice treehouse in the back where, for the first few days, Terezi spent most of her time. Her mother's stress continued to rise ever so slowly, and one day, Terezi popped a question which would not help their relationship in the slightest.
"Can I come with you tomorrow, to see what it's like?" Terezi, balancing on her heels, asked with a grin. Her mother simply shook her head. It was that kind of shake which told Terezi that her Mom thought she wasn't old enough. This made an unfair sense prickle in her stomach. "Why not? I'm 16, and I deserve to know what kind of situations I'm going to be in when I become a lawyer myself!"
That hit something. "Lawyer? You can't be serious. You haven't even been to law school, let alone found anything real for a case of your own. You need experience." Ms. Pyrope scoffed slightly, rummaging through papers of her most recent case. "You aren't coming. You're still in highschool."
This went on for a while, her mother coming back at Terezi's argument, and Terezi hitting it with equal reason. Both sides had just enough "Evidence" for the argument to end with her mother losing her temper. Next thing she knew, Terezi had been ordered to pack her things and leave. "Live on the streets, at someone's house, live in the damn treehouse for all I care, but I can't take this anymore!" Taking that as an argument over, Terezi was about ready to hit something. She whirled around and packed up everything in her room, moving it all to the treehouse in her backyard. She hated her mother, even more than before they moved.
Terezi had a problem. On top of everything else going on she was nearsighted, and she was colourblind. Her world was in black and white, all except two colours. Splashed in her bland world were shades of red and teal. She didn't let that stand in her way as she got herself a summer job, one that paid enough to let her have the money needed to waterproof and insulate for her treehouse.
She was proud of her work, and made a pile of home-made plushies called Scalemates next to the mattress she used as her bed. She'd get a bed frame some time soon, but as for a summer job, she had to leave it once the school season started. That was in about a week, so she busied herself making a swing from her tree. She liked the way the wind blew through her hair, like she was a mighty dragon!
Overall, it was fine. She'd honestly rather live in the tree than the building where her mother lived. When she was at work, Terezi would sneak in and get things from the fridge. She was sure that her mom knew what she was doing this, but made no effort to stop it.
Karkat Vantas was a moody 17 year old boy, going into his 2nd year of highschool. He was held back in Kindergarten for "bad behavior". The thought still bugged him. He had a habit of swearing, and his middle fingers were the first to go up in an argument. His father once taped them down when his good for nothing older brother ratted him out for flipping off a few punks in an alley while they were walking. He was not a big fan of his family, which led to what happened to his once raven coloured hair.
He dyed it red. He looked like a ginger on steroids when he first got it done, but now it looks almost normal, if not a bit bright. That happened last year, and he got a pretty damn satisfying reaction from his family. He brother wouldn't shut up, but that was nothing new. Karkat had tuned him out, but a few words such as "Obnoxious", and "triggering" were heard, as always. His father just sighed and shook his head, commenting to Karkat that the youngest Vantas had the freedom to do as he wished to his hair.
Coming towards the beginning of September was almost as stressful as the exams during the final few months of school. Constantly making sure all the supplies were ready was one of the things Karkat hated the most. Mostly because he almost always forgot something. He goes back to the store four times a week just because he thinks he forgot a single thing, but ends up missing a lot. That is just how much he did not care about this shit school.
He paces his room, about a week before school was back in session. Bookbag he'll only probably ever use once or twice, check. Binders he'll probably only need once a week, check. Unbreakable alarm clock, set to the most OBNOXIOUS ringtone, just so he can throw it across the room every morning, check. Pencils and notebooks, mostly so he can doodle different things and sometimes take notes, check. EXTRA-SUPER-FUCKING-EXPENSIVE CALCULATOR which he will probably only need less than half of the functions for, check. Note cards he will probably end up losing within the first week of school, check. Alright. He's got everything. For now, anyway.
School. Fun. Karkat totally can't think of anything better he would want to be doing for most of the fucking year.
This is stupid.
Still pacing, he looks around his room. He's got a variety of interests, one of them being really cliche or shitty romcom movies, with the exception of Hitch, because Will Smith is just too good to make a movie bad. He hopes, anyway. He also likes programming, but he's "complete and utter th-hit at it" according to his best friend, and probably the best hacker he knows. Unfortunately.
Someone had moved in about a half a block away from him. His father had offered for Karkat to go over and welcome the family to the neighborhood. Ha. That's funny. Karkat couldn't give any less of a shit. He had other things to worry about. One of them being that school is a week away.
Notes: I plan to add more, this being my first fic, I am really confused on the mechanics of uploading all this! Thanks to everyone who responded, I'm getting a really good feel for writing!