Chapter 1

I was laying on my bed when I heard the door slam open. I immediately stood up, knowing what was coming. As I heard the footsteps stomping up the stairs, the only thing running through my mind was hope that he hadn't had a bad day; but the look on his face when he walked through my doorway told me otherwise. I knew that the worst was coming, as I had never seen him this angry before.

I stood there, waiting for him to punch, slap, or kick me... But this time he didn't. Instead he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and slammed me against the wall, glaring at me. He got real close and whispered in my ear, "I want you out of this house. I don't want to see your face around here again, you homosexual pathetic excuse of a son."

He threw me down and kicked me in the stomach before turning and walking out of the door. I quickly got up and grabbed as much of my belongings as I could. Climbing out of my window, I started running, tears streaming down my face. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I just had to get away.

My name is Karkat Vantas, and I just woke up from a bad dream. No, scratch that. Not bad dream, bad memory. I am nineteen years old and I currently live in an apartment with my best friend Sollux Captor. I grew up abused by my father, while my mother was a drunk and went along with everything my father did. I guess that him finding out about my homosexuality is one of the best things that ever happened to me, because if I hadn't got kicked out of that horrible place, I probably wouldn't be alive today.

Of course, I never told anyone the real reason for getting kicked out; not even Sollux. I'm not exactly ready to come out to my friends just yet. I fear that they would judge me or push me away, but then again that could still be the constant paranoia I have about everything thanks to my childhood. Speaking of which, these dreams are a nightly thing now. Sometimes it's a different one each night, but this one in particular seems to be the most re-occurring.

I looked over at Sollux and saw that he was still sleeping soundly, which was surprising because most nights I kept him up with my constant screams and cries in my sleep. Getting up as quietly as possible so that I didn't wake him, I made my way to the kitchen, making myself a cup of coffee and grabbing a muffin before going to the living room and sitting down on the couch.

I sat my coffee on the table and grabbed the remote to turn on the T.V., making sure that the volume was turned down low. I flipped to a ROMCOM channel and sat back on the couch, eating my muffin. About thirty minutes into She's The Man, I heard Sollux walking into the kitchen.

"Morning Sol…"

"Morning KK," he mumbled. I got up to put my empty coffee cup in the sink and grabbed a soda out of the fridge.

"How did you thleep latht night?" He sipped on his cup of tea.

I yawned. "Same fucking dream about getting kicked out again."

"Oh, thorry."

"No, its fine. You were just being a concerned friend." I walked back out of the kitchen and sat down on the couch again. I turned the volume up on the T.V. since Sollux was awake so that I could hear it better. Sollux came and sat next to me, but instead of watching the movie he pulled out his phone and started playing a game.

When the movie was over, I lifted myself from the couch and made my way to the bathroom. Upon entering the room, I glanced at myself in the mirror; as I lifted a hand to scratch my face, my shirt sleeve dipped down to reveal a long-forgotten scar on my forearm. The mere sight of it shocked me, causing me to freeze in my tracks and stare in surprise. Tears stung my eyes and the back of my throat as I let out a choked sob and a scream. The last thing I remember before passing out was Sollux running into the bathroom to try and console me.