Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
Prologue:
The summer air was starting to cool, thanks mostly to the encroaching darkness of night that had begun swallowing up the currently loud-as-hell get-together. However, that wasn't to say the weather was pleasant. Truthfully, it was just barely becoming tolerable. After all, Rat's Nest in the summer was a humid shitfest of a city. As opposed to how it was in the other seasons: a non-humid shitfest of a city.
Personally, Dexter Grif was glad for the summer nighttime cooldown. The party itself was already a bit too lively for his normally apathetic leanings, especially since it was outside and there were no places he could sneak off to in order to catch some sleep. Late nights like this really cramped his preferred snoozing schedule, and he would like to not spend the entire event sweating even more than usual.
It was bad enough that he'd already showered for the damn thing. He drew the line at taking two fucking showers in one day. Hell, he tended to draw the line at taking two fucking showers in one week, even if that meant that Kai would give him her patented "stinky face" whenever he walked by her.
Or that his jackass friends made comments about how he smelled and should at least get his "fat-ass some deodorant that worked." …Which the chubby teen refused to do on account of how he was pretty sure hygiene was some kind of government conspiracy. He was just too lazy to prove it, damn it!
Here he was at a fucking party and using all of his energy to think about cleaning conspiracies while also trying to figure out how he could get to some sustenance. Grif had already been here for fifteen minutes and hadn't even had a fucking snack yet. He was practically starving to death by this point!
Looking around for some food, the orange-wearing teen supposed that the party itself was going pretty well. It was a celebration of sorts for some of the seniors at their high school, recently renamed Hargrove High after some big wig who had evidently donated a shitload of money to finally get computers not from the 1980s installed on campus.
The seniors would be graduating in a few days, so this was probably one of the last times they'd be hanging out with a bunch of their younger peers. At least, Grif figured that was the case. If he ever fucking graduated, he'd probably be out of Rat's Nest so fast he wouldn't have even bothered with a party.
Honestly, Grif only knew a handful of the graduating seniors. However, one of his aforementioned jackass friends, Leonard Church, had a sister who was graduating. Church had basically said "If I have to suck it up and go, then you jackasses better come too!"
…Which had led to Grif being stuck at a party exerting energy trying to be chill even though he had a whole package of Oreos and a warm, comfy bed waiting for him at home.
Grif would have probably come regardless of Church's less than politely worded request, if only because Kai had somehow heard about the party and she made it her life's mission to make really dumb decisions based off of gossip and dares. …How the middle schooler got her information, he'd probably never want to know. He just prayed she didn't embarrass the family.
He had already chased her away from the party twice thanks to Cherry, the next door neighbor who kept helping Kai sneak out to the aforementioned party in an attempt to annoy the hell out of him in retaliation for all of the Grif sibling fights she had overheard for the past six months. Admittedly, he really needed to find some non-sadistic neighbors since it obviously limited his babysitting options.
Since his little sister had hit puberty rather early, most of the party-goers assumed that Kai was a high schooler herself. Grif's threats that Kai had better "Get home fucking quick!" were met both times with a stuck-out tongue, an upraised middle finger, and a "Yeah, yeah…you suck!" all before the tanned girl would flee back in the direction of their nearby neighborhood.
Kai's tenacity would almost be impressive if it wasn't constantly giving him a giant headache that was currently coupled with a stronger-than-usual desire to hit the hay. What a pain in the ass. Grif yawned as he looked around for some food, figuring it was only a matter of time before his sister came back to once again crash the party.
He spotted Carolina Church, Church's big sister, seated nearby the food table with her boyfriend, York. They were talking to some friends about their upcoming plans for after graduation. …Well, York was talking. Carolina wasn't exactly the socializing type.
As he didn't know either of the two seniors well enough to actively desire to engage them in small talk, Grif was only catching snippets of their conversation. Evidently both York and Carolina were planning on joining the army for a while.
That actually wasn't new news to Grif since Church had been actively complaining about his sister's future plans for some time now. According to Church, he understood his sister's desire to get away as quickly as possible considering that their dad was even more of a jerkass than Church was (hard to imagine, honestly). But, since Carolina was one of the few people Church actually gave a shit about, it obviously sucked major ass for the dark-haired teen too.
"Yeah, we're going to be meeting up with some friends along the way." Grif overheard York saying, fingers interlaced with Carolina's, "Like North and Washington."
Apparently all of their friends who were going into the army with them had weird-as-fuck names too. Who knew there were so many parents out there who hated their kids? Grif shook his dark-haired head at the thought, turning his attention to the delicious spread before him instead.
…He would never for the life of him figure out how his sophomore friend, Franklin Delano Donut, managed to always bring out a full-on catering table to impromptu events like this. Like hell he would ever complain about it. His mouth watered in appreciation at the sight.
After all, Donut's food and delectable coffee drinks were pretty much one of the only reasons the normally "can't be bothered with shit" Grif would even go to one of their school's parties. After chasing Kai away for the second time, he had decided he definitely needed to destress. His sister's antics made him even hungrier than usual.
So far, the food was doing wonders as he stuffed what he was fairly certain was his tenth crab cake into his mouth. While it was not as good as a package of Oreos, it would do in a pinch.
"Are you sure you have to go then?" Grif heard a familiar voice asking from a bit farther away, obviously addressing someone else.
Grif looked up at the sound of Donut's voice, if only because the usually annoyingly perky teenager sounded slightly upset. The dirty blond was talking to a lanky boy with red hair and an insane amount of freckles. The pale-skinned teen was currently fidgeting nervously under Donut's gaze.
It honestly took Grif a moment or two to remember that the redhead's last name was Simmons as he was a friend of Donut's who went to a private school in the area. Simmons often showed up at Hargrove High events like this one at Donut's insistence, as the pink-wearing teen loved the idea of getting all of his friends together to "mingle" and possibly do some huge dance musical number at some point.
It did not take Grif as long to remember that he had always found the socially awkward redhead cute, especially with the odd stuttering and blush he would get on his face during the few times before that Grif had tried engaging him in conversation.
At the moment, Simmons looked rather sad at the tone in Donut's voice as he nodded, "Un—unfortunately, yes. My dad's already made up his mind." He said, equally regrettably.
"Aw, that's too bad!" Donut exclaimed, suddenly pulling his friend into a friendly embrace, "I'll really miss you, buddy!"
Simmons returned the gesture awkwardly, as if physical contact of any kind was a foreign concept to him, "M—me too, Donut," he told his friend, "But I'll message you."
"You better, or I'll give you a good shove in the rear to remind you!" Donut stated emphatically, smiling encouragingly despite having a teary look in his brown eyes.
Simmons smiled awkwardly at Donut's penchant for weird phrasing and gave a small wave before turning to take his leave. As he did so, his green eyes landed on Grif, his face suddenly becoming fire hydrant red as he awkwardly waved in the chubby teen's direction before promptly leaving the party.
Grif stared after Simmons' retreating form for a moment before gulping down another crab cake and approaching Donut.
"Oh, hey, Grif!" The younger teenager was back to his usual perky self in no time flat, "Great party, huh?"
"Yeah, it's amazing." He couldn't help replying with a sarcastic note in his voice.
"Have you tried my cream balls yet?" Donut asked him conversationally, "They're melt in your mouth goodness!"
Grif raised a black eyebrow, "You mean cream puffs, right?"
"Not the way I make them!" The dirty blond was positively beaming.
Grif sighed, having long since gotten used to the odd manner of Donut's speech. Instead, he brought back the matter at hand, "Why did Simmons leave in such a rush?"
Donut's face took on a crestfallen expression at the mention of his friend, "Oh! You saw that, huh?" When Grif nodded, he continued, "Simmons is moving because of his father's business."
Ah, that explained things. Grif knew that Simmons' family was loaded, so it made sense his father would have a business that could get them out of Rat's Nest. After all, the private school Simmons went to wasn't exactly admitting poor kids like the Grif siblings anytime soon.
It sort of sucked that the redhead was moving though, especially because Simmons was cute in a nerdish sort of way. Grif had just broken up recently rather amicably with his girlfriend, Cass, too. He sighed, supposing there was no point in dwelling on that particular train of thought now. It was just another thing to add to the folder of missed opportunities in his life.
While he popped another crab cake in his mouth, Donut excused himself to go offer Carolina and York some of his coffee, leaving Grif alone with a table of food and thoughts of blushing redheads. He reached out for a cream puff, Grif refused to call them "balls" no matter what Donut said, when someone cleared their throat behind him.
"Can't stay away from the food table, huh, fat-ass?" Another familiar voice joked, "How about you save some for the rest of us?"
Grif didn't even bother responding to Lavernius Tucker's oh-so-amusing quip verbally, instead simply giving him the finger before asking: "I take it that Doc is watching Junior?"
It was a pretty good assumption. Their friend Doc wasn't much for parties. Plus he always enjoyed babysitting Tucker's one-year-old son, Junior. Tucker adored Junior and spent as much time as he could with him, but even a doting father probably didn't want to deal with Church's inevitable bitching if he hadn't come to this party.
Tucker nodded, "Yeah, but I told Doc that I'd get Donut to save him a plate of food, so you better not fucking eat it all!"
Grif smirked, "Sorry, Tucker. You know I don't make promises about food."
Tucker rolled his eyes before something else came to mind, "Oh! I saw Kai hanging around the perimeter of the party."
Grif nearly choked on his cream puff just then, "Damn it!" He managed to bellow, turning to run and throttle his little sister.
"Relax, man. I told her to go home." Tucker looked amused at his friend's reaction, "She called me a fucking killjoy but I think she listened."
Grif wasn't so sure about that. Knowing Kai and her desire for fun, she had probably just circled around the party once Tucker had left to find another way to sneak in. He was about to go and check things out for himself when a scowling Church stalked over to them both, looking as uncomfortable and angry at the world as ever in the crowd.
"Good thing you assholes showed up." Church stated without preamble, clearly miserable and aggravated.
Tucker rolled his eyes again, "Why would we ever want to miss the opportunity to spend time with your sunny-ass personality?" he joked.
Church promptly gave him the finger, "Fuck you. I'm always pleasant."
Grif had to fight to hold back a snort, instead popping another cream puff in his mouth. Talking took too much effort at the moment.
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, Church." Tucker noted with false patience in his voice.
The dark-haired junior sighed before his blue-eyed gaze turned serious, "Are you two idiots still doing the drag racing thing?"
Tucker and Grif both glanced at one another, unsure as to where Church was going with this conversation or how to answer the inquiry.
Yes, the truth was that they were still doing the drag races on occasion. The money was pretty decent compared to most jobs for teenagers, and both boys had their reasons for needing extra cash. However, they also knew that Church, Doc, and Donut questioned it due to safety concerns.
"I'm not asking to lecture you assholes again." Church stated as though reading their thoughts, "I actually have an alternative job for you."
"An alternative job?" Tucker echoed, looking rather intrigued by the notion.
The cobalt-wearing teen nodded, looking smug, "Yeah, my old man said I could hire new drivers since Carolina is leaving."
Oh, right. Grif had almost forgotten that Church and Carolina's father ran a garage and driver service here in Rat's Nest. He called it Mother of Invention for some dumb reason, although he left a lot of the day-to-day mechanical repairs to a crazy old veteran named Sarge.
Church had complained so much about being forced to work there while in school that Grif had sort of just started tuning him out for his own sanity. Well, that and because it took too much effort to pretend to care.
"It would be a lot safer than what you're doing now. Not to mention legal." Church reasoned, "You would also be getting free job training for if you jackasses actually graduate. Or more likely don't."
"Aw, you do care about us!" Tucker couldn't help but joke just then.
Church groaned, "Shut up right now, or I'm taking the offer back." He threatened.
Realizing that Church was being actually serious, Tucker suddenly looked thoughtful at their friend's proposal, "Hmm…"
Grif frowned in thought then. He thought of Kai and how he needed money to support their family. He thought of all the implicit safety concerns and legal issues of what he was doing currently to get said money, of how getting injured or possibly arrested would impact his fiery little sister in the long run.
…He thought of missed opportunities, and of blushing, freckled redheads.
"How much money are we talking about here?" Grif finally asked.
Author's Notes: This Prologue is the start of my NaNoWriMo 2016 writing project. It's a little different from my usual AU fics, but hopefully you all will enjoy it! My goal is to write as much of this story as I can before the November 30th deadline for the event. :)
The upcoming first chapter of Just Drive will feature a timeskip to show what the characters are up to years later, and will also feature Washington as the second POV for the story. I hope that you will be looking forward to it!
I will be trying my best to also update my other stories this month too (although Shiny Things is on a break), so please wish me luck! :D
Pairings for Just Drive: Grimmons, Tuckington, Docnut, Kimbalina (past Yorkalina and Doyle x Kimball, but like in canon both York and Doyle are dead in the main story's timeline), Sarge x Grey, Chex, Lopez x Sheila, Bitthews, Palomo x Jensen, Kai x Volleyball, Lolix
