For Dave Strider, life was normal. He lived in an apartment that had been bought by Rose and Roxy's mother, and he worked as a DJ in local pubs. His life had a routine that he followed every day like clockwork.
But now, his routine was starting to become mussed up.
He was walking home on the snowy streets of Washington, his coat pulled up around him to fight off the cold as he hurried along. No one else was really out at this time, so he was free to walk wherever he truly needed to go.
As he was passing a thin alleyway, he noticed something. Beside the trash cans, broken bottles and trash was a figure. They were laying in the snow, flakes dusting their large grey cloak. He was curled around two smaller figures, one looking to be at least 13, and the other a baby.
'Some sort of homeless family?' He thought, squatting down before the person and shaking them a bit. He had just barely pulled his hand away when the figure jolted.
He scattered away from Dave, baring his teeth in defence as he held the smaller people in his arms. That was when Dave realised something. This person he had found was a Troll. He knew what Trolls were, but hadn't encountered many of them in his time. They had invaded the Earth before Dave was born, aiming to enslave the planet, but after their tyrant of an Empress had been killed, causing the Trolls to scatter in a panic.
Most people hated Trolls, blaming them for everything that happened in life, but Dave and his friends and family counted themselves as different. Dave saw Trolls as immigrants. Afraid of things, and just trying to survive everything that came at them.
This Troll was different from others that he had seen in places before. His horns were nubby, just barely poking out from beneath his wild hair. His skin was grey, just as other Troll's skin was, and his eyes were a startling bright red. He had multiple cuts over his body, as well as overlapping scars that marred his body, and a few of them were still oozing blood.
"Woah, I'm not gonna hurt you." Dave said softly, gently taking a step back from the frightened Troll, and held up his hands in surrender, "you look hurt." He said softly, glancing towards the dried and crusted cut on the adult's arm.
The Troll blinked, his snarl seeming to shrink a bit as he stared at Dave cautiously. Dave held out his hand, being very hesitant and gentle, "come on. If I get you back to my apartment, I can get you cleaned up." He said as earnestly as he could, and after a few tense moments, the Troll took Dave's hand.
"You better not be fucking lying." The Troll growled softly, limping as he followed Dave out of the alleyway, still holding the smaller Trolls close to his chest. Now that Dave got a better look at them, one of them was wearing mere scraps of clothing, while the smallest one seemed completely naked.
He didn't look for long and instead helped the Troll up the steps to the apartment. Dave moved quickly, making sure that no one else on the street, or in the other buildings, could see the Troll stumbling into his apartment.
"My apartment is up on the top floor, there are a few other ones that are empty, you can take those for the night.," Dave said, walking into the elevator with the Troll. The Troll simply nodded, holding his children (were they even his?) to his chest and keeping them safe in his arms.
As the exited the elevator, Dave spotted Roxy talking quietly on the phone. He waved to her, and she barely batted an eyelash at the Troll who looked like he was about to faint from shock.
"We won't hurt you." Dave said, glancing back at the Troll, "everyone in this apartment is pretty much Troll-friendly," he said, watching as the Troll stared at Roxy for a second more before he turned back to Dave, his crimson eyes wide.
"R-really?" He whispered, seeming to relax as Dave opened the spare apartment door, revealing a furnished apartment. Dave nodded, holding the door open and letting the Troll walk through.
"You'll be safe here," Dave said as he closed the front door, walking towards the large bathrooms. The Troll followed him quickly, kneeling down on the floor of the bathroom.
"Alright, well, we gotta get you guys clean," Dave said, reaching for the smallest Troll that had started to wake up and was now whimpering softly. The Troll seemed hesitant before he let Dave take him.
"What's the little guy's name?" Dave asked, gently placing him in the water before he started to gently scrub his skin with a loofa. The larger Troll grunted a bit and rubbed the back of his heat in a scratch.
"His name is Karkat." He said, his voice raspy and deep. Dave nodded, smiling a bit as Karkat cooed at him, reaching up to try and grab Dave's glasses, but Dave pulled back fast enough so that Karkat's soapy hand wouldn't touch their.
"Careful, Karkles," Dave chuckled, patting Karkat's head gently as he scrubbed shampoo into his hair, washing it out and making his hair soft and fluffy.
"My name is Kankri," another voice, not the adult Troll, said. Dave glanced back to see the teenage Troll resting against his father's chest, his eyes were a silvery colour with flecks of red.
Dave smiled, "nice to meet you," Dave said with a smile as he lifted Karkat out of the water, patting him off with a fluffy towel and letting the baby Troll coo and chew at the towel happily.
"It's nice to meet you two," Dave said, glancing to the adult Troll who flushed a bright red and swallowed thickly, "m-my name is Signless," he grunted, taking Karkat and gently finishing drying off the cute Troll.
Dave nodded, helping Kankri into the bath and starting to clean him as well. The Signless grunted as he pulled Kankri into his arms as well. Dave stood up, gently ushering them out of the bathroom.
"Come on," Dave said, "I'm sure that I can find you some new clothes," he said, walking back into his apartment and gathering together some of his baby clothes from when he was little.
As he came back, he found Signless, Kankri and Karkat curled in bed, sleeping soundly. Dave smiled a bit and closed the door to the apartment, leaving them to sleep.
With everything that they had gone through, they earned it.