A/N: Oh lord thank you so much for all the favourites and follows and reviews! I can't even tell you how much I appreciate them!

Laughs I should be doing so much homework right now but the fictional gay boys beckoned. I make good choices and I'll probably be in detention while you're reading this. Pledge allegiance.

(Sorry for all the stupid mistakes, I'm sleep-deprived and living off Cup-a-Soup, caramel ice frappes and instant noodles.)

(Okay, I know I said they lived in an apartment last chapter, but I randomly decided that NO! THEY SHALL LIVE IN A HOUSE FOR NO APPARENT REASON OTHER THAN MY WRITING PLEASURE! So yeah they live in a house now. Quite a big one, might I add.)

Enjoy, cutie patoots!

==Be the younger Strider

You are now the younger Strider and you are currently trying to figure out a way to make John stop crying. You've never seen someone look so terrified. The second you brought him into your room he decided to curl into a ball in the corner and sob, much to your dismay. You have no idea how to deal with situations like this – you've only known him for, like, an hour! You've always been awful with emotions and shit, especially when they're not yours! What are you supposed to do? Tell him to man up? No, that's just mean…Hug him? Huh, it always worked with Dirk when you were kids, so you guess it's worth a shot.

Getting up from you position on your bed, you make your way slowly across the room. You've lived here long enough to not have to think much to dodge around the wires and random crap everywhere, which allows you to focus on his reactions. Despite your speed (or lack of it, rather) he still shrinks back against the wall and tightens his grip on his knees, not daring to look you in the face.

As slowly as physically possible without stopping completely, you slide down the wall next to him and try and find a mildly comfortable position. Once you're satisfied, you sit there for a while to kind of get him used to the idea of closeness. You guess he hasn't been near anyone except Jake for years. He doesn't seem to be completely opposed to you being there, so you take that as an okay. Slightly nervously, you shuffle closer to him and gently wrap your arms around him. You hear his sharp intake of breath at the unfamiliar contact, and he tenses as if expecting you to suddenly lash out. You shush him quietly, hoping your nervousness and general awkwardness isn't coming through in your voice. After what seems like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, he slowly relaxes and wraps his own arms around you – to your surprise. His skinny frame is still shaking with sobs as you do your best to calm him down and remind him to breathe. Ever so slowly, you can tell you're getting somewhere.

You sit like that for a long time, 'til gone midnight, and you only get up when you hear his remaining sobs dissolve and his breathing slow as he falls limp against you. Dang, you were kind of enjoying that. It's been a while since you've just hugged someone…that wasn't your drunken stepsister. (Not that you mind her, she's a sweetheart.) Your family isn't much for hugging, and hugging your friends isn't quite the same.

You pick John up with ease and throw him over your shoulder gently, walking back over to your bed and putting him down. You make a brief mental note to deal with cleaning him up and giving him new clothes tomorrow as you lie down next to him and quickly fall asleep.

==Be the older Strider

You are now the older Strider again and you are currently trying to remember what the hell happened last night. After waking up next to some random guy, you're pretty convinced you got drunk and fucked him or something, but after having a minor heart attack you remember Dave finding those two guys on the street and you fall back into the pillows in relief.

Apparently you made quite a racket in your near-death experience, because Jake opens his eyes and sits up groggily. The old tee-shirt you leant him is hanging loosely off his shoulders and you struggle not to stare.

Let's use breakfast as an excuse to leave.

Voicing your excuse quickly, you rush out of your bedroom and downstairs, into the kitchen. You don't usually cook breakfast (or make it at all) except on special occasions, but you consider two starving street kids with you a special occasion. You wonder absently what they've been eating all this time as you pour Morrison's Own brand ready-made pancake mix into a pan and start frying some eggs. ((A/N: just so no one gets confused, Morrison's is a British supermarket. "Morrison's Own brand" stuff is extremely cheap, knock-off, usually bad-tasting/tasteless foodstuffs like crisps and tin spaghetti.))

Jake comes trailing out after you about five or ten minutes later in the faded orange tee-shirt and boxer shorts you presented him with last night. You didn't even bother trying to find a pair of trousers for him – nothing you have would even come close to fitting him.

It should be illegal to be naturally that attractive.

You instruct him to go and make himself comfortable in the lounge as you continue cooking, turning back and yelling for Dave to get his ass out of bed.

==Be the rudely awoken sixteen-year-old…the blond one, I mean

Oh, okay. You are now Dave Strider, and you really hate waking up this close to dawn.

Some may argue that it's nearly eleven o' clock, but that is as close to dawn as you ever wanna get.

You sit up groggily and take about three minutes to remember your name. God, you hate mornings. John is already wide awake next to you, staring absently at the posters (even though most of them are images from Google that you printed out yourself) covering the wall across from him. Putting your shades on quickly and nudging him to get his attention, you practically fall out of bed and crawl over to your wardrobe. It's more of a black void of no return now, though; you really need to clean up. You dig through it for a little while before finding an old hoodie and boxers that'll probably just about fit him.

"You can go shower and change, if you want." He seems vaguely surprised you addressed him at first, but soon catches himself and scrambles across the room to take the clothes from you. You gesture vaguely over your shoulder to the bathroom across the landing as you dive into the wardrobe to find some clothes for yourself.

==I'm bored now. Let's go be Jake!

You are now Jake, and you hadn't realized quite how hungry you are. You'd managed to nick a few stale and/or burnt bread loafs from the bakery for you and John the day before Dave found you, but they didn't do much to fill your stomachs. It's not like you were in any position to be picky, though.

Dirk is cooking quickly, already laying dishes of food on the table judging by the clattering. You didn't bother trying to talk to him – Dad didn't like you talking while he was doing things. Dad didn't like you talking at all.

Well, you don't blame him really – you are annoying. You don't blame him for yelling at you. You don't blame him for hitting you. You do, however, blame him for hitting John. Well, you blame yourself mostly. John was only ever loud and rude when you got into trouble, which was often. He'd try and defend you, yelling and screaming because Dad would never listen, until he got hit too. You remember hiding with John under your bed until Dad went out to get drunk and you could try and deal with your injuries. And then hiding again when he came back, out of his head and angry. If he found you while drunk, he'd hit you whether you were being annoying or not.

You're so deep in your memories, you don't notice when Dirk stops clattering around the kitchen to stare at you, looking concerned. You're only dragged back to reality when he shakes your shoulders and calls out your name. You stare at him, confused, for a second; it had seemed like you were actually back in that house with Dad and you can't help the shaky sigh of relief you let out.

"Y'alright, bro?" Dirk asks, turning back to the stove but leaving the door open and still looking at you with that awful look of concern and pity you get all too often from passersby. You answer with a perhaps unnecessarily bitter 'yes' and he slowly turns back to his cooking. John and Dave come downstairs a few minutes later, Dave instantly going into the kitchen and John sitting down next to you looking small and pale and nervous. You probably don't look much different. You grab his hand and start muttering random things to him like you used to when you hid from Dad, or when you couldn't fall asleep on the streets. You ended up muttering to him like this a lot.

You fall silent, however, the second the door opens again and Dirk and Dave return with plates of pancakes, sausages, eggs and other breakfast-y food. You feel a bit sick now, but you're not going to refuse it. You haven't eaten a proper meal in over three years, and even before that Dad scarcely cooked for you – you're gonna eat this even if you throw up. Dirk hands a plate to you and sits down next to you, but you notice he's put a fair amount of space between the two of you. Perhaps he's a tad more considerate than you thought. Dave chooses to sit on the floor next to John, and you don't pay him much mind. You'd almost forgotten how incredible freshly-cooked food tastes.

==Dirk, you're up!

You're now Dirk again, and you were about to dig into this (mostly ready-made) meal you'd slaved over for, like, twenty whole minutes, until the front door swung open violently and several sets of footsteps enter the house.

"Di-rky!"

Roxy.

"Are you two still asleep?"

Rose.

"You better not be!"

Jane.

"I'll come up there and wake you up myself if you are!"

Jade.

"Sorry for intruding so noisily."

Kanaya.

With a sigh, you put your fork down. "We're in here!"

"Oh, you're awake!" Rose exclaims, sounding pleasantly surprised. She's the first to open the door leading into the hallway and make her way inside, Roxy hanging off her arm and Kanaya close behind her. Jane and Jade follow soon after.

"Ooh! I didn't know you had company, sorry for making such a racket!" Jane apologizes suddenly upon seeing Jake and John, who are currently shuffled up as far away from the girls as possible, looking mildly terrified.

"Uh, yeah" you struggle to get a word in edgeways over the girls' chattering, "these two'll be living with us from now on. John and Jake."

The two look up at you, surprised for a second, before returning their gaze to the girls and smiling awkwardly.

"Hi! I'm Jade!" Jade grins and then begins to point at each of them in turn, "and this is Rose, Roxy, – those two are Dirk and Dave's stepsisters – Kanaya, - Rose's girlfriend – and Jane!"

"Oh-em-gee, you two are, like, totes cute! Puh-lease tell me at least one of 'em is single!" Roxy cries, throwing herself down between John and Jake. Damn, it must be a little overwhelming to associate with Roxy after over three years of barely talking to anyone, but if anything they look a little more relaxed.

Huh. You really don't give Roxy enough credit for being who she is. The others make themselves comfortable, stealing bits off plates, and you have breakfast in a much happier atmosphere than when you started.

A/N: Aaaaaaand done! Finally! Bit messy, but you'll take what you can get!

Please review! uwu