It's 9:04 and there's no sign of your dad. Mituna is fast asleep on your bed, twisting around and knocking the majority of your bedding off the mattress and onto the yellow shag carpeting. After cleaning off your brother's face and putting his dishes in the sink, you'd decided to take your spaghetti up to your room and eat it while playing Minecraft. When you'd reached the top of the stairs and opened the door, you'd heard stumbling behind you and rapid shuffling, meaning that Mituna had decided to follow you.

You grinned as you entered your room, pretending not to notice him doing the same, and set your spaghetti down on your computer desk. There had been a very loud 'BOO' and a jerking of your shoulders, to which you faked being scared and jumped in your spot. He'd laughed uncontrollably and you'd playfully hit his shoulder, then sat in your wheely chair and prepared to go on your computer. He asked if he scared you, and of course you'd humored him and said yes. The answer had seemed to satisfy him because he'd walked off, making himself comfortable on your mattress and texting either Kurloz or his 'Tulip'.

That had all been about a half hour ago, so by now your spaghetti was long gone. Now you are just playing Minecraft, when suddenly your phone buzzes in your back pocket. You pull it out and glance at the sender: Karkat. Fucking fantastic. Karkat was your best friend from your old school, and he was kind of a dick most of the time. He always yelled for no reason and got upset over the dumbest things, but deep down he cared about you so you'd become friends. Other than his comedic love for romcoms, you considered him a pretty decent guy.

'HEY ASSHAT, WHAT'S THE NEW HOUSE LIKE?'

You quickly respond to the message and exit out of Minecraft, opting to instead do some coding. Everyone always says that for a fifteen year old, you were pretty much a master of coding, but you know you can do better. Sure, you're viruses are tops, but you're sure that there's more potential in you.

'It i2n't two 2hiity, except for the fact that iit'2 riight by the ocean.'

You crack your knuckles and begin. Right now, you're working on a new game for you and Karkat to play together online, and you plan to make it the best game that midget has ever seen. After ten minutes of intense concentration, your phone buzzes again.

'OH FUCK THAT'S JUST COMEDY GOLD RIGHT THERE. THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR TAKING SO LONG WITH THE GAME, WHICH I'M SURE YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED YET.'

Damn, he's good. An asshole, but good.

'Relax KK, II'm workiing on iit riight now.'

Behind you, Mituna starts to snore and you just know there's gonna be drool all over your pillows. You sigh and get back to making your game, not receiving an answer until 9:25 rolls around.

'WHATEVER SHIT SPONGE, JUST GET IT DONE. I'M GOING TO BED BECAUSE, UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE, I ACTUALLY ENJOY BEING HEALTHY AND HAVING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF MY ROOM. NIGHT.'

You don't bother answering because you know he was referring to you and how little you sleep. It's not your fault your body would rather be on the computer than on the bed. Besides, Mituna is on it and there's no way you're sleeping in his bed, so you figure you'll just have to pull an all-nighter which is completely fine by you.

Plugging your phone into your portable charger, you get back to working on your game when you here a car pull into the drive, followed by keys jingling and the front door being opened. To drown out the sounds and make it seem like you're busy, which you pretty much are, you go onto SoundCloud and play your playlist specifically designed for coding. All of the songs are by Fox Stevenson, and you're pretty much in love with his music.

'Trigger' begins to play and cancels out the noise of rustling bags, and you continue coding and tap your right foot to the beat. You remain like this for an hour or two, or three, unaware of how much time has passed by. You're playlist has repeated all 23 songs twice now, so you know it's been awhile. You've reached the halfway mark on your game, but there is still so much more to do.

You turn off you music and save your data before shutting down your computer. You grab you phone of the charger and check the time: 11:57. You get out of your seat and look over at Tuna, who's still sleeping soundly, then you exit your room in search for your dad. You still haven't apologized and, despite how much you're gonna hate it, you know you have to.

First you check his bedroom, which is empty. The bathroom door is open, meaning no one is in there and your dad must be downstairs. The door to the stairs is shut, which strikes you as odd. You never closed it behind you, and neither did Tuna, so your dad must have. This meant that he'd come up here and left you alone, and that kind of hurt to know he didn't even bother with you.

The stairs creak a little under the pressure as you walk downstairs, somehow being louder even though you're trying not to be. Isn't that strange? These stairs have never creaked before, but now that you need silence they're acting up: go figure. You hear some shifting coming from the kitchen and decide to start there. Sure enough, there's your dad: sitting at the table and doing whatever on his smart phone. He doesn't appear to notice you, so you clear your throat and open the fridge.

You pretend to be really interested in the milk when he looks at you. You open the cupboard and grab a glass, then pour the drink until it nearly flows over the rim. You put the milk up and take a seat across from your dad, calmly sipping on the milk as you do so. He's been watching you the whole time, but you still avoid his gaze.

"Hey dad, what'th up?" you question casually, staring the liquid in your right hand. He sets his phone down before answering, dedicating all of his attention towards you. You suddenly think you're being selfish by not looking at him. Here he is, addressing the issue YOU caused like a man while you just avoid any unwanted apologies that you definitely owe.

"Look son, I know you're upset, but I didn't just do this for me. I did this for you two too, especially Mituna. You know-"

"Yeth I know everyone haraththed him! I wath there, thticking up for him and getting beaten up for it every fucking week!" you yell, completely forgetting that you were supposed to be saying how sorry you were. The subject of Mituna's problems had always been a sore spot with you because of how close you'd been, and still were, and the way your dad had said it: he'd said it like it was a fact. There was no emotion behind those words, just cold steel dripping with every damn syllable.

"I know you did!" he yells back, standing up and slamming his hands down on the table, "We moved so things would get better dammit! I don't want my sons getting beat up because of things that are out of their fucking control!"

You can see tears forming in the corners of his eyes right before he bows his head, brown shaggy hair preventing you from viewing them any longer. His arms are shaking, as is his body, and the guilt from earlier returns because you know he's gonna bring HER up. You just know it and even after five years, you're not ready to hear it. It was better to deny it, to pretend that the step bitch was the only women in your life.

"The women I love already had to suffer because of that, so I refuse to watch my kids go through the same fucking thing," he adds, and you can see the tears drip onto the table. You set down the glass of milk and stand up, ready to leave. You never should have come down here, you never should've yelled.

"I'm thorry I yelled," you say, pushing your chair in and turning around, but you can't walk away because Tuna is standing there with salty tears running down his cheeks. You frown at him and extend a hand to him, but he shies away and hisses at you.

"Tuna, how long have you been thtanding there?" you ask hesitantly, and you know your dad is watching in horror too. You two NEVER brought HER up round Mituna because he'd been her favorite. They'd been so close, and Mituna could still feel that bond after her accident and after his own.

"I wath jutht going to tell you THAT FUCKING WHORE LEFT ME FOR THOME BITCH ATHTH FUCKER, BUT YOU PIECETH OF SHIT ARE JUTHT FUCKING COCK WHORE BITCHETH WHO CAN FUCKING DIE!" he yells, gripping his hair once he realizes what he said, "I'm tho thorry I didn't mean to thay that! I wath jutht thad cauthe I heard yelling and thaw that Tulip wath dumping me and I guethth I jutht got upthet."

You can hear your dad bawling behind you and you know you can't handle this right now. On any other day, fine, but you can't do this. You're all just too broken and you can't believe you'd actually thought the step-bitch had changed anything. Mituna starts to cry harder and you turn around and head towards the back door. Your dad grabs your shoulder to stop you, but you just brush it off.

"Fuck off Thimon," you tell him right before you slam the screen door and leave your broken family.