A/N: And the second chapter as well.
Disclaimer: Again, I do not own Homestuck.

John Egbert. The name plays over and over in you mind like a matra of the cultures of long ago that you studied in school. It felt so right. As it should. Because you, you are John Egbert. This name defines you. Defines you to society, as a man, as someone who will one day have a family, as someone they would work together with to create a better world. Your name also defines you to yourself. You are John Egbert, you are 17 years old, and today, in the eyes of society, you are awake for the very first time. You are real for the first time. And for the first time, you have a gender and a name.

You are released from the machine that allowed you to know who you are. A doctor comes into the white room and asks you, "What is your name?"

You answer this question for the first time, quietly, the name sliding off of your tongue, "My name is John. John Egbert."

"Well, John," the doctor says with a smile, "welcome to your world. Welcome to Alternia."

All you do in response is nod. The doctor examines you and scribbles notes down on a chart, the first record of you that is not just marked as 'a patient'. The first time your name is written into any official paper. The doctor begins to ask you questions, what your symbol was, how did you currently feel, what, if you were told, was your sexual preference. You answered them almost mechanically until the last question. You falter, the words feeling like a lie, even though they ring true in your mind, "I don't know." All the doctor does is nod and continue his questioning, eventually leaving the room for a few minutes, returning shortly after with a shirt, your shirt, the one that would help others define who you were as a person.

This is a very interesting shirt," the doctor muses, "it is the only one of its kind ever made, one of four that were only made once. You should feel very important, Mr. Egbert. It was thought, back when this originally would happen, that those who did share something of this nature would be bound together forever. In fact, I believe you know the other three quite well. They're waiting for you in the lobby. You're free to go now and be with your friends."

You thank him as you put on your new shirt, and leave the room as calmly as you can manage. But once you are free from its confines, you run down the hallway to get to the lobby to meet your friends for the first time, in person.

They're not at all what you expected. They're better in fact. You had no clue what your friends would look like, but all three of them had looks that fit their personalities. Jade is smiling, like the way she always inserts smiles into her texts, and you can tell she's very excited to be here, seeing as she's jumping around. Rose, when you first see her, is scanning the lobby, trying to figure out who you would be. She looks calculating and it matches her perfectly. And Dave. Holy shit, Dave. You did not expect him to look like that at all. You had thought for all that "cool talk" he would actually look like a bit of a dweeb. But he didn't, he just looked so cool, so, well, Dave!

You know that it's them because the symbols on their shirts look nothing like you have ever seen a symbol look like before. You seem to attract their attention as you enter the lobby. You walk up to them slowly, smiling, and extend a hand, "It's nice to finally meet you guys. I'm John. John Egbert."
They all smile, even Dave, and instead of a handshake, you receive a hug from Jade, a pat on the back from Rose, and a fistbump from Dave. You are all smiles as you finally, finally meet your friends. Four years of friendship lead to this very moment, and it could not have been any more perfect. Everyone smiles and Rose is the first on to decide that this meeting is probably not a good idea to remain in the lobby. The three of you exit the building and walk down the street in pairs, Jade and Rose leading, you and Dave following close behind, and you walk down the street to the cafe, one you've never been in. One you've never been allowed in. Actually, you've never been anywhere before outside of your home and the facility that you were just in. But now, as an adult with a name, you're allowed to. Allowed to live your life out.

You step into the cafe with your friends and sit down. Everyone orders a drink, and you can't help but think how much better the hot chocolate is here rather than out of a packet. The four of you are talking, about anything and everything. You can't keep the smile off of your face as you watch Jade laugh at some joke you make, Rose smile when Jade nearly tips her chair back because she was laughing so hard, and Dave smirking at the silliness of it all. You enjoy your time with your friends, just as you did before you even met them. And you like this more, like being able to see their faces and gauge their emotions.

"So," Jade says as she recovers from laughing, "Have you guys gotten your housing assignments yet?"
Rose nods with a polite smile, "Indeed, I was assigned to a small apartment about a month and a half ago with my new roommate. Her name is Kanaya and she can carry a delightfully intelligent conversation."

"Yeah, I was assigned last week! My roommate is really nice. Her name is Feferi and she's super nice! We're already friends!" Jade gushes.
"Well unlike you chumps, and I can speak for Egbert on this too, neither of us have gotten our assignments yet. From what they told me, they were waiting to house me with someone that they were waiting for to come of age." Dave says nonchalantly, "It would be ironic as fuck if Egbert and I ended up being roommates. Hell, it would be a shit ton better than dealing with my Bro and English all the fucking time. Even if Egbert's movies rival English's for the title of 'most shitty of all time'."

You laugh and punch his arm lightly, understanding his poking at your love of movies, and the conversation moves on. You enjoy your time late into the evening with them. But sadly, as it nears 11, you know you have to leave. You can not keep your dad up waiting for you. Although, you're not sure you want to go home, seeing as Dad's probably baked you at least four cakes. You say goodbye to your friends, promising to talk to them later on Pesterchum, and leave the cafe.

It's dark out as you walk down the street. You know where you're going, seeing as dad made you a map to make sure you got to the facility and back ok. But that doesn't stop you from tensing up. Really, expecting a newly Awakened guy to walk home by himself! You realize alone in the dark that even with all of the rigorous schooling you were put through, there was nothing that really prepared you to enter the real world. Sometimes you think about how the government shelters everyone until their seventeenth birthday and wonder why they do it. You even went as far as to ask Dad once. But all he told you is that it was to protect you and that you shouldn't go against the system. So you never questioned it out loud again.

You make it home within fifteen minutes of you walking. You open the door and walk in, your dad appearing in the entry hallway and hugging you, congratulating you on becoming a man. You smile and hug him back. And you can't help but realize a sad look in his eyes.
When you question it, he sighs, "Well son, there's a time in a man's life when he has to leave the nest. Some officials stopped by shortly after you left and picked up your stuff. They left this note with your new address on it. You've got your housing assignment."

You take the paper he hands you and read the address. Apartment 613 in the Medium complex. You find your key to the apartment within the folds of the note. The note doesn't mention who your roommate will be. But it doesn't matter, because you're tearing up and hugging your dad. It all seemed like a far away dream before today that this would be happening. But it is. You're leaving home and you know that the only way you can come back is for visits with your dad. It's so sudden, and you know you're going to miss him. You wont miss all of the cake, but you'll miss him.

When the embrace is broken, he ushers you out of your house and into the car. Your dad gets in the drivers seat and pulls out, driving towards your new home. There's a cake sitting in the back seat, and you know it's for you. He stops when you reach the complex, reaching over and giving you one last hug and a goodbye before you get out of the car, receive your cake, and step towards your new life. You wave goodbye to his idling car as you slip the key into the lock of your apartment, open the door, and step inside.

The first thing you notice when you close the door and take off your shoes, are obscene amounts of puppets. Smuppets, you've learned from Dave that they're called. He knows this because his bro is the king of the smuppet empire. It worries you that there are so many around. You believe anyone who keeps more than one of the two things around has to be some level of creepy. Stepping past the smuppets, you enter a medium sized kitchen, fit with a table with four total chairs, appliances, and some magnets on the fridge. It's nice and clean, and you know it's because the movers must have taken time to arrange at least some of you and your roommate's things. Obviously they didn't even try with the smuppets.

You walk through the kitchen into a living room. There you find a t.v. ( a nice size for gaming or watching movies on), a futon, and a few other furnishings. Upon further inspection, you find all of your movies on a shelf, as well as some titles you don't recognize. The gaming system is hooked up too, and you also find some titles you don't recognize among the titles of the video games as well. All you've got to say is that you're glad your roommate seems to like video games and stuff, too. You find a small half bath between the kitchen and living room. There's a sliding glass door that seems to lead to a shared courtyard garden in the living room and then the stairs on the other side of the room. And of course, you ascend the stairs to check out the rest.

At the top of the stairs, there are five doors. One is a full bathroom with an enclosed shower. The one next to it is a linen closet. You open it and see that like the kitchen, everything has been supplied for you by the government. Because that's the way it works around here. Anyways, you look to the doors across from the bathroom. One has a very familiar movie poster tacked up to it. You agree with whoever decorated that Ghost Busters was definitely a good choice to hang on what is your door. You open the door and find an exact replica of your room back at dad's. It makes you a little sad, but you know you will learn to deal with it.

The next room over is what your guess to be your roommate's. You don't open the door because, hey, everyone deserves privacy. You wonder a bit what your roommate will be like. You wonder if they've even been in the apartment yet. But you decide to leave it for another time. You still have one more door to explore.
The last door is situated at the end of the hallway, on the wall between the other rooms. You open the door to find a set of stairs. You climb up them to find another door and open it. You step through the door into the cool night air. You're on the roof and you have an absolutely beautiful view of the city from here. You gasp at the way everything is lit up and smile. You stand like that for a few moments before the sound of someone clearing their throat fairly close to you breaks the spell.

"Well I'll be damned. This is so fucking ironic, I can't even stand the levels of absolute irony right now."