A/N: I wanted to get this up this weekend in honor of North Carolina Pride tomorrow! I'm really excited, because this will be the first event of its kind that I'll have attended, so I'm in a very good mood today!

Also, I would like to thank everyone who's reading the story, reviewing it, following, favoriting, and enjoying Broken. Seriously, you guys are the light in my life right now. At one point I told myself that no one would ever read my writing, because I was embarrassed to know that I was writing stories about lesbians, where the main character was a girl chasing a girl. I couldn't tell my friends, or my family (dear god, especially not my family), but now I'm so glad I decided to write and publish something. Your reviews make me smile like an idiot, and I love it! Best feeling in the world! So to all the readers, I seriously love you guys, you are the reason this story continues.

As always, I own nothing, and if you see a mistake, please let me know and I'll fix it!


"It's about time. Seriously, how slow do you drive Kanaya?" I stopped in the hallway of the apartment building when I saw Terezi sitting outside her door staring in our direction with a slightly evil looking grin on her face. Then again, she always looked a little evil when grinning.

"The speed limit." I answered curtly, "What are you doing out here?" I asked.

"Waiting for you guys." She nonchalantly answered, as if sitting in a hallway was perfectly normal.

"Terezi, why aren't you in the apartment?" Nepeta walked up to her and grabbed her arm to help her up off the floor.

"I told you, I was waiting for you."

"Don't tell me. You locked yourself out. Is that it?" Vriska joked, walking up behind me, using my shoulder as a place to rest her elbow.

"No!" Terezi protested, but her face instantly flushed against her consent.

"Don't tease her Vriska." Nepeta instructed the girl before turning back to her roommate. "Don't worry about it. It happens to everyone. Why didn't you ask the landlord to let you in?"

"You know I hate asking people for help." Terezi huffed at Nepeta. I turned my head to look at Vriska, who shrugged, both of us a little uncomfortable at this point.

"It doesn't make you weak to ask for help every once in a while. What would have happened if I wouldn't have come home until tomorrow? Then what?" The short blonde asked the blind girl. When Terezi wouldn't answer Nepeta threw her hands up in defeat. "You are so difficult sometimes!" Nepeta said with a small growl, and when she turned her back to unlock the door Terezi stuck her tongue out in the fuming girl's direction.

"So, I can't help but notice something different about you." Terezi moved towards Vriska, actually using her cane to make sure she didn't hit anything, namely Vriska.

"Really?" Vriska smirked at the raven-haired girl.

"Yeah," Terezi inhaled deeply through her nose, causing Vriska to take a step back in surprise, "you smell more metallic than when you left. Like really metallic. Did Equius build you a replacement metal arm?"

"Uh, yeah, he did." Vriska answered, clearly baffled.

"Before you ask, I didn't tell her." Nepeta commented in a frustrated tone.

"Awesome! Have you tried breaking anything with it yet?" Terezi asked Vriska, reaching out to touch the arm. Vriska moved it out and towards the blind girl's searching hand, surprising me a bit at her helpfulness.

"Not yet, but I will probably soon. Equius said it was stronger than a normal arm." Vriska replied as Terezi studied the metallic limb by touch.

"Terezi, don't change the subject!" Nepeta fumed at her roommate.

"Just drop it, please!" Terezi spun around to face Nepeta, but was off by a bit. Her senses always got a bit worse the more emotional she was.

"As much fun as this has been, we'll leave you guys alone to work this out." I commented, wanting nothing more than to get away.

"Yeah, good luck." Vriska added, backing away slowly along with me. We turned around and walked away to the sound of the two roommates frustrated voices filling the hallway.

"And I thought you were stubborn…" I mumbled once I unlocked my place and steped inside.

"And I thought you worried too much…" Vriska returned, her eyes slightly widened.

I chuckled under my breath, then checked my phone to see what time it was. "Hey, it's almost 6:30, any preference on dinner?"

"I'm not really in the mood for Italian, anything else is fine." She replied, still leaning up against the door.

"Well, there's this pretty good burger place near campus. It looks like a dive, but it's probably one of the best burger places I've ever been too."

"Sounds good to me. But can we wait a couple of minutes to make sure those two are out of the hallway? I don't really feel like walking through that." She shuddered a bit at the thought, causing me to laugh.

"I didn't think you were scared of anything." I teased.

"Not scared. Just a little freaked out. I don't know why, but Terezi makes me feel unnerved. And it's not because she's blind, it's her personality and how she talks to me." Vriska explained, and I knew she was serious considering she didn't even respond to the teasing.

"Well, there's a way around them. I'm not hiding in my apartment, extremely hungry, when there's another way to go." I re-shouldered my purse and stepped past Vriska into the hallway.

"Well, you should have just said something!" She grinned, following me out into the hall.


"When you said that there was another way around, you did not mention that it involved twice as many stairs and walking around the building." Vriska panted out once we were at my car.

"Sorry?" I wasn't sure if she was mad at the stairs, or me but couldn't help laughing as she starting panting with her tongue literally out of her mouth. "Oh, stop being a drama queen." That earned me a glare from glittering blue eyes. I rolled my eyes and unlocked my green Honda. She followed suit, and we were off.

It was a relatively short ride to the restaurant, filled with music from the radio, after, of course, Vriska found a station that she deemed appropriate. Dinner was filled with stares from other tables at Vriska, which she pointedly ignored. I didn't see any anger or frustration in her eyes, so I figured that she legitimately didn't care about them.

"Hey, just so you know, I do work from 10 to 5 tomorrow. I kinda forgot to mention that before." I said when we had finished our food, and were just sitting and enjoying a moment of relaxation.

"Shit. What am I supposed to do alone for 7 hours?"

"Be honest, will you even be awake at 10?" I joked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh screw you. Sleeping in is not a bad thing." Her tone was serious, but a small snort of laughter broke the façade.

"Sleeping in, yes. Sleeping until noon every day, no." I said with a raised eyebrow as I paid the check. With that I stood up, Vriska following, and we headed home.


At eight the next morning I awoke to a loud buzzing in my right ear, and a groaning girl in my left. Letting out my own groan, I slammed my hand down on the buzzing clock, effectively shutting up half the noise in my room.

"Vriska, shut up…" I mumbled at her. I was definitely not a morning person.

"Fifteen more minutes…"

"The saying is five. And you don't have to wake up." I growled at her, throwing the covers off me and getting up. Without me taking up half the bed, the half-asleep girl grabbed the other pillow to hug to her chest and snuggled deeper into the covers.

Giving her a glare, I went into the bathroom, stepping into the shower before turning the water on so the initial cold wave would shock me awake. I quickly washed my body and hair, stepping out of the shower and into my room wrapped in a fluffy towel.

"Jesus Fussyfangs!" I looked over to see Vriska diving to bury her face in a pillow. "Put on some clothes!"

"I thought you were asleep…" I muttered, pulling the towel more snugly around my body, quickly grabbing some clothes and quickly walking back to the bathroom. Once dressed, I stepped back into my bedroom, drying my short hair with a towel.

"Are you dressed now?" I heard a muffled voice from my bed.

"Yes. I figured you'd fall back asleep."

"I just wanted to ask you if it was okay if raided your fridge while you were at work." She sat back up, her cheeks still slightly tinted pink.

"Of course. As long as you're here, it's your home too." I answered her, figuring that it was obvious.

"Right, 'kay. I'm going back to sleep now." With that Vriska snuggled back into the bed. I shook my head in her direction and walked to the kitchen to have some coffee and a bagel. Eating quickly, I walked out to my car, driving to the small bookstore in a little over ten minutes. I walked into the medium-sized building and headed to the back room to put my bag down.

"Hey Kan!" I turned to see John Egbert peaking his head through the door.

"Hello John. How are you today?" I asked him, pinning a nametag to my red collared shirt.

"Eh. I had to be here a few hours ago, but it's been slow this morning. I've had to pass time by reorganizing the movies."

"What are they organized by today?" I asked with a smile, knowing that the odd boy liked to arrange the movies by something different every time he worked.

"I went traditional, and did it by genre." He laughed, pushing his glasses up his nose as they started to slide. "So, anything new with you. Something has to have happened to you in the past month."

"Well, my friend from way back is visiting." Of course Vriska was the first thing that came to my mind.

"Cool. Any particular reason, or just 'cause?" He started walking with me as I headed towards the buy-back counter. It was probably the most interesting position, getting to see all the different books people had to sell, but the cataloging and assigning prices could be a pain sometimes.

"She had an accident." He looked worried and opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off quickly. "She's fine now. But I didn't want her to be alone, and we haven't seen each other in a while, so it's a win-win."

"That really nice of you."

"I guess. It's kind of selfish though…"

"So, is she cute?" The question came suddenly, but I would be lying if I said I didn't expect it.

"I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask about that." I laughed a bit. "But, I guess I'd say she's pretty. She's definitely a character."

"Any chance she'll come into the store?" He asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Probably not. To be honest, bookstores aren't her thing." He looked crestfallen, and I couldn't help but try and cheer him up a bit. "Maybe I'll have her pick me up one day, that way she'll have to come in the store."

"Really?"

"Yes John. Now, there's a customer in the movie section. Why don't you check to see if they need help?" I pointed at the old women who looked very confused.

"Right! Talk to you later Kan." He scurried away to the old women, causing me to roll my eyes at his retreating form.


About two hours into my shift I saw my boss walk through the door, heading over to me immediately.

"Kanaya." She nodded in greeting, walking behind the counter.

"Hello Rose." I greeted in return. She ran her hand through her bob-cut blonde hair, closing her eyes, and let out a large sigh. "Something wrong?" I asked tentatively. Sure, I considered Rose a friend, but I didn't want to push any boundaries, especially at work.

"Nothing new. Mom's been drinking too much recently, again. I'm just sick of taking care of her drunk ass." She opened one eye to look at me, and I saw that she was wearing her purple contacts.

"Sorry to hear that." I put a hand on her shoulder, offering a sympathetic smile.

"Eh. Just give me some good news, that's all I need right now." She put a hand over mine then straightened up, causing my hand to fall away.

"We've bought about 25 books in the two hours I've been here, is that good enough?" I offered a playful smirk, knowing the high numbers would cheer her up.

"Jeez. Good morning then." She immediately looked less troubled and gave herself a quick shake. "Good. Well, I'm going to be in the back, I have to catalog a shipment. Find me if you need me." With a wave she began walking towards the back room, her tall frame moving with a strange grace.

"Excuse me miss." I turned to see a man holding a bag full of books.

"Hello sir. Did you want to sell those books?" I asked him, a polite smile on my face.

"Yes." He hefted the books onto the counter with a thud.

"I need to see some ID please." He handed me his card, which seemed normal, and I handed it back to him. "It'll be a short wait. May I have your name so I can call you when it's done?"

"Sam is fine."

"Alright. I'll call your name once I'm finished." He nodded and walked towards the movie section, and I set to work.

The first book I pulled out was some fantasy book I had never heard of, which involved me checking multiple different catalogs to figure out a price. Once that was done I pulled out a few more books, the next book being a Spiderman comic, and the one under it being an encyclopedia on spiders. Of course, against my will, my thoughts immediately went to Vriska, wondering if she was okay and what she was doing all alone in the apartment.

It was going to be a long shift…


Five excruciating hours later I was in the back room unpinning my nametag and grabbing my bag.

"Kanaya." I looked over my shoulder to see Rose standing in the door to the back room.

"Yes?"

"Some of the others, meaning John and Dave, wanted to grab dinner after we close. I told them I'd only go if you would, because I'm not eating dinner alone with those two again, they still haven't figured out that I'm not interested in either of them. I thought I'd save you from John's surprise attack and ask you myself." She smirked, leaning up against the doorframe.

"Well…" I thought about Vriska alone, and I knew I couldn't leave her by herself for a few more hours. "I will if I can bring someone."

"Did our Kan finally get a man?" She asked, and, though I might just be going crazy, I swore I could hear a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"No, my friend is visiting, and I've already left her alone all day." I explained, shouldering my bag.

"Oh." She looked a little surprised, and possible guilty, but the emotion flashed by so quickly I couldn't tell. "I don't think they'll have a problem with that. We're going to meet at Flanagan's at 7:30. See you there." She turned and threw a hand up in a parting wave.

Finally able to escape, I quickly walked out of the room and headed for the front door, waving at John on the way out, who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He must have heard Vriska was coming to dinner with me. Sighing, I made my way to my car, driving home quickly, before ultimately making it to my door. I walked into the apartment only to be greeted by the noise of explosions and Vriska's yelling.

"What is going on?" I asked, walking into my living room to see the girl sitting on the couch, slouched over a controller, playing her Xbox. "I see you entertained yourself just fine."

"Hey Fussyfangs! No, not you Tav, Kan just got back from work." Now I was really confused. "Hold on, the match is almost over… You idiot, did you really think camping there would work? Ha! Headshot!" She laughed semi-maniacally at the screen.

"I'm going to go change." I told her, but received no acknowledgement. Ignoring that, I walked into my room and changed out of the polo and into a more comfortable flowing top. I also changed out of the black pants and into a pair of black skinny jeans. Once that was done I walked back into the living room to see Vriska shutting down the system and taking the ridiculous headpiece off.

"How was work?" She smirked at me.

"Boring. How was… whatever it was that you were doing?"

"Awesome. I'm not quite sure why I felt the need to bring my Xbox, considering I wouldn't have been able to play it with one hand, but now I'm very happy I did. I called Tavros and talked to him for a while before we decided to play online." She explained, and I suddenly understood why she was talking to her screen.

"I'm glad you found something to do. Listen, a few friends from work want to grab dinner in about two hours, and I kind of invited you along. Is that okay?"

"I guess. At least I'll get to see if you lied about cute boys." She grinned and winked at me. A strange tightening occurred in my gut, which I had no explanation for, so I quickly disregarded it.

"Right. Anyway, we need to leave at about seven, so be ready." I told her, flopping down on the couch and grabbing the remote.

"Yes sir." She mock-saluted me before getting up to head to the bedroom.

"Also," she turned around to look at me, "please, for the love of god, try to behave." I pleaded.

"But of course." Her grin was pure evil as she pulled the door closed. I was suddenly dreading dinner.