Chapter Twelve

Skaia High; Part One

Equius Zahhak / Jade Harley

Rated: M

The new kids were weird. Most new kids were "weird", but usually in a "new-kid" way. These new kids were more "alien" weird. And for good reason. They weren't from Earth. Jade Harley, however, found them fascinating, even though most of her peers viewed them with disgust or fear.

On 11/11/11, first contact with an alien race was made. The race called themselves "Trolls" and were led by an alien empress known as "Her Imperial Condescension", commonly referred to as the Condesce. After contact, the trolls began integrating into society. One of these ways was called the "Alternian Ambassador Program", in which troll children, roughly of adolescent maturity in both intelligence and physical growth, participated in the human school system in order to learn from humans, as well as give their own knowledge on troll culture. The problem with this, however, was that humans were usually inherently afraid of them, and avoided them on principal.

Jade Harley's school, Skaia High, hosted twenty four of these trolls, some of whom even received decent reception with the human kids, primarily Vriska Serket - for her dominating and bullying nature - Porrim Maryam - for her interesting, alien sense of fashion - Karkat Vantas - girls fawned over him simply because of his uncaring attitude - and Rufioh Nitram - because, well, even Jade admitted Rufioh was rather hunky.

However, on the opposite end of the spectrum were two blue-blooded brothers: the Zahhaks. The teachers, being paid to treat each student, human or troll, equally, were supposed to be unbiased, but even they steered clear of the Zahhak brothers, primarily Equius. They were blue-bloods (meaning they had ACTUAL blue blood) and this put them higher up on their "hemospectrum" than most. Navy blue blood meant lower-upper class. Or upper-middle class. Fascinating as Jade found the trolls, the hemospectrum still confused her.

"Hey, Equius," a voice shrilled. The troll turned from the front of the class from behind his broken sunglasses (something of a fashion amongst blue-blooded trolls, Jade gathered) to get a rolled up ball of paper thrown in his face. The kids laughed even louder when he opened it and found a picture of a bucket, shuddering hard and throwing the paper on the floor.

"Ms. Lalonde?" Jade asked, raising her hand. "Can't you make them stop pestering him?"

"I'm sorry, Harley," Jade's teacher, Ms. Lalonde, sighed. "They're freshman. I can't make them do anything."

"Ooh, is Jade a troll-lover?"

"N-no! I just- I think it's mean that you all have to pick on him like that. He didn't do anything to you!"

"Troll-lover, troll-lover!" Jade blushed and buried her face in her arms.

"That's enough out of you all," Ms. Lalonde snapped. Jade made sure to scamper out as quickly as she could as soon as the bell rang.

"Hey, Jade," her friend John said, beaming as she plopped down next to him.

"Yo, Harley," Dave nodded. Rose gave her typical enigmatic but warming smile and a nod.

"Hey, guys," Jade said, sighing. She raised her sandwich to her mouth, then paused. Across the cafeteria, the blue-blooded troll sat silently, eating on his own. "Actually, I'm gonna sit with someone else today, guys," she said, standing up.

"You sure, Jade?" John asked, frowning.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"See ya, J.," Dave waved. She made her way over to Equius's table, sitting opposite him. He froze, stock-still.

"Hello, Equius," she said with a smile.

"O-oh. Hello, Jade. I- am I intruding on your normal spot? I-I can move..."

"No, it's fine, Equius. I wanted to sit with you." He blinked.

"O-oh. I see." There was a moment of awkward silence.

"So, what are you eating?"

"Ah, it's from Alternia. It's grub-loaf with grub-sauce." Jade turned up her nose.

"Lots of 'grubs' on Alternia."

"Yes, quite. Similar to your Earth cows, our livestock are instead large grubs."

"Ew, creepy."

"Yes, I would say to an outsider they would be rather unnerving." Another awkward silence. "Why did you sit with me?"

"You were alone," she replied with a frown.

"You are not frightened of me? The other children are."

"They're just mean, is all." Equius paused for a moment.

"I was... secluded on Alternia, aside from my Lusus and my brother, so any social interaction is welcome, even taunting. However, the... bucket drawings were less than appreciative."

"Yeah, what's up with trolls and buckets? I know it makes you uneasy and stuff."

"It has to to do with... troll mating."

"Oh. Oh! Oh, jeez, I see, I'm sorry, Equius."

"No, it's quite alright," he said with a light smile. "I must say, I was... rather apprehensive at first, but I do rather enjoy you coming and speaking to me."

"It's no problem, really," she replied, smiling. They continued to talk until the bell rang. "Oh, shoot, I better get to class. I can talk with you at lunch here tomorrow?"

"What class? Perhaps we have it together."

"Biology?"

"Ah, no. I'm sorry. Tomorrow, then." She nodded and waved, heading off.

"And I said, 'I didn't take your paper, a breeze must've knocked it off!'" John exclaimed.

"Man, Egbert, you're like the fuckin' pranking MASTER," Dave grinned, slugging him on the shoulder. The group chuckled. Suddenly, Jade caught a glance of someone on the school steps, walking inside.

"Hey, I forgot something inside, go on without me," she said. They nodded and she bounded up the steps into the quiet hallway. "Equius?" she called. No response came. She frowned, peeking down hallway after hallway. Finally, she found herself at the gym.

"Hello?" she asked, peeking in. The gymnasium was quiet and dark, and completely empty. She turned to leave when she felt a hand on her mouth. She began to struggle, then turned to find Equius.

"Shh," he said, gently nudging her into the gym. When the door closed, he released her.

"Equius, wha-?" He silenced her with a firm kiss. Her eyes widened as he continued, fearful but returning it reluctantly. He moved his lips to her neck and she blushed, feeling her neck and chest flush with color. "E-Equius, m-maybe we sh-shouldn't-"

"Shh," he said again, "it's alright." He moved back to her lips as his hand slid down into her jeans. They blush became a darker red and she gasped, attempting to move his arm, but finding his grip alone held her fast, not to mention her confusion and uncomfortable hesitation. His fingers slid down along her slit and she gritted her teeth to avoid moaning.

"Are you hurt?" Equius asked, recoiling. She paused. He genuinely seemed to not want her hurt.

"N-no, it's f-fine," she mumbled. He nodded, sliding his fingers again along her slit, and this time she released a soft cooing noise. Tentatively, he began to push one finger into her, making her whimper softly. He frowned, focusing as his finger slid deeper and her moans became louder.

"E-Equius," she panted. His face was steely and focused, as if... studying, maybe? She didn't care. Pleasure was the overriding emotion now. Her hand found her breast and began to massage herself as he continued, testing various speeds and tempos in and out with his fingers until he had her moaning consistently She felt a heat rising inside her and she began to panic.

"E-E-Equius," she panted. "I-I th-think I'm cl-close..."

"Oh, I see. Very good..." Perhaps he was naturally this way, or perhaps her throes of pleasure were screwing with her head, but she couldn't read his emotion at all. Blank, like a void. Suddenly, the heat and pressure were too much. She bit her lip to keep from yelling too loud, bucking her hips and holding his shoulders as her orgasm took her hard. She gasped and grunted, panting and letting her vision fuzz and pop, then clear very slowly. Apparently, much more slowly than she'd anticipated, as when her head cleared, Equius was gone. In his place was a note that read, "May we still talk tomorrow at lunch? -E"

She chuckled and sighed, collapsing against the cold gymnasium floor for a rest.

This one is actually for my friend raptureHelmet, who hates that I write erotic Homestuck fanfiction, but got Jade/Equius as his officially designated OTP. :U