Your name is Karkat Vantas and your face is currently being smashed into the dirt by a foot.

It's the last day of your freshman year before winter break, and the juniors thought it was a good idea to make this day 'memorable'. The foot lifts from your face and you hear voices beginning to drift away, so you open your eyes. Bad choice.

"Have a good break, VANTAS." The blonde boy in sunglasses hisses, giving you one last kick in the ribs. You curl in on yourself as he walks away, sucking in breath. Hot tears sting your eyes, but you push them back, keeping them at bay; until you get home anyway.

You slowly push yourself up from the ground, everything hurting. You sit on the ground for a moment, and then sigh heavily, standing. You collect your books off the ground where they had been thrown, and look around for your backpack.

You finally spot it hanging from a branch in a tree. You just sigh and let your head fall forward, chin pressing into your chest. You turn around with your books in your arms, going to put them in your locker, but stop short. When you turn, there's a tall darkly tanned guy standing there, hair wild and tangled.

"You need some help there bro?" he asks, voice slow and lazy.

Before you have a chance to answer he's sauntered over and pulled your bag from the tree. He holds it out to you, open, and you drop your books inside before snatching it away from him.

"Thanks…" You mutter almost inaudibly before turning one your heels and walking away.

"Aw, where ya going bro?" you hear him call out, but continue walking, ignoring him.

You miss the last bus by seconds, and frustrated, you throw your bag at the ground. It was at least a half hour walk to your house from school, and your dad always worked late into the night. No chance of him picking you up. Better get walking then.

You pick up your bag and a small paper falls from one of the outside pockets. You unfold it and read what's written there.

In messy handwriting, quickly scribbled, is 'terminallyCapricious'. It takes you a moment to realize it, but this must be the other boys Pesterchum handle. You wonder when he had the chance to slip it onto your bag; you were watching him the whole time.

You stick your hands in your jacket pockets as you begin to walk, defending from the chill that was settling over your city as winter slowly approached. Maybe it would snow this year? It always got cold enough to, but it never actually did.

Your cellphone vibrates in your pocket, and you're suddenly glad you kept it there rather than in your backpack. You pull it out and check your text messages. Dad was working later than usual. What a surprise. You close the message and open the Pesterchum app, seeing if anyone was online. There was one person, but you really didn't feel like talking to her.

You go ahead and add terminallyCapricious to your chum-list, and his icon lights up. He was online. You'd talk to him later.

You finally reach your house and pull the key out from under the doormat, unlocking the door and going inside. You can hear a light tapping, the sound of someone typing on a keyboard.

"You are aware that you have your own house, right?" You yell through the house.

"Tho what? Yourth ith better." Comes the lispy reply from the living room. That was Sollux Captor, your brother in everything but blood. You walk into the room, dropping your bag on the floor as you walk, and crash on the couch next to him.

"God KK, you look horrible." He says, glancing up from the glowing computer screen.

And you feel worse than you look for sure. "I know. I'm going to take a shower." you say, pulling yourself up from the couch. You stumble up the stairs to the bathroom, muscles stiffening form the few moments of rest. Locking the door behind you, you pull off the large sweater and long sleeve shirt, assessing your bruises in the mirror. Here and there a few had small scabs over the top, where you'd been hit so hard the skin broke. But they managed to keep them all below the neck.

They knew you wouldn't let anyone know you were hurting. They knew that no matter how many bruises you had on your arms, you'd always cover them up. Even in the summer. No one would know.

You adjust the water and step into the warm jets, letting them work away at the stress and tightness in your muscles. It did nothing to soothe the cuts or bruises though. You'd take an aspirin after you got out of the shower.

You run shampoo through your red curly hair, getting rid of the dirt in it. You never thought this would happen. You had been mostly ignored all through elementary and middle school, but now suddenly, you're the target. The fun one to beat on. You just didn't understand why. You shut the water of with a sigh, stepping out of the shower. Your hair drips down your back as you grab a towel, wrapping it around your waist. You crouch down; looking in the cabinet under the sink for the little bottle of aspirin that you knew was under there. That you had put under there just for occasions like this. That was almost empty from occasions like this.

You pull the bottle out, and remove the red cap, dumping two of the little pills into your hand. You put the cap back on before popping the pills in your mouth and swallowing them down with a glass of water.

You finish drying yourself off, and cross the hall to your bedroom. You pull on your loose pajama pants, decorated with little happy crabs, and a sweatshirt. Before heading back downstairs, you grab your laptop, unplugging it from its charger.

Once downstairs, you reclaim your spot on the couch, and open your laptop. You open Pesterchum again, deciding it's time to finally talk to that guy. You click his handle, opening a new conversation.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering terminallyCapricious [TC]

CG: WHY'D YOU GIVE ME THIS?
TC: GiVe WhO wHaT?
CG: ME. WHY'D YOU GIVE ME YOUR HANDLE?
TC: Oh, I jUsT tHoUgHt A mOtHeRfUcKeR cOuLd UsE sOmEoNe To TaLk To
CG: I HAVE PLENTY OF PEOPLE TO TALK TO.
TC: WeLl NoW yOu HaVe AnOtHeR :o)
TC: HoNk
CG: WHATEVER. I'M KARKAT. KARKAT VANTAS.
TC: GaMzEe MoThErFuCkInG mAkArA bRo :o)
CG: OKAY. WELL. I GUESS I'LL GO NOW.
TC: SeE yA rOuNd

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering terminallyCapricious [TC]

You take a glance at your chum list before another conversation pops up.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

GC: K4RK4T!
CG: TEREZI.
GC: WH4TS UP?
CG: JUST GOT HOME. WHAT'S MISS BLIND-DRAGON-GIRL DOING?
GC: TH4T W4S M34N K4RK4T
GC: 1 4M THOROUGHLY OFF3ND3D
CG: OH MY GOD.
CG: YOU KNOW I DIDN'T MEAN IT. CAN'T YOU *SMELL* MY SINCERETY?
GC: :( TH4TS 3V3N M34N3R
GC: 1 C4N SM3LL YOUR S4RC4SM THOUGH
CG: HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY READ THIS? DO YOU HAVE A LITTLE VOICE THAT READS IT ALL FOR YOU?
CG: OR ARE YOU JUST SHITTING ME ABOUT BEING BLIND AND HAVING A GREAT TIME LAUGHING AT ME FOR BELIEVING YOU ALL THESE YEARS.
GC: HOW M4NY T1M3S W1LL 1 H4V3 TO T3LL YOU TH1S? 1M L3G4LLY BL1ND BUT 1T DO3SNT M34N 1 C4NT S33 4NYTH1NG
GC: 1 JUST H4V3 TO G3T R34LLY CLOS3
GC: BUT 4NYW4Y 1V3 GOT TO GO YOU SHOULD COM3 V1S1T M3 SOON! 1TS W4RM3R DOWN H3R3 4T TH3 B34CH 4NYW4Y!
CG: BYE.
CG: (THAT DOES ACTUALLY SOUND NICE. THE WARM I MEAN. NOT SEEING YOU.)
GC: WH4T3V3R :P

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

That was Terezi Pyrope, your blind friend who claims to smell colors, among other things. You met her on summer vacation one year, at the beach in Florida. You two had hit if off right from the start, when she tripped over you in the sand, then tried licking you.

You shut your laptop, setting it on the coffee table. You grab the remote for the TV and click it on to some sitcom, then pull the blanket off of the back of the couch, curling up to watch the show.

"Who wath it today?" Sollux asks quietly, also watching the show.

"Who else? Strider and his posse."

"I'm thorry KK. I wish I could help…"

"Can't you like, blow their computer up or something with your hacker skills?"

Sollux begins to laugh quietly, and slowly it gets louder. You try and block out the noise, intent on your show, but it's just too much. His laughter is too contagious.

Several minutes later you're both laying in a pile, tangled in the blanket, laughing together.