Chapter Text
You bob your head gently to the beat of this new rap band that Dirk showed you and silently sing along to the lyrics. Bro said that you had to come with to go get Dirk today since Rose is at school now and she can't watch you while he goes to get Dirk. You got to stay home today since you were so sick from dinner that you threw up on the floor last night. Oh man, Bro was mad when he found out, but he made Dirk clean it up because he at least felt bad enough that he didn't make you do it. It's fine with you, anyway.
You like car rides because Bro lets you play music on the radio and doesn't care what you play. As you pull up to the high school, you watch Dirk roll his eyes and whisper something to his friends before he pulls open the passenger seat door. He clicks his tongue when he sees you and slides his headphones down around his neck.
"In the back, kid." He jerks his head in the direction of the back seat.
"But I'm still sick, I wanna sit in the front." You clasp your hands together and try to look small, not an easy feat when you’re about to turn thirteen but hey, you can try, right?
"Rose will sit with you when we pick her up. If you wanna sit with your sister on the way to her mom's house, you gotta sit in the back." Dirk opens the door a little wider and stands up straight to get out of your way. He's not really giving you much of a choice at this point, it's more like "the delusion of choice" as Rose would say. Or maybe it was illusion? You don't really remember.
You slide your legs out with a tiny bounce and open the back car door and slide onto the seat. Dirk reaches back and buckles you in, placing a kiss to the top of your forehead and he ruffles your hair with his left hand before closing the door and getting into his own seat in the front.
"Good song choice, Dave." Dirk nods at you from the rear-view mirror and turns the radio back up until the back seat is practically thumping with the beat.
You smile, it feels good to make Dirk happy. He's super cool and you honestly care more about impressing him than your stupid Bro, he's an asshole anyway, not that you can admit that to him. He'd kill you if you ever told him you didn't like him. He'd kill you and then bring you back to life to kill you again if you mentioned that you liked Dirk more than him.
Down the street from the high school is the school that you and your sister Rose go to. She doesn't live with you but Bro is her dad too so she sometimes comes over to visit. You don't think they like each other much since Rose is always calling him "Father" even though it makes Bro really mad when you say that. But whatever, it's none of your business anyway, you couldn't give less of a shit about them not liking each other, you just like to hang out with your sister.
Mostly because she actually listens to you and Dirk seems to just put up with you half of the time. Dirk is almost 18 and he said that when he's 18, he's taking you and leaving with Rose and Roxy too since their mom is shitty too. Well... okay, you guess she's your mom too but she's not really around so you don't really care about her.
After you all get to your apartment, Bro kicks you all out of his car and says he has to go work and drives off. Dirk shakes his head at Bro and mumbles that he's an asshole under his breath and walks the two of you up the stairs to your apartment. It's a long walk but it's nice to sit on the floor after you're all done.
"So... I got some good news, some great news, and some shitty news. What do y'all wanna hear first?" Dirk asks you and Rose as he fishes a Dorito bag out of the cupboards that aren't totally packed to the brim with swords.
“Shit, good, great. Obviously people naturally want to be disappointed first and then get their hopes up.” Rose leans against the counter in the kitchen and idly plays with her nail polish.
“Right, okay.” He cuts the top of the bag open and sets it on the counter, you stick your hand in and pull out a few chips and munch on them while he talks. “Shit news is that we’re gonna have to sleep in a car for two days. Good news is that Roxy got her car ready to go. Great news is that Roxy and I got an apartment in Chicago big enough for all of us and we’re moving on my birthday.”
“Really?” Rose raises her eyebrows but doesn’t stop fucking with her nails. “And just how are you going to do all of that without Father throwing one of his famous fits and ‘giving you a famous beatdown so sick that Texas itself had to call off of school’ as Dave would say?”
“Well what do you think I was doing all day, Rose? Just because I was standing outside of the school doesn’t mean I was actually there. I was down at the courthouse filing adoption papers with Roxy. She’s adopting you and I’m getting Dave.”
“Another matriarchy vs patriarchy?”
“We’re going to be living together?” You ask, not really understanding exactly what’s going on. You knew about the adoption papers and that you would be moving but you didn’t know that you would all be together.
“Rose, no. Dave, yes.” Dirk slides some papers out of his backpack and hands them to you before pulling them back. “Wipe your hands, cheeto fingers.”
“They’re Doritos,” you mumble but wipe them off on your jeans and look through the papers. They all look really official and they have stamps all over them and they’re all dated for December 3rd, tomorrow. “These all have the wrong day.”
“They forward-dated them since I won’t be filing them until tomorrow. I already called myself off of school but Bro doesn’t know that.” Dirk gets on his knee and gets level with you. You’re glad he wears his glasses because you have a lot of trouble looking people in the eyes. “You’re gonna be alright, Dave. And you too, Rose. We’re gonna get you and Rose away from your fucking psycho parents and give you a better life.”
“A little magic won’t hurt either.” Rose whispers and flicks her fingers, sending black sparks from the tips of them.
“And that is another thing. No magic here. You’re lucky we could pull off your last little stunt easily enough by saying you were playing pranks. We don’t need you to get in trouble at this new school.” Dirk puts his hand on the top of Rose’s head. “I know you have a gift.”
“It’s more of a blessing, dear brother.”
“I know you have a gift. But you need to keep it under wraps. There aren’t a lot of magic users in this modern age and you don’t want to get caught using that. People don’t like what they can’t understand. Roxy can keep hers to herself, aren’t you always touting that you’re better than her? If you really are, then can’t you do this?” Dirk continues.
“I suppose… but I never claimed to be better than her, just more put together.” Rose flicks her finger in Dirk’s direction, sending black dust in his direction and smattering onto his glasses.
“Whatever. Just be cool, yeah? I have to make a few calls but I need you two to pack all of Dave’s stuff and tuck the boxes away under my desk.” He takes his sunglasses off and wipes at the lenses with the bottom of his shirt before putting them back on his nose and pushing them up into place. “Get it done, kids. I’ll order you a pizza when I’m all done.”
Sleeping that night is rough, even with a stomach full of pizza. You dream of the walls vibrating to the beat of some unknown song and it inspires you enough to take out a mixer you've never seen before, but it feels... right. Familiar, even. Your fingers dance across the buttons and dials as though you've been using it for years until the sound in the walls comes into focus.
It almost sounds like someone's voice and the rhythmic thump of a heart. Another sound crashes in, like blood rushing to your ears and your eyes flutter shut, only to be woken by a hand shaking you awake on your arm. You gasp, terrified for a second before the face in front of you comes into focus.
"Hey, hey hey." It's Dirk, looking concerned as ever and almost... nervous? You wonder what's wrong. "Were you having a bad dream?"
You shake your head, "I don't think so. There was a lot of music and I got to fuck with stuff until I got it to do what I wanted."
"Hmm..." he thinks for a moment, chewing at his bottom lip. "Well my room is a mess. I told you about those dreams. We need to keep everything together and you gotta get those dreams under control. You fell asleep without those headphones on again, didn't you?"
You shrug, "They hurt my ears."
Dirk sighs, putting one hand on your shoulder. "Dave, you know I love you, right? I want to keep you safe, if Bro knows about your magic... your powers, he's gonna freak out. So you gotta use those headphones."
"But aren't we leaving today?" You ask while you rub the sleep out of your eyes.
"We are, yes. But you still need to wear them in the car and when we get to our new place, you can take them off as often as you like. We can't have you dozing off in the car and sending everything flying. Or worse, sending the car flying. You don't want Rose and Roxy to get hurt, right?"
You shake your head, of course you don't. Your powers only came in this year, you weren't expecting them at all since Dirk got his when he was eight just like Rose and Roxy did. Rose and Roxy got Light Manipulation, if Rose's old books are right, and Dirk got Data Manipulation. You got Sound Manipulation which means you can mess with sound itself. You can even push things around if you make too much noise without thinking about it first.
"You'll get more of a handle on them when you're a little older but for now, you have to be careful." He kisses the top of your head. "Now get ready for school, I'm gonna go with but I've got my house keys so I'm gonna loop around the block and come back to pack my own stuff with Roxy while Bro is out. Don’t worry, if he comes here, we can take care of it. Okay? I love you buddy.”
“I love you too dude.” And with that, you get dressed for school. It doesn’t take long and Dirk combs the knots out of your hair for you. He even keeps it cut for you and takes care of you more than Bro ever does. Dirk had to get a job kind of early and kind of illegally to keep you fed and clothes but he never really complained. You think he always knew he would have to take care of you, somehow.
After you’re all ready, Roxy pulls up in her car and the two of you get in with her. She doesn’t even say hi like she usually does, and instead looks forward, a cold stare on her face. It makes you wonder if you did something wrong.
“She’s not mad, she’s nervous about today. Just stay calm and take the ride home from Bro today. I told him Roxy was taking me home so he should take you straight home since it’s not his day with Rose.” Dirk reassures you and looks at you from the side-view mirror as you pull up to school. “See you after school. Be safe.”
“Bye Dirk.”
School is boring and honestly kind of uneventful, you can't focus in a single class because you're too worried about Dirk. You tap your pencil on your desk during your last class of the day as you watch the seconds tick by. Luckily, it's just a study hall that you share with Rose so she keeps an eye on you to make sure you don't lose your cool or your grip on your powers.
You were able to get a pass to use your headphones at school because you have ADHD and one of the "assigned focus tools" they let you use is music. So with your beats in your ears, you're able to keep a steady tempo in your head and focus on that instead of fucking with everything around you on accident.
Sound powers are so dumb. You can tap your pencil to a random beat and send everything in the room flying or blast the windows out of a building if you scream. It's really goddamn unfair that you got stiffed with shitty powers like this and Rose gets to manipulate light. You wish you had cool ones like that.
Something taps your hand and you look up to see a note next to your wrist, you unfold it to see a flash of purple writing that says "Take a breath" in curvy eccentric cursive. You know that this is Rose's handwriting and that it's good advice so you do calm down for a second. The message flashes again, annoying stupid light powers and their invisible ink bullshit, and it disappears. You focus on your breathing and close your eyes until you hear the bell ringing over the sound of the beats Dirk mixed for you and a fingers taps on your shoulder.
"Ready to go today, brother of mine?" Rose reaches up and slides your headphones down and around your neck.
You adjust them so they're not so loud and roll your eyes at her, "Am I ever not? Lets get the fuck out of here."
"My thoughts exactly but that's not why I stopped you, Dave." She puts her hand in yours and pulls you into the hallway. You're about to pipe up and complain that your books are still in the classroom but since you're leaving today, you guess it doesn't really matter.
"Well what's up? Whatdya need?" You try not to look super bored and tired because you know she hates when you look like that. But, honestly, you didn't get great sleep last night so you're kinda really fucking tired and you're not one to hide your emotions all that well without your glasses on. And you tried to get your school to allow you to wear them during class but they wouldn't.
“I just need to remind you to be good today and that no matter what happens, you need to stay calm. Father is definitely going to be very upset but I need you to stay relaxed. He’s an adult and he can handle it. Alright? Please.” Rose looks like she knows something you don’t and you assume that has something to do with her powers.
“Whatever man, it’s cool. I can be chill. Chiller than an ice cube in a snow storm in-”
“I get it, you’re ‘chill’ and great. Now, shall we?” She links her arm with yours and leads you down to the front of the school where you usually get picked up.
Typically, you’d wait with her for Bro today but she’s going with Roxy to get their stuff first from their moms house. So she instead just leaves you there and pats your shoulder with a look that you don’t quite understand and with that, she’s gone. You watch her from the corner of your eye as she climbs into Roxy’s car with her. You hope that Dirk was able to get any of his stuff in there since his car is kind of small and you’re not sure how much it can hold. At least Roxy has a van but Dirk just has a regular car.
Bro pulls up not long after and you climb in as you usually would, nodding to him. You close the passenger door and tap your fingers to the beat of the song he's playing on the radio. It's almost unsettlingly normal, which makes you think that he has no idea that you're planning on running with Dirk today. The drive home is quiet and he pulls up and kicks you out of his car as usual.
This might actually work out. God you hope it does.
"One second. I need to talk to your brother." He says in his usual clipping tone, you swear you haven't heard the dude speak in a week so it makes you stop dead in your tracks and freeze where you are.
"Okay." You don't want to make him mad so you just sit tight and keep quiet. He can be a real fucking dick when he's mad and even worse, he can get violent too.
He parks his car and follows you up the stairs to the apartment, his car keys jingling in his hand as he twirls the keyring on his finger. Dirk is already up there, sitting in the living room by himself, playing some shitty skating game on the Xbox. This is all pretty normal.
"Hey what's up?" Dirk says without looking up.
"Just wondering what you're up to today." Bro says, voice level.
"Uhhh... probably just gonna sit here and watch Dave. Why?"
"Nice. I need you to keep an eye on him while I go clean out your room."
You freeze in place but Dirk looks calm, as usual. "Don't even worry about it, Bro. I already took care of it today and cleaned up everything. I even came home early from school to scrub down the kitchen."
You see Bro's eyebrows lift, "Really."
"Yes, really."
"Then you won't mind if I go check the kitchen." Bro asks, voice down turning slightly.
"Why would I lie about something you can easily check?" Dirk scoffs, sitting back a little more.
Bro clicks his tongue and walks over to the kitchen. Just like Dirk said, everything is all cleaned up and put away. "Where are my-"
"Your bedroom. Filed away and even polished. You're welcome for that, by the way." Dirk says cooly. Wow, he really did all of that work? You kinda wonder if Roxy helped him because it actually is really fucking spotless in here.
"Whatever, I'm going to work. Don't fucking trash it while I'm gone." Bro curls his lip at Dirk and heads for the front door. He stops for a second, inspecting the door frame. You hear Dirk's breath catch in his throat and realize something is wrong. "What's this scuff here from?"
"I don't know, probably from your equipment." Dirk answers, tightening his hands on the controller.
“No fucking way, I’m careful and I wouldn’t scuff shit.” Bro snarls back and starts checking the walls, running his hands along it. You’re not sure what he’s looking for but if he’s looking that pissed off, it can’t be anything good.
“I really do not fucking know, Bro.” Dirk answers flatly.
“If you cleaned up, why would there be an old scuff here anyway?”
“I must’ve missed it.” Dirk reasons but Bro isn’t having any of it.
“Right. What the fuck are you hiding from me?”
“He’s not hiding anything!” You cut in and bite your tongue. Fuck. Stupid stupid stupid.
Bro leans down, eyes level with yours. A chill runs up your spine as he looks you dead in the eye and mumbles, “And how would you know that if you were at school all day and not plotting some fucking bullshit behind my back?”
“B-because he just said that to you.” You swallow the lump in your throat and remember what Rose told you. Keep calm, do not freak out, Dirk is an adult and he can handle it.
“It’s probably from the mop bucket I was using. It’s fine, Bro. Everything is clean and spotless. You’re going to be late for work if you don’t get a move on.” Dirk stands up and puts his hand on your shoulder.
He pulls you back toward him and it makes you feel a little safer, but you still tap your fingers on your leg just in case. Keep calm, keep calm. Dirk can handle it. The even tempo of your tapping is helping but you're not going to feel totally off guard until you see Bro drive off.
"Chicago." Bro says and you keep your face as blank as possible. Do not give him a reaction, do not show him fear or joy. Keep still.
"What about it?" Dirk asks, hand gripping just a little tighter on your shoulder.
"Don't act fucking ignorant. I'm not as stupid as you think I am. I can hear you on the phone with Roxy at night and I heard that you were planning a little trip there." Bro lifts his eyebrows again, "Were you planning to walk off with my son?"
Dirk scoffs, pulling you back again so you're next to him instead of in front of him. "You don't give a shit about him, don't fucking act like you do now. You know damn well that you'd be better off if we all left so you could be alone. Isn't that what you always wanted? For us to fuck off and stop dragging you down?"
Bro laughs, a sickeningly normal sound from someone who's been beating the shit out of you and Dirk since you were old enough to speak. "Oh you're more than welcome to leave anytime you want but you can't take my son with you. He's staying here with me and you can get the fuck out whenever you please."
You close your eyes and do your best to zone out. You know they're going to fight and you're afraid of what's going to happen. Their last fight happened before you got your powers and now that you have them, you don't know what's going to happen. The next thing you feel is Dirk flinging you back and... it... it all happens so fast.
Dirk shoves Bro back against the wall and yells at you to go outside but you're frozen in fear. You watch your brother panic for a second before he runs over to you, grabbing you by the wrist and he hauls you into his arms. But Bro is right behind him and he tries to grab you out of Dirk's grasp. When Bro grabs you, you scream but you... you swear you didn't mean to. The next thing you see is Dirk diving to the floor, grabbing your head on the way down, clamping his hand down on your mouth. But it doesn't stop the wave of sound from pulsing through the apartment, sending a surge of energy through the apartment.
You hear the windows shatter first, then the TV, then all of the glass in the kitchen and everything on the counters fall to the floor. Bro smacks into the wall, slamming his head against the wooden paneling. Your eyes are still clamped shut as Dirk rubs the back of your head to calm you down, whispering to you softly that you’re okay. It takes a second for you to hold yourself together long enough to stop screaming your head off and calm down again.
“It’s okay. You’re okay. He’s out cold, you’re okay.” Dirk coos to you. You hate to describe it as that but honestly, that is what he’s doing. It makes you feel like a little kid but… well, it actually is helping. You’re just not gonna tell Rose about this. For more than one reason; she’d never stop scolding you if she knew you lost control of your powers. Plus, she warned you to keep a handle on it and you couldn’t even do that. You hate disappointing people.
“What… what do we do?” You sit up and dust off your hands, ignoring the shards of glass all over the floor. But you are careful not to touch the ground just in case, you don’t want to get all cut up.
“Well, first you need to stand up and grab your backpack. Second, I already packed all of your stuff into Roxy’s car. I’m taking Rose’s stuff since she’s got less junk than you.” You roll your eyes at him, “Hey don’t give me that look, you do. Anyway, what you need to do is go downstairs and wait in my car, we’re all meeting at a gas station outside of town to get our shit together. We’re heading straight for Chicago.”
“Wait, you got all of that shit done in one day?” You can’t believe he got all of that shit done so quickly. There’s no fucking way that he got all of that done all by himself. Even with Roxy’s help, there’s no logic there. He had to pack four peoples’ stuff into two cars within seven hours? That’s just fucking impossible.
“Well yeah, what kind of brother do I look like? Plus, it helps to hire some movers by fucking with their data a little bit. Don’t tell anyone I told you that by the way. We shouldn’t be making illegal moves like that but we needed the help.” He pats the back of your head again, smoothing out your hair as he does. “Now go head downstairs. We need to be in Chicago by nine in the morning in two days so you’ll be sleeping in the car. I’ve got everything taken care of already.”
You take it all in, nodding as you do. You’re about to head on down but you stop, remembering an old joke between yourselves. “One last thing, dude?”
Dirk raises his eyebrow, “What?”
“Why are we so fucking awesome?” You put your fist out for his.
Dirk laughs and returns the bump, “That’s the best fucking question anyone asked.”