Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You're the new kid in school. In fact, you're the new kid in the entire town. You don't know where anything is. You don't know how you're supposed to make friends.

And worst of all, you don't know where the fuck you're going to sit on this bus.

As you walk down the aisle, you can feel more than a couple gazes on you and you can hear more than a couple whispers about you.

You'd realized people were spreading rumors about you when you first stepped foot into your new school. As if it wasn't bad enough already, right? And on your first day!

Needless to say, you already hate this place. No, wait. Hate is a strong word.

Despise is stronger.

As you're walking, you soon realize that there aren't any seats left, save for one single seat next to this blond, lanky looking guy that's on his phone. He also has sunglasses on, which both confuses and irritates you. It's not even sunny today, the fuck are you wearing sunglasses for?

Still, you decide to sit next to him, since, well. You don't really have another option left.

From what you can tell past his stupid shades, the guy spares you a quick glance before focusing on his phone again. Thank fuck. At least he won't try to start a conversation.

You take out your phone as well. You're not really focusing on anything you're doing though, and you’re more so just looking for a distraction from the horrible day you're having.

You don't manage to distract yourself for long; Whenever you're taking a new route somewhere, you can't help but be on high alert in case you miss your stop. So, you settle for looking out the window, which is a little awkward since there's a whole-ass person sitting between you and the window, but hey what can you do.

While you're looking out at the scenery ("scenery" being old suburban houses), your eyes happen to drift to look at the guy next to you. He's typing away at his phone and you figure he's probably texting someone, since he pauses every now and then, seemingly waiting for a response.

From the angle you're looking at him, you can actually kind of see the upper part of his face, and you soon come to realize that he has a huge black eye.

"Holy shit, what happened to your face?" You fail to stop yourself from exclaiming, and you can feel the gazes of the other students locking onto you again. You kind of shrink into yourself, as if that'll somehow make you disappear.

The guy also looks up at you after realizing you're talking to him, and he takes a few seconds to think about how much of an idiot you are, probably. Then, he snorts.

"That's one way to start a conversation," he drawls in his dumb southern accent, and you immediately hate him even more even though he makes a completely valid point. He continues.

"To answer your question, though, I got in a sick fight. I didn't win," he adds, as if thatt wasn't obvious enough, "but it was still absolutely sick regardless."

You roll your eyes at that.

"You look like you can barely lift a single 5-pound weight, why the fuck would you get into a fight with anyone?" You ask, and he makes a vaguely offended face.

"Ok, first of all, that's rude and totally not true. Secondly, that's not how you play 20 questions," he quips.

"What does that even mean," you ask dryly, because at this point you're too tired to get angry at the dumbassery being presented to you.

"It means," he starts, "that it's my turn to ask you a question."

"...Fine," you concur. Really, you don't have any more energy to lose from this conversation.

"Okay, so... You're the new kid," he says matter-of-factly. You make a 'what of it' face, and he continues. "Why'd you move? I've heard all types of rumors, but I kinda doubt that you actually murdered a classmate back at your old school or something."

"Yeah, no. Though I was pretty close to doing that," you blurt out. And at that, the guy's face lights up in intrigue.

"Oh shit, forget why you moved, I gotta hear about this," he invites you to continue, and you’re about to before you realize that your stop is coming up.

"I have to get off at the next stop, but... maybe tomorrow?" you say, and you're surprised that you actually want to talk to this guy more.

"Sure," he replies, and right before the bus is about to open its doors, you realize that you haven't even exchanged names.

"I'm Karkat."

"I know," he says, and you simultaneously both despise him and feel like a dumbass because yeah, he obviously knows that already. "I'm Dave."

"See you tomorrow, then?" You ask even though you've already established that, but you just made the first friend in this entire school (you think), so you feel like you're justified to be a little excited. Even if the guy is a bit of a smartass.

"Yup. Bye," he calls out as you're stepping out of the bus, and you give him a small smile that doesn't fade off your face for a few seconds after the bus takes off again.

Okay, maybe this isn't so bad.

Chapter Text

You're having a shitty day, if you're being honest.

Bro beat you up yesterday and gave you a black eye (usually he doesn't go for above the collar, but apparently that wasn't the case yesterday), but not only that, none of your friends were at school today.

John had an allergic reaction because he forgot that Snickers bars had peanuts in them (You still feel bad for him, but... come on man, the peanuts are like, the whole appeal of Snickers). Rose got a cold and was forced to stay home, which she made sure to complain about for ages, and Jade had to take Bec to the vet because of an infection.

Now, you'd never say this to any of their faces, but you really do miss your friends. It'd be fine if even one of them was at school, but nope. Obviously, you don’t blame them. If anything, you blame yourself for being so needy.

Still, you spent the whole day alone, which was, simply put: boring as fuck.

Jade had texted with you during the day though, which helped a little. And the situation was actually pretty convenient; your friends wouldn't ask about the black eye.

Despite your complaints, the day went by surprisingly quickly. You also overheard a lot of people talking about 'the new kid', whoever that was. You don’t think you actually saw him at any point. If you heard correctly, his name was like... uh. Kit-Kat? Yeah that's close enough.

Anyways, the day was done and you were more than ready to go home. You managed to get a seat right at the back of the bus and took your phone out.

-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 16:12 --

TG: yo i just got out of school

GG: hey!!

TG: hows bec

GG: hes doing alright!

GG: apparently the infection isnt too serious but hes still going to need to take some medication for at least a few days :(

TG: damn

TG: welp hope he gets better soon

GG: thanks dave :)

GG: how was school?

GG: im guessing its probably been a little bit boring all alone!

TG: yeah

TG: not too much happened

TG: theres a new kid though

GG: oh?

GG: whats he like??

TG: dunno

TG: havent met him

GG: aw :(

TG: i heard he killed his classmate and thats why he had to move

TG: but im pretty sure that thats just a rumor

GG: watch out dave, we might have an impostor among us

TG: haha

TG: oh shit

GG: what is it??

TG: i think the new kid just sat down next to me

GG: whats he look like?

TG: one word

TG: emo hoodie

GG: thats two words!!

TG: math was never my strong suit

GG: hehe

TG: he looks like he cried when mcr got back together

GG: (which is completely understandable)

TG: i somehow get surprised every time i remember you listen to mcr

TG: its like getting hit in the face by an anthropomorphic dog with a hot topic belt

GG: kinky ;)

TG: oh my god

TG: ok lets stop this right here i still havent recovered from when we ended up talking about bdsm like 2 weeks ago

GG: hehehe

TG: i really dont know how people think this guy killed someone

TG: hes like 3 feet tall

GG: thats how he gets you!

TG: how

TG: by slapping you on the shins

Your conversation with Jade is cut short by a loud and raspy voice screaming in your ear.

"Holy shit, what happened to your face?" He shouts, elegantly. Everyone is clearly blown away by his breathtaking communication skills, because they turn to look at him with curious stares. The guy visibly sinks into his seat at this.

You finally really look up at him, and he looks so pathetic that you can't help but snort.

"That's one way to start a conversation," you say, and you see a small spark of anger flash in his eyes at that.

"To answer your question, though, I got into a sick fight. I didn't win, but it was still absolutely sick regardless," you explain. You're technically not lying, you did get into a fight. Though it wasn't that sick, if you don't count throwing up afterward.

He rolls his eyes.

"You look like you can barely lift a 5-pound weight, why the fuck would you get into a fight with anyone?" He says. Damn, not cool.

"Ok, first of all, that's rude and totally not true. Secondly, that's not how you play 20 questions." You hope he takes the bait because you really do not want to keep talking about this.

"What does that even mean," he responds, deadpan. Thank fuck, a topic change.

"It means," you start, "that it's my turn to ask you a question."

"...Fine," he answers after a second's silence.

"Okay, so... You're the new kid," you say. He makes a 'so what' face, and you take that as a prompt to continue. "Why'd you move? I've heard all types of rumors, but I kinda doubt that you actually murdered a classmate back at your old school or something."

He actually kind of smiles at that.

"Yeah, no. Though I was pretty close to doing that," he responds sheepishly, and oh, you've gotta hear the story behind that.

"Oh shit, forget why you moved, I gotta hear about this," you prompt him to continue, and it looks like he's about to before he looks out of the window and seems to realize something.

"I have to get off at the next stop, but... maybe tomorrow?" Oh. You can't help but feel a little disappointed at that, which might be kind of weird since you just met the guy.

"Sure," you say. He turns away, then looks back to you right when the bus stops.

"I'm Karkat." Karkat? You don't know if that's a weirder name for a person than Kit-Kat. It does fit him though, you decide.

"I know." You didn't, you just wanted to be a smartass. He looks mildly annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. "I'm Dave."

"See you tomorrow, then?" He asks. You're about to make fun of him for confirming what was already established like 10 seconds before, but you realize that you probably would've done the same if you were in his place.

"Yup. Bye," you call out as he's stepping off the bus, and he replies with a small, but noticeable smile. You wave any thoughts of "cute" away from your mind, and then immediately realize that aw shit, you totally left Jade hanging.

TG: hes like 3 feet tall

GG: thats how he gets you!

TG: how

TG: by slapping you on the shins

GG: exactly!!

GG: by the way, do you know what the new kids name is?

GG: rose is asking so that she can do a completely normal background check on him

GG: to make sure if he really killed a person, of course :)

GG: dave??

-- turntechGodhead [TG] is now an idle chum! --

GG: aw :(

TG: hey sorry

TG: i got to talking with the guy

TG: apparently he didnt kill anyone

GG: thats what they always say.....

TG: yeah not saying that you murdered someone is a pretty surefire way of not getting caught for murdering someone

TG: anyways get ready for tomorrow hes gonna tell me about the time he ALMOST killed someone

GG: oooh

GG: exciting!

GG: is he gonna sit with us at lunch?

TG: idk i can ask him tomorrow

TG: oh also his name is karkat

GG: karkat?

GG: thats an odd name

GG: its cute though!!

GG: WAIT....

TG: what

GG: is he cute?

TG: uh

TG: well im not really the one to say but hes not like

TG: bad looking

TG: i guess

GG: wink wonk ;)

TG: oh would you look at that i dropped my phone out the bus window bye

-- turntechGodhead [TG] stopped pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 16:31 --

GG: nooooooooo

GG: okay goodbye dave see you tomorrow! <3

-- gardenGnostic [GG] stopped pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 16:32 --