Streetlights

Tavros’s friends accept John as if he’s always been there, offering him food and swapping jokes and banter. There aren’t many of them, but John’s never really had friends anyway. No one likes his apathetic attitude, and he’s never made any effort to appeal to anyone. Tavros and all his friends, however, are clearly too thick to see John’s personality-less person for what it is.

“Where did you even move from?” Rufioh, Tavros’ brother (though you wouldn’t think it – they look nothing alike, and Rufioh’s about a foot taller than Tavros) asks, dodging a well-aimed sausage roll to the face expertly.

“The countryside,” John shrugs. “Dunno, we never really stay anywhere long.”

“Are you saying you’re going to leave us soon?” Sollux demands, throwing another sausage roll at Rufioh. “Dammit, will you stop moving? I’ve only got three left,” he exclaims, directing this at Rufioh as he furiously pelts him with another. Rufioh grins and ducks again.

“No,” John says. “I think we’re going to stay here a while; Dad’s setting up a new branch of his business somewhere around here.”

“Here?” Tavros asks, joining Sollux in pelting his brother with food. Rufioh yelps and scarpers, running around the back of the tree they’re sitting near. Sollux laughs and simply gets up, following Rufioh with his food.

“Yeah, I don’t really know,” John says, watching Sollux and Rufioh in amusement. Rufioh could easily pick Sollux up and stop him, but he’s laughing at Sollux’s desperation to actually hit him. “I don’t know much about my parents.”

“Man, I wish I didn’t know much about my parents,” Equius says with a grimace, and Tavros laughs.

“He walked in on them once,” he says to John. “As in…” The wink he punctuates his trailed off sentence with leaves nothing to the imagination.

“Sucks to be you,” John says, but he’s grinning. There’s a victorious yell and all three of them turn to see Sollux jumping around cheering and Rufioh with a piece of ham on his shirt.

“I win!” Sollux crows, as he makes his way back to their little camp. “I totally beat him, did you guys see that?”

“No,” Tavros says, squinting up at him. Sollux scowls.

“I owned your brother, Tavvy,” he says.

“If you call me that one more time I’ll make you pay,” Tavros warns. Equius throws John a look, a don’t-worry-this-is-all-part-of-their-flirting look, and John grins back at him. He likes Equius, Tavros, Rufioh and Sollux; they’re entertaining, genuine and kind people.

“…Tavvy,” Sollux says, with a shit-eating grin which immediately turns into a piercing shriek as the smaller man gets up from the ground and runs towards him with lightning speed that John hadn’t expected. Tavros manages to wrestle Sollux to the ground, straddling him and pinning his wrists to the floor so that he can’t move at all. John’s pretty sure he’s never seen as much lust in anyone’s eyes as there is in Sollux’s right now.

“You wanna call me that one more fucking time?” Tavros hisses, but there’s no heat behind his words, just some kind of lustful fire in his eyes.

“Are they fucking?” John whispers to Equius. Equius rolls his eyes.

“We’ve been telling them to get a move on for years, but, no,” he says.

“Three o’clock,” Rufioh says suddenly, and everyone freezes. Tavros barely has time to roll off of Sollux, cap falling off in the process, before Dave, Cronus, Eridan and Rose round the corner of the building, swaggering along the path.

“What the fuck are they doing here?” Tavros hisses, shoving his cap back on. “They never come around here.”

“John,” Dave says as they draw closer. “Hanging around with faggots now, are you?”

“If I wanted that, I’d hang around with you,” John shoots back with a glare. Dave’s eyebrows narrow.

“You want to be careful,” Dave says. “I don’t think you understand how stuff works around here.”

“I think I do,” John says. “You bully innocent people and get your gang of lunatics to do the job for you.” He throws an apologetic glance at Rose, who’s standing behind Eridan, a book in her hand – he likes Rose well enough; he doesn’t include her in the ‘gang of lunatics’.

“That reminds me…” Dave says smoothly. “How did you get out of that room, Tavros?” Rose’s face contorts into a panic and she glances pleadingly at John. John’s nod is barely noticeable to anyone who wasn’t looking for it – he’ll take the blame.

“How did he get in there?” John asks, just as smoothly. “What had he done?”

“Does that concern you, John?” Dave asks. John looks as if he’s considering for a moment, exaggerating the expression to mock Dave.

“Yes, actually, it does,” he says. “Because he’s my friend.” Dave laughs shrilly.

“Oh, pity-friendships,” he says in his velvety voice. “So sweet.”

“Better than friendships built on fear,” John fires back, throwing a meaningful glance at Cronus and Eridan, flanking Dave. Dave narrows his eyebrows and crosses his arms.

“I’ve put up with you long enough,” he says in a bored tone. “Take him away.”

“No,” Rose blurts, and Dave turns to look at her, clearly taken aback.

“What?” he asks. Rose stands, arms crossed over her chest.

“You locked him in there all of yesterday, David. Come on, you’ve got better things to do,” she says matter-of-factly. Dave’s silent for a moment – John can’t see his face, because he’s facing away from them – but he seems to give in.

“Let none say I am not merciful,” Dave says with a gracious smirk. John rolls his eyes.

“Let none say you’re not full of yourself either,” he says.

“Watch it,” Dave says dangerously.

“All I want to watch right now is you leave,” John says. Dave raises his eyebrows.

“Oh, I am looking forward to tomorrow,” he says, and with one last smirk in John’s direction he turns on his heel and saunters away, his posse following him like faithful hounds. John stares after them until they’re gone, and then turns back to his new friends and shakes his head in disbelief.

“Woah,” Tavros says, with awe in his voice. He’s still lying on the ground next to Sollux, hair tousled and a shocked expression on his face. “Man.”

“Dude,” Equius says.

“Shit,” Rufioh says. John frowns.

“What?” he asks, wondering if he had suddenly sprouted wings or an extra set of arms.

“I’ve never seen anyone talk to Dave like that,” Tavros says.

“Yeah, and he actually backed off?” Equius says. “Like, that’s unheard of.”

“Well, it was because of Rose,” John mutters. He can feel himself flushing red; great, just what he needs right now.

“But still,” Tavros says. “I mean, you just…you owned him.”

“Yeah, but he’s going to get me tomorrow,” John points out. His stomach drops at the mere thought of it. Locking him in a darkened room for six hours was bad enough; what are they going to do tomorrow? He’s had his fair share of beatings, sure – he has the scars and still-fading bruises to show it – but that doesn’t mean he’s up for another just yet. They don’t get any better the more he gets, just a little easier to endure.

“Whatever, John,” Rufioh says. “That was amazing. You’re going to be our gang leader.” There’s a collective groan from Sollux, Tavros and Equius.

“We are not a gang,” Sollux says.

“This isn’t a gang,” Equius says.

“What the hell would our gang name even be?” Tavros demands.

“The Sexicans,” Rufioh grins widely. Tavros stares at him in disbelief.

“Okay, one – that is the least threatening gang name I have heard. Ever. Ever. The motherfucking sexi- whatever. And two, half of us aren't even Mexican.”

“The Sexicasians, fuck, I don’t know,” Rufioh says, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Cauxicans,” Sollux offers, and Tavros throws him a glare. “What?” he says, holding his hands up defensively.

“We’re not a gang, Rufioh,” Equius says. “When are you going to get that into your head?”

“We could be,” Rufioh says sadly. “The Prospit Mafia.”

“You’re getting more and more ridiculous every day,” Tavros says, shaking his head. “No wonder Dad thinks you’re a crack addict.”

“Dad thinks I’m a crack addict?” Rufioh says, scandalised.
-
John ends up not going to any more lessons that day anyway, choosing instead to hang out at the back with Tavros, Sollux, Equius and Rufioh. Tavros and Sollux spend most of their time bantering flirtatiously; Equius most of his shaking his head at them, and Rufioh most of his time asking John weird questions and talking at a hundred miles an hour.

The bell rings for the end of the day and that’s when John realises that in two days at this school he’s only actually attended one lesson, which makes him feel kind of bad. He’s not going to achieve anything if he keeps skipping lessons, but he’s not going to achieve anything that makes him happy if he goes to them. It’s a difficult balance.

He’s about to walk out of the building when he remembers the key burning a hole in his pocket, and practically sprints to the library to find Rose. She’s not there – just John’s luck, of course she won’t be – and John swears under his breath, trying the room him and Tavros had been locked in. No one’s in there, let alone Rose – of course, why would she be, it’s Dave’s punishment room, and Rose’s Dave’s sister.

Rose sighs and gives up, trudging out of school and into the car park, which he has to walk through to get out. He spots Rose leaning against the hood of a car and perks up – maybe Lady Luck is actually starting to pity him – when Dave ambles out of another door in the building, heading for the same car, and John scowls. How is Rose going to get her key back now?

It’s too late to turn away, however – both Rose and Dave have spotted him. Rose waves him over sweetly, Dave simply glares at him. He doesn’t seem to want to try anything with only Rose and no Cronus or Eridan – predictable, of course, most bullies are nothing without backup.

“Hello,” Rose says as John draws nearer, hanging back a little because he doesn’t want to get too close to Dave. Dave’s not paying attention to him anyway, tapping away on his iPhone. “Have you…?” John nods, slipping it into Rose’s outstretched hand stealthily. Rose smiles at him and puts it into her own pocket, patting it to make sure it’s there.

John’s about to turn on his heel and leave when Rose speaks.

“Hey,” she says. “You should come over and watch movies with me.”

“I don't really like movies,” John says, looking for any excuse to get out of getting in a tiny metal box with Dave. He’s not, but he doesn’t want to be in Dave’s house. Even if he does like Rose.

“You've got to be joking,” Rose rolls her eyes. "Come on, just a couple of hours. We’ll take you home afterwards.” John doesn’t want to mention that won’t be necessary, he can probably see his house from theirs – Dave’ll get Cronus and Eridan to egg it or something.

“I really shouldn’t-“ John says, but suddenly someone’s jerking on his hand and he’s being pulled along to the sleek black vehicle. “No, Rose, I-“ he tries, but Rose doesn’t listen.

“I’m not taking him with us,” Dave says, looking up from his texting to throw John a dirty look. He’s kind of hot, John notices, and immediately shakes the thought out of his head. Nope. Rose’s much better looking, clearly. Rose is a girl, remember?

“Good, because I don’t want to be with you,” John snarls, wrenching his hand out of Rose’s grip. Rose rolls her eyes.

“Can you two stop acting like seven year olds?” she demands. “Fucking hell David, I’m not forcing him to have sex with you or anything. Just take him with us; we’ll stay out of your way.” Something passes over Dave’s face, but after a moment he nods curtly.

“Get in,” he says shortly, climbing in himself. Rose winks at John and walks briskly around to the other side of the car. John smiles weakly, trying and failing to disguise the fuck fuck fuck that’s chorusing in his head.
-
The car ride is utterly silent. Even Rose senses the atmosphere is not one that will be diffused by speech, so they all stare stonily out of their respective windows until they arrive at Dave and Rose’s house.

“Out,” Dave says in a clipped tone, and both Rose and John tumble inelegantly out of the car, which is surprising for Rose. Dave stalks into the house without a single glance back, and Rose shakes her head.

“Don’t mind him,” she says.

“He’s such a dick sometimes,” John says.

“Try having him as a brother,” Rose says, and they both laugh.

They watch movies for the next few hours, Con Air and then some of Rose's weird gay wizard movies. All too soon, however, he looks out of the window and realises it’s pitch black. He has to get home; not that anyone will be worrying, but it’s best he gets home before Jade goes to bed, because Jade likes to know John’s in the house before she goes to sleep.

“Shit, I have to go,” John says, jumping up off the couch.

“Fuck you,” Rose says. "Go away. Never darken my door again.”

“You’ll be begging for me back tomorrow,” John says with a grin, and Rose sighs.

“Probably,” she says. “Only to beat you with my good taste in movies. Yours suck.”

“The good taste in movies that you have yet to discover,” John says, grabbing his coat. “Thanks for…y’know. It was nice.” And it had been, he’s not lying – it was nice, like it was with Tavros and the others, to just sit and have a laugh and a bit of banter. It’s a shame Rose has such a twat of a brother.

“Fuck you,” Rose repeats, but she’s laughing. “Yeah, same. I don’t really, you know. Friends.”

“You should come and sit with us tomorrow,” John invites, unsure whether it’s his place to or not, but going for it anyway. “You’ll get on with everyone.” Rose looks tempted.

“I would, but…” she jerks her head upstairs. “Dave.”

“Can’t you get shot of him just one lunch?” John asks, and Rose sighs.

“I’ll see,” she says, but she sounds unsure.

“I’d better go, then,” John says, kind of subdued. He wants Rose to have friends, although he’s not really sure why. He’s never been bothered about himself not having any friends, so why does it bother him that Rose has none?

He knows why. Because it will aggravate Dave.

He pushes the thought of why are you doing everything you can to annoy that boy to the back of his mind, not wanting to consider the possibilities, and follows Rose out of the room into the hallway.

“Anyway,” Rose says polietly. “Do you need a ride home?”

“No,” John says. “I live just down the road.”

And as if out of nowhere, Dave appears, leaning over the banister.

“Down the road?” he says, sounding interested. “Posh boy, right? Son of the CEO of some law firm and the grandson of the owner of Betty Crocker. Multi-millionaire family.” John wishes Dave would shut his mouth, for various reasons. Now Rose’s only going to want to be friends with him for his money. Great.

“Fuck you,” he hisses up at Dave, and Dave grins widely.

“Interesting,” he says, and as quickly as he appeared, he’s gone.

“He does that,” Rose says. “It’s annoying. Anyway, I'll be seeing you,” John waves at her, thankful she made no comment about what Dave had said, and walks off down the street and to his house, hands in his pockets as he makes his way through the darkness.

“Hey,” he calls to Kanaya and Jade, who are watching TV in the cinema room. He climbs the glass staircase that leads to his room – secluded from the rest of the house, just like he’d requested – and flops down onto his bed.

There’s something about Dave that makes him a permanent thought in John’s mind, although mostly it’s about how much John wants to punch him.

He groans, rolling over, unable to get the blonde-haired bastard out of his mind. He is so screwed.

Fuck.