Homestuck x reader

Tutoring (punkish! Dave x shy! male! reader)

Every day, at least one fight took place at your school. The teachers did what they could to try to stop it, but as the years went by, their agenda turned from 'protect these kids and train those beautiful young minds into something wonderful so that if one of them becomes famous, I can live somewhat vicariously through them' into 'Step 1: teach kids shit. Step 2: go home and sleep off the hangover'.

You did your best to avoid the gangs in your school. No point getting mixed up in something that was gonna turn into some kind of West Side Story bullshit minus the romance, you thought. Since freshman year, you steered clear of anyone who was in a gang. Sometimes it was easy to tell, because you'd see a group of boys wearing green bandanas or something. There was even one gang whose members wore whiteout contacts. They were more than a little unsettling to make eye contact with.

There was one gang who nobody was sure about. It was the only group that had both boys and girls in it. Most of them were related to each other in some way, so it was more of a family gang. Everybody simply called them the Kids. Not a very intimidating name, but if you saw the members, you'd reconsider. There was this one girl with long dark hair who looked like a biker. She always wore at least one thing with a canine on it. Sometimes it was a necklace, sometimes it was a shirt, sometimes both. Another was a short, British boy (biker girl's cousin), who could throw down like nobody's business and had a tattoo on his shoulder that he continually scribbled out with sharpie for some reason.

There was another girl who was rather chubby and had strikingly pretty cyan eyes with red framed oval glasses. There was a story whispered that she had been mocked for being overweight by a teacher. Over the week, the teachers computer had gotten hacked by someone who had left a pink sparkly 'MEOW BITCH' and a lot of porn. His house had pumpkin guts spattered on it instead of eggs for some reason along with the graffiti 'I AM A WEIGHTIST JERKWAD'. His car had begun acting up in the middle of traffic and almost caused an accident because, apparently, there was some kind of metal dildo that had been stuck in the engine. Lastly, someone had taped several duplicates of that creepy color-reversed picture of Nick Cage and taped them onto every window of the teachers house. And when the teacher came to school at the end of the week, he shouted at his first period about how rude it was to prank somebody 'as nice as him'. When he was done shouting, he had turned on his computer and unknowingly projected to the class a picture of the same metal dildo that had been in his engine, but this time, the picture had captions that alternated between blue, pink, orange and dark green letters. DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE/HYPOCRITICAL BITCH/SHITDICK/SCOUNDREL. That was everyone's first taste of what the Kids were capable of.

The Kids were intriguing, but mysterious. Nobody really made it a goal to investigate them and their activities. Everyone just sort of left them alone after the weightist mockery retaliation.

As for you, you found them an interesting bunch as well, but stayed out of their radius, just in case they weren't well-meaning. That didn't stop you from having to be around them during class. You had world religions class with the British boy who you were fairly sure was responsible for the pumpkins and graffiti, biology with a goth blonde girl who always had her nose in a book and statistics with a blond guy who always wore aviator shades and was supposedly half-brother to the goth girl and brother to the guy who shoved the dildo in Mr. Fletcher's car engine.

You didn't interact with them all the way up until junior year...

You were sitting in the library, writing a rough draft for your history class, an essay about how technology evolved since the US occupation of West Florida. It was extremely dull, but required an amount of research and focus. You made yourself shut out all of the chatter and movement noises going on elsewhere, and only allowed yourself to hear the scratch of your pencil as you wrote out every tedious word for this drag of a report.

"Yo, can you hear me?" someone poked you in the shoulder, hard. You looked up and found that the blond, aviator-shaded Kid from statistics was towering over you. You froze. You had no clue what his disposition was or if you might say something that would make him deck you. Usually, he seemed to be asleep during class, not that the teacher noticed. Best to stay quiet and see what he wants, you thought as you eyed his sinewy biceps.

"You're in my math class, right?"

You nodded mutely.

"Any good at it?"

"When I want to be, I guess." you managed to say without stammering.

"Aw, sweet!" he sat down next to you. "I don't get jackshit about our homework. Have you done it yet?"

"If you're looking to copy, 'fraid you'll have to go to someone else." you had a vision of him pinning you painfully against the table, hissing that if you didn't let him copy your work, he was going to end you. You tensed, ready to bolt if he sprang at you.

"What? Dude, no. To me, math is so much bullshit, it's like the minotaur himself served this up. Can you just help a guy with a meager understanding of these redundant-to-real-life conundrums so we can get on with our day?"

You did not expect an answer like that. You blinked in surprise.

"I... sure."

~~~

When the bell rang, you leaned back and stretched.

"Thanks, man." Dave said, gathering his papers. "I was ready to blow a gasket over this."

"No problem."

"Is it cool if I hit you up again tomorrow? I still suck at math and you seem pretty chill."

"I don't see why not." you said as you zipped your bag up.

"Awesome. See you then."

He clapped you on the back amiably and traipsed to the door. You had to admit, Dave was a better guy than you'd originally thought. He could come up with analogies that made you blink a couple times and wonder if he really just said that. You'd been scared of him when he first sat down, but now, at the end of study hall, you found yourself enjoying his company.

You followed Dave, and you noticed that some library-goers were staring at you. You didn't have to wonder too hard about why.

~~~~~

The next day, Dave came back to the library. And he wasn't alone.

"(Name), this is John. He needed a hand, too. You don't mind, right?"

You shook your head. You squinted and pointed at John.

"... Color reversed Nick Cage?"

"One of the best and most well-deserved moments in my fine history of pranking." John said with a dramatic whisper, closed eyes and gentle fist pump at the end.

20 minutes into your tutoring session, you got up to use the bathroom. When you came back, you could see John playfully badgering Dave about something that was causing Dave to pull his hood up over the top half of his face while he shoved John away. John laughed, then noticed you as you approached.

"Heeeeey, (Name)." he said, grinning.

"What's going on?"

"Dave was just telling me-"

"None of your beeswax." Dave interrupted, slapping a hand over John's mouth. "Anyway, can we go over the epidemiology one? John still doesn't get it."

"Dave, I get the-"

"Sh." Dave shushed John. You glanced at John, then at Dave, whose ears were red. You decided to leave it alone.

"Alright. Once more..."

~~~~~

For 3 weeks, you and Dave continued to meet in the library. Sometimes, Dave would bring in John, or his goth sister, Rose, or sometimes the biker girl with long hair. Her name was Jade and you discovered that she and Dave had dated for around 3 months during freshman year. Jade was very nice (and kickass), so you had no idea why whenever you saw her accompany Dave during your study sessions, you felt an unpleasant, tightening feeling in your stomach.

Over the weeks that Dave met with you and brought some of the other Kids, you realized something; they seemed mysterious, they seemed like a force not to be trifled with, but the reality?; they were all massive dorks. Every single one of them. And every week, it seemed like something new happened that became an inside joke.

You could admit that you were interested in their unusual escapades, but you didn't want to intrude. You were content to stay in your own little world... free of adventure... free of change... free of friends... Yeah, you didn't have any friends. You had acquaintances, people who were your friends at school, but the last time anyone had actually been to your house was when you were about 10. You wondered sometimes if it was because you had two mothers. You decided that if people didn't want to be around you because you had lesbian parents, that was their problem and you were better off without people like that in your life. Also because you yourself were not entirely straight. Not that you blared it out to the world, but sometimes you just couldn't hide when your eyes lingered on attractive males.

So 3 weeks after Dave began getting tutored by you, on Friday, Dave asked if he could go over to your place to continue getting help with the weekend homework. You looked up at him and blinked.

"Really?" you asked quietly.

"Yeah," Dave replied with a raised eyebrow. "Is your place okay?"

"Yeah, so, um..." you hesitated. Well, you figured, if he wasn't cool with LGBT, now was the time to check.

"I have two moms."

"Okay. And?"

"... Sorry. I just have to be careful who I take home, 'cause shit happens. You know?"

"Dude, it's cool as Antarctica. Also, I'm pan."

"Oh, good. Great! Okay."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow."

The bell rang.

~~~

"Soooo?" your mom asked at dinner.

"What?"

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've started texting someone over the past few weeks, which you never do. And whenever you text this person, you have this goofy little smile and this little blush all across your cheeks. Do you have a crush on a lucky someone?"

"Rani," your ma interrupted. "(Name) is allowed to have a private life."

"Aw, but Chantal! If he brings someone home, I want to be prepared!"

"There's no reason to-"

"It's alright, ma. There... um... there is someone, but they'd probably not date me. That's what I meant to ask. They're coming over tomorrow. Is that fine?"

"Yes," your ma said. "But first, who is it?"

"... His name is Dave Strider. I've been tutoring him in math."

Your ma's eyes narrowed.

"I swear, I've heard that name before." she mumbled.

"Is he cute?" your mom asked.

"Moooom," you whined, embarrassed.

"Well???"

"... Yeah. He's kinda... punk, I guess? But he doesn't set things on fire or anything, he just hangs out with his friends a lot. You remember when I told you about that girl who got mocked by the teacher and her friends royally messed him up?"

"Yes. A little over-the-top and they could've just told an administrator, but I suppose it wasn't entirely undeserved." Your ma said. She herself was a little on the plump side.

"He's part of that group. They're really not that bad."

"Hm," she grunted. "Alright, but if we come back from work tomorrow and find you drinking vodka and smoking meth, he's out."

Your mom leaned over and whispered, "Beer and weed is fine, just make sure he keeps it."

"Rani!"

"Thanks. Love you guys." you said, smiling.

~~~

That night, you sat in bed reading. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." you called.

Your ma opened the door. She smiled in a kind, tired way at you. She may have been the stricter, bad cop parent, but she loved you just as much as your mom did.

"Hey, sunshine," she said. "About tomorrow,"

"No drinks or drugs. Got it."

She gave a weak laugh.

"Your mother and I... we trust that you know how to handle yourself and if you do what kids do when their parents aren't home... well,"

"Mom!"

"I'm just saying, we're going to trust you on this. Alright?"

"Okay."

"Also, there's going to be a snowstorm tomorrow and the roads might be off limits. Sooo, we might not be able to come home tomorrow. Also meaning that your little friend may not be able to leave either."

"... Okay."

"Good night, (Name). Lights out."

As soon as the door closed, you stowed the book, switched the light off, and spent the next half hour picturing scenarios of what tomorrow would be like.

~~~~~

You woke up after your moms left. Outside, it was below freezing, the sky was steel gray and flakes were already dusting the ground. You rubbed your hands together and looked at the clock. Still 6 hours before Dave would arrive.

You did your chores, baked a frozen danish you had in the freezer, read some chapters of a book for English and played video games while waiting.

Dave arrived at just past 2. There was no knock, but there was the sound of something skidding and then,

WA-BAM! "OWWWW! FUUUUCK!"

Something had run into the door.

You ran to the door and opened it completely when you saw the source of the commotion. Dave was sprawled face-down on your front step, his skateboard upside down out on the lawn. Judging by the marks on the walkway, Dave had tried to skate up to your front door. And he hadn't noticed that there was a step.

You crouched and picked Dave up.

"Hey, you okay, buddy?"

"Uggh," he groaned. "I think one of my teeth is loose."

You got a good look at his face. He had the beginnings of a nosebleed and scrapes on his cheek and lip.

You helped him to the couch and laid him there. A minute later, you came out of the bathroom, ointment and large bandage in one hand, a box of tissues in the other. Dave was sitting up, fumbling his papers onto the coffee table. He looked up at you when you sat down and squeezed a semi-clear glob onto your finger. He grabbed a tissue as you said, "This might hurt a little."

You smeared the antibiotic on and Dave winced. When you pulled the wrapping paper off the bandage, Dave pouted.