Stockholm syndrome. Not always used to describe some sort of sick romance between an abuser and his lover. Life was a fucking mess. Especially for Dave Strider, one-of-a-kind cool kid supreme. But most people who dubbed him that title didn't actually know him. Nor the battle armour he wore under his clothes every single day. The thin, hardly stretching fabric that kept down his darkest secret. But what happens when you protect some Albino kid from getting his ass whooped in the courtyard? What happens when this particular Albino is one of the rudest, most shut-in people you've ever met? But, somehow, Dave doesn't mind at all. But there is another obstacle that is thrown in the way of Dave's life. And that was Bro and his numerous, relentless, beatings. Dave never planned to take his own life. But Karkat is too stubborn to let that happen. (TW: graphic depictions of Abuse, mentions of Suicide and Self-harm, blood and gore)