Red Blood, Red Feelings [Humanstuck John x Karkat]

Chapter 1

John was a tall, scrawny kid, with jet black hair and electric blue eyes that were tamed by thick glasses, resting on a rather long (but not unattractively so) nose. His teeth were slightly bucktoothed, but they'd eased down a bit thanks to his braces, which were removed about a month after leaving eighth grade. I mean, they still were bucktoothed, but not in the old incredibly-geeky way - more of a slightly admittedly-cute way perhaps. As cute as nerdy can get, that is. 

But aside from the fact that this kid was okay-looking, there are far more important matters at hand. It was his first day of high school, at a new school, a public school. One where he knew basically nobody, aside from his friends who would be entering with him. Oh - that's right! He was supposed to meet Dave and Jade at the bus stop. Hurrying up and finishing his breakfast - simple cereal - John threw his backpack over his thin shoulder and dashed out the door, not bothering to say goodbye to his father, who was probably still asleep.

Skidding to a halt at the bus stop, he found Dave waiting. 

"Hey, man," Dave greeted him, not showing much expression - as usual. He was hidden behind his aviator shades, which he wore so often that John had forgotten the color of his eyes. The only giveaways of who he was was his bright blonde hair, and his white red-sleeved shirt with a record plastered on it. (No, not literally plastered.)

"Hi Dave," John smiled weakly, still slightly tired out from running the whole way there. "Where's Jade?" Jade was John's cousin - so don't get the wrong idea about his immediate noticing her absence.

"Dunno man, I think Rose said something about her not feeling so hot the other day."

John nodded, picturing their Pesterchum conversation - Pesterchum was a sort of chat application where the four talked to eachother often. John knew that Rose, Dave's sister with a different last name (their parents were divorced), was out on vacation or something in Washington, D.C. - sounds like a real fun vacation.

After a while of pointless chatting, they heard footsteps and wheeled around to face a complete stranger. Oh, great. It was a girl with sleek red glasses, and short choppy black hair that curled up and outwards at the tips. She had a red scalemate backpack that was balanced evenly on both of her shoulders, and licked her lips with a nearly-pointed tongue as she approached the bus stop, as if tasting the brittle morning air. 

When she reached the bus stop, she sniffed her nose in a strong fashion, as if collecting the scent. Grinning to reveal slightly sharp teeth, she finally opened her mouth to break the silence.

"Hi. Are you two new here?"

Glancing at eachother oddly, or at least John glacing at Dave, - it's unknown whether or not Dave returned the look from behind his aviators - John slowly opened his mouth. "Um, yeah," he stuttered slightly, studying the girl suspiciously. He wasn't used to anyone dressing like that in his private school. Well, of course they had to wear uniforms so, scratch that. But it didn't seem like anything he remembered from his old school before St. Michael's.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Terezi, and you are?" She stuck out her hand, and John awkwardly shook it, with Dave only emitting a small grunt as he kept his expression flat and faced the road where the bus would be coming from.

"Um, I'm John, and this is is my friend Dave," he motioned at the blank-faced boy who showed no reaction to the mention of his name - as usual. 

"Nice to meet you Dave!" Terezi reached for Dave's hand, shaking it as Dave let her limply. Dave just nodded. It was normal for him to act all cool all the time, and John could tell he seemed slightly irritated with this girl already.

"Don't mind him," John spoke to her, finally forming a smile. "He's just quiet sometimes." Dave again showed no reaction, at least for about ten seconds until he finally parted his lips to speak.

"Bus's coming." 

Terezi stepped aside to let Dave and John board the bus first, and they took a seat together in the middle of the bus, which was mostly empty except for the sound of a pencil scraping a paper coming from somewhere near the front. Ignoring it, Terezi plopped herself down in the seat right in front of the two. Spinning around to face them, she leaned over the seat and once more grinned down at them.

"I like your glasses," she told Dave, earning a muttered 'thanks' in return. After a sort of awkward pause as Terezi grinned at Dave and he stared out the window, John cleared his throat.

"I like yours too," Dave finally said something, nodding at Terezi's red shades. 

Terezi smiled, pushing them up a bit. "Thanks to you too. I'm blind, you know." 

What a very odd thing to suddenly blurt out, especially since it was obvious she saw them at the bus stop and in their seat.

As if sensing their thoughts, she quickly explained, "I use my nose to smell colors - and sometimes my taste, but I don't think you guys want me licking you!" She pointed to her tongue and laughed, wiggling it around.

"Uh, yeah, that's cool," John tried to socialize, but he was overall just an awkward person. "How do you even do that?"

"It's not something that's easy to explain," Terezi started, then the bus came to a stop.

A muscular boy with long dark hair boarded, taking a seat in the far back. At the next stop, a slightly plump girl with magenta glasses and curly black hair got on the bus, followed by her neighbor, a hipster-seeming guy with black hair that had a noticeable purple highlight going straight through the center and thick 'nerd' glasses framing his eyes. He sat down next to her, trying to strike up a conversation. The girl seemed uninterested, but politely talked to him anyways. At the last stop, another two neighbors boarded. The first was a girl with dark brown-red long wavy hair and slightly bagged eyes that seemed tired and distant. She wore a long gray skirt and practically floated down the aisle of the bus. Just after she got on, a thin and slightly short boy with glasses that were red on one side and blue on the other followed and sat down next to her. 

John noted how everyone here seemed so different than anyone he had ever met. He hoped he would fit in, except he got the idea nobody here fit in with eachother. When the bus finally stopped at the school, he observed it was much smaller than he'd expected, and he only saw a tiny amount of students entering the school - it was the tiniest public school he'd been to, but to be honest, he sort of preferred it that way with his antisocial tendencies. Don't get me wrong, he was an optimistic and friendly person, but when first getting to know people he was sort of shy sometimes. He usually opened up within the next day or two, however. 

Holding his breath, he backed out of the seat letting Dave out first, then followed him out of the bus and into the school doors. He wondered if he'd make any good friends here and if maybe he'd finally find a girlfriend to impress his dad. Forcing a big geeky smile on his face, he made his way through the entrance, hoping for the best.