high school.
avery didn’t like it. partially because his grades were dogshit, rarely scraping by the 60% mark required for passing the class, but also because he got bullied. an awful lot. it wasn’t even because he did anything wrong or weird. it was just because of his body. just because he was a short, chubby little slime guy people found it okay to pick on him. even the class weirdos looked down on him!
but not d3rlord.
okay, maybe his name was a bit weird. avery didn’t really mind. he soon found out that the name d3rlord used on the common was just a pseudonym of his, because he didn’t like sharing his real name with anyone for privacy concerns. avery didn’t get it, but he didn’t much care, because d3rlord was his friend. considered such a good friend of his, that avery was the only person in the entirety of their high school that knew d3rlord’s real name—derek. ruler of the people.
a german name, because d3rlord was a transfer student from germany. avery found it pretty.
despite the meaning of the name, d3rlord didn’t really “rule” anyone. he was just as much of a loner as avery was, but that was more by choice. he was just this stoic guy in their class who never spoke to anyone, & certainly never removed the hood from his head. he always wore the same exact red hoodie & jeans, & most students—including avery—didn’t even know what his eyes looked like because he always kept his head down.
still, somehow avery & d3rlord became friends. mostly by avery’s initial persistence in getting to know d3rlord better & constantly asking nosy questions about his silence & why he always wore golden gauntlets & pieces of armour on his hands & arms. he soon learnt it was for style. he also soon learnt that d3rlord had an exceptional taste in books, namely the king in Yellow being d3rlord’s all-time favourite.
despite avery’s displeasure of high school, he was a bit sad to hear the end of it drawing near. of course, as predicted, the talk about the prom soon started up. he’d had to explain it to d3rlord a little because they didn’t “do” proms in germany, at least not in the town where d3rlord came from, but d3rlord got it after a short briefing.
the thing is, avery didn’t want to go to the prom. he had no date to go with anyway, & he’d much rather just stay at home & play video games all night with d3rlord. however, d3rlord wanted to go. he wanted to “experience a taste of american culture”, in his own words.
&, avery, well… he didn’t want to exactly reject d3rlord from having that experience, & he also often found himself wondering what d3rlord would look like in a suit.
so, he decided to go as well. d3rlord & avery, just as friends! totally.
prom night came.
avery dressed himself up in the best suit he could find—really just an old tuxedo he dug out from the back of his father’s closet, because they wouldn’t spend so much money on him for this anyway. the prom was being held in some venue near the high school, so he just walked there like the loser he was. on the way there, his mind began to wander.
would d3rlord stand him up? was this just some… joke from the guy? to make avery dress up in this shabby suit to make fun of him in the most important night of his life? namely, however, he couldn’t stop thinking about one thing— what d3rlord would look like, full face & hair, without that pesky red hoodie getting in the way of everything.
avery pushed through the doors of the venue with a slight huff. he looked left & right down the hall, & didn’t see anyone. d3rlord was probably waiting for him near the dance floor, he figured.
he made his way down the hall & entered the main dance hall, & by god was it lavish. it was practically a royalty ballroom! avery nearly began gaping at how high the ceiling was, but he soon remembered his priorities—finding d3rlord.
he looked left & right, &… didn’t see anyone that looked like d3rlord. maybe he didn’t recognise him? that would probably be the case, but he seriously didn’t see anyone that looked like his d3rlord. maybe he really had stood him up—