Okay y'all, this is my very first fanfict. I haven't read much of Homestuck, I read up to Act 3, so please forgive me if I leave out any characters or details. I really love the idea of Dave and Dirk brotherly-love stuff. Not Stridercest so much.

One thing that I feel like I should mention, I don't like a lot of cussing, and I know that the Striders' cuss, a lot. So if you notice the lack of foul language, it's because of that very reason.

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you "How long has it been?"

Chapter 1: Waiting

How long had it been, 6 weeks almost? The past 6 weeks had been absolute hell for Dirk Strider.

Six weeks ago, his 13 year old brother Dave was taken from him. Not by CPS like Dave's social worker had threatened many times before; but off the streets in broad day light.

His little brother, Dave Strider, was kidnapped and there wasn't a damn thing he could do but wait.

Wait for what? Wait for a body to be found? Wait for that phone call in hopes of the voice on the other end was his brother? No, to hell with that! He was done waiting!

He has been waiting for six long, horrifying weeks for the police to do their job and find his baby brother; and they haven't done squat but put out flyers and a halfass newsreport.

Hell, he had gotten more information from Dave's friends than from the police! Dave's closest friends; John, Jade, and Rose gave all the information they could to Dirk and the police. From what Dave's friends had told them, Dave was walking home from school at 3:00 pm. John's dad had picked up John and Jade and asked Dave if he wanted a ride. Dave respectfully declined the ride, but thanked Mr. Egbert anyway, saying that he really need to clear his head. When they left, John had noticed a white van parked infront of the school, but didn't think anything of it. He saw Dave walk down the sidewalk, but what John didn't see was the white van slowly following Dave. When John called the Strider residents at 6:00 pm to check up on Dave, that's when all hell broke loose.

Dirk still hears the phone call that turned his world upside down ringing in his ears. "Hello?", Dirk Strider said answering the phone. "Hey Bro, is Dave there?" With those three words, Dirk's blood drained. "He isn't over there with you?" "No, he isn't. He said he was walking home today." Dirk dropped the phone.

At that moment, Dirk's world came crashing down. Oh no no no no no, this couldn't be happening! This had to be some mistake! Dave couldn't be missing, he couldn't! 'Okay, Dirk, calm down. I'm sure he's around here somewhere. No need to jump to conclusions.' Maybe Dave was still mad at him from their argument last night and was hiding from him.

Dirk basically tore the apartment apart looking everywhere for his brother, but he couldn't find a trace of him. He extended his search beyond his apartment door and was banging on every apartment door on the floor to see if anyone had seen him or heard anything from him. Nothing. He even went to the basement where Dave liked to hang out when he was upset. Nada.

At this point, Dirk was completely out of his mind with worry. It seemed that Dirk's deepest, darkest fear was coming true. That something bad had happened to his little brother. What should he do now? Should he strike out and try to find him on his own, or should he call the police and let them find him? 'Yeah the police! What was I thinking? That should have been the first thing I done!' Dirk ran back up to his apartment and called the police.

The police came, got Dirk's and Dave's friends' statements, took some potentail evidence, and asked some tough questions. "Mr. Strider, did you and your brother have any arguments within the past 24-48 hours.", the officer asked. "We had a pretty bad one last night. It was so stupid, we both said somethings we didn't mean. I-I ended up taking his phone away. We haven't spoken since then.", Dirk shakenly spoke. "Mr. Strider, I know this much be extremely hard for you", the police officer said sympathetically, "but I have a few more questions to ask. And this is just protocol. But sir, do you have any anger issues or have ever hurt your brother in any way?" 'Oh great, this is just great! Now I'm being interrogated and they think I would actually hurt my own brother! No matter how angry I was I would NEVER lay a hand on him!', "What? You think I could've hurt Dave? I would NEVER lay a hand on him!" , Dirk unleashed his anger at the officer. "No, Mr. Strider, it's just protocol." "No, no I'm sorry. I'm not thinking clearly. I could never hurt him. I would never forgive myself if I ever did.", Dirk answered with his head in his hands. "I understand, Mr. Strider. Just one more question. Have you made any enemies that might 'have it out for you'?" Now Dirk had been around, he has made friends at the top of the latter and enemies in the darkest allies. But who would stoop so low as taking out their anger on their enemy's kid brother? "No, none that I can think of right now?" "That's understandable. If you have any questions or if you have anymore information, please give us a call.", the officer said handing Dirk her card. "Thank you."

Unfortunately, when the police left, they called in the Wicked Witch of The West, I mean Dave's social worker. "I knew it! I knew this would happen one of these days!", the social worker screamed at Dirk. "I should have taken him away from you the moment I saw you! A 17 year old could never raise a child!" Yes, Dirk was 17 when Dave was born. Dave was born 3 months premature due to a car accident that their mother was in. She was 6 months pregnant, and someone pulled out in front of her an rammed her. The force and trauma of the accident caused her to go into labor. The doctors gave her an ultimatum, either she would live or her baby would live. To Dirk's knowledge, her last word's were "Save my baby." A few minutes after midnight, the day after Dave's untimely birth, Cynthia Strider finally let go. But not before Dirk had the chance to make a promise to his mother. A promise to always be there for Dave and to never let anything happen to him. Right now, Dirk felt like he had went back on his promise

Right now, it took every last drop of self-control to not scream his lungs out at that woman. But, he bit his tongue, knowing full well that screaming wouldn't solve a thing. "Listen Ms. 'Bitchy', I mean Ms. Vicky, do you have any fathomable idea of what I am going through right now? My little brother is out there and I'm trying my best to help find him! So if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you to leave as you are in my residents.", Dirk snapped. As much as Ms. Vicky, disliked Dirk, she had to obey his order. "The moment he is found, I'll be back.", she barked as she slammed the door.

And just like that, Dirk was alone. After a moment, the silence was overwhelming and reality hit like a ton of bricks. His little brother was gone. Dirk sunk to his knees and let out his anguish.

Dirk remember it all as if were yesterday. Looking back, he realized that he hadn't done everything he could have to find Dave. He let the police handle it. They said they would call with any information. Well, six weeks later and not a damn word! Nothing, all those sleepless nights he stayed up by the phone. All those hours he spent calling every police and news station in the state and still nothing. Now, he was sick of it! It was time he took matters into his own hands.