(A/N: Shit, this is a lot longer than I thought it was. My hands hate me now. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, and sorry if there's any OOC-ness)
TG: happy birthday bro
John was sprawled on his bed when his computer began to make silly noises...
TG: hey bro
TG: you there
TG: dont make me break out my sick beats
John pulled his pillow over his head.* -beep- -beep- -beeeeeeeeeeeeep-* He got up and opened pesterchum to find Dave online. Of course. John set his mood to 'peppy', kinda just to piss Dave off. It was amusing. Sick beats? No thank you he thought. He x-ed out of pesterchum and began on some computer programming, even though he sucked at it. It gave him something to do.
TG: john i know youre there
TG: fine
TG: shit be dropping like a dead bird
TG: fallin outta the sky like nothin you ever heard
TG: john wishes he could be fly as me
TG: bitches be wantin my birds and bees
John opened back up pesterchum
EB: dude... go eat a broblerone or whatever and stfu
TG: shit bro its your birthday
TG: we have to celebrate
TG: you didnt forget your own birthday did you
EB: um... come to think of it... i did
EB: whats today again?
EB: like... april or something?
TG: dude oh my god
TG: its april 13th
TG: youre 16 today
EB: I am?
EB: oh god
EB: I'm old
TG: shit dude
TG: fuck just get your ass dressed im comin over
EB: okay
John logged off and immediately thought, Uh oh, I look like complete shit.
John stormed off to the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed quickly.
Dave logged off as well, got dressed in his usual outfit, making sure he had on his aviators. He spun his keys on his index finger as he walked out the front door and drove his way over to his best bro and crush's house.
After John got dressed, he sat down and took a deep breathe. He suddenly got an idea and headed to his father's study to steal a little cologne. I guess I'm too nerdy to have my own, he thought. He shook his head and spritzed on some cologne. He popped in a couple of Altoids nervously, popping his knuckles and waiting for Dave.
Dave pulled up into John's driveway. He took the keys out of the ignition and sat in the car for a second, thinking. He had a few things planned for today, and he didn't want to disappoint his crush. He took a deep breathe and got out of the car. When he reached the door, he knocked hard.
John nearly jumped out of his seat. He was here... John jumped to his bathroom mirror one more time and inspected. He flipped his hair, making sure it was perfect, and then he slowly trudged toward the front door. He took another deep breathe. Chill dude. Its just Dave, remember? Your best friend?... and also your crush. He sighed and opened the door to find Dave propped up against the porch railing, calm and collected, a smirk on his face, as usual.
"Hey man," John said smiling.
"Hey bro. Ready to go?" Dave asked nonchalantly. No way was he going to lose his cool. That is not the Strider way.
"Yeah, definitely," John nodded, trying to maintain the slice of cool he had finally mustered up.
"Well, come on," Dave said, leading the way to the car. He opened the passenger side door for John, trying to make it seem like it wasn't that big of a deal.. Blushing lightly, he slid into the driver's seat, once again thankful for his aviators. He began backing out of the drive way and made his way down the road.
John looked out the passenger window and blushed. He pretended to look around out the window, when suddenly a song came on the radi that reminded him of his feelings for Dave. The song playing was 'Beta Love' by Ra Ra Riot. He smiled. The song was referencing 'beta' AND love? Well...
Dave listened to the radio as one of his favorite songs came on. Whenever someone would ask why he liked it, he'd say because it was ironic, but it was really because it reminded him of the boy sitting next to him.
He pulled up to the mall, and finding the perfect parking spot, uncranked the car and looked over to John. "Ready?" he asked.
John nodded, smiling. "Sure."
He opened the door and stepped out of the car, as Dave got out and nodded back.
"Come on, bro. Time to get this dat- I mean, day started," Dave tripped over his words. He almost said date. Not that he wouldn't love it to be, but god would it be embarrassing to have said that. He turned around, hoping John hadn't caught his blush.
John could've sworn he'd almost heard the word 'date' come from Dave's mouth... but then, he'd and said 'day.' Either John was just imagining the stutter, making something out of nothing, or Dave had almost said a silly word and was appalled at referring to this as a date. Because he was definitely not gay or anything. And he didn't feel the same for John. I'm not gay either... i just... like him... John had picked the latter. Dave was probably crawling with chicks, it didn't surprise him that Dave had almost accidentally said 'date'.
"So whats the first thing you want to do? Its 11 now, and I have something planned at 2, so we can do whatever you want until then," Dave told John, the ends of Dave's lips just tilting upwards.
John thought for a moment, then smiled. "We could play laser tag at the arcade...if you want, that is. I don't wanna be a complete nerd or anything." he joked, smiling up at Dave, examining his facial features. He always looked so calm. John's eyes tilted downwards towards Dave's lips... they looked so soft... STOP! John told himself. Can you spend at least one, just ONE day NOT thinking about Dave THAT way?
John quickly looked away and blushed, but tried to hide it. He'd probably failed. He was John for crying out loud.
Dave noticed his blush and smirked, but didn't say anything. "Laser tag ain't too lame. And its your birthday, so fuck, we're gonna do what you fucking want," Dave said defiantly, allowing his Southern accent to come out a little bit. Everything about John appealed to Dave, from John's cute buck teeth that just barely showed from underneath his top lip, his messy black hair, even his awful taste in movies. And if John wanted to play laser tag, then damn it, they were going to play laser tag.
John smirked at Dave's comment. Oh, how John wanted brush Dave's blond hair out of his face, plant a kiss on his lips, and just run off like the dork he was. But no... he wasn't that bold.
"Okay, well, then, let's go," John smiled hugely, pushing his glasses up.
Dave followed John upstairs to the arcade, where a huge opening for laser tag stood. Dave went and paid for the two of them to play.
"Get ready to have your ass kicked, Egderp," he teased John, even though Dave was already planning to let the shorter boy win.
John smiled as they walked inside. He smirked at his nickname. "Oh, we'll see about that," John laughed, walking with Dave into the depths of the arcade.
Dave did something rare- he smiled. It was small, but it was still a smile. He couldn't help it- when he was around Egbert, Dave's cool would run off and jump out a window.
John noticed Dave... smiling? Not a smirk. A SMILE. Heh... they slid into the laser tag arena, back-to-back, like Charlie's Angels but not girly. They were about to take down some even nerdier nerds today. And it felt goooooooooood.
"You ready, Egderp?" Dave asked, looking at John from the corner of his eyes.
"Ready," John nodded, as he looked at Dave seriously from the side, a smirk of his own on his face. Then they broke apart and began laser tagging the shit out of everybody, and dodging hits like ninjas. After they'd taken everyone else down, it was just John and Dave. They stared at each other. John shot at Dave, but he didn't seem like he cared anyway. He seemed happy to let John take that shot and have him win. Maybe he didn't want all the nerd glory or whatever, John thought, smiling.
"Damn it, Egderp, how'd ya win?" Dave couldn't help but chuckle. He glanced at his watch. It was 12:30. An hour and a half before Dave's surprise. "Come on. Lets walk around a bit. If you see anything interesting, point it out. Okay?" Dave told John.
John smiled. "Okay, sure thing."
They walked around for a bit, looking around and making small talk, when they walked past a legit Italian gourmet pizzeria. John grabbed Dave's sleeve playfully and ran inside. Sometimes he wondered if his spazzy , playfulness irritated Dave, but he didn't want to know at the moment. He was happy. Today was perfect. Dave was paying more attention to him than usual, and that made John feel important for a bit. If only my birthday were everyday... John thought, blushing.
Dave's whole body was filled with happiness as he watched his playful friend guide him into the pizza place by Dave's sleeve. He wanted to hug his best bro, pull him in and never let go. But Dave had doubt, despite his cool Strider heritage. He wasn't prepared to wreck his cool kid persona that severely. What if John didn't feel the same? Dave realized he didn't give John this amount of attention normally, but that's because he was scared that his feelings would be obvious, and since today was John's birthday, it was a total excuse for Dave to treat his crush like royalty. "So where do you want to sit?" Dave asked, pushing these thoughts aside.
John looked around and his eyes fell upon an empty booth in the very back corner. "How about over there?" He tugged on Dave's sleeve as John skipped over to the booth. He plopped himself down, sitting across from Dave. John desperately wanted to take Dave's hands in his across the table and just stare into his eyes, and as the sunlight shined through his shades, he could actually see Dave's red eyes peeking just barely over the top.
"What kind of pizza do you want?" Dave asked the short boy in front of him. He flipped through the menu. There was a lot of stuff to choose from.
John also flipped through the menu, and decided on a lovely, thin crusted, supreme pizza, with garlic butter brushed onto the crust. He couldn't resist. He was a foodie. "Wanna split this?" John asked, pointing to the delightful picture of the dream pizza.
Dave nodded. "That looks pretty good," he agreed. But he wasn't paying so much attention to the picture as he was to the dark haired dork pointing at it...
John smiled and told the waiter what they were getting, and he also ordered two pink lemonades for them, because fuck yeah, pink lemonade. After the waiter walked away, John turned his head toward the window, admiring Dave's reflection. That was the beauty of mirrors and such, you could look at someone for the longest time without them being the wiser.
When the waiter brought the drinks out, it occurred to Dave how much he'd like to share a drink with John someday. He shook the thought from his head. He hated thinking such wonderful thoughts because what if they never came true? After a while, the waiter brought out the pizza and set it down in the center of the table. It looked it even better than it had in the picture.
John stared at the pizza in awe. It was gorgeous. He almost had the dorky urge to take a picture of it, but decided not to make a total geek of himself. After they were done eating, John sat there, fiddling in his pocket for hand sanitizer and breath mints, like the nerdy neat freak he was. After he freshened up, he began to chill.
Dave smirked at the other boy's rush to be clean. It was cute, really. He glanced at his watch.. It was 1:35. Shit. Dave hurried to pay the waiter, then turned to John. "We have to go. I have a surprise for you." Dave informed him.
John smiled warmly at his feet. There was something sincere in the way Dave had said he had something special planned for him. It was almost as if he really had mattered to Dave all this time. John got up and stretched, then walked with Dave out the door in the warm, sepia-toned sunlit walkway.
Dave grabbed John's hand, saying it would help him keep up, and then ran into the direction of the movie theater. When they arrived, Dave pulled two tickets out of his pocket, not allowing John to see them. "So ya know how the movie theater has those days when they show older films? Well, my brother Dirk works here, and I got him to pull a few strings." Dave confided to John. They sat down in the theater with popcorn and drinks between them. The words CON AIR flashed upon the screen. God, this movie sucked. But it was John's favorite Nick Cage movie, and you figured you could suffer through the awful thing for awhile. Plus, John would probably be so immersed in the movie, Dave figured he could stare at him for as long as he wanted without being noticed.
John's eyes got real wide as the words Con Air flashed. He could hug Dave so tight right now... but he was afraid that if he did, the whole day would be ruined. Today was such a perfect day... Even if John was always in the friendzone, it would be okay as long as today continued to be perfect. It would make for a beautiful memory. Just then, he stopped caring... The moment took control of John, and he hugged Dave for a quick 1.2 seconds and then he quickly let go and gave Dave his space. "Thanks." John glanced at him from the corner of his eyes as he smiled warmly at Dave, a blush washing across his face.
Dave was sincerely thankful for the darkness of the movie theater. He could feel his entire face turn red with blush. He wish that John hadn't let go so soon. He felt tingly where John's arms had wrapped around him, and he wanted to hold onto him more now then ever before. But he refrained. "N-no problem," he managed.
John smiled at his bravery, and turned his attention back to Nicholas Cage... although he couldn't quite focus on the movie. Dave filled all his senses.
Dave didn't pay much attention to the movie. He kept looking back at John. Dave watched as the smaller boy's face lit up during certain parts of the film, and Dave wondered what John was thinking when his bunny, which the blond had gotten him for his birthday a few years ago today, appeared on screen. That stuffed thing had cost quite a lot of money, but the look on John's face when you gave it to him was more than worth it. John was just so breathe-taking. Dave loved everything about John. Everything.
After the movie was over, John was perfectly content. The stepped out of the movie theater and John turned to Dave. "Thank you. Today has been great... perfect, to be honest. So... um... thanks," He gave Dave an awkward, blush-filled half-smile of awkwardy-goodness.
Dave's stomach filled with butterflies, and he felt another small smile come onto his face without his consent. "No problem, John." thats when Dave noticed the photo booth. "What do you say we get some pictures? One last thing, to remember today," Dave suggested.
John's smiled widdened, his heart beat quickly at the thought off having pictures of them forever. Today will always be remembered, always cherished. He nodded. "Why not?" he grabbed Dave's hand. Stop being such a scared-cat and get closer to him tonight, before it goes back to normal, before everything goes back to the way it was once. John thought.
Dave nodded and paid to take a set of 12 photos, so they could each have six.
In the photo booth, John and Dave made silly faces, having fun. More fun than they'd ever really had. John locked eyes with Dave, blushing madly.
Dave felt himself turn red as his crimson irises were penetrated by John's crystal blue ones. Dave heard the photo booth's mechanical voice countdown to the last picture, and it gave him an idea. He quickly composed himself, leaned down, and kissed John, right on the lips, his hands tangling themselves into John's dark raven hair. Just in time for the last photo to be taken. Perfect.
In the kiss, John's eyes opened wide for a split second, but then closed instantly as he wrapped his arms around Dave's neck, deepening the kiss. They both knew good and well the last picture was already done, but they were too immersed in each other to care.
When they were finished kissing, Dave pulled John close to him, and he buried his face in the mass of black hair. This moment was their's, and their's alone. No one could steal this moment.