Collecting These to Bring Home to You

by Fallende

With the realization that Dave is in love with John comes the realization that he also can't stay in one place. So Dave packs up his art supplies and leaves town. It's unlikely he'll ever come across people again, and everyone just wants him to come home, but Dave needs to feel the wind in his hair and be alone with his own thoughts for a while. Two-shot.

1. Chapter 1

When Dirk decides it's time to keep the keys out of the ignition and settle down for once in their bleeding lives, his little brother says nothing. Though Dave feels left out in this town and knows his heart belongs on the road, Bro has sacrificed so much and it's finally time to give up something for him. Dave is 14 years old and unhappy, and doesn't feel the same amount of physical closeness to the people here that Dirk does. But that's just the thing. Bro has people here, people other than his overdependent little brother, and for the very first time Dirk actually seems to be enjoying himself. There's the very barest hint of a smile on his face when he looks after Jake, and he's spent more and more time with Roxy and Jane, and Dave has never seen him act like this.

Over the next 2 years, Dave makes some friends. Rose is dark and likes to stick her tentacles where they don't belong. He's been on the receiving end of her psychoanalysis and he's started to become convinced that maybe Freud may be on to something, and that perhaps his dreams really do revolve around phallic objects, simply because the gothic girl has drilled the idea into his head so many times.

Jade is quirky and cute, and it was common knowledge that she had a crush on Dave at some point. Though she got over it quickly and had become one of Dave's closest friends, and he knew he could count on her for anything, she had some trouble keeping a secret.

But closest of all was John. John. There wasn't much to say about John. He was a simple boy, who worked diligently for his father and loved to play pranks on anyone and everyone, though mostly Dave. His eyes were a breathtaking cerulean blue and he used to have this slightly adorable overbite. He was sweet and was Dave's best friend.

And Dave was also in love with him.

With that realization came the realization that Dave simply couldn't sit still. It was a year after this, when Dave was 16, when he decided he was old enough to hit the road once again. So he packed up a few pairs of clothes, the warmest coat he could find as well as all of his art supplies, threw on a pair of hiking boots, and stole the keys to their shitty truck from his brother. He was gone in less than an hour.

The thing about leaving towns was that you were never guaranteed to find anyone again. An infection had spread through the world years ago. It was hardly a zombie apocalypse, though sometimes him and John used to pretend it was and make a game of it. Everyone simply died. The few remaining people in the world were either alone or spread out in very small groups across the country. There was only a population of about 30 in the town Dave had just left, and he'd only come across 1 other small town in all the years he was on the road with his brother.

Dave spends several weeks driving, going on several months, siphoning gas from abandoned cars all along the streets. He manages to leave Washington state and gets almost through Oregon before his thoughts stray to the people he had left. He's lying in the bed of his truck, trying to get what small amount of shut eye he can, when sudden panic grips him. He's not stupid. Food wasn't hard to come by but he'd have to hit another abandoned city first, and blindly heading south could take days before he found anything substantial enough to carry along with him on the ride. That was one thing farms in the town had going for them; there was always food, even in the winter. Here he was so hungry he could barely keep his eyes focused.

But on the road was also where he belonged. Sitting alone in his car, listening to his own musical mixes and coming up with some more in his head, Dave was content. His thoughts could stray anywhere they wanted, from the dangers of communism to the cowboy laws of the south, where he was originally from. He had no obligations: no crops to help reap, no giggling girls whose romantic feelings he had to ignore. There was only himself, his never ending thoughts, and his sketches and photographs.

But food was always a problem. And he had to find some soon.

The next day he comes across a small cornfield owned simply by an old lady. She calls herself Nanna and feeds him almost immediately after Dave nearly passses out on her porch. It's not much, just a small bit of cornbread and some steamed carrots, but it's enough to fill a stomach.

Dave spends the next week and half working for her in order to pay back his debt. She's a good cook and compliments on the honest, quick work. It's not as if he hasn't been getting all his food from a farm for the past 2 years. He knows his way around tills and horses. Dave can farm just as well as the rest of them. She continues to feed him good meals and Dave is almost reluctant to leave, but he misses the open road and the click of his camera's shutter, and he needs things to photograph. So Dave apologizes and Nanna simply laughs, that trilling Hoohoo thing that she does, and Dave is once again starting his vehicle and grinding the pavement beneath his wheels.

It's another few weeks before Dave manages to find a library with working internet. He instantly signs in to pesterchum. Phones don't work anymore, but if one looks hard enough there are still some working computers with internet. And there is always at least 1 person from the town online.

Lucky for Dave, it's been 3 and a half months he's been gone and the first person he'll hear from again is Karkat.

- turntechGodhead began pestering carcinoGeneticist at 14:02 -

TG: sup

CG: YOU
CG: YOU UNBELIEVABLE ASSHOLE
CG: YOU UNGRATEFUL WRIGGLER DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THAT SCUMBAG YOU CALL A BROTHER
CG: I'VE NEVER SEEN A GROWN MAN WHINE THE WAY THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A MAN HAS

TG: so bro misses me then?
TG: surprising

CG: WE ALL MISS YOU FUCKHEAD
CG: WHAT THE FUCK. WE THOUGHT YOU WERE MISSING, DRAGGED OUR FEET THROUGH MUD AND LEAVES FOR DAYS LOOKING FOR YOUR SMELLY ASS
CG: THOUGH ADMITTEDLY IT WOULD HAVE GONE FASTER IF ANY OF US COULD HAVE USED OUR TINY SHRIVLED FUCKING THINKPANS LONG ENOUGH TO NOTICE THE TRUCK WAS FUCKING GONE

TG: you said it, not me

CG: SHUT YOUR TRAP FOR A FEW MINUTES HERE WHILE I RANT ANGRY GREY LETTERS AT YOUR UNMOVING FACE
CG: WHERE DO YOU GET OFF LEAVING AND NOT BLEATING A SINGLE THING FROM YOUR BIG GOAT MOUTH
CG: I GET THAT YOU AND YOUR OTAKU BROTHER HAD A LONER THING GOING
CG: BUT PEOPLE HERE CARE ABOUT YOU. YOUR BROTHER CARES ABOUT YOU.
CG: JOHN'S FACE WAS LEAKING FUCKING RIVERS. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP
CG: HALF THE TOWN CRIED

TG: im flattered
TG: but like you said, got the whole loner thing going
TG: guess I shoulda told the egbert
TG: boy can barely make it through the day without my beautiful ass to keep him company
TG: tell him im sorry

CG: WHY DON'T YOU TELL HIM YOURSELF FUCKWAD

TG: cant, gotta hit the road
TG: it calls to me
TG: sweet song and a dull melody that I cant get out of my head
TG: wont be okay until there are road lines passing beneath my feet

CG: WAIT
CG: YOU TOOL

- turntechGodhead ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist at 14:25 -

- ectoBiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at 14:27 -

EB: dave?
EB: fuck

He's raided more grocery stores than he can count on 2 hands. Lucky for Dave, there's always doritos. If there was one thing in the world that can feed his artistic muse, it's doritos. He's basically been living on those and canned peaches (because those fuckers can last forever) for an indiscernible amount of months. Somewhere in this conglomerate of time he managed to befriend a stray crow, which he drops stale cheerios from time to time. He filled an entire sketchbook with that crow, soaring over mountains or pecking at water. It wasn't hard to find another, which he's already started in on. There's also many drawings of John. Perhaps too many. Dave ends up tearing most of them out.

The damn crow has a bad habit of picking up these discarded papers and building a nest out of them in the corner of the truck. Dave doesn't mind but he thinks John might not appreciate becoming some bird's shit hole.

He reckons it's been about 8 months. He's been driving aimlessly for about 8 months and he must be somewhere in the middle of California. He's found some trinkets in the places he's visited; a few books that Rose would like, some colored rubber bands shaped like sea creatures he's sure Jade can find some use for. Dave does his best to stay away from picking up anything that would remind him of John, but he found a pair of trick handcuffs and he just knew that with these, Egbert's prankster gambit would skyrocket. All of these items are thrown in the tied down trunk in the bed where he keeps his food.

Theres a blanket draped across his lap, and although it hasn't snowed in California yet, that doesn't mean his Texas blood doesn't find it cold. Something beeps on the dashboard and when Dave looks down, he finds the tank is nearly empty. Theres some stray cars around him and he pulls over to siphon what he can from them. If he's lucky he can get half a tank.

He's got a tube shoved into the gas tank of a ford focus when he hears the crunch of footsteps. Someone's running at him, and they certainly weren't looking for a hug. Flashstepping quickly from the car, Dave whips around and finds a knife in the space he had previously occupied. A man with a vicious scar across his face is scowling at him. Dave tenses and instantly falls into a battle stance.

The battle is quick and the stranger has a weapon, but Dave's been strifing with his brother for so long that no highway robber is going to get the best of him. The highwayman is down in a few minutes and Dave's staring into his eyes without his trademark glasses to hide his face. They must have slipped off during the fight. Still, he conveys as much danger into his blood red eyes as he can, and the robber gets the lesson. Dave reluctantly takes his weight off the man's neck.

He's introduced to the man, named Jack Noir. Oddly enough, the man offers to share what he has so long as Dave shares his, and introduces him to his ragtag gang. There are 3 others in the group, and they've been stealing people blind for years. Dave's no fool, and he keeps his stuff safe, but he stays with him for more time than he'd like to admit. He's also become an accomplice on some of their robberies and he's not too proud of that, but it's not as if he hasn't been stealing stuff from abandoned cities this whole time. Still, it's different to take from people and after what he considers to be too long, he accumulates a full tank of gas and ditches the men.

Jack Noir had actually been a pretty badass dude, and Dave learned some stuff about survival from watching him hunt animals and take roadkill. The thought of eating dead forest critters disturbs him at first but watching the midnight crew do what they had to for survival had toughened Dave's skin, and he finds his stomach isn't constantly gnawing with hunger on the roads anymore.

It's been just about a year, and Dave knows his next priority is to find internet. It's been too long since he contacted anyone from the town. It's about time they heard from him.

- turntechGodhead began pestering timeaeusTestified at 18:46 -

TG: sup bro
TG: cant believe your actually on
TG: been a while huh

TT: lil man
TT: sure has been
TT: what with you driving off into the sunset, not breathing a word

TG: yeah, guess i really am still living in your shadow huh

TT: nahh
TT: if that were the case youd have settled down here with me
TT: So hows the open road treating you again?

TG: oh, you know, same as always
TG: made friends with a crow and then accidentally ran it through with one of your shitty swords
TG: kicked it with some highwaymen, broke some laws that dont exist anymore
TG: actually i dont really wanna talk about that one

TT: david strider, enemy of the state

TG: the ladies are digging it
TG: cant keep their grubby paws off me, flooding from the left and the right
TG: hope your okay with lots of babies

TT: lil man, lets not pretend were not raging homos

TG: yeah okay
TG: kinda wish I still had all your sweet mixing gear, came up with so much sweet stuff in my head
TG: as it is, ive been listening to our same shit on repeat for the last year

TT: want me to find egbert?

TG: yeah

- timeaeusTestified ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 17:02 -

Dave feels his heartbeat speed up. John. It's been too long, and yet he still remembers the boy's voice. As if he could ever forget.

Dave doesn't even notice he's been holding his breath until John's chumhandle lights up on the computer screen. Still, he waits for John to message him first. Don't want to seem desperate.

- etcoBiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at 17:08 -

EB: so the elusive man finally shows himself

TG: sup dude

EB: sup yourself
EB: I'm not the one whose been living on the road for the past year

TG: oh you know, working for old Nannas, befriending a crow, photographing some mountains
TG: joining a band of highway robbers
TG: sketching some sunsets and writing shitty raps about your dorky ass in my notebooks
TG: being a real adventurer unlike your stupid cousin

EB: hey, Jake's pretty cool
EB: but yeah your life sounds a lot cooler right now

TG: well of course it does, I actually go out and do shit with it

EB: don't you get lonely?

TG: are you fucking kidding me
TG: striders dont get lonely we have our artistic genius to keep us company

EB: you said earlier you befriended a crow

TG: wow okay
TG: just
TG: i also said an old lady and a band of robbers
TG: and anyways i like being on my own most of the time

EB: don't you miss us?

TG: nahh
TG: you forget ive been on the road most of my life
TG: so longs I got somewhere to drive and something to draw im content

EB: you miss me though
EB: I know you miss me you sorry ass
EB: and I miss your sorry ass too.

TG: yeah yeah lets not throw down a feelings jam
TG: what about you how you been

EB: farming, uggh.
EB: met a girl a few months back
EB: she's my new pranking 'muse', as you would put it

Dave can practically feel the new hole in his heart forming. A girl. And she's inspired his 'pranking muse'.

TG: a girl?

EB: her name's Casey. stumbled into town a while back.
EB: she's cute. bubbly personality. I think you'd like her.
EB: she's got this ridiculously orange hair that she keeps in pigtails

TG: sounds cool

EB: hey dave?
EB: when are you coming back?
EB: you should come back soon

His fingers still at the keyboard. It takes him too long to respond. He knows Egbert must be growing anxious back at the town, but his mind is stuck on this new girl. John's got himself a girl.

TG: nahh man
TG: havin too much fun
TG: us striders need to feel the wind in our hair

EB: your brothers still here

TG: i cant come back yet

This time John delays his response. Dave sits and waits patiently. It's a shitty metaphor, but Dave knows he'll wait as long as it takes.

EB: fine
EB: do your silly art thing
EB: I hope you're bringing me back stuff

TG: you bet bro
TG: got a sick pair of trick handcuffs with your name on them

- turntechGodhead ceased pestering ectoBiologist at 17:40 -

- ectobiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at 17:41 -

EB: and there you go again, without saying goodbye

- ectoBiologist ceased pestering turntechGodhead at 17:41 –

Dave spends the next few days aggressively pushing a certain raven haired boy and his new girlfriend out of his mind. He drives faster than he normally would and doesn't stop to admire scenery that would normally draw him in for a sketch or photograph or two. Instead the blonde pushes the truck onwards.

Cities are usually as empty as they come but this one isn't. Infact, Dave would imagine there are nearly 200 people holed up in San Francisco. It's the largest amount of human beings he's seen in one place, and likely the largest he's ever going to see again. It's been months since he's had any sort of contact, human being or animal, and he's actually a little relieved to be able to hear voices again. The one in his head was getting rather repetitive.

People are asking him where he'd like to stay as if they're expecting him to join them. Dave guesses people must join this city often, as really, who would turn down something like that? There's more to do here than anywhere else he's ever been and he would be stupid to leave. But stupid he is. Still, he pawns off some CDs from a lady in town. He needs new music in his truck.

John would probably like it here. He's always been a fan of people, has never had a problem making friends. Everyone in town had loved him, cherished him dearly. Even Dave himself had. Still cherishes him.

John and his new girlfriend probably would have stayed. But Dave Strider is a loner, and he leaves after just a few short days.

---

AN:/ This will be a two-shot. Part 2 is already halfway done.
In my headcannon Dave is actually a pretty artistic dude when he isn't screwing around, and when he isn't babbling he's also kind of a loner. So here you go.
Cover image drawn by me. I have a billion and one HS sketches and about 3 pieces on dA, fallende-feder da, you should check them out.