Dave felt the familiar crackling of the air, static clinging on him before all of it suddenly collapsed. He opened his red eyes to find himself on a front yard. The sun was high up in the sky, and heat rolled around in waves, almost an unbearable feeling rippling through the air. He looked around the yard and saw a boy staring at him. Dave shifted his weigh and looked back towards the streets behind him, trying to avoid the older child's stare. He was using the term older very loosely here, since the boy looked around the age of thirteen or fourteen. He saw the man walking towards him, a small smile on his face and his black hair shinning in the sun. Dave pushed his glasses up higher on his face and crossed his arms. It was silent, the only noise coming from the soft crunching of grass under the man's feet. When he got closer, Dave could hear his breath.
"Hi!" The man waved his hands in front of Dave, eyes closed and smile wide. Dave looked down; shuffling his feet against the concrete he was on. He wasn't used to the travelling, none the less any interaction that he had to engage in. The man looked down at Dave, trying to remember where he saw that face. "How old are you?" Dave looked up, and raised his hand up, as if he were ready to give a high-five. "Oh, that's so cool! I'm sixteen. Where are you from little man?" Dave looked around the street, at the perfectly white houses spaced evenly from each other, white picket fences and the standing mailboxes, and focused back on the man.
"There are really tall buildings." The teenager rolled back onto his feet and glanced around the yard. When he spotted the tree, he walked over to it, and plopped himself back down in the shade. Dave stared at him, rooted where he was standing when he first arrived here.
"Come come! Sit next to me. I won't hurt ya," he yelled from his spot. His hands patted the spot next to him, and inviting looking patch of soft grass under the shade of the large oak tree. Dave walked forward, slowly making his way over to where the enthusiastic teen sat. When he finally got over to the stop, he looked up at Dave and smiled at him, warm and welcoming. "I just got back from school, finally a graduate of Alternia School. It was so much fun. We got to watch movies, and meet new people, and I got to see some of my online friends." Dave pulled at the grass, listening to the sound the teenager's voice made, not quite understanding why he was talking to him. "Hey, what about you? How is you're school?" He saw the black-haired boy glance over to him, glasses catching a glare so that his eyes were hidden behind the lens. He was still smiling.
"I don't go to school. My brother teaches me." He pushed his shades higher on his face, trying to hide behind his pulled-up knees. The pointed bottoms pressed into his cheeks and made him feel both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.
"You don't go to school?" Dave noticed his face scrunch up, eyebrows pulled into the universal body sign of 'I don't understand'.
"He says it's what cool kids do. Bro told me that cool kids don't need to be pushed around by other kids and cool kids don't get called freak and cool kids don't need to go to school every day to pass if they know what they are doing. He says I'm a cool kid." Dave looked at the young man's face, devoid of any emotion.
"Why did the kids make fun of you?" There was a nice cool breeze filling the space, feeling nice on his hot and sticky skin. Dave shrugged his shoulders, feeling a bit more relaxed. "Did you miss school because of the other kids?" He saw his hands inch towards his shoulder, but they stopped midair, as if they all of a sudden thought of a better plan.
"I don't stay in one place for long." He stretched out his legs and lightly patted his feet together. "Sometimes I wake up with people who look old. Like they came from old pictures. It happens sometimes when I'm awake too. I was just listening to my bro play some sweet toons before I opened my eyes. Bro says it's not a big deal," He looked away from the man sitting next to him, grabbing some grass from the empty spot next to him, "But he says I can't tell anyone 'cause it might mess up something." He started to fiddle with his shirt before he looked up at the other person. "I think I'm supposed to tell ya thought. Just a feelin' I have." The young man looked at the small Dave Strider and gave him one of his best smiles.
"Don't worry Dave, you got it right." He pulled Dave into a bear hug, squeezing him tight. "You want to find out how to control where you are?" Dave felt his heart skip a beat when he heard that. He nodded his head against the man's chest, feeling as if the breeze was embracing him. "You won't be here for long, so you're going to get a quick lesson. You're smart thought, right cool kid?" Dave pulled away from the hug and gave him a grin.
The school yard was pretty small. Much smaller than what the picture showed. Then again, he knows how to manipulate photos. So he wasn't very surprised. Just disappointed. Not that he was going to complain. He was meeting his best friend today for the first time face to face. Him and John, they go way back. Three ironic years of broship. And he was finally meeting him today. He had many faces for that kid. The nerdy looking one from his interest in biology, his musician one from the various piano samples they shared over the years, the geek face due to his love for all things supernatural and ghost related, and of course, his Nicolas Cage look. That one is kind of hard to explain, but that kid admired the man so much, it was hard to not think he tried to copy some of his looks.
He was glad they had name tags plastered all over them. It made finding John that much more realistic. He long ago ditched his bro, although, knowing him, he probably still knows where he is, and now, he was walking through the crowd of parents and students.
Finally, a break in the crowd showed him one person standing in blue shorts and a tee shirt that had some kind of green blob on the front. He had buck teeth and dorky glasses that took up almost half his face. But what stopped Dave in his tracks was the black hair and cold air. He didn't move at all, even when he noticed the kid walking towards him, smile in place like it always was.
He could faintly hear the sound of his name being yelled, asking if it was really him. He could only nod his head at the voice. When the black-haired boy was close enough, Dave pulled him into a hug, holding him tight. He could feel the cold air prickling at his skin and felt the same relaxing breeze that was completely opposite to the dry static that usually engulfed him. He felt John jump at the contact, maybe from his own aurora or from the unexpected nature of the hug, but eventually, Dave felt his arms circle around his back, just as tight as his own.
"Yeah you better give me that tender embrace you kept telling me about Egbert." He felt John laugh against him, chest rattling against his own.
"Yeah and I want that ironic bro hug you told me to expect Dave." Dave let a small smile escape his normally disinterested look, and a sigh left his mouth. "I didn't expect the bro hug that quickly though." They both let go, Dave already missing the cool breeze. John looked amused at him, "Why?" Dave smirked at John, arms crossed and shades high on his face. He looked over to the trees, a gentle breeze rustling the light green leaves.
"You'll figure it out someday."