A/N: My first full out DaveJade fanfic that I'm actually considering finishing.
They were five when they first met.
The boy with the glasses who lived in the shadow of his older brother, and the girl with the smile that could light up a universe.
He was at the beach, his small fingers raking up sand and stacking into a pile. The sun beat down unrelentlessly on the sand, but the wind was cool spreading the mist created by the waves. Dave crouched close to the ground, patting the sides of his sandcastle. He stood up to survey his work, his hands sandy and wet and his grin marred by the gap created by his two missing front teeth.
"Almost done,"
He dug a small moat around the castle and filled it with the warm water. A small flag was added to the top of the castle as a final decoration.
"Now I just hafta show Bwo,"
He looked towards the water, scanning the waves for his older brother, who said he was going to be surfing. After a few minutes of searching, Dave sighed and went back to reshaping his castle.
Suddenly, he was knocked harshly to the ground, sand flying into his nose, eyes, and throat. A sudden shot of pain jolted up his small body as his head hit the sand, making him cry out.
Dave started coughing, his body violently jerking to expel the sand that had gone where it wasn't supposed to. Tears ran down his small cheeks as he started to cry, furiously rubbing at his eyes.
"Sorry!"
He heard the small padding of footsteps coming from his right, muffled by the soft sand. They came really close to him, and then faded away. He wondered if the person left or ran away. Maybe they were afraid that they would get in trouble with Bro.
Suddenly, he's splashed in the face with a shitload of water and all he can do is sputter and cough and gag as seawater enters every single orfice on his face. All Dave could register was the throbbing, stinging pain in his throat and nose. He coughed up a mixture of water, spit, and sand and continued to cry.
"Hold still, my grampa showed me how to do this,"
Suddenly, a hand is placed on the side of his face and he instinctually flinches back, sniffling slightly. Another one grabs his arm.
"Hold still!"
Dave froze there, quivering slightly. His small heart beat twice as fast as he internally started to panic. Who was this person and what were they doing to him?
The grip on his arm is released and he feels a wet hand rub his face underneath his eyes. Suddenly, water trickled down onto his eyes, washing away the gritty sand. He sighed in relief, relaxing slightly.
"Hey! What're you doing with my Bro?"
Dave heard Bro's voice in the distance, and nearly sobbed with relief. He wanted to get out of here, away from the person who was touching and washing his face. He scrambled to his feet, eyes still squinted shut.
"Bro!"
Strong arms scooped him up from underneath, and he grabbed onto Bro's neck as his brother made his way to their towel and umbrella.
The area around him cooled and Dave knew that he was underneath their Umbrella. He tried to open his eyes, but instantly shut them again when they began to sting. Dave rubbed at them furiously, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.
"Whoa there, don't wanna do that," Bro said, pulling his brother's small hands away from his face. He picked up one of their spare towels and soaked it in the nearby cooler, which was full of melted ice.
"Hold still Dave"
Bro carefully rubbed the sand and snot off of Dave's face, smirking slightly as he contorted and twisted his expressions, making them almost comical.. He took his brother over to the cooler and told him to bend over.
"Alright lil' man, I'm gonna dunk your face in the cooler to get rid of those last bits of sand and shit. Take a deep breath,"
Dave obliged and Bro placed a hand on the back of Dave's head and plunged it underwater, quickly wiping off the rest of the sand with his other hand. Dave sputtered and gasped and gagged as soon as his head was lifted, but the young boy found that his throat hurt a bit less, and that he could breathe normally again.
Three minutes later Dave was sitting under the umbrella, slowly testing out his eyes.
"Is he okay mister?"
A small voice came from behind Bro, and he turned around to find one of the oddest things he's seen in a long time.
A small girl was there, wearing a once piece black swimsuit with a white swirly design on it. Her large glasses made her already big green eyes look huge, and her dark wet hair cascaded down her back, appearing reddish wherever the sun directly hit it.
What made her so peculiar was that she was sitting on what had to be the largest and whitest dog that Bro had ever seen. It was huge, with fluffy fur and a wet black nose. The dog panted happily, its ears twitching and tail wagging almost constantly.
The girl jumped off the dog and walked in front of Dave, looking at him curiously.
"Bec knocked him down when we were running," she says, narrowing her eyes slightly at the younger Strider. Bro looked at her, unable to speak for a moment, mesmerized the small girl.
"Bec?"
"My doggy! He's the best but he's kinda big so he knocks stuff over a lot,"
"Ah, I see"
"Bro who are you talkin to?" Dave says, his face pointed towards his brothers voice.
"Open your eyes and see for yourself,"
Dave tests out his eyes, squinting open one, and then the other. He opens them slowly and nearly flies backwards when he sees the girl standing right in front of him, barely five inches away from his face.
"Hi there!" she says, giggling slightly. Dave simply looks befuddled and Bro laughs quietly.
"Who are you?" he asks, still looking at her with a cautious expression. She holds out her hand.
"My name's Jade, whats yours?
Dave gets up and shakes her hand, dropping it quickly.
"Dave"
"Sorry my doggy knocked you over. He can be so silly sometimes!"
"s'alright," he mumbles, looking down slightly. He walks to the other side of the umbrella and picks up a towel silently, wiping his face, leaving the girl behind.
Bro decides to pitch into the conversation.
"Hey kid, how old are you?"
"I'm five years old. My birthday's in December, and it's the best day ever!" she says, swinging her arms out exuberantly and giving Bro a bucktooth smile. Bro chuckles.
"I'm sure it is kid. Are you here by yourself?"
"No I have Bec,"
"I mean are you here with your parents or somethin?"
Jade laughs, a high airy sound.
"No silly, I don't have parents. My grampa brought me here, he's the best."
"You're darn tootin right I am,"
Bro looked up to see a man walking towards him. He was tall, and had the type of build that suggested that he was quite muscular when he was in his prime. He looked like he was in his early fifties, with dark hair shot through with gray.
"Who are you bugging now Jade?" he asks, putting his hands on his hips in a comical pose and staring down at the little girl. Jade pouts slightly.
"I'm not bugging anyone, I'm just talking!"
The man turns to Bro, still in the ridiculous pose.
"Was she bugging you two?"
Bro shakes his head. "Not at all, we're just chillin here. Her dog knocked over my lil' bro and she was just apologizin,"
The man's expression changes into a worried grimace, "Oh dear, Is your brother alright?"
"Yeah he's fine" Bro says, gesturing to where Dave was sitting on the other side of the umbrella. He was zoned out, staring out onto the water.
"Well that's good," he says, holding his hand out. "Jake English, nice to meet you,"
Bro shakes his hand, "Dirk Strider, you guys new here or something? Don't recall seeing you around these parts."
"We moved here last week, got a nice house on Sebastian Drive"
"Oh, then you must be the family that moved in down the street from us,"
The adults begin to converse while Jade stands there looking bored. She tugs on the hem of her grandfather's swim trunks.
Jake turns to Jade. "Jade, why don't you go play with Dave for a little bit?"
The little girl grins and bounds off to where Dave is sitting, nearly scaring the living daylights out of small boy.
"Hey Dave, wanna play?" she says, grinning widely. Dave nervously rubs his shoulder, whispering a quiet 'okay'.
Jade smiles at him in all her bucktoothed glory, and grabs his hand, running off towards the waves.
By the end of the day, they're both sweaty and wet, with sand sticking in too many uncomfortable places and hair plastered to their faces. Dave has sunburned shoulders and new freckles all over and Jade's nose is peeling and they're both laughing manically.
They lay on the sand, smiling at the sunset, viewing the world in all their childish innocence. Addresses were exchanged and promises were made. Jade claimed Dave as her new best friend and Dave claimed that Jade was the 'coolest girl he knew'.
They both fell asleep in the sand, hands linked and smiles on their faces.
I would love it if I got feedback about this chapter.
~Reaper