So this is a Johndave fic revolving around the au made by the awesome artist Ikimaru. It basically is an au were John is Steven universe while the alpha kids are the crystal gems and in my version of this au where Dave is John's crush.
Hope you enjoy!
ÔuÔ
He didn't have enough tickets.
That's his first memory of the blonde boy.
John was spending the quarters he had been hoarding for months at the small arcade that Beach City had, named Sugrub. John has been trying to get a stuffed yellow salamander that was a top shelf prize. He was determined and only needed a couple of tickets to win the salamander, and bring the poor thing home. So when John entered the arcade he went to his best game, and with one last mighty swing of the padded hammer that was chained to the old Whack-A-Mole machine, John had won the last twenty tickets that he needed to complete the five thousand he needed.
Oh yeah, Casey was coming home with him tonight.
John bounced from foot to foot as he waited for the kid in front of him to finish. He held the little receipt that displayed his amount of five thousand tickets proudly in somewhat big black letters. He had done it. All that saving and collecting of tickets was now going to pay off.
John was going to get that salamander.
"Sorry kid you're a hundred short."
John stopped doing his little victory dance to see who the counter guy was talking to. It was a kid, more specifically a boy around his age. He was blonde and had millions of freckles all over his face and neck. The blonde boy was tall, well taller than John, and thin too. Compared to John who was more on the pudgy side (Jade said it was because he hadn't lost his baby fat yet and that he shouldn't really worry about that, because he was a little cutie either way). He was dressed in a red t-shirt and jeans that were folded up to his ankles, which was a sign that his parents were probably expecting another growth spurt to happen soon.
But what really caught John's attention was the fact that he couldn't see the kid's eyes. That he couldn't tell what the boy's expression was because of them. The fact that he seemed to have a great poker face, even though he probably had never played poker before, had caught John's attention. And it was all because of those weird pointy shades he had on.
'He looks a little like Topaz.'
"Come on, dude." John heard the boy plead with the man behind the counter. His very apparent accent catching John off guard. The boy was probably new to Beach City, probably somewhere from the south based on the accent. "It's just a couple of tickets. Don't you think you can reach into your heart and give a poor little boy those sick shades he spent his whole allowance on tokens for?"
"Sorry kid, no tickets no prizes." The guy said, shrugging his shoulders and not even trying to look sorry. John heard the kid in front of him suck his teeth in distaste and watched him shove his hands into his pockets. His poker face crumbling a little, just enough for John to actually see that the boy was actually pretty disappointed about not getting those sunglasses.
"Whatever." The kid grumbled.
John watched as the kid turned on his heel and continued to watch him from the corner of his eye.
"Next!"
John walked up to the prize counter and slammed his ticket receipt on the see through glass top.
"The yellow salamander my good man." John said, confidently. "It's on the top shelf, on the left."
The man raised an eyebrow at the overly confident, smiling buck toothed boy. The man slowly tugged the ticket receipt out from under the kid's grubby little hands and checked the amount before going over to get the stepping stool. He unenthusiastically dragged the stepping stool under where the stupid yellow lizard sat. How he hated this fucking job.
This was it! John was finally going to meet Casey! He's been dreaming of this moment for weeks. As John watched the guy reach for his new favorite stuffed animal his mind went back to the blonde boy that oddly reminded him of Topaz. His mind reminding him how the boy's whole body yelled out cool and collected but also how his shoulders kind of dipped a little and his mouth twitched into a frown. How disappointed the blonde had actually looked when he was denied those sunglasses.
John's stomach started to knot and his heart was starting to get heavy as he continued to picture Freckled Face in his head. He knew what he had to do.
"Wait sir!" John called out, stopping the man from getting off the stepping stool. The man balanced on one foot as he looked back at John, lizard in his hand and a look on his face that said he was completely annoyed with the situation.
"What?" The man said a little too harshly.
"Sorry I uh," John mumbled, shrinking a little bit into himself. "Can I have those sunglasses instead?"
"This was a stupid idea."
John sat on his bed, the case that held the shades he had picked out with his hard earned tickets in his hand, cursing himself for being such a dumbbutt for getting this for some boy he didn't even know while his daughter was still waiting for him to come and pick her up.
He hadn't seen the boy in weeks!
He wasn't at the arcade the next day or the day after that. John has never seen him around the beach or anywhere near the temple before, so he doubted he would find the boy there now.
Where could he be hiding?
How has John not found him yet? It's a small beach town for crying out loud!
What if he never found him?
What if he was stuck with these stupid shades for the rest of his life?
He couldn't keep them!
He couldn't even wear them, not if he wanted to look like a total dweeb by wearing them over his glasses. These glasses that he spent all his tickets and his allowance on will never be used! They're just going to collect dust on his shelves and never be used! John's going to be stuck with these stupid glasses forever!
"I'm going to have to wear them at my own funeral!"
"What?"
John jumped at the unexpected voice and then turned around to see who the intruder was. His little heart calmed down when he saw that it was just Emerald, who had one of those confused grins on his face.
"Don't you think it's a little early to be planning your funeral?" Emerald teased, crossing his arms as he looked up at John. "What's got your knickers in a twist?"
"Hi, Emerald." John said, he had gotten off his bed and had crawled to look out over the edge of his elevated room. "It's nothing really, just these stupid sunglasses that I got at the arcade."
"Oh, you're not taking on Topaz's sense of style yourself are you?" Emerald asked.
He was trying to keep his grin on his face but it obviously looked strained. He and Topaz were friends and John knew that they got along really well, especially when he was around, but John knew that something happened between them. Which still had some sort of strain in their relationship.
"No, I'm not trying to look like Topaz." John said. "I got these when I went to the arcade for this boy that couldn't get them because he didn't have enough tickets. So I got them for him but he had left before I could give them to him. I've been looking everywhere for him but he just disappeared! And now I'm going to be stuck with these stupid glasses forever."
John was upset, he really was. He wasn't upset because of the fact that Casey was still on the shelf at Sugrub, but because he still had the image of the boy's small frown and the dip of his shoulders in his mind. He twirled the sunglasses in his hands by its legs, careful to not touch the lenses.
Emerald could tell how much this situation was upsetting John. He didn't like the frown that the young chap had on his face, it was an unwelcomed and unnatural sight to see.
How can I make this better?
Emerald rattled through his brain, trying to find some solution to make his Johnny boy smile again. He scrunched up his eyebrows and crossed his arms in thought. Until, finally, an idea made its way into his thinkpan.
"John, would you fancy in joining me in a trip to the Big Donut?"
John absolutely loved the Big Donut. It was where he would be able to hang out with his two friends, Rose and Jade, while they were on their shifts. So he had happily jumped at Emerald's offer to go to the Big Donut.
The door's chime rang throughout the small empty donut shop as John happily bounded in.
Rose, who was a pretty blonde teenage girl with short hair and wore purple lipstick, was reading one of her weird books while she was manning the front counter.
"Rose! Can you come help me with these boxes?" John heard Jade yell from out back.
Another teenage girl walked out from around the corner carrying two large boxes of what John believed to be some of the merchandize that they sold at the shop. Jade was a tall, black haired girl with a cute pair of glasses and cute buck teeth to go with them.
"Hey, guys!" John yelled out, catching both of the teens' attention.
"Hello, John," Rose smiled.
"Hi, John!" Jade greeted as loudly. "Nice to see you, kiddo."
"It's nice to see you guys, too!" John said. "You guys remember Emerald, right?"
Emerald raised his hand up in greeting. "Hello."
"Yes, we remember him," Rose said with a smile. "It's hard to forget a green being."
Emerald laughed a little nervously.
"So what would it be today, John?" Jade asked as she settled the boxes she was carrying on to the floor.
"The usual, please."
Jade nodded at the younger boy as she went on to find "the usual".
As John waited patiently for his donut he studied Rose, who had gotten back to reading her book, and started to remember something.
"Hey…Rose?" He asked.
Rose hummed as a signal for him to continue.
"Where were you?"
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"You were gone for a while," John explained. "I came to the donut shop a couple of times and you weren't here."
"Oh," Rose said. She saved her spot on her book, pushed it aside before she looked at John. Letting him know that she was taking his question seriously, which she knew he really appreciated based on how secretive the "Gems" seemed to be with him. "I had to accompany my mom to go pick up my cousin from Texas and bring him over to Beach City. He'll be living with us from now on."
"Oh? Why?" John asked.
"Mm…it's not my story to tell," Rose said.
"Here you go, John!" Jade said, giving John a takeout bag containing "the usual".
"Thanks!"
"You know, John," Rose said, getting a scheming smirk on her face as she leaned in closer to John. "You're around the same age as my cousin. You should try to become friends with Dave."
"Okay, sure!" John said around the donut he had already started to eat.
"Come on, Johnny boy," Emerald said. "We should be heading back."
"Okay."
John and Emerald were making their way out of the Big Donut when John saw him.
All blonde hair, freckles, and stupid nerdy sunglasses.
The boy from the arcade.
The boy from the arcade walked in all stoic and cool and without a care in the world, right passed John.
John had honestly forgotten how to breathe for a second.
"Rose," He heard the boy say, his southern accent as present as ever. "Aunt Roxy wanted me to walk ya' home."
Rose smiled. "Thanks, Dave."