A/N: A wild update appears
Summer passes quickly, and It's full of hot days playing in Dave's backyard pool and lazy nights lying in a tent in Jade's backyard, staring at the stars while Jade's grandfather tells them tales of his adventures.
They always fall asleep holding hands.
School brings two new kids into their number; Jade's cousin and Dave's stepsister.
Rose is a small girl, with pale hair and purple eyes. She moves gracefully for someone her age, almost as if she were dancing, her purple sash fluttering slightly behind her slender form and her small stuffed cat crushed against her chest.
John on the other hand, is a bit stocky for his age, with a bit of flab on his stomach and chubby arms. He has buckteeth and glasses, just like Jade, and untamable windswept hair that stuck in odd directions. His eyes were as blue as the sky and he had a habit of sucking his thumb.
They play together, stacking blocks and collapsing in piles of laughter when their towers fall over. Dave likes to play with the drums, Jade likes to draw, Rose likes to play with stuffed toys, and John likes to play with the blocks and construction equipment, showing keen interest in the hammers.
Jade tells Dave that he has pretty eyes, and John overhears. He later tells Rose that her eyes are 'bootiful'.
She gives him a small kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" he asks her, dumbfounded.
"My mama always does that when people call her pretty, so I do it too,"
John pauses for a few moments bashfully before he speaks again.
"I think both you and your mama are pretty,"
He gains a kiss on the other cheek.
All in all life suits them well. The four friends spend the school year together, and before they know it, summer approaches them in all its glory.
Dave's friendship with John begins to flourish that year, and Jade cannot help but feel a bit jealous. She knew she had Rose and John, but Dave was her best friend. What if Dave decided to be best friends with John instead of her?
And thus this thought consumed her five year old mind and worried her to pieces.
Jade voiced her thoughts late one night at the peak of summer during a sleepover. The four of them were sleeping in Dave's fully furnished basement, the only place in the house that wasn't excessively hot or muggy. They were lying on their stomachs on the air mattress, watching some crappy Ghostbusters movie that John had wanted them to watch.
John said it was a good movie.
Dave claimed that John was stupid.
And of course John would be the one to conk out first.
The dark haired boy lay on the right side of the large air mattress, hugging his stuffed bunny with his chubby face pressed against the pillow and his mouth open the tiniest bit. Rose fell asleep right next to him hugging her stuffed cat under one arm and resting her head on the other.
Dave and Jade were still awake, though they were close to nodding off themselves. Jade's glasses were off and her squiddles toy was next to her pillow. Dave's stuffed crow sat next to it, silently facing the screen.
"Hey Dave, I wanna ask you something,"
"Okay," he answers, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Am I still your best friend?"
"You'll always be my best friend," he answers, giving her an odd look. Jade grins widely.
"You'll always be my bestest friend too Dave,"
They fall asleep facing each other and holding hands, while the movie plays on, forgotten by the four children.
They're in fourth grade when someone first comments about Dave's eyes.
"Look, its Dave with his freaky eyes!" the kid jeers. He's a large kid, and from what Dave heard, he'd been held back atleast two years, making him bigger, taller, and meatier than the rest of the kids. The other start snickering and making rude comments.
"He looks like a creep,"
"My sister says that if someone has red eyes they're cursed or something,"
"Oooh, I bet you he is cursed. Or maybe he has a rare disease or something,"
"Ewww, I don't want to go near him if he has a disease, I might get sick too,"
"I don't want red eyes!"
Thus, the childish stupidity goes on and on.
Dave doesn't understand why they laugh at him. His bro always wore glasses, but he claimed that they were for 'irony' and didn't serve any real purpose. His bro said that his eyes were 'really fucking cool' and that he shouldn't listen to anyone who claims otherwise.
Jade finds him moping behind the playstructure at lunch.
"What's wrong Dave?" she asks, wrapping her arms around him. He leans into her hug, placing his head near the center of her chest, on her ribs.
"I don't g-get why they're laughin at my eyes. They say I'm a freak of nature or somethin,"
Jade gets that glint in her eyes that suggests that she's about to do something completely insane.
"They're fuckasses and you shouldn't listen to them. You have the coolest eyes I've ever seen and nobody can convince me otherwise,"
Dave smiles at the anger in her voice.
"Thanks Jade,"
"No problem,"
They smile and walk back to the building, joining up with their friends for lunch.
When Dave see's Jade afterschool, she has a black eye and a split lip. She grins maniacally.
Dave immediately drags her to his house and gets out the first aid kit, telling her to put the ice pack on her eye and wiping the blood from her mouth.
She asks him how he knows what to do.
He tells her that he gets hurt a lot when he's strifing with his Bro.
When Dave's Bro and Jade's Grandpa come back that evening from work, they find two nine year olds and a melting ice pack nestled in the couch, fast asleep.
"Looks like they haven't given up that hand holding thing, eh Gramps?" Dirk says, chuckling slightly.
"Doesn't seem like it," Jake replies with a grin to match.
The next day Dave gets into a fight.
The same kid who teased him the day before confronts him, only this time, he has a welt on his left cheek the exact shape and size of Jade's hand, and scratches down his right. He looked spitting mad and Dave couldn't help but feel proud of what Jade had done.
"What's wrong Strider? Had to get bucktooth Harley to save your little princess ass?"
"Shut the fuck up Mitchell,"
A collective oohhh goes through the group of kids around them as Dave grits his teeth and clenches his fists, ignoring them and walking onward.
"Don't know why you hang out with her anyway. She's ugly as hell with her nasty buckteeth and dorky glasses. On the other hand, she's perfect for losers like you,"
Dave freezes in place, his eyes flashing dangerously. They could talk shit about John, they could talk shit about Rose, they could even talk shit about him and he wouldn't do anything.
But if any motherfucker talks shit about Jade in front of him, all hell breaks loose.
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY SHIT ABOUT JADE OR I'LL KNOCK YOUR FUCKIN TEETH OUT!" he screams, clenching his fists so tight that it hurt.
Mitchell nearly flies forward and grabs Dave by the shoulders, squeezing hard enough to make the smaller kid wince.
"I'd like to see you try you stupid priss,"
And with that he clocks Dave in the gut hard enough to knock the wind out of him.
Dave lands on his ass, but darts back up again. Years of strifing with his Bro taught him how to handle situations like this.
Dave pulls his fist back and punches the ten year old in the nose, snapping the kids head back in a spurt of blood. Mitchell kicks Dave in the shin and knocks him to the ground.
"Why does everyone like a loser like you so much?" Mitchell spits while punching Dave in the arm. Dave simply shoves him in the chest as hard as he can, a snarl decorating his face.
The boys roll around, kicking, scratching, and punching eachother; the small nine year old against the gargantuan twelve year old who'd already hit his growth spurt and looked strikingly like a bulldog on steroids. The other kids gather around them, unsure of what to do.
"Dave what are you doing!"
"Oh my god stop!"
Dave turns around to see the Harley-Egbert duo running towards him, with Rose following close behind.
This moment of distraction gives Mitchell a key opportunity that he uses to his advantage. Before he knows it, the larger kid is sitting on top of Dave's chest, pressing down and ow ow ow fuck he was heavy crap that hurt really bad.
Dave began to cry as Mitchell presses down under his chest. He squirms and writhes, trying to get away, but the kid was too damn heavy and Dave was just too damn tired.
"Hey Strider, you wanna see what my older brother taught me?"
He grins at Dave with an ugly smile, and begins pressing down harder on his ribs. Dave begins to scream; Rose and John watch from the sidelines in horror.
"Mitchell I would appreciate if you got off my brother," Rose says coldly. Mitchell flinches for a moment, but before that moment is over the smirk is back on his face.
"Make me Lalonde,"
Jade darts into the fray.
She digs her nails into Mitchell's back, making him flinch slightly, taking his arms off of Dave. He pushed her aside with both hands, making her land on her ass in the dirt.
"Stay out of it Harley,"
Some of Mitchell's friends step out of the crowd and begin to yell at Jade. Before anyone can really do anything, a full out fight forms, with Rose, John, and Jade furiously kicking and scratching Mitchell's so called friends.
Dave takes the opportunity to pull Mitchell's hair while he's distracted, making the older kid shriek as he yanked. A look of pure fury crossed his face.
With one fell swoop, he brought his fists down on Dave's chest, pressing harder than before. An audible cracking noise emanates from the younger kid as he begins to scream and cry at the top of his lungs, gasping and choking in pain. He had never gotten hurt this badly, even while strifing with his Bro. It was terrible, the pain making every single part of him throb as he gasped for air like a fish out of water.
Suddenly, he heard a commotion and the weight on his aching chest was lifted as Mitchell got off of him. The older boy looked at him with an expression full of malice.
"Thanks a lot you little shit now I'm gonna get in trouble!"
Dave smirked slightly, one eye swollen shut as he wheezed on the ground.
"Good,"
Mitchell laid a kick to the side of Dave's head, snapping it to the side and hitting it against the cold metal pole of the playstructure.
He see's stars and everything begins to blur and oh my god it hurts it hurts it hurts so fucking bad I'm gonna die here I'm sorry Bro I couldn't be as strong as you I couldn't fight like you I failed.
Through blurred eyes Dave saw Mitchell cowering on the ground nearby as three figures stand over him. He could see a flash of purple kick him in the groin, a bluish blob that kicks him in the back, and a green blur that knees him in the face. The world is spinning around in an onset of bright lights and colors as the throbbing in his head and chest continues as he begins to cough and oh fuck am I coughing up blood?
Everything goes dark.
Bro gets a call from the school. The lady on the other side sounds frantic, panicked.
"Is this Mr. Strider?"
"Yeah, what's up,"
"It seems that David and his friends got into a serious fight on the playground. The ambulance is on its way as we speak but we would appreciate it if you came as soon as you can,"
Bro's eyebrows furrowed.
"Ambulance?"
"Yes it seems that two or three children have sustained serious injuries, and Dave got the wor-"
"Fuck it. I'm on my way,"
He slams the receiver down and grabs his files.
When Bro gets to the school building, there are numerous parents lined up outside. He could hear kids crying and whimpering inside the office.
Sitting in the corner was little Egbert cradling his arm and sniffling. His dad was in front of him, pristine white Fedora nearly glowing in the desolate room. He was consoling John, cleaning up his tears and telling him that they were going to get his arm fixed as soon as possible. The boy sniffles and nods tearfully.
Rose was sitting in the corner with ol' 'Foxy' Roxy Lalonde. A smirk was spread across the little girl's bruised up face as she watched the huge ass boy in the corner crying and fuck did his parents feed him growth hormones for dinner every night? Roxy looked incredibly smug and proud.
"Thas' my girl. You showed em' Rosie you beat their asses good. Momma's so proud a' you,"
The parents of the bulldog kid shoot Roxy a glare and she sticks her tongue out at them.
The last of their number, Harley, was sitting right next to Egbert, holding her arm and wincing at the welts and scratches that covered it. Bro crouches down in front of her and looks up at her face.
"You okay there?" he asks, wiping away her tears with his thumb. She flings her arms around his neck, making him let out a surprised yelp.
"I'm so sorry Bro I'm the reason Dave got hurt oh my god I feel terrible,"
He stiffens at the mention of Dave's name as she begins to ramble and cry.
"Hey Jade it would be pretty fuckin awesome right now if you could tell me where he is,"
She led Bro to the clinic area in the back of the office.
It had been nearly ten years since Dirk Strider last shed a tear.
He cried that night.
"Yo Harley you can stop talking now,"
Dave lay down and stared at the ceiling of the hospital room, staring at the cracking and breaks marring the wall. It had been about two day's since he woke up, and most of those two days had been spent drifting in and out of sleep.
Jade sat next to him, sniffling quietly. Her black eye had subsided considerably, allowing her to squint.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so so sorry it was my fault I shouldn't have hit them the day before,"
She was apologizing over and over again for something she didn't cause, and the sound of her crying pulled at Dave's heartstrings. He could never stand seeing Jade cry.
"Harley,"
"No Dave its all my fault you got hurt because of me,"
"Harley,"
"Oh my god I'm a terrible friend John broke his arm and Rose got a bunch of bruis-,"
"JADE!"
And Dave, sweet little Dave just put a hand on her mouth and shook his head. Her eyes softened and she nodded slightly. Years of knowing Dave allowed her to understand his every movement, every twitch, every casual shrug of his shoulder, every smile.
She knew that he forgave her.
She stayed with him in the hospital every night until he was released, falling asleep next to him and waking up with the imprint of her glasses on her face.
They smile and laugh and joke around and it feel so right and so natural to spend time with eachother.
Their hands remained clasped.
I didn't expect that much positive feedback from the first chapter. You guys rock.
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~Pyralspite