Chapter 14 (The Cake Lady)

Silence reigned for a while longer as Dave stared moodily at John's fingers, wondering idly if they'd feel any good running down his neck and across his shoulders-

Whoa.

"Hey, John-"

John held up his hand, effectively cutting him off. "It's fine." A timid smile finally broke through the storm of his face and he laughed. "I never thought I'd get 'The Great Strider' to offer to take away his last defense against humanity!"

Dave felt his lips turn up slightly at the corners. "For you John, anything~" He bowed dramatically, accidently smacking the book out of the woman sitting behind them's hands. She grunted angrily and stared up at Dave, frowning.

"Sorry lady." He said, bending to pick up the paperback. "Won't happen agai-"

Just then, the bus hit a pothole and the jarring shattered Dave's cool guy balance (definitely not because he had been distracted by the monumental difference a small grin had made in John's cuteness factor) and he lurched forward, watching in horror as his glasses tumbled from the bridge of his nose and clattered away under the nearest bus seat.

John loosened his sudden death grip on the pole to glance down to see if Dave had faceplanted like it sounded.

Oh, he would never let Dave live it down if he had. He grinned, imagining all the jokes he could make at the others expense. It would be legendary. Even for someone so versed in pranking as John himself.

However, when he looked, all he saw was Dave hunched over, frozen mid-reach for the book that was laying open between the womans feet. His back was tensed and he seemed to have completely forgotten what he was doing.

"Dave?" John asked, slowly reaching down to pluck at the collar of Dave's shirt. "You ok?"

Suddenly Dave bolted upright, hand clamped tightly over his eyes. "Yeah, jus' peachy. Look I gotta get off at this next stop. I forgot something."

"What the hell have you forgotten? And what are you doing?" John raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"It's jus' something important for today. Gotta make sure everythi-"

"You gonna pick up my book or ain't chu?" The old woman interrupted petulently.

"Look lady, I've just lost something terribly precious and I don't have time to deal with all this. Do I look like I'm made of time? I'm no time traveller. I'm only a cross country traveller. Just the regular ole human kind."

John frowned softly as Dave continued to ramble, hand still clamped tightly over his-

Oh.

Ohhh.

John dropped down and stuck his hand under the seat, ignoring the squawks of the old woman as his forehead knocked against her knee, feeling around with splayed fingers. They must have tumbled off when he stumbled. They must be under this seat. He'd find them and Dave would be in his debt forever! It was amazing, seeing such a suave, detached, cool kid, holding his hand over his face, completely helpless on a city bus. Hah! And he'd been so worried; worried that Dave was too good for him, too cool, too smart and popular and handsome.

Handsome?

But he lost that train of thought when his ring finger ghosted over the arm of a pair of glasses and he stretched forward just a bit more, finally grabbing them. He jerked his hand back from under the seat and bolted up, waving them triumphantly, forgetting Dave could neither see nor hear it.

He lightly punched Dave's arm, leaning in and touching the glasses to the tip of the fingers still covering his eyes. "Hey Dave. Dave , I've got your dorky anime glasses."

Dave's shoulders stiffened.

He was so overcome with relief he almost sighed.

John had his glasses. They were right there. All he had to do was somehow cram them back on without letting anyone see his eyes.

Easier said than done.

But a city bus, one with a certain John mutherfuckin' Egbert on it, was not the place for any of the inevitable confrontations that always resulted from slipping up and exposing himself.

It all must seem rather dramatic from an outside perspective, and, Dave supposed, it sort of was. But why set yourself up for things that were uncomfortable and avoidable? Perhaps it was the small, fragile inner voice that worried and cared and feared so much... but that voice, when in public, was stronger than the ironic, hero voice that Dave tried so desperately to project.

John didn't deserve to have to deal with any of that kind of shit.

The little goofball had not cared, not in the slightest. He had said they were cool. He didn't have any idea that mockery and hurt and bullying existed outside of high school. Or at least it didn't seem like he did.

And Dave would do his damnedest to keep him from finding out. For as long as possible.

"Dave. Earth to Dave. Take your friggin' glasses." John's voice roused him from his sudden blazing determination to protect the innocent and he frowned.

"They are not "friggin'" anythings John." He scolded mockingly, hand still clamped over his eyes. "They are my rod and shield. My only true friends in the face of untold monsters; they-"

"Ok ok, we get it! Sheesh!" The glasses were placed gently on the bridge of his nose. "Now put these on so you can open your eyes." John muttered fondly.

"What's the deal with him?" The formerly accosted woman asked moodily. "Got somefin wrong with him? You know sinnin' and all that can bring on the blindness. I'd steer clear of queers if'n I was you."

Dave scootched the frames forward and opened his eyes in time to see John twist angrily towards the woman and point his finger in her face. His surprise at the swiftness of the action was only out weighed by his surprise at what came out of John's mouth.

"Listen here you oldie! There's nothing wrong with him at all! You just read your trash novel and mind your own damn business why don't cha?!" John quickly bent down, snatched up the book and chucked it into the empty seat next to her. "Maybe if you ate less cake you'd be able to pick up your own crap."

She gasped in shock and Dave opened his mouth to comment humorously but John grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the double doors near the center of the bus.

"Come on Dave. Let's get out of here."

In the interest of seeing where this little tizzy was going to take them Dave kept silent. He hadn't seen John indignant and angry before. It was a reaction to be logged into the binder of "John stuff" deep in his mind.

It was kind of hot.

Huh.

AN: THIS IS THE LONGEST BUS RIDE IN HISTORY.

Until next chapter my sweets