Firstly I'd like to thank Sassy Flowers for a review that made me giggle, and reminded me so much of Dave. There will be an excerpt from Sassy Flowers' SUPER SASSY COMEBACKS (rated m for mature and no children are allowed to hear them because they do get violently and sexually disturbing). OuO please enjoy and a thank you to all my reviewers who have stuck with the fanfiction this far despite my multiple long pauses. Review if you like, Huss owns homestuck. –edited-

You are Dave Strider and you are going to gut yourself a fish. At least that's your plan until John tackles you're sword arm, causing you to drop the blade. "John!" You snarl, dropping the sea dweller and rounding on the human, pupils narrowed to slits and glowing. The human is pouting at you in the most adorable way, but you're beyond caring at the moment.

You know you should have killed Roxy when you had the chance, and now your oversight has put Dirk at risk. Once again your choices and actions have led to his impending doom, and you've no one to blame but yourself. But you can sure as hell take it out on someone else. Wordlessly you crouch down and pick up your sword, leveling it at the blue eyed puppy you're so fond of. "Get in my way one more time, and by the seven hells I will gut you."

John's still blinking it surprise at your hissed words when you round on the fish boy trying to crawl back towards the water, his bee friend helping to drag him. One swipe of your sword has Sollux shrieking in pain, his wings sliced from his back and he falls to the ground, landing on top of Eridan. Both give a pained shout and you step forward slowly, raising the sword over your head. "I would much prefer to burn you alive, tear up your organs, and bitch slap you till you bled. But this will have to do for you both."

You see a flash of blue as you start the down stroke that would cut the pair in half, and only barely stop the blade in time. John is standing in front of you, no longer cheerful and puppy eyed, but glaring with his fists clenched at his sides and standing over the pair of demons. The edge of your katana is just a millimeter away from his scalp, and there's a feeling you almost recognize twisting in your gut.

"John. Move." The words are low, and dangerous, drawn out and slow. He just shakes his head, cutting a few strands of hair in the process.

"No Dave. I'm not letting you kill them for a stupid reason." The set of his jaw is stubborn and you grit your teeth.

"Move."

"No."

"Move!"
"No!"

"DAMMIT JOHN!" The last pair of words is snarled as you lift your sword away from his head with one hand, grabbing his shirt with the other and yanking him close. A sudden throb in your back reminds you of your wounded wing at the same time, an injury you'd forgotten in the midst of your rage. You don't care. "What the hell are you even thinking!? Why in all the worlds would you think it's ok for you to die for two pathetic pieces of shit like them!?"

John just glares at you and you realize you might actually have truly pissed him off. The boy shoves at you and you release him stepping back with eyes ever so slightly widened. "Dave, I get that you're worried about Dirk. I'd be the same way if something happened to my sister. But it's not their fault that the witches are psychotic bitches with several screws loose! Rather than trying to kill them, you should be thanking them for letting you know about Dirk's weakness here so you can protect him!" You open your mouth to reply to that but he just cuts you off, leaving you staring at him in stunned silence. "I don't want to hear anything about 'it's demon nature, you can't change who I am' buddy!" how'd he know you were going to say that? "You did just fine acting like a normal human and listening to my sister bitch and complain for over a week! If you can do that then you can certainly show some gratitude to people who were ACTUALLY CONCERNED FOR YOUR BROTHR'S SAFETY!"

John is breathing hard by this point, his glasses have slipped down to the end of his nose and his chest is heaving while he glares at you. You can only stare back at him for a few minutes before you lower your blade and look down at the demons beneath John. Both of them have mouths hanging open in shocked awe, staring up at John. You quite agree with them.

"Sollux, Eridan. Thank you for your warning. And I apologize for my… ill-tempered reaction." You drawl slowly, every ounce of your slow as molasses calm from the day John had arrived filling your actions. Their shocked expressions get even more exaggerated as they turn their gazes on you. "John, if you'd please help them up?"

John beams at you and nods, happily turning to lend Eridan a hand, pulling one lanky sweater covered arm over his shoulder to drag the sea-dweller back to the water. He couldn't exactly walk with a sea horse tail from the waist down after all. Sollux on the other hand simply got shakily to his feet, looking from John to Dave and back again like he was trying to figure out the meaning of life.

Eridan started thanking John repeatedly once he'd gotten his fins back in the water and John just smiled, waving his thanks off. "It's fine. Dave's just had a rough couple of days."

You roll your eyes at that. "John, get over here already." You say softly, just loud enough for him to hear and he smiles at you, happily leaving the waterside to take your hand. You feel about a thousand times better with the warmth from his hand wrapped around yours. "Eridan, Sollux. Do you guys have anything for sliced wings?" John winces a little at your request, and you can't help but smirk inwardly, though you keep your face expressionless. Yes, you are quite aware that you are reminding Sollux you just sliced his wings off.

"Please guys?" John adds and Eridan nods slowly.

"Yeah, I have some back in my room. I'll go get all of it, for Sollux… and I guess Dave…" he trails off before diving under the water and Sollux just sits cross legged on the bank, his back to the human and arch demon who had disturbed his afternoon.

You glance down at the human beside you, studying the structure of his face, his bright blue eyes, the buckteeth. The messy black hair and the glasses he keeps having to push up his nose. "Hey John?" You say very quietly.

"Yes Dave?" He smiles up at you and you sigh.

With one hand you reach out to lightly grab his chin, turning it so you can lean down and lightly press your lips to his, then pull away. "Promise me you won't ever do that again. Get between my blade and someone I want to kill."

John smiles and wraps his arms around you in a hug, his arm careful to avoid your wing. "Don't worry so much Dave." You're a little relieved but you also realize that he didn't say anything about a promise. "And Dave, don't you think it'd be kinda hard to bitch slap someone till they bled if you already burnt them alive? I'm pretty sure it'd be hard to tear up their organs too…" It takes you a few seconds to understand what he's talking about and when you do you can only laugh. Firs a small chuckle that evolves slowly into a loud, deep from the belly laugh that echoes off the canyon walls and reverberating.

BE DIRK STRIDER