"You seem distracted," Dirk said. He kneeled next to the sweaty, panting boy on the white sand. The two of them had been practicing John's hand-to-hand skills for most of the morning. John, even though he couldn't use his gem yet, was still technically a Crystal Gem in training. Which meant that John trained with a different Gem on a different day. "What's bothering you?
"What…what do you mean?" John huffed out. He was extremely tired and he knew he was going to be sore for the rest of the day.
Dirk took pity on the boy and decided to lay down on the sand next to John. "You've been doing better in your training recently but you did really badly today. So, I'm guessing something's been bothering you. Right?"
John turned his head to pout at Dirk. "Maybe…"
"Do you…maybe…want to talk about it?" Dirk awkwardly asked. Dirk wasn't the best at dealing with John when he was upset, no that title fell upon Jake and sometimes Roxy, but when he saw that something was bothering the boy he tried his best to help. John really appreciated it when he did.
John sighed. "It's just I got these sunglasses for this guy and I don't know how to give them to him."
Dirk raised an eyebrow in confusion. "So why don't you give them to him?"
"Because I don't even know the guy!" John exclaimed, thrusting his hands into the air to emphasize. "I spent my arcade tickets on a stranger!"
"And why did you do that?" Dirk asked.
"I don't know," And he really didn't. He had no idea why he had decided to get those stupid shades for Dave, a kid he's never seen before. Well, no, John thinks he had a good idea about why he had done it.
"I think it's…it's because I didn't like seeing him sad," John said. "I don't know why…"
The two of them stayed silent for a while, the only noise was the crashing of the waves and the sound of the breeze. John has always liked the wind.
"Your mother was the same."
"What?" John looked at Dirk with wide eyes. The Gems treated the topic of his mother as something of a taboo. They tried everything in their power to never bring her up and to answer John's questions as vaguely as possible.
"Your mother," Dirk repeated. "She always put everyone's feelings before hers. She always tried her best to help us get over any little problem we might have had before she even ever thought about hers. You're like her in that way. Always putting others before yourself."
Dirk met John's wide blue eyes, his face still as stoic as ever but John knew, felt, that he was trying his best to keep himself together. Bring up his mom was always a touchy subject for the Gems (more than it was for John) so the fact that Dirk had brought her up on his own, to help John.
John couldn't help but hug Dirk (well it was more of John snuggling into Dirk's chest than a hug) and Dirk happily wrapped an arm around the small boy and ran his fingers through the black curls, knowing that John really enjoyed it whenever one of them did that.
"I think you should go find this Dave and give him the sunglasses," Dirk said. "I'm sure he'll really appreciate it."
"Yeah okay," John sat up and rubbed his watering eyes and smiled at the leader of the Gems. He got up from their place on the beach and ran towards their house, yelling a quick "I love you" over his shoulder.
Dirk smiled as he watched his charge ran towards the beach house he, Roxy, and Jake had built years ago for him. He forgave Jane a long time ago for leaving them because he now couldn't imagine a world without John.
John had run all the way to the Big Donut with the sunglasses, in their case, clutched in his hand. He was gasping for air when he burst through the door.
"Hey John," Jade grinned up from whatever she was doing from behind the counter. "What brings you here?"
"Rose? Is Rose here?" John asked.
"Mm, no buddy, sorry," Jade said. "She has the day off today. Rose said she had to help her mom out with Dave's room all weekend. I'm sure you can find her there."
John threw back his head and groaned. "Thanks, Jade! Bye!"
Jade giggled as she watched the kid that she saw as her honorary little brother run off to do whatever silly adventure he's on this week.
Rose lived on the other side of Beach City so John only really walked thirty more minutes compared to the time it took him to get to the Big Donut.
John always found it fascinating whenever he went to the suburbs. He always wondered if his dad was still around if he would have ended up living up in one of these big, similar looking white houses. Maybe his dad would had liked to play video games with him, or catch. Maybe he would have taught John how to play the piano instead of John having had to watch a bunch of video tutorials. Maybe he would only had been left alone for a couple of hours while his dad was at work instead of days like when the Gems were away on some really big mission.
But…then he wouldn't have gotten a chance to live with the Gems.
John guesses that he'll never know which outcome would have been more favorable.
The glasses wearing boy walked up to Rose's front door. He liked Rose's house a lot. It was a two-story house and the inside was decorated with a very adult style with the occasional painting of some wizard dude.
"Oh, hello John," Rose said when she opened the door only a couple of minutes after John had rang the doorbell. "What brings you here?"
"Hi, Rose," John said, fiddling the case in his hands. "I…uh…I came over because…um…"
Rose chuckled sweetly. "Are you looking for Dave?"
"Yeah!" John grinned. "Is he here?"
"No sorry," Rose said. "He and my mom just left to the airport. They're heading back to Texas, they won't be back until late tomorrow."
John deflated. "Oh…okay, thanks though."
He turned to leave and head back home feeling disappointed that his little burst of bravery had gone to waste.
"Well it would be rude of me to let you leave so soon after you made such an effort to come here." Rose said. She opened the down wider and stepped aside. "Come on, I have some ice cream in the freezer."
"So…why did your mom take your cousin to Texas?" John said around a mouth full of ice cream.
He and Rose were sitting next to each other on some very stylish barstools at the garnet top island in the kitchen. Rose had given him a generous three scoops of rainbow sherbet ice cream in a bowl that looked to be specifically made for the frozen treat.
"Well," Rose said after she finished her bite of ice cream. "Dave is from Texas. My mom had to take him back to finish the trail,"
'Trail?" John asked.
Rose bit her lip in what John guessed to be in thought and sighed before she started to speak again.
"The reason why Dave came to Beach City to live with us," Rose said. "Is because he was having some…problems with his dad, my mom's brother. Dave was in a bad environment so some people got involved and basically told us that if we wouldn't be able to take him in he would be placed in a foster home."
"If he was being hurt," John said, his voice soft. "why does he have to go back?'
"To make sure that his dad doesn't get away with what he did," Rose said. John couldn't see it from this angle but he knew that Rose had that stormy look in her eyes whenever she got really angry.
"That's why I'm really glad that you tried to talk to him today."
"Why?' John asked.
"Because Dave is really going to need a friend."
It had been a week since John had gone to Rose's house, and it had been a week since John last tried to approach Dave.
It wasn't that John didn't try to approach him. He most certainly tried his hardest to get the courage to talk to Dave but that usually led him to stalking the other boy and then having to run back home whenever he was almost caught.
"I'm pretty sure this isn't what you're supposed to do when you have a crush on someone."
John made embarrassed splutters and stutters as he turned back to glare at Roxy. The Gems and John were on the beach, hiding behind a boulder watching a certain blonde boy collect sea shells.
"I don't have a…why would you…I just think he's cool!" John said.
"He does seem like a nice chap," Jake said as he looked over Roxy's shoulder. "A good looking young fellow as well. I don't understand why you would be so nervous."
"It's because John has a crush on him," Dirk said.
"I do not have a crush on him!" John said. "I've never even talked to the guy."
"Sounds like a crush to me," Roxy said.
John groaned and gently hit his head against the boulder.
"Look," He said after he straightened up. "I'll…I'll go talk to him, okay?"
"Great!" Roxy said. She reached for something that was behind her and gave John the pair of sunglasses that he had left back in the house.
"What?"
"Well," Roxy grinned. "You did get them for Dave, right?"
John swallowed and clutched the case in his hand. He looked up to look at the gems and smiled. "Okay, here I go."
He turned on his heel and started to walk towards Dave. It had taken John a lot less time than he thought it would to reach the other boy, leaving him only a couple of feet away from where Dave sat while examining his new little treasures he had managed to find. John shuffled nervously trying to get his courage.
He was about to finally say something when Dave beat him to it.
"Are you finally going to talk to me?" Dave said, but his voice held no anger or any feeling really now that John thinks about it. Dave turned a little in his seat and looked over his shoulder at him, letting John see his own reflection in his pointy shades. "Or are you just going to watch me from afar for another couple of minutes."
"What…what do you mean?" John laughed nervously.
"Well," Dave leaned back to look behind John towards the boulder he had come from causing the Gems to quickly hide behind it, but not before Dave had managed to see them. "you've been watching me from that boulder over there with your weird colored friends."
"Oh," John continued to laugh, feeling a lot more embarrassed than he originally felt. "uh, yeah, sorry…about that. It's just that..."
John took a deep breath before he continued to speak.
"Okay so I saw you at the arcade that one time when you went and you wanted those sunglasses. You didn't have enough tickets but I was there because I really wanted to get Casey that day but then I noticed that you were really upset because you couldn't get them. Then I felt bad because I didn't know why but I really didn't like seeing you sad and Dirk said it was because I was like my mom and then Roxy said I had a crush on you, but I don't! I promise! Because that would be really—"
"Woah okay," Dave cut in between John's fast rambling. "Say all that again, but like, in a shorter and much slower way, please."
John nodded and then swallowed before he took a deep breath and continued to speak.
"I saw you at the arcade a couple of weeks ago and I uh,' He thrusted the case towards Dave. "I got you this."
Dave looked at the thing in John's hands, not recognizing it at first but gasped when he did. He quickly got up from his spot in the sand and took the case from John.
"What no way!" Dave grinned when he saw the shades. He looked up to meet John's eyes. "But why?"
John shrugged. "I just…didn't like seeing you sad."
Dave stayed silent after what John had said and it was really making John nervous. John was about to start apologizing and run away and never show his face around beach city ever again when he saw Dave change his silly pointy sunglasses with the round ones that John had just given him. He did it in a fast motion, so fast that John didn't get a chance to see his eyes.
"Thanks…" Dave gave John the tiniest of smiles and that made John feel like this whole crazy adventure was a lot more worth it. John grinned back at Dave, buck teeth and all.
"Yeah your welcome!" He said.
"I um…I'm Dave," The blonde stuck out his hand for a handshake. "Dave Strider."
John happily took his hand and shook it. "John Egbert, nice to meet you."
"Do you uh…maybe want to help me look for more sea stuff?" Dave asked. He pointed to small pile he had already gathered. "I've never really seen the ocean before so, I don't know, I think this stuff is pretty cool."
"Yeah totally! I know the best places to look. Come on, I'll show you!" John grinned. He grabbed Dave's arm and started to lead him towards his favorite spots where John had always managed to find the best seashells and ocean treasures.
"Aw that was adorable!" Roxy said as she and the other two Gems come out from behind their boulder. They watched fondly as they watched John run off with his new friend off to their new adventure.
"Puppy love really does a number on the heartstrings," Jake grinned.
"Come on," Dirk said. He had a smile on his face as he watched John walk off talking happily with the blonde boy. He turned on his heel and started to make his way back to the temple. "We should head back home and let John have his fun."