Musickind

A Homestuck Fanfiction

DaveJohn / JohnDave

Chapter Six

You are Dave Strider and you have not been your cool, nonchalant self lately, and it's all Egbert's fault. He's in the lead in the Cool Competition, and that is just wrong. It is wrong. No one should be cooler than you.

But then again, you're not too worried about that. Really, you're not. For the first time in a long time, you're smiling again. And you're not spending your Sundays inside all day in self-loathing. Not that you do that shit. You're too cool for that. And that would be unironic.

Yet another week has passed and you spent practically every waking moment texting Egbert. Although he's a bit slow to reply, but that's cool. He has a life and a job and stuff. Seriously, though. He's just a concert pianist. He doesn't hold concerts every day! Why the hell does he take so long to reply to those texts? And why is he busy every day? That doesn't even make sense. You suddenly understand shit. And the bad shit. Not the good shit.

Why are you even thinking about this anyway? What is taking Egbert so long anyway? He was supposed to pick you up ten minutes ago. You texted him five minutes ago, but realized he was probably driving and felt kinda stupid. You also weren't sure how to dress this time around, since you were critiqued the last and weren't given any special instructions. So you put on your favorite jacket, a slashed record shirt for old time's sake, and your infamous cool kid jeans. But you're not a kid anymore, so you're not sure if that's still cool or not.

While you're pondering the meaning of life (not really), you hear a honk and look out your window. Fancy Egbert and his fancy car. You had to admit, it was a pretty sweet ride. You also had to admit you're pretty jealous. How did derpy ol' Egbert become rich and famous and you were stuck in this lousy apartment working your ass off every day? The world ain't right, man. You head on downstairs after locking up and get in the car.

"Where to tonight, Egbert?" you ask, buckling up.

"I told you, it's a surprise!" he says, starting the engine. "And I'm sorry for being late. I ran into traffic and just got your text. Sheesh, Mr. Impatient!"

"I didn't want to be stood up," you say, with that same laid-back expression on your face. Not that it would matter, since Egbert's eyes are glued to the road anyway. Dude drives like a grandma.

"And I told you again, it's not a date! Gosh, Dave!" he laughs it off and you smile quickly. "I'm not-"

"A homosexual, I know," you say, sighing. "If I had a boondollar for every time you said that I wouldn't be living in that dump."

And so the conversation proceeds with more name calling and teasing until Egbert parks in an underground lot. You are a bit unfamiliar with the area, looking around hesitantly as the two of you exit the lot. Down the street a bit, you see some flashing lights.

"Where are we?" you ask as Egbert catches up to you, making sure he has parked in a spot where security cameras are watching and his doors are all locked. You think he should have bought a less attractive car instead.

"Still a surprise! Come on, it's over there!" And with that, he leads you over to the place with the lights. As you draw closer, the booming vibration of a strong bass beats loudly into the air. Lights are streaming from the old building. What the hell was this? It looks like a…

"It's kind of a dance club!" Egbert shouts over the noise. You can barely make out his figure, what with the combination of your shades and the darkness and the flashing lights.

"There's a huge fuckass line, how are we going to get in?" you say, pointing to the line in front of the door. Typical dance club style. There's even a stereotypical black guy standing guard. Egbert motions you to the front of the line.

"Welcome back, ET," the guard announces, unlinking the chains for you two to head in. Okay, you are now flipping your shit. What the fuck is going on.

"ET?" you ask Egbert. "You're a fucking alien?" He flashes a grin your way.

"It stands for ectoTherapist," he says. "In honor of my and Rose's old chumhandles, remember?" Of course you do. You gotta' admit (not out loud, of course) that that was pretty sweet. Not the cool sweet. The disgusting yet adorable (did you just think that word?) sweet. Moving on.

The inside of the building was pretty typical of dance clubs. Flashing, seizure-inducing lights, rumbling EDM (that's electronic dance music, for you coolness illiterates), guys grinding on girls, girls grinding on girls, drinks flying around everywhere. The usual.

The scene brings back memories. When you were younger and fresh out of high school, you tried being a disc jockey. But times were tough and you weren't getting hired. Clubs were simply not in need of DJs. Especially ones that were as young as you were. They wanted experience, which you didn't have yet. If only they had given you the time of day. You could have been great. That was pretty much the end of that. Being back in a club was bringing bad memories up, and you contemplate fleeing the scene when Egbert had his back turned. But instead, you ask Egbert a question.

"So what's ET for?"

"It's my DJ alias," he says. You stare at him. Just stare.

"Is that some kind of fucking joke?" You are this close to losing the rest of your shit. He laughs and grabs your wrist, leading you to the turntables.

"No, this is my surprise! And please don't tell anyone I said 'DJ'," he yells over the noise, as you get closer to the speakers. "The younger kids are pretty touchy on that. They prefer the term 'turntablist'."

He pulls you up the stage and stops to pull up the hood on his jacket and reaches into his pockets. The thing he pulls out was pretty much the last thing you expected him to have. It was a pair of shades, identical to your own, but tinted blue on one side and purple on the other. He takes off his glasses, puts on the shades, and flashes you a smile and a thumbs up. You're pretty sure his shades are another show of honor and affection for his relationship with Lalonde. And that they're probably prescription. Egbert is as blind as fuck. In any case, he must have really loved Lalonde. Seeing that pulls a bit at your heart as you remember flashes of your past with Jade. But that's in the past and you're long over that. You try to focus on what the hell Egbert's up to.

"Stay here!" he says and goes to talk to the DJ- er, you mean, the turntablist. You stand there awkwardly and cross your arms, wondering where the hell you could run off to anyway. Sure, Egbert, just leave the cool guy standing around like an idiot. What's more surprising is that no girls are headed your way. You used to be a babe magnet back in the day. What's going on now? You are pretty sure you put on body spray (the DIAMONDS! kind) before you left. Maybe you look too much like a body guard with your ironic shades.

Egbert's still talking to the turntablist and pulls out a CD. He loads it up into the turntable. You've been away from them for a while, so it must be some kind of brand new machine. You don't recognize most of the buttons or functions, but you suppose it's pretty much still the same.

Wait. You just realized. ET. DJ alias. Shades. CD. Was Egbert… going to… oh god.

"Everybody in the club, make some noise!" That turntablist kid is kind of annoying. He's doing that fake announcer voice in that ghetto accent. He's not even black. You suddenly feel old. "DJ E.T. IS IN DA HOUSE." You feel the need to punch this guy in the throat. Who even talks like that anymore?

But apparently, the crowd goes fucking wild, because suddenly everybody is turned towards Egbert and screaming and shouting. You reiterate: what the fuck? Oh god, Egbert flashes a peace sign. That is so old ohgod ohgog oh god. But the girls are screaming, why? YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING ANYMORE?

But then Egbert starts his song and suddenly you understand everything. His fingers work that turntable with speed and skill that rival your own. Okay, that was a lie, you are so out of practice, Egbert's skills supersede your own greatly. And that is probably saying not much, because you never got hired? But enough of you. Egbert was making the crowd his bitch.

You are getting another feeling of déjà vu. This has got to stop soon. Egbert's song was so familiar. Just like your Explore Remix. Was this another remix of your old songs? Then, it hits you. It kind of literally does hit you, because you backed up into a speaker and the vibrations almost knock you off your feet.

You are confident that that is a remix of the four songs you made for you and your crew when you were younger. They were your theme songs. They were the shit. Okay, they were actually pretty lame, but together, it was fucking insane. Egbert is pretty much a musical genius, and you are feeling a bit jealous?

If that didn't tip you over the jealousy scale, the screaming fangirls did. When Egbert was done with his sick beats, the girls were making a mad dash for him, screaming his DJ name. Which is weird, because they're shouting an alien's name, for god's sake!

Egbert was probably anticipating this, because he jumps off the stage, pulling you with him. You are both making a break for the back, where you suppose the VIP lounge is. The two of you turn into a hallway and he leads you down several corridors. Holy shit, how big is this place? You are pretty sure you've already lost the crowd of girls, but Egbert leads you into a room just to be safe.

You two are out of breath. God damn, you are out of shape. You should start jogging instead of walking. And maybe lay off those TV dinners.

"What… the hell… was that… Egbert…?" you ask between breaths. Egbert is also breathing hard, but not as hard as you. You (grudgingly) guess he is probably used to this and has gotten loads of exercise. This is the most ironic of ironies in the whole entire ironic universe. You collapse into a chair, unable to take this anymore.

"Dave, how did you manage to keep that straight look on your face while we were running?" Egbert runs a hand through his hair, making it look even more unruly than usual. You shrug. You don't even know.

"How does the universe work, Egbert, I don't know," you say, finally able to catch your breath. He just laughs in return. Then, awkward silence again. But this time, you're not sure what to say. You're kind of speechless at this point.

"You know," he says, breaking the silence. "It was all for you."

"What?" You look up at him. He's collapsed into the corner of the room, not even bothering to find a chair.

"I took up DJing to find you," he says, elaborating. "I thought you might have become a DJ, so I traveled around different clubs, hoping to find you. But I never did."

"Why?"

"I was lonely," he says without hesitation. "We lost touch and I didn't have any of your contacts. We all quit Pesterchum, so I couldn't find you there, although I did log in some days, in hopes of finding something. I tried looking for Jade too, but I couldn't find her either. You two are mysterious! It was like you guys had disappeared completely! So when I DJed at clubs, I would ask around for you. But no dice. What happened, Dave? Didn't you say you wanted to be a DJ? Wasn't it your dream?"

Silence again.

"I couldn't get a job," You finally say. "I don't think it was my lack of talents. As you know, I am pretty fucking amazing. It was the times, man. Back then, it was tough. I tried. I tried so hard. But then Jade and I needed money, and she was barely pulling through on her end. She became a scientist, but she wasn't getting paid millions of dollars either. She researched some weird shit nobody cared too much for. So I quit music. I took up as many jobs as I could to support us. I worked my ass off. In the end, Jade left me alone. She wanted to pursue her research. Sure, that meant I had one less mouth to help pay for, but I lost something inside of me. I was no longer important. You know that feeling? I was the fucking Knight of Time. And now I'm just some nobody." You basically just poured your whole life's story to him. Again, silence.

"I'm sorry, Dave," Egbert's voice was soft and caring. You wanted to say you didn't need that shit, but something inside you kept you from saying it. "You're important to me, you know."

And you realized it. Yeah, you are important to somebody! After all, Egbert went through all that shit to find you. You almost tear up. Almost. What the fuck are tears? You're too cool for that shit. So you laugh dryly.

"Fuck, Egbert, I can't hold all these emotions!" You laugh even harder, your hand on your forehead. Slowly, he joins in. You guess it is pretty silly. Two grown men talking about their problems like a bunch of hormonal teenage girls.

"Dave, I'm really glad I found you," You don't know when, but Egbert had gotten up and stood over you. He had his hand on your shoulder. That talented hand. You look up at him through your shades. Even though your shades made everything a million shades darker, he looked as if he were shining.

"Me too, Egbert."

[A/N] If you're reading this far, I just want to say thank you so much! ; u ; I've planned about 13 chapters for this fic, so I'm really glad SOME people have enjoyed it! I appreciate all the reviews, faves, alerts, reblogs, and likes! I look forward to writing more!