well here i am. more than a year later. a lot has happened in the last year (i have been living and teaching in china for the past seven months) but as i said before, i am absolutely not giving up on this project! if you are new, thank you for reading! if you are still here after all this time, i love you so much. happy 4/13!
thanks to the lovely reviewers: heroscorner, maidofstrife, obsessedStuck, PandasGoBOOMxoxo, Midnight-Dino, LyssiLuvr, bootyface, Jaysta the stalker, seffa, Littledove, kodokuaga, Ninistuck, pendaly, Bitblondetoday, sachi-sama, CanadianCold, Witch0fTime, The chick with no fucking pen, Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, jenkin, SparrowBlaze, Smexygecko, LunaTheRuler, crazyyaoigirl123355, Watermelin, moses mang 7, missy41881, flightlessnightmare, isis424, and of course all of the anons.
without further ado, here is chapter 12
The Figurehead of Queer Justice
Still Totally Magical
At 5:30 in the morning the loud text alert on John's PDA rang loud through his room, multiple times in quick succession. He blinked his eyes open in confusion, sleep still clinging to his consciousness. He blindly reached for the phone in his sheets and after some aimless rummaging his hand closed around it and brought it to his face, squinting into the sudden brightness.
–- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] -
TG: isnt it like illegal to be up at this godawful hour
TG: how can an airport be so crowded at this time
TG: suddenly i understand why they tell you to arrive at the airport 2 hours early
TG: anyways youre probably still sleepin just wanted to let you know bro and i got to the airport and im gonna go through security soon and stuff
TG: not looking forward to the inevitable demand for me to remove my shades
TG: dont these security goons know that ive got an image to uphold
TG: theres no respect here egbert
Despite the early hour and how tired John still was (he admittedly was unable to go to sleep early because he was too excited), he smiled sleepily at the barrage of messages. Very slowly, he managed to type out a reply.
EB: dave, if i didn't know any better i'd say you're nervous.
EB: do you not like flying?
There was a long silence then, and though it would have been hilarious to assume he'd pegged it perfectly and now Dave was flustered and trying to think of a witty response, chances are he actually was going through security and his phone was now being scanned by the TSA.
A rush of butterflies fluttered in his stomach then, now that consciousness was returning to him. Dave was at the airport. Dave was going to be arriving really soon. His heart did a lot of weird acrobatics and pretty effortlessly wiped away the haze of sleep. He sat up and nearly jumped when his phone beeped again.
TG: how dare you insinuate anything of the sort
TG: i should be suing for libel while were at that dumb courthouse
TG: one second youll be winning against those dbags and then the next
TG: oops looks like john egbert has been found guilty for spreading terrible lies and falsifications regarding one dave strider
TG: brought to riches and then bankrupted all in one day
TG: what a harsh world we live in
TG: also sorry if i woke you up
TG: its still hella early there you should go back to sleep
EB: i don't know if i can!
TG: what why
TG: youve got hours til you have to pick me up
TG: take advantage of the sleeping time bro
TG: get more sleep on my exhausted behalf
EB: well now that i'm thinking about the fact that you're at the airport i'm way too excited to go back to sleep!
EB: and besides it's pretty obvious you're nervous, so wouldn't it be better if i stayed up and talked to you until you have to board the plane?
TG: ...
TG: that would be nice
TG: not that im nervous or anything but like
TG: i always like talking to you so
EB: uh huh, dave. sure.
TG: stfu
John laughed and leaned back into his pillows. He stayed there for the next hour, trying to shoot the shit with his boyfriend as well as he could to keep him distracted. It seemed to work pretty well. Unless Dave had suddenly managed to learn how to pretend to not be a nervous wreck, he actually seemed pretty relaxed by the time he had to board.
But when the messages stopped coming John's tiredness caught up to him and he slowly dozed back off, his phone lying on his chest.
A couple hours later found Dad knocking on his door. John tried to pull himself out of the dream he'd been having as Dad poked his head in. "I made pancakes if you're hungry," he offered to his bleary son. John nodded and sat up, causing his phone to fall into his lap. He blinked sleepily and abandoned it on his bed (seeing as Dave couldn't text him from the air anyways), padding after Dad to the kitchen.
It was very clear upon entering the kitchen that pancakes weren't all Dad had prepared. Cakes and cupcakes lined the counter space and took up most of the table except for a small space at the end reserved for John's plate. He almost laughed. Even if Dave refused to believe that his Dad was an evil baking mastermind over the internet, soon enough he would know exactly what John meant when he said it was Too Much.
"How are you feeling, son?" Dad asked as he continued icing another cake next to John's plate. John grinned a little, his stomach turning in nervous excitement just enough so that he didn't feel too sick to eat.
"Nervous," he said through a mouthful of pancake. "But, nervous in a good way." Dad smiled as he smoothed the chocolate frosting over the vanilla cake.
"Well I'm sure Dave is feeling the same way. Though once he gets here I'm sure you'll both feel better," he added. John did laugh then.
"Dave will probably have a heart attack when he sees all these cakes, dad." Dad raised his eyebrows and looked over at John.
"You think so? I tried to tone it down a little, but this is a reason to celebrate."
John laughed even more. "Dad, if this is toning it down I think you've gone crazy."
Dad wiped some frosting on John's cheek in retaliation, and John immediately reached for the bowl of icing but groaned when Dad pulled it out of his reach. "Uh-uh. You have to get ready to go soon," Dad chided with a smirk. John made a face at him and sat back down.
"Okay. But I'm getting you back later," he said with a grin.
"I'd like to see you try, son."
In the car, John fidgeted as Dad drove along Highway 516. Rose and Jade had both sent him messages—
TT: Dave is arriving soon, no?
TT: Do give him my well wishes when you see him.
TT: Also, be sure to use protection.
EB: rose, shut up!
GG: john! please give dave a biiiiig hug from me when you see him! :D
EB: i will for sure!
—but it was hard to concentrate on their conversations when each minute led him closer to Dave, and coils of nervousness were swarming around in his stomach. He felt like he didn't have much reason to feel nervous. It's just Dave! But the same old insecurities weren't that easy to get rid of. What if Dave realizes he's super ugly, or super annoying, or any number of super negative traits that John is sure he has? Or worse yet, what if everything going on with the court case ends up being too much for Dave too? Maybe he'll change his mind about wanting to help or—
"John," Dad said, fortunately breaking him out of his pessimistic train of thought. "Stop fidgeting. Everything is going to be fine."
John smiled a very small and embarrassed smile. Dad was right. He didn't need to get worked up over nothing. Part of him thought maybe he should've taken his Xanax before he left but the more he thought of Dave's dumb cute face the more he realized that would've been stupid—this is his boyfriend and best friend, he doesn't need medication to calm him down. Dave is the one who calms him down the best.
Of course, once they were parking in the Seatac airport and making their way to baggage claim to wait for Dave to arrive—Dave's text of the plane landed just gotta wait for all these slowass texans to hurry tf up—the nervousness was returning tenfold. It felt less negative now, though, more like an excited apprehension. He hated to admit it but he was even bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, waiting to see that blond mop of hair wading among the other fliers.
And suddenly, there he was. John recognized the shades he'd painstakingly saved up for all those years ago so that Dave could have the perfect birthday present, hair a bit tousled (probably from sleeping on the airplane), head tilted up like he was looking for signs. And then he was looking through the crowd, obviously looking for John, and it didn't take long until he found him.
Before John could even think of stopping himself, he was rushing over to where Dave was, and a thrill of excitement came over him when he realized Dave was doing the same. He was pushing past people, earning himself many tired looks of disapproval and irritation, and then his arms were around Dave, swaying unsteadily from their collision but clutching tightly to him nonetheless. His arms wrapped around Dave's shoulders, and he only noticed after a minute of just holding him and breathing in his scent and being amazed that this was even happening that Dave only just then lifted his arms, fingers digging into John's shirt and face pressed into John's neck. Dave was trembling—only slightly, but John could feel it from this close. He was about to let go, to put enough distance between them so that he could look Dave in the face and ask if he was okay. But Dave only clung harder to him, and he felt more than heard the words against his skin: "Don't let go… just – wait, please."
John's heart was beating so fast he thought it might jump out of his chest. He wondered vaguely if Dave's shades were hurting him with how tight his face was pressed against John's neck, but he figured it was better to keep holding him until Dave was ready to move.
It was several minutes before Dave finally tensed and then dropped his arms, silently signaling for John to do the same. John politely looked away when Dave brought a hand up to wipe his eyes behind his shades.
"Well if this isn't the most embarrassing airport pickup—god, Bro would be so disappointed right now, I might as well revoke the Strider name and become a runaway 'cuz I don't think I can face him again knowing I did something as uncool as tearing up in public—"
John sighed loudly and grabbed Dave's hands away from his face, holding them tightly in his own. "Dave, shut up," he said, but he smiled at him, at the way his eyebrows crinkled in surprise and his mouth that had been spewing out dumb words with that unmistakable southern twang was still hanging open. "It's fine, dude. Let's just go home, okay?"
Dave stared at him for a long moment but finally he nodded and said, "Okay."
But before he could move, John leaned in agonizingly slowly and Dave didn't dodge out of the way, so he pressed his lips to Dave's, so soft that they were barely touching. Somehow it still felt like he was flying.
He pulled away after a few moments, and Dave said, "Oh." John grinned.
"Way better than a high five, bro. And still totally magical, just saying."
"So damn magical I feel like I'm gonna do one of those unnecessarily drawn out magical girl transformations or something. Madoka's about to jump out of her god-portal and save us from getting too swept up in the magic." Even though he was spewing bullshit again, there was a light blush on his cheeks and he was smiling a little bit, so John was happy.
He led Dave over to where Dad had taken a seat and was reading the business section of the newspaper. As soon as they stopped in front of him, he glanced up from over the top of it. "Oh, there you are," he said. "I was worried I'd have to leave without you if it took too much longer."
"Har har, Dad, very funny," John said, rolling his eyes. Dad smiled and put down the newspaper, standing up and facing Dave. John could practically feel Dave's nerves emanating from him, so he squeezed his hand.
"Welcome, Dave," Dad said with his fatherly smile. "I'm glad you're visiting." He reached out and Dave stood steady and there was no color in his face but Dad just patted him on the shoulder a couple times and then turned to John to ruffle his hair. "Shall we head home? Here, let me take that for you, Dave." Dad reached over and Dave handed his duffel bag to him without protesting. "Any other luggage we need to pick up?"
"Uh, no, this is everything… Thanks, Mr. Egbert," Dave said, and John couldn't help but grin at how different he sounded when talking to his father. Sure he could talk shit over pesterchum but as soon as he was around an authority figure (or maybe it was just because it was his dad) he became positively shy and polite. John had to fight the urge to tease him about it—for now, only because Dave seemed really exhausted and probably a little overwhelmed emotionally speaking. Instead, as soon as Dad turned around to lead them back to the car, John leaned in and gave Dave a quick peck on the cheek, grinning even more at how he turned bright pink.
Of course, as soon as they got to the car they realized—after Dave sat down and an embarrassingly loud fart sound rang out—that Dad had snuck a whoopee cushion underneath Dave's seat. Although Dave looked positively mortified for a few seconds, suddenly he started laughing, and John took that as a sign to join in. "Good one, Mr. Egbert," he said, and Dad just smiled and started the car.
Once they got properly settled in the backseat together, Dave's hand never left John's, but it felt more comfortable now, more like he was holding his hand because he wanted to instead of like he was gripping John like a lifeline. John silently thanked his Dad for the well-timed prank.
The ride back was filled mostly with easy conversation, Dad asking all sorts of questions inquiring after the quality of the flight and Bro's health, when Dave was going to return to school. Easy things, things that made Dave's cadence and expression return to normal. But then, it wasn't long before Dave was looking out the window, lips parted only slightly. "Lots of trees," he said intelligently. John laughed loudly, much to Dave's disdain.
"Yeah, dude," he said teasingly. "Where'd you think I lived, the Sahara?"
"S-t-f-u," he said, actually pronouncing each letter, which only made John laugh hard enough to start snorting. "I'm just saying, a guy's gotta get used to all the greenery when the only shade he usually gets comes in the form of high-rises. You do have those, right? Or does Washington have yet to succumb to the overpopulation issues that force us to get packed together like sardines? 'Cuz I'm not sure I'll be able to handle life away from civilization, John, I'm already—"
John pressed the hand that wasn't already holding Dave's against his mouth to make him shut up. To his amusement Dave's reaction was delayed, and he kept moving his lips against John's palm for a few seconds until he paused and gave John what could only be described as a pointed look, despite the shades hiding his eyes.
"We'll have to go to Seattle to see your precious high rises, Dave. There is nothing of the sort in Ma—eugh, Dave, gross!" he shouted when Dave licked his palm, which he immediately pulled away. Dave raised his eyebrows suggestively above his shades, and John blushed and punched Dave in the arm, so Dave punched playfully back, and after a minute of gentle tussling in the backseat, Dad cut in, "Do you boys need me to pull this car over" They froze.
"No, sir—"
"No, dad."
They leaned against each other, and John found Dave's hand again, pressing a kiss to his pink cheek before resting his head on his shoulder.
Once they pulled up to John's home, Dave stared at it for a few moments, mouth agape and eyebrows high above his shades. "Welcome home, boys," Dad said with a smile as he pulled on the parking brake and got out of the car, leading the way up to the house.
"Haha, dude, what's up? Why are you staring?" Dave immediately closed his mouth and tried to put his poker face back on.
"Nothin', I guess. Just the last time I saw this place was back in the day when universe-altering video games were all the rage, ya know?"
John's smile faded a little bit and he grabbed Dave's hand in his. "You're okay, Dave," John said, tilting his head toward his boyfriend's to catch his eye. Dave nodded once and let John lead him inside.
When they went into the kitchen, John had to fight back his gloating when Dave physically paled at the number of cakes in the room. Dad naturally forced them to sit down and have a slice before they were allowed to go up to John's room. Dave was impressed by how good it was, of course, but John knew he would understand his pain by the end of his trip here.
Finally, cake finished and thanks given, John dragged Dave up to his room where Dave first dropped his bag and then they both dropped onto John's bed, close and facing each other. They just looked at each other for a long while, breaths mingling and heartbeats matching in a strong rhythm. It felt so unreal to have Dave lying next to him he thought he might float away.
"This is so unreal," John repeated aloud, voice quiet and awestruck. Dave reached over and took his hand, pressed it against his chest.
"You better believe I'm real, babe. I'm the realest shit you've ever laid your dirty teen hands on."
"What the fuck, dude. My hands are totally clean. And are we really doing pet names?" John fisted Dave's shirt lightly, stroking the material with his thumb.
"Hell yeah. Do you know how ironic it is for me to call you dumb shit like babe and honey?"
"The longer I know you the more convinced I am that you don't actually know what the definition of irony is," John said with a mean smile to match Dave's hilariously dramatic pout.
"It's like you just wanna shit on everything I believe in."
"That's what I'm here for, hummingbird."
Clearly not willing to take anymore teasing, Dave initiated a small bout of wrestling, pinning John to the bed for only a moment before John dislodged him, their hands locked together and pushing, gauging each other's strength. John was laughing by the time they lost steam, Dave decisively pinned beneath him and looking only slightly humiliated at the fact. But then John was only smiling and Dave seemed to be looking up at him expectantly.
"Can I kiss you?"
John's question hung in the air and he watched Dave's lips twitch, watched him nod slowly. John sat up a little and reached for Dave's face equally slowly, finally pushing Dave's shades to the top of his head without receiving any resistance. He looked into Dave's eyes and was surprised at how much more emotion he could see with them uncovered. There was definitely a lot more nervousness than any of his tough guy smooth talking on pesterchum would have ever allowed. "I mean like, real kissing. Kissing that we wouldn't in good conscience do anywhere in public. Even though my teeth probably will get in the way, which I'm still sorry about—"
"Oh, for fuck's sake—" Dave pulled him down and pressed their lips together, effectively silencing him but for the soft sound of surprise he made into Dave's mouth. And then their lips were parting and their teeth clacked a bit as their tongues touched, at first tentatively and then with comfort and a growing fervor. John reached his fingers into Dave's hair, and Dave clung to the back of John's shirt, and their lips opened and closed against each other wetly. When they paused to catch their breath every now and then, Dave might press spitty kisses to the side of John's mouth, or John might catch Dave's lower lip between his teeth and tug softly.
"Holy fuck this is ludicrously better than that baby peck at the airport," Dave gasped out when they pulled apart. John smirked a little at him.
"Your face is about the same shade as your eyes right now, dude." This caused Dave's cheeks to go even darker as he glared up at John.
"You're all red too, ya dick. What is this, International Tease Dave Day? A guy can't catch a break with you, I swear."
John climbed off of him so that they were lying next to each other again and wrapped his arms around Dave's chest, pulling him closer. "I love you, Dave." He looked into Dave's eyes and smiled. Dave swallowed.
"I love you too, dumpass." John smiled even wider and closed his eyes as Dave pressed his face into John's neck.
A few hours later and Dad was knocking on his door for the second time that day to wake his son. John blinked awake, not even realizing he and Dave had fallen asleep curled up together, clothes on and on top of the covers no less. "There's lunch downstairs if you're hungry, boys," Dad called through the door, and John was very grateful that his father decided not to invite himself in. Though it likely wouldn't have mattered if he'd come in either way, as Dave had startled awake as soon as the knock came and disentangled their limbs to jump away.
"We'll be down in a minute, dad," John called, giving Dave a confused look, wondering even more when he'd had time to replace his shades on his face. As soon as he heard Dad's footsteps retreat, he asked, "Dude, are you okay? You know we're allowed to get our cuddle on, right? My dad isn't going to kick you out for doing the most chaste version of soiling his unwed son."
John watched Dave carefully recollect his poker face as he spoke, and might have burst out laughing if Dave didn't cross his arms over his chest and shrug his shoulders.
"Sorry, pretty much second nature to jump to battle positions at a moment's notice. You never know with Bro around, etcetera." John raised an eyebrow at him.
"Uh huh, Dave. Whatever you say."
"But I mean, ya know, didn't he say somethin' about not wanting us to be sharing a bed or whatever? I just don't want to disrespect his rules is all."
John grinned and got out of bed. "What happened to being happy about me rule-dodging for you, huh?" He could see Dave roll his eyes despite the shades.
"Who said I was happy? I am very disappointed in you, Egbert. How do you sleep at night?"
"With you here I'm not planning on doing much sleeping," John shot back without missing a beat, raising his eyebrows suggestively. He didn't actually plan on his cliché pick-up line getting any sort of rise out of Dave, but then Dave's cheeks went a dark pink, and his lips were parted a little in surprise, and now it was John's turn to swallow. And to think Dave had felt so sure John wouldn't be able to seduce him. "Hehe, just kidding! Let's go eat!"
He quickly grabbed Dave's hand and dragged him out of the room and to the kitchen, where Dad was waiting with his pipe in one hand and newspaper in the other. Two plates piled with spaghetti sat at the edge of the table, entirely outnumbered by the cakes taking up every other available space. Dave paused for a moment before sitting down, looking down at the plates of food. John wondered what he was thinking, but his poker face was perfectly in place, and he sat down and started eating before John could think to make a comment.
After lunch when they went back to John's room, John glanced at his small television and then back at Dave. "So, do you really not want to play video games? Just wondering. We can totally go do something else if you aren't feeling it."
Dave also glanced at the TV and then shrugged. "I'll watch you," he said simply. John stared at him for a long moment until Dave pushed him towards the gaming consoles. "Stop givin' me the worried eyes and play your damn games, Egbert." John rolled his eyes and put in Halo 3, sitting on the floor while Dave lazed and watched from behind him on the bed. He played against people on Live for a while until Dave got fed up and grabbed the second controller.
They ended up going through quite a few games, some of their mainstream favorites as well as some of the "ironic" terribad purchases Dave had made over the years and sent to John. By midnight Dad knocked on the door and opened it when he heard video game music in the background, ready to tell Dave he had a spare bed ready to bring in. But he stopped when he saw that both boys were asleep on the floor, controllers next to them and only touching where their fingers grazed.
Dad turned off the game for them and pulled John's comforter from the bed to cover them both before turning off the light and leaving them as they were.