That day at school Dave remained more quiet than usual, he was in deep thought about a lot of things, mainly the John person.
"What's the matter with you today, cool kid?" Terezi broke his silence during recess, in that loud, rather obnoxious voice of hers.
"Nothing." He muttered tiredly, and he would of rolled his eyes but a) nobody would of seen and b) that wasn't even possible anymore.
"You're acting even more depressed than usual!" She argued, spitting slightly. What was it with him having friends that couldn't get a word out without spraying their conversational partner in damp saliva?
"Thup lothers." Speak of the spitters and they will appear, obviously.
"Oh hey Sollux! Do you know why Dave is in such a bad mood?" Terezi spoke to the raven-haired computer freak.
"He'th alwayths in a bad mood." Sollux deadpanned, pushing his red and blue glasses further up his nose.
Again, what was it with him and having friends that wore glasses? And they were always super lame ones as well.
"Well no wonder with friends as shitty as you." Dave spoke suddenly, standing up dramatically. Oh shit no, he was starting to sound like Karkat. Abort. Abort. He sat back down quickly and sighed. "I'm just..going through some stuff. It's fine."
Terezi and Sollux exchanged looks with each other. Well, they looked in the general direction of each other anyway. Eye contact was hard when both people were wearing glasses and one of them was also blind.
"Well..if you ever wanna talk..." Terezi started.
"Then go speak to KK or thomething becauth I don't really give a thit." Sollux finished the sentence promptly.
Well, his friends could be worse, he supposed.
The next day he woke up sharp. He'd had an almost sleepless night and was eager to get up and ready. The decided meeting point was only a short walk away so at half nine he knocked on Bro's door to tell him he was going.
The door opened slowly and out walked someone who was definitely not Bro.
"Who the fuck are youu?" A women's voice slurred clearly not sober, and Dave sighed. Typical Bro.
"Bro I'm going to Starbucks, be back never." Dave shouted loudly, knowing his brother would be in there.
"Whats with you peoplee and sun g-glasses?" The woman muttered in confusion as Dave walked out the door.
He brought out his walking cane despite knowing the exact route (he didn't care about running into people but they usually had something to say about it) and began walking along the street to his desired location.
He walked in nervously, legs shaking slightly and he silently cursed himself for getting into such a state. He rubbed his palms, wet with perspiration, on his trouser legs and prayed the John person would be there already and call him over.
He stood for what felt like a lifetime, feeling everyone's eyes on his and he pretended to browse the tables as though looking for someone, which he supposed he would of been, had he been able to see.
"David?" A voice of about his age spoke up suddenly. "O-over here!"
Over where dumbass? Dave thought to himself, but sighed and walked towards the voice, hitting a few tables and chairs along the way.
"Its uh, me, John." The voice spoke from besides him, and he felt for an empty chair and took a seat, legs still shaking.
"Hello." Dave said, face emotionless.
"I-I'm so glad you came! In all honesty I didn't expect you to!" John spoke with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"What do you look like?" Dave asked bluntly.
"W-what?" The other boy frowned.
"I said, what do you look like? I need to know so I can picture you talking."
"Oh...right." John felt his face burn red slightly, and he looked away for a moment.
Dave sighed. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day.
"Well uh let's see! I have black hair, and glasses.."
"Glasses?" Dave couldn't hold back a snort. Glasses. Why did everyone have glasses?
"Uh, yeah. And I guess I'm like medium height or something, and normal weight, like, pfft, I'm not obese or anything!" The boy burst into sudden laughter.
Wow. Easily amused clearly. Very sophisticated sense of humour too.
Dave sighed once more. "See, black hair and glasses, isn't really doing much for me. That isn't enough. Like I need to know your eye colour, your skin tone. Hair style, clothing, exact height, it's not fucking hard you know. But whatever, just tell me whatever the fuck it is you wanted to tell me and then we never have to see each other again."
The raven-haired boy's face fell suddenly, and Dave could of sworn the awkward silence that followed was John holding back tears.
He sniffed loudly before speaking in a slightly wavering voice. "R-right. Well. Yeah. The thing is, I have this friend. Eridan. Well okay so he's not really my friend but I do know him. He likes science and stuff and well he thinks he made this thing that could temporarily cure blindness. Like for real dude. But the thing is his family is kinda not the most, uh...shall we say, trusted family ever and-"
"Wait. What's his second name? Don't tell me it's Amp-"
"Ampora. Yeah. Haha."
"Okay so are you taking the piss or what? You expect me to believe every word that comes out some random guy in Starbucks mouth, especially when said words are things along the lines of Eridan fucking Ampora, who from what I last heard's brother Cronus is on the child sex offenders list-"
"She was 18! Or at least he said he thought she was!"
"You expect me to believe that he of all people has made some miracle cure for blindness and, let me guess, wants me to be the fucking lab monkey that tries it? Is this seriously what you're asking me to believe?"
John was quiet for a minute, thoughtful. "Well...yeah! Pretty much! This is the only chance you're gonna get to have your vision back, even for a short period of time. If all goes well then he can research further and possibly give you your sight back permanently! Isn't that freaking amazing?"
"No, 'John Egbert', if that's even your real name, I don't think it actually is. Your father is the one that did this to me in the first place so why the fuck would I trust you or any of your weird fucking friends anywhere near my eyes!? I mean, you know I could go to the police now. Tell everyone it was your dad who did this and get him arrested for life, get your little Eridan buddy and probably yourself locked up good as well. I could go right now and do that!"
"Well yeah...you could. But I don't think you will."
"Oh? And why's that then Einstein? Since you obviously know everything about everyone."
"Because you probably wouldn't of even agreed to meet me here today if it wasn't for your intrigue. And I think that same intrigue is what will make you agree to try the medicine and to give me a chance. I've read all my dad's articles on you, it sounds crazy I know but it almost feels like I know you already, Dave Strider, like I've grown up with you all these years but just watching in the shadows. And thinking about it that does sound creepy as all heck but hey, maybe if you get to know me you'll see I'm not all bad. It's gotta be worth a shot, right?"
Dave sighed, taking in everything he'd just heard. He wanted to argue, wanted to fight and shout and cause a scene, but he was tired. So tired of everything. Tired of school, of having such a lame brother and no other family, tired of his annoying friends and tired of being blind. He needed to do something different, to try the unknown, to attempt and make something of his life and to be strong. Be couldn't do any of this things as a cripple.
He nodded once, ever so slightly. He heard the slight gasp of John, who had obviously been waiting eagerly for his response.
"S-seriously? So...you'll agree to try it out?"
"I nodded didn't I?" Dave almost smiled at how excited John sounded about it.
"Y-yeah! You did! W-wow this is so great! I'm..I'm so happy!"
Dave suddenly felt someone pressed against him, arms wrapped somewhat tightly around his skinny frame. What the hell was happening?
"D-dude! Get the fuck off me!" Dave growled, tensing up.
"Oh, uh...sorry! I just really felt like hugging you then, I don't know what came over me hah! That was pretty gay wasn't it?"
"Hella gay. But whatever, just give me some warning next time okay?" He almost laughed.
"Will do." He nodded, pulling back with a wide smile on his face. "So, tomorrow morning okay to meet again?" He asked.
"Dude. School?" Dave frowned. John didn't sound the age to of left school already.
"Oh yeah, right. I've not been there in a while actually, Eridan and I mainly just spend the days at his house."
Dave contemplated ditching school for the day but for some reason the thought of changing his usual routine angered him slightly and he shook his head to show as much.
"I'll come round after school. Where does this Eridan dweeb live?"
"He lives in the Dualscar Estate. Fourth house on the second street. It's a massive mansion thing, pretty hard to miss, even if you're blind,"
"Right. See you then." He stood up to leave.
"Nice meeting you today, Dave Strider!" John put his hand out to be shaken, but was fist bumped instead.
"Just call me Dave, loser." The blond muttered, before walking out with some remaining dignity.
"Okay Dave loser! See you tomorrow!" John called.
Dave couldn't hold back a slight smile. Maybe this John fellow wasn't so bad after all.