New chapter! And I can't believe the moment I put in here and how symbolic it could be seen as 0.0 well enjoy!
The next few days went by rather quickly. The demons allowed John to walk around the hideout and even walk out to the sewers if he had a demon with him. During those days John learned a lot. The stuttering demon was called Eridan, and three other demons appeared whom he hadn't met. One was the bubbly and energetic Feferi, another the silent and mysterious Aradia, and the final being Rose and Dave's older sister, Roxy, who seemed to have a permanent drunk atmosphere and attitude. Eridan and Feferi were best friends, same with Equius and Nepeta. Nepeta frequently used cat puns and cat nicknames, but she yet had come up with one for John. Equius outmatched all the other demons in physical strength while Sollux outmatched them in the brain department, guy was a genius! Dirk, the older Strider, lead the group of demons with Dave as his second in command, although it seemed Dirk let Dave do pretty much whatever he wanted. Rose pretty much kept to herself, reading a variety of books. Eridan studied history whenever he wasn't reading his Harry Potter books for the who-knows-how-many-time. Sollux matched the best computer hacker in the world. Feferi enjoyed swimming, while Aradia preferred exploring.
Dave, however, seemed a lot different than John's first impression. Dave enjoyed rapping, having little 'strife's' with Dirk, and he seemed to have a soft side for birds. John slowly began to realize when Dave started to put up a front and when he took it off. In other words, John was learning more and more about the 'real' Dave Strider and not the demon he first met, the one who only cared about himself and nothing else. Dave showed he cared for every demon in the team, even showing John some care when he needed it. He knew how to raise the morale of the team when they needed it, which impressed John. He and John often sat down and exchanged stories of their adventures, which both claimed to be for educational purposes but John really enjoyed them.
One thing that John really sympathized with Dave was their heroes. Dave often spoke of Bro Strider, the demon who raised Dave and Dirk. Dave said no other demon compared to him, in sword play or word play. John felt that way about Summoner, who trained him since he first became an angel at 6 years old. John explained to Dave how he lacked memories of his life on Earth and how Summoner training him was all he ever knew. Dave looked at him for a few minutes in silence before nodding.
John never expected to talk to a demon in a way he never talked to anyone, even Jane. He told Dave his fears, his past, his hopes and Dave in turn told him the same. Dave truly feared the demon tamers. He saw what they do and how they treat the demons once they tame them. Some demons even get killed in the taming process because they fight back and never let themselves be tamed. John gulped and looked at Dave. John felt something he knew as an angel he should never feel. He felt scared. Scared that Dave or Dirk or any of them would get caught and tamed, or worse, killed in the process. During his few days with the demons John learned more about them then any other time with Summoner. John began to see these demons as friends. Never once, except the initial encounter, had any of them attempted to harm him in anyway. In fact, they seemed like they only captured him to say they captured an angel, and pride kept them from letting him go.
Another thing John learned about the demons was their love of dancing. Whenever something good happened with the demons they celebrated with dancing, sometimes formal, sometimes dancing however they wanted. John always sat out to watch with a smile until one time.
"John, why don't you purticipate with the dancing?" Nepeta asked him curiously.
"I… I don't know how…" John responded a bit embarrassed. All the demons gasped.
"Wh-What do they teach you up there?!" Eridan asked in shock.
"Pretty much it's training nonstop…." John explained. Dave stood up from his spot and walked over to John.
"Come on. We're fixing this." Dave said grabbing John's hand and pulling him to the largest area in the sewer.
"Wh-What are we doing?!" John asked in shock.
"I'm teaching you how to dance, got it?" Dave said as he stopped in the middle of the area.
"D-Don't you need a girl or something for this?!" John asked as Dave put one of John's hands on his shoulder.
"You'll be the girl to begin with then I'll have Nepeta practice with you." Dave replied taking John's other hand in one of his and putting his other hand on John's side. John blushed in embarrassment and looked up at Dave. "The man always leads alright?" Dave instructed. John nodded and looked down at their feet, making sure he didn't step on Dave's feet when they started to move. "Look at me, John, not our feet." Dave said, making John look up at him. "The girl puts her trust in her dance partner. She doesn't need to look down. If the girl does anything wrong, it's because the man failed in leading her. Look in my eyes, John. Trust me." John gulped as he looked into Dave's eyes and next thing he knew they were dancing. John slowly smiled as he noticed this, causing Dave to smile and twirl him.
Soon Dave and John got lost in the dancing, not even realizing that the other demons came to watch, Sollux even starting some music for them and Eridan video recording them. Nepeta and Feferi watched the two and grinned. Dirk and Roxy watched with interest as the angel and demon danced together without a care. Dirk slowly smiled, watching his brother dance bringing a bit of joy to him. When they two dancers stopped dancing in time with the music, the spectators clapped for them, causing both to jump in surprise. John blushed in embarrassment again and Dave just smirked at his blush, poking his cheek.
"Well you two obviously have ballroom style down, but how about freestyle?" Dirk asked, wearing his own smirk.
"You know I got freestyle down, Dirk." Dave responded.
"Oh? Last time I definitely remember you being way behind in the styles, Dave." Dirk challenged.
"Oh you're so on, Dirk. Sollux, music. I'm showing this old timer how to dance."
"That's one hell of a way to talk to your superiors, Dave."
"Yeah? Try me!"
That night, after the intense dancing, John sat in the sewers, with Dave standing close by. Dave leaned against the wall, his eyes closed. John stared at the murky waters, his thoughts flying all over. He looked at Dave.
"Dave?"
"Yeah?" Dave replied, opening his eyes and looking at him.
"Why do you think they're sending people after me?" John asked. Dave raised a brow at him.
"Dude, I don't know. They're angels. I have a hard time understanding anything they do."
"But… I'm an angel…" John replied.
"Yeah, but you're different." Dave stated looking at John again.
"What do you mean?" John questioned.
"Well…" Dave started, looking at the top of the sewer before smirking. "You're a derp." Dave explained.
"Seriously Dave!" John said standing up and walking over to Dave until he stood in front of the demon. "I'm trying to be serious. Why do they keep coming after me when they would have let any other angel go as if for good? And why do you keep me like you do? How am I different?!" Dave quickly moved and pinned John to the wall, similar to how he did that first night, causing John to gasp.
"I seriously don't know. Best I can think of is because they hate the Sriders. Signless never got along with Bro, at all. That, or they don't want to lose one of their precious soldiers." Dave said, stroking John's cheek with his thumb as he said 'precious'. "They never got to know you, John. You yourself said all you did was train. Did anyone ever give you the time of day when you weren't training? Did they even try to get to know John Egbert?" Dave asked. John's eyes widened. What Dave said hit a cord with John. The only angels who seemed at all to really care for John were Summoner and Jane.
"J-Jane and Summoner did… Summoner was like a father to me…" John said in a whisper.
"But all you did was train. They wanted you to be nothing more than a soldier, John. Maybe they would show more interest once you were high ranking, but otherwise you're a pawn to them."
"That's not true, Dave." John said.
"Seems like that."
"They just want to protect humanity!" John retorted.
"What about us?! Why won't they protect us?! Demons need it to." Dave replied, gripping John's shoulder hard. "We have lived in harmony with humans for years. We buy meat from the market. We barely eat humans. Yes, other demons purposefully eat humans. It's those demons that need to be contained. But not all demons need to!"
"Then tell them! Tell Summoner you mean no harm to them!"
"Think they'll listen to us?! Maybe you but they will never believe a demon." Dave said.
"Then let me tell them!"
"I can't! They'll take you away if I let you go." Dave said, shocking John.
"Why are you so gung-ho about keeping me?! Is it demon pride?!"
"No… It's nothing like that."
"Then what is it?!" John asked.
"I've told you, John. You're mine!" Dave said, pushing John harder into the wall. "You understand me! You listen to me! Think I'm gonna let someone take that away from me!? You're the first non-demon friend I've had!" John's eyes widened at his last sentence.
"Y-You see me as your friend?" John asked. Dave's eyes widened, noticing his slip.
"Yes. Just… Don't tell any of the others okay?" Dave asked. John smiled and nodded slowly.
Suddenly the sound of someone running towards them echoed through the sewers. Dave and John both looked in the direction the sound came from and Dave pulled John behind him, pulling his broken sword out, ready to fight.
Big things gonna happen next chapter. Hope you're prepared ;)