AN: Hey guys! It's been a while, huh? I've been quite busy with life and HSWC, but also I've been sorting out the nitty gritty details of what's to come in the plot! That being said, we'll be moving into a new arc very soon, right now is just sort of plot/character development. Of course, with the new arc, it's going to pick up a lot, I think. I myself am very excited to get into it!
Anyways, I figured I had to push out this update before my birthday tomorrow (uwu turnin' 16 hella hella golden birthday), and I had a lot of spare time on my hands today, so I did a lot of plot things and then wrote this. Hope y'all like it! :)
Also thank you to those who've thrown some ideas my way, I'll probably incorporate them into the next few chapters :)
"Yeah, that's how you do 'The Appearing Card', good job Casey!" John congratulates Casey, as she'd performed the trick perfectly.
"Thanks, Jake!" She replies excitedly. You watch the two, slightly fascinated yourself, though you're in on the secrets behind the trick. It's still kinda cool.
Card tricks get a little old after a while though, so you decide to voice a suggestion.
"So guys, there's a park right down the block. I think we should go there," you tell the two, pulling them out of their magic card trance.
"Oh yeah! I go there all the time!" Casey blurts, jumping up. "I'll go ask mommy and daddy if I can go!"
With that, Casey runs out of the room, leaving you and John by yourselves. John immediately starts gushing.
"Oh my god Dave, she's so sweet! You can totally tell she's an Egbert, and she's a natural at these tricks! Oh man, I'm really excited to watch her grow up! She's going to be the best prankster ever, next to me and Dad, of course!"
"Haha yeah, she's sure got those dorky genes," you laugh, and John hits you lightly for it. "Are we actually going to get to stay by her side all these years and watch her grow?"
"Well yeah, that's generally the way it goes!" John tells you. "Up 'till the very moment she's 18! Or, um... there's some situations that can get in the way, but I'm not sure we have to worry about those."
"Like what?"
"Well... The Judge is sorta... narcissistic I guess. He hates atheists, so if at any point Casey voices a disbelief in Him, He'll have our guardianship over her pulled back immediately."
"That's dumb," you comment, scowling. You're really not too fond of Him, but you dare not defy Him. You don't want to have the fate of a fallen angel. You were lucky he responded so... positively, you have to say, to the relationship between yourself and John. You were lucky he gave you the rank you have, you've heard it was rare in angels of your age, and in newbies like yourself.
"Yeah I know, but it's the way it goes. If we rebel, we'll be... well, you already know. I don't want to risk that," John folds his arms as he speaks, and you catch the way he lowers his voice. It must've been schooled into his head throughout his raising, he knows how to behave and not defy this Godly figure.
"Me either," you reply, and just then, Casey comes in.
"I can go! Except the problem is... mommy wants to come with to watch me," Casey remarks, rolling her eyes. The sass in this one is strong. "I'm not a baby."
"Yeah, we know," John agrees, only for the sake of Casey as he squats down, ruffling her hair. "But don't worry! Dave and I can make it so our- I mean, you know, your mom can't see us. She'll just think that we're your imaginary friends."
"Yeah! Dave told me that," the young girl responds as she sits down to pull her shoes on. "You'd better hurry up and do that though, because she's coming!"
Sure enough, footsteps in the hallway were heard, and you and John made yourselves scarce to anyone who wasn't Casey.
"Who were you talking to, Casey?" Lucy asks, crouching in front of her daughter and brushing wrinkles out of her clothes.
"Oh, it was just Dave," Casey chuckles. "He brought his friend Jake, today! I think they're funny!"
"That's nice, dear," Lucy replies, but you can hear the concern in her voice. She does not approve of imaginary friends, apparently. She even voices this,
"Don't you think you're a little too old for imaginary friends, though?"
"No! I really like these guys, they're really nice!" Casey defends herself, and by extension yourself and John. Lucy just shakes her head, letting the matter go for the time being.
John looks to you with a similar expression to his mother's, but it's not concern over Casey. It's concern over the way he can see that his mother has changed since he'd died. Changed, and not in a good way. You speak to him, and him only.
"Don't... don't worry 'bout it, John. She's just antsy because she's convinced Casey is actually imagining us, and that she picked me up from my death on the news."
"Oh," John's reply is short, but it does seem to comfort him a little. Soon enough, you're trailing behind Casey and Lucy as they leave the house, walking to the park. Lucy has a book in her hand, clearly she intends to read while Casey talks and plays with yourself and John. That'll keep her distracted, which is a good thing. You don't want her to be too concerned over the way Casey would seem to be talking to 'imaginary' people.
"You doin' alright, John?" You decide to ask, looking out for your boyfriend's well being.
"I... I guess. I mean the nostalgia is kind of getting to me, but at the same time, I have a little sister. A little sister that I need to watch over. I'm not going to let it bother me a lot. I mean, as much as I really want to talk to dad and mom again, I know I can't, and I can't be obsessive over watching their lives, ya know?"
"Yeah, I suppose. You're doing good, I think. A good job of just... being there, I guess. For Casey."
"Thanks, Dave," John smiles at you, linking his fingers with yours. You give him a reassuring squeeze, giving him your own smile back.
"No problem, bro."
Soon enough, you arrive at the park, and Lucy seats herself on a bench while Casey darts to the slides. You and John follow after her, sitting on various places of the playground equipment and watching her for a little while before making conversation.
"Hey Case, are you excited for the 4th of July?" you ask her.
She immediately brightens up, answering, "It's one of my favorites! I mean, so is Christmas and Easter and my birthday... but there are really cool fireworks on the 4th, and I really like all the colors!" She babbles animatedly, flailing her arms as she speaks.
"If you had to pick an absolute favorite, though, what would it be?" John asks her. Casey does this cute little thing where she puts her hand on her hip, and her other hand near her mouth in a concentrated position. After a moment of thought, she bursts with excitement again.
"Halloween!"
"Really?" you ask, tilting your head to the side and adjusting your shades. "How come?"
"Because you get to have really cool costumes, and you get to see other people's really cool costumes, and you get free candy!"
"I guess those are pretty good reasons to like Halloween," you nod along, agreeing. Halloween was pretty fucking chill. "You wanna know what Jo- ... Jake's favorite holiday is?"
You feel relieved that Casey doesn't catch your slip up.
"What is it?"
John answers of course, with a friendly, yet evil-plotting grin on his face. "April Fools Day! You get to prank so many people!"
"Oh yeah! I forgot about that one!"
John pretends to feel offended, and Casey tries to make up for it. It's fairly amusing to watch. "I mean I really like pranking them too, it's funny!" she exclaims, and John just ruffles her hair.
"Of course you do, it runs in the family!"
You freeze, jesus christ John, you're going to spoil everything. John notices, and he freezes up too. Shitshitshitshitshitshishit.
"Yeah, daddy likes doing pranks too!"
You both let out a sigh of relief. Things just cut too close, sometimes.
"Be careful, dude," you mumble a warning to John.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, it slipped!"
John turns back to Casey, answering, "Yeah I know, Dave told me all about it. He found out that your dad likes doing tricks and pranks too, and he told me! Haha, if your dad could know that I existed, we could all do those things together! That would just be so cool!"
"Yeah!" Casey agrees excitedly.
Time passes fairly quickly after that, and pretty soon the sun is beginning to set. Is it that late already? You're surprised that Casey's mom even stayed in the park this long, she must've been really engrossed in her book.
"C'mon, Casey! It's time to go home! I think we might have takeout for dinner tonight," Lucy calls out to her daughter, who's attention snaps up from the game she was playing with Dave and John, a simple one involving stones and sticks.
"Oh man," she pouts, "I have to go..."
"Don't worry, Case. We'll come back and visit soon," you reassure her, helping her to stand up as you do yourself.
"You will?"
"Of course!" John exclaims. "We had a lot of fun, maybe next time we can watch movies! I heard you like Ghostbusters..."
"Yeah, I really like it! I have some stuff from the movie that used to be my brother's," she replies as she begins walking over to her mother, who is tapping her foot impatiently.
"Sounds like a date," you joke. "We'll watch movies. Ghostbusters."
Casey giggles, "Okay!"
She leaves you and John behind in the park, and the two of you watch the pair leave.
"Jeez, I didn't realize it was so late already!" John comments, looking towards the setting sun.
"Yeah, really. As they say, makin' this cliche, time flies when you're having fun. We sure got a lotta shit done," you can't help it as your words begin to form a rhythm. You begin walking, timing your steps with your words. John follows by your side, but comments,
"Oh my god, Dave, no. Please don't rap."
"You love my rapping."
"No, no I don't. I love you, there's a difference."
You roll your eyes anyways, retorting, "It's a package deal, bro."
"Um, I think I'll just throw the rapping part in the closet then and forget it exists," John remarks, and you can't help but laugh.
"Fuckin' nerd," you mumble, nudging John's shoulder with your own.
"Maybe, but I'm your nerd so I guess you'll just have to deal with it."
"Then you'll have to deal with my raps."
"Oh my god, shut up," John nudges you back, and you stumble a little, but regain your balance. Shit, you really don't need a repeat of your death, ha.
"Think we should be headin' back to the big guys up there?"
"Yeah, probably. You know, we'll have to write up and submit a report of our progress. We're supposed to induce spiritual growth in her too, you know."
Spiritual growth. This really was all about the big guy up there and his narcissism. How the hell are you even supposed to induce spiritual growth?
"Ugh, sounds boring," you sigh. It's like school, but you don't just get an F if you don't do the work. You probably get tortured. Ugh.
"Yeah, maybe. But it's something that's gotta be done if you don't want to lose your rank," John reminds you, and you sigh again. He has a good point.
"Yeah, I guess. When are we gonna do that?" you ask as you spread out your wings, deciding to fly over the cars of the upcoming busy street. John follows suit. You really like his fuckin' wings, blue and such suits him. Really well. He's kind of hot, okay he's really hot, you've got to admit. Especially when he's under you, his voice singing your name in a string of moans, shit you really can't be thinking about that right now.
"We should probably get the first report done within the next few days," John's voice draws you out of your thoughts. You catch the ball though, the metaphorical ball of conversation, you've caught it with one fucking hand and you throw it right back like the badass you are. Touchdown, you got it right in the goal, those people on the bases couldn't even catch you, hell yeah you're just one hell of a player on the field. John is probably your ball. In that case, you hoard the ball.
You don't know shit about sports anyways.
"Alright, whatever. How long does it have to be?"
"A couple pages."
"Pages?" you ask, this is not fair, this is like, way fucking worse than high school.
"Yeah... It's really not that hard, Dave."
"Easy for you to say, you did your homework in high school."
"Yeah, you could've done yours but you'd rather just fuck around."
"Damn straight."
"I dunno Dave, that sounds pretty gay to me," John snickers, and you really want to shove him right out of the air, and then catch him like a rad as hell knight in shining armor. But you aren't sure you're suave enough to catch him, you're still learning how to work these wings of yours. You simply just use your best comeback ever, it's clearly the best one ever, no one can have a better comeback than you. Comeback, ha. Shut up, Dave.
"Oh my god, shut the fuck up dude. You're pretty gay."
"You aren't complaining, are you?" John asks, already knowing your answer. Your answer is obvious.
"Nope. Not at all."
"That's what I thought."
You've gotta be suave enough for this. You pull John back, holding him against you and just kissing his face, because there really is no better way to shut this kid up. He reciprocates though, and quite passionately at that, it's all good up in here. Couldn't be better.
You actually catch yourself by surprise when you realize that you don't actually have to concentrate on your wings like you always do, it's basically second nature. You can kiss and fly at the same time. Fucking yes. You've gotta do this more often.
It's only when you realize that you're kind of squishing one of John's wings that he eventually protests, squirming out of your arms.
"Okay okay Dave, I get it, you've got a flying-kissing-whatever else kink. We'll explore than another time when we aren't due back to Heaven, alright?"
You blush like mad, the tips of your ears flushing. "Yeah man, whatever you say," you mumble, but you can't help but let your thoughts wander to what kind of shit you can do in the air, and the fact that John basically guaranteed that you'd do something about it at some point. That's fucking great, in your mind.
You make it back with no further distractions, but that doesn't go to say you won't distract the hell out of John later. (Wink wink.)