knightime | [Closed] Day(care) Dreamers

Your name is John Egbert, and you are the latest shit on the planet. Well let's take that back. Being late is totally not your fault or anything. Rose was on the other side of town, Kanaya was also a little too far from the Daycare center to pick up their daughter. So what do they do? Call you last minute as you are walking out of your own job in the electronics section of some shitty retail store. Upon agreement for reimbursing you for gas and promises of dinner you are on the way as quick as you possibly can a couple of blocks down. In reality you had actually forgotten, and the call was to remind you like the dumb shit you are. You really just didn't want to take the blame for getting there so late.

You hadn't really established yourself much after High School, all of those friends you had pretty much ditched you besides Rose and Kanaya and you were taking classes part time on campus at the local college. So here you are running errands for them, being late, wondering if the Daycare office woman is going to kick your ass to the moon for being over forty five minutes late, which is exactly when you roll up to the center. You scramble to get out of your car and into the center with your ID in hand. You're pretty sure the woman is going to ask you for it since you're an emergency contact.

"I'm sorry I'm so late, Rose and Kanaya literally just called me and reminded me I had to pick Lily up today." Your stupid babbling stops when you look up and realize hey, that's not the normal woman. That's definitely a guy. A guy holding Lily and playing with her. You kind of wonder if he is really paying you any attention. No matter, you gingerly set your identification on the desk and wait. You're too intrigued by his skill with her to say anything else.

Edited (YOU WAS :U) 2012-07-17 04:19 (UTC)

Dave was bouncing the small girl on his knee lightly, his arms wrapped around her securely so she doesn't fall. Instead, she just squeals happily as she clings onto his arm. It's impossible to tell where he's staring, but he kind of just froze and stared at John for a few minutes.

Uh...

He's going to kill Rose with a rusty spoon. This wasn't funny at all. He knows who that is. He doesn't need to take the ID to guess who it is.

Dave is completely quiet as he takes the clipboard and John's ID. Yeah. This just confirms it. Fuck you Rose. He checks off Lily's name before holding the clipboard to John. When he speaks, there's an obvious Southern drawl. It wasn't strong, but it was enough that if he wasn't paying attention, it would surface like a shitty zit. "Sign in that blank and she's all yours."

He stops to put her down, but she ends up clinging to his arm with a whine. "Sweetheart, I know you love me and all, but you gotta go home and I got to clean the place up," he coos as he gently pries the small child off.

John will just stand and watch him take the ID with very little interest. He definitely takes a moment to give the guy a once over, and snaps out of his stare fest as the clipboard is placed in front of him to sign. John signs it and shoves his ID back into his pocket, a small frown on his face at Lily's reaction. She's never been attached to very many people and it really is a surprise to see her like this.

"You can walk with me out to the car if you want. She really likes you." John pipes up just a little giving off a really dorky smile as he did. "It's a treat to see Lily attached to someone other than me, Rose, and Kanaya." John was literally like her funny uncle or something.

Not only did John like this idea, it seemed Lily was also down with the idea of having her awesome Daycare keeper walk her out of the building. He could even put her in her big girl seat and send her on her way home.

Oh yeah. Now Dave has a little monkey clambering onto him like she's his young and he's the momma monkey who has to carry her around. "You just said that so you don't have to carry her."

Still. Dave just gets to his feet, Lily clinging to him so he doesn't even have to hold her. That's probably really dangerous in hindsight, but it doesn't seem to stop him. "Also, if you can be fashionably late instead of just late, that would be nice. All the other parents pick their children up within ten minutes if you were interested in how long it takes to be the last guy to pick up their kid." Dave's ID card and card holder was clipped to his jeans. DAVE STRIDER was printed onto the card, along with a picture of him and the bare necessities an ID card required.

"So. Your car? I'd love to walk with you and all, but I don't actually know what your car looks like."

"Well no! I would have carried her myself, but she really looked like she wasn't ready to let you go yet and you just can't force Lily to do things you know." Well in hindsight, sometimes he doesn't think Lily likes him as much as she used to. Uncle John was away more than he needed to be.

"Oh sorry about that. I got asked to stay a few minutes late where I work and I had completely forgotten through the day I had to come get her." John has his nametag from Target still attached to his chest, which totally clears his story here. He didn't have enough time to think about taking it off. Before he speaks again, he catches a glimpse of the ID card on Dave's waist. Dave Strider, that name sounded awfully familiar.

"Oh right, sorry." John opens the door for them to go out first. "It's the blue one that's running. I figured with how hot it is it would be better to let the AC run or something. Doors are unlocked too."

"She's like this everytime. I don't know why. She says it's because she just super duper loves me or something. Her words, not mine," he says nonchalantly as he made his way out. His hair looked even whiter in the sunlight and his freckles were even more prominent.

He headed over to the car, hands in pockets and Lily like a little sloth on his chest. "It's cool. I know the gals who parent her, so if it's bad enough, I can drop her off myself or she stays at my place until they can get her. They told me someone would be picking her up though."

When he gets to the car, Lily finally gets off him, getting in the car when he opens the door to admit her in.

"Well she doesn't just super duper love anyone. So I guess you better consider yourself pretty special." He didn't want to just blurt out his name, that would end really awkwardly since John had looked down at his hip subtly and everything. He watches Lily climb into her big girl seat and even buckle herself in this time. She was a smart girl, and he knew Rose must be very proud of her.

"Oh, I've known the girls who parent her since grade school actually. Well, not Kanaya. I met her in High School. Rose and I have known each other for a long time though. You can say we're pretty much family." This must mean, hm, John is going to figure this out. "If you know them, and I know them. I have to guess that we went to High School together?" Not that he was trying to question him like that or anything!

"Oh shit. That was probably really awkward." Lily was definitely telling on Uncle John when she got home, he said a bad word.

Dave just keeps his hands in his pockets, although he did seem to check over to make sure she was properly buckled in. It's his job to make sure the kids are okay after all.

"Naw. We were online acquaintances for awhile, that's all. I went to high school where I came from before moving. Texas ain't exactly the friendliest to my type, so it was just better just to up and move after I got me a diploma." Dave wasn't all that cagey with the information. He made sure not to give out too many details though, just saying the bare minimum.

He leans down slightly to talk to Lily. "Okay girly. You make sure he gets you home safely and that you don't start talking like him. I already get hounded to not saying words I'm not supposed to around the whole lot of you. He should too." Dave stands upright, looking him once over before holding out his hand formally. "Dave Strider, by the way. I already know your name since I read your ID. I'm pretty sure I saw you glance at my hip, so I assume you saw my ID card, but I'm supposed to be professional or whatever."

John's eyes widen, he knows exactly what Dave is talking about. every detail is just running back into his mind. Every single thing he ever said to Dave, every single thing he and Dave shared in common. All the movies they streamed together, all the chats they ever shared. All the logs were still on his old computer, which he refused to sell or get rid of for certain reasons that may pertain to that.

Nevermind the fact that Dave knew that John had shot a glance at his hip. Nevermind the fact that he's talking to Lily right now as every detail of his pre-teen years is leaping back into his dim brain. John shuts the car door and takes a moment with Dave himself. He has to confirm the reality of what Dave just said.

"We got into a huge fight and never spoke after that." John lets it slip out of his mouth. "I changed my Chumhandle, and I assume you changed yours and we never spoke after that. Until right now at this very second."

If it were possible, Dave just dug his hands even deeper into his pockets. He's quiet and his head is tilted downwards slightly and he's hunchbacked, and this obviously is not the same cocky coolkid that Dave had tried so hard to be online.

This was just Dave. Kind of socially awkward albino kid who was trying to act like they were strangers, despite knowing exactly who John was. "I think you're mistaking me for someone else." He wonders if he can somehow convince the other that he isn't the same guy. Considering it's impossible to pass this off as coincidences...

Well it was worth a try since he's pretty sure John doesn't want anything to do with him anymore after that.

With that kind of body language John is beginning to wonder whether this guy just didn't want to admit it, or he really was wrong. There wasn't really any way at all to tell so John ducks his head in apology. "Oh shit, I told you this was awkward. It just really awkward."

John was just the dork who had a social reputation only because he knew people. He was also cool and gave people his discount on movies sometimes when his boss wasn't looking. But there was only one guy in the world that ever really got to see who John Egbert really was and he was dead set certain it was this guy.

For now John is just going to let that go completely and try again another day. "I'm really sorry if I made some sort of crazy stupid mistake. Er, I'll probably see you another day this week if Rose and Kan want me to pick Lily up!" John ducks into his car quicker than lightening after waving a little goodbye and backing up to leave.

Dave doesn't say anything much and watches John leave in a hurry.

Oh. Okay. He's pretty sure that excuse wasn't going to fly, but that at least gives him time to sort this out on his own.

At the very least, spam Rose's phone with very unhappy texts her way, because that really fucking sucked. And he's going to go clean up the daycare and then head home so he can get drunk. Except not really. He has work tomorrow. So it'll mostly just him being anxious about this whole stupid thing.

And sending her more unhappy texts. Yep.

That earlier agreement had included John picking Lily up the very next day. How does John know this? Because he's rushing to the time clock once again with Kanaya angrily biting his head off on the phone. Dave had to take Lily home with him, and neither of them could leave to go get her and he barely knew where the dudes house was after the directions were yelled at him.

There would certainly be no dinner reimbursement today, he would being going home to eat his ramen and maybe have a sick wicked grilled cheese sandwich while he mulled over the laundry and all the times recently he's let his mind wander and not pick up his niece.

John is now driving just a mile or two above the speed limit to find exactly where he was being directed to, Dave's number had also been barked at him in a hurry. John decides while he's going down the road it would be best to call Dave.

So he waits at a stop light while the phone rings.

The first you can hear is probably My Little Pony in the background. Little girls sure do love My Little Pony, and Dave had other things to do than keep a vigil watch over Lily. Like reply to e-mails and text Rose or Kanaya about what the fuck is he supposed to do with Lily.

Dave is surprisingly formal on the phone. But he also has no idea who's calling him, because the number was unknown. "Dave Strider speakin'." There was definitely a drawl in that. But Dave was also tired and catering to the wants of the small child of Rose and Kanaya got kind of hard sometimes.

Like what kind of little kid craves ice cream cake so suddenly? Jesus dicks.

"Yeah this is really embarrassing. I seem to be making an ass out of myself lately. Not only was I more than fashionably late, I'm so late the Daycare is closed and I have to no clue where the hell your complex is." John is just rambling on and on. "Oh christ, this is John by the way. I'm trying to find your place so I can pick up Lily."

He feels so extremely bad right now and he's tired. He's so worn out, he's not even sure he'll be able to make it back to his apartment. But he will keep his safe driving skill to the max while he's taking that precious child home, just making to his own home seemed a little difficult.

"I need directions from the intersection in front of the Quick Mart about five blocks away from the Daycare."

There's a pause and the sound of clicking, probably from a computer is heard. "You know where the IHOP is from there? It's like the only one in the general area, mind you, so it's not like I'm asking you to find a needle in a haystack or anything. If you know where that is, you can head there and we can walk over to where it is. She's basically going to murder me if I don't get her an ice cream cake and there's a Baskin Robbins near there. It'll be easier to find IHOP than find my place," Dave says into the phone.

"We can head back to my place since she has stuff here anyways and I can drive you two back to your car and things are going to be easy as cake. I got to head out soon anyways, so it's not like I'll mind."

He also has a box with stuff in it for Rose because Rose either keeps having shit sent to his place as a joke or because Rose purposely leaves stuff at his place as a joke.

It's really just some passive aggressive friend ritual they do.

"Yeah, I know where the IHOP is." He goes there when he has no food in the house and no resolve to go the grocery store. So he turns at the intersection and heads out that way, not really meaning to keep Dave on the phone it sorta just happened. "She wants an ice cream cake?" Well okay, that child wanting something is not surprising. But that choice of want was surprising.

"I'll just call Rose when I get to IHOP and tell her we're keeping Lily for a little while. I mean no harm in letting her have the cake at the Baskin Robins, or I could get us something while we're at IHOP." John totally had enough money for that now that he thought about it. His gas tank would suffer for a day or two and then everything would be peachy keen.

"She's really adamant about it. So I'll meet you at the Baskin Robbins."

The line goes dead right after as Dave hangs up. He shoves his wallet and phone in his pockets before ushering Lily to get her shoes on and out the door. They'd get her stuff after since the silly girl wants her stupid ice cream cake.

Why does she want an ice cream cake? I mean, sure, he fucking loves ice cream cake as much as the next guy who loves them, but what the hell. Ice cream cakes are expensive.

He makes sure they get there safely, holding Lily's hand the entire time.

John puts his phone in his lap and continues his short drive with some rad tunes, nothing like a little 80's and 90' rock to complete your day. Maybe you even secretly listened to 'How do I live' on the way there. You'll never tell anyone that you hold a soft spot for crappy love songs ever. It was a little secret between you and Lily.

John pulls into IHOP and walks himself over to Baskin Robbins. He didn't see Dave or Lily inside so he takes a moment to sit on this bench and recollect his thoughts once again before seeing Dave. He was certain that this Dave Strider was THE Dave Strider from his childhood, he had to be! John remembers the fight more vividly than he wanted to. It was an awful feeling to remember. John and Dave had fought over something as trivial as whether going to High School was worth it, and how people would make fun of Dave's looks. At that point John had never seen a picture of Dave, and Dave had caught glimpse of John once when they voice messaged over Pesterchum (he had accidentally turned the camera on).

Somewhere amidst his thoughts Lily is slapping his knee now and pointing at the door. John takes the notion to look up- oh man. "Hey."

Dave was already heading inside to talk to whoever was at cashier. Compared to Lily and John, Dave looked overdressed. He handled weather terribly, and it was way too fucking cold to be wanting an ice cream. But Lily gets what Lily wants, and he didn't want to try arguing with the little girl if he could avoid it.

"Lils. Go pick out a cake from the freezer so I can buy it." It wasn't until the cake was paid for and the box securely in the small girl's arms did Dave really address John. "Sup. Sorry for making you go drive all around the city. I wasn't freezing my a-behind off at the daycare and I couldn't drop her off at home. Not that she's complaining. She's got herself an ice cream cake out of the ordeal."

Except now she's demanding they go back to Dave's place. Someone sure is high maintenance today!

John just follows them inside and watches that sweet little girl pick out a cake. John notices it's not something she would normally pick out, which tips him off a little. Eh, maybe it's just Lily doing something out of the normal- her mother would definitely dive into that with her when John brought her home finally.

"It's cool man, I think she's got something up her sleeve though. Haha, look how excited she's getting." John takes one hand, Lily of course reaching out for the other. If someone were paying attention to this little episode it would seem like Lily was John and Dave's child really.

"I'll call Rose when we get back to your place, I told her I would bring her back after IHOP and Baskin Robbins, but a little longer away from home shouldn't be too bad on her."

"I guess. Rose probably doesn't care as long as she comes back happy and in one piece. If she's neither of them, that's when we start having problems." The walk back to Dave's apartment was mostly the sounds of Lily speaking. She talked a mile a minute, so Dave usually resorted to short responses to let her ramble on.

When they get back to Dave's apartment, the girl automatically demands for candles. The apartment is surprisingly clean (at least everywhere that isn't Dave's actual bedroom). At some point though, while Lily is carefully putting candles into the cake, Dave just stops. He stops and stares at the calender on his wall.

John listened to her ramble and ramble about something special. She kept insisting it was a special day that needed a party and a cake and hats and everything! She was quite a handful when she wanted to be. When they get back to the apartment and got ahold of those candles- it might have clicked for John.

Lily picked out colors Dave would usually wear, she also picked out what she said was Dave's favorite flavor. He looks to check on Dave who is staring blankly at the calender. Oh. Today is circled.

"Everything okay Dave?"

Dave doesn't respond for a few minutes, just keeping his eyes on the calender and his back to them. It takes him a moment before he responds. He was pretty sure his voice would have cracked if he had not given himself time to actually thinking over his words. "I only have seventeen candles left in that bag. I never went and bought more." He stopped really doing candles by that time. They decided other ways to celebrate when he didn't really want to keep celebrating with birthday cakes.

Lily didn't seem to mind, putting all the candles out. Dave doesn't seem to say anything else, and lights the candles himself, before Lily makes him sit down in front of it and whines to John that they had to sing happy birthday for him.

This is still confirming it for John all too well. He completely lost track of Dave right before he turned seventeen. Stopped talking to him just as he got into High School, and stopped trying to keep up with him around that age. John sits at the table with Lily and rambles out happy birthday in the cutest way possible because Lily didn't know all the words.

Lily demands now that Dave blow out ALL of the candles and make a big happy birthday wish. She doesn't want Dave to tell though since if he did it would never ever come true. She's also asking how old her favorite preschool care taker is because he needs to have a proper celebration of his age.

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