knightime | [Closed] Day(care) Dreamers

Dave just goes to take a seat in the passenger seat. His expression is blank as usual. He does kind of look like he's giving John a deadpan look.

"No, J-Egbert. I don't want you to drive me back so I'm just going to walk all the way back. This is a wonderful idea to do in December. Of course it's alright. It's not like I have a choice. Going against a pampered child raised by those two? I knew it was a bad idea to let them adopt."

He hates everythingggg.

He can't tell behind those awesome shades, and it's like getting really dark soon. Why in the blazes would Dave want to wear sunglasses in the nighttime? He would never understand.

"Well, I was just checking since you seem to have some sort of weird hesitance around me!" John is throwing that out there. "Rose and Kanaya are wonderful mothers, really. But I swear to goodness they've made her into a child genius before she's even ready to graduate preschool."

John is unsure of everything right now.

"Thanks for pointing out my social awkwardness. Sure do feel real confident about myself now." It's half a joke and half true. Dave wasn't exactly the most socially forward guy in person. But John wasn't wrong that he was being fairly hesitant around him.

Whatever. Just drive! He really doesn't want to talk about this.

"She's going to graduate college by the time she hits her double digits."

"Shi- I mean dammi-oh jesus I should just drive now." A few stumbles trying not to say curse words later, John starts the car and pulls out of the IHOP parking lot to head back to the residence that Lily should have been at like six hours ago.

"She's going to make all of us really proud. I heard Lily learned her ABCs faster than anyone else and everything. Such a smart girl." John felt like he was raising her as well anyhow and it was kind of nice ot have her in his life. It would be nice to keep Dave in his life as well, but how awkward would that be to tell him that?

Dave doesn't answer John, just looking out the window. Even as the sun was setting and it was getting darker, the shades never left his face. He probably even wore them at night!

Dave remembers that. Partly because he helped her learn them. But he doesn't say that to John. The little girl had basically attached herself to him the first day they met. He ended up babysitting her a lot when they needed one because she wouldn't let anyone else babysit her.

He just hoped this wouldn't last too long.

He pulls up to the residence of Rose and Kanaya, working women who were very fortunate to have the job titles they have. Financial stability too. Something John wasn't going to get working at Target of all places. Lily seems excited to see her moms at least. Lily is babbling about seeing her moms when she gets inside and unbuckles herself.

John lets her out of the car and beckons Dave to come along with them, Lily is knocking on the door and giggling uncontrollably. She did have one heck of a day and she really should be tired! But she is a big girl, she can go to bed when ever she wants to! John is going to try and act like everything isn't awkward between he and Dave while Rose is outside, she would psychoanalyze that shit in a heartbeat and pinpoint exactly who was feeling what in this not friendship.

Whatever Rose was up to was backfiring at the moment.

Luckily for all the parties involved, Kanaya opens the door. She picks up Lily and admits the other two to come in.

Kanaya just speaks pleasantly to John while Lily babbles about her entire day. Dave seemed to have already disappeared off. It's minutes in before Rose emerges, and apparently Dave. The two are speaking quietly, and Dave actually looks like he's frowning. The box is still tucked underneath his arm, but it looks like it's been opened now. Rose just seems to smile pleasantly, despite the upset expression Dave has.

Dave's expression slowly changes to a more defeated expression and it seems he gives up with whatever conversation they have, moving back to in front of the door, near John.

John apologizes a few times for being so late bringing her back, how she insisted they have a tiny celebration for Dave and everything and how he worked over and didn't mean to. He does pull his weight in his department, unlike everyone else! Kanaya seems understand and apologizes for her earlier burst of anger, she really is a pleasant woman.

John just glances at Dave for a moment, what is he hiding behind those sunglasses? What is he hiding from John? He needs to know. John was absolutely going to find out all the answers he needed to know tonight, if not he was going straight back to Dave's house everyday until he found out. Wow okay, maybe not every day that sounded really stalkerish of him.

"Dave, I need to get home and eat dinner. You cool with going now so I can take you home?" John looks to Rose. "Thanks for letting us borrow Lily for the evening. She's always a jewel to have around."

Dave looked like he was staring at Rose. It's really impossible to tell where Dave was looking with the shades on. He does turn his head towards John when he's addressed though, so there's that.

"Naw, it's cool. We can head out now," Dave said. The poker face was already back as quickly as it had gone. It seemed Dave was pretty determined to keep everyone out and never letting anyone in.

He shrugged lightly and bid his farewells before walking out and back towards John's car.

John bids his farewells and heads back out to his car with Dave. The overwhelming sense of Dave really not wanting to be in the car with him comes back as he waits for the other to buckle himself in, John just couldn't being himself to say anything.

"You wanna listen to the radio or anything, or would you rather leave it down?" Ah, there, the heat started kicking in finally. "I could also stop somewhere and get us something to eat, since you did have to buy that ice cream cake, and god knows they ain't cheap."

Dave buckles himself in, leaving the box on his lap. He looks out the window, even if there isn't anything to really look at.

Dave finally glances at John. "It's your choice. You're the driver so the radio is your turf. But I think you can just take me home John. I ain't really interested in getting food at the moment."

What in the world was Dave's problem all of a sudden. He was seriously getting tired of stepping on eggshells around people, it was getting far past ridiculous at this point.

"That wasn't a stab at your accent." John is silent for the rest of the drive, only speaking when he is pulling into the IHOP parking lot again. Who are you?" No shit he's Dave Strider. "Not some smart ass, I'm Dave Strider, crap. Who are you really? Are you who I think you are?"

John was not leaving without answers.

Dave's grip on the handle of the passenger side door tightens slightly. He really wanted to just make a quick dash out of the car and never have to deal with this again.

He doesn't even know why he got so angry. Maybe he was trying to get John to hate him more. John hates him right? "I don't know who you think I am. I'm just the creepy albino guy that takes care of a bunch of kids as a day job. Is that what you were thinking?"

John certainly didn't understand why Dave was getting so high strung over this, to john that meant his assumptions were correct and that Dave was the lonely kid from his teenage years who always put up a facade in favor of being 'cool'.

"I know who I think you are. But you would just deny the claim that you're Dave from my childhood. The Dave I never got to see because you assumed I was like the rest of humanity and I would laugh at you." John really wasn't bothered or creeped out by the fact that Dave was albino, that was the least of John's worries- it was actually a rather unique trait if you asked him. "All I happen to be is the buck toothed nerd who survived high school and made nothing out of himself, just being supervisor of the electronics section at Target of all places."

John had resentment for his facade in high School. "None of those people knew who I really was you know.I think the only person who truly knew me was you, Dave." If John would get an award for best angry rant this would be the rant to give it to. He was white knuckling the steering wheel as he parked and turned off the car.

Dave doesn't answer John. He just presses his cheek against the glass, kind of shrinking into his seat. He doesn't know what to do in this situation. Dave wanted to make a statement about how its impossible to know whether someone would be bothered by his appearance or not, but it was a sore subject. He wasn't going to talk about it unless he was made to talk about it.

By the time they arrived and John had parked, Dave had shrunk into his seat. He definitely looked more like a child like this. It was obvious that Dave had no way or intention on playing off that he wasn't this guy that John was talking about. He had no way to deny the claims and have any proof of it either.

"It's been five years. We've grown up."

John is glancing at Dave from the driver's side. He's surprised Dave is even shrinking into the seat like that. Maybe it was the way that he had raised his voice? John bites his lips and shrinks back into his own seat.

"Look dude, I'm sorry." He has a feeling his apology is going to fall on misguided ears however, it seems like Dave think John may hate him in some way. This wasn't the case at all, and what Dave had just said proved to John that this was the same Dave Strider he'd known so long ago.

"It's been five years without a best friend." Plus all the fake friends that John had accumulated over the years. They'd ditched him, as he had earlier remembered. John hadn't been able to afford to go to a University. Bad memories from senior year, blah blah.

"Are you really not going to hear me out Dave?"

"I don't know why you're sorry. I burned the bridge. I burned it with all the gasoline anyone can dream of and set off fireworks on it like the Fourth of July. I was the one who deleted my chumhandle and got a new one. I didn't look back once. That's the kind of guy you made best friends with," Dave said, his voice surprisingly even. It was like Dave had just emotionally detached himself from the conversation.

Dave mostly remembered black eyes and split lips. Coming home with bruised knuckles and a hell lot of warnings. The only reason he got through high school was his condition and that everytime he was in a fight, it was through self defense.

"I'm not sure what you want to talk about." His hand is still on the door handle like a fucking lifeline.

"I'm sorry because I just yelled at you, and I'm sorry I didn't try to fix it before it went downhill. All over my curiosity of what you looked like. I'm really sorry." John is striving for a second chance. "Now that I see you, I'm not even sure why you were worried."

John remembers a lot of High School being easy for him, the occasional guy asking to borrow his homework, clubs, and just all around having an easy time. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Dave shrunk when John yelled. John was no better than one of those goddamn bullies.

"I don't know either. But I don't want this night to end on some awful note"

"Because I was sixteen with next to no friends other than people on the internet. I went to school and got picked on for looking different. Even if they didn't say anything, they always gave me looks. Not the 'Oh, he's kind of cute' or 'his hair is cool' type of looks. The type of looks where if they think I'm looking, they quickly turn away like a fucking deer in headlights." And it was unpleasant everyday. To feel like a freak. "I didn't need my friends on the internet to judge me the same way. Sure did fuck that one up anyways."

And the last thing he wanted was John to judge him the same way.

"What are you implying?"

"I never got the chance, Dave." He didn't mean it like a chance to bully. "I never got the chance to tell you that the way you look is fine. I wouldn't have treated you any differently." Then again, John is twenty years old. John was fifteen back then and he knew he was capable of saying some really awful stuff. He probably would have been shocked, and unsure of what to think, but he isn't sure what his reaction would have bveen at that age.

John raised his brow. "I just didn't want you to leave angry, or to think I was angry."

"I didn't want to give you the chance to fine out." Dave wasn't sure why this mattered. In the end, Dave was the one who refused and was too stubborn to consider actually letting John see him as a viable option. He was too scared, and it cost him their friendship. In retrospect, it was kind of dumb, but he was also a teen who was self conscious. He's much less self conscious now, if only because he had a fanbase now who rather him be around.

"It was something that happened when we were teens. I didn't think you'd even remember."

"Exactly, but I should have expected that you know. You were always so stubborn." John was just as much at fault for shoving Dave in such an uncomfortable place at such a young age. He didn't mean Dave to feel uncomfortable- but what are you supposed to think at fifteen when your best friend cuts ties with you on your birthday. You think he deserves being shoved there because you're supposed to be best friends and not have secrets.

"Of course I did." He sighs. "I have my old computer still, with all of our chat logs still on it. Day one, to the dooms day that was that night. Everything is archived." John thinks it's silly to admit this.

"I didn't think I'd ever hear from you again, to be honest."

"It was my fault, John." He'd just like to put it out there. "It was your birthday and I basically gave you the shittiest birthday present to date. I don't know why you're making excuses for me."

Oh...that's. Well. He's not sure what to say about that, actually. "But why?" Why did John value all that so highly?

"I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. I still kept in touch with Jade and Rose. Rose, wasn't really my choice since my bro and her Mom knew each other. Actually, she knew about my condition since she could remember the word and its definition. She was trying to convince me that showing you a photo of me wasn't going to be an end all. Probably should have listened to her."

John doesn't want to blame it on Dave, John really doesn't Dave to blame himself for anything that happened between them a long time ago. They were both grown up now and those things were in the past. But with the past slapping them both in the face right now he wasn't sure what to do.

"I wanted to remember you, okay?" He knows how fucking weird that must sound. To want to remember a guy from a really long time ago that you only knew since you were thirteen. But John has every bit of it archived.

"It's cool man. I don't need a picture now that I've seen you in real life." He chuckled a little. "I think you shouldn't let your looks bother you. I mean, I have buck teeth and the charm of any adult male working in a retail store." He was really making himself look dumb for Dave's sake. See, he does still care.

"I wanted to ask a long fucking time ago. Okay, well the day I met you at the daycare center..." John isn't sure how to say this. "I wanted to confirm that you were you, and we could rekindle our friendship."

This is hitting a whole lot of awkward really fast. Dave couldn't forget John. It was impossible. John was one of the few people whom actually knew how to cheer him up. Losing that was hard. And having John tell you he wanted to remember him...it was endearing and kind of overwhelming.

And seriously. When kids with buck teeth could make fun of you. It didn't really help. Just made him feel more awkward about how he looks. He hasn't been this self conscious about it in awhile.

"How about we talk about this later?"

Oh yeah, that's Dave totally opening his car door and getting out of the car. It's really shitty of him not to give John a straight up answer, but he's also really confused and trying to not freak out too much.

He just can't deal right now. Maybe once he doesn't feel so boxed in, he can consider an actual answer, but the pressure was just too much right now.

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