Setting Bonds

“Egbert”.

“Hehehe, yes Dave?”

Dave could feel the barely contained amusement in John’s tone, and snorted.

John was floating in front of him, upside-down with the stupid hood dangling close to the ground, and was looking at him with his usual derpy smile, almost as if waiting for Dave’s reaction.

If he was expecting anything other than Dave’s normal poker face, he would be sorely disappointed.

Dave sidestepped around his friend and continued down the corridor.

Smile growing wider, John spun around and followed him, and Dave didn’t need to turn around to know he was still smiling.

“Why are you following me?”

“Because,” John chuckled again, and Dave rolled his eyes behind his glasses.

“That nice, bro, but don’t you have better things to do? I know a day without basking in my presence is a wasted one, and just being around me compensates for your lack of coolness, but really”.

John chuckled again but still did not reply.

The two walked down the corridor in silence for a while –or Dave walked, while John contented himself with floating behind him, his muffled chuckles the only sound echoing in the corridor.

It didn’t take long for Dave to stop again, but as he turned around to confront his friend, the other teen spun around him until he was once again standing behind him, covering his mouth to stifle a louder giggle.

Dave’s eyebrow slowly rose above the line of his glasses. “Suit yourself”.

Once again he turned around to walk away, feeling the shift of air as his friend spun behind him once more.

John, now openly giggling, leaned forwards to peer at Dave from his left shoulder, invading Dave’s privacy bubble without a care in the world.

Resolving to just ignore his friend’s antics, Dave shrugged slightly; he had cool things to do, places to be, smooth moves to make and sick beats to rap to, and if John wanted to be his derpy self, well then, so be it.

He moved on, but then John floated in front of him, blocking his path.

“This is uncool, Egbert. Really uncool. Cool is the furthest thing from this. This is so far from cool that you could bake a cake in it”.

“As long as it’s not Betty Crocker’s,” John’s lips turned downwards in a displeased frown, then managed to snap out of it before Dave could sidestep him again. “Come on Dave, you’re in no hurry!”

“What is it, Egbert. Some new plot to lift your Prankster’s Gambit some more?” knowing John was stubborn enough to follow him around until he relented, Dave decided to humour him.

Instead of answering, John shifted closer. “Where were you going?”

Dave’s eye twitched at John blatantly ignoring his question. “Wherever I’m needed, Egbert. You cannot restrain this much coolness”.

A weird expression replaced John’s silly smile, and for a second –but it was just a second– Dave had the sudden instinct to back down and walk away. Of course he refused to give in to such absurd ideas and remained completely motionless.

John’s smile widened tenfold. “Can’t I just want to spend time with my best friend?”

When it was clear John was not going to say anything else, Dave tilted his head to the side and once again sidestepped John.

“See you later, Egbert,” he stated, lifting one hand in a parting wave.

He felt a soft breeze against the back of his neck, and something curled around his wrist, holding him in place. It took him a second to realise that John had used his powers to tie the end of his stupid GodTier cape around his wrist, and was now staring at him with an expectant smile, probably to gauge his reaction to his stupid prank.

“… if you smile any wider, I’m afraid your face will break in two,” he grunted, tugging at the blue hood with his free hand. “Seriously, why can’t you go bother someone else?”

John flexed his hand and waved it in the air, still with the same silly, expectant smile; the cape unfastened from Dave’s wrist, only to wrap tightly around both hands, tying them together.

“Egbert,” stressing his friend’s name slightly, Dave tried to free himself, but the hood didn’t come off. “Not funny. Come on bro, let go”.

John shook his head, waving his hand sharply upwards, and the hood mimicked the movement, tugging Dave’s arms above his head and holding them there. Grunting out as his balance shifted abruptly, Dave stepped back, his shoulders pressed against the wall.

Looking up, he realised John’s face was now dangerously close –so close in fact that their noses were almost touching. His instinct told him to back away, but he had virtually no space to do so.

Had it been anyone else, Dave wouldn’t have allowed himself to be cornered like this, not in such a vulnerable way, but this was John, who probably didn’t even know something like ‘personal bubble’ existed.

“You spend all your time with Terezi,” there was a whiny inflection in John’s voice that made Dave almost snort.

“And you are buddy-buddy with Karkles,” he replied in an even tone of voice. “Watching shitty troll movies”.

“But you’re my friend! I feel like we haven’t spent any time together since the game started!”

“Well, I was busy milking the economy for some nice boonbucks, and you were busy hammering down some imps and scratching disks,” Dave gave another experimental tug at the bond holding him still, and grunted when John pushed his arms even higher.

He didn’t like the position; he felt far too open and vulnerable like this, and he was thankful no one else was around to see him –he would definitely lose coolness points.

“You died,” John murmured, shifting closer until he was pressing his forehead in the crook of Dave’s neck.

Definitely uncomfortable now, with John being so close he could feel the heat emitting from the other’s body, Dave focused his eyes on the opposite wall and wondered what was this about.

“You died too, remember?” his voice retained the usual coolness, but there was a strained edge to it Dave himself could not explain. Probably just the position they were in, nothing to do with his best friend’s dead body sprawled on a stone bed. “Way to make a bro worry”.

The feeling of John’s lips on his skin as he smiled sent a shiver down Dave’s back.

“Yes, but… I don’t want to see you die anymore”.

The back of his head bumping against the wall, Dave let out a soft grunt. His arms were feeling somewhat stiff, being held above his head like that, and John’s weight against his own was both constricting and strangely comfortable.

Part of him had to wonder if he should even be feeling like that, so instead he focused on talking. “Believe me, shit, I don’t want to die anymore either”.

John chuckled again, and Dave shivered again at the hot breath on his neck, followed by a small nuzzle.

“This is pretty gay,” he found himself muttering, words coming out on their own.

John’s shoulders shook with his laughter, and Dave allowed himself a small upwards twitch as well.

“Mmmmh,” he murmured in reply, one of his hands shifting upwards to grab Dave’s wrists, the other pressing him more into the wall.

The knowledge that he was the only one allowed to do something like this to Dave was empowering and somehow appealing, and John felt rightfully pleased.

“In fact, this is so rainbow the sky will fine us for the colour abuse,” Dave continued, but made no move to free himself.

Apparently satisfied by Dave’s lack of resistance, John shifted even closer, the hold on Dave’s wrists increasing slightly.

He didn’t want to let go –a part of him knew he’d have to at one point, but he didn’t particularly want to.

He didn’t like the time Dave spent together with Terezi, when he could just as well stay with him, especially now that they could finally talk in person.

They had been friends way before the Game. He was Dave’s best friend. That had to come first, right?

“You’re pouting,” Dave commented, feeling the downwards shift of John’s lips against his neck.

Pushing Dave’s hands even higher, feeling the other teen’s muscles stretch to accommodate the uncomfortably vulnerable position, John took a deep breath. “Well, I wouldn’t pout if you spent more time with me”.

“You ambushed me because of that?”

John playfully nuzzled his neck again. “Hehehe, I guess I did”.

Dave could feel the slow, rhythmic beat of John’s heart against his chest, the heat radiating from the other’s body on his own, holding him still, and shivered again, a flicker of something unidentifiable passing through his body.

“Let’s go watch a movie in my room?” John murmured, his voice coming out lower than he had intended it to.

The strangely low, husky voice sent another shiver down Dave’s back, but he did not want to think too deeply about it, concentrating on John’s words instead than his tone.

“If it’s Con Air, no amount of manly tears or gayness is going to keep me in there, I warn you Egbert”.

John’s eyes flashed with amusement, and he slowly licked his lips, considering Dave’s words. “I could still tie you up,” he stated, far too cheerfully. “Then you wouldn’t have any choice in the matter, hehehe”.

With that, John pulled away, almost reluctantly, leaving Dave cold and strangely upset. He wriggled his fingers together, expecting John to finally cease his silly antics and free his arms, but instead John simply turned around and floated down the corridor, the hood still tied around Dave’s wrists forcing him to stumble forwards on strangely unsteady legs in order to follow him.

“Aren’t you going to let me go?”

John threw him a smug look from above his shoulders. “Nu–uh”.

Dave sighed and resigned himself to follow, a part of him wondering if he could pass it up as being ironic in the case someone happened to see him being led around like a dog on a leash.

He had a nagging feeling Rose would have a field day analysing that.