Chapter Text
His hair was pale blond, sweeping across his forehead in a neat line. The edges of his bangs stopped at the lower region of his cheeks. They mostly covered his thick eyebrows, but when they were visible, his sarcasm was expressed to the nth degree in their various motions. Much was surely to be said about his eyes, but it was not sure if anyone had ever seen them. He wore dark sunglasses every day, inside or outside, no matter what. This could be considered weird, or pretentious, and it probably would be if he weren’t so goddamn attractive. And he was. So attractive. His name was Dave Strider, and John Egbert was hopelessly in love.
John was a pale boy of 15, short for his age, with black hair and glasses. He knew Dave was out of his league, but that didn’t stop him from staring at him in every class. John was lucky enough to be seated diagonally from him in English, and he used this opportunity to his every advantage. Usually, Dave had a resting expression of boredom. But on some rare occasions, if someone said something funny, or if a teacher noted something important, John could see flashes of interest or maybe even of a smile cross Dave’s face. He lived for those moments.
Unfortunately, it was pretty definite that Dave was straight. He’d never shown attraction to a guy before, and though he may just have been hiding it, it seemed unlikely that he would be interested in boys. Besides, his sister was gay, and, well, what were the chances of two in a family?
Every day John would sit by Dave and imagine what it would be like to run his fingers through that smooth blond hair. To kiss him. Of course, he never expected anything to really happen between them. They were just daydreams. But god, were they enticing. John idly picked at a scrap of cardboard coming off the cover of his textbook. The corners of his mouth turned up briefly in a small smile. Dave’s hands looked strong, yet soft. They would be so nice to hold…
“Hey John, you coming?” laughed a voice. It belonged to his sister, Jade. They were the same age, and shared most classes. She paid a lot more attention than he did. Perhaps this was due to the absence of gay fantasies and presence of work ethic in her. He wondered what it was like.
“John, get up. I’ve got to get to physics and I don’t want to be late, but we need to walk together,” she scolded him. They walked to every class they could together, and were as close as siblings could be. They hardly ever fought over anything significant.
As he put his papers away in his binder, John’s heart sank. He had chemistry next, which was one of the classes he didn’t share with Dave.
Which was probably a good thing. Otherwise he’d never be passing.
John got up quickly before Jade would have to remind him once more that there were things to do in school besides stare at hot boys. Stuffing his binder into his bag, he followed her out the door.
“So has the back of Dave’s head gotten any more interesting since the first day you gazed upon it?” Jade inquired as they navigated the halls.
“You’re one to talk, you have a crush on Karkat,” John, replied, scooting out of someone’s way.
Jade poked his cheek. “No I don’t, and don’t change the subject. I know that once you attract a young gay nerd such as yourself, he cannot be stopped. Even if the object of his affections is a total dork with a shitty webcomic.”
“It’s ironic,” John replied, used to this argument.
“Have you read it, John?” Jade laughed. “It’s awful. I don’t know what’s worse, the comic itself or that he seems actually invested in it.”
“I seem to have gone suddenly deaf and I can’t hear anything you’re saying. Wow. This truly is a tragedy.”
“You’re a dork.”
“I’ll never hear again!”
Jade sighed, and switched angles. “Well, if you like him that much, why don’t you just talk to him?”
John put on an expression of mock concentration, and began to count on his fingers. “One, the social ladder exists, and I am not on a high rung. There is a magical barrier separating us known as popularity, and I have no choice but to look on from below.” He put up another finger. “Two, he has no interest in talking to me. He likes rap and webcomics and irony. I like movies and magic and pranks. I know enough about romance to know that having a complete lack of common interests is a bad sign.”
Jade protested. “I’m sure you two could find some –
“I’m not done yet! Three, if we did talk, it would be like, ‘Hey. Sup. You’re that one guy, from that one class, right? Ok bye.’ Cue embarrassment and no later conversation. Four! He’s not gay. And finally, five. Is this your business? Wow, oh my god! It actually isn’t!”
Jade patted his shoulder. “Oh, come on. I’m sure you’d get along fine. And besides, you don’t know he’s straight. I seem to recall a certain homosexual valiantly declaring “I am not a homosexual” every day of eighth grade, hmm…”
“That’s different,” John said, stressing the second word. “I think if he was, he would have come out by now. Everyone would accept him anyway, so why would he still hide it?”
“I could say the same thing about you!” Jade said, exasperated. “Ok, fine. If you’re so determined to believe you don’t have a chance, you do that. But since I am a loving sister, and an amazing wingwoman if I do say so myself, I’m going to do some investigating.”
“What does that mean?” John said apprehensively. Jade was the only one who knew about his sexuality, and he didn’t want her revealing it to anyone.
“Investi-gay-ting. Ahh? Ahhh?” Jade smiled widely. John cringed and shook his head. Jade shook hers as well, still smiling.
“You know you love the puns. As for what I mean, you’ll find out soon enough!” Jade gave him a quick smile before darting into the physics room, leaving John standing there, confused.
And also late for class.
He startled as the bell rang, and scrambled to get to chemistry before he was marked absent. The halls were mostly clear of people now, with only the certain few who had completely given up on their academic careers left wandering the halls. He glanced around of any adults before quickening his pace to a light run. In order to get to class on time at this point, he probably would have needed to sprint. But rules were rules, so no running. If you run you might just accidentally –
And with that thought, he ran smack into someone.
“Oh, crap! Sorry!” John blurted as he fumbled to keep his bag in his hands.
“It’s fine, my fault,” replied the boy he had run into. John looked up and had to keep himself from dropping his things right then and there.
Dave Strider, in all his tall, cool glory, stood before him, looking mildly surprised.
John mentally smacked himself repeatedly as he stood and stared at Dave. “Anyway, sorry, I should get to class,” he stammered, feeling his cheeks grow hot. Oh god, this was embarrassing.
“You’re John, right?” You never really realize how important it is to see eyes until you can’t, John thought. Without being able to see them it was always a bit difficult to gauge emotion in Dave’s casual expression. However, in his voice… Was that a note of interest John heard? He tried unsuccessfully to control his heart rate. Dave knew his name. He knew John existed. Could this be a dream?
“Yeah! You’re Dave.” Crap, that sounded too certain. “Right?” John quickly added.
“Mhm. Cool. See you in English, ten. Then,” Dave corrected himself. He nodded thoughtfully. Then, giving John a quick smile, he walked off in the other direction.
John stared after him. He stood stock still until Dave was out of sight. Had that been real? Dave had known his name, and the main class they shared? Could there be hope? John made a halfhearted attempt to quell his rising spirits, but gave up quickly. Once Dave was out of sight, a grin spread across his face. Maybe Jade was right. Maybe John would talk to him some time soon.
The second bell rang, marking John officially tardy, but as he walked back to the office to get a late pass, there was a spring in his step. He didn’t care anymore. He was head over heels for Dave Strider, who likely was completely uninterested in him, and it was amazing.
He was so screwed.