Work Text:
Your name is John Egbert, and you really want to go roller skating with your best buddy, Dave Strider.
"Come on Dave, I haven't gone roller skating for like, a long time. And you know time better than anyone!" You yells.
"No." Dave's face is a emotionless as usual. Gosh, he such a meanie.
"Gosh, you're such a meanie." You whine. You see the corner of Dave’s mouth twitch, but are disappointed that you can’t get him to actually smile. You haven’t quite reached that rung in your echeladder. You hope you’ll get to it soon. “Come on, Dave. You know I’m gonna go anyways, but I just wanted to go with my bff.”
“You sound like a sixteen year old girl complaining to her boyfriend.” You blush at the thought of being Dave’s girlfriend. You’re not sure why, and you don’t say anything for a moment.
“Shut up.” Wow, that’s really all you can muster? Come on, what happened to your pranksters gambit? You, under the careful guidance of you Dad and Colonel Sassacre’s book, are an amazing prankster, much to Dave’s displeasure. “I bet you don’t want to go because you suck at skating.” You hope challenging his mad skills with make him obligated to go. You really hope so. Dave slowly turns his head toward you. He reaches for the shades on his face. He slowly pulls them off, staring at you with his bright eyes.
“Egbert, are you challenging me?” They’re angry words, but his voice is calm as ever. Only his eyes show the intense burning he feels at the thought of his “swag“ being doubted.
“So what if I am?” Dave stands up, pulling his shades back on and grabbing his jacket. You hop up and squeak, which earns you a sharp glare from Dave. You giggle. The two of you walk to the bus stop. You are bouncing on your heels, but stop as soon as you catch a glare from Dave. You still can't help a grin from crawling onto your face.
About twenty minutes later and you finally arrive at the roller rink. Dave goes along to the rental counter while you pay for admission. You'd obviously be paying, since it was your idea. It didn’t take long to pay, but by the time you got to the rental counter, Dave had on "ironic" bright pink skates with flowers on them. You giggle again, and give the guy over the counter your shoe.
Dave kind of just stands there while you put your skates on, a bit like he doesn't want to skate without you. There aren't many people in the rink, but the lights are down and the music is loud. Dave didn't even bring his iPod, which is surprising; He usually has it with him.
You reach your hands up, and Dave stares at them for a second. Probably. You can’t really tell when he has his shades on. Finally he catches on, and grabs your hands, pulling you up. He pulls a little too hard though, and you bounce into him, and glide backwards on your skates. Dave seems to stumble a little, but it happened so fast, you’re not sure it really happened.
Once you’re on the rink, you start to go, like, really go. Dave kind of just stands there, following you with his eyes, almost getting crashed into. Then he starts moving. He seems a little unsure about it, almost like he’s nervous. You do a full lap, and catch up with him.
“What’s up bro?” You question. He just looks at you. You think you see a slight blush covering his cheeks. He turns away, then mumbles something. “What’d you say?” He mumbles again. You sigh exasperatedly, then grab his chin and turn his face to yours. You don’t even realize you’re stopped in the middle of the rink.
“I can’t understand you when you mumble. Speak up.” He’s definitely blushing now. You furrow your brows. He gulps loudly.
“I’m not good at skating. I’ve only done it a couple times.” His whole face is red now. You have to stop yourself from laughing. He notices. he frowns and pulls away from you, and starts to move toward the exit, unsteadily. In your haste to stop him, you roughly yank his sleeve.
Before you know it, you feel his body slam into yours, and you’re both laying on the floor, limbs tangled. You can’t help the laugh that bubbles up in your throat. Dave tries to untangle himself, but your wrist was caught on the hem of his shirt. You could feel him struggling to get away without ripping his shirt. You on the other hand were laying on the floor laughing too hard to focus.
You’re not completely sure why it’s so funny, but it apparently is. He finally gets his watch unstuck from you. He tries to stand up, but you grab his shirt and he falls on top of you again, this time he was actually ON you. He tries to loosen your grip, but you give him a look, and he stops.
“You don’t have to be embarrassed. The only reason I know how to skate is because I taught myself.” You pause in thought. “And there was a roller rink a few blocks from my house.” He still hasn’t said anything. “Come on, I’ll teach you.”
********
The roller rink finally closed, and they kicked you out. You and Dave are walking to the bus stop. "I don't think the buses are still running. It's pretty late." Dave says. You notice he seems a bit shaky on his feet. You start chuckling. "What?" You get to the bus stop, still chuckling and he just stares at you.
"You're wobbling." You giggle. He glares at you. You think.
"Oh shut up. Asshole." Now you're really laughing. He punches your arm, and then he looks away, his jaw clenched. You stop laughing, and slowly, your hand makes its way to Dave's. His jaw unclenches. He turns his head toward you, and takes his shades off. His eyes are usually bright red, but the darkness of the night dull them. "Thanks."
"Thanks for what?" You ask, tilting your head to one side.
"For everything." He leans towards you, and you freeze, not sure what to do. He kisses you softly, and then starts to pull back, but cant when he realizes your hand is on the back of his head. He smiles into the kiss. This is nice, you think, I could get used to this.