Chapter Text
As much as Steven claims to hate Dave, he sure does make the Flipside a slightly less boring place.
With his constant ramblings about another place and time, his dumb little jokes, his surprisingly optimistic attitude- He's more fun to be around than you'd expect. Aside from his stupid comments and generally 'BIG DUMBASS' mentality, of course.
Now, as much as these things are true, Steven didn't think he'd find himself hanging around the guy much more than he absolutely has to.
Which is why it's surprising to see the two of them are actually having a coherent conversation. For the most part, at least. Dave's telling Steven all about his time as a 'wee lil boy' with Henry, and Steven's phone-features are softer than they normally are, if that's even possible. Once the conversation turns into awkward silence, Steven notices what Dave's been tinkering with the whole time. He remembers the purple man telling him about his love for tinkering. It makes him think. He could use a new hobby. Or a hobby of any sort, really. Time is weird in the Flipside, and Steven's overall lack of any sort of entertaining qualities isn't helping that case. Long story short, he's bored. Really bored.
"So..." Steven trails off, as if forgetting what he was going to say. Of course, making Dave look up at him. God, what is he doing? Maybe he should just brush it off and forget about it and shut up-
"So what?"
Well, too late now. Steven fidgets with his fingers a bit. Are his hands always this sweaty?
"Well, you said you like to tinker, and I could really use a hobby..." You'd think it's hot in here with how much sweat is secreting from his palms. But it's nowhere near hot. It's quite cold in here, actually.
"Oh! Y'know, you coulda jus' asked me to teach ya."
If Steven's phone-head wasn't already bright red, it definitely would be now.
"I suppose I could've, yeah..."
"It ain't that hard, anyway. You're a former Freddy's employee, you should catch on pretty damn quick."
"Good to hear."
---
It didn't take Steven long to get the hang of it, as expected. Dave was right. Not as unlikely as you'd think, apparently.
"See, you're doin' it already!"
"I don't know if I'd describe this as 'doing it', but thank you, Dave."
He's holding... something in his hands. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, I guess.
"I think it looks great!" Dave says cheerily, patting Steven a little too hard on the back.
"I don't even know what 'it' is..."
"It's yer first one!" Dave pauses. "I mean, unless you tinkered before you became a phoney."
Steven has to pause to think about that one. He's never remembered much from his life before he became a phone-headed manager. He doesn't even really know if he had much of a life to begin with. He tries to push those memories back as much as he can, though. He'd rather not think about what he lost. What he made others lose.
"I... Don't recall ever tinkering much, no..."
"Well then, it is yer first one! Therefore, you're gonna get better! I know that 'cause I know everythin'."
If he could, Steven would be smiling right now.
"Sure you do, Dave," He looks at his little gizmo, feeling surprisingly proud of himself. He made that. Even if it's not the best.
...Or anywhere close to the best.
"Sure you do."