Chapter Text
A young man stands in his bedroom, it just happens that today, the thirteenth of April, two thousand and twelve, is this young man's birthday. Though it was sixteen years ago he was given life, it was only three years ago he chose his name, and that name was…
Your name is John Egbert and you once had a variety of interests, coding, magic tricks, frankly terrible movies… But as the years passed you lost the passion you once had for these hobbies, that was probably just because you grew up over time, as people tend to do.
To be honest, your life sucks. You’ve always felt like there was something missing from your life, causing you to stay inside most days not doing much of anything, and that feeling has only increased over time. These days you just float aimlessly through your life as if you were part of the wind itself.
You look around your room, it’s filled with crappy movie posters that you haven’t bothered to take down in years, as well as many cakes your father has made.
He always makes SO many cakes for your birthday, honestly it’s a bit of a problem. You guess you’ll eat them, filling the empty hole in your heart with WAY too much sugar.
While eating the cake you reminisce, thinking back to your thirteenth birthday. and the times since then…
It was the best birthday of your life, you were feeling bummed over the highly anticipated beta for the game SBURB being cancelled. So your few friends, Dave Strider, Rose Lalonde and Jade Harley had organized to meet up at your house for a surprise party. It was awesome finally seeing them face to face and not just as pictures and text on a screen.
Shortly after the party, you unfortunately lost contact with Dave and Rose. It makes sense they stopped talking to you, you were, and frankly still are, a dumb nerdy loser with a super deep voice and way too much body and facial hair and a dumb, stupid name and…!
Okay, take a deep breath Egbert, don’t freak yourself out over things you can’t change.
Meanwhile, you and Jade figured out you were actually half-cousins! Your Nanna and her Grandpa apparently dated for a little while and gave birth to her dad or something, you don’t quite remember the specifics. But she decided to move in with you and your father as you were her last living relatives and it was better than living alone with just her dog on an island for all her teenage years.
In those years you grew pretty close, but she recently left for an art school where she could develop her talents as an artist, leaving only you and your dad in the house. Since then your life has become the worst it’s probably ever been.
Urgh, but you should probably not stay in your room all day. You quickly put on a hoodie with a wind motif and step outside.
Looking around the living room you don’t spot anything out of the ordinary, Nanna’s urn, the couch, the TV, it’s all the same as it ever has been for as long as you can remember. Except, thankfully, there are no more of those creepy harlequins around, you managed to talk to your dad about them and apparently he thought you were the one who liked those horrid things?!??! Whatever, they’re gone now.
You plop down on the couch and decide to watch some TV, it’s marginally more productive than standing in your room doing nothing.
Oh god is that your reflection? You look terrible, when was the last time you even shaved????
Urgh, no time to be distracted with how terrible you look, let’s just turn on the TV.
Unfortunately you can’t seem to focus on the show you try to watch, your mind just wanders to how bored and lonely you are feeling.
If only you had the chill, hilarious Dave, or the bubbly and cheerful Jade, or the smart, beautiful, funny, snarky, enchanting Rose…
You let out a small sigh, you still have that stupid crush on a girl you met ONCE, god damn you’re pathetic. It’s not like you’re ever going to meet her again because you lost contact and she lives on the other side of the freaking country!
*Ding dong!*
Was that the doorbell? You don’t remember you or your dad inviting anyone over, but you should probably answer just in case.
You quickly go over and open the door to a beautiful tall woman with skin as pale as yours, short, near-white blonde hair and lavender purple piercing eyes standing in the doorway. She’s wearing an orange, sleeve-less dress with yellow highlights and a sun motif as well as an old headband you immediately recognize.
“Ah, good day John.” She says in her breathy, entrancing voice. So silky smooth that even the sound of your crappy name makes you feel like you’ve just ascended to heaven.
You immediately run over to hug Rose Lalonde.
You quickly back off, realizing how terrible you must look and smell.
“ah! i’m sorry! i haven’t showered in like four days!” You nervously say in that deep, gravely voice of yours… Urgh, how you hate it.
“No no, it’s okay.” She elegantly steps over and wraps her arms around you. “I’m really happy to see you.”
You hug her back, nearly crying into her shoulder. “i… i’m really happy to see you too.”
You suddenly hear footsteps behind you and turn your head around to see your dad staring directly at you.
“oh, hi dad!” You nervously say, letting go of Rose and looking up and to the side, god you hope no one notices how red your face must be right now. “looks like rose decided to stop by, you remember rose, don't you?”
“Hello mister Egbert, it is a pleasure to meet you once again.” Rose says non-chalantly, god she's so smooth.
Your dad quickly mumbles something to Rose about making herself feel at home, but you can't focus because oh my god your face feels like it's on fire.
Rose Lalonde, THE Rose Lalonde is in your house RIGHT NOW after having not seen her in YEARS. And she just hugged you!? You can barely think. What do you say? What do you do?!?!? You already kinda flubbed it at the start but maybe she doesn't care? Maybe she’s happy just reuniting with an old friend no matter how much of a disgrace to humankind they are?
“Hello? Earth to John.” You hear Rose say after a few moments, snapping her fingers as she does, the sound of your name immediately grounds you.
“oh sorry, spaced out for a bit.” You reply. “what were you saying?”
“I was asking if I was allowed to eat some of the many cakes around the house? I was under the impression that your father made way too many as usual.”
“oh yeah, they should just be up in my room.” You quickly straighten out your back. “just go wild, i’ve already eaten enough pure sugar for today.”
“Great, honestly I was looking forward to them a lot.”
“i didn't take you for the sweet loving type.”
“Are you kidding? There is nothing better than the delectable glaze of an authentic dad Egbert style birthday cake, that much I remember.”
“you’re kidding, aren't you? bullshitting me even.”
“I do not kid, Jegbert.”
“okay, whatever! enjoy your stupid ultra sweet cake.”
“I will, thank you very much.”
She steps up the stairs and into your room, she’ll probably notice how much of a pigsty it is, but you don’t really care about her opinion of you lowering at this point, if anything it's just being honest about how much of a mess you are.
After a while she comes back down with a cake in her hands and sits down on the couch.
“So, how has it been these past three years?” She asks you.
“oh you know, nothing much.” You say, sitting down on the couch a bit away from her. “jade found out that me and her are related so she moved in with me for a bit, then she got a scholarship and moved back out again.”
“Interesting.” She swallows a bit of cake.
“yeah! now she's studying art and stuff, we’re really proud of her!” You say with a big smile.
“And what about you?”
“what?”
“I cannot help but notice that you didn’t talk about yourself and how you are doing, so I'll ask again. John Egbert, how are YOU doing.”
With the mention of your name on top of the aggressive questioning and everything else quickly overwhelms you. Your breathing is panicked, your heart is beating rapidly and oh god are you having a panic attack?
You suddenly feel a hand on your shoulder, it's a soft, warm and welcome presence. You slowly lean into it and relax, that’s just what you needed.
“I’m sorry. If something terrible happened that you do not wish to talk about that’s fine, I just-”
“no rose, nothing bad has happened. in fact, nothing has happened, period.” You say, removing Rose's hand with all the grace and delicateness it deserves. “i’ve mostly just stayed in my room feeling absolutely terrible with myself, occasionally leaving to hang out with jade.”
“Oh, I was sure that you would have left the pre-teen malaise behind already.”
“yeah, i know. i’m a huge failure and all that.”
“Oh no! I’m honestly fascinated! While I’m not denying that the past many years have been unpleasant, I’m intrigued by just what might be plaguing your teenage brain.”
“well, good luck with that, i guess.”
“I guarantee you Egbert, I will find out what torments you, and I shall do so before either you or any professional therapist does. Within a year even!”
“is that a dare i smell?”
“I suppose that would be fun, what would the dare be over then?”
“oh gee, i dunno, guess we’ll figure it out later?”
“Just as long as it isn't something ridiculously mean.”
“what do you take me for? some kind of asshole?”
You laugh, she laughs as well and oh god is it a magical laugh she has, you feel as though you could listen to it for hours and not get tired of it.
“anyway, what have you been up to in the meantime?” You ask.
“Oh you know, moving, settling into a new place, dealing with my mother…” She looks down with a sad expression, there’s definitely stuff she isn't telling you. “I somehow managed to assemble a small friend group including me, Dave and a few others.”
“oh, you and dave are still friends?”
“Yes, we even go to the same school and later learned that we, much like you and Jade, are in fact siblings. His “bro” and my mom came together to give birth to us both with help from some artificial means.”
“ha! all that flirting you two did must feel real stupid now!”
“I suppose. Neither of us took it that seriously though. On top of that I figured out that I’m actually a lesbian.”
“a what now?”
“It means I like only women and not guys. I even had a girlfriend briefly.”
“oh. okay!” It feels as though your heart has been pierced, seems you never stood a chance anyway. “i-i’m happy for you! that you figured it out, i-i mean.” You say through the heartbreak.
She lets out a sigh. "Oh, thank god. With how we talked in our youth about the topic of homosexuality I was a bit worried.”
“rose, i don't give a damn. and even if i did, i’d put it aside so i could talk with ANYONE i could consider a friend.”
“That’s… Reassuring, I suppose.” She smiles softly. You haven't seen her smile like that before, it’s a nice smile. “This whole reunion was very nerve-wracking because of exactly that.”
“why? some dopey loser you knew three years ago maybe being mad that you kiss other girls?”
“Actually, I was planning on asking if I could stay here for a while.”
“what!?” You stare at her in shock. “d-don’t you have, like, friends and stuff over on the east coast?”
“Yes, but I…” She looks down. Aww man, did you upset her by accident? “I suppose I have the opposite problem of you.” She continues, it looks like she’s actively fighting against tears. “I would like nothing more than to never be home again.”
“oh. and why is that? if you don't mind me asking of course.”
“Do you remember how my mother had a bit of a drinking problem?”
“yeah, i do.”
“Well, it has only gotten worse over time, I don't even remember the last time she was sober.”
“and dave’s bro isn't an option?”
“Are you kidding me? That man is worse than you can probably even imagine. Dave left as soon as he could.”
“oh.”
“So, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare mattress I can use?”
“uhh, yeah, in the study, it kinda became jade’s room for a while, but she isn't exactly using it anymore.”
“Alright, I’ll go ask your father if I can stay.”
She stands up and starts walking into the kitchen.
After she’s left the room, you quickly collapse into the couch. Today has been one unexpected day.
Not only did Rose show up unannounced at your birthday, but she's also planning on living with you for a while??? On top of that, she’s apparently a lesbian so no way you’re making any moves on her. Damn your dumb crush is even more stupid now.
You sigh in frustration, you weren't prepared for any of this. But hey, a reunion isn't bad! If nothing else you're happy to have someone other than you and your dad in the house again.
*Ring ring!*
Oh! Looks like someone's calling you. Hey, it's Jade! You pick up immediately.
“happy birthday john!!!” She says through the phone’s speaker.
“oh, hi jade! thank you!” You reply.
“sorry that i can't be there in person but how's your day been so far?”
“it’s alright and you know, not as bad as i had feared hehe.”.
“well thats probably good. oh! did you get my present?”
“the CD’s? yeah, i did. but i’m not sure if that kinda show is really my style…”
“oh give it a shot wont you? please?”
“maybe another day, right now i’m dealing with the fact that rose is at my house.”
“rose? wait do you mean… rose lalonde???”
“yeah, who else? she showed up at my house out of nowhere!”
“oh my god!!!! this is your chance john!!! tell her how you feel!!! okay maybe not right now you should probably get to know each other again first”
“yeah, well, she told me she’s a lesbian, so i don't think that's happening any time soon.”
“oh… well you can't really blame her for who she likes so i guess you just have to move on”
“yeah… it sucks, but i don't have a choice, do i? oh! she also said that she’s planning on moving in with us, hope it's okay she steals your room.”
“oh, it's fine, don't worry! how long is she planning on staying exactly?”
“oh gee, i don't actually know. guess i’ll ask her real quick.”
“just text me the answer when you can! for now, happy birthday and i super double triple promise ill be there in person next year, bye bye!!!”
“goodbye jade!” You sign off with and hang up. Just in time too, because Rose is starting to move back in from the kitchen.
You take a look at her as she does and oh god is she breathtaking, the way her chest juts out, the way her slender body and narrow shoulders make her silhouette shaped almost like an hourglass, the way her hips move, her perfectly trimmed hair, her beautiful eyes and, dare you say it, her thick butt too.
Oh fuck, dammit, she’s a lesbian, remember! You can’t be having these thoughts about her! It’s like you’re a creep or something. Dammit. Dammit! Dammit!!!
You try your best to focus on something else, you don’t have much success.
“Sorry if I interrupted something.” She says.
“oh! nah i just finished up, don't worry!” You say with a coy smile. “so how long are you planning on staying here?”
“I’m not quite sure actually. A few months… A year… Maybe more?”
“cool but like, what about your mother? what’s the plan if she just decides to take you home?”
“I may or may not have assembled a giant document of every count of abusive behavior she has done and given it to the authorities shortly before leaving.” She says with a smirk. “Using a friend’s birthday party as a cover so as not to raise suspicion to why I’m conveniently on the other side of the country while they investigate more thoroughly.”
“you sly dog!”
“Yes, I truly am a cunning canine aren't I?”
“a tricky hound even.”
“The most diabolical and intelligent of the species known as ‘man’s best friend’, you may say.”
“okay okay, stop!” You say holding back laughter. “what’s the plan for the rest of today?”
“I thought you would have a plan, it is your birthday party after all.”
“my plan was to sit in my room feeling bad about myself while eating cake, i feel like that’d be a waste now that you’re here.”
“I don’t disagree, do you have any movies we could watch?” She sat down right beside you, christ she’s close. “I remember you loved talking about those, trying to get us to like them as much as you.”
“what? like con air? no, those suck. i don’t want to watch some crappy movie i liked as a dumb kid.”
“Really?” She stares deep into your eyes, as if trying to look at your very soul, god damn is she uncomfortably close now. “I was sure you would still like those even now.”
“well, i don’t, deal with it.”
“And you don’t have any more recent likes do you?”
“n-no, not really.”
“Hmm…” She places her hand up to her chin thoughtfully. “It’s worse than I thought.”
“the hell you’re talking about?”
“Your, for the lack of a better term, long term depressive episode is more extensive and debilitating than I had assumed.”
“no, rose, i just grew out of those shitty movies.”
“That’s not what worries me, what worries me is that you don’t seem to have found other movies or activities to replace them, I didn’t exactly notice anything to indicate a new hobby in your room.”
“well, i dunno, it’s probably not anything to worry about.”
“Oh yes, one of my best friends falls into a depressive spiral, loses all his hobbies and I’m supposed to act like everything is alright and his life is not falling apart at the seams.”
“now’s NOT the time for sarcasm!”
“John, I’m only trying to help you, I’m being serious when I say this is a problem.”
“well how about you DON’T PRY INTO MY LIFE ON MY GODDAMN BIRTHDAY!!! HOW ABOUT THAT?!?!?” You snap, standing up and yelling directly into her face.
You lock eyes and, oh god, she looks terrified. Your dumb deep voice and wide stature must scare her. You quickly back away.
“i… i’m going to my room.”
“John, I-” She says, beginning to stand up.
“DO NOT FUCKING FOLLOW ME.” You yell again as you move up the stairs and towards your room.
When you reach your room, you slam the door behind you and collapse on the floor. Goddamn it, of course you’d mess up in some stupid way like this.
You try to cry, but no tears come out. You know men aren’t supposed to cry, but fuck you wish you could right now.
You just sit on the floor for a few minutes feeling sorry for yourself. You wish Rose never showed up, you wish you just stayed inside your room, you wish you weren’t such a stupid, loud, towering, waste of a man. You wish you were never born, wish that you never existed.
Your mind wanders to a way out, maybe the only way out you have, a permanent solution that would remove all the pain you have. You were always a bit too scared of death to go through with it, but maybe now’s finally the time.
Sure, it would be sad to go right after Rose moved in, but you’d rather that than scare her again. Besides, she’s one of only like three people who would even miss you. Yeah, they’d feel sad for a bit, but you would be free from being stuck like this for the rest of your entire life, really it’d be a positive trade in the end.
Maybe you’d be with your nanna? That sounds nice. You wish you were more like her. From everything you’ve heard she sounded like the most awesome person in the world, a cunning prankster and a really good baker to boot!
*Knock knock!*
Great, it’s probably Rose again, you do NOT want to talk with her right now.
“John? Are you in there?”
You don’t answer.
“Well, I’m going to assume you’re in there like you said.”
You hate this, why in the world does she want to talk with you?!
“I’m sorry.”
What.
“I’m sorry for overstepping my bounds, I clearly pushed you when I shouldn’t have. And I’m sorry for that.”
“no rose! I’M sorry!” You say. “i yelled at you when i shouldn’t have! i’m clearly a terrible friend who should stay inside his room for the rest of his dumb, stupid, pointless life.”
“Is that really what you think?”
“yes! i don’t know why you still care about me! i’m just a dumb guy who can’t do anything right in his damn life so you should just leave me alone to rot and die.”
“John I…”
“why do you even try? it’s pointless with me…”
“Because I care about you!”
The words hit you like a dagger to the heart, why would such an awesome, intelligent girl care about you of all people?
“I know I’m not exactly good at the whole ‘emotions’ deal, but I’ll say it here: I care deeply about you, Dave does too and I’m sure both your father and Jade do as well. We would miss you so much if you locked yourself in there forever, so can you please open the door and let me in?”
You sit in silence for a moment. Even after your explosive lashing out she still cares for you, a pathetic loser like you. A few tears finally fall out.
“...the door’s unlocked, you can just come in.”
She opens the door and sits on the floor next to you, neither of you say anything for a few minutes, but it’s kinda nice to not be alone.
“sorry your dress is being dirtied by my gross floor.”
“I can clean it.”
“still, i’m very sorry.”
“You apologize too much.”
“sorry about that.”
You look at each other in silence for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. Rose’s laughter makes you feel at ease and you yourself laugh so much you struggle to breathe. You really needed this right now.
“hehe that was SO stupid.” You say.
“From a certain point of view, yes.” Rose smiles at you. “So if it hasn’t been movies, what have you occupied yourself with?”
“oh mostly video games, kinda spend all my time on my computer these days hehe…”
“What type of games exactly?”
“kinda a bit of everything, but mostly shooters. you know, real MANLY games and stuff.”
“And you find these types of games enjoyable?”
“what? of course not! they suck!” You fling your arms in the air. “but all the other guys at my school play them and i’ve got nothing better to do anyway.”
“John Egbert, you are in dire need of a new hobby.”
“tell me something i don't already know!”
“Well… It seems to me that you are bound by what we in biz call “toxic masculinity”. Forced by your male peers to act out masculine actions in order to fit in with the social fabric, complying willingly to help compensate for a low self esteem, even if you don't enjoy such activities at all.”
“what?”
“I’m saying that your classmates force you to do manly things you hate and you don't complain because you hate yourself more.”
“oh, yeah i… guess that's about right? i’m not really forced to do anything though.”
“Perhaps it’s not so much ‘forced’, but rather more like… ‘Pressured’?”
“so you're saying i feel pressured to play counter strike because i suck at being a man.”
“Yes, more or less.”
You pause for a moment, your classmates did seem to coerce you, saying you weren’t a “real man” if you wouldn’t play with them. But, argh, no time to think about that.
“when did you become an SJW?” You say smugly.
“Oh shocker! The lesbian is a social justice warrior!” Rose says exaggeratedly. “Who could have been that coming!”
“okay okay! dumb question i get it!” You barely hold back your laughter.
“Next time you’ll see me, I’m yelling about the patriarchy in public and some idiot will record me and put me into his unfunny feminist cringe compilation number 84.”
“HEY! they’re funny!”
“Says the man.”
“oh, fuck you!”
Rose snickers, it was a clever and snarky comeback like those you’ve come to know and love from her, but something feels wrong about being called a “man”.
“i dunno if i really like being called a man actually.” You say quietly, like you don’t want her to hear.
“Oh really?” Rose perks up.
“yeah, guess i just haven't really matured in the past few years and still think of myself as a ‘boy’.”
“That does seem likely to me, honestly I’m still not used to calling myself a ‘woman’ either.”
“well, got any presents for me?”
“Oh yes! I almost forgot actually.”
She reaches out into the air, revealing her sylladex for a moment, and grabs a purple package out of a captchalogue card.
“Here, I worked hard on it.” She says, handing it to you.
“aww, thanks! it really doesn’t need to be anything big hehe! just something to show you care y’know.”
“Well, maybe I just care a lot and want to show that. Is that a big surprise?”
“from you? kinda. i remember that you’d basically never show genuine affection to anyone.”
“Yes, thirteen year old Rose was not a very sincere person, I've grown a bit since then.”
“i can see that. With my eyes for one.”
“Shocker.” She says with a smirk.
You open up the present with your bare hands, it’s a bit difficult removing the tape, but with some good ol’ fashioned MAN STRENGTH you manage to pry the box open. Inside is a black knitted sweater.
“oh wow! thanks a lot, this is amazing!” You say as you lift it out of the box. “you still knit even after all this time?”
“Yes, it’s a relaxing activity to do while I ponder the psychology of people around me and or think about horrors beyond our comprehension.” Rose replies. “You should see the front.”
You unfold the sweater and feast your eyes on its front motif.
Is…
Is that fucking Con Air!?!?!
“rooooose…” You sigh in frustration, looking away from the near perfect replica of the Con Air poster on the sweater. “whyyyyyyyyyyy…?”
“Again, I expected you to still like that movie so it made this as an ironic jab, but now it falls flat and we both got hoodwinked by the universe itself.”
“damn you, universe itself! we’ll get you next time!” You raise your fist and proclaim.
“So, how do you feel about the shirt?”
“I’m gonna wear it ironically.”
“Oh really?” Rose says with a mischievous smile. “Most people don’t announce they’ll do something ironically, they just do it.”
“maybe that’s yet another layer of irony.” You say poignantly. “trying to hit strider levels of sarcastic bullshit here.”
“I must say, good luck with that. He’s only gotten better at his craft.”
“of course he has.”
“Well, with that done, I think I would like some time alone now.” She says as she stands up. “Today has been a lot for the both of us.”
“uhh, yeah, i guess. just say whenever you wanna hang out again! we can play games or something.”
She quickly left, leaving you alone in your room again, thankfully in a less bad mood. Guess you’ll play shooters or something to pass the time.
And time did pass raging at how terrible you are at shooters, goddamn you suck at these types of games.
Eventually your father called you down for dinner, he had ordered take out from the nearby Mcdonalds. You know it’s unhealthy, but it’s one of the few things you can actually bring yourself to eat, honestly it’s a miracle you haven’t gotten fat yet with all the fast food you eat and how little exercise you get.
Your father and Rose are chatting about various things, probably about what stuff she needs living here, you aren’t really paying attention.
As you munch down on your burger, expecting a flavourful explosion, you’re left with a sense of disappointment as the taste is profoundly dull instead. What were you expecting? Nothing tastes good anymore, you’ve probably just eaten too much of this stuff so your tastebuds are just numb to it.
Your mind just drifts to Rose instead, she sits not far from you and has quickly eaten her burger, so now she’s back to talking with your dad. Man, she’s so damn pretty and confident and perfect, you wish you were more like her, instead of the chronically depressed loser you currently are.
You swallow your food, maybe you should grow out your hair or something. That sounds nice.
Oh man, you still have all your fries left, you don’t feel like eating those.
“i think i’m done eating, gonna go to my room.” You say dispassionately.
Your father protests, urging you to stay, but you wave him off. Right now you just can’t seem to bring yourself to eat anything.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything else?” Rose asks.
“not really, i think i just ate too much cake.”
You stand up from your chair and move out of the room. Why does everyone worry so much about you? It’s not like you do anything important or you’re gonna end up dead because you didn’t eat some fries.
You go upstairs to wash your hands, you routinely skip this, but since Rose is here you feel the need to at least try to do the bare minimum?
You look down and focus on your hands and the soap, when you’re done you get spooked by Rose standing in the hallway, with her soda in hand.
“ah! rose, what are you doing here?”
“I was about to wash my hands, what else would it be?”
“oh yeah, that makes sense.”
“Also I was wondering if you were okay? I don’t mean to sound rude, but if anything is wrong you know you can talk to your father about it, right?”
“i don’t wanna bother him with my bs…”
“You could always talk to me instead. I’m all ears if you need me.”
“yeah, sure, i’ll just let you prod at my psyche until you can draw some insane conclusions about how i want to bang my mom or something.”
“I’ll be the first to admit that Freud’s theories were absolute nonsense and I knew nothing
about what I was talking about back then.” She takes a sip from her drink. “Also you’re deflecting, you seem to do that a lot.”
“what.”
“Just an observation.”
“o…kay? i’ll be in my room if you need me.”
You quickly scoot past her in the hallway, almost completely out of her sight when…
“Actually…” You hear her say behind you.
You turn around. She’s looking down, seems like she’s unsure if this is a good idea.
“Could you help me unpack? It’s not that late and I could use the help.”
“i guess? i dunno if i’ll even really be a help.”
“I have a lot of things I need to sort out, a bed for one.”
“oh yeah i guess. but like, why are you asking me? my dad would be much better at that.”
“Is it a leap in logic to say I might just want to spend time with a friend after not seeing them for a long, long while?”
“urgh fine, i’ll be in the study.”
Rose flashes a smile and moves down the corridor towards the bathroom, while you go down to the study.
While you wait for her to be done, you notice a stack of papers on your fathers desk, this is where he put them?
You pick them up and yeah! It’s you and your friends’ old D&D characters from your thirteenth birthday, Rose's sorcerer, Dave’s fighter, Jade’s wizard and your bard, all in your hands. You take a closer look at your bard, you named her June D’eclair British-Crocker, because, yeah, you decided to play as a girl, luckily everyone was surprisingly chill with it.
She was the heiress to the real corporation Betty Crocker and hated it so much she decided to become a street performer instead, your father, the DM, decided to use this to make up the main antagonist, Sir British-Crocker, half-demon time traveler and the secret owner of Betty Crocker. Unfortunately, the game ended before you could beat him.
You don’t know why you decided to play as a girl, it just felt right.
“Are those our old Dungeons and Dragons characters?”
You jump out of shock, nearly dropping the character sheets! You were totally lost in thought while Rose stepped into the room!
“jesus rose, you scared me!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“but yeah, it is. can you believe i played as a girl? how lame!”
“I don’t think it was lame, I actually think it was pretty brave that you would play a character with a gender different from your own.”
You stop in your tracks. Brave!?!?!? She thought that was brave??? That’s ridiculous, and yet… It’s kinda nice? Like, for some reason you like being called brave for being a girl in a tabletop role-playing game.
“i-i… well, heh… thanks?” You say with a coy smile, trying not to show how much you liked that.
“A lot of boys get so caught up in their masculinity that they disregard the idea on principle, luckily you aren't so close minded.” She looks around the room, probably scoping out where she’s gonna put her stuff. “Also, you are clearly not used to taking a compliment.”
“i guess i’m not hehe…” You laugh it off as you start to clean up various things on the table and floor.
The two of you start to clean up the room and make room for Rose's bed and other belongings, which you put in whatever place you can, it all takes a while and by the time you're done, it’s already starting to get very dark.
You take a good look around the room, it’s got a nice feel you think, honestly it feels more homely than your room, but that’s probably more of a sign your room sucks more than anything else. Rose's violin is resting comfortably on top of the piano, her laptop and lamp sit on the desk, lighting the room in a nice orange glow, posters of shows and creatures you don't know fill the walls, you’ve even assembled and placed a bookshelf for all of Rose’s literature, with some help from your dad of course, he bemoaned that the painting on the wall would now be fully covered up, but you could tell he was just playing it up for comedy.
The only thing left was the bed, unfortunately, the place you were planning to put the bed is currently occupied by a safe.
“What even is the purpose of this safe?” Rose asks as she ponders how to move it.
“i dunno, my dad moved it into the utility room when jade moved in and apparently moved it back after she left.”
“So you didn't know until today?”
“i basically never left my room except to eat, go to school or to use the bathroom.”
“Well, it’s too heavy for me to move on my own, could you help me?”
“oh, sure! let me just…”
The two of you each grab one side of the safe and lift it on three. It’s heavy, even heavier than you expected, but you manage to lift it together.
As the two of you carry the safe out of the room, you hear footsteps and look up to see your dad. He seems shocked at what’s in front of him, but simply grabs the safe out of your hands and carries it out of the study.
“that was weird.” You say to break the ensuing awkward silence.
“Your father sure has his quirks, regardless, let's put this bed together.” Rose adds.
“isn’t it really late already? i don't want to do this anymore, the bookshelf was hard enough and we got help with that…”
“I suppose I am getting rather lethargic after all of today… Hmm? What’s that?”
“what’s what?”
“There’s a note taped to the wall behind where the safe was, hidden from plain sight.”
“oh yeah, you’re right! let’s see what it says.”
You move over to it and crouch down, yup it's your dad’s typing style. It reads:
“SON.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, IT MEANS YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO LIFT THE SAFE. YOU ARE NOW A MAN.
AS SUCH, YOU ARE ENTITLED TO WHAT’S INSIDE. I KNOW YOU WILL TAKE THIS RESPONSIBILITY SERIOUSLY.
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU.”
You mull on it, on one hand it’s nice for him to say he’s proud of you, but on the other you aren't really much of a man, heck you basically cheated with Rose's help! Really, you probably should have just asked your dad to move the safe instead of moving it on your own.
Rose reaches her hand out and delicately removes the note from the wall.
“hey! what are you doing!” You say.
“We’ve already subverted the intended path, might as well collect the spoils.” She responds, flipping the card onto its back.
“yeah, i guess…”
“02-49-13…” She reads off the white paper before handing it to you. “You should carry it, it’s your family safe after all.”
“uhh… thanks?” You say, grabbing the note and captchaloguing it. “i would offer up my bed, but the couch probably doesn't stink as much.”
“I can sleep on the couch for one day, it’s really not a big deal.”
“anyway, wanna watch some tv? i could use that before going to bed.”
“Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do.”
The two of you sit down on the couch and turn on the TV. Rose even decided to cover you in her blanket for extra comfort, though it also forced you to huddle close together.
It looks like some adult drama is playing, but you aren't really paying attention, you have a feeling Rose isn't really paying attention either, you’re both too tired to focus on some show you don't care about.
She leans her head into you, normally you would be embarrassed, but your tired brain can only focus on the smell of lavender coming from her. It’s a nice smell, you wish you could smell it more often. As you focus on her smell and how comfortable you are here, together with her, you start to drift off into sleep.