Chapter 1
“Hey, wake up lil’ man. You have to go to school.” A calm voice whispers tenderly into a teen’s ear. The said teen groans and buries his face deeper into his pillow. The older male smiles and leans down kissing his forehead. “Come on.”
“Bro…Do I have to…?” he asks looking up at his brother. Bro sighs as he sits on the edge of the bed. He knew that Dave was having a hard time at school. And it was simply because he wasn’t exactly the biggest guy around, and his eyes were red, which he kept hidden behind his shades.
“This is your last day…you start a new school tomorrow Dave…but, fine…You can stay today…” Dave smiles as he leans up and pulls his brother down to lay down next to him. “Cuddly much?”
“Shut up…” Dave mumbles as he falls asleep, Bro smiles as he shakes his
head but doesn’t make a move to leave.
“Dave! Wake up! You have to go to school!” Bro yells from down stairs of their small shitty apartment. Upstairs Dave growls as he puts his shades on and runs down. “Damn it dude, this is the second time you’ve gotten up late. I would understand if it was your first day, but it’s not.” Bro scolds him as he tosses the teen his helmet while grabbing his own. Normally, Dave would walk to school, but the days he would wake up late, Bro would drive him to school on his motorcycle.
“Shut the fuck up. I was tired.” He says as both walk out and down to the street. Getting on the back of the motorbike, Bro rolls his eyes, and then places his helmet on and speeds off. “Ugh, bro I have a headache.”
“Sorry lil’ man. But hey, if you don’t feel better later on, call me or text me and I’ll pick your ass up.” Dave nods. He knew his brother would pick him up, but he was hoping he would take him to work with him this time. But, that wasn’t the case sadly. He then notices that he had arrived at his school hopping off, he hands his brother his helmet then gives the older Strider a quick hug and runs inside. “Have a great day Lil’ Man!!” he yells to his brother/son. Smiling he drives off. Time to go to work.
(Dave)
The blond sighs, he had fallen asleep again in class. But, lucky him, John had copied the notes and homework for him. He was lucky to have a dorky friend like John. He had always been there for him. Especially after bro died. He had been there the second he had finally broken down in tears. John was one hell of a best fucking friend.
“Dave?” the blue eyed teen calls, the pale skinned male looks at him. “You okay? You’re shaking. Cold?” Dave nods. It was rather chilly, and he didn’t bring a sweater. “Hello? Dave?”
“Sorry. It’s a little chilly. But I’m okay.”
“Liar.” Dave looks up at the blue eyed boy. John had a look of complete worry on his face. He was the first person to constantly look at him like that, Jade, Rose, even Karkat. Karkat was an ass towards him. But all of them, gave him a look of worry and pity. “What’s bothering you Dave? Aren’t we best friends…?” Dave smiles a small smile.
“Of course we are.”
“Then tell me what’s bothering you Dave! You’ve been fading away right before our eyes and I can’t take it! I want to know what’s wrong! Damn it Dave stop doing this to us, and mostly to yourself!” John suddenly blows up. This cause Dave to look at the teen with shock. John had never blown up on anyone, much less himself. Frowning, Dave knew exactly what John wanted him to do.
“Striders don’t pour our hearts out. Striders don’t cry. Nor does anything bother us Striders.” John growls, next thing Dave knew, his was slapped across the face, and rather hard. Dave could see the rest of their friends looking at the other boy with shock. John had never laid his hands on someone. Especially Dave. After all, the Strider wasn’t known for just letting people hit him without his reacting violently.
John then realizes what he had just done. Now he had a scared look. He had seen how violent Dave could get, and Dave wasn’t so nice to people who just attack him out of nowhere like that. And honestly, John didn’t even know what came over him. He was just so mad, sick and tired of that ‘Striders don’t do this and that’ shit. He blamed Dave’s older brother for that kind of thinking….then it hit him. Bro, tomorrow was the two year anniversary of his brother’s death. He hadn’t even remembered up until now. Oh well, fuck.
“D-Dave, he didn’t mean to-“
“I’m going home” Dave cuts in before Rose could finish speaking, he pulls out his helmet and walks over to his motorcycle that used to belong to Bro. Walking up Rose stops him from leaving.
“Dave, look, he-“
“I’m going home. Talk to me then.” With that he speeds around the girl and leaves. He was now, in no mode to deal with his friends. He knew John didn’t mean to hit him. But, fuck, it hurt and if he didn’t leave then, he would have ended up punching his poor friend out cold. And he wasn’t going to hurt him.
Once getting to his apartment, he walks up the stairs and to his apartment. Once in, he closes and locks the door. Letting out a sigh, he walks over to the couch and lays down. He then nuzzles one of the pillows there. It smelled a lot like Bro’s fucking cologne, it was comforting, but heart breaking. Looking up, he for a moment commentated on calling out for his Bro, in hopes that he come rushing down the stairs.
“Bro!” he calls, after a few minutes nothing. He frowns as he buries his face into the pillow and begins to cry. Dear god how he missed that fucking idiot of his brother/father. Sure, there were times where he would annoy the shit out of him, but he was the only family he had. Shit, bro was the one who helped him the most during the game.
He groans hearing beeping coming from his laptop, reaching over he grabs it from the coffee table ad opens it up.
GA: Dave? Dave you okay?
Oh great, it was John. He then sets it on the ground, he didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.
GA: Dave? Come on man! Answer me! I know your home!
GA: Please?
GA: I’ll come over if you don’t respond.
GA: DAMN IT DAVE ARE YOU OKAY!?
Growling, Dave picks up his laptop and answers back to his friend.
TG: FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD!! WHAT!?
GA: Thank god! I thought something happened to you! Are you okay? I’m really sorry about hitting you, I didn’t mean to do it…
TG: What the hell did you think happened to me? I’m fine. And don’t worry about it…I kind of deserved that hit…
CG: Hey fuck face, what the hell did you do?
GA: Hey kar!
CG: Begone. I need to talk to Dave alone.
TG: Whatever you have to say, you can say it with John here.
CG: I’m coming over.
TG: Fuck…John, I’ll talk to you later.
GA: Okay. Bye Dave.
The young strider closes his laptop as he places it back on the floor. He throws his arm over his eyes after taking his shades off. He really didn’t want to deal with Karkat. But he was a friend of his, and he could tell him anything without having to worry about him running off and telling the rest of the gang.
Siting up, he gets a shocked look seeing Bro siting at the table, one arm resting in front of him on the wooden surface. His free hand was tucked under his chin. He had his sun glasses on, but he remained unmoving. Dave then glares at him.
“Kar and the others are worried about me,” Bro says nothing, and merely stairs at him. “Apparently I don’t act the same anymore.” He gets up standing in front of the table. “Stupid right? I mean, come on! I’m fine!” he says smiling, but that smiles fades. He looks up at the older Strider. In his mind, this was just another hallucination. It wasn’t real. Bro was gone. And gone for good, he had found him dead. But, his heart was telling him that, it was him. That he was really just sitting there. Listing to him like he used to. Just hearing you vent. More tears start to well up and fall from his red eyes. “Damn it…Striders don’t cry…”
But, Bro remains unmoving. Dave suddenly grabs a nearby glass cup and throws it at him. Panting with anger he just screams, he falls to his knees grabbing and pulling at his own blond hair. He hadn’t even noticed when Karkat had kicked the door in and was at his side trying to get the blond to open his eyes. But, he continued to scream. He wanted to know why his brother was killed, he wanted to know why he didn’t get the chance to tell his brother that he loved him. And that he was proud to call him Bro. he could faintly hear Karkat calling his name but he then passes out.
