Various x Reader Oneshots

Surprise (John Egbert; Homestuck)

A week had gone by and she's still not showing a hint of a smile. This time, he was heckled by Dave in front of his locker. "Come on, you're just going to ask a girl a question. A question, Egbert."

"Not if it's the girl you like," John grumbled and glared at him, face devoid of emotion and eyes hidden behind his shades. He couldn't tell what was going on in the younger Strider's mind. Worse, he couldn't tell what he was planning under that stoic expression.

"Look, I tried and I always screwed it up. I don't know what's going on with her." Dave clicked his tongue, probably ironically with his face betraying nothing of his thoughts. John sighed, slamming the locker door shut with a loud bang. The sound was drowned out by students shuffling for the exit, since school ended, and their conversations echoing in the crowded hall.

"This ain't some rocket science shit being shoved down your throat, Egbert. You just walk up to her and ask," Dave emphasized the last word, to which John groaned and held his face in his hands. "Do you know what I'll sound like if I did?"

He cleared his throat and made wild gestures as he spoke in a high pitch, "Hey (Name), it's been a week now and I haven't seen you smile or laugh at all. I'm soooo worried and I just want to ask why the absolute hell are you blank, since I like you and stuff!"

Dave was suddenly smirking. He crossed his arms and leaned on the lockers beside John's; the hall clear of people who had gone home by now. The smirk unsettled John, and he was about to ask him, when he said, "About time."

Even more confused, John stared at him with his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. He tried to ask him again, wanting answers, when another voice interrupted him. A whisper of an all-too familiar girl.

"Ask me that face-to-face, John."

"Holy crap!" John whirled around, eyes wide and cheeks dusted pink. (Name) clutched her books and coughed in her hand, (color) eyes never leaving his blue ones. Dave began to leave, the cocksure smirk still on his pale profile.

"I'll leave it to you two then." The sound of his sneakers squeaked in the halls and slowly faded, leaving them in silence. John was lucky enough that he blurted out the whole thing in a deserted corridor. He wasn't lucky enough for her to not hear it from his own lips.

Mortified, the glasses-wearing boy stiffly raised his hand to hide a cough and crooked smile. He was so embarrassed he couldn't think straight. In fact, nothing came to his mind at all. His question died out in his throat as (Name) said, "You really want to know?"

He nodded, quite surprised that it was this easy if he wasn't looking at her. Oh wait...

She mumbled incoherently, rendering John to prod her to speak louder. "Sorry, didn't catch that. What did you say?" A sigh left her lips and her cheeks flushed the slightest pink causing John to admire how cute she's being right now.

He shook the thought away and focused more on her, gnawing on her lower lip in anxiety. Blue eyes narrowed and caught a glimpse of something shiny on her teeth. An assumption sprang from this, but he waited for her to tell him. He did ask after all, and he didn't want to look like a heartless douche in front of a vulnerable (Name).

"I said," her lips trembled and John caught another glimpse of her teeth, showing wires and brackets wrapped in clear bands. "I have braces, that's why. I look stupid and I didn't want to show it to anyone."

Silence enveloped the two, an awkward tension in the air, as they stood still. John didn't know what to say due to his inexperience with comforting girls. It was awkward, yes, but he didn't want to leave her confession like this when it must've took a lot for her to tell him. It went on for a while when she suddenly added, "Especially you."

His body jerked in surprised, his stiff posture gone and replaced with a more shocked reaction. (Name) wasn't looking at him this time. Her head hung low, her feet shuffled nervously on the floor, and her grip on her books tightened with unmistakable embarrassment.

"Me?"

"Yes, you." She was trembling, shoulders shaking and her arms choking the books by now. John opened his mouth to ask more, but she interrupted him. "Let me cut to the chase here," she said, flustered at the turn of events. Her head snapped up to reveal red cheeks and a hardened glare as if this was difficult for her to do and blaming him for what's happening.

"I like you, okay? Like, like-like you. That's why I didn't so much as open my mouth because I was scared you would make fun of me for it. I knew you since we were kids and I definitely knew you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to joke, whether it's offensive or not." Without tearing her gaze from him, she continued, "And that's the reason why..."

John stared, shell-shocked and unable to say a word. It was ridiculous; it was unimaginable. Him, making fun of the girl he'd like for so long that he couldn't keep count of how much she appeared in his dreams? How worried sick he was when she wasn't showing any signs of amusement, happiness, and humor? Surprise after surprise, he wasn't sure on what to do. He couldn't help but say this in his defense: "You don't know me at all then."

A grin made its way to his face, reaching a decision, as his hand reached out to her who froze in surprise. Like all of the cheesy and crappy movies he watched, he made the one move he knew he can use without looking awkward and inexperienced. His hand pulled her head closer to him then his lips brushed her forehead, reddening from the girl's obvious embarrassment.

"You already heard me, didn't you?" John laughed his nerves off as he looked at a red (Name), her mouth gaping open in surprise. "I like you, and you look cute with your braces."

*************

Yes, I'm not dead XD This is the one I was talking about. I've been planning to make this months ago, but I lost my copy and ended up not writing it. As you can see, I updated with three Homestuck one-shots in a row, all of them from my deviantArt account.

This was inspired from my own braces. I remember how embarrassed I was because it was unexpected and I was sort of nervous that my classmates would make fun of me. Turns out they were fascinated instead lol.

My writing style changed now that I look back on it. I compared them to the ones I wrote when I was 12, and I still can't believe 3 years had gone by already (not counting this year). I still cringe at the cheesy and cliche ones, except the one about Natsu where I intended it to be cliche to see how far I can go with the cheesiness.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this :3 And I might come back with a Mogeko character one-shot hehe. Might.

Belated happy 413 to all the Homestuck fans out there~!