~Dave~
Dave took a sharpie and wrote A Memoir on the cassette.
Oh my god, Dave. Are you fucking serious with this shit?
He cringed as he tucked the mix tape in his back pocket.
Why is everything so different now? Its strange, but..
John hadn't been answering the chat, so Dave got worried. His house wasn't too far, John had told him the address because they were going to hang out. Plus Dave had a knack for being dramatic. He thought why not surprise him. He was glad he did. The smile on John's face meant everything to him. John was the fire that kept Dave going.
Warm.
After their embrace, they lay on the grass, stargazing.
"Hey Dave..." John whispered.
Dave turned on his side, smiling at John. He had taken his glasses off, he didn't feel insecure around John without them like he usually did.
John looked over at him. Moving closer, resting his head on Dave's shoulder.
"That one right there." He pointing at the sky painted with stars. "It looks like a record."
"No John, that looks like a hippo."
"Are we even looking at the same constellation?"
By then Dave was looking into John's eyes. He moved closer, his heart rapidly beating. Their foreheads touched and John closed his eyes. Dave wrapped his arms around John and was about to kiss him. Their lips almost touched, but then... John's dad stepped out.
"Shit!"
John stood up and Dave ran back to his house as quietly as possible.
"Ah. Son, where were you?" Dave heard John's dad say as he was walking down the street. It was cold when he wasn't by John, so he stuck his hands in his pockets.
"You scared the dickens out of me. Come on in, I have cake."
Dave turned the block and ran the rest of the way home. As soon as Dave stepped in the door, Bro nodded at him, as to say, "That's my bro, go after your prince."
He was glad his brother supported him, but of course he did. Bro Strider was hella gay.
He went into his room, and sat down at his desk. He pulled out the mix tape he had made for John. It had Nirvana, Panic! At The Disco, Kanye West and various other artists. They were all songs they had listened to when they hung out. Songs they fell asleep to.
First was, When The Day Met The Night, which Dave thought described them perfectly.
He fell asleep listening to it, smiling.
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The next day John ran up to him smiling, and gave him a big hug. Jade waved from behind and Rose mouthed, "Called it."
Dave kissed his head, "Hey I made you this."
He slipped the mix tape into John's hoodie pocket.
They walked to class all together, Dave's arm around John.
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They didn't have their last class together, so they usually met by the soda machine. But this time it was different.
John wasn't there.
Dave heard a shriek, and then laughter. He turned to where the voices projected from.
Two guys were huddled over some whimpering kid on the ground. One was tall and bulky, obviously stronger than Dave, and the other was about Dave's build. He couldn't see who the poor guy was so he jogged over to get a better look.
"Hey. What are you guys- " When he realized who the kid was, he wished he hadn't walked over there in the first place.
"John! What happened? W-who are these guys!?"
John's face turned to Dave's. His face stained with red.
Blood.
He's bleeding!
Overwhelmed with emotion, Dave tried to get to John, but the bigger one pinned Dave to the wall before he could reach him. Dave shirt tight in the guy's grasp.
"Oh it's the cool kid." He taunted.
"Coming to save your boyfriend, huh?"
Dave's neck tensed and he clenched his fist.
"Yeah, what are you gonna do. Fight us?" The other one ignored John. Dave was the target now. He tried vigorously to wiggle his way out of the guy's hold, but the other nailed Dave right in the stomach.
Fuck!
His eyebrows furrowed in distain and agony.
Dave saw John in this awful helpless state. He had a black eye, and his cheek was bleeding. His mixtape was sprawled all over the concrete, which was smeared with blood.
Furious, he headbutted the one holding his shirt, knocking him to the ground. Dave tried to kick the other one's gut, but failed. He punched Dave's face hard, knocking his glasses off.
"Nice eyes, faggot."
(We did not have any intentions of offending anyone by using the word faggot. We thought it would be the type of thing most bullies say. That word is not in our personal vocabulary. We hate hearing it and would never say it to anyone. We felt like it added a realistic aspect to the character. If you don't like it in our story, please message us about it. (^-^)b)
The guy kicked Dave's shin, which caused him to fall. The one he knocked out earlier, came over and started punching Dave. It only got worse when one started beating up John.
Dave gathered up his strength.
"L-lay off..." Dave staggered to his feet.
"My boyfriend!"
He kicked the one closer to his size and ran to the bigger one punching John. He pushed him off, and started punching him, hard. He didn't let him go.
"D-dave?"
"You bastard! " Dave kept punching.
"Dave!"
"How dare you do that to John! To me!" He was starting to light up and he let the guy go. Him and the other guy helped each other off the ground and ran away.
"Motherfuckers!" Dave spat.
Dave ran to John who was coughing. Dave lifted his head up, and John smiled.
"I didn't n-need your help."
"You're delusional." Dave laughed, "I'm just glad you're okay."
He wiped the blood from John's cheek with his thumb.
John sat against the wall, and held Dave's face in his hands. Dave worked his way onto John's lap and John wrapped his arms around him. He whispered something into Dave's ear. His hands were on John's shoulders as he started to kiss John's neck. His heart was leaping, his stomach churning. Then John stopped Dave and kissed him on the lips.
Finally.
He wondered how John felt. His lips were soft, and he caught glimpses of John's eyes through kisses. The same eyes that he fell in love with, only a week ago. Dave didn't feel at all weird kissing a guy. It felt right.
It was odd at first. Dave had never kissed someone, and John obviously didn't. Their mouths were a mess. It was gross. But then Dave started kissing John, and it was truely amazing. He felt transported, like it was only him and John. Their lips started to get numb after kissing but Dave didn't mind. John pulled on Dave's collar, and Dave started to kiss him harder. He didn't know what to do at first with his tongue, but John solved that problem. John's touch gave him goosebumps. His skin was so smooth, he smelled like vanilla ice cream. His first kiss was going pretty great.
After awhile Dave sat by John, biting his lip. John couldn't stop smiling. Dave leaned over and kissed him again. He couldn't resist, he was going to do it whenever he could. John lay his head on Dave's shoulder and and sighed.
"We should do that more often."
Dave smirked, "Oh we will."
They got off the ground. Dave picked up the broken cassette tape.
"God. I worked so hard."
John frowned, "I'm sorry bro... I'm sure it'll be alright! We'll make a new one... together!" John gave him this goofy smile.
Dave started to laugh, but it was cut short when he saw his glasses, in half, on the ground.
John put his hands on Dave's shoulders, "I've got you man. I'll buy you a brand new pair, they'll be these... these really cool authentic movie ones, yeah! Plus I owe you a lot for beating up those guys."
"You know you could pay in kisses..."
"Oh my god Dave, you're so freaking cheesy stop." John started to laugh. "But...that wouldn't be bad."
Dave gave John a kiss and they walked back to John's house. Beaten up, bleeding, bruised.
And holding hands.
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