Mountain of Love (Alpha Dave/John, Theta Dave/John)

You can hardly believe it's already been almost five years since you and your friends beat that shitty game. Five years. You're eighteen years old now, and in four short months you'll be graduating from high school, probably with honors if you keep your grades up. Man, that's gonna be one fuck of a shocker right there; what are you even going to do without school to attend? You've been looking at colleges, of course, but you really don't even know what you want to do. Taking music courses would be totally pointless, as would art, since you probably know more on those subjects than any college professor, and you don't really have any interest in anything else. It's hard being a kid and growing up. It's hard, and nobody understands.

With all this heavy shit weighing on your mind, you can only wonder just what your future has in store for you. But... Why wonder, when you could just go and look for yourself?
- - - - -

You are Dave Strider, and you're beginning to wonder if this was a good idea after all. You've been through six different timelines, and seen six different possible futures for yourself. Zeta Dave is a successful DJ, just like Bro, living in a shitty apartment on the other side of Houston. Epsilon Dave started several webcomics (in addition to SBAHJ) and a few of them have actually made it into print; he lives comfortably off of the royalties. Omicron Dave is kind of a bum, working three part time jobs at slightly more than minimum wage and still living with Bro; Omicron Bro only allows that because he's started a drug habit and just doesn't give a shit about anything anymore. That particular stop was pretty depressing. Pi and Sigma Daves have pretty generic lives, living in fairly nice apartments, working average jobs, and just doing a little DJing on the side. Tau Dave went to college and got a Master's in teaching and an Associate's in fine arts, so he's living a pretty good life teaching art and music at a community college. You plan on making one last stop, and then putting this terrible idea to rest and figuring life out on your own.

The last timeline you stop in is the Theta Timeline. The first thing you do is stare around in utter confusion. You aren't anywhere even remotely near Houston; hell, you're nowhere even remotely near a city. All you can see for miles around you is flat, open fields and dirt roads with a few houses scattered in the distance. The house in front of you is fairly small and kind of rickety looking, but in a cozy, homey kind of way. There's a big front porch, all wooden and fenced in, with an old-fashioned porch swing, and all the windows are wide open. Theta Dave is somewhere inside (you can always feel where your alternate selves are), and you can hear some sort of tinny music playing.

The door isn't locked, so you let yourself in and wander around a bit before heading into the living room. Theta Dave's all stretched out and relaxed on the couch and he looks over at you from behind his aviators when you walk in. He doesn't say anything at first, just takes his feet off the arm of the couch and sits up, sliding them into the brown cowboy boots waiting on the floor. The hint doesn't go over your head, and you join him on the couch after giving the room a thorough once-over. The music is coming from an old-timey record player on the table, and the record says "Johnny Rivers- Mountain of Love." It's not anything you've heard before, and not anything you would normally listen to, but it's oddly catchy.

"You're probably wondering whether or not I'm out of my fucking mind," he says.
"Something along those lines, yeah."
"Naw, I just got tired of the same old shit. Mostly I got tired of Bro. I've been out here for five years and still haven't told him where I live."
"That's pretty shitty, bro. He's a pain in the ass, but he's done a lot for us."
"If he came out here he would just fuck everything up. I've got the place just how I want it, and I don't want it gettin' tampered with."
"Whatever. So... What do you do out here?"
"Oh, I travel around and play music. I still DJ sometimes, but mostly I play guitar now. It makes me enough money to keep my head above water, and that's really all I need. Besides, if I ever really need somethin', all I gotta do is talk to John. He's goin' to film school in Austin, and that's just about an hour's drive from here. He comes down an' spends the weekends with me. He should be here any time now, actually."

You can hardly keep your eyes open as you drive, but you know the way by heart by this point. You can pretty much make this drive asleep (which is good because you're practically that way now) and its second nature to turn at the appropriate places.

You had some late and overnight classes this past week about night shooting and lighting which, when paired with your morning classes, left you drained and in need of a nice long nap. Thankfully, you covered everything you needed this week and would be back to your previous schedule next week.

Your tires sliding and crunching in the gravel, you park your dirty and dented blue vw rabbit next to Dave's pristine cherry red camino (you continue to wonder how he keeps it so nice and clean). You slam your door shut and shuffle up to the porch, the stairs creaking under your feet, before making your way into the house, hoping to catch Dave on the couch for a cuddly nap.

You pause when you catch sight of, not one, but two ivory haired men on the couch and rub your eyes with a little frown. "I must be more sleep depraved than I thought" you mumble, louder than you intended.

"Naw, baby," you hear the man beside you drawl as you give this Theta John a good looking over. He's pretty much like your John, but he's lost the baby face look and there's something more mature about him. He must really grow up in the next five years or so of your lives. "This is Alpha timeline Dave. You just got two of us to contend with this time. Now, c'mere. You look like ya could use a nap."

Baby, he'd said. They're a thing? That's pretty strange. "I thought you weren't a homosexual, John."

"I'm not" You mumble as you try to walk to the couch. You stumble over your feet halfway and almost fall on your face instead. "Homosexual is a sexual identity. If I don't identify with it then I'm not."

You slide up astride your Dave's lap and nuzzle your head into its customary place in the crook of his neck.

"I prefer the term demiromantic. Davey here's the only one for me." you sigh contently.

You snort derisively, but you can't help but grin. They're actually pretty cute together, but you would not ever dare say those words out loud; you're pretty sure Theta Dave knows what you're thinking anyway. "That sounds pretty faggy to me, but what do I know? Whatever lifts your skirt, Egderp."

Theta Dave lifts an eyebrow at you from behind his aviators, as his hands roam Theta John's back. "Hey, don't rip on him when he's too tired to make a comeback. That's not cool, bro." His fingers trail absentmindedly through John's hair as he speaks, and you find yourself wondering what their life must be like. You can't imagine being that close to someone, but you bet it must be awfully nice.

"Don't worry about it Davie, I won't cross beams with Dave prime. He wouldn't be able to handle ectoplasmic whiplash" You smile into your Dave's neck. "And that would ruin his timeline and make Alpha John so depressed. He would never get the chance to play Cowboys and Indians with Tex and chief Big Blow, and we wouldn't want that now would we?"

You try in vain to hide the confusion trying to ooze through the cracks in your poker face, but you're pretty sure Theta Dave sees it anyway. He smirks knowingly at you, but doesn't say anything, just leaves you with your thoughts so you can sort it out yourself.

The hell was John even talking about? Obviously 'crossing beams' was a totally unironic and uncool Ghostbusters reference, but cowboys and indians? Suddenly your eyes lock onto Theta Dave's cowboy boots like they were laser sights on a sniper rifle and those boots were JFK's head (ouch, maybe you went too far with that metaphor). Cowboys. And Indians. Oh good Gog. You really don't even want to know, except maybe you kind of do. But it would be hells of all kinds of uncool to even think about asking.

But what was that about your timeline? Was he implying that you were gonna get together with your John? Ha, like that would ever happen. Theta John having the hots for a Dave is just a fluke, and you know it.

"Whatever, dude. Keep your kinky party games to yourself."

You actually turn your head to give Alpha Dave a superior smirk. You've spent enough time around your Dave to know all the little tells to tell you what Dave was thinking. He was obviously curious but didn't want to ask because he was 'too cool', but that was all right, you wanted to let him spin for a while. He would learn in time.

You turn your fave back to your Dave and nuzzle his neck. "Won't you sing me a lullaby, Davie? To help me get to sleep?" you purr. "Unless of course our kind of music offends Alpha Dave"

"Aw, who cares if he's offended, baby? If he can't handle it, he'll leave." You watch him nuzzle John's neck lovingly, amazed at how close they really are. You're... kind of jealous. You've always known you were gay and, really, you could care less who knows it; it's just that attracting attention to the things that make you different is really uncool. Being gay doesn't make you "special," it just makes you gay. You wonder if your John even knows. It would be nice to build a life with your best friend like this... But that won't ever happen. Your derp is quite vehemently a straight guy.
Theta Dave looks at you, as though he knows what you're thinking, and he smirks a little. You think he probably does know what you're thinking. "Want me to play my guitar?" he asks, his lips against John's ear.

You sat up, looking at your Dave with joy. "Yes!" you exclaim with more energy than what you had only moments ago. "Oh, please Davie, play for me! I'll do anything you want after my nap, I promise!"

Theta Dave smiles at him before gently pushing his John out of his lap and onto the couch beside him. You watch him cross the room and pick up a big acoustic guitar, one of the biggest you've ever seen in your life, and pull a red pick with a record emblazoned on the front out from under the strings on the topmost fret. When he comes back to the couch, he's looking at you like 'yeah, I know you're confused. Deal with it.' John's not even looking at you anymore; it's like he's only got eyes for this possible future you.

He strums a few times, adjusts the knobs at the top of the fretboard, getting it in tune to suit him, and then he starts to play. It's actually really good and you're incredibly impressed. With all your musical knowledge, there's still not a single real instrument you know how to play, and you're suddenly so incredibly jealous of this guy. And when he starts to sing, you're totally floored. You had no idea your voice could do that shit.

((Here's his song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIqH2gm5XAs ))

You sigh happily, practically melting into the couch. Dave's voice is just so hypnotic, you can't help but mumble along softly at the parts you know, your eyes threatening to ship you off before the end. You never want Dave to stop singing, ever, ever, ever. And then you're dreaming of him serenading you in a field of flowers.

John's asleep by the end of the song, so when he's finished he just turns and looks at you and all you can do is stare back with your mouth slightly agape. How could one guy be so lucky? A house in the country, away from all the annoying fuckers you have to deal with every day, no daily strifing, he's got the best guy in the world, plays guitar, and sings like an angel. You wonder if that's what he does for a living, and something tell you that it is. That lucky bastard.

Maybe this trip was worth it after all. You think you may have found the life you want to live.
- - - - -
You spend the next several hours there with him, just talking about things, life in general, and he invites you to come back any time you like and even tells you that he'll teach you to play the guitar like he does.

When you get back to your own timeline, you've got a lot on your mind. Most of it you manage to push aside to deal with at a later time, but you just can't get John out of your head. The way they were together... it was nice. It was good. You'd like to have a relationship like that, and you can't think of anyone you'd rather have one with. Well... all you can do is try.

- - turntechGodhead began pestering ectoBiologist - -
TG: hey bro
TG: whats up??
TG: you busy man?
TG: it cool if i come hang?

You are startled out of your homework by the dinging of your computer. You sift through almost ten windows before you find your pesterchum pop-up to see that Dave's been messaging you.

You read what he'd posted to you, wondering why he'd want to come over now.

Sure, graduating a year early and getting accepted at a college by Houston was awesome because Dave was a lot closer and you got to see him all the time, but he and your room-mate didn't get along at all. Speaking of which.

You turn and do a quick case of your room. Norton is nowhere to be seen, so you assume he went out and would be back later. You turn back to your computer with a smile.

EB: sure, dave
EB: norton's not here either so there's no objections from this end
EB: you caught me working on some homework
EB: but shit's not due till next week
EB: come on over
EB: i just have one question: should i order pizza?

TG: only if youre hungry bro
TG: dont waste money just for me man i just wanna hang is all
TG: be right over
TG: since douchebags not there is it cool if i use the timetables
TG: its faster than walking

You really don't even know what you're going to do when you get there, how you're going to tell him, but you figure this is just one of those things that life makes you play by ear. You already have the advantage of knowing that it is possible for this to work out even though John's not actually gay (demiromantic, he'd said), so any planning you get to do that actually works out would pretty much just be overkill.

You reach for your cell phone, because you hadn't eaten since breakfast and there was no way you were gonna forget to eat dinner again tonight.

EB: yeah i'll still order pizza
EB: yeah you can use the tables
EB: man i'm so hungry
EB: i forgot to eat last night
EB: got so caught up in everything

As soon as he says "yeah," you're already firing up the Timetables and fast forwarding yourself over there. You appear in the middle of his dorm room and lean on the back of his chair, your face right by his ear.

"Jeeze Egbert, what were you and Norton up to that made you forget to eat? Anything I should know about? You know he's not good enough for you. If you want a man, at least go after a real man."

You laugh as you spin your chair around. "I was writing a report, Dave. Norton's more of a homophobe than I could ever be." You held up a hand to silence him while you ordered you pizza, then placed your phone back on the desk.

"So what can I do for you Dave? Its not every day that my best bro decides he wants to see me on a school night."

How are you doing this? How are you doing this? How? How? Fuck. UHM. God, your brain feels like it's full of Tavros. uHH, HOW AM i SUPPOSED TO SEDUCE jOHN?

Fuck.

Well, you gotta take a shot at it.

You slip your arms around his neck and lean your face real close to his, just a perfect mask of cool indifference. You stop when you're about kissing distance away from him. "I have to have a reason to visit my best bro now? I can't just wanna hang with my favorite person? Maybe I was lonely, John."

You laugh, consequentially right in his face. "Dave, you don't get lonely, you get 'oh shit I need to lay low so Bro doesn't kick my ass." you grin. "So what did you do this time? And I have to warn you, you can't stay all night. Not only would Nort be pissed, but you'd get us in trouble with the Dorm super."

"Man, I haven't even seen Bro today. I've been time hopping all day, and it made me really want some Alpha Timeline company. And who better than my best bro?" you ask, tilting his chin up with a fingertip. Jegus, is gay chicken really the best choice for this scenario? Well, it's too late to stop now.

Dave's gay chicken is almost like second nature to you now, you can pretty much ignore it until he takes it that one step too far and you have to politely remind him that you're not a Homosexual.

"Time hopping again? So what timeline did you go see this time?" you ask, hoping he'll share this one with you. "You see alternate me?"

"Theta Timeline, and yeah, I did. I went into the future, this time, though." You sit right in his lap, astride his knees and loop your arms around his neck. You may as well tell him everything. Well.... not all at once. "I still don't really know what I want to do with my life, so I jumped ahead in some different timelines to see what my options are. Most of them were pretty... meh. And one was just... You know, I don't really want to think about Omicron Timeline. It was pretty depressing. But Theta Timeline was good. I was comfortable there. Theta Dave and John were really nice and hospitable."

"Oh so we live together in that timeline? Neat! was it a nice apartment?" you ask, letting your arms rest against his hips as you lean back slightly in the chair. "Did we have good jobs?"

You nestle your face into the crook of his neck, breathing right up against his skin. "It was a house, not an apartment. And yeah, we had great jobs. You were doing something with filming, didn't get a chance to ask cuz you were dead tired. I was making my money playing music. I play guitar in that timeline. Theta Dave's gonna teach me next time I go visit. You wanna go next time?"