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

You close your eyes and nod, lifting your head and sitting up on your heels so you could reach up some, puckering your lips slightly.

Completely puckering your lips is just invitation for Dave to call you a tool and you'd much rather not start an argument while you're feeling so good.

But it is sweet that Alpha Dave wants to kiss you good bye, even though you know your Dave is going to play one hell of a game of Cowboys and Indians as soon as he's gone.

You have to fight back a smile as you lean in to kiss him goodbye. It should be sinful for someone to be that sweet and adorable. You start to get up, but only lift yourself a little so you can turn and sit on Theta Dave's knee. A grin spreads across your face as you look up at him. "Big Tex, too."

He snorts in amusement, but hooks an arm around your neck and pulls you close to kiss you, ruffling your hair and messing it all up when he's done. "Get outta here, kiddo. We'll see ya whenever you an' John pop over into our timeline," he says.

"Yeah," you reply, standing. "I'll see you guys soon." Then the Timetables are at your fingertips and they whisk you away, back to your own timeline. You aim fr a time a few hours after you left, so it's good and late. Perfect time for one Dave Strider to head off to bed for a good night's rest.

Meanwhile, you, on the other side of town, can't sleep. You feel sick with stress, confusion and worst of all, guilt. You can't make up your mind about what you want and what you only think you want and the inner turmoil has you pacing across the tiny dorm room, from the wall between the two beds, to the door and back again.

Norton has long since given up on homework and is trying to sleep; he doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself. Not that he would have helped you out if he did care, because he hated Dave, the centermost point of your whole problem.

Norton finally kicked you out of your shared dorm room around one. Rather than argue, you roam the streets and wind up getting a coffee. You're much to conflicted to sleep anyway. Your night continues on like that until you finally return to your dorm room at nearly eight in the morning after a sleepless night, but your mind made up.

Class wasn't important right now, you'd email your teachers and tell them you weren't feeling well, just blow off class for the day. You had more important things to do right now.

ectoBiologist began pestering turntechGodhead at [8:04]

EB: dave
EB: we really need to talk
EB: about that whole deal yesterday
EB: come to my dorm when you get up
EB: and please don't use the timetables

Your iPhone, placed conveniently right next to your head, began pinging and beeping something awful at around eight in the morning. Wish a groan you raise a slow, lethargic arm to swat blindly at it, though that does nothing to shut it up. After a minute of trying to ignore the racket, you crack your eyes open and peek at the screen. Your pesterChum window has popped up and is filled with blue text. Blue text? Blue text!

You're instantly awake and grab your phone, rolling onto your back and holding it above you as you type; you're so excited, you nearly drop the phone on your face.

TG: yeah sure bro whatever you want
TG: and good morning
TG: when do you want me over
TG: i can come right now if you want
TG: just gotta put clean clothes on

You have to quirk a brow in surprise. You hadn't expected him to be up this early in the morning.

EB: whenever
EB: i really don't care dave
EB: we just need to talk and soon
EB: i have to go email my teachers now and let them know i won't be in class today

ectoBiologist ceased pestering tutntechGodhead at [8:09]

You sort of glare at your phone in confusion. He seemed pretty upset, which you suppose is not all that surprising, but he said he was cutting class for the day? What was up with that? That's not like John at all, so he must be really legit distressed by this. You feel kind of bad, actually, and the whole thing makes you feel kind of uncomfortable, like your stomach is tying itself into knots.

You haul yourself out of bed and strip on your way to the closet, just throwing your dirty clothes on the floor. You throw on a clean pair of boxers first, then a fairly nice pair of jeans, and then you glare at the row of various shirts, unable to choose. It takes a full five minutes of picking up one thing, deciding against it, and picking up another to finally pick out a plain, dark red shirt and your Four Aces Suited jacket. You even decide to go all hipster for the occasion and wrap a black and red checkered plo scarf around your neck. It only takes a second to come your hair into place, then you grab your shades and your keys and you're out the door.

You email your teachers and one emails you back right away, inquiring about your current health. You lie and tell her you think you caught something from your premed roommate, it wouldn't be the first time.

While you're waiting for Dave to show up, you lay your head down on the desk. Dave'll just come in when he gets there anyway, so its not like it matters much what you're doing.

You did all your wikipwdiaing and google searches the night prior before Norton came back from class, so you have all your bases cleared, now its just a matter of what you're gonna say, how you're gonna make up your mind.

Its a hard decision that no one should have to make.

You park in your usual spot and trudge up the stairs to John's dorm, letting yourself in without bothering to knock. John's got his head down, and you wonder if he might've fallen asleep. Feeling suddenly very nervous, you take a seat on the bed, all stiff and tense. "Uh, John...?"

You push yourself up and look at him. You can feel the bags under your eyes and have no doubt that you look like utter shit.

"I have decided..." You paused to stifle a yawn. "I've decided to give this no labels thing a try. Okay? I mean, I really like you as a friend, maybe more, but I really don't want to ruin that, but I'm willing to try this for you"

You give him the biggest, stupidest, happiest grin that any strider (except maybe Cal) has ever flashed at another human being before. Before you even know what you're doing, you've already crossed the room on legs that feel like jello. Suddenly your arms are around his neck and you've got your face in his hair and FUCK are you happy. "I... Ohman, bro, just... thank you. Thanks so fuckin' much. You don't even know how much this means to me. How much you mean to me."

You swallow hard and you almost feel sick, but stronger is the feeling of familiarity; its Dave, he touches you like that all the time. A warmth blossoms in your chest when you suddenly realize that he really means it and that he pretty much always has.

Hesitantly you wrap your arms around him, your hands clutching tightly at the back of his suit jacket and your eyes beginning to water.

The sick feeling hasn't gone away yet, if anything you think its gotten a little stronger, and then it hits you that it has absolutely nothing to do with Dave. You'd been so stressed the night prior that you had given your pizza to Norton and the guy he came back to study with, and then you stayed up all night with nothing in your stomach but cheep coffee.

You give a little groan, your head trapped pretty comfortably on Dave's clavicle. "Dave, I feel like shit. I think I need to lay down."

"Well, no offense, bro, but you kind of look like shit, too. Hey, since you're ditchin' class today anyway, why don't we go back to the apartment and you can nap there? That way we can hang after, and neither of us gets bitched at by Norton." You think that sounds like a pretty chill fucking idea, and you nuzzle your face into his hair affectionately.

"That sounds really nice" You admit, letting him nuzzle your hair. "Just let me grab some clothes, I've been up all night. I never got a chance to change.

You wonder vaguely what Bro will think about this whole ordeal, but decide you don't care.