He Ate My Heart (Dave/John)

This had pretty much been the official highpoint of Dave Strider's life. Summer vacation, nothing to do, and holy shit he got to spend it with his best bro in the entire universe (two universes, as a matter of fact). He was psyched beyond belief, and every moment of the visit thus far had been like cloud fucking nine for him, though he was, of course, far too cool to show any of this. No, his poker face stayed perfectly intact the entire week of awesome shitty movies, dorky videogames, family dinners (people actually ate at the kitchen table?), and other such nonsense, despite how blissfully happy he actually was on the inside.

Now, however...
They were sitting in the living room, on the floor in front of the couch (as opposed to actually sitting on it because who does that, really?), wrapped in blankets, and John had just put in the DVD Bro sent with him. He'd been avoiding watching it, but John had brought it up and he couldn't just say no to his best bro. So... here they were, huddled on the floor, about to spend the next four or so hours watching the scariest shit to ever come out of the internet.

And John had no idea how low his horror tolerance was. This as going to be embarrassing.

John was practically buzzing with excitement.

Knees drawn up to his chest, all cocooned up in blankets and sitting close to his best friend's side, he was so ready for this. Even though he'd read the reviews, and knew just how many sleepless nights this would undoubtedly cause, John was convinced that if Dave could handle it, so could he. He knew almost positively that Dave was not as confident about this as he claimed to be, but with that rock-hard poker face, John couldn't argue much.

This whole summer so far had been a blur for the boy, but certainly a good one. He loved, just adored picking out those little, vague expressions Dave would make when John or his Dad did something that surprised him, and hopefully pleased him. He knew things were different for Dave back in Texas, so he was trying his best to make things as fun as possible for him here! And John was enjoying it immensely, himself. Movies, video games, walks, even the late nights they would stay up, John chattering endlessly about whatever nonsense was on his mind Dave listened, well, John didn't think he'd ever grow tired of them.

This was just the next step. Scary movies. He nibbled on his lower lip, giving Dave a sideways glance before hitting the play button and snuggling back against the couch, bracing himself for whatever was to come.

Dave sat with his knees hugged to his chest in grim, determined silence through much of the beginning of the series, only twitching slightly at the first few appearances of The Operator. When they got to Entry 11, however, and he caught that split-second glimpse of The Operator inches away from Alex's face, he hid his face in the blankets around his knees in terror.

He was mortified, of course, that he's let his poker face slip that much, but fuck if he weren't a hell of a lot more worried that there could be an Operator staring at him from any given corner of the room and he would never even know. Fuck.

He let out a surprised, mortified yelp of fear at the same time that Dave hid his face, covering his mouth with the blanket to muffle himself, though his wide eyes remained glued to the screen. Holy shit. Holy shit. That was so scary, but so cool! John wondered how these guys pulled it off. He wouldn't mind filming something this unique and affective to the audience as this one day!

Out of curiosity, as the screen was black for the transition to the next entry, he took another glance at Dave and was surprised to see him hiding his face. He gave him a gentle nudge, smiling and giving an uneasy little chuckle. "I bet it only gets worse from here."

Dave lifted his head hesitantly and looked over at John, shooting him the best death glare he could through his shades, which were smudged from being smashed against his face. His cell phone was out of his pocket in about two seconds.

- - turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB]
TG: you are not even fucking funny bro
TG: dont even kid about that
TG: i know it gets worse because bro watches this shit online all the time
TG: one of the newer entries actually made him jump
TG: i can pretty much never watch that one

His phone was already in his hand by the time he saw Dave begin typing, and read them as they popped up on his screen, his smile weary. "Geez, if it can get bro unsettled, then we're really in for a treat." He looked forward as the John kept his phone pressed to his chest as he half-whispered,

"Hey, I wonder if we could make something like this. You'd be a great monster, and Dad says I have a wicked scream...." He trailed off, attention pulled back into the playing entry as things got a bit more interesting.

A few minutes later and they got to Entry 14. He'd been dreading this one because Bro had specifically mentioned it as one that would make him piss himself. It could be that it wasn't actually scary and Bro was just fucking with him, but- OHWHATTHEFUCKISTHAT

Without his volition, his arm shot out and grabbed John's shoulder, yanking the boy towards him in distress so that he had something to hold on to (and possibly use as a human shield).

He was completely frozen as he watched the Operator slowly, agonizingly slowly make his way into the room and out of the camera's view. He was holding his breath, completely enveloped in the screen, and hardly noticed when Dave grabbed his arm. Once it was over, John let out a deep breath and scooted a little closer to his friend, letting him hold his arm because truthfully, he needed it too.

"Whhh.. woah, oh man, something tells me that wasn't a friendly visit." He mused, adjusting his glasses as the next entry began.

Dave nodded his head in agreement, staring in wide-eyed horror at the screen and clutching John's arm to his chest like a girl. He had rarely been so scared in his life. The next entry was a nice change of pace, just the two characters talking, though it had the same air of ill-intent that everything having to do with this vlog had. The totheark videos all creeped him out a good bit, so that put him on edge all over again. Sixteen was creepy but uneventful. But then eighteen...

When Masky ran at Jay, Dave grabbed John and held on like he was a lifeline. If he could have, he would have screamed.

With a surprised jump, John stilled as the next entry started. His eyes were huge, and his mouth hung open as he grasped Dave's arm, but not a sound left him. Boy, these people sure were good at catching you off guard! Just who was this mysterious masked man?

John had been scared up to this point, of course, but it wasn't until Masky broke into the room that he actually shut his eyes, a little whimper leaving him, part of what was getting to him being the distorted picture and film. He peeked up at the screen, far to curious to just not look, and was horrified to see the man right by Alex in his bed and then gone. "D-Dave.. holy shit Dave." He whispered, pressing closer.

Dave pressed himself closer against John, looking nervously over his shoulders into the corners of the room. With trembling hands, he signed 'Can we stop here for tonight? Please?' He looked up at his friend desperately, begging with his eyes, though they were obscured behind his shades.

John took a moment to take in what Dave had asked, still a little shaken up, but nodded quickly and pulled Dave into a tight hug. He felt his friend shaking and took it in with a hint of surprise, yet again. John knew the whole completely cool and fearless thing was a front, but.. he didn't think it was this bad. He wanted to stand and flick on the lights, but not until Dave was ready to let go. Besides, he wasn't exactly too keen on stumbling around in the dark, either.

Dave stayed like that a while longer, taking deep breaths and trying to calm the swirling vortex of fear in the pit of his stomach. When he had recovered enough to look up into the darkness without completely panicking, he let John go and leaned back a bit, looking at him nervously.

'Let's go turn on the lights,' he signed. Not that the Operator didn't show up in the light, too, but at least then they could see where to run.

"Yeah, I'll get it," He said as he stood, figuring that it would be a lot easier to see Dave sign with the lights on. Taking a moment to go over what he knew in ASL, he grabbed an extra blanket and a bottle of apple juice from his desk before sitting back down in front of Dave and spreading the blanket across both of their laps.

'Is this better?' he signed slowly, but neatly, hoping he'd gotten in right. Clearing his throat, he added with a little smile, "I guess that was a little worse than we anticipated. Are you okay?"

Dave nodded earnestly and downed about half the bottle of apple juice to soothe his suddenly dry throat. He was still pretty shaken up and looking over his shoulders constantly. 'Yeah. Thanks John.'

After a few more minutes of just sitting there with the lights on, he reached over and rested his hand on John's arm, getting his attention. 'Can we go upstairs?' He didn't want to admit it, but he felt like they were safer on the second floor, away from all the doors. Obviously he knew that Slenderman/The Operator was just a made up thing, but he was still legitimately terrified about getting eaten by it.

He nodded slowly, taking a few gulps of apple juice himself before standing and taking the blanket in one hand, Dave's wrist in the other. They'd have to travel down the hallway and up the stairs to John's room, a lightless and fightless journey if they happened to experience a killer now.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself, puffing out his chest a little as he turned to look at Dave. "Ready?"

Dave gave him a look of grim determination and nodded; he was getting up those fucking stairs if it killed him. The way his night was going, it just might.

I told you about stairs bro.

They were halfway up the steps, unable to hurry because of Dave's need to go up stairs slowly and carefully lest he fall down them yet again, when there was a loud 'thump' from somewhere in the house. Dave was so spooked that he latched on to John's arm, clearly terrified.

He swallowed a lump in his throat, eyes huge with dismay as he slowly continued tugging Dave up the stairs. "Probably... my dad or something. Heheh, yeah, he's an even bigger trickster than-"

A door slammed.

And John proceeded in grabbing Dave by the arm and making a dead-sprint for his bedroom, face pale. "Not today, slenderman, not today!" He pulled Dave into the room and shut the door, locking it and flipping on the lights as fast as he could.

Even once in the safety of John's bedroom, Dave maintained a death-grip on John's hand. He was trembling slightly, his throat dry with fear. In his mind, he was desperately trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for the slamming door, but he was coming up with nothing. Sure, Mr. E was a prankster, but he seemed like a pretty nice guy and he couldn't imagine him doing something like that just to make the two of them scream in terror. Which was what he was about two seconds away from doing, the screaming in terror thing, that is.

His thumb rubbed circles on the top of Dave's hand, a comforting sort of thing, as he lead him over to the bed to sit. His pulse was racing, and he was pretty scared, but he sensed that his friend was much worse about it. Who knew a silly movie would freak him out so much.

"Hey, Dave, how about we watch some Neverending Story until we both fall asleep? Um, I know that sounds kind of silly, but I don't think either of us are gonna be sleeping for a while, hehe.." He offered a little smile, albeit nervous, just wanting to get Dave's mind off of the terror.

Dave managed a soft. nervous laugh. "Yeah let's watch it. I haven't met my quota of shitty movies for this trip yet," he said, his voice shaking slightly. He was still scared as shit, but he felt like a complete tool for losing his cool in front of his best friend like that; it felt awesome that John was so cool about it though. Bro would have been giving him so much shit if he were there.

As John loaded up the DVD player with the old movie, he wondered if Dave would be willing to watch the rest with him. He really wanted to see what happened to the boys in the videos, but.. He wouldn't subject Dave to that kind of torture, seeing as how badly it affected him. Geez, he wasn't that huge of a prankster. He pressed play, cranked up the volume and relished in the calm, happy music it played. He made his way back over to Dave, settling down at his side and snuggling up a little against him.

The cheerful music, colorful set, and brightly lit room all contributed to Dave slowly beginning to relax. He'd stopped shaking and his breathing was more even; he still glanced around the room occasionally, unwilling to be lulled into a false sense of security, but he was calm for the most part. Relaxing against John's side, he slipped his hand over the other boy's; of course he would be scolded about John not being a homosexual, but it was worth it for the security it gave him. Maybe he would actually be able to sleep tonight.