Let's Face The Facts (Bro/John)

VIVICON took place once a year, every year in Houston's convention center. It was one of the largest videogame conventions (both handheld and for console) in the US, and it was incredibly popular. It normally occurred during spring break, for both convenience and tourism-related reasons. There were over 60 panels, and the dealer's room took up a good part of the entire convention! It was primarily a convention for videogames, but it had it's fair share or anime-related panels, too. VIVICON was gaining fans fast, even at the tender con-age of 5 years. All the hotels nearby rejoiced whenever VIVICON rolled around, as did the nearby restaurants. The way it was set up, the convention itself was pretty much created to be popular. It's no wonder how popular it was getting, what with how much fun people had every year!

Your name is John Egbert, and you are kind of completely freaking out.

Next weekend is this year's VIVICON, and it's your first attempt at going to any kind of convention or videogame meetup at all. Also, it seems like your plans are falling apart at the seems. Dad was originally going to go with you (it's a big convention! there's no way you were allowed to go by yourself!), but as it turns out, he has 'a big business meeting in the next town over and thus is unable to attend'. Plan B? Call up Dave and see if he can go with you! That idea worked fairly well, great even. Turns out he was planning to go anyways, in fact, Dave and his brother go to VIVICON every year without fail! Or at least.. Dave was planning to go.

At the current moment, Dave was on a phone call with you, explaining why exactly he couldn't go this year.

"Sorry man, I just can't do it." Inwardly, you automatically jumped into 'flip-out mode', barely remaining calm enough to hear your best bro's reasoning. "I totally would, because let's face it, that con is fresher than a new pack of tighty-whities, but I seriously can't. I got myself into trouble, and now I'm doomed to ruin our weekend by staying home. What can I say? All this swag is dangerous to everything around me, including my report-card."

"Dave, what am I even going to do? You know my Dad can't go, and I'm not allowed to go by myself! This really sucks, dude. I've been planning to go all year, I even got my Sora cosplay done in time!" Sighing heavily through the receiver, you gnawed on your lip in thought, hare-brained schemes wrecking chaos in your head. Ughh, nothing would work! It really looked like life was just out to get you, screwing up all your plans like that.

"Egderp, calm your man-boobs. You can still go, okay? My Bro's still going. Your old man said you can go just as long as someone goes with you, right? Just go with him. I'm sure he'll be pretty chill with it (why would he even give a fuck?), so don't get your sparkly princess panties in a bunch. I'll bring it up with him next time I see him. "

Your name is Robert Egbert and you have been in the kitchen listening to your son panic on the phone in next room. Placing your cake in the oven and dusting off your floury hands, you stick your head out to smile at him on the couch.

"Everything alright son? I heard you talking about that convention you're going to, not having problems already are you?" you ask, placing your pipe in your mouth.

Ending the call with a 'click!', you set your phone down and turn to face your dad. "You know how Dave was going to Vivi with me, right? Well, now he can't because he did poorly on his report card. He says that I might be able to go with Bro though!" Twiddling your thumbs, you grin up at Dad nervously. "Is that okay? Is that an okay thing? I really want to go, and you said I can't go alone, so.. Can I please please please go to VIVICON with Dave's brother? Please?" VIVICON is incredibly important to you, and drastic times call for desperate measures, so it's time to whip out the big guns; your patented Johnbert-puppy eyes. Looking up at your dad with those big baby blues, you jut out your lower lip for the final finishing touch. "Please dad? Please?"

"Well I don't see why not" you reply with a wide smile. "Provided it is alright with mister Strider of course. And I would have to talk to him about looking after you, and make sure he is aware of your allergies and in possession of an epi pen."

You take off your fedora and set it on the coat rack as you make your way farther into the room. "After all, I was under the impression that mister Strider was already going to accompany you and Dave to this convention"

Gnawing at your lip (a nervous habit), you nod. "Well yeah! Of course he was going to come. But now it's just me and Bro, and I wasn't sure if you'd be alright with that." Scrunching up your nose at the thought of peanuts, (those dastardly little things! ruining candy bars with their cruel ways) you nod yet again in agreement. "Yeah, I've already got my epi pen packed, Dad. I'll be sure to steer clear of Japanese snacks at the convention, too! Peanuts show up in the oddest of Asian snacks sometimes."

You flop down onto the couch then, fully prepared to lounge about in the most inconvenient way possible; taking up the whole couch! "Dave said he's asking Bro about it, so you'll probably get a call about it later tonight. I'm pretty much all packed for this weekend, but is there anything else I should pack up to take with me before I forget?"

"Your tooth brush, the travel sized toothpaste, the travel sized shampoo and conditioner, your contacts and contact solution, a hairbrush, The list goes on and on son." You chuckle, sitting in the arm chair and propping your feet up on the coffee table.

"If its quite alright with Strider, then I have no problem that you go. But I still want you to call me every night before you go to bed, as per our original agreement." You reach into your shirt pocket and pull out your little box of tobacco and matches and begin to fill your pipe. "I want to make sure you're alright and having fun"

"... Darn." In fact, as with any teenager planning a trip, you had forgotten many (if not most) of those things just mentioned. Pretty much everything except for the contacts and your toothbrush, oops! That would of been horrible to deal with, had you actually only remembered once you arrived at the con! You could always run down to a nearby Walgreen's or something, but still! It'd be better to remember to bring it.

"I'll call you every night I'm there Dad, I promise. Cross my heart! Now I've gotta go upstairs and pack before I forget all that stuff, okay? Just call me for dinner when it's ready." Rolling off the couch, you waved over your shoulder to your father as you climbed the stairs to your room to re-pack. Toothpaste, shampoo, and deodorant are definite must!

"Don't forget to pack some pajamas and extra underwear as well" You call after him with a chuckle. Teenagers never seemed to remember personal hygiene products when they needed them. You light your pipe and lean back to relax when the phone rings where John left it on the arm of the couch.

You pick it up without a second thought and are pleased to hear the elder Strider's voice. The two of you chat for a little while before hanging up. By the time John comes back down, you're considering ordering out for once, too relaxed to cook.

"Good news son, I'm dropping you off at the Strider residence on thursday night" you smile as he appeared by the couch.

Packing fully completed, you finally trudge down the stairs in search of food. "Dad, is dinner done yet? I've finished repacking, and that took awhile! What'd you make for dinner?" Ah food; the fail-safe way to bait a teenage boy into leaving both his room and his computer. You were no exception to that rule. Slumping onto the couch, you begin to groan aloud at the sheer lack of food weighing down your belly. "Fooooood."

Once dad informs you of the solidified arrangements, you give him a great big thumbs-up, grin, and go right back to whining about starving to death. "Daaaad, c'mon! I'm dying here. What's for dinner?"

"What would you like? I am willing to order out tonight so you'd better make it count" You chuckle, smiling. "I'm afraid I got too comfortable here to get back up and now there isn't anything I can cook that wouldn't take forever to cook and it isn't good for you to eat late at night"

Rolling onto your stomach from your previous perch on the plush couch, you gnaw your lip in thought. "Hmmm.. How does Chinese sound? I know it's really greasy, but I could really go for some egg drop soup after all that packing today. What do you think Dad? Does that sound good?" Mmmm, Chinese food. You could practically taste the salt, and boy did it taste good! Dim sum, vegetable stir fry, and pepper beef! All those mouthwatering artery-cloggers, and you wanted them in your stomach, now.

"Mmmm, pepper beef and egg drop soup..~" You were practically drooling at the thought!

You chuckle. "Are you sure? That's probably what you'll be living off of this weekend. I know what Broderick's eating habbits are. It would either be chinese food or whatever you can scrounge up for yourself"

You pull open the drawer of the end table next to your chair and pull out a small stack of fast food menus. "Here, pick one of the chinese places that deliver if you must"

You ordered from Panda Palace, and boy was it awesome!

Your dad liked it too; you could tell by the pleased way he lent back in his chair and pat his belly. The food came relatively quick, and it tasted really great! It was nice to order out for once, and you were pretty dang sure your dad agreed with you, judging by the satisfied smile you both shared. (That and the burp you let out immediately afterward. Oops, sorry dad!) Today had been a pretty good day, and you could hardly wait for VIVICON to come now! Especially because your dad approved. Yep, today had turned out pretty dang well.

The rest of the week passes much too quickly and before you know it, its friday morning and you're already dressed for work and walking briskly to John's room to wake him so you could take John to the Strider residence so he would be able to go with Broderick to the convention.

It had taken much begging and pleading to convince you to let John skip a day of school, but in the end you deemed it alright; you had skipped a day or two back in your youth as well.

You open the door and grin. "Time to get up John"

Insistent knocking on your door is what woke you Friday morning. While normally you'd just roll around in bed all day, today you were going to Dave's house in preparation for VIVICON. Needless to say, you vaulted out of your bed like an Olympic gymnast, landing on your feet and greeting your dad with a "Tah daaaah!"

Boy were you excited! Today you'd be going to VIVICON with Bro, and you were a-buzz with energy at the thought. Rushing past your dad, you began the morning ritual; brush teeth, give up on your hair, then slip into a clean pair of slacks and proceed to clamber down the steps to the front door like an excited puppy. Bags in hand, you stand at the door, rearing to go and tapping your foot as you wait for your dad to give the a-okay to go.

You chuckle and watch him bustle about getting ready for his day. "I left a baggie of cookies on the counter for you to take to Dave and Broderick" you inform him. "Why don't you go get that and meet me in the car?"

You make a face at the mention of cookies, but comply to your dad's wishes and go get them. Frosted sugar cookies, eh? Well, these weren't too bad, then! You sneakily chomp down on one (you're so sneaky! the sneakiest!) and grab the bag so you can make your way to the car. You toss your bags into the trunk, plopping yourself into shotgun as you wait for Dad.

Its only a minute to retrieve your briefcase from the den before you're sliding behind the driver's seat. "I think I'll stop and get us something for breakfast" You smile before backing out of the driveway.

Its not a long drive to the Strider residence and as you pull up in front of the building, Dave happens to walk out on his way to the bus stop. "Don't forget to call me" You smile to John.

Waving your dad goodbye, you can only smirk at Dave as he trudges to his bus stop in the way only he can; attempting to look as cool as possible while trying to wake yourself up enough to stand. You outright laugh at him, doubling over in the beginnings of what will surely be a gigglefit. His head snaps to look in your direction, and based upon his stance he's probably glaring at you as he flips you an early-morning bird salute.

"Heheh, have fun going to school, Dave!" You shout over your shoulder to him as you trot off into the large apartment building. What a card! It was so much fun to tease Dave sometimes, especially when it was his fault in the first place. Sadly, the elevator is out of order. So you have to take the stairs, big whoop! It's not like.. crap, they lived on the top floor. This was going to take awhile, especially with all these bags of yours.

Your name is Broderick Strider and you are tired as fuck.

You shouldn't even be awake right now, but Dave had to be a little dick about having a mandatory tutor session after school today and made sure to slam everything around. The little Egbert should be there any minute as well, but he knew the door was always open. Not like anyone dared to fuck with the Striders.

You roll onto your side, pulling the thin blanket up to your nose and scrunching your eyes against the soft light shining thought the window behind you. You weren't getting up before nine, fuck the police.

Walking up all those stairs with you bags was the absolute worst idea you've had in a very long time. You're exhausted now, gasping for air as you trudge up the final flight of stairs to Dave and Bro's apartment. What you'd really like right now is a congratulatory nap, because you deserve some sort of award for climbing up all those god-forsaken steps with your three heavy traveling bags.

Finally you make it to the damned apartment, not even to knock, instead slumping your way inside and collapsing onto the couch. "Freaking... stairs. I don't care what dad said about me forgetting stuff, I really should have packed less crap."

You grunt when the futon is jostled and you crack an eye open to glare at the mess of black hair, which is all you can see of Egderp's head. "M'fuckin' sleepin" you grumble, curling up into a ball.

"Jesus fuck, learn some manners squirt."

You should probably jump up and apologize, or at the very least feel bad, but to be honest you are way to exhausted to give two flips about much of anything at the moment. Instead you chuckle lightly, burrowing your face into the soft down of the futon. "M'kay, I get it. Shhh, only nap time now."

You doze off almost instantly. Hmm, guess you really were tired, huh?

Taking a little pity on the little Derp, you shift and turn so you're laying at the opposite end of the futon, slipping the flat pillow under John's head and sharing the blanket with him. You roll so your back is to him and cradle your head in the crook of your arm since the pillow is only big enough for one head anyway.

You easily drift back off, though its seemingly no time at all when your phone starts going off with the alarm you set to wake you at nine.

The sound of the alarm blaring close-by makes you grunt, grumpily stuffing your face into the pillow that magically appeared sometime during your nap. God it was loud. All you want to do is nap some more, but the alarm does it's job, and you find yourself unable to drift back to sleep. "Mnggh.. what time is it, even?" You slur questioningly, eyes clamped shut against the sun's harsh rays. You were awake, there was no need to further blind yourself with burning sunlight streaming into your cornea.