John started fidgeting with the bit of covers from before, not saying anything for a moment. What could he do? If he told anyone, Bro would be punished and Dave would be taken away. Given how defensive Dave could get whenever someone pointed out even how weird Bro was, that much would ruin their friendship. As much as John didn't want to worry about Dave again, how much he wanted him to be safe... He didn't want to lose his friendship more than anything.

It hurt. He didn't want to be in this position, of having to choose between his best friend's safety and his friendship. And it made him feel really selfish that he was inclined to choose his friendship, as a myriad of justifications came out in his head.

But if he was going to put his friend's well being with his bro- no, father, even if Dave would never refer to him as such- in second place, he had to have something to make sure Dave would be ok.

"I won't..." he said, his voice a little weak before he looked Dave in the eyes, shades be damned. "But promise me. Promise I won't have to worry about you again."

John meant "Don't do whatever you did that made Bro snap your sword", of course. Whether or not Dave would take like that was up to him.

But he was going to trust Dave to take it as it was meant. If he could pick up that John knew Bro had done it, he could pick this up.