sortinghat_logs | I fell down a lot of stairs. On my arm. And my sword. Shut up.

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I fell down a lot of stairs. On my arm. And my sword. Shut up.

WHO: Dave, John, Wilbur, and Karkat
TONE: dark-ish and worried?
RATING: PG-13 because Dave and Karkat
WHEN: 14 May, 9pm
WHERE: Gryffindor 3rd year boys' dorm
WHAT: Dave comes back to Gryffindor Tower after getting the shit kicked out of him by Bro, carrying a shattered sword. The sleeve of his robe is bloody and torn, his hair is messed up, and it looks like he's been crying. His roommates react.
STATUS: Ongoing!

When he left Bro and crawled through the portrait hole, all Dave could think of was getting into bed, pulling the curtains, and spending the rest of the night fixing his robe so that he could go to classes without getting into trouble. Even though Bro had made sure that it wasn't bleeding anymore, Dave's arm still hurt like a bitch, a dull throbbing that lanced all the way up to his shoulder.

The common room was oddly deserted, and Dave sincerely hoped as he dragged himself up the stairs to the 3rd year boys dorm that his roommates would already have their curtains drawn. The door creaked as he pushed it open and peered inside.

No such luck. Fuck.

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It was kinda bad luck for Dave to enter just at that moment, since John was just removing his socks before he'd finally be ready to go to bed (in a t-shirt and grey pyjama pants, for the interested) when he heard the door crack open, making him look over to the source of the sound.

"Oh! Hey Dave. Where've you bee- woah..." he started, only to be stopped by the sight of Dave. He looked like he'd just been ran over by a car. John made a quick run to his friend to get a better look at him.

The sight didn't get any prettier the closer he got. "What happened?"

Welp, Dave figured he might as well get all the way in the room before John woke up the entire tower and brought everyone running in to see what was up. He slid into the room and noncommitally shrugged off John's concern. "Fell down some stairs. I'm fine."

He opened his trunk and dropped the two halves of his sword in, fishing around until he found the sewing kit. Then he closed his trunk again, and shrugged off his robe. The bloodstain and tear were really visible in his shirtsleeve.

Yeah, he's noticing those stains as he follow Dave through the room. "Dude! Are the chairs carrying knives or something? Your arm's a mess!"

Have John get all up in your personal space trying to get a closer look.

"I just. Fell the wrong way on my sword, okay?" Dave is being pissier than usual, and he flaps his robe at John to shoo him out of his personal space. "I'm fine, John. Jesus fuck."

"Fell wrong on your sword? But... That..."

Part of John really wants to just believe what Dave says and leave it at that. Just go and believe this was a nasty misstep at the end of the day, crack a joke about stairs and move on. Just let the bad things stay hidden, so they won't come out in full force. But this is Dave. He'd lie through his teeth about something like this. Hell, the fact that he even told John about the situation with Rose«, her mother and Bro was nothing short of a small miracle.

And now, he was hurt physically, and there was probably something else going on, if his sudden irritation was of any indication. It just didn't add up.

His sword wasn't bloodied like it should have been if he had fallen on it.

His arm looked like it wasn't bleeding anymore, and he probably wouldn't have been able to do much one handed.

The wound was recent, there was also no way it would have stopped bleeding on its own.

He was in pain, so he clearly hadn't gone to the infirmary. They'd have fixed him up right away.

It didn't add up. There was only another way for him to have gotten a wound like that, but... It couldn't be. He wanted to think of that even less than of what he was already thinking. But his mind kept telling him there was no other way.

"That..." he repeated, his voice cracking a little. "That doesn't sound right..."

Dave really should have known that John wouldn't leave it alone. This was John he was talking about. But still, it...wasn't a big deal anymore. It wasn't. Dave and Bro had talked it out (kind of) and things were chill between them again (mostly). There was nothing to talk about. Dave didn't need to spill his guts like he had when he'd still been mad at Bro about the whole lying to him thing.

Then again, John really didn't deserve to be pushed away unless Dave wanted to talk. Dave groaned in frustration and tossed his robe and the sewing kit onto his bed, and then pulled John onto the canopy bed with him. He drew the curtains and muttered a silencing charm.

"Fine, I lost a strife."

John followed Dave without comment into the canopy bed, and silently sat on Dave's bed, cross-legged in front of his friend, waiting for an explanation.

And when it came, it was like his worst fear had come true.

And for the time being, it really was.

"What happened?" There was no need to ask the who. Only one other person in the school had a sword and skill enough to do that to Dave. He was sure Dave would realize he'd figure that part out. The why was more important. The who would be dealt with later. Maybe.

Yep, Dave figured that John would guess who it was. His defensive hackles rose again. "It was an accident. He didn't mean to draw blood." If John suspected that was a lie, hopefully he'd also realize that he shouldn't push the subject. As far as Dave was concerned, it was an accident. "His sword broke mine and then kept going."

It wasn't a complete recounting of events. Dave was leaving out the fact that he'd referred to his egg donor by a fuckton of slurs that she probably didn't entirely deserve. As far as he was concerned, John hadn't asked for the why, just the how. He rolled up his sleeve and showed John the cut, which was clean of dry blood and mostly healed up. "I'm fine now, he fixed me up."

John wasn't satisfied with these answers. There were still pieces missing. The implied question of the why wasn't answered, even though he was sure Dave had picked it up. But there was no mistaking Dave's tone. It was a final one, that wouldn't answer any other questions he had. The issue was final.

He looked at the cut, all dried blood, and red unrelated to the blood. He pulled his wand from his pants (why he had put it there when he was about to go sleep was beyond him, but it was convenient), pointed it at the wound and murmured "Tergeo." The dried blood disappeared, leaving only the cut.

He then promptly dropped his wand on the mattress and hugged Dave, burying his face on the crook of the other boy's neck.

Edited 2012-05-24 22:57 (UTC)

Dave didn't really know what he was expecting, but for John to pull out his wand and quietly spell his wound clean was not one of them. He flinched a little on instinct, even though the spell didn't hurt. Hesitantly, he lowered his arm. Behind the shades that John had given him over a year ago, his eyes were wide and surprised.

The moment after the spell was cast seemed like a year to Dave, before John dropped his wand and reached out to hug him. Dave tensed initially when John's arms wrapped around him, but he relaxed into it soon enough, wrapping his arms around John and leaning his cheek against the side of John's head.

"Don't worry about me, doofus," he murmured, already sounding a lot less snippy than he had when he first came into the room. "I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself, okay?"

"Can't," he whispers, lifting his head from Dave's neck and pulling away. "You're my best bro. I have to worry."

He sighed after that, sitting down again and then fidgeting with a piece of the covers that had been raised by their shuffling around. Whatever could be said at the moment was escaping him at the moment.

Dave scoffs, but he's smiling a little when John pulls away. He lets go reluctantly, feeling the absence of John's hug more acutely than he felt its presence. He glances away when John sits back down, and then he bundles his robes onto his lap, picking up his wand and pointing it to his sleeve with a muttered "scourgify". "Then I should say thanks..."

Once the torn sleeve was clean, he picked up the needle and held it gingerly in his right hand. His left arm was shaking as he raised the thread, and he stuck out his tongue in concentration, even though it was obvious that the thread wasn't getting into the eye of that needle anytime soon.

Edited 2012-05-25 00:25 (UTC)

"Oh give me that!" John said with a roll of his eyes as he quickly pulled the needle and thread from Dave's hands and started do it himself. Sure, the actual would have to be done by Dave himself, given that John didn't know how to sow, but he could do that much for his best friend, anyway.

Once the thread was secured in the eye of the needle, he held them up for Dave to take. "Here."

Dave had to fight to keep from smiling a little as John rolled his eyes and took the needle and thread from him. He was also glad he had his shades on, because he found himself staring at John's hands - fucking piano fingers - as John threaded the needle for him. He took it back and nodded.

"Thanks, man." He unwound some thread from the needle and then bit through it. His hand was still shaking a little as he tied a knot at the end of the string, but then he gripped the needle between his teeth and shook his robe sleeve inside out. He wasn't as good with a needle as Bro was, but Bro had taught him how to sew when he was younger. "You okay?" he asked, once he took the needle back out of his mouth so he could start sewing.

John shrugged. "I'm not the one with the sword wound on his arm," he said with the smallest hint of a smile. It was probably not the best time for jokes, but he knew Dave would do the same thing for him. So as far as John was concerned, he was simply a favour that had yet to really be done.

Shut up, it totally made sense in his head.

"...Listen. You won't tell anyone, right? I don't want Bro to get in trouble over something stupid like this. He's got enough shit to deal with." It was the first that Dave had actually mentioned Bro's name, even though he wasn't going to pretend like John didn't know who'd done it. "So this has to stay between you and me, John."

He sewed the sleeve together as carefully as he could, but it was still a little uneven. Solidly mended, but uneven.

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.

Edited 2012-05-25 14:14 (UTC)

Dave could tell that John was really conflicted about his request. He almost felt bad for asking him to keep something like this a secret, but...The alternative was too shitty to even comprehend. Dave needed Bro. Besides, it wasn't like Bro was just all about abusing him all the time. Fuck, Dave wasn't the child called It or anything. He was fed and clothed and taken care of. He'd just...pushed Bro too far this time, was all. Bro wasn't abusive. This was Dave's fault.

He let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he'd been holding when John assured him, however weakly, that he wouldn't tell. Maybe he should have given the John the full story. His eyebrows shot up and he let his hands fall back to his lap, paused mid-stitch. Yeah, he understood what John meant.

And he felt guilty as hell.

"We're cool now. No big deal." He would keep telling John it was no big deal until John believed him, goddamn it. "I said some shit about Rose's mom I shouldn't have, that's all."

And as unsurprising as it was, that was the last thing John hoped Dave'd do. Knowing more would make it harder to just let it go. Knowing more would make it all the more real, and would make his justifications falter.

A part of him couldn't help but wonder how disappointed would his own father be right now.

No, he wouldn't think of that at the moment. It had been something said about his mother. Ok, he could work with that. If Dave kept his mouth shut about the subject, it wouldn't happen again. Good. Dave wasn't stupid, he'd know that he should avoid the subject, or at least watch his words.

"Still..." he said, his voice stronger, eyes unrelenting.

Dave's eyes widened when John didn't give up when he said things were cool. That 'still' made him pause, and his eyes searched John's. Finally, he sighed. "What do you want me to say?" he asked, and he sounded tired. He reached up and slid his shades off, setting them on the bed beside him. Why not, he'd already taken them off once that night.

"Bro's not a predator or a monster, and he's not going to hurt me. I don't need to watch myself around him. I just. What do you want me to say, John?" He didn't sound angry or accusing. Just. Resigned.

"I know, but..." But what? Dave had caught his meaning, all but complied too. What else did he want?

To not have to worry about Dave again. And despite what he was saying, there were clearly things where he had to watch himself around Bro, even if it was only where Dave and Rose's mother was concerned. Even if the subject was never brought up again, John would still worry.

He didn't want to lose Dave. "I just don't want to have to worry about you like this anymore..."

Dave hesitated. He wanted to reach out and touch John, reassure him that he wasn't going anywhere. That he wasn't in any real danger from Bro, that was stupid, it was like Dave being worried that John's dad was going to feed him too much cake and John was going to die of the 'beetus.

But he hesitated. Because John wasn't a homo. Because Dave had a girlfriend (who was also John's sister). And then he said fuck you to all of his reservations, and he set his robe carefully aside, scooting forward and cupping John's cheek in his hand, as he met his blue eyes.

"I promise, John. I won't make you worry about me like that ever again, okay?" He held up his other hand, pinky extended, and smiled. "Pinky swear."

John was surprised by Dave sudden touching his cheek. It was a touch more intimate, more... Something, than just about any other they had shared except maybe for John's hug earlier. But he didn't think of it too much, because Dave's promise was more reassuring than it probably should be. He could think of ways of how he could technically keep his promise without actually keeping it, but... He trusted Dave. He'd have faith in him.

The pinky swear was a small touch that actually made him smile. That and the promise helped him feel better, if anything. "Pinky swear," he said as he hooked his pinky with Dave's.

Edited 2012-05-25 21:07 (UTC)

Yes. Good. John Egbert should always be smiling. It was pretty much a universal constant that him and Jade deserved to never have anything to frown about, and Dave was ready and willing to make it so. He curled his pinky around John's and shook their hands decisively. And then he awkwardly slid his hand down to John's neck, paused it there for a moment, until he slid further down to John's shoulder.

Then he just said fuckit and reached out to grab him into a hug again. "I wasn't looking to make you worry about me. Just so we're clear." He paused and sighed, before pressing his forehead into the crook of John's neck. "And I'll tell Jade soon. So we don't have to keep secrets from her."

John let Dave hug him with resistance, hugging back immediately. He was happy...er. He still wished they hadn't had to be in this mess, but... He was glad they had been able to work out their end of the deal. He'd prefer if Dave would go to the infirmary, but that had been more miracles for the night than he'd ever thought Dave would do. That Dave had shared what had happened was enough.

"Good," he whispered when Dave said he'd go tell Jade. That brought some extra relief to him. If Dave was willing to share that with Jade, then maybe he wouldn't hide if something like this happened again. That was good. Very good.

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I fell down a lot of stairs. On my arm. And my sword. Shut up.

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