[Homestuck] Dave X Reader X Dirk: Stride of Luck

4. takeaway blues

Dinner rolls by deliriously slowly. The table had turned into Tracy's personal interrogation room, if interrogation rooms were allowed to have stacks of delicious, oily food.

"What do you mean 'came from Texas?'" Tracy asked. "As in, you moved here from Texas, then you lost your brother here?"

Dave takes a long, noisy and insufferable sip of his pepsi. You can see Tracy' eye twitch, but Shawna continues to fawn over his "perfect golden ratio phi," which is really confusing to you because it has the word "ratio" and "phi" in it.

"Nope. I don't live here. I have Bro, and that's basically it. We both lived in Houston together until we didn't, read: he ditched my ass."

Tracy pondered this heavily, and you eyed her wondering why she was so concerned with Dave. She was usually so reserved, and only gave half a shit about people she cared about. You doubted she saw any reason to try and understand Dave, let alone help him.

"That's interesting, I assume you two don't live with parents?"

"Nope. It's just me and him."

Perfectly painted nails tick against the polished wood of your table, as if punching something into an imaginary calculator.

"Why did he leave then? And how long ago did this happen?"

Dave leaned back in his chair precariously, dangerously skimming the line between "looking fucking sick, in an ironic way" and "busting my ass, in a totally unironic way." He looked skyward as if the answer was written on the ceiling. "There wasn't much of a reason he gave, or at least none that I know of. The last I heard of him was from a note he left behind, and there wasn't an explanation or a date on it. He's usually MIA so I honestly don't know when he dipped."

"You don't even know when your own brother left?"

Dave didn't react, but you freaked on on his behalf.

"Woah, Tracy! Chill, what's the matter with you?"

"She's fine." Dave interjected, holding up a hand. "She's right. I should've noticed sooner. That shit's on me, no doubt."

Tracy stares him down from across the table, meeting his unfaltering gaze with one of her own. "If you don't even notice when he's gone, why'd you decide to look for him?"

"I'm worried. Wouldn't you be, too?"

"No, because I would've realized if someone I cared about disappeared."

Shawna cringed at Tracy's tone and receded into her chair with a tiny pout, deciding to become interested in the leftover rice on her plate.

"Tracy..." You warned.

"I said she's fine." Dave pushes up his shades, and the way the kitchen light reflects off the glass makes it impossible to see his eyes. "I deserved that."

She takes this as her cue to continue her not-so-passive-and-mostly-aggressive attack on him.

"Are you really looking for your brother? Because you're awfully calm for someone who traveled halfway across the country on such short notice to find him."

Dave opens his mouth to respond, but Tracy cuts him off again before he can.

"Tell me, how much effort have you actually put into finding him? My friend here has been up and down hundreds of search yields looking for a face she's never seen before, and you're just watching her fall short time and time again. Can you be bothered to think about your brother for more than the three seconds it takes to Google him? Have you put in any elbow grease to maybe even breathe in the right direction? Do you even really want to find your brother?"