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

6. the encounter

The market isn't as packed as it usually is when you come here, probably because it's a weekday and not a weekend. It's also an oddball hour to be shopping for groceries, but you're not complaining.
You're actually glad that you don't have to push and shove with feisty old ladies, tired moms and dodge their gremlin children playing tag between the aisles, oftentimes leaving behind sticky or slippery liquid substances like nasty little snails. Gross.

You stroll through each section carefully, taking mental inventory of what you had at home, and what you needed to restock on.

You pass by some cereal, and remember that you're running low. Dave was some kind of cereal monster. He's already woken you up twice in the middle of the night by clanging and banging around in the kitchen looking for bowls and spoons, and he never just eats one bowl. He makes a meal out of half the box before he's content, which is why you had exactly half a box left.

You debate between the Applejacks and Coco puffs, unsure of which one to get. Dave seemed to have a preference for Applejacks, but to be completely honest you had only purchased that one last time because it was on sale.
The weird, hyper-realistic art style of the mascots freak you the fuck out, but Dave says they remind him of Bro's "puppet collection," so he holds a weird place in his heart for them.
You wonder if Dave would qualify for being a disturbed child, then remember that you guys don't even qualify as regular children anymore.

Fuck. College is a weird time.

You ended up grabbing a few boxes of cereal, and some fruit before heading over to the refrigerated goods section.

You notice on the mango there's a three dollar label slapped on top of a two dollar fifty cents label, which is ludicrous because mangoes aren't even supposed to be more than a dollar fifty.
In your sacrilegious, broke college student attempt to save fifty cents and single-handedly overthrow capitalism, you make quick work of scratching off the three dollar label.

"Fuck, these things are so goddamn sticky."

You're still messing with the fruit in your hand when you turn the corner, so you don't see him until he's a few feet from you.
You look up briefly between your illegal activities to make sure no employees are watching, and something odd catches your eye.

His back is to you, but there was no mistaking that blonde hair and those weird fucking shades poking out from the sides of his face.

"Dude, what the hell? When did you follow me here?"

You reach out to grab his shoulder, but when he rises from his crouched position and turns around to look at you, your throat goes dry and your heart leaps to your throat.

This was not Dave.

You can feel the blood rushing in your ears with the embarrassment of your blunder- but also undoubtedly at the sight of the tall stranger.
You were never a fan of hallmark movies, but the way your world slowed down to drink in all of his features, slow and romantic music softly thrumming over the market speakers, was only comparable to such horrendous pieces of cinematography.

He stood a full head taller than you, electric blonde hair peeking out messily from beneath a battered and frayed grey baseball cap. His broad shoulders fill your vision when he turns to face you, and you can see your own flustered expression in his bespectacled gaze, which you only realized now were pointier than Dave's shades by far, maybe even comically so.

You take a stuttering breath, retracting your hand. "O-Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

You nearly flinch when his chest resonates with a deep and echoing chuckle, and desperately try to remember the last time you felt an odd fluttering in your chest.
Your eyes vigilantly follow the corners of his lips dipping into a smirk that radiated like the sun, shocking your heart into beating threefold as quickly.