In the Knight Time (Dave Strider x Reader)

Chapter 1

*briiiiiiiiiiiing*

          Ugh. Morning already? Man... You guess you better get up. You don't want that devil of a man coming in here. Especially today. Today was your guardian, Dirk Strider's, birthday. You have been living with him and his brother Dave, who was your age. Dirk, or Bro as he would rather be called, liked to believe that he could do anything he liked, especially on his birthday. You knew what would happen if you weren't out at 7:45 sharp. You made that mistake last year.

          You remember waking up at 7:30 and making it out into the kitchen at 7:46. Dirk came out wearing his "birthday suit" which actually consisted of a nice suit that had "IT BE MY BIRTHDAY" on the back. You had been living with the Striders for six years then, so you didn't really think it had been a big deal if you were just a minute late. Apparently it did. Bro strutted up to you and asked, "Do you know what today is?" And you being your awesome sarcastic self, locked your [e/c] eyes to his accusing orange eyes straight through his anime shades and said, "Tuesday". He then turned around and waltzed back into his room. You looked at Dave with your "fuck yeah" look, and all you could see on his face was terror. Well, not really, because he's "too ironic for emotions", but you've learned to comprehend what he feels inside. After all, you've been best friends since you parents died. After standing in the same place for about five minutes, Bro came back out of his room with a water balloon the size of his head and a camera. You saw what was coming and started to stiffen. Bro told you to go to the roof and close your eyes. You could see the smirk on his face after he noticed you were wearing the plain white t-shirt that you had to borrow from him a couple days ago. He also knew that you only wore the bras that you mom designed, which only came in the craziest patterns and colors that you mother could think of. Bro set the camera on his tripod and wound up one of his famous pitches. "Why did I choose this year to be sarcastic?" You thought to yourself. Suddenly, you felt a sharp sting and your chest turned cold. You looked up with the pokerface you had been mimicking Dave with for years and stared straight into the camera flash. In hindsight, you probably should have seen this coming.

          Coming back into reality you looked at your clock. 7:15. That means you have at most twenty minutes to get ready. After that last encounter, you like to be early to the kitchen. You ran into the bathroom that was attached to your room and yanked your hairbrush out of the drawer. You started to brush your long, [h/c] hair and put it into it signature side braid. What can you say? It's out of the way when you work, but still there to be played with when you're bored. Plus it's easy to do. Very convenient. You put on your eyeliner and mascara while deciding what to wear. You go with your favorite black t-shirt with a picture of an eighth-note on it, signifying your love of music and a pair of skinny jeans. You sprint out to the kitchen and check you watch. 7:41. Great. You're early. You breathe a sigh of relief. You did NOT want another event like that of last year's. You think about what festivities are going to happen today. The usual "Happy Birthday Rap" (yes, he makes you rap "Happy Birthday") and obviously cake, which was graciously donated by John Egbert, who had been Dave’s best friend for a while now. Two minutes later, Dave ran out of his room and into the kitchen.

          "Welcome to the party..." You say with the sarcasm only used for the people closest to you (even if that is only Dave).

          "Ha ha.... Very.... Funny...." He says between breaths. He was wearing his usual long-sleeved t-shirt that had the image of a scratched record on the front and black jeans. And not to mention his shades that he would never take off, even for you. He wore those things all the time. You wanted to see his eyes so badly that you snuck into his room one night, though you would never tell him this, only to find that he wore them when he slept, too. He stood up and looked at you. Even if you've known him for seven years now, and have learned some of his emotions, there were some things you couldn't figure out. He sometimes got this face when he looked at you that wasn't anything exactly something different than his usual straight face, but was still somehow more. You wonder to yourself at those times what he's feeling and why you can't read him like you're usually able to.

          You had an idea of what it could be, but he would never feel that way about you. You’re even sure that Rose told you that he felt that way just to screw with you. You couldn't see it happening between you two anyway. But still, you could tell that the feeling he was masking had to do with you. "We've know each other way too long to be anything more than friends" you tell yourself. But inside, you still argued with yourself about how you actually felt.

          Bro slammed open his door, jolting both of you back into reality. He had his Birthday Suit on and had a wide grin on his face. "You know, you two would make a cute couple" he said as if he had just read your mind. He looked at you and winked, trying to get you to blush. Unfortunately for you, his evil ploy worked, and you felt you face burning. You made a side glance at Dave and noticed that his face was tinted pink. Bro then walked in to the kitchen to the stove that held the donated pastry. He placed it on the table and raised his hands as if the conduct an orchestra. Both you and Dave saw this as the cue to start the rap.

*One Awkwardly Hilarious Birthday Rap Later*

          Now, in a normal household, the birthday child would get the first piece of cake, but in the Strider household, it was everyone-for-themselves. On a good day, you would only end up with icing on your hands and face. Today happened to be a bad day. For some reason, Bro was more violent than usual. He pushed you and Dave into each other and you both landed face first into the cake.

          Eventually the fighting subsided and you went to go take a shower to clean the icing out of the places icing should never be. While standing in the hot cascade of water, your mind started to wonder about today’s events. Dave's slight but noticeable blush earlier had peaked your curiosity, and after all, you do your best thinking in the shower. Bro's statement had obviously hit him somewhere, but you couldn't tell in a good way or a bad way. You then started to zone out and think about life.

          You must have started singing, because you suddenly heard Dave say "Your voice is beautiful", and while it was a compliment, it's unexpectedness made you jump and gasp in the shower, and you had to grab on to the handicap bar on the side to keep from falling over. "Th.. Th.. Thanks..." is all you could muster. Why am I stuttering?! Calm down [name], calm down.

          "There's no need to be freaked out. All I want to do is talk, and this is the only place that Bro can't 'overhear' us," his voice was soothing and all you wanted to do is listen to him talk. Wait, what are you talking about? You can't be thinking about him like this. What's going on with you? You try to knock yourself out of it, only to be soothed once again by Dave's melodic voice. "I just want to talk is all," he said, with a hint of pleading. You stayed silent giving him the "motion" to go ahead and talk, and started to rinse the shampoo out of your hair.

          "Look, I heard what Bro said to you earlier, and I just wanted to apologize because I know he never will. He can be such a jackass sometimes. The only reason he said that is because of something I said to him yesterday, that he will never let me live down." You had zoned out, and the sound of something important made you jump back into what he was saying. "I would tell you what I told him, but I don't think now is the right time to actually talk about it. But anyway, I just came in here to apologize so..." You heard the door from your bathroom open and close slowly as he said the last word. Well that was something to use as thinking material for the rest of your shower.

*The next day*

          And it’s morning again. You went to bed last night thinking about Dave’s words yesterday, “…something I said to him yesterday, that he will never let me live down.” And this was about what Bro had said yesterday, “You know, you two would make a cute couple.” And then he winked at you.  Than this has something to do with either you liking Dave, or Dave liking you. Which of course wasn’t the case, because you knew Dave would never feel that way about you. So obviously, Bro had figured something out about you that you hadn’t.

You had feelings for Dave.

And apparently, they were red.