In the Knight Time (Dave Strider x Reader)

Chapter 2

Since yesterday’s awkward encounter, you and Dave have been, unfortunately, avoiding each other. This was completely by mutual respect for each other. You know how Dave can be. Feels something one day, feels nothing the other. And you know that he’s not someone who will hurt your feelings directly. He’s going to keep it quiet that he doesn’t like you and get a girlfriend so that you can find out through a mutual friend and he doesn’t have to see how emotionally broken you are. But maybe that’s just the nervous hormones acting up again.

You shake that worst-case-scenario out of your head and finish the work you were doing on the walls. That was another reason you got to live with the Striders. You did the handiwork around the house. It may not seem fair, but at least it came to you easily. Today’s work was brought on by the lovely “mice” that lived in the walls of the building. Everyone knew that the creatures that you heard scurrying around at night were actually imps, but the landlord of the apartments didn’t want that going around. It was bad for business.

          After you finished plastering the wall, you went to go see if there was any food lying about. You knew better than to go through the refrigerator and cabinets because of all the random swords Bro left laying around. Luckily, there was some leftover cake out. Despite it having been smashed the day before, you ate most of it. Living with two “men” for seven years has given you the instinct to take what you can get.

          You sat down on the futon and stared at the place on the wall where the TV would’ve been, if Bro had bought another one after the previous one’s – we’ll call it an accident – accident. This so called “accident” supposedly happened when Bro first started teaching Dave about swords. Dave had begun to tell you the story, but you told him you didn’t want to know. And you didn’t. A lot of stuff happened before you got to that house and what you’ve already been told about it is enough.

          It may have been smashed, but dang, this cake was good. John’s dad must have taught him everything he knows. While you pondered more about the taste of this pastry which you thought should be in an art museum, Dave walked into the living room. You looked at him through the corner of your eye and felt the tension in the room increase ten-fold. You got up and went into the kitchen to put your dirty dishes in the sink. You could feel his eyes on you the entire time.

          “Hey, [name], can we talk?” You know you shouldn’t ignore him. You’ve been friends for such a long time now. You’ve had serious conversations before, so why couldn’t you now? But yet there was something inside of you that didn’t want to have this conversation. You kept your eyes forward and acted like you didn’t hear him. The door to the kitchen closed a little harder than you had wanted it to.

          “Are you mad at me? I don’t want you to be if you are. Is it because of what I said to you yesterday while you were in the shower?”

          “You were in the bathroom with her while she was in the shower?!” Ugh, here comes trouble. You could clearly hear the smirk on his face. “When did this happen?”

          “It doesn’t matter,” Dave said with his eyes still trained on you. To give yourself a reason to keep your eyes down, you started to wash the many dishes that were in the sink.

          “Well, obviously it does, or you wouldn’t be in here trying to talk to her when she obviously doesn’t want to talk about it.”

          “It’s none of you business.”

“Come on, tell me-”

“I said it’s none of your damn business!” Even Bro, as hardheaded as he was, knew to step off when Dave started to yell.

          “Bro, please leave. And try not to “over hear” us,” you said as calmly as possible. Bro left without another word. You and Dave waited until you heard his door shut. After you heard the telltales click of the lock and his X-box game start, you turned towards each other.

          For the first couple minutes, you just kind of looked at each other. You had nothing to say to him. Not that you were mad at him or anything, there was just nothing for you to say. And he was the one who wanted to talk to you anyway. It surprised you that he was so tense that he yelled at Bro, though. And apparently he saw the surprise on your face.

          “I’m sorry, that was uncharacteristic of me. I shouldn’t have--”

          “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” you cut him off, “I know Dirk can be a prick sometimes, but there was no need to go off on him like that. As much as I hate to say it, he is the adult of the house, and you should respect him more.”

          “Yes. You’re right. I’m sorry. I will go apologize to him later. Can we talk now?” he asked with a pleading voice. You gave him the half nod to let him now that you were ok with that, and kept working on the dishes. “Look I just want to talk to you about what I said yesterday. Let’s just say that I was talking to John last week on Pesterchum, and Bro walked in and read what we were talking about and now he’ll never let me live it down.”

          You stopped working and turned your head slightly towards him, “What exactly were you and John talking about?”

          “Well… John was talking about how this guy was trying to set up him and Rose, and me and Jade up, but since me and Jade had that weird falling out thing, there’s no way that we can be together, so Egbert asked me who I like.”

          “And what did you say in response to that?” you were both worried and curious about what Dave could’ve possibly said to John.

          “Well… I said that if I had to be with anyone, it would be you.”

And with those words, you heart stopped beating and you felt woozy.

“[Name]? You okay?” Dave’s words sounded slow and deeper somehow. The world started to spin and you fell to the floor. All you could see is the kitchen moving in slow motion, and what looked like Dave running up to you and calling out for his brother. The world started to fade and the next thing you know, you were out.

When you woke up, all you could see was a planet covered in dark colored buildings. What was this place?