Each Touch

Surprise^2

It was 56 degrees on a bright Saturday afternoon; at the Strider residence, two boys stood over a turntable and a pile of papers. The blond had his headphones on around his neck, fingers on the instrument, and eyes over at his friend. John was flipping through papers, looking at the scribble of words and phrases. Currently, Dave was in the attempt of teaching John how to freestyle rap...Though there was little process.

They've been at it for the past hour and John couldn't get his guts up enough to actually fulfill a sentence without stuttering or stopping. Dave had given him at least 10 examples already, getting ready for an 11th. There wasn't anything hard about freestyle rapping, all you gotta do is make it flow with the beat and not say some fuck shit that'll be caught on camera. Easy.

Dave was about to say something when the doorbell rung through the apartment complex. His older brother wasn't home, which wasn't surprising, so he said a quick thing to John before walking over to the door to see who it was. He didn't have other friends that would know where he lived so this was new to him.

"If you're Girl Scouts selling cookies I-"

Right outside the door was a robotic rabbit with a blue silhouette of a rabbit's head on its chest. What stood out was the infamous pointed shades it wore. The rabbit handed the Strider a note in which he took.

The note read, "Guess who - D-Stri and Pumpkin"

"...John!" shouted Dave.

What!?" Replied John.

"Looks like you get to meet more dysfunctional family members."

John walked out from the hallway, a confused look on his face. Was Rose here? Was he finally going to meet Rose? This should be interesting. The two boys took the elevator down; the robotic rabbit was down their waiting for them. It motioned for them to follow, walking through and out the lobby. Dave shrugged and walked forward with John close behind.

"A robot rabbit?" questioned John.

"Might as well be." Dave scanned the open area of the apartment building. His guests weren't in sight, not yet at least.

"Uhh..." trailed John.

There was a small gust of wind and a tap on both of their shoulders, they both turned around and saw the two older boys behind them. One blond and dark brunet, equivalent to the younger boys. John blinked at the older blond behind him, he wore pointed shades and had a face just like Dave; the other older boy wore rectangular, black rimmed glasses, green eyes, and hair similarly styled to John.

"So this is John," said D-Stri.

"So this is Jake," said Dave.

"My, I do see the resemblance. It's a wonder on how you two aren't brothers." Jake looked between the two cousins.

"You can call us "stepbrothers" if you want to delve into the whole genetics and family tree." The older blond walked over to his cousin and placed a hand on his hip.

"It's eerily terrifying on how our tastes are like...About the same," commented Dave, looking between John and Jake.

The two dark haired males were almost the same; the glasses, the hair, the shorts they're coincidently wearing, and that's only appearance wise. Jake was chattering away with John, talking about something the cousins couldn't exactly hear. Obviously they're much like each other as the eye can see.

"Let's just go inside, it's hot as hell out here." Dave went over and grabbed John, dragging him back inside the building.

"Much like you he is Dirk," commented Jake.

Dirk playfully punched the other and followed his younger cousin; Jake laughed and ran after him inside. They caught the elevator up with the younger boys, riding up while introducing themselves properly inside. John's blue eyes shone with admiration as he listened to Dirk, he's just like the perfect older brother figure.

Back in the Strider apartment complex, the four sat in the living room. Dirk was playing around with the smuppets that we're laying around; Dave stared at him with horror, obviously terrifyingly confused on how content he was with the thing. The two dark haired boys continued their conversation from outside that was interrupted. From a bystanders eye you would think they're brothers hanging out with each other, though there are two members missing.

"Where's Bro?" asked Dirk.

"The hell should I know? He leaves and comes as he pleases, I don't give a damn," responded Dave.

"Can't believe he's still your legal guardian."

"Can't believe how much you look like him."

"Can't believe how much you look like my Bro," said Dirk.

John looked over at Dave and reached over for him, nervous about an argument breaking out; Dave looked and smiled, hand "making an effort" to reach back. Blue eyes rolled and he scooted over to him. Jake moved over to sit next to Dirk only to be pulled into his lap.

"If you guys came from New York, where are you guys staying?" asked John.

"My Bro got a condo for Jake and I," said Dirk.

"A place to yourselves?"

"We're graduating next year, so why not? He's paying for everything anyways."

"Amazing!" exclaimed John.

"Talking about next school year; Rose, Kanaya, and Roxy are hitching a ride over here too. Roomies with Rox."

"Is everyone moving over here now? Got a problem with my love life?" said Dave.

"...My half sister is moving here too," added Jake.

"John make it stoooooop," whined Dave.

The blond grabbed onto the blue eyed male's arm, shaking him gently. It was a surprise on how he couldn't ask John to be his boyfriend with all the moves he's played already. They're also so close it wouldn't really make a difference if they were dating or not.

Jake giggled as he watched the two, head resting on Dirk's shoulder. They aren't as energetic as John and Dave, but they were close. Dirk gave a short chuckle as he wrapped his arms around the green eyes boy, his cousin and John are admirable.

Dirk propped his chin on Jake's shoulder, "Sooo~ You and John?"

"Dirk your shade are in the way-" said Jake.

Dave stopped mid sentence and looked over at Dirk who had a small grin on his face. He pointed a finger towards him and opened his mouth to protest but caught himself. His secret about crushing on John wasn't out to anyone in his circle of friends yet, obvious to Karkat and Nepeta though.

"C'mon John, we need to practice freestyle rapping some more." Dave grabbed John's hand and pulled him up, walking them both back to his room.

"Wait-What? Dave!-" exclaimed John.

The two were out of sight, leaving Dirk and Jake alone in the living room. Jake smiled and looked up at the blond, "Quite interesting don't you think?"

"Very, though what's taking him so damn long to ask?" said Dirk.

"Like you're to talk," laughed Jake, "but maybe he wants to make it special."

Dirk brought a smuppet up to the dark brunet's face and smushed it against him. A small yelp and laugh emitted from Jake as he pushed away the puppet. The plush gave out a small squeak which caused a short silence to ring through out the room, they weren't expecting it to make any noises.

"...Don't mock me," said Dirk to Jake.

"Wasn't trying to, it was a compliment," Jake grabbed the smuppet and set it on the floor, looking up and pulling Dirk's head down to meet his, their eyes staring at each other's, "Because you really did make it special."