You're Always You

Chapter Forty-Seven

David Minett

She wasn't even with Dickie anymore and he was still scaring her to pieces.

She was right here, she wanted to kiss him, but fucking Dickie....

That.

That was a problem.

David needed to fix that.

Lydia wasn't going to feel safe until she formally broke up with Dick, which was a relic of her old self, and it was sweet, but in this situation....

Well, David was quite sure Dick got the message when Lydia left home, took her stuff, and called the cops on him. Sure, technically that was Monica, but Lydia was with Monica to begin with. Just as valid.

Dave would be genuinely surprised of Dick didn't already think Lydia had left him.

Sigh.

....But he would be patient. He had to be. If he pushed Lydia, he would be no better, and it wouldn't be right. If they were going to go back to the way they were, it was going to be because Lydia wanted to, and felt safe enough to.

Not because David got impatient and made her.

As...difficult as that was.

At some point, David ended up taking out the SD card from his phone. It was nice, but it was also...very painful. He didn't want those pictures in his phone right now. So he left the SD card sitting on his nightstand, where he could pick it up if he wanted, but...where it would stay for now.

The next few days were focused mostly on picking up a new job, because staying at the club was getting risky. Arguably he could hold out, but David didn't want to take that chance. He wanted to be somewhere else before Dick found anything out, and not end up unemployed without somewhere to go.

Quit while you're ahead.

Literally.

But when David wasn't looking for a job, he was spending time with Lydia. She was still huffy about the fact that he knew everything and she could barely score more than half a point trying to trip him up. The thing was, David knew innocent things, like her favorite breakfast and that she drooled, but he also knew some things that would disturb her.

Like, her favorite sex position.

Yeah, he wasn't mentioning that.

In fact, given that she'd spent the last twelve years with Dick instead of him, Davie was pretty confident that there had to be things he knew about her that she didn't in this reality, which would've been even more creepy.

He knew that, and yet it amused him. Because he didn't...really care anymore. David had spent like two and a half weeks here, and he was done. He was starting to treat this like the game it was to Loki, Divine Jizznugget, and was really only thinking in terms of "Will this move me forward, or set me back?"

It was chess.

It was chess with real people, and as sad as that was, it was the truth.

Over the last week though, Lydia had made attempts at boldness. She admitted to wanting to kiss David, but Dave was understanding that she had her reasons to hold back. One of them was stupid, but the rest were...valid, unfortunately. That she didn't want to jump into a rebound the day after was...understandable.

But now it was a week after.

That was better, right?

David wouldn't know. He spent his life with one woman. Rebound wasn't a thing he was familiar enough with. But, he hoped a week was better. He didn't think he wanted to spend much more time here.

Mostly because, Brett was back.

Not technically, because David was going to fetch him today, but...that part of this game was finished. Brett was out of prison. He couldn't even hope to go into the police academy now, but David could still set him right. Get him a job that'd accept him. Put on the brighter path.

And that was just about done. All that was left was Lydia. Getting Lydia to accept the idea of being in a relationship with David.

....

Of course....Then he had to go out and find Divine Asspole, but David hoped that wouldn't be that difficult. After all this work, one fucking freebie would be nice. Especially since he had been so focused on fixing everything, that he hadn't thought to look for Loki at all.

Sigh.

"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" Lydia questioned as David was getting ready to head out.

He shook his head, rubbing her arms softly. "It's a long drive, Lydie. I don't wanna subject you to that. I can drop you off at Mom's to wait for me, if you want, but...." He shook his head again. "I don't think it's worth it to come on the whole ride. You'll be bored."

The woman nodded, somewhat dejectedly. "....Okay," she agreed.

Somewhat guiltily, he picked up a hand from her arm to touch her cheek. "I'll be back soon. I won't be gone all day. Call up Monica if you want, you girls go out and do something. It'll be fine."

She merely nodded again, looking up at him. A brief moment passed, in which David recognized her "I wanna kiss you" face, but she didn't act upon it. Instead, he decided to kiss her forehead, meeting her halfway, before leaving the apartment.

The drive up to Brett's penitentiary was...surprisingly nice. It was a sunny day, as if the universe itself knew that a good thing was happening. After all, this was the last time David was driving up here.

And that felt wonderful.

When he got there, he waited patiently for Brett to be let through the gates, the lock buzzing as they opened, and the jailbird standing on the other side. He had a bag of his belongings, and a grin on his face, and he sped out to meet his brother, who stepped forward to hug him.

"Thanks, Davie," Brett said over David's shoulder, squeezing him tightly. "I can't even...."

"Don't," David replied, pulling back to get a good look at this version of Brett, so different yet so the same. "Let's just get you home. Yeah?"

Brett nodded excitedly, and the two brothers headed for David's car. They laughed and talked on the ride back, which definitely passed the time better. Brett shared prison stories, the less gruesome ones at least, and David decided to catch Brett up on...everything.

Monica, Lydia, the whole nine, all except for the...alternate reality thing.

"Jesus Christ, Davie," Brett said, holding onto the safety handle on the ceiling as was his habit. "That's fucked up."

"I know," Davie replied, shaking his head. "I'm just...hoping it all goes okay."

"Ah, I'm sure it will," Brett responded supportively, nudging his brother. "And hey, you wanna marry the broad, do it."

"I didn't say anything about—"

"Oh c'mon, you mushy sap. Listen to yourself. It's your high school crush, dude, and she's using you as her bodyguard. There's a thing people say, right, s'called carpe diem. Seize the day, asshole!"

David rolled his eyes, resisting a blush. "It's complicated, Brett."

"My left nut," Brett remarked. "Open them doors, Davie. You know which ones."

The blush got worse, but thankfully they pulled up at home. Monica and Mom were waiting, unsurprisingly, but when the boys got inside, they were surprised at who else they found in there.

"Dad?" both boys said at the same time, and their father, a giant of a man, pulled them both into a tight hug.

It was a good day.