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[parodeity]

DAVE STRIDER

consider this your warning about stairs. itll just keep happening bro. im telling you man

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[windeity]

[Look.]

Yeah I have a feeling we are going to get ignored until she's done eating anyway. [He's obviously going to pick up the weird lump first and slowly start to poke at it while Dave takes the giftbag.

In said-gift bag is a book and a small red and black camera bag that seems to be made for both Dave's digital and his film camera.]

I know the sylladexes are a thing, but it kind of seemed like a "you" thing and it's easier to carry lenses and extra equipment in a bag instead of using up all of your slots.

[parodeity]

[ yeah so the misshapen present is

a bowl?? lovingly hand made although the approximation of “bowl” is like. he tried its kinda lumpy and wavery. painted on the sides are dave’s best approximations of soccer and baseball shit which means there’s like, other sports tossed in confusedly? there’s also less confused pianos and music notes and cats and stars.

it’s really really ugly. it also has various candies in the bowl portion which john is better off focusing on. ]

I am going to collect a bag for every day of the week. Thanks, babe. [ he will do the long flat package next ]

[windeity]

[...Dave...he can't help when he grins and holds up the bowl, eyeballing it as he turns it around in his hands. It's. He tried, and frankly it's adorable and also hideous and he loves it. He's picking up one of the candies though.]

Variety and stuff. Pottery class? This is cool. It'll be good to keep on my desk for stuff, thanks. [He's also offering him one of the candies? But then he notices that Dave's picking up the flat package before he pauses.]

Ah, okay. So with that one...I'm not going to be offended if you don't like one of them. [Inside the flat package are two hoodies. One is this thing, and the second is a zip-up hoodie that's red with white accents. On the back though is the Time symbol. A casual godtier hoodie that was apparently custom-made.

But he's also grabbing the small box next.]

[parodeity]

That one last. [ SUDDEN DISTRESS or embarrassment? please break your staunch biggest present always last policy john, for some reason??? dave pauses with the hoodies in his lap, eyeing john. ]

[windeity]

What? [Okay, so. He stops and he's holding the box, staring at Dave before he just...puts the box down and picks up the Barney bag? Okay, he'll open this instead.] Okay, sure, that one last.

[parodeity]

Cool. [ also guess dave is opening the small package next because he’s doing envelope last but.

inside the fairly large barney bag is a neatly framed original ghostbusters movie poster that he spent way too much fucking time bidding on so don’t nail it to the wall like a lunatic, john? there are autographs. he figured falling back to their roots wouldn’t be the worst thing, even if he’s fidgety about it. there’s also for some reason a stuffed slimer plushie. no one needs that. ]

So...yeah. [ at least it’s not another bowl right ]

[windeity]

[...he stops completely and sort of just stares? What the fuck though? The Slimer plush goes into his lap and sits there as he just holds the poster and continues staring at it.]

...I used to have one of these in my room. [Quietly. He doesn't specify which room he means but he figures Dave will know he means from their old life.] Not with the signatures or anything but...holy fuck, dude. [He's pretty legitimately happy about that and he grins finally.] This is awesome. Where did you even find this? I love this.

[I hope Dave was prepared for the fact that Slimer's going to live on their bed now along with Liv Tyler who's carefully tucked up by John's pillow. But anyway. Inside the smaller package is a watch. It's fancy as fuck, and there's also a certificate of authenticity that says that the dial of the watch is made out of a rare dinosaur bone that's estimated to be about 150 million years old. John got extremely, extremely lucky in an auction himself.]

[parodeity]

[ okay obviously he knew that slimer would live on the bed and he just accepted that was how life was going to go?? liv tyler and slimer and mewpac. ]

The internet is a vast and mysterious place, and I am adept at navigating through it? It helps that I got this like...a while ago. [ when the internet actually fucking mailed things back, because this was always the christmas plan for john. dumb ghostbusters shit. he very carefully cinches the watch on his right wrist as he talks, the reads the certificate.

he taps the watch, thoughtful and a little hesitant. ]

It feels old. [ john what the fuck did this COST also that means the envelope is next ig ]

[windeity]

Yeah, same. Guess it's a good thing we were both prepared? [The poster carefully gets put to the side where it will be safe and he's already eyeballing where they can hang it up. Slimer remains in his lap and he's holding the smaller package but he's not opening it yet.]

Is that a good thing or...? [He's suddenly not sure.] It's in good condition and has a fresh battery, I checked. [What if he never tells Dave how much the entire month of December cost. He's been doing his best.

As for the envelope though Dave will find a handful of papers. The first is a print-out confirmation for a Groupon for dance lessons for both of them since John seems intent on following through with that. The second is a URL that leads to a song Dave may have heard before, now complete and fleshed out on John's Soundcloud account. And the third is the handful of sheets and then the finalized version of Dave's birthday song so he has a physical copy of the music as well.

There's also a letter.]

merry christmas! i had a whole draft earlier that i had to throw away a couple of weeks ago because things changed, but i think that is okay.
it was a good change. it was the better change.
i hope christmas has been good so far because i am kind of way too excited to spend 2018 with you!
i don't have anything to say i haven't already. i don't know how to say some things, but i think you know all of them anyway. it's cool...i think i really, really like dating my best friend, haha.
love you.
-john

[parodeity]

[ what if he tells! dave! how much it cost! but no. dave reads the letter and feels the weight of centuries on his skin and kind of stares at john and just breaks his own fucking unspoken rule about kissing john while on the bed for a second time, hooking gentle fingers under his chin and leaning in with like zero plan on when to stop kissing john for once in his life.

this is maybe impeding john from opening the smaller package, inside which is a flashdrive with two tracks on it: this and this.

there's also a keychain, kind of like this but clear plastic with glow in the dark points for the stars. it's clearly some kind of star map but it's probably not clear to john at a glance why the fuck dave got him this but whatever.

john will never know any of this until he stops the kiss, probably, sorry john. ]

[windeity]

[Dave will never know and John will make sure of it, sorry Dave!! But instead he's a little surprised by the sudden movement but his head shifts with Dave's fingers and he complies, mouth soft and pliant against Dave's even so as his arms shift a little to loop around Dave's neck.

The box will be opened at some point but right now he's a little fixated on kissing his boyfriend and figuring out what the fuck Dave's thinking and letting this go as long as Dave will allow. John's definitely not going to be the one to pull away first, so they may be stuck for a while.]

[parodeity]

[ will john egbert ever be able to figure out what dave strider is thinking, really. dave usually pulls back pretty quickly and definitely can count on one hand the number of times he has kissed john while on the bed (it's like, two??? times??) so this is definitely weird for him but he just leans into john and it's a gentle pressure and nothing rushed or hard, so this is as chaste as he usually manages.

still stuck yes ]

[windeity]

[No. But it's fine. He's not pushing his luck but so long as Dave kisses him John's kissing back, hands loosely around the back of Dave's neck and pulling him in a little bit. He's not moving faster than Dave wants and he's not sure what it is, still, but here they are.

He's afraid to push him and deepen the kiss, but there's a slight shift as he moves just a tiny bit for a better angle.]

[parodeity]

[ he lets go of john's chin, anyway, hand dropping before he pulls back and bites his own lip, quiet. ]

[windeity]

[He allows that and he leans back against the headboard, monitoring Dave just as quietly before he gives a tentative grin. ]

Okay?

[parodeity]

Stellar. You? [ of course it's hard to tell still what's going on in dave's head when he's so neutral, but he's more or less relaxed, just embarrassed. ]

[windeity]

Fantastic. [Which is true. It's easier to see his overbite when he's grinning this much and he's finally going to open the smaller package. Upon seeing the flashdrive he's immediately leaning over the side of the bed, digging out his laptop from under the bed and plugging it in to pull up the first song. He's also looking at the keychain, holding it up at eye level.]

This sounds awesome, by the way. [He looks away from the keychain.] And this is cool. ...constellation? [It's a guess.]

[parodeity]

Sort of. [ ...THANKS, THAT EXPLAINS SO MUCH, DAVE. it is, specifically, the gemini/orion area of the sky, presumably for a Reason he does not explain. he also does not explain any other significance the keychain might have, helpfully. ] I do like the hoodies, by the way.

[windeity]

[The song plays and the keychain hangs from his finger as he looks at the cluster of stars, trying to pinpoint why it might be familiar. Perhaps if he knew better he'd remember the conversation they had about this particular cluster of stars prior to today, but instead he's just happy with it.]

It's cool. I can keep it with my actual keys. Thanks. [But he perks up a bit.] I'm glad though. They're really warm, too. I checked.

[parodeity]

[ dave lets out a small breath but it’s inaudible and not visible. for what good that does him. he’s sometimes obvious in sentimentality but sometimes comes at it completely sideways, and he doesn’t expect john to get the significance of a keychain or the portion of the sky from which the meteor shower he’d tried to planned for originated. ]

...cute image.

[windeity]

[He'll figure it out when he looks at it later, Dave, don't worry. He's holding onto it and he gives him a mildly baffled look.]

What's cute?

[parodeity]

How’d you check?

[windeity]

Um. [Haha...] I kind of tried them on, but you're sort of skinnier and taller than me so I guesstimated? But the Time hoodie is loose enough you can layer it over your other stuff, too, to be extra warm.

[parodeity]

Right. So. [ he meant the idea of john in red was cute. catch on, egbert. ] Like I said.

[windeity]

[He rolls his eyes.] Whatever. I still think it's more your color than mine. [Presents are open and the second song on the flashdrive begins to play as he looks at his gifts.]

...I really do like all of this, Dave. Thank you.