Chapter Text
It took him a few hours, but Dave finally managed to find John. He’d been worried—though he’d never let on—about the derp in glasses ever since the insomnia started inflicting him. John had been restless for weeks, wandering around the Prospit ship without aim, unable to even rest for longer than ten minutes. The kid had started wasting away, his appetite shot from lack of sleep. The cheery sparkle of his blue eyes had long turned dull.
Neither Dave not Jade could figure out what was wrong with him. Jade started to worry that John’s weakened condition would end up eating at his mind. He was already taking on the effects of conscious catatonia, if that was even a thing. With the way John stumbled around like the undead, Dave couldn’t think of a more appropriate term for his state.
Dave tried not to let his paranoia get the best of him, keeping it stifled as best as he could. With John being in God Tier, how much could this problem actually hurt him? Or should he be panicking over the fact that it was happening in the first place?
Either way, when John went missing, Dave’s fear spiked. Normally, Dave would find John pacing between his bedroom and the deck or lingering in the lab to play hours and hours of video games. But Dave had wandered the entire ship and found no trace of his best friend. He had already made the decision to go find Jade and ask for her help when he passed by his own bedroom and found the door ajar.
Dave raised an eyebrow and approached the room, sliding partially through the open space and partway through the door itself. Being a Sprite had its perks sometimes…. His room was dark as he had left it. Nothing had been disturbed from their places. The only difference was that in the corner, on Dave’s bed, there was something that he hadn’t ever put there. Dave floated over to his bed, fingers flexing in preparation to summon a weapon if he needed it.
The figure on Dave’s bed was curled up, nestled in the downy blankets. Sleeping. They faced the wall; Dave could only see the back of their head. That left him with the sight of short, yellow-blond hair and a baby-pink hooded shirt. Dave’s brow scrunched and his mouth twisted in a grimace. What the fuck was this? And was that…a lollipop? Seriously?
Baffled, Dave was still trying to figure out what to do next when the person rolled over. His gut clenched in a shock; a finger of ice stroked down Dave’s spine and he froze.
The kid’s eyes were open, glassy and lifeless, like a doll. They weren’t a normal blue but bright as the afternoon sky in the middle of spring, spread wide as if to swallow the entire universe. Dave stared straight into them and a heavy dread landed in his throat.
This kid... This kid was John. No one else had that buck-toothed grin and oh gog, he was smiling. Dave’s body panged with nausea as he could only reckon the sight with the face of his lifelong haunt, Lil’ Cal. Dave began to think he was having a nightmare.
Despite the eerie stillness and glazed expression, this John was actually sleeping. Dave’s eye twitched behind his shades as he watched the thin shoulders rise and fall in steady breaths. Okay, so, John had suddenly turned into a bubblegum freak puppet and fallen asleep with his eyes open. Seemed pretty legit: a dream. Dave wasn’t believing his own suspicions, though. Even he wasn’t so cracked up as to dream shit like this. It was seriously freaking him the fuck out.
“John?” Dave tried, reaching out hesitantly. “John, wake up.”
A hand snatched Dave’s wrist.
John blinked, the glazed darkness of his glitter blue eyes of his glitter blue eyes focusing on Dave’s face in pinprick pupils. Internally, Dave was flipping his shit.
“Dave!” John said, his voice high and lilting. “Why did you wake me up? I’m so tired.” Dave swallowed.
“John,” he tried again, gathering himself back together. “John, is that really you, bro?”
“Of course it’s me!” John laughed. Dave’s frown deepened. Shit sounded like some hyped-up kiddie on crack. “You’re silly!”
“And you’ve got candy stuck to your head.” Because he really didn’t know what else to say.
“Yeah, that’s true.” John grinned. Still lying down but looking straight at him, he tugged on Dave’s hand. “Come on, I’m tired. Cuddle with me; it’ll be nice.”
Okay, yeah, this wasn’t John.
“Uh, not that I ain’t down for some bro on bro cuddle magic but I think we should—”
“Dave, come on, I’m sleepy,” John interrupted. He nudged at his eyes from under his glasses and that creepy puppet likeness vanished, leaving this kitten-face behind. “Please, let’s just sleep. If you’re here, I’ll feel better. I’ve missed being with you.”
Dave paused. And then he sighed. No one could sucker punch him in the heart like John could, even if he was some strange hallucination. Dave made a note to chat with Rose as soon as he could. Maybe if she shrunk his brain a little, he could rid himself of this mess.
He looked “John” over again. He did look a bit like John, other than the whacky colors and odd aura of terror he was giving off initially. He didn’t quite sound like John. He definitely wasn’t acting very much like John. But Dave could see the deep purple rings under the sparkling ice eyes and the grip around his wrist was gentle, the smile now familiarly sweet. He could only believe that this was indeed John—lollipop locks aside—since he hadn’t found him anywhere else. Seeing that weary face ate into him and Dave found himself caving.
“Alright, fine.”
“Yay!” Pink-John scuttled and fussed through the blankets, pulling Dave into the bed with him. He covered them both and then wrapped around and rested himself on Dave’s chest, tucking his blond head under Dave’s chin.
“Take your glasses off,” Dave muttered, doing it for him and putting them aside. John giggled, a quiet dynamic little tune of laughter that Dave hadn’t ever heard.
“I can tell you love me, Dave,” he whispered, shifting a bit to make himself comfortable.
“Try to sleep with your eyes closed this time, a’right?” Dave said, brushing over the earlier comment since he had no fucking clue what to do with it.
“Okay! Goodnight, Dave.”
John fell asleep almost instantly, his breathing becoming lulled and steady, leaving Dave to gaze up at the ceiling with one arm around those skinny shoulders and try to figure out if he really was imagining all this shit. While he pondered, bluest eyes stared straight into the darkness, a sweet grin beneath them, keeping secrets in deep dreams.