Chapter Text
The first time you see John Egbert is at the playground.
Call you old-fashioned, but you really love the playground. It has a lot of really great things for children your brother’s age- not to mention, he got to see people that weren’t just you and the television. The Texas sun is shining, heat baking the asphalt and causing waves to blur your vision, but the grass is cool in the shade and Dirk is currently taking a nap right next to you. A breeze twists the branches above your head, sending a dying leaf twirling down and landing on your shoe.
You capture everything with a single click of your camera.
Being a photographer isn’t exactly the most well-paying job (especially working for a local newspaper), but it gets the bills paid and food in your stomach, so you can’t really complain. Not to mention Dirk gets a huge kick out of being in some of your shots, like that one time when you traveled to the Virginia to get some photos of a surfing tournament going down up in Virginia Beach. Yeah, that trip sucked, but at least you got a semi-vacation out of it.
You hear a dog bark, and swivel your head around to see if you can catch a glimpse of a dog with its owner, and then someone has knocked into you and your camera has tumbled out of your hands and into the grass and you’re suddenly in possession of a lap-full of a little girl.
Uh.
“Oh, Casey, watch where you’re walking, sweetheart!” A voice sounds to your right, and you turn to find the source. There is a man, slightly older than you with dark hair that stick up in cowlicks all over his head and the bluest eyes you have ever seen. And he’s scolding the blue-eyed wonder in your lap. The little girl’s lip is trembling, and her eyes water with tears, and you notice a scrape on her knee. Shit. She must have caught your belt buckle when she landed. “I’m really sorry about her, sir, she’s still trying to get a hang ofrunning about.” And Mystery-Man has picked up Catherine or whatever her name is and begins to try to calm her down.
Um.
“I-It’s okay.” Shit, you did not just fucking stutter. Great. Wonderful job there, Strider, brilliant. “I remember when Dirk was that age. Couldn’t walk straight for the life of him. Kept running into walls, the little rascal.” Your eyes drift to your left, at the little boy sprawled across his “Super-Amazing-Playground-Going-Superhero-Cape” blanket.
“Oh, yeah? Is he yours?” You look back up to Mr. Tall, Dark, and Beautiful, and shake your head slightly.
“Nah, he’s just my little bro. Our parents couldn’t really…well, they…” What the absolute fuck was this. Why were you opening up to a complete stranger? “They died.” Oh, real smooth cover up, genius. Brilliant. Well, at least they’re dead to you in a metaphorical sense, so it’s not really a lie, right? Right?! “So it’s just me and him right now.”
His face crumbles as he strokes Camille’s hair, shushing her.
“I’m so sorry.” You shrug. “I’ve lost my father, too, and my mother died giving birth to me.” Ah, shit, now you felt like the worst person ever. Should you correct yourself? You should probably correct yourself.
“Er, well, what I meant to say was that…they…” Why were you even nervous about this? It wasn’t like you had ever met this dude before. Ever. So what gives, Strider?
“Bro?” A small voice mumbles sleepily to your left, and you turn to Dirk, your attention immediately focused on the little boy.
“Hey, little man, how’s it hangin? Catch some sweet z’s?” You ask as you pick him up gently; he rubs his eyes, still tired. He had run around to his heart’s content, and it had made you tired by just watching him.
“Uh-huh. I fought some robots. It was really cool.” He puffs his chest up proudly, and sticks his fist out for you to bump it; you happily oblige his wishes. The guy chuckles and you hear him kneel down next to you as he sets Catelina down so she can run around. Your brother becomes fascinated with her “really really really cool scar where’d you get it oh wow bro why don’t I have one” and then Cassie ends up pushing Dirk and they run off to play hide-and-seek or tag or something that hopefully won’t stain his clothes too much further.
You pick your camera back up, and brush it off. It was a really sturdy one, and not much damaged it, although the lens was always tricky. You took a few practice shots with it, the shutter going off quickly; the man is in the photos, the backdrop of the clear blue sky and birds crying in the distance adding a lot of depth. He has a gentle smile on his face, not even noticing you taking them.
You briefly wonder if this would be considered creepy. You deem it as a solid “yes” but store that in your brain for later, when you have time to worry about things like that.
“He’s a cute kid. What’d you say his name was again?” He asks you, watching as they chase each other around and around the maypole, their sweet laughter bouncing around the jungle gym and echoing around the swingset.
“Dirk.” You answer, and realize you can’t get his daughter’s (sister’s? niece’s?) name straight in your head. “And hers?”
“Casey.” He answers, his face lighting up with a huge smile and his chest puffs up proudly in a way that isn’t unlike how Dirk did it moments ago. You stifle a chortle at how childlike this man beside you is. “She’s going to be turning three in a few weeks, y’know?” His hands come together in his lap, and he sits criss-cross applesauce. You mentally berate yourself for using that phrase, but with Dirk having entered kindergarten, it’s a bit difficult to not accidentally slip into that lingo.
You turn your attention back to the children, and take notice of Dirk, now. You silently thank God for Roxy being about Casey’s age, or else Dirk would have no idea how to handle the poor girl; he might end up thinking he could play as rough with Casey as he could with Jake, and you really doubt that would make an impression on Mr. Whatshisname.
“Heh. She’s a cute kid.” You smile slightly, watching Dirk show her how to push herself on the swing, by pumping his legs as an example. As you watch them, you remember that holy shit she’s only two she can’t be on a swing like that! You jump up and go, the stranger saying “what’s wrong?” like he hadn’t even noticed. Luckily, you get there before she loses her balance and falls off, and you tell Dirk that “little kids can’t do big kid things, you know that” and he looks down, ashamed. You set Casey on the ground, and the man comes up behind you.
“Oh, man, thanks for that! I don’t know what I was thinking…I should have been keeping a better eye on her. Thank you.” His cheeks are blushing bright red at his mishap, and you shrug your shoulders again, not saying anything. Casey demands to swing, however, so he tucks her into the child’s swing, and her legs barely stick out enough for her to pump them; as such, the man has to push her, although his smile widens when she demands for him to “push, push!”
You admit, it’s really fucking adorable.
“Hey, Bro?” Dirk asks you, tugging on the hem of your shirt to gain your attention.
“What’s up, man?” You bend down to get eye level with him.
He glances around and then stands on his tiptoes, reaching around to whisper in your ear.
“I know you said feelings are for wimps,” God, you didn’t think he actually bought that shit, “but can me and Casey be friends? She’s cool and likes explosions and robots!”
“Oh, really? Robots and explosions? Sounds like quite the catch, lil’ guy.” You resist a chuckle as he nods over and over as he talks about how “super duper amazing” Casey is.
Apparently the guy overhears your (not so quiet) conversation, as he offers to form a playdate. Nothing too special. Just meeting up at this same park again. You nod, fishing your phone out as he asks to exchange contact information, in case one has to cancel, or…something.
You really wish your older sister hadn't made your background into something so…salacious.
But the stranger doesn't even bat an eye at it; you hear him clacking away at the buttons on your phone as you enter your information into his iPhone. Shit, you wish you have a phone this nice. Yours still is a flip phone, and texting on it is a complete bitch, but at least it does what it is needed to do.
You quickly hit save, and then double check to make sure you've entered everything correctly. You hand him back his phone once he’s done the same, and he smiles at you.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr…” He pauses, only just now realizing he never learned your name.
“Dave Strider. But, just Dave. The mister part creeps me out.” He nods at you, and smiles brightly, bending down to pick up a yawning Casey.
“Well, Dave. It was awesome to meet you! See you next week!” And with that, he leaves.
You open your phone, and scroll through your contacts, looking for the one name you don’t recognize. You find it after a bit of scrolling, but you know it’s his immediately. It fits him so well, you think, before remembering you barely even know the guy.
John Egbert.