Chapter Text
Sometimes he felt like reading Craigslist destroyed the entire concept of “self respect.”
Who knew who half of these people were or how reliable they were. They could be murderers or rapists or scam artists. But he found it funny. The desperation of the people who were sincere was humorous.
Casually glancing through the “m4m” tag had become somewhat of a hobby for Bro. At first he tried serious dating through the site, but that became pointless. The first guy was at least 10 years older than the age he said he was. The second, 10 years younger. The third, strangely enough he kept in touch with. After a dinner date he decided to be friends with the guy and now he was where Bro got his weed.
Speaking of him, Bro figured he should probably text him soon. He was starting to run low on his supply. It’s not like he lit up much, but it was nice to have as a back-up plan after a particularly rough day raising a kid and running an internet business. He turned away from the men seeking men and picked up his phone to check the time. 4:23.
Dave was late from school.
He minimized the Craigslist page back into Complete Bullshit, pleased by the way it began vibrating along with all the rest of his sites, and Dave’s. He had been meaning to exit out of some things, but it was just way too handy to have it all open all the time. Especially to monitor sales and research for his puppet sites. Most of the thousands of dollars he made mostly went to upgrading all his systems and paying his completely unill electricity bills. But he still had enough to get some basic furniture (Ok, cinderblocks and wooden slabs) and gifts for Dave.
Meeting ends wasn’t something he never had to think about, but it really wasn’t something he had to worry about, either. Which seemed fine to both the Striders despite how crummy the place looked once you got passed the sicknasty electronics crowding up all their wallspace. Bro didn’t even have his own bedroom. Not that he really cared. What the fuck did he have to keep private? Him and Dave were plenty tight. Dave knew the password to his computer, and Bro knew Dave knew. Bro was his older brother and brothers don’t have to keep secrets.
Which is exactly why the moment Dave waltzed through the door, Bro was on his ass like Oscar on Big Bird. His head was down a bit. He was guilty of something. Backpack slung over only one shoulder, his eyes as hidden as they always were like Bro taught him. Dave tried to walk right passed his brother like he usually did, but with arms across his chest, Bro didn’t let that happen at all.
“You’re late,” he said flatly. An unasked question expecting an answer. He tried to play up being intimidating, if only for the parental effect. In actuality Bro was just worried. But he knew Dave and he knew Dave wasn’t likely to talk unless something was bullied out of him. At least, that’s what Bro thought. He could very well be wrong. It’s not like it was the first time he had made a bad parenting decision. If this didn’t go well, he’d play up the strategy.
It’s not like Dave just seemed annoyed at something. He actually looked upset. Though Bro couldn’t tell exactly what kind of upset he was. That warranted a more serious approach. But only if this approach didn’t work for him.
“I know I am,” Dave finally responded, his voice small. He kept his head down, sidestepping to avoid Bro again. He let his little brother take a few steps before flash stepping right in his path again. No way was Bro giving up that easily. Not this soon. He may have tried to be a cool parent, but he was still a parent. Or “guardian” as schools liked to say.
“Why.”
“Because I got detention.”
This time when Dave stepped past, Bro let him go. Dave got detention? What the fuck could he have done? Or what could have happened to have upset him so much? Bro knew better than to assume this was a “Damn I got caught doing something awesome” type of reaction. This was a “Fuck I feel like shit” type of reaction. That worried Bro a lot.
He probably would have handled it better if Dave was lying. If he didn’t actually get detention, he was just fooling around with some girl in the forest after school let out and lost track of time. Ashamed of giving into temptation because Striders don’t do that. But why would he feel the need to lie? Dave didn’t lie about anything. Dave didn’t have to lie about anything. If Bro knew he was getting some they would have high fived. That left detention being the only other thing he could think up.
But even still, the question came down to why he was in there.
That night at dinner an awkward heaviness hung in the air. Bro watched his little brother from behind his shades. Dave unenthusiastically prodded at his food with the prongs of his fork, once in a while sliding a bite of it into his mouth and reluctantly chewing. Bro’s worry was bubbling up this time, putting pressure on his throat. Say something, say something.
But what could Bro say? He wasn’t a counselor. He very rarely tried the big tough loving dad routine because he thought he was shit at it. He preferred to use it as a last resort. There was a middle step between bullying-confrontation and talking shit out bro to bro. And that was strifing until Dave didn’t give a shit about his issue anymore.
Of course they couldn’t have a sword fight at the table. A hash map rap battle would do for now. While he was sure Dave’s attention was elsewhere, he captalogued his knife. It moved out of his hand, and he cleared his throat to drop his rhymes.
“So, Junior’s lookin’ shitty, hell if you ain’t demagogic. Don’t take a genius to know there’s a problem- simple logic.”
Dave looked up from his plate, recognizing the rhythm in his brother’s words and knowing the impending doom that would bear down from it. He was already preparing himself, sitting back in his chair and pressing his palms into the edge of the table. It made Bro smirk. As if Dave could actually get out of this.
“So you’re gonna tell me what’s up, and you’re gonna tell me why. And fuck your smart-ass responses, I can already find the goddamn sky.”
The knife flung from Bro’s sylladex. Dave was up from his seat in a second, knocking the chair to the floor as he dodged. The blade pierced the wall behind him, staying suspended in the drywall with a noisy sprong. Dave didn’t fight back. He stayed silent. Just stood beside the table and stared at his half eaten dinner. Okay, clearly a rap battle wasn’t what he needed. Bro’s worry was on red alert now. It really was time to bring out the big guns. He thought hard over what loving gesture to put forward, deciding just to turn his body slightly to face Dave and resting an elbow on the table.
“Come on, Dave. Tell me what’s wrong.” There was a long pause. He chewed on his bottom lip as he mulled over a response. Was he thinking up another lie? Was he trying to work the courage to tell the truth? Bro didn’t know what to think. He’d faced this Dave before, but not since he was a tyke. Now he was a high school student. Any number of things could go wrong.
Was he acting out over something? Was he scared of a dude he found himself crushing on? Was he actually a she his entire life and just now getting to the point he had to say something? Was he failing a class? Worried about puberty? Bro had read book upon book and article after article with forums on top of forums in between to try and be as good of a parent as he could be. He was prepared for this. He could do this.
“I got in a fight, okay,” Dave admitted. He had stuffed his hands defensively away in his pockets. The frown was heavy set on his face. It was the kind of frown that weighed on his dimples as he tried to fight off that hurt feeling in his gut.
Damn. That really was not cool. Dave getting bullied? For what? He was way too cool of a kid for that shit. And all the articles about bullying he had read came down to “telling an adult.” Which Dave just did. Okay, that’s step one… So what did the adult do?
“What happened?” Might as well get some details. What could these kids possibly have against Dave Strider? They’d have to be insane. Or at least creepily deranged. They had to be. Whatever it was, Bro could probably combat it once he knew. Tell these guys off and tell Dave exactly how to handle them.
“I don’t want to talk about it, alright.” Dave heaved a sigh, scratching the top of his head. “If it happens again I’ll tell you. I promise.”
Bro couldn’t really ask for much more than that at this point. He couldn’t push Dave farther than he wanted to go. Kids had to come to you. That’s how it always was. It pissed him off a little bit, if only because why the fuck was his little brother getting bullied, but he inhale slowly and sat back forward at the table. His head ducked down, trying to give Dave the type of shun that would help him get back up on his independence. The type that sort of said…
“Alright. I respect you kid.”
There was a long pause as Dave stared at the knife in the wall. He finally sat back down, picking at his food again. Just a few more bites were downed before he sat back in his seat. He started picking at his nails, every once in a while letting out a painful seethe. Did he have any cuts from his fight? Did he… Oh, fuck.
“You didn’t pull a weapon on him right?”
That was actually a big fucking deal. That was the kind of deal that would get Dave taken away kind of deal. If the government knew Dave was brought up around weaponry and porn? Hell yeah Bro would be in trouble. But Bro taught his brother better than that, right? Dave knew not to pull a blade on someone unarmed. Especially not at school. He knew. That was lesson number one that Bro had been drilling since they started sword fighting when he was just a fucking toddler.
Thankfully when Dave looked up, he was looking at Bro as though he was an idiot. But of course he did. What kind of distrust did Bro just show there? No wonder Dave was offended.
“Of course I fucking didn’t. I know the rules.”
But Bro wasn’t going to apologize. He never apologized.
“Good.”
Bro stood up from the table, picking up his and Dave’s plates and tossing them in the sink. He wasn’t mad. Of course he was a little worried, but not mad. Dave could handle himself, right? Bullies were for character building and Dave had plenty of self defense knowledge that he would be just fine. Dave had a great self esteem. Bro was building it for years. He was fine. Bro was worrying for nothing. Right?
“I’m going to bed,” Dave grumbled, not bothering to give a good night before disappearing down the hall. It made Bro sigh. He paused in front of the sink, listening closely to the footsteps and the heavy slam of Dave’s door. He really offended the kid, didn’t he? Whoops. Flipping off the kitchen light, Bro moved back over into the living room.
He didn’t bother lowering the futon before throwing himself on it, propping his legs up on the arm rest and turning on the television. It felt like he spent hours channel surfing. His thumb kept clicking but no stories picked up his interest. He was just way too distracted. Soaps, reality television, old movies, kid shows, porn… It all flashed by him but did nothing. The sky outside the apartment window just got darker and darker. He was wasting too much time doing absolutely nothing. Not that he had much left to do tonight anyway.
He gave up after passing the same Friends rerun for a third time, tossing the remote to the floor and looking back at the ceiling. This Dave thing was occupying his entire headspace. He needed something a bit more active to take his mind off it. All of his website work was finished hours ago, so he would have to get creative.
The Xbox was one option, but Bro hated wasting time on games when he didn’t have any articles to write. Otherwise he’d just get bored and games would be a chore instead of a treat. He bent his head back to look back at his computer. The screen was dark, but he knew it was still turned on by the quiet hum of the tower.
He kicked off his shoes before sitting up and moving over to his desk, flopping down into the seat with a thunk and jiggling the mouse. The screen illuminated and he punched in his password. lilcal. What an awesome password. Coolest thing it could possibly be. He glanced over where Cal was still propped up on his speaker. He took a moment to grab the puppet’s leg, pulling him and resting him firmly in his lap. High enough that Cal could see the computer screen, of course.
Complete Bullshit was still maximized, and he began mousing over all the different tabs. He read the titles out loud to Cal, making sure to censor himself. He mulled and made comments as he went, giving his pal A+ commentary. Only the best for him.
No new comics from Dave. A few new comments on PlushRump but nothing that needed replies. No interesting happenings on CNN, he was finished with that Jim Henson page days ago… And. Oh.
Houston, TX men seeking men classifieds on Craigslist.
Bro practically forgot he was doing that today. Sure, what the heck. He clicked the tab to pull the page up. He hit F5 to refresh and sat back to watch the new postings. A protective hand slid to cover Cal’s eyes and he muttered an apology. Not that that stopped him from making lewd comments in Cal’s direction when he saw a title that tickled his fancy.
MWM NEEDS HOT EROTIC MASSAGE – m4m – 51
Need me to rub your shoulders, Cal baby? Of course not, we all know you’re the one with the magic hands around here.
DEEPTHROAT available – m4m – 44
Don’t worry, Babe, I don’t like oral anyway.
TOP NEEDED FOR MY HOT ASS – m4m – 44
Wait, this is my posting.
SERVICING FEET, SOCKS, AND SNEAKERS – m4m – 44
Wait, is this in the right section. Is this about foot jobs or.
any young guys 18+ need a blow job – 24
Sorry man I stopped being young years ago.
looking for big build who wants to get rough – m4m- 14
Well damn this might be our meal ticket, Cal.
Wait. Fourteen? Bro had heard rumors that this happened sometimes, but he never thought he would see it with his own eyes. A kid that young wanting to get fucked, huh? It was amusing to say the least. He clicked the ad out of pure curiosity. How slutty could a 14-year-old kid even be?
Reading over the ad, it became apparent that the answer to his question wasn’t about to come into view.
“uh. i’ve never done something like this before but i’m getting desperate. i need an adult or even a teenager i guess. someone tall and big and intimidating who can fight or beat someone up. i just have a really bad bully problem and i want them off my back.”
Bro looked over his shoulder, swallowing hard as his eyes wandered to the entrance of the hallway. Cal quizzically asked him what he was thinking. But Bro couldn’t answer.
He wouldn’t.
Dave knew better than to risk something like this on the internet. Bro had taught him better. There was no way this was Dave. This was a huge privacy concern. He would have had to tell the guy what school he went to. The names of his classmates. Was he just looking for a child molester or what?
Well, only one way to find out. Bro inhaled, clicked the link, and switched to his work e-mail.
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