This Is Love (MSPA)

"You think he would really care?" John asked. "He'd probably suggest it himself later."

"But... I doesn't feel right to just, like, assume, man. I mean, that's a pretty big deal."

"So go ask him." John smiled. "Or we can talk about it to him tomorrow"

"I... okay, yeah. Whatever..." he said, trying to salvage a little of his busted poker face. "For now let's just lay here together, okay? Just like I promised. I want to hold you until we fall asleep."

John smiled and laid down. "Okay. I'd like that Davie."

Dave settled in beside the boy, spooning him, with his head pressed to John's back. He could hear the boy's steady heartbeat, and it soon lulled him to sleep.
- - - - -

Dave woke up the next morning to the smell of breakfast coming from downstairs.

John was still sleeping peacefully, curled into Dave's chest. Mr. Egbert almost always had to come up to wake him up for breakfast, so it wasn't unusual for him to be asleep still.

Dave carefully extricated himself from the tangle of limbs that was John and changed into some clean clothes for the day. He went through his usual routine: bathroom, brush hair and teeth, put in contacts (since the Stiller shades didn't have prescription lenses), and don his shades; he then went downstairs to figure out what was smelling so gogdamn delicious.

He poked his head in the kitchen, feeling suddenly self-conscious, and shuffled in. The tile floor was cold on his bare feet, so he hurried to take a seat at the table. "Er... G'morning, Mr. Egbert."

"Good Morning Dave" Mr. Egbert smiled "What would you like in your breakfast cake?" he asked, pouring batter into two separate bowls as he tended a skillet.

"Got anything cherry flavored? Otherwise, cinnamon. And please tell me you're not going to try and feed John something with the word 'cake' in it," he chuckled. "He's still sleeping, by the way. I can get him up, if you want. ...We were talking about you last night."

"I know. And John loves these things, they're basically a pancake sandwich with breakfast food cooked in the batter and eggs and cheese between them. I'll wake him up when his is done" Mr. Egbert smiled.

"So it's like one of those griddle things they have at mcDonalds? And whaddaya mean, you know?" he asked, looking at Mr. Egbert over the top of his shades.

"I heard you" Mr. Egbert stated. "I was going to tell you boys to go to bed, but I heard your conversation. You can call me dad if you want. I don't mind"

Dave turned a shade of pink that had never before graced the face of a Strider and stared down at the counter. "That doesn't... feel right to me though, Mr. Egbert. I don't want you to just let me say it because you don't care one way or another. I..." He sighed and took of his shades, folding them on the counter. This was serious talk time, so there was no sense hiding his face. "I really love John, Mr. Egbert. I really, really love him. I want to be part of his life, part of your life. I want you to see me as a member of your family, Mr. Egbert, because I plan on being with John for a long time, as long as he still wants me. If I could marry the derp, I totally would."

Mr. Egbert laughed. "Silly boy. I considered you family the very moment you became John's best friend. I know you love him, and I know you're not going to hurt him." At this point he smirked. "You do know we're only a three hour drive from Canada right?"

Dave stared at him silently for a few moments, then shoved his chair away from the table and ran across the room, his bare feet padding on the tile floor, to fling his arms around Mr. Egbert's waist. "Do you really mean it?" he asked, his voice cracking a bit. "Am I really family to you? C-can I really... call you 'Dad?'" He sniffled softly, trying to hold back tears; he wasn't sure if they were tears of happiness or if they were from the reminder of the teasing he'd been subjected to as a kid for not having parents. There were some serious emotional scars left over from the lack of real parenting he'd had; Bro was awesome, yeah, and Dave loved him, but the boy had always secretly wanted a Mom and Dad. "I-I've n-never had a Dad before, Mr. Egbert," he said, his voice cracking again.

Mr. Egbert smiled and wrapped an arm around Dave. "Of course I mean it. Why wouldn't I? I would love to have you call me dad. I'll try and live up to your expectations, of being a dad I mean"

Dave pressed his face into Mr. Egbert's chest and choked back a sob; he was trying desperately to get his emotions under control so that John wouldn't see him like that. "I... Thank you so much," he whispered. "I love you... Dad. Thank you for letting me be part of your family. Thank you so much."

"You don't have to thank me. You're more than a welcome addition to our little family." Mr. Egbert smiled. "There's more than enough room for you in our house."

Dave held tightly to Mr. Egbert until he had his emotions mostly under control again. He stepped back reluctantly and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I can't wait to tell Bro," he said, smiling. "Uhm... Dad? Do you think maybe Bro and I could, I dunno, come up here for holidays and stuff?"

"The more the merrier!" Mr. Egbert chirped happily.

Dave's smile widened. "He'll like that, I think. Maybe with him here we'll be able to plan that Canadian wedding, huh?" he joked. "I wonder how John would feel about that."

"So long as you were there and we served pie instead of cake, I think he wouldn't mind too terribly much." Mr. Egbert chuckled.

"You really think so? I know he loves me an awful lot, but I don't know how he'd feel about actually getting married. I'd be totally down with that, though. I would love to have a legal fucking document that says he's mine and mine only, till death do us part. ...sorry. I'm trying to watch my mouth."

"I don't mind so long as it isn't directed at me." Mr. Egbert smiled. "Teenagers after all."