lostrealm | Bros unite! [closed]

Characters: John Egbert and Dave Lalonde
Date: 11/11
Format: Prose
Content Warnings: none
Summary: John finally finds his best friend, but it's an AU version of his best friend. Confusion ensues.

It had been entirely coincidental that John had gone to the hospital that day. He had been horribly lost and had just gone to ask for directions, and the hospital had been the closest place when he had finally decided to man up and get help. He could have gone anywhere else to get the directions he needed, so it was just blind luck that he had been in the hospital at the right time.

When he had stepped in, his eyes had been drawn to someone else besides a nurse or a secretary. For a second he caught sight of a familiar coolkid haircut, and he had to do a double-take to fully realize that yes, he did recognize someone in there. And that stopped him in his tracks and he gaped for a moment before he finally found the voice to say anything.

"Dave?"

He hadn't seen his best bro in over a year, so he thought he was imagining things at first.

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The only reason Dave was even in the front lobby was because he had to drop off some papers for Stein, he normally preferred to just loiter in the doctor's office and train his soul sensing abilities rather than actually bother with any work, today was just an exception.

But hearing a familiar voice he had to pause, speaking before his mind even corrected itself.

"John?"

One look told him all he needed to know, the blue eyes that he'd come to associate with Egberts. Well, at least it wasn't the Lalonde flavor this time. He was fairly positive the other would make the same assumption about him being the wrong one, if his purple eyes weren't a give away then maybe the lavender shades would be. Normally he'd assume his trenchcoat would as well, but he had switched that out in Stein's office for a white lab coat to fit in around the hospital more. Part of him feels like explaining the mix up, but the other part is honestly curious if John will get it right off the bat or if it'll take a moment.

"What are you doing here?"

John had not encountered any switch-arounds yet, so he didn't immediately get that Dave wasn't the Dave Strider he knew. He was too excited at seeing one of his friends anyway, he wouldn't have noticed those little details yet.

"Oh wow, it IS you!"

John was excited and chatty and all too happy to stop Dave from whatever he was doing to chat it up in a hospital lobby. He was a dork dead-set on seeing what had happened to one of his best buds over the last year or so. "How long have you been here? I didn't know you were here too. Does Jade know? Is Rose here too? Man, I can't believed I missed seeing you the whole time I was here!"

"The same could be said for myself, I've been here far longer than you."

He remembered, he had seen this John show up but had decided to hold himself back at the time. There really was only so many disappointments he could take then and it seemed like the best option to wait. But waiting had turned to ignoring which left him with rather isolated save those he lived or worked with.

"To be honest I've kept to myself a lot lately, for specific reasons which I'm amused you have yet to pick up on. And to my knowledge last I checked there was only one Rose here but not the one you're thinking of. If she's still around, I'm not sure as I said I've been a bit out of it recently. If you haven't seen her, there's a chance she may have left already. And no, I haven't seen Harley yet."

Well this definitely wasn't the Dave he had been expecting. His face visibly fell when he realized this Dave was not his Dave, and that he was an alternate timeline or beta timeline or some other shit. John was tired of fake Daves, he wanted to see the real Dave!

"It's just my luck," he said, pouting, "I finally find a Dave, and it's not even the one I was looking for! This timeline bullshit has got to stop."

"Believe me, I know the feeling."

He could sympathize, it had almost killed him when he saw a Jade Egbert who still wasn't the same one from his own world. He set down the stack of papers he had with him on the reception desk and offered a hand.

"Dave Lalonde. I believe I'm under the correct assumption that you're an Egbert."

He almost wanted to stomp out of the hospital and pout for a bit, but he decided to give this a chance. Even if this Dave wasn't his Dave, and it was weird as fuck to see him acting like Rose, they could still possibly get along. So he went ahead and took Dave's hand and gave it a shake.

"Yeah, John Egbert," he said, "But what in the world happened in your timeline for you to get the last name 'Lalonde'?"

That question just got him a raised brow and a look like he didn't quite believe John just asked him that. But, really, this was John he was dealing with after all so it's not so much of a shock.

"What in the hell happened in your timeline for you to get the last name 'Egbert'?"

"What was SUPPOSED to happen, duh. I ended up crashing into Nanna's joke store and dad found me."

Yeah he was still thinking he was from the alpha timeline, which he was technically but the alpha timeline did not take alternate universes into account. "So if you went to Mrs. Lalonde's house, did Rose end up with Bro?"

Rolling his eyes, but he wasn't really surprised with the answer. Of course John would assume any alternates were doomed timelines, not taking others into account led to that as the only conclusion.

"Ectobiology is what made me a Lalonde last I checked, and yes you're correct. I was with my mother and Rose was raised by her bro. And before you get any stupid ideas in your head, I am from the alpha timeline in my universe. It's more complicated at this point than you think."

"YOUR universe?" This actually presented a new thought to John! He did know that there was a scratched world where weird shit happened, maybe Dave was from there? But hadn't Jade said Dave would be the parent, not the kid? So no, that wasn't possible. Or at least it wasn't possible for what John was thinking, but maybe in some other universe or timeline?

This was so stupid!

"Well things must have really gone different then. Did Jade and I get switched too?"

"You're thinking too hard, you should probably just accept it for what it is and not give it another thought."

Some things wouldn't ever change it would seem.

"And that's also correct, the John I knew was a Harley. I'm hoping the Egbert pattern I've run into thus far extends to you because that would save me a fair amount of trouble."

And headaches. And probably be less stressful over all too, but he couldn't get any hopes up just yet. Though it might be nice if he were at least somewhat similar. Harley was a thorn in his side, but one he had started to miss.

"Well I definitely act like a John Egbert should, Jade acts way different than me." He couldn't even imagine what he would be like if he were raised by a dog instead of a dad.

But suddenly he became aware of the fact that hey, they were in a hospital lobby! Maybe this wasn't the best place for a private conversation. "So, uh, do you have an office here?"

He was assuming Dave worked there, since he had the coat and all.

"I've known Jade Egbert and met a Rose Egbert, there's similarities I've noticed that I assume come from being raised by your father."

A strong point in his recent studies after all where the effects an environment one is raised in on how they turn out, but that was another story he was sure John didn't feel like listening to.

"I work as an assistant and student for one of the head doctors here, but I can leave at any time if you'd like to go somewhere else."

He had to admit, being raised by Dad was pretty awesome. Also the mental image of Rose and Jade being practical jokers was pretty cool too, though he thought he liked Rose and Jade how he knew them better.

"Yeah, let's go find somewhere to chat, if you've got time," he said. Personal talking time was not good in the company of others.

Bros unite! [closed]

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