It was totally sweet, this whole Alpha Universe thing. Totally sweet. They were sixteen, and they practically ruled the world. And on top of it, all the trolls were here too. Scarlet eyes behind tinted lenses canted towards John Egbert, where he was laughing at something Jade had said. Dave couldn't help but allow the very corner of his lips to quirk upward into a smile.

That was the best part. And, hell, even if everything didn't go the way he'd imagined it in his head for the past year and a half, he was finally here, face to face. Dave liked the way John's eyes crinkled when he laughed, and the dorky buck teeth, and the way that he'd grown into all those awkward angles over the past three years since they'd set off for… here.

He strode over to stand near the other three kids, his hand dropping to his hip. He'd ditched the dorky godtier outfit for today. No, it was definitely a day for a snazzy suit or something.

"Dave!" John's greeting was warm, and he put up his fist for a bump. Dave made a deadpan face through the glasses to John, but lifted his fist.

"Don't you think we've outgrown the 'fist bump' bro?"

"You're never too old to fist bump," John said, scandalized. His voice had dropped, same as Dave's. It suited him. And even though Dave had grown to be taller than John, he still felt kind of small in his presence somehow.

"Jade, back me up on this one…" Dave said, and she giggled.

"I think John's right on this one. I'm going to go see what everyone else is up to. It's been so long since I saw them, and I have spent the last three years with Egbert…" She rolled her eyes ostentatiously, and John grinned. Dave quirked a smile, and nodded rather than waving like John did as she trotted off cheerfully.

"See, fist bumping is totally the coolest. So how was the meteor?"

"Gogdamned trolls fucking everywhere man." That wasn't what he wanted to talk about. "So hey, I guess by the local calendar here it's like close to Valentine's day?"

"Yeah! I guess it is, isn't it!"

"I was wondering if you, yaknow, had anything you wanted to do, or if you'd wanna like. Go do bro-type things?" Yeah, Strider, really cool and smooth. You're a fucking idiot.

"Uhh, sure! Like what?"

Dave shrugged, thumbs hooking on the pockets of his suit jacket. "Well I mean we've got a couple days to plan and a whole new universe to explore, sky's the fucking limit. I was wondering if you'd want to maybe find somewhere to go eat and then, I dunno, see if there's such thing as Nic Cage in this universe and if he's as shit as ours."

"Gosh, if there's not a Nic Cage here, I don't know if I'd really want to live here," John said, pondering the thought. Dave couldn't help but actually laugh at that, and was rewarded with the squinty-eyed grin from John. "As long as you promise not to talk through the movie about how shitty he is?"

"Yeah ok. I'll at least give you that much." His heart thudded in his chest. Was this actually happening? Or was Egbert really just that dense? He was searching John's face, and there was something more behind that grin…

"So is this you asking me out on a date?" Dave felt the flush flood his cheeks immediately after John had said the word. 'Date' made it sound so…

"Yeah I guess I am." A shrug of his shoulder. Yeah play it cool, gotta be the cool kid. That was the Dave that John had liked, after all, even if he gave Dave shit for it. Dave gave as good as he ever got. Turnabout is fair play, or whatever the hell it was.

"Then 'I guess' call it a date, Dave."