Headcannons and AUs galore

Dave Strider always knew that he was a little different from everyone else: Whether it be his ruby red eyes, abnormally warmer body temperature, his sick as ninja skills, or the fact that he can create small flames by just thinking about it. After one incident in preschool where he accidentally set his craft project on fire, his “Bro” thought that it would be best for him to be homeschooled. Sure, he whined, but year after year, he grew more comfortable in his cozy apartment where Bro never judged him from his talents.

However, all good things must come to an end.

It was just about to be his freshman year, and that means that he and Bro had to have the talk. Of course, Dave had no clue that such talk other than the birds and the bees existed or why he was called down to the living room, but he just accepted it like he normally does and sat in the opposite chair so he could easily face Bro.

“Wussup? This better be good since I was in the middle of a jam out session. You couldn’t let me have my beat drops, no could you?” Dave asked to start this thing off.

“Listen kid. You’ll get to have your beats dropped in just a couple of minutes. For now, I got some important shit to tell ya,” Bro began and adjusted his triangle shaped sunglasses. “You’re fourteen and getting’ ready to start highschool. I say that because you’re not gonna be homeschooled anymore.”

When Bro broke the news, his normally stoic face did break into a slight frown when he was told the news.

“But Bro, dude, I have like no idea how to act with other people. And I don’t want to have to tell them that I’ve been homeschooled since that’s a piss poor excuse. Plus, then I’m gonna get a shit ton of questions about what it’s been like to be homeschooled since kindergarten. I mean, I want to be awesome, but I won’t be known as the cool kid. I’ll just be known as the new kid who used to be homeschooled. Do you want that Bro? Do you really want that?”

“Don’t get your panties in a bundle kid. Where you’re going is a place for of teens like you. They know kinda what you’re going through.”

“Oh please,” the teen rolled his eyes. “What other person besides us can summon fire and have awesome combat skills. Wait….are you sending me off to Professor Xavier’s school for freaks?”

“Nope, but you’re close.”

“So you’re saying that there are others out there who have weird ass powers and aren’t superheroes?”

“You’d be surprised.”                                                                                                                            

“Can you be any vaguer?”

“Look, you’re going off to this school and you’re gonna fucking like it. You get your own bed and all your meals are free and it’s going to be a motherfuckin’ blast. I would start packing if I were you. We head out tomorrow.” With that being said, Bro stood up and left Dave there as he went off to his room.

“Wait Bro! You just can’t…yeah. You just left me. Thanks man,” Dave sighed and slumped down in his chair. He really can’t believe that he doesn’t have a say in this. Also, there was the shock value that goes along with this. He wasn’t alone. There were others who were also like him. If that was the case, then how did this school he was going to not burned down by now? Surely not everyone has mastered the ability to handle fire like he (not really) has. Or maybe everyone’s gifts were different? Thanks to Bro’s explanation, he was even more clueless. It looks like he’s just going to have to wait and see, but for now, he really should start packing.

////////

Two weeks later and an extremely boring ride to the middle of nowhere with Bro being as helpful as the day he told Dave that he was being dropped off to a school he’s never heard of, Dave still had no idea what was going on.

“You could at least tell me why we’re all the way out in the middle of fucking nowhere,” he grumbled as he crossed his arms and put his feet up on the dash.

“You’ll see soon enough.”                            

“See! What the fuck is that shit? ‘You’ll see soon enough.’ What the fuck is that supposed to mean? It’s almost like I’m the protagonist to a videogame with a terrible guide. Fucking Navi is more helpful than you are.”

Bro didn’t say anything else, no matter how many times Dave whined and bitched. However, he gave a small grin when he saw a familiar place. To anyone else, it looked like a regular corn field, but Bro knew that this place was so much more. “Hang onto your ass lil man,” he warned before he steered off of the road.

“Whoa! What the fuck Bro?!” Dave was now certain he was riding with a psychopath. He quickly took his feet off of the dash and held onto the “Oh shit” handle right above his head for dear life as Bro’s truck tramped over poor defenseless corn stalks. He closed his eyes and continued to shout profanities until he felt the truck slow down and stop. He slowly opened his eyes and expected to see either cops, a dead body, or more corn, or maybe all three. The teen did not expect to see a ginormous school out in the middle of nowhere.

The school looked like the result if Hogwarts and the Parthenon had a baby. It was large enough to be considered a small city, it seemed. A beautiful garden filled with so many varieties of flowers covered the front yard and there was a giant-ass fountain of Zeus a few yard in front of where the front doors are. Teens were already loitering the yard along with their parents, hugging and telling each other that they were going to miss them.

“What is this place?” Dave asked with bewilderment in his voice.

“The place where you’re gonna be spending your high school life at,” Bro answered and climbed out of the truck and started to grab some of Dave’s bags. Dave only groaned since he expected so much and then followed suit and took the rest of the bags.

Before he could start his trek, Bro stopped him by putting his hand on his shoulder. “Knock ‘em dead lil man. The apartment’s gonna get awful lonely, so be sure to call every now and then. Or send me some sick pics of all the cool shit you’re gonna do.”

“Got it Bro,” he nodded and was stopped once more when a kid with raven colored hair, brilliant blue eyes covered with glasses and stupid looking bucked teeth with braces over them stood in front of him.

“Hi! I guess that you’re Strider, right? Well I’m John and I’m going to be your guide for the first couple of days until you get used to everything,” he said and stuck out his hand for a shake, which Dave had no choice but to shake.  “Want some help with your bags?”

“Yeah, sure,” he shrugged and picked up a couple, leaving a few for him. John took them and then led the way as he explained to Dave the jiff of this place and honestly, he was so much more helpful than Bro has been for the past two weeks.

Bro watched with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face as his boy followed John like a lost puppy.

“So your kid’s finally old enough to come here, huh Hephaestus?” a familiar voice called out and Bro turned around to watch a man in dress clothes and a tie start to walk toward him.  

“Yeah. They grow up so fast. Heh. It feels like just yesterday he was making his first fire. So was that your kid Hermes?”

“Of course,” he said with a small laugh afterwards as her stood beside Bro. “I can already see John freaking out because your kid can start a fire.”

Everyone has a bad day every now and then. Sometimes it was because their car got keyed, sometimes it was because they lost twenty bucks whether it be from dropping it or hiring a really bad prostitute, and sometimes nothing bad really happened, but it just feels like a bad day where you can’t motivate yourself to do pretty much anything. None of these options was the case of a certain twelve year old named John.

              Currently, John was using his extremely flexibility and took advantage of his shortness to hide up in the small part of his closet so that way his guardian couldn’t find him. It was filled with nothing but his hipster styled flannel clothing and a ton of pranking supplies, so finding a spot to hide was hard, but John was a tiny pre-teen, so it was easy to squeeze into a tiny space and hope and pray that his guardian didn’t find him.

              Normally, the only time that he did this was to avoid a strife since his hammer stood no chance against his guardian’s sword. But this time, it was different. Honestly, he would prefer to have his ass beat by Bro and lay on the roof for hours at a time as he busied himself with his thoughts than face the fate that awaited him in an hour.

              John held his breath as he heard the door to his room open and the familiar figure with the white polo and triangle shaped shades searched his room. There was no sword in his gloved hands, so at least he wasn’t going to give John the beat down.

              “John, you’re not gonna get out of this. Might as well accept your fate so we can get this over with,” he called out and searched under the bed. No response came from John.  

“Listen kid, there are times in life when you just have to Strider up and take this shit like a man.” Now, Bro was moving dangerously close to the closet and John tried to squeeze even farther back, but that only resulted in him moving one of the boxes just slightly enough to make a noise. He sharply inhaled as he saw Bro’s head lift up and turn towards the closet.

The sound of the door creaking was agonizing and John closed his eyes as the light filled the dark closet (even though it really shouldn’t have affected him much since he was wearing shades).

“John, what are you doing in here?” Bro asked, extremely unamused.

“Oh, you know…just planning my week in advance when it comes to my clothing choices. I think that I’ll wear the red flannel on tomorrow, the ZZ Top shirt on Thursday-“

“Kid get out of there,” Bro interrupted and stepped aside so John could get out. The pre-teen let out a heavy sigh and managed to get out of the closet. As soon as he was out, he was lifted up and rested over Bro’s shoulder, which only caused him to give another groan.

“Bro, seriously, I don’t need braces! My teeth will be fine given time. Besides, braces are a total turn off to most people and I’m gonna be a total dweeb instead of-“

“The cool kid you are. Yeah, I now, but you’re going to be a laughing stock with your current teeth so you might as well embrace the brace like an ex your forced to hug,” he said as he exited the apartment with the struggling raven haired boy over his shoulder who was trying to come up with every excuse in the book as to why he shouldn’t get braces.

John Strider, the coolest kid in all of Texas, was going to lose major points now that he was going to have bright red metal strapped to his teeth for the next one to two years.

///////

Life was good for a certain blonde haired girl named Rose. Things were extremely peaceful here on her island with her dog. Especially for her garden. While the girl couldn’t go outside herself since rain was coming down hard, the garden on the roof of her large house definitely needed this rain. Sure, all water was the same, but it seemed like rainwater was the best when it came to helping her precious flowers and edible plants grow.

However, she wasn’t on the roof to watch this miracle of nature. She was bundled up in the former living area of her house which was covered in in the many large cats that she hunted and stuffed. Those creatures were plentiful on her island and she couldn’t help but love them, even though she loved her dog, Bec, even more.

With a blanket over her legs and a laptop right in front of her, she was watching a very serious documentary about psychological damage a person can have when they’re isolated for too long. That made her start thinking if she was going insane due to the lack of physical interaction she has had in her life. Sure, she had her internet friends, but they were pretty much it.

Soon, the giant white dog came in and promptly laid his head on one of her thighs. She couldn’t help but laugh and scratch his head. “Hey boy. Say Bec, do you think that I’m insane?” she asked and the dog lifted his head and shook it.

“Yeah, I guess not,” she sighed. “Insane people don’t know they’re insane after all.”

Bec barked and tilted his head to see what she was watching.

“I really should stop watching so many documentaries, huh boy? I can’t help it! They’re so interesting. Besides, this is the only way that get a semi-education. I love you to death, but you’re a shitty teacher.” The dog gave a little whine and lifted his fore paws up onto her lap. Rose gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his head. “You know that I love you. I guess you’re the being that is keeping me from going insane on this isolated island.”

Bec seemed happy with that response and couldn’t help but jump up and lick her. Rose laughed and wrapped her arms around the dog. “Okay! Okay boy! Love you too!”

////////

Today had been rougher than normal for a messy blond haired boy named Dave. First off he his gym clothes stolen and they still have yet to be found, a couple of the superhero and no name band buttons he had on his back pack came off and he has yet to find any of those precious things, and he got bleach all over his favorite Superman hoodie when he was helping a teacher clean her room for some extra credit points.  He came home an hour after school let out because of that reason.

Since his dad was still at work, he had to walk home since he had missed the bus, and that was an easy half an hour walk. The only good thing that had happened today was his headphones were still working. Listening to his Indie bands while he walked was one of the more relaxing things that had happened today, even though his legs started to get tired after walking up a hill.

Soon enough, he managed to make it home in one piece. He threw his bag down in the corner and didn’t even bother putting it up neatly like he always does. He really couldn’t find the energy to make it up the stairs to wallow away in privacy, so he crash landed on the couch and didn’t even notice that he fell asleep.

An hour later, a rather fine looking man in a dress shirt and tie came in. He set his briefcase on a nearby chair and placed his hat on a rack. He stopped and noticed his son sprawled out on the couch with his headphones still on. His fatherly instinct was telling him that things must have been rough at school today. He found a nearby blanket and gently laid it on the on top of the boy and then quietly went off to the kitchen to fix the kid up something nice.

It was hard telling how long Dave had slept, but he knew that the nap really didn’t help. He felt even more out of it and just wanted to not exist for a while. He took off his headphones and slowly started to notice some changes in this picture. He didn’t remember putting a blanket on, and he definitely doesn’t remember there being a piece of cake on the coffee table. The pieces were slowly putting themselves together as he figured out that his dad must have been the one to do all of this.

He slowly sat up and looked at the cake. White with blue frosting and some green icing in the middle; his absolute favorite. He picked up the tiny plate and then noticed a card fall down. Curiosity got the best of him as he picked it up and read it.

“Son, you look like you have had a very tiring day today. I have decided to leave you alone so you could rest up so if you need me for anything I will be up in my study. For now, have some support cake. Also remember, no matter how things go and how straining things can get, you can get through them because you are Dave Egbert and you are one of the toughest kids out there. I’m proud of you for being able to carry out even the most terrible of days. –Love Dad.”

Dave couldn’t help but smile a little bit as he read that card. Normally they were everywhere and tended to get annoying, but today, he really needed it. He set the card back down and sat cross legged on the couch, the blanket draping over his shoulders as he happily ate his cake while a rerun of Ghostbusters 2 was showing on MTV. He normally complained that it didn’t show music videos anymore, but he was happy with this.

This was possibly the best way to end a shitty day.

/////////

Jade Lalonde used to be a very outgoing girl. She loved going outside and spending time with others, but as of recently, she has gone through a bit of a rebellion stage to her alcoholic mother. All of her colorful clothes were replaced with something on the grey scale, he luscious long and wild black hair was trimmed to be just above her shoulders and straightened every day and she stopped going outside.

Now, she busied herself with reading up on various plants on their function in the wizarding world.  Her mother was making a racket with the vacuum downstairs so she had her classical music playing on max from her laptop in the hopes that she could drown out the noise. It helped a little. Just enough that she was able to focus on her book and not much else.

As she read, the more interested she became, especially now that she was starting to notice that some of the plants in the book were also located in her room.  She looked at one of the vines spiraling itself on her bed post and it matched the picture in the book. Soon, a brilliant idea came to her.

“Maganious lovinus,” she read out of the book and touched the vine with it. She waited a second and gave a little huff when nothing happened. She turned her attention back to the book, but something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. The vine was growing! A wide smile came onto her green lipstick painted mouth as she watched it spiral even more on her bedframe. Once it had reached the preferred length, she touched a leave and simply said “Stop.” The plant obeyed and ceased growing.

She looked around at all of the other plants she had in her room and wanted to see if it worked with all of them. Of course, there were different spells that she had to cast, but she knew she could do it. She got up and eagerly chanted spell after spell and watched all of her lovely plants come to life and grown even larger than what they already were.

Given only a few minutes, her room was nothing but greenery and she was making a flower crown for herself.