#bro strider

[evil-homestuck-textposts]

[kr0t1]

testing out a tablet YES I KNOW BABY DAVE HAS TRIANGLE SHADES

[robbiedrawsstuff]

is this anything

[glittercatfairy]

drew roxy. again. havent drawn in a whiiiiiile.. sorrrrryy...

and bro. and bros babies.

[cofhades]

insert industrial sounds

[kinkmom]

Bro holds Dave a special training session to teach him how to defend himself from an assault. At first it's just simple self-defense moves and slow demonstrations, he lets Dave push him off easily and lets him get up in between the scenes. It's kinda fun, but Dave doesn't really get why this would be relevant to him at all. He's a guy, guys don't get approached by creeps, right? But Bro is cool and knows basically everything and maybe this is an ironic bit actually?

Then Bro warns him that he's going to get serious now. He tells Dave he should never let himself get pinned down like this, puts his full weight on Dave's back and wrenches his arms behind his back. Dave complains it hurts and that he gets it, but Bro doesn't let him go and instead puts his hands under Dave's clothes and feels him up. He still explains calmly what's happening and how Dave should be escaping his hold and fighting back. Sure he keeps it professional, but the hard-on against his ass tells otherwise. Dave realizes way too late that Bro is actually going to rape him since he can't stop him and panics. Bro praises Dave's begging, it's really convincing, but warns it makes him sound pathetic and there are people out there who really like that sort of thing.

[premaritalhug]

That is an incredibly valid point, BUT, I raise you one Bro Strider.

look. I KNOW davesprite is a crow. i know this well. do not @ me saying “but hes literally a crow tho. like thats canon did you eve read the-” I DID.

BUT HAVE WE CONSIDERED

ONE OF THESE!

it literally looks like him plus! that way all the striders could have different bird motifs! dave gets crow (i have a picture of an albino crow saved somewhere if anyone wants to see it), dirk gets seagull, davesprite gets bleeding heart dove, and. idk what hal gets actually. fuck. ideas?

[curlybowlcuts]

wake up lil bro

[sawdistorted]

completely losing it at this age rating review for saw (2004)

[smaaashsh]

[premaritalhug]

I love the nuance here. I find that it's often missing in fics that include Bro.

To say Dirk didn't want to be there was a massive understatement.

He'd been minding his own business in his corner of the meteor, tinkering with some random piece of machinery he'd found. Then suddenly, they were passing through dream bubbles again, and his room had become his old apartment's living room.

Well, a version of it.

Smuppets and puppets littered the floor, empty apple juice bottles and soda cans were piled in a box, and the air smelled of stale cigarette smoke and week old Monsters. The sounds of a skateboarding game came from the TV in the living room corner, and cresting over the back of the futon was a familiar shade of strawberry blonde poking up under a black hat.

It wasn't until he'd stepped around the futon that he realized who this was.

Him.

Dave's him, anyway.

Dirk "Bro" Strider, the man, the myth, the douchebag himself.

Bro didn't seem to realize Dirk's presence at the end of the couch. If he did, he didn't show it, engrossed in his Xbox.

Bro at once seemed both nothing like Dave's descriptions, but yet every bit like them. When asked about Bro, Dave had given a clearly rehearsed spiel about how cool the guy was. "Aw shit yeah, dude," he'd said. "Bro's, like, the epitome of cool. The god damned Emperor of Irony, and King Shit of Puppet Island. Best ventriloquist rapper in the game."

And, yeah, sure, this guy definitely had an air of "cool" around him. Typical cool guy markers. Shades, a cool hat (everyone knows a good hat adds hella levels to the Cool-Guyometer), a nonchalant demeanor...

Yeah.

He was cool.

Yet, something inside Dirk's stomach gnawed on itself, twisting in knots to get at its own tail. This man before him was a manifestation of all the wrong he could do. Bro was the epitome of who Dirk was or could reasonably be. Manipulative. Cold. Shut off and shut down. Abusive.

" 'Ey. You good there, lil dude?"

The light southern drawl pulled Dirk out of his anxious spiral and he jumped a bit, looking at Bro. Bro hadn't moved an inch.

"Huh?"

"I said, you good?"

Dirk blinked dumbly as he tried to process the question. That was definitely his voice, but lower and raspy, like Bro was a-? Oh, yeah, there it is. Bro was definitely a smoker if the absent tapping of a pack of cigarettes on his thigh during a cutscene was an indicator.

"Yeah," Dirk finally replied. "I'm fine."

Bro nodded absently. He still hadn't looked over. What was this guy's deal?

Before, Dirk hadn't quite understood why his lack of movement, or lack facial expression had unnerved Dave so much, but he was beginning to understand.

Bro spoke again, gesturing to the empty spot next to him. "Then pop a squat, Dirk."

Dirk reluctantly sat, not having much else to do besides tinker again. Maybe this could be an opportunity to learn something about himself, or maybe Dave.

"Aren't you 'Dirk' too?", he asked, curling up as far from Bro as possible. The man was uncomfortable to be close to, if he was being honest with himself.

Bro shrugged a bit. "Depends," he answered. "Who's asking and why?"

Dirk frowned slightly. What the hell did that mean? Two seconds in, he was already confused and annoyed.

"Well, I'm asking, obviously."

"Then it's D', or Bro. Either works fine for me."

Dirk hummed, looking at the TV screen.

What the hell was he supposed to ask? What was your life like? Did you have a good family? Do you use labels for your sexuality, or do you care? Do you like robots?

Unfortunately, what fell out of his face was, "Why is Dave scared of us?"

Bro paused his game and stared ahead.

Dirk flinched a bit.

Oh he fucked up. Perhaps he was going to get first hand evidence as to why Dave winced when he moved, why Dave never looked directly at him...

But nothing happened, not for a long moment.

After a bit, Bro started playing again, speaking lowly. "It ain't you, it's me," he said, voice tight, like he was upset. "I scare him, not you."

Dirk huffed a bit. "Yeah, but why?"

Bro shook his head, pausing his game again. "Are you wanting a verbal answer, or a demonstration?"

Dirk stared a bit as Bro finally looked over. What was this freak on about? What kind of demonstration? Dirk's lips tightened into a line, thinking about what the hell that could possibly mean.

He hoped it wasn't something utterly unforgivable...

Bro, seemingly impatient with Dirk, huffed and stood. "You pop by for a chat," he drawled. "And you can't even hold the damn conversation to save your life." He opened the window and took a cigarette from the pack.

Absently, Dirk realized there was no ashtray about as he answered. "Would you even be able to tell me?", he asked.

Bro shrugged as he lit the cigarette. "I can give you my best guess," he replied. "You could leave it to Dave to fill in the gaps or whatever the hell he'd do."

There was something almost affectionate in Bro's voice when he said Dave's name. Was he proud of Dave? Possibly. Dirk was certainly proud of Dave.

A long silence passed between the two Striders in the dream room, long enough that Dirk thought the bubble might pass before their conversation finished. Luckily, Bro finally spoke up again.

"Would you believe me if I said I genuinely believed I was doing right by him?"

Dirk looked over at Bro's back. Would he believe that? Probably. Dirk himself acted oddly, even badly, towards others in the attempt to help them improve or grow. Brobot, for example, was literally designed to help Jake learn to protect himself and get combat experience in a controlled manner. Ignoring the fact that the robot was also a bizarre attempt at flirting of course...

Bro continued without an answer. "I knew about the game a little, we all did. Rox, Harley, Mrs. Egbert and her son... We all knew. We had to prepare the kids for what was to come."

Dirk hummed as Bro took a drag of his cigarette. "So, what," he began. "You tortured and abused him to, what? Teach him something?"

Bro shrugged noncommittally. "Eh, more or less I guess."

"You kicked him down the fucking stairs."

Dirk really needed to recognize when to shut the hell up. First the question itself, now the angry blurting out? Jeeze, he really needed to take a chill pill. He could defend himself if it came to a fight, sure, but he wasn't sure he wanted to see what this version of him was capable of with twice the lifetime of training.

Bro turned to look at Dirk, something angry in his demeanor. "You try it," he snipped. "You try being 20 fucking years old and suddenly having to be a father without support. Most I had was fucking Dennis, and that guy was borderline useless."

Dirk stared blankly. "...Just because you were 20, without help, doesn't mean you should have treated Dave that way," he retorted. "Dave trusted you for love, support, and affection. You gave him a bruise in the shape of your foot on his sternum at least once."

Suddenly, Bro seemed to vanish. Dirk stood sharply, swearing. He was familiar with his own flash step, but he wasn't accustomed to someone else doing it.

As suddenly as Bro vanished, he reappeared in front of Dirk, making the younger Strider fall back onto the futon. He put his foot up, lightly pressing it into Dirk's chest. "Yeah, yeah I did," he drawled, almost sounding bored were it not for the tenseness in his shoulders. "I left a lot of bruises on him, left a lot of scrapes from the roof."

Dirk squirmed a bit as the pressure on his chest increased as Bro leaned down.

"I was trying to teach him skills he needed to survive that damn game, to persevere and do shit like help your sorry ass."

From the new angle, Dirk could see through Bro's shades. A familiar orange color, perhaps a bit more gold than his own. But more than their color, Bro's eyes were slightly widened. Not enough to really raise his eyebrows over his shades, but it made him look unhinged. Like something in his head had snapped a bit and he was one more comment away from losing his cool.

Was this how others viewed Dirk? As one little thing away from losing it and pinning people to futons under his foot?

Was this an angle Dave had seen Bro from? And, shit, if it was, Dave wasn't the height then that he is now. Dirk frowned as he pictured a much smaller Dave, maybe shaking and scared, with Bro's heavy sneaker pressed into his tiny abdomen. Dirk wouldn't be surprised if crying in fear was one of the things Bro scared Dave from doing earliest.

Bro muttered, "Dave needed to be independent and able, and willing, to draw blood to save his own ass. He needed to be smart, adaptable, and able to feed himself. I couldn't, in good conscience, let him grow up and be scared of weapons or pain. He couldn't be afraid of surprises or the obscene. He needed to have the skills to fucking survive."

So, here were Bro's reasons.

Honestly....

Probably not unlike the reasons Dirk himself would have given had he been in that situation.

And that tore Dirk up inside.

Was he truly so capable of disregarding the actual feelings and affection of a child in favor of hurting them for a long term goal? Was he really so callous and cruel?

Was he really capable of putting a shoe print bruise into the chest of someone he loved?

And that actually brought up a new question...

"Did you even love Dave?"

Bro's eyes sort of slumped into grief before vanishing behind the shades again as Bro pulled away. Bro sighed, "Obviously."

"He doesn't seem to know that."

"He does know that. He's a smart kid, he-".

"Did you ever tell him? Like, outright, 'hey, man, I love you'? Or was it more like, you bought him apple juice and his collectables and thought he could infer from there?"

Bro sat back down, grumbling. "I don't know, okay?"

Dirk let out a little puff of relief as Bro plopped down. He did not like being on the receiving end of a threatening bespatted shoe. Bespatted? Was that a word? Either way, Bro wore spats and that was ominous on its own.

The two sat in silence for a time, ignoring each other, but eventually, Bro mumbled. "Dave was all I had..."

Dirk looked over, curious and confused. Didn't Bro say he had... Who was it? Dennis? Who the hell was that, anyway?

Bro sighed, taking off his hat and shades. He rubbed his face with his hands then left his hands over his eyes, unwilling to look at Dirk. "Sure, my buddy Dennis was around..." Ah, Dennis again. Cool. Cool. New info maybe.

"But he was really only about to help with Game Bro," Bro continued. "And he hated it when Dave cried. Once told me I should lock him in the bedroom to get him to stop."

Bro dropped his hands to let them rest in his lap, letting Dirk see his face for what it was. Sunken cheeks, heavy eyes bags resting under feral orange eyes, freckles dusting his nose, and a few pockmarks on his cheeks. His crooked, broken Roman nose sat almost... Blandly on his face, instead of standing out beautifully. Dirk absently touched his nose, wondering if his was as improperly healed as Bro's from Sawtooth breaking it at least once...

"I know I wasn't 'Dad of the Year', or whatever," Bro muttered as he stared off. "But I would have given anything for that kid. I wasn't warm or cuddly with him for the most part, but... Fuck, I would have sooner burned the world and myself than watch him be harmed in any real way."

And somehow... Dirk believed him.

He understood how it felt to truly care for someone, to want them safe, and to be willing to destroy himself and everything for one person. At one point, maybe that was Jake, but now? Maybe it was Dave, just like it was for Bro. Dirk sighed a bit. "You should consider telling him these things, man," he said. "He doesn't exactly realize how much you gave a shit."

Bro didn't respond, not to that part anyway. He slipped his shades back on and turned back to his game. "Dirk," he started. "Make the best of our second chance. I fucked up our first one. Be a better man than I am."

Dirk stared a bit, swallowing as the meteor began to full pass through the bubble. "I... I'll try."

Bro nodded and then, Dirk was left alone, his room his once again.

[zan0tix]

STRILONDE ATTACK!!

[thefishermanwizard]

Guardian swap au for 4/13 ^ ^

[bootpoot]

jesus man

[eggwishing]