rhapsodeity | 🌟INBOX

[ apparently this has pissed her off enough to get a response??? ]

that fucking post that we were threading under was my complaint!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but i guess it is not legitimate enough so dont worry i did you a favor and now you dont have to look at my complaints anymore

what
oh shit right it was
im sorry thats my bad
i forgot what your original point was at some point after we like
started talking about weddings

jade cmon i do want to hear about your complaints
and they are legitimate
i just kind of forgot that was the thing we were talking about originally
before
i got distracted
im sorry theres not really an excuse for forgetting about that

how can you get distracted by weddings of all things???
i was talking about marrying your pet iguana
did you take it seriously???

i will accept your apology
it made me feel really mad that you werent listening to me, though!
i listen to everything you say, dave!!

no i know
you do listen to everything i say
as long as i say it clearly enough
and i promise i always listen to you
i just forgot for a second what wed been talking about
and that IS my fault and im sorry
ill try not to do it again

and i dont know i guess i took pieces of it seriously
not like
all of it
obviously marrying my iguana is not gonna happen though jokes kind of like
distract me super easy ill admit

for serious though if youre still really mad and want time to cool down ill leave you alone for a bit?

[ okay, scratch the half hour thing. if dave checks retrospec, he'll see that jade's unblocked him now. congratulations!!!

but now she feels like a jerk ]

thank you
and well... :\
im sorry i got so mad
this whole thing has me on edge and mom and dad are fighting on that app now
i dont really want to be like them, not in the sense of fighting that often and publicly

[ WAIT ]

that is to say, i dont want our friendship to be like that
from now on, i am not letting anything bother me
scouts honor

[ excellent save, wolf. he wont suspect a thing. ]

[ ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.

he can't decide if he thinks that was a Hint or not and he can't ask anyone since THIS isn't public. SHIT??? ]

jade no look you absolutely do not need to scouts honor that
im an obnoxious asshole sometimes im gonna bug you
and when i do id prefer you let me know i guess?
like we dont have to argue about it ill back off if i know ive upset you
but like
dont bundle it up and never say ok
i think that might be worse in the longrun
but
we can always take that kind of discussion private
i dont think itll happen often
i mean
how often do we really fight?
its been almost ten years and its not really super common

sorry about your parents though
im sure theyll chill out in a bit as soon as we all find our footing

well, not very often

[ it's mostly the fact that she kind of wasnt sure why dave would be so concened with her wedding?? and then that on top of bigby and liz bickering in public about their sex life or whatever. jade's kind of used to it at this point - bigby is the sort to disregard any requests for affection until elizabeth sort of just. grabs him. he doesn't mind, but it leads to weird arguments and jade's sort... wary.

also he's definitely sleeping on the couch tonight, so like. Love Is Dead, temporarily. this conversation would be a lot easier in person so they could just hug it out??? ]

this whole thing has made me so tired
i guess you are right, but in the end i feel so silly
bottling it up is pretty unhealthy, but you didnt deserve me yelling at you, dave :(
everything is stressful as fuck!
but youre always there for me so it hurt a lot more this time i guess
because you are kind of obnoxious, no offense :/

they arent even arguing about the app
it is some weird gross stuff

[ look

dave strider has a lot of feelings about jade wolf's hypothetical wedding don't fucking doxx him on this fact ]

no offense taken i know i can be a bag of dicks
i typically dont intend to be a bag of dicks to you though

[ like. he goes out of his way to not be a jackass to jade so when he manages it he feels terrible? ]

dont feel silly it was reasonable to get mad at me
i hurt you even if it wasnt intentional and that still counts for something
i dont like hurting you so ill keep it in mind you know
here look
whats your favorite song right this second

ok im not gonna ask for deets because you might give them to me
but if you want to vent im always around

[ stop sending mixed signals, dave ]

ugh i dont want to think about that
dont call yourself that!

what
my favorite song right now?
your type
why???

trust me
you dont want the deets
dont look at the thread they have with mr dawes :\
i kind of wish i hadnt

aw man
i shouldve known it was jenson
god ok
pick up?

[ because he's actively calling jade. and when she picks up he will actually. start to sing this stupid fucking song rather than say anything at all. he doesn't have the music queued or anything but he does know the words to like every carly rae jenson song DESPITE HIMSELF. why is this jade's favorite artist, god.

his voice is way lower than carly's but hey he can sing so. ]

[ what the fuck. did i not just say stop sending mixed signals, dave.

this is the ultimate mixed signal. jade loves carly because carly is the best, but she hits a certain niche of jade's with sounding old school yet modern enough that it sounds a little vintage. it's the elizabeth in her. and it's only natural that dave knows the entirety of carly's discography at this point, because jade will play entire albums through to the end when they're in the car together, when she gets the aux cord. he has to suffer pop music. at least it's not hilary duff.

jade picks up immediately because she's not really mad at dave, anymore, and because he asked her to. there was a question mark at the end and dave's lazy enough about his texting that the fact he used a question mark shows that it is a request above all else. so yes, she answers, and she listens, and my god is she charmed. taylor swift would blush. she can't write a love story this good.

by the time dave finishes, her face is buried in her pillow and she's got him on speaker phone toe ensure she can still hear him. oh my god?? she knows dave doesn't sing often, it's like, one of those things he's quiet about. he's musically inclined but... ]

...I thought you wanted a balcony scene!

[ he can probably hear her giggling and the rustle from her pillow as she lifts her head up. oops ]

[ be real, jade, this signal isn't mixed at all. jade said she was tired and stressed out and dave's not sure he's like, good enough at advice to help with that really. he wants to be, but he isn't always, and just letting her vent will do something but what he wants, generally, is for jade to be happy again. so he'd asked for her favorite song with exactly one intent because no matter what he's feeling when jade starts singing at him? by the end - by the end of the first few notes, even - he's smiling.

maybe it goes both ways.

so he sings her a song that makes him feel pretty ridiculous and maybe a little sad - a story about a girl who won't be more than a friend to someone she loves. he didn't bother to pitch his voice high, and he didn't change any of the words, so. just dave. singing about how he's a girl and stuff. yep.

it is a good thing dirk moved out because he's lying on his bunk and no one else needed to witness this, ever. dave's phone is between his shoulder and his ear and he huffs a laugh at the sound of jade's laughter. ]

Eh. It occurs to me your dad would maybe interrupt a little more than my parents do. But if you want me to break out the boombox and come wait to get growled at as I sing to you, I totally will.

[ the point of a mixed signal is you yourself don't know it's mixed, but the other person does. ten minutes ago, she was furious and hurt, and now she's laughing into her pillow because if there's anyone who knows how to cheer her up, it's dave. it's been nearly a decade, why is she ever surprised at how easily and quickly he can coax a smile out of her?

he's not wrong, but bigby's also not home. jade's face is bright red and she's already sore from grinning, though, and she's not sure she wants to set herself up for a "babe come over" meme.

instead, she reaches over, and her ukulele is resting on the wall by her bed. there's a soft twang from the strings as she picks it up and then her phone is on her pillow so she can shift, move her body and sit up. ]

Let's meet half way, then!!

[ give her a minute to tune it and then, once she's sure the call's still on, jade starts up with the first few chords of somethin' stupid by frank and nancy sinatra. she's pretty positive dave's probably heard it thanks to her mother, because jade knows it for the same reason. still: ]

Do you know this one?

[ yeah, he recognizes the tune immediately. and oh my god jade who's playing mixed signals now? what are these song choices? this song literally has the words i love you in it and it makes it sound like it'd be a mistake to say and does that mean she knows or that she doesn't? logically dave knows this isn't as high-stakes as it feels like it is, but shit. it feels like he's trying to decide whether or not to jump out of an airplane.

he flips his phone to speaker and drags his hands down his face. maybe it's a seventeen years old thing, but right now dave feels like he's experiencing torture along right alongside a very sweet sort of happiness. he can't decide if it's great or terrible. it's possibly both at once.

hearing her sing the actual lyrics at him will be horrible. and wonderful? he should maybe not do this to himself, dancing along the edge of how much can you take, dave, before you crack.

but he can't say no to jade? ]

Of course I do.

[ and his voice is maybe a little too full of affection and amusement despite everything. but ignore that. he crosses his arms over his chest rather than being ridiculous and dramatic, for a bit.

he'll start to sing when she hits the notes where he should, you know, do that. ]

[ you're acting like jade has never told you she loves you, dave. it's rare and not something that comes up often, but jade's not embarrassed to admit it. it's just fact, and she's sure it's just fact for dave, too. they don't say it, but they are best friends, they both know that. they have to love each other, that's the number one rule of being best friends.

jade picks somethin' stupid because she feels a little stupid, and she feels a little foolish, but it feels a little right, too. dave has a way of making things feel okay, even if they're not, and it's that feeling that she thinks got her dad to propose to her mom. (six years after jade was born.) but jade's also pretty sure that all the flirtatious comments and just vaguely questionable signal are nothing in the end, for dave - he says things even more scandalous to rose. if he actually felt anything for her, she thinks he'd probably act on it, so picking a song that paints a story about someone who just can't help themselves despite the other party being disinterested feels a little too true to life. she realizes this in the middle of the second chorus, and it's a little heavy on heart.

but dave's still on the line, so she carries the tune as well as she can.

jade's not a particularly accomplished vocalist, but she tries and it's fun in a strange way; singing i love you to someone you know you've loved for years now feels exciting, like she's doing something special.

it's just a song, though, and belatedly, she remembers she lives with other people. ]

...It's not a balcony duet, but it wasn't that bad, right?

[ yeah, these songs sure do have a theme, don't they. and yeah, jade's said the words before, but it's always been because they're best friends, and it's been rare even when it wasn't at all dampened or held back or small. the last few times it's come up dave has been embarrassed (ok, maybe he has always been embarrassed) and it's been just shy of what he wants to hear.

rose had told him earlier that his goal was perfectly well within reach and she'd meant asking jade out. dirk keeps just telling him to do it. roxy, too.

still, the idea of potentially losing ten years of friendship or making it awkward when it's usually as easy as breathing is terrifying enough that his throat closes up every time he tries. ]

How would it be? I always like it when you sing, I've told you.

[ accompished vocalist or not, he just likes jade's voice. talking or singing or whatever. shit. that thought was too sappy to even think. ]

[ that is true. he does. if he didn't like it, she wouldn't make it a near nightly thing to show up outside his window, ukulele in hand, and sing to him. they both know this, but dave assumes jade's comments on her singing, and. she'll take it. it's conversation. ]

You have! But I'm not as good as you. [ and she probably says that too often, but there are things about dave that jade things are just too great - his musical talents are one of them.

but she shifts again, flopping back down onto her pillow so that when he talks, it sounds like he's laying next to her. ] I meant because we're not on a balcony, though.

Sure we are. It's just a metaphorical balcony. Which is obviously the best kind, Wolf. My callin' you up? The ringtone was the pebbles at the window. This was me singin' at you and you lettin' yourself be sung at. Until you joined in, I mean.

[ maybe it's a stretch of a metaphor, but. it was so a balcony scene, jade. because dave says so. and he can ramble it into being one, maybe? ]

[ metaphorical balcony is a concept that gets her to laugh so hard she snorts unattractively, and jade slaps a hand over her mouth to try and muffle it it. too late, though, there's no way he didn't hear that. he probably doesn't need to hear her say it; she'll take a balcony scene over the phone. if dave meant it that way, then that's what it is. ]

Duuuuuuh, Dave! It's always a duet at the balcony, even if they part in the middle of the song.

Ok, you're right, it usually is. It'd be kind of lame to be like Snow White's duo? Where he didn't really totally join in, did he?

[ the prince, dave means. he doesn't remember. it barely matters. ]

Hey, Jade?

[ jade hasn't consumed a fairy tale in a while, and even then, she can't remember the last time she watched. any snow white adaption. her response is a thoughtful hum; she really has to think about that.

dave saves her from diving into embarrassing childhood memories, though. ]

Yeah? [ ... ] Bro?

[ jade doesn't use slang a lot - neither of her parents do, but sometimes jade tries to meet dave in his vernacular. sometimes. ]

[ there's another soft laugh. ]

Just...I know it's really stressful right now? But I will always be here when you need me. Even if I fuck up lettin' you know it sometimes. So...if you ever want me to sing you somethin' or just listen, please tell me?

[ there have been a lot of moments tonight where jade has sort of wondered what kind of game dave's playing here. that's not to say that she hasn't wondered the same before, but tonight has been a series of mental "holy shit"s. this would have been a milion dollar hour spent together if she'd said any of those "holy shit"s out loud.

this is one of those moments. jade doesn't know how to take this because it's sweet. it is incredibly sweet and she immediately wants to repay the favor. even putting aside her feelings, dave is her best friend and she never wants their relationship to be take and take. there's got to be a steady flow of giving and receiving on both ends.

she knows, though, that she gets a headache when she's upset. a lot of that is because jade takes frustrations out on herself by bottling it up until she wants to explode. she'd said she had a headache earlier and it probably would have turned into a migraine if she hadn't tried to talk it out with dave.

it's kind of impossible to be upset when he's talking, though.

it just makes her zone in on him and everything feels a lot more - it's better, and grounded and not so hard. ]

...Thank you, Dave. [ she means it, even though it takes her a while to answer. ] I may take you up on that. [ probably - old habits die hard, but jade will try, at least. she'll get better about it as time goes on, she hopes. ] I want to do the same for you! Maybe I'm not a fancypants pianist with a bunch of musical talent, but I'll do my best!

[ the joke is that dave isn't playing any sort of game. he barely ever is, when he's talking to jade or anyone else he loves: he's being entirely sincerely genuine, as best he can be.

maybe that's it's own sort of game, though. ]

Talkin' to you always helps. [ like, there. there we go. another genuine statement. ] So don't sweat it so much. And you may not be a fancypants pianist, but you are a brainiac scientist. It evens out?

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