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[parodeity]

DAVE STRIDER

consider this your warning about stairs. itll just keep happening bro. im telling you man

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[windeity]

You're cute sometimes. [It's murmured but there's a small sigh.] We can negotiate the terms about cheating later. I still have to get better at the windy thing.

[parodeity]

[ he doesn't catch it, but he hears the part about cheating and sighs before changing topics. ]

Speaking of music, guess what?

[windeity]

[Fine, he goes with it.]

What?

[parodeity]

I'll be workin' with you on the first.

[ elliot texted him like...way early in the month but. ]

[windeity]

You're playing at the wedding? [So basically John's overall demeanor just went from :D to :D! so that's fine.] Elliot talked to you? He said he had a few DJs he was thinking of.

[parodeity]

[ ...he's such a puppy...? ]

Yep. He slotted me in for it. Sent me the set list and the musical tastes of both grooms and everything.

[windeity]

[He's very excited!!!]

That's awesome! I think it will be really fun. I've only spoken to Sorey a few times and I have never met Mikleo but weddings are nice.

[parodeity]

I've actually never been to one really?

[windeity]

Oh? Some parts can be really boring but usually it’s nice seeing two people who love each other so much get to express that love and make it binding. Like. That is another mundane magic thing. And the receptions after can be fun because it’s like food and music and stuff. Nanna’s bakery used to help cater for some weddings.

[parodeity]

I’d ask you to save me a dance but that basically can’t happen. [ Bc the dj is for when the band isn’t playing. ]

[windeity]

[He raises an eyebrow. ] You sure about that?

[parodeity]

Not without looping probably? When you aren’t on the clock I mostly will be.

[windeity]

Sure. [Seems to be all he currently wants to say on that. ] I was going to ask if you wanted to come as my plus one anyway but...this works out better.

[parodeity]

Why? [ let’s just. go with that one. ]

[windeity]

I’m not sure we can even invite people ourselves and I would have figured something out but now I don’t have to. Plus I think you’d be happier being able to DJ.

[parodeity]

I meant why were you gonna ask me, Egbert. [ he can’t tell if he should be reading john one way or another and it’s mildly insanity inducing. ] ...forget I asked.

[ it’s easier to just dodge the question for john so he doesn’t need to bother to dodge it. apple cider that tastes like nothing at all fills his mouth, and dave looks at Christmas lights. ]

[windeity]

Oh. [God. Okay.] I would have asked because I wanted to. I like being with you, you’d know some of the people at the wedding and I like how you look in suits. [... ] It’s fine. It worked out, now we’re both working and it’ll be fun even though I told Elliot payment was not necessary.

[parodeity]

[ john are you ok ]

...do you? [ he’s focusing on the suit thing, bemused, but doesn’t specify. ]

[windeity]

[Haha no. Why does this feel like a test? Not that his answer is any different no matter the question.]

Yes. Is that bad?

[parodeity]

[ is it??? dave is doing the staring thing again, biting his lip. he has a lot of questions (is this a date, does john actually find him attractive on more than an aesthetic level, does john derive some sort of weird pleasure from slowly driving dave crazy) but most of them feel unfair because john asked for time and dave said okay so he’s just committing to losing his sanity. it’s not like it ever did him any good anyway. ]

The bigger problem with the dancing thing is the part where you have told me multiple times you don’t. [ despite dancing with dave twice. ] I’m an asshole but I’m not enough of an asshole to make you do that with like, people around.

[windeity]

I know you aren't. [Which doesn't answer Dave's thoughts, like, at all, and instead it just opens a whole other can of worms in that John's already thinking about other things that may or may not involve dancing. Still, he does his best to keep things casual even while internally freaking out suddenly.]

It's okay. We can worry about all of that later, the wedding's not until New Year's Day anyway.

[parodeity]

...it may not be relevant by then, so don’t sweat it. [ because what the fuck is he doing with his life? it shouldn’t be entertaining stupid ideas about john when he still can’t tell what john wants and when he’s pretty sure he knows how it ends even with the slight uncertainty. dave lets the cider fall into his sylladex and retrieves his hand from john so he can shove both of them in his pockets, making a face and choosing to pretend the conversation didn’t happen at all. ]

I think the Christmas light ranking system should involve rankings for effort. Like, was your elaborate display store bought and paint by numbers or is there actual creativity? You know?

[windeity]

[...ouch. Okay, well...John's just going to pretend that wasn't a thing and looks away, focused on the houses instead of the fact that he's not sure what to do with his hands now.]

I would agree with that. Anybody can set up something straight out of a box but it takes talent to throw stuff together in a huge display. That's why I'm excited to see the last block.

[parodeity]

[ look. that was definitely cruel but dave is at least trying to rein himself in and that means trying not to get carried away and doing something stupid like forming expectations or whatever and jfc he was pretty stupid to ask for that second kiss. on the other hand he’d asked for it because he’d figured it was a one time thing or very well might be, so maybe it wasn’t stupid? except now he knows what it’s like so that’s. whatever that is.

he smirks and it’s actually passable because he shifts purely into relying on his acting skills to try to drag things back to normal and away from weird questions or anything pointing to how fucking insecure all of this is making him, waiting for some judgement he doesn’t even know is for sure coming ever. limbo could last for eternity and he really has to acclimate to that possibility. ]

So that’s a guarantee there’s no subpar displays on the last street?

[windeity]

[Cruel is a good word for it, maybe, and John isn’t as good of an actor as Dave so it takes a few moments to gather himself as he finishes his cider and tosses the cup into his sylladex for later. He slips his hands into his pockets after that and keeps his eyes on the houses and displays.

Since he can’t tap into Dave’s head he doesn’t know what he’s thinking and he again thinks Dave was placating him. He’s aware he’s overly afffectionate sometimes but maybe he moved too fast again. It’s why he asked for time. But it’s okay. They can go back to being normal today.]

Absolutely. You can see some of their lights from like six streets over. It’ll be cool. You ready?