parodeity | subnautica ic inbox 3.0;

No. [ immediate, rapid-fire, firm. but then dave flounders, because he's not sure where he's at beyond "no".

there's a flash of memory of dirk saying dave always forces his hand, and he'd had the evidence to back it up. so just...readjust how you put it last time, asshole. dave lets out a breath, slow. ]

It's more than okay. I want to do the dumb family thing, too.

[ didn't actually expect it or think to ask for it this time around, but dave absolutely doesn't want to let dirk defer it now that the offer's been made. ]

Please.

[ it's said too-awkwardly and muttered at the end, but. ]

Okay. Okay, cool. [Rephrase a little. Let Dave know.] Thank you. We can have whatever fun you want?

[pause]

Can I get a piggyback ride down?

[they're seventeen]

[ well he's willing to commit to like, pancakes and then whatever the hell else dirk wants to do before he books it, but dave can't actually think of much he wanted to do beyond > music and books for the day. maybe take some photos of obama if he could track the little dude down and work on their rapport. ]

Yeah, sure. [ maybe it can count halfway as an apology for being in a bad mood, and dave turns back around, waiting more or less patiently for dirk to latch on. ]

[It's flashstep and Dirk's chin on top of Dave's head.]

Any ideas for what you wanna do today?

[sorry Dave]

[ dirk why are you asking him this he's like this close to letting himself just sleep or zone out for most of the day? maybe john will show up and he'll have a minor panic attack he won't text anyone about. that could still happen?

he starts traipsing down the stairs, dirk's weight too easy to balance against. ]

Like, after you're gone? I am goin' to pretend it is the weekend and do the teenage sleep thing, or maybe read some more of the books I am almost certain Rose doesn't genuinely enjoy but is just trollin' me with now. Music, maybe.

No, I meant with me. The current discussion is How Will The Striders Hang Out On Valentine's.

[He moves his head so his head is now over Dave's shoulder.]

Stop shovin' me out the door before I get the chance to be with you, bro.

I thought that discussion was covered with "pancakes", loser.

[ exactly how long does dirk plan to stick around? should dave ask? he's actually not even sure what timeframe he's personally hoping for here. it would be easier to just drop off into a nap or not caring if someone weren't there to tether him to reality, but he's not about to tell dirk to fuck off. it's not what he actually wants. ]

I dunno. Exactly how much time am I supposed to be fillin' here with suggestions?

I arranged to meet Jake late in the day. Five-ish, probably.

[He wanted to squeeze in as much time to hang out with Dave as he could. After a pause, though,]

I can leave early to do whatever if you need space earlier than that. So you aren't locked in.

[There is always the abscond button for Dave.]

Oh.

[ that is

so much more time than he expected, holy shit. ]

Uh...shit why is the first thing to come to mind tony fucking hawk.

[ god DAMNIT brain, dave's not even sure they have skating games. they have movies, at least? ]

Movies?

[When Dirk said the morning was Dave's he meant. A VERY LARGE SPAN OF TIME HERE.]

We could do movies. Unless you want to actually skateboard, in which case we could engineer skateboards and then almost die Just trying to grind them down the staircase. But movies are definitely an option.

[A pause]

You opened yourself up to this when you invited me to be as clingy as I liked.

No, no, I meant - those shitty tony hawk skateboarding games. You know? The ones where I'm not actually sure how the fuck you won, mostly I just made a hobby of finding game glitches.

[ please hold he's still trying to figure out wtf to do with "HELLO, I AM HERE FOR MOST OF THE DAY" as "the morning". what the fuck dirk ]

Lord of the Rings. [ that should waste a lot of time and dirk (probably) won't care if dave zones out or falls asleep during any of them. and they're not a series he feels an intense need to watch super closely, so dave won't mind that either. ] Unless you have some preference. I don't really care?

[ also they are in the kitchen, is dirk getting off or is dave going to cart him around here too what's up ]

[Dirk will hop off here so he can start assembling ingredients and necessary cooking implements. They are, presumably, getting to be good at doing this together? Dirk thought about making the pancakes for Dave but then he remembered Dave likes doing it together so that's why he suggested it like this.]

I'm good with Lord of the Rings. We could maybe mix some music together if you're up for it?

[ dave will help in tandem without really thinking about it. the question at the end is a little harder, because he doesn't really feel like doing something that active, but he doesn't like saying "no" if it's going to cause trouble.

he compromises. ]

Maybe a little later on? It feels like a Monday even though it's a Tuesday.

[ it's the first tuesday evening in a while he'll be doing his own thing, actually. ]

I'm only like 20% awake. Maybe 30%. Maybe that will get a little higher after breakfast though.

That isn't a problem. [He pauses, then, looks back over Dave.] Do you want to switch? I'll give Jake my morning and we can do our movie night, rather than our current movie morning arrangement.

No, it's fine. It's a holiday.

[ and he'd been assuming he'd just kind of do whatever the entire day so it's still weird dirk's sticking around for a portion of it. valentine's falling on a tuesday kind of seemed like a "well obviously we'll delay the whole spending time together thing until whenever the fuck" sign to dave, because valentine's day. ]

Also, that feels like it would be super awkward eventually, so. I'm not gonna die if you leave me alone for a day or something, dude. I promise I am entirely capable of entertaining myself for hours at a time. I have, like, tons of shit to watch or listen to. And also, there is this thing called "sleeping in" that I have heard great reviews about which I have never really gotten around to tryin' out to a super degree. I guess getting up at all put a damper on that plan but I can pretend I didn't and try it out later.

[To all this, Dirk only has one thing to say.]

Dave. You're clearly feeling like shit.

This is clearly all the more reason to let me laze around in bed like an ordinary seventeen-year-old boy?

[ he passes dirk a bowl. ]

I'm fine, dude, there's really no reason to mother hen it up. Just had a night of weird dreams. There's nothing else going on.

[ or nothing he's willing to admit to, so there you go. ]

[He takes this bowl under protest (he does not).]

I'm not going to stop you from lazing around. Like I said, you can always hit abscond with me.

Yeah, I know.

[ he doesn't feel like kicking dirk out yet, though. and has...no interest in kicking himself out, because then he'd actually have to find something to do with his time. what the fuck would that even be? he won't let himself text rose today, john's not around, jade's been off in her own world. probably he could go visit the kharaa, but that'd be a week long trip out and so it's not like a whimsical commitment.

now that he's thought about it, it sounds kind of nice, though. he was always planning on looping in to give them valentines chocolates or whatever (they do appreciate candy) and there's something really uncomplicated about the way they interact with him. it's a relief after too many layers with everyone else. they won't expect anything from him but candy and he can listen to p diddy talk about the drones or whatever and like, probably world conquest unfortunately but dave's mostly used to that. they'll let him stick around however long he wants and will make the time to do pretty much whatever dave tells them will be fun, because they have no sense and neither does he.

dave's 99% sure dirk won't appreciate this particular desire so he just stomps it down. he went quiet a little long contemplating this particular option. ]

Anyway, are these pancakes going to be like...fully chocolate? Or just chocolate chip. I'm not sure what you were goin' for here, I'll be honest.

Chocolate chip. We could look up the recipe for full chocolate if you prefer.

[He is fine either way.]

Whichever you prefer is fine with me.

[ he'll eat whatever they end up with so dirk won't worry himself into a corner or whatever. ]

Pancakes are presumably good in either direction? Like. Pancakes, you know.

I have the recipe for chocolate up, so let's do that.

[Dirk worries that Dave is getting annoyed with his mother henning, so Dirk is trying his best not to be overbearing and pushy. So he will focus on getting the rest of the stuff they need and getting started.]

Chocolate plain or chocolate with chocolate chips?

[ honestly, he just doesn't want to fuck up dirk's day, so the sooner dirk stops worrying about dave the Better. ]

Though at that point it feels like you may as well pour chocolate syrup over the damn things to go full throttle.

[He will never stop worrying about Dave, but he will try to keep it contained.]

We have chocolate syrup.

[If Dave is suggesting then this is where Dirk will die, today, at Dave's side.]

...I'm genuinely not sure I can handle that much sugar now that I've suggested it, but why the fuck not.

[ he lifts one shoulder, lets it drop. ]

What other chocolate shit do we have?

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