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[parodeity]

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[parodeity]

It's not the same thing.

[ puppets and flashstepping are a hair different from this. ]

That's just acclimation to a thing that doesn't hurt, but might. Or ignoring the things they make me think of.

[splinten]

It's called a simile, or an analogy. The same in the relevant respect.

[Dirk is such a paint o deal with and he knows it.]

[parodeity]

They're not the same, though. It's a different thing. The whole - what I got upset about here thing, it's not a thing you can acclimate me to if you're not ok with me just learning to deal with the pain.

[ he's not sure how to explain it, and hes not sure he wants to. ]

[splinten]

I agreed they aren't the same. [His voice is quieter.] It's okay to say exactly what you got upset about.

[parodeity]

I don't want to. In this case, you have way more of a right to be upset than I ever did. I'm the one who missed a beat.

[ also: ]

They're not the same in the relevant respect.

[splinten]

The relevant respect is that it's okay you're fucked up about it, and that you want to have a response that's better for us both.

[That's what matters to Dirk. He's quiet but he's also frowning, and he hasn't let go of Dave's hand.]

And for my side of it, that I need to learn how to support you instead of trying to shield you from the problem altogether.

[parodeity]

No, it's not. And I want - all I want is to not be put in the situation where I'm going to feel like that again and again. I can take it if I have to. If you want me to, I can. But I don't want to repeatedly stab myself. Not really. Not when it means stabbing you by proxy every time, too.

[ it's not an issue if the issue isn't even on the table. ]

[splinten]

Alright. We'll stop.

[It isn't the right choice, it's something important and they both need it. They could work on it. They could find systems, find ways so Dave didn't weigh himself so much on one thing, spread things out, give alternatives and routes so that they will always have security that some time is set aside for just them, specially, regularly. They could work on it and they could get better.

But Dave isn't ready to work on it. He wants to take it off the table. And Dirk isn't Dave's guardian, and even if he were he wouldn't have any right to make him do this just because he knows best. It isn't like he's never been wrong about knowing best before]

[parodeity]

[ it's probably the wrong choice but dave relaxes. he's constantly telling dirk he doesn't want to rely on him like he does, and it's safer not to, and this feels like the safest choice. there is absolutely no feasible way that he'll feel like a nothing-afterthought if there's no situation in which there has to be some kind of choice about how dirk spends his time. there's no way to break promises you don't make.

as long as he simply never commits to any solid timeframe about plans with dirk ever again, it's fine. as long as he doesn't ask for anything, he won't get a "no" in response. ]

Thank you. [ he doesn't ask if they're ok like he sometimes does, because dave knows the answer. ] Anything else?

[splinten]

[Dirk shakes his head. He should talk to Dave about John. He doesn't think he can.]

[parodeity]

Ok. I'm goin' with Rose sometime tomorrow. We'll be back right after, as usual.

[ he closes his eyes again, mostly because he doesn't think he should be allowed to look at anyone right now. "i'm sorry" is heavy on his tongue but he doesn't let it out. ]

[splinten]

Yeah.

[Ah. Dirk isn't breathing. He should work on that. He should do... something.

He pulls Dave into his arms, and he hugs him. There's something desperate in it this time. He is so, so lost, and he doesn't know how to fix anything.]

[parodeity]

[ dave's doing the thing he does where he pulls back hard at the first sign of a burn, a tactical retreat without any sense of strategy. he's not so far gone he doesn't immediately curl into dirk and hug back, although he has hit the point before where he doesn't want that comfort. at least it only got that bad once.

he presses his face to dirk's shoulder and counts the seconds as they slip by. ]

I do love you. [ i'm sorry with a shade of goodbye. ]

[splinten]

I know. [He does know. He doesn't doubt it anymore.] But you're making the wrong choice.

[parodeity]

I don't want -

[ dirk told him earlier he could say whatever had upset him but dave still doesn't know how. ]

It's not the wrong choice. I don't want to associate you with feeling like nothing at all. [ so he can't let the possibility exist, full stop. ]

[splinten]

[Ah. He closes his eyes.]

It makes sense you might feel like that because of me. Out of everyone, I'm probably the person who can do it to you easiest, even when I think that I'm doing the opposite.

[parodeity]

It's not the wrong choice.

[ his hands twist in the fabric of dirk's shirt and dave pulls closer. ]

It's not.

[splinten]

[Dirk doesn't fight that. He keeps himself as he is, holding Dave. Not letting go.]

I'm pretty confident that you know it is. In the right choice, you have to keep putting yourself at risk until you start to believe that you're never nothing to me, no matter what. The choice you're making right now only protects you by letting you think it but never risk thinking it's been confirmed.

[parodeity]

It's not. The other choice is worse.

[ he can take it easily, pretend it doesn't hurt and pretend he isn't wary every second about whatever plan dirk puts into play. the next time there's a broken promise he won't flinch.

but dirk's gotten dave twisted up about lying and he'd usually say it was better but he can't fucking choose. ]

[splinten]

There are more than two choices. [Dave is holding him like this and Dirk knows he's right.] I know that you don't want to just let me go like this. I also know that you have really good reasons to be frightened about relying on things that can vanish.

Most of all, I know that you're never nothing to me. You're my brother, who has spent ten months with me trying to work on things and opens up to start conversations with me now, sometimes. You're the person who understands me the way no one else can, and who gets all the ways that I'm messed up and helps me with them. You saved me when I hated myself so much I never wanted to force my presence on anyone again, and guided me through hating myself and everything I've done, towards fixing what's wrong with me and accepting that there are actual positive things about me. You're who showed me how to support without being controlling or dominating and that I learn better if I'm kinder to myself instead of crueller. You're the best teacher I ever had. You get my sense of humour. You follow along with whatever metaphor I bring in and develop it. You called me stained glass. You're important and irreplaceable, and I need you. There isn't anyone else I want to share a bunkbed with.

That isn't nothing. If you don't feel that then we need to do some more work, and I'm willing to do that. I'll work out what we have to until you believe it all the time. But ultimately, working on that with me is a choice you have to make. That isn't worse than giving up on us.

[parodeity]

[ there's a problem here and it started when dave crashed into texas on a meteor and a different iteration of dirk strider picked him up. dirk has had ten months against thirteen years (sixteen years, seventeen years) of influence.

it's not enough to tip those scales. dave's voice is very small when he says: ]

I don't believe you.

[ logically, yeah, dirk loves him and he matters, but no. dave has never believed that he's always something and not ever in certain circumstances nothing. the missteps are a confirmation of the wrong thing and dave takes them all to heart. he matters more to dirk than he ever did to bro, sure. but that only goes so far, and he doesn't (does?) want to believe that it will ever go any further. ]

I'll believe you less with every broken promise, and that isn't fair. So I don't want to make them.

[ don't promise to stay, don't promise to be there, don't promise eternity to the time player who knows how long it lasts. ]

[splinten]

I know.

[He understands why. He knows that the odds are stacked against him. He knows that another version of him poisoned the well before he could even say hello.

GT: Doesn't that mean they also knew they weren't going to be able to stop the witch?
TT: Probably.
TT: But they went down fighting anyway.
GT: Wow.
GT: Thats brave and kind of sad.
TT: Yeah. But wouldn't you?

He should have known the biggest enemy he'd ever have to face off again would always be another iteration of himself.]

I'd like to help you believe me more.

[parodeity]

I don't know how you can.

[ he genuinely doesn't. because, like - ]

You can do everythin' right and I still shatter.

[ and it's so stupid and he can't even get away with a laugh and a joke because dirk's always watching out for them. ]

[splinten]

I'm reasonably confident the times when you shatter have not been incidents when I did everything right.

[Like he is. Just saying? He is pretty sure there were missteps in those incidents.]

[parodeity]

You behave like an ordinary human bein', I flip out, it's clearly not your fault.

[ do you wanna go, bro ]