GREEN
by kathlaida-princess

Summary:

Your name is Jade Harley and you have just officially decided that people are confusing and frustrating.

A lifetime in a desert island, only dealing with your best friend Bec and your beloved plants and electronic messages, has left you quite excited to finally meeting your best friends face to face. It's just a shame that your expectations have been so thoroughly crushed.

Author's Notes: Hello, dear readers! Direct sequel to Birdbert.

Your name is Jade Harley and you have just officially decided that people are confusing and frustrating.

A lifetime in a desert island, only dealing with your best friend Bec and your beloved plants and electronic messages, has left you quite excited to finally meeting your best friends face to face. It's just a shame that your expectations have been so thoroughly crushed.

Your relationship with your sprite-self was complicated, to say the least, but you've grown compassionate towards her now that you know her hurting, now that she is inside you via God Tier ascent. Frog hunting with Dave was fun while it lasted, but his death caught you by surprise and you're still somewhat recovering from the shock. Dealing with your brother during your first moments in the yellow yard was actually pretty endearing, even if his comments on your new appearance left you a bit distraught.

Being with both him and Dave at the same time, though, that has been pretty taxing. You are currently inside the immense golden ship, in a room away from the consorts, from their mess, from John. The coolkid turned bird sits across you, his long winding tail curled around him, and you've been listening to his woes for a while now. As you gathered from his words, silly, oblivious John has said something to upset him again, in ways you know are dangerously close to have him question his existence once more, and your only futile wish is for people to just get along, is to just return to that ideal image of people knowing exactly what to say to make each other happy and do just that.

But this time the silly, naïve girl is you. Your wish doesn't come true, and you carefully deal with the grim reality you've been given.

"And I don't know, Jade, but I guess I should be expecting this already," his voice drawls, soft and monotone. "I should have known this was a fucking stupid idea from the start but no, he comes and convinces me otherwise. That he'll be good. And I know he is, but it doesn't work that way, now does it. You should have let that meteor hit me before going all-mighty. It would have been better that way. Now I'm tired, I'm flying off the handle completely and you're going to take me to LOHAC right now."

This, however, is where you draw the line. You shake your head vigorously and you hope your panic shows on your face, in ways Dave's desolation doesn't show on his. "I'm sorry, but no way!" you exclaim, and you stand firm in this resolution. "You said it yourself, he is a good boy, and he cares a lot about you, Dave, he does... He just... he just isn't the brightest guy around! Since you just ran away from him and came here, he probably realizes he's done something wrong too... Just talk to him... People would be a lot happier if they just talked to each other!" This last sentence is more of an outburst than actual advice, but Dave doesn't seem to care.

He shakes his head too, "Talk to him... What for? He'll listen and apologize, and then a while later he'll be rambling about oh my gosh how he misses Dave and there's so much stuff he'll have to wait to do with him when I'm right fucking beside him listening as if I'm nothing. I guess it'd be even worse if he actually acted as if I was a replacement of his Dave, and then when I left everything would be fine because he'd be meeting me soon again..." You watch him sigh, and he runs tense fingers through his hair. "He just doesn't know what it was like, you know? To spend all that time without the two of you, knowing I could have done something but didn't. And until I found out that my deal was time traveling, I actually thought I had lost you for good. How it was like to go look for him, excited that yes, I'm meeting him today, I've been waiting for this for so long, and you're greeted by a fucked up mess of blood and flesh and no, this isn't my best friend, and this isn't how it was supposed to go. Maybe I should just tell him that, just how much I..." he hesitates, and instead of continuing, he sighs.

"But I can't do that to him. He is happy and it would be selfish and unfair of me to just ruin that, since I don't really seem to matter anymore. And I can't deal with it, so I should just go, and you promised you'd help me, Jade."

You sigh, frustrated and sad, and you feel your ears pull back and tense. "And I will, but not like this, and not today! You're being as silly as him if you think you can't talk about him about these things! He can't be very happy, knowing he's hurting you and you won't let him change that! And besides that, how do you think I feel hearing this?"

The anger is palpable in your voice, and you're satisfied to see him consider you seriously now. "Yeah," you continue. "Because I missed you too, Dave. And I know what you've been through, even if I'm not a sprite anymore! And I admired you so much, how you were so helpful when I was just a crybaby... People needed you, and they could count on you. Well, you know what, we still need you, Dave. He needs you. And maybe you don't believe me now, but you need us too. You need him, so much." You watch cringe at this last statement, but he soon relaxes. Maybe this was something he had hoped to keep hidden, but you see the leaked feelings sprawled all over his face.

"Yeah, I realize how you feel about him, Dave. And this time will be good for all of us, you can help each other sort out a lot of issues. And I know that you leaving is unavoidable. I'll let you go when the time comes, and your disposition is much better, that I promise."

You see Dave recoil tighter in his tiny spot, his expression empty yet broken. You hate to see just how pitiful, how tragic he is, and you know a part of him is right in wanting to just end it all. But he deserves this time of happiness. And if your two friends could just talk about it, this would be so much easier!

"I'm sorry for everything, Jade..." his voice comes, catching you off guard, and you almost wish you hadn't almost yelled at him."I talk about him a lot, I guess, but you know I missed you too. You are great to talk to, you know that. You were always amazing to talk with."

"Yeah..." you reply, and you can't help a small giggle. This makes him smile. Good. "Don't worry."

"And I'm sorry about all this mess of abandonment issues and... homoromantic feelings... You were the only one who bought the whole fucking coolkid thing and I managed to ruin that for you... But I'm just so tired, and I don't think any of you give a shit anymore."

You shake your head. "Please don't apologize for that! It's actually a relief to see you so... sweet and human I guess? It's just a shame you never talked about this before the game! We could have done something!"

He snorts, but it isn't much of a happy sound. "Him? I'd probably freak him out then... and now... Now with all these shenanigans and saving two universes and trolls... So many fucking trolls, I don't know what's the deal with them... There's Karkat, and Vriska... They didn't seem to care a lot about us after they got the two of you killed back then..."

"I guess we got over that soon enough... trolls are kind of nice, after all! They've helped us a lot!" you say, trying to defend them.

But he snorts again, "Yeah, I guess it's easy for you to get over it. In any case, with all this happening, it's not my place to say anything about feelings. That's his Dave's job, and with the way things are going... maybe that'll never happen. It's not like that is a big deal. I wouldn't be the first guy going through unrequited love. I'll just have to live with it even if it's only getting worse, and he doesn't have to know. He just needs to be happy, and believe in himself. You can all do this, I know."

These words hurt to hear, and you feel there is little reassurance you can give him. The Heart or Time, and how one can change the other, are not your specialties, and for now you settle with squeezing his glowing, soft arm. He tenses, and looks at the point of contact, but he is smiling slightly as he looks at you, even if somewhat distraught.

"You do have a lot of his goofy looks..." he comments."But it's a shame he doesn't have your brains, Harley."

This makes you giggle and feel quite pleased with yourself, and you listen to him chuckle too. It's always something special being complimented by Dave Strider, after all. You squeeze his arm again before leaning back.

A few moments of silence pass, comfortable, peaceful. This until the door to the deck opens abruptly and no one other than John Egbert is barging in, his face a mask of concern. You're looking at him, but you also notice how Dave is immediately ready to get up, strike whatever is making John this worried. But he just rushes in amidst a flurry of blue and breeze, and he's holding a captchalogue card in his hands and Casey the Salamander and one of Dave's crocodiles have followed him inside. You watch John kneel before Dave, his face basked in the orange glow and still as uncharacteristically worried as before, but John is already twining his arms around Dave's shoulders as the bird-boy opens his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Dave..." he mumbles."And I know you don't like this kind of thing, but I'm worried that you're mad at me, and if I hold you I can just show you how much of a jerk I was and how I regret what I said..."

The Heir of Breath sighs, and from him this gesture sounds more peaceful and more soothing than usual. "I guess I do miss Dave... but you are him, and at the same time you're yourself. And I'm an idiot that can't apparently see that without hurting his best friend in the world. But not anymore, okay? I'm with you. I promise."

The most painful part, you think, is how you can see the two of them but they can't see each other. How easily John misses the momentary anguish in Dave's face and how that expression turns into so much tenderness as he wraps his arms around John's back to hold him too. How John just relaxes, relief washing over him, and as he exhales against the collar of feathers around Dave's neck you're pretty sure he'd understand every feeling, romantic or not, that Dave could reveal to him right now.

But these boys are silly, and people are frustrating, and you just sigh and shake your head: at least Dave will stay now. You hear him mumble something unintelligible, but it must have been amusing, because John is giggling, trembling against him. The embrace lingers but eventually John breaks it to hand Dave the captchalogue card he was carrying. At this, both Casey and the crocodile get really excited, and Dave chuckles as he examines the contents of the card.

"I knew you wouldn't take that long to come apologize," Dave drawls. "You were busy with this."

John giggles again, and he is shrugging, mumbling sheepishly, "I couldn't come empty-handed, so I just searched around and still had an intact birthday cake. And I found a hidden apple juice bottle. You should have seen me, it was like fucking Christmas in there! So I thought, the ideal solution was to alchemize them together, so there you have: John Egbert, sworn arch-enemy of baked goods, has apologized to his best bro with apple cake."

You place a hand over your mouth, stopping yourself from crooning, and you just watch the rest of the spectacle in silence. Dave looks from the card to his friend, and he wears a perfect poker face as he comments, "You know, I'm not really sure if sprites should be eating... I'm fucked up enough as it is."

And at these words you see John's smile falter, fumbling with himself in a, "Oh jeez, I messed up again... Fuck, Dave, I'm sorry, this was a dumb idea after all..." But he doesn't notice Dave putting the card somewhere safe, keeping it, or even the smirk he shows as he shuts John up with a new hug.

"I was just messing with you, man. This is a very cool gift, and you're forgiven. And I hope you watch that good behavior business from now on."

"I promise," John giggles.

And you smile, finding this picture so precious from the outside, but before you know it John is pulling you into this tender embrace as well, and the consorts are exploding with excitement in the background. You laugh, burying your face - dog ears and all - in the warmth and glow of their arms, and for now you are happy with people, and with finally being with your best friends in the world.

I want to write more for this pairing, but not just these tiny things...