Dating in Spacetime
Dating.
Dating Jade Harley is awesome. More than awesome, but trying to come up with an adequate, elaborate metaphor would probably turn into a way sicker, yet no less wordy, version of Shakespeare. In rap form. None of that a horse, a horse, iambic pentameter crap. Or maybe it might just come naturally. Really, who would know unless someone laid down a sick beat?
Anyways, yes. You and Jade are goofily in love, dating, and you'd venture to say somewhere in the ballpark of extremely happy. That's where you're at, and you imagine that Harley's ass is parked right next to yours. Except it's probably not, because as if Jade could sit down for an extended period of time anywhere. She loves to roam around, explore, grab your hand and lead you every direction that she feels like going, and that was all good, because wherever she went, she wanted you there, and wherever she was, was where you wanted to be.
Your dates were almost always spontaneous.
"Let's go out!" Jade would announce. It was an announcement, not really a question.
So then you'd put on whatever clothes you think suited the weather best, usually some neutral outfit that could go anywhere, because that was exactly the sort of thing that you had to be prepared for. Anywhere and anything.
Once you ended up on a three mile hike up a mountain trail. More often than not, the two of you would wander into some random restaurant that drew in Jade's sensitive nose. Another time she traipsed into the middle of a ballroom dance lesson in the middle of the park, and guess what you two did for the next hour? You can now add waltzing to your million and a half ways Dave Strider can woo a lady. Particularly Jade, because she can't do any Latin dancing, but somehow waltzing was easier.
You two have ended up going to a club four times. It always happened when you guys went out late at night. Funny, because you are a DJ, and Jade could go to a club whenever you were mixing, but no. She liked that you guys could dance together instead of her watching from the crowd, moving to your admittedly super ill beats with strangers. She did like going up with you sometimes, but it was a different experience.
Jade's dancing moves were... wild, to say the least. It wasn't really rhythmic, graceful, or sexual. It was all for her own fun, her own want to keep moving, to enjoy being. You appreciate that about her. She grabs your hands, smiling, laughing, yelping out these joyful noises as she gets swept up in the energy of it all. Every now and then, you loose yourself just as much. Oddly enough, people think you're a great dancer or something, because sometimes when you're not watching, people start gathering and the cheering voices multiply from one Jade Harley, to a crowd of random strangers. Oops, you started a dance circle. Jade beams at you proudly and hugs you when you shuffle over to her in the ring that formed around you. Someone else starts to break it down in the center, and Jade watches in amazement. She doesn't yell as much as she does for you, but she's supportive. She never stops moving the whole time.
You guys have a routine, though. On her own, Jade flails and twirls sporadically, but when it comes to you two together, somehow it ends up a pretty darn cool spectacle. There's this look that you give each other, and then you know it's on. The crowd whoops as you pull her to the center, and then you're sliding, dipping, shuffling together all for fun, definitely for show. Your hands meet, you slide away and back to one another. Throw in some classic moves and a couple of nostalgic throwbacks. In the end, everyone is cheering while you've got a smug face on, and Jade's "serious dance" face melts into one of pure giddiness. You high-five and leave everyone to bite your dust. Best couple in the world. Title taken and owned. Then you're off.
She's the kind of girl you can take anywhere. Your girlfriend is just as cool lounging on your couch playing video games as she is when she's dressed up for some fancy party that Rose has thrown for Kanaya. She kind of has this way of making everyone around her happy. It's not like how you can talk your way through anything and any situation; it's this genuine sort of attitude she gives off. Her sweetness is almost always present, but the underlying snarky attitude comes in different levels. It goes from zero with Rose, all the way to 60 and beyond with Karkat.
You've seen all ranges of the Harley emotional spectrum. You've been the happy recipricantt of her utmost joy as she flings herself at you like she's just been sprung from a rubber band slingshot, and you've also seen her devastated. The two of you have gotten into some pretty heated arguments, and um... make up... sessions.
Okay, so what?
You'd never thought of her in that way, really, before you started dating. Who wants to think about banging one of their best friends? Well okay, it's sort of a thing you can't help sometimes, but no. No, no. For as long as you had a major crush on the girl before you got together, any of those thoughts were promptly pushed out of your mind with a shake of your head. We're friends, you'd think to yourself. I am not going to think about Harley that way, you'd chant to shut the thoughts from your mind.
Well, now you definitely think of her that way. She gives you no option.
Did she always have a flirty look? Like, you swore she was all bright eyes and "let's go have fun!" before, but now she's all... bright eyes and "let's go have some fun," in a way that makes your throat dry and your face flush.
But then again, you are hella mad flirting and teasing with your girlfriend all the time.
Were you guys always this way? All those times John or Rose got all up in your grill telling you two to stop being so gross, was it that obvious? Because they said that sort of stuff for years before you guys ever had a thing going on, but maybe you had a thing going on all this time anyways.
"Go get a room already!" John would whine and make puking gestures.
Rose was sometimes more subtle, raising a brow at you that said, "Really?"
It was so funny how you thought dating Jade would ruin the four-way best friend dynamic. Then one day you both bit the bullet and decided you'd had enough of this UST crap.
It wasn't as weird and scary and life-changing as you thought when you two started dating. Maybe they were right. It just kind of seemed like this natural progression. Then again, that's how your relationship with Terezi went. Actually, that whole thing was like this big old fizzle. Like a firework that started as a slow burning friendship, then exploded into this really rad (and colorful, Terezi was always about the colors) relationship, and finally fizzled out. Both of you were disappointed, but it was somehow fine. It was short-lived, and ended up as a fun memory. You knew though, that dating Jade would be a different story, and you definitely hoped for it. You didn't want this to end up as some mistake for you to shrug off, or something to put in your metaphorical scrapbook (because let's just admit it, your scrapbooking skills are novice). What you wanted with Jade was something that would last.
And so far, so good.
It's been nearly two years now, and you seem to be doing fine. More than fine, actually. You're both young and incredibly immature, but your brother once told you that no one ever "grows up," and no adult actually has all their shit together. It makes you think about maybe doing something whenever you hear one of those ridiculous ads for jewelry stores on the radio. You've taken glances at Jade's ring finger with moderate frequency lately, and you have the same fascination with yours.
Is two years too short? Are you both too young?
No, and probably.
You never make too many plans for the future. Not because you think it's too definitive or anything. Jade is just sporadic, and you, well you're just laid back. What big things do you plan that would exclude each other anyways? Friends had birthday parties, and you'd both go. You had a gig somewhere, and yeah, she'd go. She always went to support you even before you had started dating. You've attended plenty of boring science seminars for her too. It wasn't all bad. There'd be a road trip or flight involved, and a hotel room, so it'd be a vacation.
You think that it doesn't matter. In your head you make plans for the both of you all the time. Your mind is always in the past, present, and future. It jumps between them like the random skipping of Jade Harley's dancing. Here then there, and how did it get there? Then back together. Always back together.
You're definitely in love. Took you forever to stammer out the words, but they pass through the mouth gate freely now. No toll to pay or detours to take. "I love you," happens when you say goodbye on the phone, when you're wishing each other luck, when you say good morning, when you say goodnight. Jade says it all sorts of ways: as she laughs, as she whispers, with a song or with all the casualness that friends have with each other.
It's not everyday that you find out something new about her. Some days pass and you don't learn anything new at all. That's not important. What's important is that everyday you are enthralled by her, inspired by her, happy that she is in your life. Every day you are in love with her. Some moments you are frustrated, and you're both extremely not fun when you're annoyed. Somedays you fight. Somedays are boring. Somedays one of you is sick. Through it all, you love her.
Jade told you once, "Us dating is like the planets moving."
"You mean aligning?" you ask, because wasn't that a thing?
She shook her head. "No, moving. Orbiting and spinning. It's like all of space moving, actually!"
You raised a brow. "How do you figure that?"
That grin. It's so large and undeniable. It's the big teeth and stretched lips that makes your heart feel like it's rocking a drum solo.
"It's so big! Everything happening all at once. It's this big, natural thing where everything is happening and it's unfathomable. All the parts moving. Nothing staying still."
"That's you, Harley."
"No, Dave. It's us. It's us together. Like galaxies swirling. Stars explode and new stars are born, there's so much light everywhere. It's vast, and mind boggling, but it's all so organic and natural. Have you ever seen a supernova? It's crazy..." she rambled on for about twelve minutes explaining all the things she loved about the known universe. After such a passionate and jumbled speech, how could you disagree? If she said your relationship was like all of space, and proceeded to detail how much she loved space, then the light in her eyes and voice were the stars that twinkled into infinity.