He held her face with his palms, feeling tears gather at the edges where his skin met hers. Skin or whatever he was made up of now. Either way, he could feel them as they fell from her big green eyes.

She looked up at him crying more.

"I like you..." she choked out.

He smiled, closing his eyes behind his shades and sighed an, "I like you too, Jade." His thumb brushed away a collection of new tears from her adorably pink cheeks.

"I don't want to go..." She hiccuped a breath.

"Jade, you know you have to. Fate of the universe and all rests on you guys' shoulders."

"B-but you..." she lifted her head and sobbed unrestrained. "I'm scared of what'll happen to youuuu!"

It was dumb and kind of selfish of him, but he thought she had never looked cuter. Her face was puffy and full of tear stains, ears back and eyes watery.

"Don't worry about what'll happen to meeeee," he said a bit mockingly. He placed a hand on top of her head. "I'm surprised I even made it this far." Shoot was he supposed to say that?

She just cried louder, so he guessed it wasn't that great of an idea. "Hey, hey, hey. Hold the phone lines Harley. Just relax." He tried to get her to calm down. "All I'm saying is, we just don't know what's going to happen. We don't know the rules, and hell if we have a clue about what's gonna go down in the Alpha session."

"But you're-"

"From a doomed timeline. I know. Everyone knows. Ha, should've off'd myself before this whole prototyping business. Maybe then this wouldn't be such a shittastic ticking time bomb existence."

"You're not making me feel better!" Jade barked through tears. Literally, it sounded like a puppy yap. He knew she meant it though.

He wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her close. Her face rested in his feathers, ears twitching within view.

"Sorry Jade. I'm not really down with this whole thing sometimes. Pretty much all the fucking time actually." Her shoulders lifted and sank in a quick sob. "But hey, you gotta get yourself together." He smoothed her hair down and exhaled. "It's not like you'll be fresh out of Dave's."

She pulled back, obviously hurt and angry. "I'll be out of you. There's only one of those. One Davesprite. It's not the same. You're the one I've spent almost three years with, and I- I like you!" She repeated more forcefully.

He smiled, honestly happy and honestly sad.

"I like you..." she once again repeated with wide glassy eyes.

Well, third time's the charm. His hands returned to her face, lifting it up and hoping that she could see his eyes through his shades. "I got you the first time, you know. I like you too, Jade."

It only made her cry more. Why shouldn't it? This was one fucked up love story. Romeo and Juliet should get their shit together.

This wasn't the first time either of them had confessed. Maybe the first time verbally and out loud, but they had pretty much established their feelings two years ago. Geez, way to be late to the party. Somehow though, he never felt it necessary. Two years without saying those three honest words, and they got along just fine.

And it was a fucking good two years.

Two years on a ship with his best bro and dog tier Jade were fantastic. He selfishly enjoyed being the only Dave on the ship. Jade didn't blame him.

He enjoyed being the only rapper, only one who could tear up some sicknasty rhymes and mixes for the occasional party, the only one with his own face. He liked being the Dave that made Jade laugh and the one she was crying over now. Call him a selfish asshole but he was quite happy to be himself these past few years without having to compete for his own identity. John sometimes called him Dave, which he appreciated in his own way. Jade insisted on calling him Davesprite. They both had their merits. On one hand, John just saw him as Dave, which was right and self-fulfilling. Calling him Davesprite on the other hand recognized the experiences that he went through, the entity he was and alpha Dave was not. He shrugged. Either way was good. Dave to some, Davesprite to her.

He smiled more in these last few years than he had in his life, thanks to a certain green glowing powerhouse. He wondered if alpha Dave smiled as much as he did. Maybe. Or maybe trolls had driven him insane. From what he gathered, Dave and Terezi were their own dynamic duo. Terezi was just the one who tricked John into a suicide mission, so he was never too alright with her himself. Whatever, he trusted his own judgement usually. If Terezi wasn't a pyscho, then she wasn't and her and alpha Dave could draw all the conksucky jpegs in the world.

Alpha Dave was not an uncommon topic amongst himself and Jade. She didn't really bring him up. It was usually him kicking himself a good reminder that he wasn't the "real" Dave. Jade would always bring him back to her reality though. He was real as she flashed him big buck tooth grins and held his orange hands in hers. It was something for him, that was only happening to him in that moment. He appreciated that.

At the moment she was still crying though, so it was his turn to comfort her. Even as a bird he was still a knight, at the very least her knight.

He brought her head closer and kissed the top of it. One of her ears twitched cutely at the contact.

"I like you too" he murmured against her hair. It felt good to say it again. She wrapped her arms around him.

Okay, okay. More serious talk. Nothing was going to get solved with this mushy back and forth.

"You know, I kinda had a thing for Jadesprite."

She nodded against him.

"And we've pretty much laid down the facts that I have a thing for you." He smiled. "Several things for you. If that's even a way to express that."

More nodding from her end.

"But that's cause I liked you from the beginning. May have taken me a while to realize, but it's been this way for some time. Call it convenient but it's true."

"She liked you, too. A lot. I could feel it."

"Of course she liked me Jade. I've got all the Jade's lined up for a piece of this tail."

She made an indignant noise, nudging him with her head to show her slight annoyance.

"And you've got all the Dave's," he sighed. "There's been a fucking lot of them. Literally a lot. We could open up a dealership. 'Get your Dave here! We've got all the Dave's. Red ones, green ones, God tier, doomed, dying.' Could've made millions in boonbucks I'm sure."

"Well then I can't afford all the Dave's."

"Too bad. This feathery orange ghost one has got your name all over it."

Jade squeezed him in response.

"It's okay, you know, if you like both of us. I can't blame you. All the me's are pretty boss."

"I liked you from the start, too," she mumbled. "I liked you before all this, before there were two of you, or a dozen of you running around. I liked you when we talked on Pesterchum, and when you sent me your awesome mixes. I liked the Dave that had to be my server player, that ran around catching frogs with me, but I don't like you less. By now I've spent more time with you though. I feel so bad..."

Davesprite stroked her hair continuously, almost absentmindedly. "You don't need to."

She started shaking again. "I really mean it. I feel the same way about both of you. I don't want you to be upset. I don't want you to think I like him more."

"I can't think that when I'm in the middle of Waterworks Theme Park, Jade. SeaWorld soak zone has got nothing on you."

She looked up to glare at him.

He sighed. "What I mean is, I know. I understand how you feel. You crying your eyes out over me, me, when there's another Dave out there proves it. Not saying I needed you to cry or anything, but you're the tip of the pen and you've made your point. You don't need to feel guilty."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you..."

"It'll be okay. I'll like you no matter what. If something happens to me or if I become some part of Dave like what happened with Jadesprite, I'll always like you, okay? You won't be alone."

She shook her head. "What if it's changed? What if... what if he doesn't like me?" she cried out.

Ah, that's it. Silly girl.

He breathed out a calm breath, resting his forehead on hers. Enotions man, they drained you like faucet.

"He'll like you."

Jade fidgeted and said defensively, "You don't know that! You can't know that... he's been on a rock for three years with Rose and the trolls. He's probably forgotten about me, or he's at least over me if he ever even felt that way." The thought knotted her stomach.

"Jade, you're the one who had millions of rubber bands to remind you what color your shoes were. He's not going to forget you. He hasn't. As for the rest, you just give him that Harley smile and it'll be all over. Shotgun to the heart right there. Way better than a puny Cupid arrow or some shit."

"That's not funny! God, he probably hates me for that!"

"You're impossible to hate. Look at Jack. Let's you wap his head with newspaper. The rest of us get stabbed as a greeting."

She chuckled just a little. Progress. Big leaps and bounds of progress from soak city for the past twenty or so minutes.

"You're too great," Davesprite insisted. Boldly he decided to kiss her forehead. "He'll fall flat on his face for you all over again if he was stupid enough to forget."

"He's too cool for that."

"We're the same guy, mostly at least. I know what he's going to do."

"You fell flat on your face for me, huh?"

"You're right, that is too lame. How's a pirouette off the handle for you?"

"Sounds like Dave."

Their fingers intertwined. Jade had finally calmed down. The tears were nothing more than sticky trails across her cheeks now. Her nose and cheeks were still pink. The most intimate thing she liked to do was nuzzle, probably because she was raised by a dog and was partly one herself. So that's what he did.

He pressed his nose lightly against hers, moved his head and let a comfortable smile fall on his mouth as his face scrunched up. She returned the gesture gladly.

He was so infinitely sure that all the Dave's belonged to her. He did.

All cried out, he could tell Jade was absolutely exhausted.

"Come on, Princess of Space, do your spacey thing."

"Witch of Space."

He smirked. "I know what you are."

In a flash they were in her room. Jade settled down on the floor, holding one of his arms securely in hers as she began to nod off. He wasn't exactly sleepy, but in the calmness he began to reflect on some things.