KENNA: davis i am WOUNDED

KENNA: is this what betrayal feels like? i think im going into cardiac arrest

KENNA: wait what?

KENNA: yk what scratch out anything i said in the last minute

KENNA: im in

DAVIS: yeah? good.

DAVIS: we need to make sure the school nurse and a fresh pack of puke bags are ready for VA practice later. amber is going to pitch perfect upchuck all over the place when she realizes she's been stabbed in the back.

KENNA: you don't even have to ask

KENNA: i dont know but we have to do something, right? do you think this was her idea all along? like did WE fuck up? i cant think of ND doing something to us. i'll puke

KENNA: and cry

KENNA: i'm declaring war.

DAVIS: save those tears for your goddamn pillow, kenna giardi.

DAVIS: it's absolute war time.

KENNA: he would have to, right?

KENNA: like there has to be papers and stuff for her to transfer

DAVIS: i don't know.

DAVIS: i'm gonna go talk to him before rehearsals, wanna come with?

DAVIS: no seriously what the fuck are we going to do if she transferred? like we'll be fine but this cannot happen without something being done.

KENNA: i wouldnt think so?

KENNA: has she been acting weird?

KENNA: what are you gonna do if she did?

DAVIS: i mean yeah but i just thought that was something she did.

DAVIS: i don't know.

KENNA: shes had to have been there all day because i sure as hell havent seen her at school today

KENNA: do you think....?

DAVIS: no way

DAVIS: she wouldn't right?

KENNA: davis

KENNA: my cousin just texted me and said he saw ivy

KENNA: like at mckinley

DAVIS: wait

DAVIS: did i miss a scheduled take down of new directions???

While life hadn’t exactly been derailed by any means, Davis was finally starting to feel a touch of stability in his life. Things were good with Gigi, things were good with Vocal Adrenaline, and now things were spectacular since he had been cast of Melchior. Was it a crock of shit that he had been double cast for the lead? Not at all. That was show biz, baby - but was it pathetic that he was sharing his well deserved limelight with Julien Schuester? Absolutely. However, now that their almost natural rivalry was being put to the test in a different kind of way, Davis had never felt so much of a drive to nail a public theater performance. He had to be the best. He had to be better than Julien.

For that, Davis was situated in front of the Lima Playhouse Theater, leaning against the building as he read over his lines. Spring Awakening was not a favorite production of his, but for the next month, it was everything to him. He would learn his lines inside and out if that’s what it took to embarrass Julien for his performance next month. However, it started becoming all too clear that he wasn’t alone outside. Rehearsals weren’t for another 20 or so minutes, but he always had enjoyed the cold... maybe now was the time to start “playing nice” like his stepmother had preached to him so many times. Turning his head, Davis laser focused his attention on the person near him. “So, who are you playing?” He barely had the strength to lend a friendly smile in their direction before he was dropping it and staring expectedly at them. Davis might not have had the best reputation in Lima, but he had never been a quitter and he wasn’t about to start now. “Melchior,” he stated with a certain amount of cockiness to his tone as he waved his printed lines in front of him. “Wanna like, I dunno, rehearse lines before we go in?” It felt disgusting to be this nice, but he needed to do it.

Preparing for a musical audition had always been one of Davis’ favorite parts. It was an excuse to break into his Broadway playlist and handpick a song that was going to be his destiny. It was just simply fun. For this audition, his song choice was a no brainer - In Love With You from First Date. While it wasn’t a classic song choice by any means, it was a song that was currently resonating with him… and maybe it made sense for his audition character of Melchior Gabor. While he wasn’t a wiz with Spring Awakening knowledge, he knew that Melchior’s character was definitely someone that seemed like he would handle his emotions in… a very different kind of way. He was snarky and confident, a person that wanted to go about things his own way and at his own pace - which was absolutely something Davis could understand. 

Davis strolled into the Tibideaux Theater with an obvious air of confidence in what was about to happen. He had his own pre-audition rituals, but first, he had to make sure that his presence was something that everyone knew and could see. He was going to make this audition his best yet. 

🐞

Kenna hated class. It was known around school that Vocal Adrenaline kids didn’t really have to do anything when it came to school. With their multiple championships, they were allowed to get by with not learning and letting others do their homework or even straight up bribing teachers who would pass them. When the bell rang, Kenna hopped up with her bag and left her fifth period class as quickly as she could when she was met with the eyes of one Davis Goolsby. What was going on? The thoughts rumbling through her head at all the possible situations when he simply stated emergency meeting sent her into a shock of emotions. “Oh my god,” she stated, her eyes widening as she was being dragged over to the side of the hallway. “New Directions aren’t here, are they? You don’t think they’re retaliating, do you?” She asked just as Davis started his ramblings about Gigi. While Kenna wasn’t a fan of Gianna Stone for the simple fact that she was constantly raging over her success as a Vocal Adrenaline member, she could push that aside because Davis deserved happiness and if that was with Gigi? Then she’d deal with it. “Yes, but, what are you planning on doing?” She inquired, looking up at him. “Like, are we talking romantic heroic or are you going to do something that border on psychotic heroic?”

If there was one thing that Davis had become most proud of in his high school career, it was his friendship with Kenna Giardi. Sure, most people saw her as more of an underling to him than anything, but Davis saw a true friendship with the girl. While he wasn’t sure it was a friendship that he would have the attention span to maintain after he graduated and moved along with his life, he was certainly going to try to at least send her flowers on every single birthday. She was a kind soul, especially towards him, and while he might not have shown it very often, he treasured her. However, it didn’t stop him from laughing at her accusation about the New Directions. “You’re kidding, right? Julien Schuester would never have the balls to do something in retaliation.” Truth be told, while he still barely respected the dude, Davis was starting to grow very subconsciously nervous about their obvious Nationals rivals. The New Directions were obviously good at charming the judges. “I’m going to sing for her,” Davis said with a simple rolling of his eyes before he was cozying up to Kenna and grabbing the books that were in her arms to carry them. See? Friends. “Duh.” The only way that Davis and Gigi had been able to communicate without yelling in the past was through song. It just worked for them. “I am singing Love on the Brain though so you decide if that heroic or psychotic.” While Davis was aware that his Valentine’s plans were rather similar to the New Directions performing those god awful Vocal Valentines, but he was ignoring that. “Do you think it’s a good idea? I figured it would be good to audition for Spring Awakening with my shit handled. Either in a good or bad way. I’ll need a mall trip if it’s bad though.”

tagging: davis + @giannastone​ when: monday, february 15th where: stone residence notes: this is basically going to be a thread, but i wrote too intricate of a starter for this to not be a self para. i present - davis goolsby finding his heart and performing ‘love on the brain’ by rihanna noah guthrie to get gigi back.

Davis Goolsby was not the type of person that ever grew nervous in situations. He was calm, collected, and most importantly, calculated. However, as his body slid into his expensive SUV and began the short drive to the Stone residence, he could feel nothing but a bundle of nerves attacking his stomach. He didn’t care if people didn’t understand why he was trying to get Gigi back, because it made the most sense to him. Besides, he had already ruined his Valentine’s Day by skipping out on Candyland to discuss a couple things with Gigi’s family, he would be damned if he ruined the rest of his year by letting her slip out of his fingers. So today was made for nothing more than him trying one last time to show Gigi that his life revolved around nothing more than her.

tagging: davis + @kennagiardi when: monday, february 15th where: carmel high school campus

Davis Goolsby was not the type of person to ever face any sort of true moral dilemma. He had been raised with the mindset of ‘act first, think later’, but with the current predicament lingering over his head? He truly had no idea if he was going in the right direction. However, if there was one person who always seemed to guide him in that right direction (or at least encouraged his very obvious ideas), it was Kenna Giardi. Kenna was someone that Davis confided in often, and always seemed to be a humble household for his secrets. She was a vault of sorts - and she was just the person Davis needed to talk to. “Emergency meeting,” Davis announced as he sprung from his position outside of Kenna’s fifth period class, pulling her off to the side in the hallway. “Should I make a heroic departure from school to try to sweep Gigi off her feet? One last ditch effort,” he explained, knowing that Kenna was caught up on all his girl drama. He might have been the type to parade different women around for different reasons, but there was only ever one true person that he was obsessed with getting the attention of. Besides, he already had an incredibly intricate plan in his head, but if Kenna said no? Maybe it was time to just give in and accept his doom with the girl.

GIGI: ur not.

GIGI: i already have a date.

DAVIS: lol what?

DAVIS: gianna, c'mon. it's been long enough. i get it, i messed up. let me make it up to you.

TO: DAVIS

FROM: SECRET ADMIRER

MESSAGE: To the most talented boy in all of Ohio, break a leg at regionals this weekend.

“We’re looking for one Davis Goolsby,” Dylan announced as she pushed open the doors of the Carmel High auditorium during their lunch period. It was no secret that Vocal Adrenaline members rehearsed at any chance they got, so when her eyes landed on Davis center stage, she grinned at Candy and knew it was show time. 

“We’ve got a little surprise for you, Goob,” she said giddily, skipping down the aisle of the theater with Candy at her side until they were on stage, “and it’s from a secret admirer.” 

“And your secret admirer’s message is: to the most talented boy in all of Ohio, break a leg at regionals this weekend.” Candy read off a small piece of paper with the message, so she wouldn’t forget what the message was – sure it was short, but with all of the messages she would be getting, there was no way that she was going to remember all of them. As she put the piece of paper back in her pocket, she looked over at Dylan with a smile. 

Dylan then guided Davis down to front row of seats, sat him down, and playfully gave his shoulder a squeeze before running back up to the stage. “Hit it,” she called out to the a/v club techie they’d brought along for the ride, “pretty please!” Immediately, the opening drum sounds of ‘be my baby’ by the ronettes filled the auditorium. Candy sang the first verse, as she kept her eyes on Davis – she had memorized the lyrics pretty easily and she was sure that song would get stuck in her head since she was singing it for a whole week.

Once they reached the first chorus, Dylan took over and beckoned over a few cheerios who had been waiting in the wings. They sang and danced in perfect harmony for the rest of the song. When they reached the final chorus, the cheerios handed Dylan and Candy each their own confetti guns, which they shot directly at Davis to create a beautiful rain shower of red and pink hearts. When the music came to a close, Dyl hopped off stage with a rose and handed it to Davis. 

“Happy valentines day,” she said sweetly, glancing back at Candy who said, “God, I feel bad for whoever has to clean that up…” as she looked at the confettis. 

And then they were off and on to the next serenade.

With Regionals quickly approaching, Davis was starting to feel the heat. He knew that Vocal Adrenaline was going to secure the win with ease, but that didn’t mean that things weren’t going to be completely perfect on their road to winning the title. He was in the middle of an emotionally charged and mostly encouraging speech whenever light began to spill in from the opened doors of the auditorium. Davis quickly turned his head to find the culprit of the interruption whenever he realized that the interruption was for him. He smiled whenever he noticed Dylan and Candy coming in, knowing one of them more than the other. Just because it was Gigi’s cousin? Davis complied with ease. “Take five, everyone,” Davis instructed to his team before he was putting his full attention on the enemy girls

This was one of those Vocal Valentines that the New Directions were doing, wasn’t it? If it had been literally any other member of that sad team, Davis might have berated them the entire performance, but instead, he politely (and quietly) took his seat with a smile before he was leaning back and waiting for the show to begin.

Davs’ eyes were wide with excitement as the performance began and continued on strong. Sure, he had a couple critiques that he could have given both of them for their performance, mainly some pitch issues, but that wasn’t what this was for. And besides, who was this secret admirer? After the party over the weekend, Davis was smart enough to know that it wasn’t coming from Gigi - so who else could it have possibly been?

“i know,” gigi snapped, her arms quick to fold across her chest as she put more space in between herself and davis. “i’ve been told many times tonight,” a pause. “and i don’t need to hear it from someone that reeks of cheap alcohol.” in gigi’s eyes, it was a little too late for pleasantries… well, it was a little too late for anything. gigi and davis were no strangers to getting back together at the end of a competition season, but gigi couldn’t shake the feeling that this season was going to tell a different story. in their times apart, both parties always made an effort to go out, mingle, and subconsciously (or consciously) make the other jealous, but davis had never taken it as far as he had this time. and while gigi normally always came running back, she was loving this new source of power that had replaced her earlier anger.

“that was your first mistake,” gigi retorted, her line of eye sight following his to trace, who had seemingly fallen into another conversation. “i was having fun with h-” she began, but was quickly cut off by davis’ hand wrapping around her wrist and dragging her into a room. a smile fire started burning in gigi’s chest, and she was certain it was evident on her cheeks. a tell-tale sign that she was on her way to an explosion. “i’m not pretending,” there was an iciness to her tone that davis had only seen on a small, selective amount of occasions… and, even then, he’d only been a witness of such attitude, it had never truly been directed at him. “when you tell someone sorry and follow it up with but, you’re totally negating the entire apology,” and as davis uttered we, gigi felt her eyes narrow. “newsflash, goolsby. there is no ‘we’. you made that pretty clear when you decided to parade jazmine, ivy,” she helped up a finger for each passing name “and winnie around town. so, if we’re done here, i’d like to get back to the party.”

There were a thousand things wrong about Gigi’s vibes tonight, and while Davis wanted to project and tell her every single reason why she was pissing him off, there was something about her crossed arms demeanor that told the story of how that would go - her yelling, him yelling, and one of them storming out. With how things were going so far though, he was almost positive that that’s where they were heading anyways. “It’s a party, Gianna, am I not supposed to drink and have fun? My God,” he spoke with his confidence becoming less and less throughout his words. By the end of his words, he was nothing more than a mumbling mess. Davis was different whenever it came to Gigi. She knew all of his secrets, just like he knew hers. He knew everything there was to know about Gianna fucking Stone, but maybe that’s why he was so frustrated - because that was somehow still not enough. 

“And now you’re having fun with me,” Davis said with a newfound tone of dismissal in his voice before they were finally alone and behind closed doors. He wasn’t sure if he really thought things would change, but he was still standing with a bewildered look on his face whenever things were heading in the same negative direction. “I wasn’t -,” he cut himself off before he could even try back pedaling and defending himself. He was in the wrong here. Sure, the events that he had been expecting were what always happened, but maybe that whole stupid line about assumptions making you an asshole were right all along. “Oh my god,” Davis started, bringing his fingers to his nose and pinching at the bridge before he was trying to do as many deep and cleansing breaths as he could manage. “How many goddamn times do I have to tell you - Jazmine was for Into the Woods, Ivy was for Vocal Adrenaline, and Winnie was...” He paused for a moment, knowing that his short affair with Winnie had been practically all physical and no true loving feelings, but how was he to explain that to literal unhinged Gigi right now? “They don’t matter in the grand scheme. It’s just us, babe, c’mon, you know that.” It was all useless. With the look that was plastered all over Gigi’s face, paired with her eyes rolling so much in their sockets that Davis was even worried they were going to stick like that, she was finished with this conversation. And if he wasn’t sure, it was made abundantly clear whenever Gigi was pushing past him and storming her way out the door with nothing more than a death glare that would keep Davis up later. He had really fucked things up this time, but Davis was not a loser. He was not a quitter. And he would be damned if he didn’t get Gigi back on his arm by the time the stupid Candyland thing happened. And so with that, he was on the hunt for the most expensive bottle of alcohol that the Motta’s could find. He had a long night of scheming to tend to.

🌱

AT THE MENTION OF HIS TEXT, ivy wilted instantly. here she had come, stomping over to lecture him, and with the tiniest of comments davis had disarmed her argument completely. nervously rubbing her lips together, ivy left out a soft, “oh.” then shook her head. “no, i didn’t see your text.” suddenly feeling the need to explain herself, ivy scrambled for a reason that wouldn’t make her look like a filthy traitor (which, she honestly kind of was, from multiple perspectives.) “my sister asked me to come with her to like, see her girlfriend perform” ivy abruptly explained before adding the unnecessary detail of, “she’s a trouble tone.” 

despite perking up a little bit at having saved her skin, ivy’s heart felt like lead in her chest. she was fully on vocal adrenaline now, and committed to winning their own regionals, but as davis asked about the new directions, an odd protective feeling washed over ivy. maybe it was the lingering impact of the conversation she just had with julien, or maybe it was because their set had moved her to tears, but either way, ivy was surprisingly quick to get snippy with davis,”well clearly it was good enough for them to get first place.” she answered, defensively. “that’s honestly like, a really big feat considering the former vice president like, hates mckinley.” ivy added, then cleared her throat as it dawned on her how stupid and rash she was being. trying to compensate for her mistake, she continued, “but that just means we need to like, be more focused on beating them than ever.” again, she rubbed her lips together, hoping she hadn’t been too obvious, “don’t you agree?”

If Davis was a lesser human being, he would have felt bad as he watched Ivy nearly crumble in front of him whenever he lied about sending her a text message. But alas, that wasn’t the case. Instead, it made him feel nothing but like he had gotten away with this entire lie and show. “Cell phone signals are a joke nowadays, I’m sure it just got lost in translation,” he offered, giving her a smile that would hopefully ease whatever doubts she might have been feeling about the entire situation. It wasn’t until she was rambling off some excuse about why she was there that the smile on his face became more and more amused. She was panicking. While Davis enjoyed Ivy’s company and thought of her as a friend as of lately, he was always in need of a power trip. “Eli’s got a girlfriend? I’ll have to congratulate her. Trouble Tone or not.” He knew the St. James family well enough that saying something of that sort wasn’t completely out of left field, but there was something about the story and how hard Ivy was trying to sell it that just simply didn’t have him convinced.

An eyebrow rose immediately once Ivy was springing into defense mode whenever it came to the New Directions. It felt like just last week that the pair were going back and forth, riffing on the New Directions like it was nobodies business... and now, she was defending them? While at the Regionals performance? That her sister made her come to? It was all just a little too suspicious. “Right,” he offered, his tone dry as his eyes bored into hers from the short distance away that he was. “Truth be told, I don’t give a single damn about them winning. There’s nothing for us to be nervous about whenever it comes to Nationals,” Davis explained, knowing that they hadn’t even performed in their own Regionals, but if there was one thing that Davis was, it was confident in his team and their ability to perform. “Do you think we need to practice more to beat them? You seem to be the New Directions biggest fan.”

💥

When Vice President Sue Sylvester announced the New Directions in first place at their regional competition, Julien Schuester was filled to the brim with pride. Never in his life had the stakes been so high surrounding a show choir competition, and although McKinley’s glee club now had nationals to worry about, he was allowing himself a moment to celebrate. Any other outcome would’ve destroyed Julien’s progress in terms of coping with his break-up, the rivalry with Vocal Adrenaline, the egging, and so on. But this win? This win made it worth it. It made what Julien already knew to be true indisputable to others: the New Directions were to be taken seriously. They didn’t need Ivy to win (even if he did miss having her there). Julien was pretty exhausted once the New Directions arrived back to Lima from Marion, but there was no way he was going to skip out on the party at Candy’s. He was feeling on top of the world and he wanted to share that with his classmates, so after arriving fashionably late, Julien was posted up at one of the beer pong tables. “Boo-yah!” he shouted excitedly, watching as his final ping pong ball went straight into the final cup on the opposite end of the table, “drink up, buddy!” Just as he wrapped up the game against one of the freshman techies, he heard a familiar voice greeting him. Julien whipped his head to the side and was surprised to see none other than Davis Goolsby approaching him. Julien’s big smile instantly dropped. “Goolsby,” he greeted, planting his hands firmly on his hips as he stared at his rival. What did Davis want? Why couldn’t Julien just have one night without his needless taunting? “What do you w—” Julien started to ask, but Davis cut him off with a congratulations and…handing him a drink? Was this a prank? Julien stared at the solo cup in between them and squinted at is suspiciously. “Did you put something in this drink?” he asked, clearly reluctant to take it. But the longer they stood there, the more genuine Davis seemed. Was this a genuine peace offering? “…Thanks,” Julien said after a moment, taking the drink hesitantly before gently knocking it into Davis’ in a cheers motion, “and don’t worry about us at Nationals. Worry about yourselves. Regionals was just the beginning for us so…you don’t even know what kinda stuff we have planned.” Despite his newfound confidence, Julien Schuester was still not a threatening person, even if he was trying to be. But he cracked a smile at the end of his statement to signify that the banter was all in good fun…at least for tonight. “You have regionals in a week,” he pointed out, stating the obvious, “nervous?” And then— “and aren’t you breaking some sort of contract by being at an enemy party?” 

There wasn’t an ounce of shocked in his body whenever Davis clocked how Julien’s demeanor changed whenever he greeted him. If anything, it made a small power trip occur inside of his bones. Julien was intimidated by him and while he didn’t need a single reminder of that, the image of the man standing with his hands on his hips and questioning him? It felt good. Damn good, even. “If you need me to swap drinks so that you don’t think I’m trying to roofie you, I can.” Regardless of his sentiment, Davis didn’t move an inch away from holding the drink out for Julien to take. It was fair, really, especially given their past. Davis might have been extending an olive branch in the current moment, but he couldn’t be certain that he wouldn’t indulge in the fun if there were some stray eggs lying around. The moment had just been a little too brilliant for him to not want to relive it. But alas, there were no eggs, and with Davis’ intoxication level rising faster than he had even prepared himself for, he was simmering down enough. This party was about having fun before he kicked major ass with the rest of Vocal Adrenaline at Regionals next week. “Mhmm,” he hummed out as he watched Julien clink their cups together, single handedly making Davis question his own motives right now. Julien Schuester was nothing more than a busted up Trolls doll - so why was Davis so keen on making peace for the night? It made no sense, but it didn’t move his feet from their placement in front of him. “I’m sure it would be easy enough to learn about all the funsies you have cooked up for Nationals, but I’ll hold onto those tactics for the night.” Davis smiled briefly at Julien before he was tipping his cup back and finishing the contents of his drink. “I’m not nervous. I dunno if I’ve ever felt nerves in my life, honestly. But I am excited.” A pause. “Are you coming to watch?” Davis knew the answer. Even if he didn’t understand the weird love story between Julien and Ivy, something screamed that Julien was a little too devoted to Ivy to ever miss out on seeing her perform. If he wasn’t drunk and desperately waiting to “bump” into Gigi, he probably would have circled in on that fact, but Davis wasn’t looking to be a hypocrite tonight. “Probably but I’m sure that’s in the fine print, and I don’t have the patience for fine print.” Truth be told, Davis barely read the contract. He knew the bare minimum and quite frankly, that was enough for him. Sure, he might have drilled the contract into Ivy’s brain whenever she arrived at Carmel, but that was just a ploy (a successful one) to get her out of Julien’s greasy clutches. “You gonna tell on me?”