#ot3: code red

what's NOT good about amy/dave/john? 

for real though each of their relationships with each other has a lot of depth to it

theres a ton you could say about amy and dave about how they both care about each other a ton, share similar senses of humor, rely on each other, but like thats all pretty obvious in the book

and of course john and dave have like a decade of friendship behind them and they compliment each other in such great ways because john is outgoing in brash in ways dave just isnt but dave is never the ~sensitive introvert~ who sighs melodramatically as he puts up with his stupid party animal best friend theres a lot of give and take

and of course theres the fundamental think about john and amy which is that john came back for her. when big jim asked someone to go look after amy, john said he’d do it. and he didn’t just say it. he did it, which i don’t think anyone else in the back of that truck - especially dave - would have done. he was probably, in that stretch of time, amy’s only real friend simply because he was a good enough dude to keep up on his promise.

amy is hanging out with dave and she sees a bunch of new cuts and scratches on him and shes really worried and she asks about it and daves just like ‘john was trying to talk to me about video games while eating stake’ and amy is just ‘oh’

I THINK MY GIRLFRIEND AND I WERE SUPOSED TO DIE

john dies at the end pacific rim au

the entire world is going to hell so john and dave and amy all enlist. they need money and, they’ve already caused and ended more than a fair share of apocalypses. They can’t help but feel like throwing their lot in for this one. they also have a vague suspicion that this one may be their fault too. It’s not, but there’s really no way to prove it.

when dave finds out about what drift compatibility actually is he regrets everything. he couldn’t talk amy out of enlisting because, really, he can’t talk amy out of anything she really sets her mind to. But the last thing he’s ever wanted is for amy to have to deal with his shit even more than she already does. he’s always dreaded the thought of her having to live with even one tenth of his cynicism and self loathing and bitterness and regret

and so, when it comes down to testing compatibility he’s too focused on how little he  ACTUALLY wants to drift with her that they just can’t work.

and then there’s john, who has already spent more than a decade dealing with all of dave’s bullshit. who knows all of the stuff dave won’t tell anyone else. john’s the only person dave could really, truly let see the inside of his mind and what’s there. because john already knows.

theres a few things that dave didnt know that he finds out when they start drifting though

1. amy and john were drift compatible. neither of them told him. john point blank refused to even consider piloting with amy, he said he wasn’t planning to go back on his promise to big jim. not after everything

2. johns worse off than dave really ever considered he would be

and

3. maybe john’s feelings towards him and amy aren’t quite platonic

okay headcanon:

amy only ever knew dave as dave. it was awhile after he changed his name that she ended up learning it and she beat herself up a bit over how unfamiliar it sounded because thinking back to the classes she shared with him she could never remember a boy named dave

as far as amy was concerned david wong didn’t exist until that day he and john staked out her house and it wasn’t for months after the night at the shed that she realized just how right she was, really.

she knew john - more like knew OF him, really - before The Change though so for her the whole switch over was like. A Thing that happened, something she was aware of. But she never really knew him before so he’s always john to her

hes john to EVERYONE, even the people who knew him long before he was john because, well, changing his name is by far the least strange thing john has done.and youd think that the times when people slip up and call him by his old name dont really bother him but they do

its john - not dave - john, who uses a flamethrower as a lighter and torches anything that gets in his way, john who goes through jobs and girlfriends probably more frequently than he goes through outfits, its john who cant help but feel a sickening sort of regret - or maybe its something else, he cant quite tell - and guilt and loneliness when his old name is used. like he somehow let down the kid who thought he’d grow up to do something with his life

but weirdly enough dave sort of likes it - the occassional reminder that there was something before this so maybe there’ll be something after too.it’s on the days where his depression gets the worst - the kinda days that make john and amy start emptying the medicine cabinets and kitchen drawers - and dave will be in one of his spirals. and thats when john pulls it out like a trump card, or a safe word, or one of their secret codes. his name. his real one.

and dave knows by now that it means ‘dave you have to listen to me, this is serious.’ and sometimes he listens and sometimes he doesn’t but after the direct confrontation things never get SO bad.