dirk & jake’s relationship development
Dirk and Jake have a relationship that I’ve come to really enjoy since Homestuck’s end. I like it as a ship, of course, but the cornerstone of my interest in it has been in it as a general relationship of mutual growth: a story of two flawed characters whose problems make them terrible together, but who learn from their mistakes and then repair their dynamic. Whether it’s romantic or not, it’s a wonderful depiction of how people who mess up a relationship can figure it out if they choose to work on their problems—and how doing so makes them better people generally. So, I want to talk about the journey they go through, from when we first see them to their final scenes in the Credits.
One notable detail of their relationship, often mentioned, is we never truly see conversation between them on screen. All their conversations are in some ways mediated by some element that makes one or the other not quite themselves:
We think we get a conversation early on, but “Dirk” is revealed to be Lil Hal; this happens repeatedly, with Hal as a mediator as Jake tries and is unable to contact Dirk prior to game entry.
We get a flashback to a conversation when they were thirteen, which gives some idea of how they communicated three years ago, but this proves to be a dream bubble, with Brain Ghost Dirk as the not-quite-Dirk
We get Dirk’s needy texts on Game Entry, but these are never answered.
We get the Trickster conversation, where Jake is juju high. This is a switch from our not-quite-Dirks to a not-quite-Jake. Also, Dirk just had a breakdown and almost murdered Hal, so that probably doesn’t help.
From then on, Brain Ghost Dirk is the only Dirk we see talking to Jake.
This, of course, is emblematic of the core problem in their relationship: they are unable to communicate with each other. That inability comes from both directions, as each of them has reasons for trying to dodge a fully truthful conversation, and this tells us a lot about the ways they likely avoided direct, honest conversation when talking to each other off-screen:
While Jake tries to talk to Dirk, Dirk avoids him, claiming he’s busy. However, AR’s needling indicates that this is more about Dirk trying to set up the perfect situation for making his romantic overture. In other words, Dirk, terrified of rejection, tries to control the situation so that he can create a scene where Jake will accept him, and he obfuscates relentlessly to guard himself from being hurt.
When the situation reverses and Dirk wants to talk to Jake, Jake is the one who becomes avoidant. He needs space but doesn’t know how to tell Dirk. Just like Dirk, he’s scared: frightened of messing up their friendship in the breakup and afraid of the messy emotional conflict sure to follow. So, unable and unwilling to express himself or face the mess, Jake dodges Dirk until he is in a state where he doesn’t have to emotionally register the consequences of the conversation.
So we have two scared teenagers dealing with their first relationship. Interacting with other humans beings, either for basically the first time ever or for the first time since burning Grandma English’s corpse as a child. One responding to his fears with defensive obfuscation and controlling actions, the other responding to his fears with avoidance and dodging his emotions. When Dirk and Jake finally do talk, it is no surprise that everything explodes in messy neon colours. A crash was coming their way, candy or no.
But something very important happened for both of them as a consequence of that confrontation, because the flaws that ruined their relationship are also problems they have in general. Dirk isn’t just controlling with Jake; he thinks he knows best for all of his friends. And Jake isn’t just avoidant towards Dirk; he tries to sidestep emotional conflict with the other alphas, too.
Their messy breakup forces both of them to realize exactly that truth. Dirk admits that he has been harmful towards Jake and that he has issues with the others. He then determines to do better. Jake, meanwhile, reflects on his own aversion to conflict and confronting his own emotions. We get less of his recovery verbally, but we see that first step of introspection play out.
And then, just before the Credits, we get the hint that both of them are already taking steps to do better:
Jake, awkwardly rubbing his hands together, is looking at Dirk. Rather than avoiding Dirk, he expresses himself directly. He doesn’t try to hide from the mess: he takes it on.
And Dirk? As others have noted, Dirk does exactly what Hal said Dirk wouldn’t: Dirk holds “one tentative hand behind [his] head like a flustered asshole from an Asian cartoon.” This callback to Hal’s description of Dirk’s unwillingness to give up control when confessing to Jake lets us know that Dirk is giving up control, and his cool kid persona with it, so he can talk honestly.
That is the moment when my switch on Dirk and Jake flipped from “unsure” to “oh, this relationship can be good for them!” Because I am a sucker for a story about two people who mess up badly, learn from their mistakes, and choose to grow together. And that is what this little detail hands to us.
The Credits then give us a flashforward on how they balance their new relationship:
Both of them go to the Consort Kingdom. Dirk looks openly shocked that he gets to be happy here, while Jake is comfortable and joyful for the first time since the Trickster fiasco. And Gcatavrosprite goes with them! Because Jake made a friend and, frankly, Gcatavrosprite probably needs a kingdom of dorky, well-meaning mascot animals too.
They start wrestling again! The camera angle and the text tell us that Jake took the picture, which indicates they literally posed for the shot. The presence of robots in the scrums signal this as a reversal of Dirk’s earlier training of Jake with Brobot. While before, Dirk was controlling and pushy, with yet another not-quite-Dirk there to form a barrier of communication, now we have both of them interacting face to face and contributing as agreeing equals. And now they BOTH get robots!
Two years later, we see they hang out together as they work on mechanics. This is another marker of growth. They’re now comfortable hanging out working together, which means they worked on Jake’s complaints that Dirk is too overbearing in person: clearly, Dirk has learned to relax around Jake enough that they can just hang. Further, they’re able to cooperate on a mechanical project, calling back to Jake denying his smarts when Dirk noted that Jake’s is quite mechanically gifted: Jake is finally being honest about his less Action Hero interests.
Both of them have changed for the better, and we can see it in how they act around each other. They’re better friends. They’re better people. And to me, that’s what makes their relationship so compelling.
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