i think i’m only rpfing a little (a lot) when i say that sam softens himself around misa, it’s not by some insane margin but it’s noticeable in the ways he’ll make sure a chirp lands in a specific way. dickie is not particularly soft on his own in any regard, but when it’s misa next to him being insecure about the fact he asks a lot of questions, sam will stop himself to go it’s not a bad thing, it’s just your thing. (see: offsides pod)
sam likes to play the room, that’s very important to him and his character. unlike will smith hockey who does it to a clinical degree, in a people pleaser way, sam does it in order to get the reactions he wants. he likes being the entertainer, the locker room guy, the comedic relief, and knowing his audience and how to bend himself to them is important to that. he’ll do anything for the bit, even make himself look like an ass, but it is an act. all of this carries over in how he holds himself in his friendships, including misa.
chirping harshly, or deadpan, isn’t going to feel the same way with misa as it is with someone like toff or mack or barkley, etc. misa feeds wildly into sam’s need to be the guy, he looks to sam for answers literally and figuratively. misa genuinely thinks sam is a smart guy, he should know how the hotel phone works, and he trusts him so sam should be in charge of setting the alarm and getting them places on time. sam loves that kind of reliability, likes that it puts him in charge of the sam&misa narrative, and as i’ve said a thousand times: sam is running this one man show (in bits and authority) for his and misa’s entertainment, no one else’s.
this level of control is critical to sam, he likes to be able to keep up the jokes and sarcasm as a facade, yet not to a pathological degree. he’s definitely capable of honesty, especially with misa, and small doses of vulnerability but only when the occasion calls for it. he’s a vibes curator at his core, there is very rarely a case where he brings down the mood on purpose. see such cases as the mem debacle in the never offsides podcast where sam is definitely miffed that misa has brought up him crying, but even then he is trying to make a joke/play off his annoyance. he’s pointing at misa comically to yell soft and then nodding along to cat saying it’s good that sam can cry, take the compliment, play into some arrogant or self confident character and move the fuck on.
with misa, sam has even an extra fallback, or maybe it’s not a fallback at all, he can just be straight up. misa looks to him, and sam can make a joke out of misa needing him to have an answer, or sam can just give it to him, be a little genuine for once, and the outcome will be the same either way because misa is always going to take it.
