287

Relieved
Posted on October 19, 2014 by David M Willis

287 thoughts on “Relieved”

  1. Kodra

    Man, I feel like Walky’s cartoonish view of the world isn’t ready for a declaration of love that’s not intended to end in perpetual monogamy

    1. TSB

      100% agreed. Great analysis. Dorothy’s had the experience of being in a serious relationship with an expiration date but Walky is not going to understand what she means without further explanation. Hopefully that’s coming, especially since I’d also like to see Joyce’s reaction to the idea.

      1. Kodra

        I want Walky to feel comfortable expressing his ignorance, but again his cartoonish view of Machismo might get in the way of that.

        I really like Walky, and his upbringing on cartoons may have given him a solid desire to do good, but it’s also left him stunted in more subtle encounters.

        1. isitsevenyet

          Eh I wouldn’t blame it entirely on the cartoons. My impression is that Walky is just generally a late bloomer. He’s in college but his mental maturity is still somewhere in high school. Nothing wrong with that, in and of itself, IMO.

        2. pyrophobia

          They are *freshmen* still, so in fact it’s going to be the norm for everyone here.

          Plus science has recently confirmed that our brains don’t stop developing until about 25 y. o., so.

        3. TPman

          Man, trying to read the lessons in cartoons really F’d up my world view. I was always so sure the writers must have known what they were talking about.

      2. RavensLand

        Walky is likely about to grow up real fast.

        1. LittleMountain

          Or, you know, implode.

      3. Tunaro

        She will either be horrified or inexplicably burst into a hitherto unplanned, unrehearsed, yet highly choreographed Disney style musical number involving everyone else in the dorm.

        1. saltchocolate

          Make this happen, please.

        2. EvilPenguin

          new slipshine, i think

        3. Sambo

          It would be the best thing EVER.

    2. David Herbert

      I think he might think the same thing Danny did and assume she’s changed her mind about Yale and will stay with him. I hope this time she states things up front rather than waiting too long.

      1. Deanatay

        I doubt that – Walky has always been more intelligent and perceptive than he behaves. He knows that Dorothy’s self-image is wrapped up in overachievment, and that giving up her future plans of greatness for love would be painful for her. I think that’s why he’s been pushing her away lately – he sees their relationship, as much as he enjoys it, to be detrimental to her plans for the future. He knows he’s a lazy, slovenly dork, and that, long-term, he’d be an anchor around her neck.

        In short, I suspect he’ll respond to this cute, hesitant declaration of love by crushing it in the bud.

        1. Dragon_Nataku

          I’m betting that this, coupled with all her attempts to make him study more, is her hoping that she can make him come with her to Yale later or something.

  2. Maveric1984

    D’awwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Tunaro

      I friggin’ hate you, Willis. I hate you for making me do this, but
      SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Idon'tcarenomore

    Opps.

  4. Foxhack

    And here’s the drama. 🙁

    1. Maveric1984

      It’s not drama yes until Walky screws this up tomorrow

      1. Foxhack

        He already screwed it up in that last panel.

        1. Tunaro

          No, no, not yet. That’s just his brain getting Blue-Screened. Give him a bit ta reboot.

        2. Pantheon the Mantheon

          Walky runs on Windows?

        3. Paradox

          And he uses Internet Explorer.

        4. David Alexander McDonald

          Internet Explorer 1.1 even.

        5. WaytoomanyUIDs

          That was largely a modified version of Mosaic. It was around version 3 that Internet Exploiter started sucking balls big time.

        6. saltchocolate

          He’s gonna need Internal Explorer, for that remark.

        7. Dorje Sylas

          Kernal Panic or Stop Error, same basic set of problems. The OS has become unstable and rather than lose data, it just shuts everything down. Although usually you have to manually kill power to restart.

          Walky.DoA may require a forced reboot by hard boots. Joyce… you’re up again. ;P

        8. tinfoil theory

          I have always been partial to “Guru Meditation”.

        9. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Yeah, but Walky’s running on Windows 3.1. Or maybe Windows 95, I dunno. xD

          I think Joyce is about to start squeeing and then will maybe hug Dorothy. Or maybe even jump in with an extremely inappropriate “I love you too Dorothy!” :3

      2. Kodra

        I don’t think Walky will know how to respond to this, which in itself will cause Dorothy to worry

  5. Locke

    :'(

  6. Cephalo the Pod

    Aaaaaaahhh!

    It got better!
    It got better!!!

  7. arank11

    Aaaaand cue the freak-out

    1. newllend

      and cue Walky hyperventilating

  8. AgentKeen

    Oh shi-!

    We’ll find out if that was a good or bad ‘Oh shi-!’ tomorrow (unless Willis jumps scenes).

    1. Maveric1984

      *psst* If you back Willis’s Patreon, you will be able to see tomorrow’s comic today!

      I gotta say, it was hard not to spill the beans on this one all day today.

      1. 4th Dimension

        Yes but than you will have a need to see the comic for day after tomorow and so on.

        1. sanddorn

          And there the hover text is missing… Damn you Willis 😉

      2. Kerry

        I love being a patron, but it really messes up my sense of time

        1. Maveric1984

          Love the new gravatar.

          Anywho, I don’t experience time dilation due to the early strips. I’m a rather impatient person at times though, and not being able to discuss tomorrow’s comment is KILLING me!

  9. Plasma Mongoose

    Walky is in danger of feels overload.

    1. Archivist

      This is 2014, where even your elderly family members have that kind of foul mouth.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I can assure you that my grandmother has never used the words like feels and jelly in the same way you youngsters do.

        1. begbert2

          Wait, ‘jelly’ means something different now too?

          I mean, the new ‘feels’ definition makes sense, in a sorts of first-grader-attempting-to-deduce-logic-into-english way, but I’m unable to do a similar juvenile extrapolation about what ‘jelly’ could mean.

        2. No Name

          It’s short for “jealous”.

    2. Jen Aside

      well, Dorothy DID use the L-word.

      1. Yotomoe

        It was love. I wasn’t trying to trick you or anything.

        1. Jen Aside

          TECHNICALLY she used “like” also

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Lunch?

      3. Tunaro

        Lesbians?

      4. zathael

        Lycanthropy, obviously

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Lesbian lycanthropes love lunchtime.

        2. pyrophobia

          Ludicrous.

      5. Deanatay

        lilacs.

  10. timemonkey

    Oh God, take cover, explosion imminent!

    I fully expect a ‘this was supposed to be casual, YOU said it was casual’ explosion very soon.

    1. rachel

      the best* 11 words to hear from someone you’re into:

      “we’re just having fun, right? I mean, aren’t YOU having fun?”

      *worst

  11. Marvelman

    It’s sweet but… they’re all wrong for each other.

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      Really? They seem to like each other enough.

      1. Yotomoe

        I like Pizza, but I don’t wanna eat it every day. Pizza and I agreed that it would leave school and that we’d break up. Pizza told me this was just a fling, damnit.

        1. Cephalo the Pod

          That’s more of a situational flaw in the relationship. Personality-wise, they seem fine.

        2. AgentKeen

          She pushes him to do better, he helps her make time for fun. They share common interests and haven’t had any major ideological clashes revealed. They seem like a reasonable fit in most ways.

        3. timemonkey

          Not to mention both are independent and perfectly capable of being happy on their own. It’s good not to be overly dependent.

        4. Sam

          They are actually a really good pair over all – I believe Dorothy’s parents were right and that this ‘for fun’ has become a ‘for real’ relationship. I think they actually could handle a long distance relationship because Dorothy is now better at making time for people (still not the best as Joyce still gets very little).

        5. begbert2

          She pushes him to do better against his will, towards a ‘better’ he does not want. This is only a good thing if you think it’s okay to utterly dismiss the thoughts and opinions of one half of a relationship.

          What’s good in a parent or military instructor is not necessarily good in a partner.

        6. No Name

          Really? I haven’t seen that.
          I mean yes, Walky is being “matured” by Dorothy, but he broke up with her over the pajama jeans. If he didn’t want to “grow up”, he would do it again in a heartbeat, Joyce’s hysteria notwithstanding.

        7. Mike

          Wait. You don’t want to eat pizza every day?

          Words fail me, right now.

          Also, the drama is going to be Joyce realizing no one loves her.

    2. selement

      I’m not completely sold on them as a couple either still…. but I really loved Joyce and Walky in ‘Its Walky’ soooo I think I’m gonna be left disappointed :/

  12. advancecasette

    *peers out of blinds fearfully*

    things are going too well..

    1. Archivist

      Story of our lives.

      1. Deanatay

        “When Somebody Loved Me”

  13. liahansen

    Hmmm. Is anybody really sure whether this is a cute or a dramatic thing?

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      cumatic?

      1. liahansen

        for once, I think it’s not that

      2. liahansen

        for once, I think it’s not that

      3. Yotomoe

        That sounds like some automatic cumming machine. Like some sort of megadildo.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Automatic Cumming Machine? like this for example?

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye5Jo1I4XXc

          Warning: Not sure if safe for work or not.

        2. tinfoil theory

          I don’t know why that movie was ever made.

        3. Big Ninja Jim

          I think…..I think I need a cigarette. And I don’t even smoke…..

        4. gwalla

          I thought that was gonna be this.

  14. dailybrad

    D’aww.

    Also, Joyce’s eyes probably just shot out like corks.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Here’s hoping something shiny distracted her.
      She is looking away & keeping her distance in panel 2; perhaps she senses that Dorothy’s gonna talk about something private-ish and has ambled away.

      1. TheZachariah

        Eh, looks like she just has a wistful “Everything is awesome” look on.

        1. Roborat

          Everything is cool when you’re part of a team

  15. Just Here

    Aaand Walky’s brain just came to a screeching halt, like an SR-71 at full burn hitting the Hoover dam.

  16. caesaria82

    First panel Walky face. Best face.

    1. liahansen

      I prefer second panel Joyce

      1. caesaria82

        It’s almost like they’re smiling at each other, defying logic and panel boundaries 😉

        1. tinfoil theory

          Whoa. It’s like as if, in an alternate universe, they were made for each other. The things that could have been if things were different…
          Anyone else get a sense of deja-vu?

  17. Ridureyu

    And then Walky screams, “I AM AFRAID OF COMMITMENT!” and jumps out a window.

    1. newllend

      and crashes straight into Sal, Amazi-girl, and Billie(Billie attempting to get back into Ruths room because she forgot something)

    2. Jen Aside

      “NUUUUUUU I DON’T WANNA WEAR A TIE”

  18. Archivist

    Please be ‘d’awwww’ not ‘oh no’.

  19. Superheadache

    How long have they been together? It feels like it’s been just a few weeks.

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      Yeah, I don’t get why everything in this comic has to happen so suddenly.

      Can’t there be, like, a week between storylines?

    2. poofdepoof

      http://rocktavian.tumblr.com/post/97864604872/ive-seen-some-confusion-about-the-doa-timeline-in

      1. Cephalo the Pod

        Right, so they get together in Choosing my Religion. And today is the day after The Whiteboard Dingdong Bandit.

        18 days.

    3. Maveric1984

      Everyone who’s saying it hasn’t been all that long, I don’t know that they’ve had someone who wasn’t family say that to them. I was dating my fiancee about a month when she said the “L” word. Same goes for the girl I was dating before her. You can get feelings really quick, and want to express them.

      1. Yotomoe

        It really fuckin’ trips me up. My ex said that too. It took me a while to say it back cuz words have a meaning. You can’t just say shit like that. If you just say “I love you” and then don’t mean it with your whole heart then you’re doing yourself and them a disservice. It’s like saying “I hate you”. These words have meaning, and it’s SO offputting to me when people use words like that and don’t understand the power behind them.

        1. Kas

          That’s definitely a matter of personal opinion and something a couple would need to discuss amongst themselves. I use the word love a lot. I love family and friends and when I’m dating someone it’s because I love them. But I’m also a bit cynical, because I think the feeling of whole-hearted “being in love” is different from whole-heartedly loving someone. When people talk about “being in love”, I usually view it as kind of… their relationship is still young or such? As opposed to simply, we love each other. I feel like… you fall in love and THEN you build something lasting out of it. So it’s okay to tell them you love them when you feel it’s the right time to say it. But if you’re going to say it, you have to understand they might not be ready to say it back.

        2. tinfoil theory

          The word love needs some linguistic love, it is too overloaded.

          (Naturally I blame the diamond mining industry.)

        3. Jen Aside

          You can totes *LOVE* someone you’ve known for eighteen days. (eros)

          But the foundation of a solid relationship is *LIKING* that person. (genuine friendship, stronger than philia)

        4. Slinx

          Don’t go defining love as lust now. This is confusing enough as it is.

        5. Jen Aside

          I didn’t define it as in “LURVE TOTES ONLY MEANS HOT HOT SEXENGS” but gave one possible interpretation.

          Giving hints that the “L-bomb” is (probably) only radioactive to people who call it the L-bomb.

      2. David

        Huh. I dated my first steady girlfriend for about a week when we planned her moving in (which we completed about a month later). It took about 8 years until we separated. I don’t remember ever hearing the L-word. I should be surprised to hear that my successor (or intermediates) would have heard anything like it.

        You say “You can get feelings really quick, and want to express them.” But I don’t call everything a “badger” that might happen to run around, either.

        Words have meaning. If you don’t have any other word for “feelings” than “love”, chances are that you cannot verbalize or identify your feelings to any useful degree.

      3. dreadedseamonster

        Yeah, I told my boyfriend I loved him a few weeks into dating and we’ve now been together for 6 years. Maybe I was just a dumb teenager that wasn’t interpreting my feelings right, but I felt really strongly that I loved him and so I said so.

  20. Yotsuyasan

    So it came to pass that someday Walky shall be First Man of the United States of America.

    1. Awnman

      The White House’s official style guide uses First Gentleman.

      1. brionl

        For Walky, it’d have to be first Dude.

        1. Wack'd

          But does he abide?

      2. Yotsuyasan

        Ah, thank you. I don’t have the official White House style guide handy… but I suppose that makes sense as “Gentleman” is oft the male equivalent of “Lady.” (“Lord” might have been another equivalent, but obviously, “First Lord of the United States” would be rather a funny and easily misconstrued title.)

        1. Barf Ninjason

          “I am the First Lord of the United States, you fool! Now bring me my bejeweled ceremonial katana, that I may behead one of President Wife’s many enemies.”

        2. Disloyal Subject

          Of all the wonderful swords out there, why a katana?
          I think he’d look rather dashing with a saber, or a maquahuitl, or a guan dao, or a gladius, or –
          Wait, I’m just listing my favorites. A guan dao should be good for beheadings, though, considering its effectiveness at cutting through iron plate armor.

        3. AustKyzor

          This is Walky we’re talking about though. He’d totes think that a Katana is THE BESTEST SWORD IN THE UNIVERSE!!!!!111!one!11! and request, nay DEMAND that he has one. With a taco dispenser.

        4. Cybersnark

          I would think that the title of “First Lord” would require you to wear black life-support armour and be a Sith.

          Bright side; you’d be able to summarily strangle people with no consequences.

    2. Aolbain

      I was going to say that Walky would be the first non-white First Spouse, but then I remembered the current one. THANKS OBAMA

  21. JessWitt

    They haven’t said ‘I love you’ yet?

    1. Maveric1984

      Well, this was only supposed to be “for fun” until Dotty went to Yale in a year or two. They weren’t supposed do have feels.

      1. JessWitt

        That’s right, it was a “For fun” fling. So it may transition to “For glory”?

        1. Maveric1984

          For the Empire!

        2. I don't know what to put here.

          For love!

          …
          What?

        3. Tim C.

          FOR CAPSLOCK!!!!

        4. 4th Dimension

          For Victoryglory?

        5. tinfoil theory

          For great justice!

        6. saltchocolate

          For Pete’s sake!

        7. Deanatay

          For the future!

        8. AustKyzor

          For pony!

        9. Maveric1984

          Launch Every Zig!

        10. Cybersnark

          For the Royalty!!

        11. timemonkey

          This was the best variant.

        12. ahuh

          For Harry, England, and St. George!

        13. Flimsyfishy

          For the Shire!

        14. Karatesaul

          FOR THE EMPRAH!!!

    2. Rosicrucian

      Why would they have?

  22. Khaner

    Oh fuck
    Now he’s gonna get all Mid-Life-Crisis-y and dump her.
    Because no two couple in DOA can be happy at the same time.

    1. newllend

      what are you talking about all the couples are happy right now…oh no, all the couples are happy, that means a entire new wave of dramatic problems are going to come in everything is going to go to shit!

    2. Deanatay

      “When Somebody Loved Me”

      1. Razzmatazz MacKenzie

        ………

        shit

  23. Mr. Random

    Uhhhhhh.
    One month or so into the relationship?
    Maybe.
    It has already progressed fairly quickly.

    1. newllend

      its been only one month but its strange it feels like its been two years

  24. Jacob Newburn

    The lack of hover text concerns me

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      The hovertext says d’awww.

      1. Maveric1984

        That reminds me of one of those See ‘n’ Say toys we all had a kids.

        “The cow says MOOOOOOOOO”

        “The hovertext says d’awww”

        1. David

          Friends of ours, he taught the kid “what does the mama say?” — “baa-a-a-a”.

          She was not amused. At least she wanted to be not amused.

  25. Plasma Mongoose

    “When Somebody Loved Me”

    This arc title is looking mighty relevant right about now.

    1. Tunaro

      I do not like how that is phrased in the past tense, however. It does not speak well of tomorrow’s comic.

      1. Jen Aside

        Tomorrow’s comic cuts to Ethan/Danny

        sike, it’s Galasso

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Just as long as Galasso isn’t going into the ‘feels’ territory.

        2. Cephalo the Pod

          *THUD*

          Pamela? Pamela?!

        3. thebombzen

          Not sure that’s possible. Unless it’s the feels of anger and destruction.

        4. Kryss LaBryn

          *psyche.

        5. No Name

          The wife of Eros? What does she have to do with this.
          Wait….

        6. Jen Aside

          I never use “psych(e)” because it reads like I’m talking about schoolwork, and anyway language is fluid and dynamic and actually needs GREATER distinctiveness in word meanings, amirite

        7. Jen Aside

          schoolwork and/or mental studies/therapy

    2. Rosicrucian

      Like a lot of the arc titles, it applies to multiple characters.

  26. Raibean

    The last time someone told me they loved me that soon in a relationship, I dumped them. And then I realized I was aromantic.

    1. Eva

      Totally misread as “aromatic”.

      1. Yotomoe

        I’m sure Raibean smells just fine.

        1. Deanatay

          Raibean has no nose!
          How does he smell? Terrible!

    2. butt-lord

      Same here

      1. David

        Someone calling himself “butt-lord” misreads “aromantic” as “aromatic”. [Brushing teeth]

        Oh. I got the threading mixed up. How unfitting. Carry on.

  27. Idon'tcarenomore

    Jacob the hovertext is actually ‘dwaaaa’

  28. Pocketdoom

    How many more of these lovely love days will the readers get before @damnyouwillis earns his name?

  29. caramelundqueer

    Hmmm I’m guessing this isn’t an “I’m in love with you” I love you just a general “I care very deeply for you” I love you.

    1. Kodra

      No I think Dorothy is in love with Walky. I don’t think that love is the most important thing in the world to her, but I absolutely believe her when she says she loves Walky.

  30. Boomwolf

    And the L bomb has been dropped ladies and gentleman

    1. Boomwolf

      Also why is my icon Sarah now!? What is this madness!?

      1. tinfoil theory

        Do you want to talk about it?

      2. saltchocolate

        It is a gift! Treasure it!

  31. newllend

    this is very sweet and I’m all for love but Dorothy you broke the Taboo this changes everything.

  32. ridtom

    Damn, Dorothy fell hard didn’t she?

    Once you go Caramel you never go…. farewell?

  33. Aubri

    Oh, this is going to end well.

    1. thebombzen

      Uh-huh. Sure.

  34. Ragnal

    Noooo, Dorothy, NOOOOO! Don’t forget about Yale! DO NOT FORGET ABOUT YALE!

    1. Rosicrucian

      Maybe this is the universe she convinces him to get off his ass and make something of himself.

      Walky isn’t dumb, remember. He’s just lazy.

      1. Tunaro

        I think it might be better to categorize him as being “willfully childish.”

    2. newllend

      Yales just sitting one the sidelines with a freshly broken heart screaming,”NOOO! we could have had all , we could have made something no one has ever seen before but you gave it up.

    3. Lukas Ramsey

      It always bugs me that a mention of Yale throws off my suspension of disbelief, given how small of an issue it is over the course of the comic. But since you’ve mentioned it, I just drop this fun trivia fact for you: Yale doesn’t take transfers. I don’t know why I know that, and I don’t know why I let it bug me literally every sing time Yale is mention, but now you can share this burden with me.

      1. artemi

        Willis is taking the look of specific ROOMS at the college they’re at in this comic. The fact that Yale doesn’t take transfers might become a future plot point, and he’s just kind of sitting on it until it comes up. Just think of it like… potential foreshadowing!

      2. Questionor

        a) It doesn’t matter if they do, all that matters is that Dorothy thinks they do.

        b) http://admissions.yale.edu/transfer

      3. Belegcam

        Yale says they do, although it’s super competitive: http://admissions.yale.edu/transfer
        I’ve honestly forgotten why Dorothy had the 2 years at IU, then transfer to Yale plan anyway. Money?

        1. Razzmatazz MacKenzie

          Probably she just didn’t get accepted the first time around and drove herself into a furied frenzy of achievement-hunting to prove herself to them?

      4. Deanatay

        Dorothy is that ambitious – she plans to be the first.

    4. timemonkey

      How does this indicate she’s forgetting about Yale? She can love him and still switch school, even if they don’t break up they can just do a long distance thingy.

      1. Norah

        I agree. It’s not like it’s the 50s and young women who fall in love in college are supposed to get married and give up all their career ambitions.

        1. Cybersnark

          Says the Joyce avatar.

  35. Yotomoe

    “It’s a good thing I started this relationship with the implication that it would end as soon as something better came along, amiright? BT dubs I love you and stuff”

    1. Adam Black

      exactly

    2. AgentKeen

      Oh noes, people change their minds in response to what happens around them!

  36. Rosicrucian

    Error. Error. Walky Pagefault. Rebooot Walky.

  37. Rani

    “It’s so sweet.”

    “It’s the last deep breath before the plunge.”

  38. Akalabeth

    dorothy what the fuck could be wrong with you

    1. No Name

      Nothing is. While it is surprising, there is nothing wrong with “loving” a “fling”. The problem here is the overuse of the word “love” in English vocabulary. It’s one of our largest lexical gaps and isn’t unique to the language.

  39. Mkvenner

    And it begins…………….the end.

  40. Em

    See I didn’t interpret that as a bad reaction. I interpreted it as an “Oh. She loves me! She said I was a just a fling but shit she loves me!” But I could be wrong.

  41. JA

    Everyone’s happy. Love is being thrown around. I smell disaster in the air.

    1. gwalla

      Love is in the air, like flammable dust in a grain elevator.

      1. Mkvenner

        *Preps remote incendiary device*

    2. AgentKeen

      I can see what’s happening.
      And they don’t have a clue.
      She’ll fall in love, and here’s the bottom line.
      Our trio’s down to two.

  42. Sensedog

    I sense bad shit happening soon.

  43. LiamAldam

    Too soon for the L bomb

  44. Kernanator

    If this was a TV show, this would be where they put a dramatic music sting.

  45. Malchus

    Everyone, assume crash positions.

    1. Wack'd

      Hold on tight, take a deep breath for a new kind of cartoon show.

  46. TheZachariah

    THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH HOW MANY ADORABLE FEEL GOOD COMICS CAN WE HAVE IN A ROW??
    WHAT’S GOING ON ANYWAY???

  47. Emperor Kiva

    THANK YOU, DOROTHY! Jesus Christ I thought she’d never say it

  48. Heavensrun

    “Ohmigod, I love you too, Dorothy, so much! I was afraid to say it, because I didn’t know if you felt the same way, but ever since we met, I-”

    “I…I was talking to Walky, Joyce.”

    1. tinfoil theory

      You owe me a new keyboard. (Not really, but ROTFL, my sides, &c.)

      1. Slinx

        pfffffffffffff hahahahaha

        1. Jen Aside

          –they Joyce cries because Dotty doesn’t love her, too

    2. Emperor Kiva

      That sucked

  49. All-purpose guru

    Man, the first time you hear THAT from a girl it’s kind of like a mini seizure. I’ll never forget it.

    1. APersonAmI

      Me either.

      Mine was a very angst-filled confession; The first time I’d confessed to someone, you see, that friendship instantly fell apart, and we both got very hurt.

      But the next time I fell in love, I could not allow myself to know that I loved this person, and not tell them, it was too big an emotion for me to feel comfortable hiding. It felt dishonest. So half an hour after meeting them, 3 months into our friendship, the first time we met after I realized I was in love, I told them.

      Their response? “I’ve loved you since 3 days after we first met.” Completely floored me 🙂

  50. zmm

    Well Dorothy.. that is probably going to go sideways abit…

    so… Is it bad I’m 100% more curious what caught Joyce’s attention so effectively? She doesn’t seem to be staring at Billy’s closed door..

    1. Itama

      i think she’s just averting her eyes from walky and dorothy.

      of course we have NO IDEA why she might do that…..

  51. Bill

    That word is soo, sooo loaded with drama …. and I speak from bitter experience.

  52. Questionor

    just testing to see if I figured out this gravatar thing

    1. Questionor

      nope 🙁

      1. Questionor

        whoa now it just starting working retroactively /

        1. Cthulhu's Intern

          That’s a sweet-ass dog.

        2. Lou

          No, Joe. No!

          (Gravatars are fun, aren’t they)

        3. barefootbiker

          Yes, they are. But I’m not sure that Dina’s mind would go there, even with Joe in the picture…

        4. tinfoil theory

          Dina read that as “sweet ass-dog”, and is informing Joe that there are, infact, no donkey-dogs.

        5. Cthulhu's Intern

          But what’s Jason thinking, though?

  53. shammers

    that was pretty quick, considering how little time passed in-comic

  54. Arani

    This doesn’t seem like “d’awww” so much as “DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNN”

  55. Chengrel

    Dang, and I thought I was quick to tell my girlfriend I love her.

    1. Chengrel

      After checking, it seems the L bomb got dropped 18 days after we started dating. Dang. O.o

      1. barefootbiker

        You beat Dorothy by about two days, then.

        1. Chengrel

          Interesting. Hopefully no horrid drama comes of this as other commenters seem certain of.

        2. GamaranSepudomyn

          Nope. This is their 18th day too, apparently.

  56. Just Karen

    I’ve never understood the whole “waiting to tell someone you love them” thing. Of course, I was engaged by day 8 of my one and only romantic relationship, so my experience is rather limited in those terms. (That was back in ’96. We’re still together, despite doom and gloom predictions by family members.)

    1. cj95

      My wife and I knew halfway through our FIRST date….before the food even arrived.

      And it was a blind date at that!

      The conversation boiled down to…”okay how long do we wait to tell our parents so they don’t think we’re crazy?”

      Just celebrated 17th anniversary this summer

      1. saltchocolate

        Sometimes it happens. My partner and I made a life commitment after 3 months, which was very short to me (but long compared to first date!).

    2. Adork

      Congrats to you all for your happy and lasting relationships.

      Sometimes I think people should wait especially if you’re dealing with that one person who is in love with being in love rather than the person. I had a friend like that in high school and it became an annoyance of her crushing on then dating one guy and less than a month she’s crying the blues of having lost her ‘one true love’ before the cycle repeated.

      This mindset ended up in a lot of bad relationships. Although holding back from saying ‘I love you’. wouldn’t have helped in her case.

      I’m not against people saying it early, but I’m against people just saying it because they think that they should without really knowing/feeling it.

      1. gwalla

        Thou shalt not fall in love so easily

  57. Kevin

    EMERGENCY ALERT! EMERGENCY ALERT! INTIMATE WORDS HAVE INFILTRATED THE BASE! ALL HANDS ON DECK! DON THOSE PAJAMAPANTS! MAN THE MCNUGGETS!

  58. David Alexander McDonald

    Oh dear…this might be a brown trousers moment for Walky.

  59. Rhy

    They may be drawn as black dots, but you can see the panic in Walky’s eyes.

  60. Adam Black

    I would be more impressed if this didnt take me back to the sweet romantic moment that Dorothy declared her love — and dumped Danny anyway

  61. Mass Confusion

    Something absolutely horrible’s about to happen, I know it

    1. Adam Black

      i thought it just did

      1. Mass Confusion

        More horrible. Walky’s going to do something really, really bad, I know it

  62. Saaaam

    Wooph, this won’t end well.

  63. Leo Atrox

    Awwwwwww….. SNAP!

  64. Lonas

    Ok, seriously, who are you going to kill?! Is it the squirrel? Joyce(please no)? Superman? MY HEART?! TOO HAPPY! I WANT IT TO LAST BUT THERE ARE WARNING SIGNS OF PAIN! AHAHWAKLHAWLHlKAWHLKWAHLH!*more over the top paranoia from this person*Love the happiness a whole, darn you sir! Gosh Darn You Willis and your playing heartstrings like harps!

  65. AtomsOrSystems

    Well, Willis’ plan has finally come to fruition. I read “I love you, you know,” and my immediate reaction was “Oh shit, that’s not good.”

  66. Arkadi

    This is beginning to look like “D’awwing of Age”! Brace yourselves, folks: the Willis must have something reeeally nasty in store for us this time 🙁

  67. spw44

    Really? After how long has this been, a few weeks of dating? A month? You can be infatuated with someone after that long, but I have trouble seeing how you can love them when you still don’t even know them that well and you haven’t had time for deeper feelings to grow. An ex of mine told me he loved me after 3 weeks of dating and it just made me uncomfortable. I liked him but I was still getting to know him… And he barely knew me.

    1. AtomsOrSystems

      It happens. Maybe especially when you’re young, and it’s one of your first relationships. Plus, we can sit back and ask if it’s love or infatuation; in the middle of it, sometimes, they’re exactly the same thing.

  68. Crumplepunch

    This is going to end badly.

  69. Orangey

    Ahhhh this is going to go horribly, I can just see it now. Aaaaa

  70. anonymous

    The correct response for Walky is “I love you too.”
    He’s not going to say the correct response, though.

    1. timemonkey

      That’s only the correct response if he feels it to. If he doesn’t then that’s the absolute wrong response.

    2. Razzmatazz MacKenzie

      I think at this point Dorothy will understand if he doesn’t have the correct response, though.

  71. APersonAmI

    So. Love. It doesn’t have just one form.

    Some people fall in love in a day, or a week. For others, it takes 18 months.

    There isn’t just one way to love someone, to fall in love, and there isn’t a specific time limit on when “real” love can happen, applicable to all people, ever. There will be people who will say that they have fallen in love at a point in a relationship long before you have ever experienced yourself falling in love. In the same token, there will be people who will say that they have fallen in love at a point in a relationship long after the point when you no longer thought it could be found.

    This does not automatically mean that they are wrong. This does not automatically mean that they are misinterpreting their emotions. This does not automatically mean they are lying.

    It just means they fall in love in not quite the same way you do. And that’s how love is: It happens to people differently.

    Now, to paraphrase one of my favorite comic artists: How to get off this high horse without hurting myself…

  72. Jesse

    “I know.”

    1. Cybersnark

      “As well you should.”

      (This is why Calhoun is my favourite Star Trek Captain.)

      1. WeezerLuvr3030

        Pfft your precious Calhoun wouldn’t last ten nanoseconds against even Daimon Bractor.

  73. Aolbain

    Bold, fate-tempting prediction: This storyline will have no angst-inducing drama bombs, just to screw with our expectations.

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      And then at the last moment, Walky gets struck by a rocket!

    2. Maveric1984

      Willis is gloating on his tumblr and Twitter about the angst he’s currently causing his fanbase since everything is going so well. Plus we know Mary is out to cause trouble.

      On the other hand, maybe Walky won’t screw this up too badly, and we’ll get at least ONE happy ending. Dotty & Walky’s relationship has kinda been that all this time. The one time they had a fight, it was resolved rather quickly. Since Joyce is right there, she’s lokely going to help Walky over the hump that is his foot in his mouth.

      1. WeezerLuvr3030

        Maybe everyone feels angst because Joyce is dressed like Velma, indicating that at any moment the scene will shift to an amusement park haunted by the ghosts of the tiki tiki coal miners.

  74. saltchocolate

    It’s funny to me that so many people are debating whether she can really be in love yet, or ought to be, after only 18 days. Does no one recall that they’ve already performed a sex? 😀 Not that those are the same thing—or even necessarily related—but it is hard for me to find her declaration a total shock… And beyond that, there’s so much to love about Walky!

    1. Maveric1984

      Sex and love are certainly not the same thing, but you’re right in that the hormones and feelings produced in the former enhance the feeling of the latter. I’m not all that surprised she said it either.

  75. Resulli

    See that can of works right there, Dorothy? You just opened it. You can never close it again. EVER.

  76. David

    Dorothy is handing Walky glass beads after realizing that he has only gold to offer in return.

    Pretty shitty thing to do, knowing their respective values.

    He can now choose to be the villain or the sucker.

    1. Aolbain

      What.

      1. David

        For Dorothy, “love” is not important. She has routed around giving it any particular importance. There has not been any significant event that would change that.

        On the other hand, she noticed that Walky cares about things more than he likes to admit.

        Right after realizing that, she states “I love you, you know”. The “you know” insinuates that he should have realized that she “loves” him according to his metrics and care accordingly.

        Where is the point in springing something like that on him? It is cheap for her to say that, and either answering or not answering is expensive for him because he takes things seriously.

        He already stated previously that he saw no point in committing himself when she didn’t, and now she is forcing the issue nevertheless.

        How is that not being shitty?

        1. WeezerLuvr3030

          Well, now he can see a point to commitment. And Dorothy might find love very important, so she wasn’t going to talk about commitment until she saw that Walky was emotional enough to deal with it. The “you know” is not necessarily pushy – it is a commonplace way to mean “Did you know,” or “Do you know too,” in a grammatically awkward place in a sentence. Around my personal bubble, “You know…” means “I just remembered this thing, do you think it applies to our situation?” Or even, “I’m warning you.” And half the time, it’s funny.

        2. David

          Dorothy wants to exchange the word “love” on her side for commitment from Walky. She has not at any time indicated that she wants to commit herself to anything. But love is cheap: it is just what she feels at the moment. Commitment, in contrast, is exactly the willingness to go through when things stop being cheap.

          She did not stick with Danny either though I have little doubt that she justifies her belief in the currency “love” with “I just realized I never really loved him” mind voodoo. Make no mistake: that realization might feel profound, but Dorothy is smart enough to know a rationalization when she thinks one.

  77. Slinx

    It’s getting pretty heavy around here. I don’t know what those words mean, and I doubt Walky does either.

  78. choosing a name is so hard

    Willis. Are you being completely cinnamon toast crunch honey-not cheery-0s right now. I feel the end.
    Also, Joyce. What’s up with that?
    *Ques laughing sound effect* *director uses crying sound effect instead* Yeah that would be more appropriate. But Joyce. Seriously. Her feels will be BrOKEN like my old computer.

  79. Matt

    L bomb confirmed. Quick everyone to the feels bunker.

  80. Anon

    Oh, now I get it.
    There will be an ebola outbreak soon. Everyone dies a horrible death but only after insufferable pain, except for Joyce because she has divine protection. She will also get a halo, because fuck shit, when everybody around you dies you’re allowed to hallucinate a bit to keep your sanity.

  81. maxlines

    Well, that relationship is over now.

  82. jcmadden77

    Curse you for hitting me right in the feels! Stupid webcomic.

  83. Friday

    Walky is going to do/say something incredibly stupid tomorrow, isn’t he?

  84. Ikaru

    O_O Well, that was….somewhat-almost-not-really-out-of-the-blue…But sweet.

  85. Inarx

    Is that a “Gasai Yuno”-face I see from Joyce in the 2nd panel?

    1. AriBerri

      CHILLS. Oh god.

  86. artemi

    I’m starting to see why Danny was so certain him and Dorothy were perfect.

  87. Hoboturtle

    Everything will explode

  88. thias

    that’s gonna be a bad choice

  89. Maycroft

    What have you gotten yourself into, walky?

  90. Kiapdx

    Dorothy no you guys have been dating for like 2 weeks. Why.

  91. Lealeapantz

    When my parents confessed to each other my father told her ” I love you, but I don’t want you to say it yet just cause I said it. So don’t say it, or it’ll feel forced.”

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