I think a lot of us (ie, N/D shippers who've been with it since it was crack on par with early Patater) arrived at that "they're committed to this dance and refused to be mediated" conclusion when Bitty tweeted about them having to sit next to each other on the bus, so this vibe has been explored in N/D fics for a while, we just all assumed they'd get over the screaming at each other stage earlier than canon seems to have let them. I'm looking forward to your take on it! (And cautiously to canon's take now, maybe? We'll see.)