Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may initiate a radio resource control (RRC) layer signaling procedure between the UE and a target UE, include an upper layer signaling message in an RRC message based in part on the RRC layer signaling procedure, and transmit the RRC message including the upper layer signaling message to the target UE. Alternatively, upper layer signaling messages may be transmitted separately before or after the RRC layer signaling procedure.