au where davey gets married to his boyfriend (who is kind of a dick) right out of high school, but his self esteem is so shot that hes like. ok this is probably my only time to get married. sure. lets do this.
and it works for a few months. davey plays it up. he has a shitty little one bedroom with his husband who never cooks, never cleans, rarely talks to him when theyre not in the same room- but davey understands. he tries to, at least. davey knows heās not the perfect husband. heās not as attractive as he should be (he goes to the gym often and hates what he sees in the mirror), heās not a perfect student (heās an honors student with a 3.9 GPA), heās not the perfect husband (his cooking is mostly hit but rarely miss)ā heās not perfect like he should be, so it makes sense that his husband- Oscar Delancey- doesnāt like spending time with him.
davey isnāt perfect. but davey is also a student who works hard. davey, who didnāt have many friends in high school, joins a study group in his chem lab and meets a boy who goes by Racetrack. race has a boyfriend named Albert, and albert has a friend named Jack, and jack has a brother named Charlie and suddenly theyāre all spending time with each other all the time. davey is undoubtedly the only introvert in the group. he rarely talks, heās soft spoken, he doesnāt really have any opinions on anything. he doesnāt talk about his husband.
one night, theyāre all hanging out, and davey gets *hammered.* heās staying over at raceās house anyway- oscar is out of town with his brother, so davey can actually have fun and stay out and get drunk, since heās not allowed to drink at home. oscar says heās loud and annoying when heās drunk. anyway, davey gets drunk, and talks about his relationship, loudly, and talks about how oscar thinks he needs to lose weight and needs to drop out of college and needs to stay at home and stop going out with his friends, and davey says these like theyāre normal.
everyone else in the group is immediately on the same page. they donāt tell davey to leave oscar, they know that wouldnāt work, but,, they start complimenting him more. they start focusing on him. talking about his accomplishments, jack especially. (jack being the friend who is like āugh slay im in love with you ill make out with you right here right nowā but he means it and davey doesnt know he means it). they do this until davey starts to believe it. they do this until davey is sending daily fit checks in the group chat. because for a long time he was the only one who didnāt send any. they do this until davey starts buying clothes he actually likes, until davey starts showing more skin, until davey starts experimenting with his style, despite the fact that oscar doesnāt like it. they start doing this until davey comes clubbing with them and actually has fun.
they start doing this until davey cheats on oscar and loves it.
and davey understanda that heās a bad person. he knows heās being terrible. but its also like . Wow Iām having fun. I want this. This is a bad thing to do and I am a shitty person but I want this.
i havenāt decided how long i want it to last. maybe davey cheats with one person and immediately tells oscar he wants a divorce. maybe davey hooks up with multiple people over the course of a month (or three) before dropping the ball on oscar. it doesnāt matter, right? because oscar doesnāt even pay attention to him, doesnāt kiss him, doesnāt hold him, doesnāt want to be intimate with himā itās only natural that davey ended up cheating.
with jack, probably. after the first guy, davey probably realizes that he wants jack, and his paint-stained hands, and his brown eyes, and his smile and his giggle and all of the good and bad that comes with it. starting a sort of relationship behind oscarās back but never labeling it, until davey reveals that he wants a divorce and is immediately kicked out. davey moving in with jack instantly, and when theyāre in bed together that night, jack asks davey to be his boyfriend and davey says yes. because why wouldnāt he?
heās finally happy. jack doesnāt hurt him, jack doesnāt think heās less than. jack doesnāt berate him. jack cooks him dinner and jack buys him little gifts- even before they started fooling around- and jack spends time with him and jack talks to him and jack loves him. jack likes it when he gets riled up. jack listens to him ramble on about his special interests and asks questions because he wants to. jack likes daveyās rough side, daveyās mean side, daveyās bitchy comments, daveyās strong will, daveyās hills heāll die on.
jack likes davey. oscar doesnāt. and thats all it takes for davey to leave and finally start living.
