#team daxton

Been thinking about this triangle and what it reveals about the Daxton dynamic, and it's clear that Devi pursues these two guys for very different reasons.

With Paxton, here is this guy that she's yearned for, for years and years, this super attractive, super popular jock who seems so far removed from anything she's ever experienced. He's almost otherworldly, compared to her. Sure she approaches him first, but listen to what she says. Devi was asking for a pity romp in the hay. She didn't ask for a relationship because she doesn't believe that he could ever want that. Want *her*. She even says that. She's simply not good enough for him, in HER mind. She's accused Paxton of this more recently and he's had to defend himself, but the truth is that is what Devi herself thinks. She's put Paxton on such a pedestal, she doesn't think she could ever match up. We see that change a little bit in the last ep of S2, after the pep talk from Mohan when she essentially gives up Paxton for her self-worth. Which is GREAT. But that particular insecurity isn't fully gone I don't believe.

Now on the other hand, Paxton has had his 'Eureka' moment when it comes to his feelings for Devi. At first he definitely doesn't think he wants her either. But the progression we've seen from him when it comes to her; - he's gone from being down for an easy lay, to being intrigued by her, to liking her, to REALLY liking her, to now he's willing to expose himself to ridicule and gossip rather than lose her from his life. He wants to be with her more than he wants to hang on to whatever he had before. That no longer satisfies him. The look he has on his face playing video games with the same old group, doing the same old thing, that feels empty to him now. That's Paxton realizing his feelings for Devi are deep and real and worth the sacrifice of his old habits.

The thing is, I don't know if Devi is at a place where she can fully believe that. Honestly I think her lack of belief in Paxton's feelings for her is the reason for the "triangle" in the first place. How many of us desire something so greatly and when we get it, we don't quite know how to handle what we've always hoped for? That's Devi with Paxton.

So when Ben shows romantic interest, and it comes at a time when she is incredibly vulnerable emotionally, she jumps at it. And continues to because I think she was always half expecting the 'thing' with Paxton to crash and burn. And when things do go awry, she swings wildly for the more "possible" scenario, Ben. Not to bash the ship, but Devi suddenly becoming fixated on getting back with Ben, to the point where she does what she does with Aneesa, that's not her realizing she's madly in love and Ben is all she's ever truly wanted. That's her thinking Ben is more "attainable", more on her level. She wants to salvage *something* out of the whole mess, she doesn't want to be alone again and Ben's the easiest of the two to achieve that. Paxton not being interested is almost exactly what she expected deep down, as evidenced by how quickly she adjusted to that. When he climbs into her window in the rain to kiss her (and say thank you), look at her face, she can't quite believe he's there. For *her*.

By the end of the season though, when she picks her self-worth over scraps from Paxton, and HE makes the deliberate decision to be fully with her, I think the balance between them shifts and becomes more equitable. Paxton is the one she truly wants and maybe she's starting to believe he wants her back too. Props to the writers for being able to execute so much growth in their dynamic over what's actually a pretty short period of time. There are some shows out there that took YEARS to get their main couple to get to where Paxton and Devi currently are.

Closed for Daxton requests

{WIP} Grata as Hell

Chapter 1 on Ao3 as grandxtheftxautumn

Chapter 2 on Ao3

{WIP} NHIE ... had a girl stay over

Part I -- HERE

Part II -- HERE

Part III -- HERE

Part IV -- COMING SOON EVENTUALLY

Part V -- DRAFTED. Send help.

{Completed} After the storm, something was born.

Chapter One: HEY MONDAY (here)

Chapter Two: THE HEARTBREAK PRINCE (here)

Chapter Three: DISENCHANTED (here)

Chapter Four: BROKEN BONES ARE MENDING (here)

Chapter Five: HIS GIRL FRIDAY (here)

{One shots}

NHIE ... missed my chance HERE

NHIE ... been in love HERE

NHIE ... worked a miracle HERE

NHIE ... met a girl like you HERE

Malibu HERE

I wrote something. Give it a try, maybe?

the reason i ship daxton less (i ship her with ben and paxton they are both cute potential) isn’t actually anything about paxton.

he is so sweet and he is clearly working through some insecurities about himself and he seems to genuinely care about her and like her. but i ship it less as it stands BECAUSE i don’t think devi actually like him. he was a lust filled fantasy to her to disrtract herself from her other problems because she has been struggling a lot with her dads passing and needed something to fixate on and she chose having a boyfriend. to her he is just someone hot and popular. you can see that in how shes always like it’s THE paxton h-y. as if he’s a celebrity personality, a popular unattainable, not an actual person.

he treats her better than ben does but as it stands she actually likes ben they started getting along as friends and the insults became more banter. they weren’t shippable when they were calling each other unfuckable or deserving to be killed by nazis obviously. i like them after they bonded at model un and started to hate each other less and understood each other. we don’t excuse the behaviour we don’t ship that behaviour; we like them when that stops. let’s be clear on that.

i can’t completely write them off because of paxton. him being such a good guy she could easily actually get to know him as friends and then they develop friends to lovers that could be excellent.