#because he enables Gaz's worst behavior for the “greater good”

[dragonnarrative-writes]

hi! hope your week is going well. for the wip game, i am a big fan of slasher handler, but i’m also intrigued by being gaz’s ex. your choice, but if there’s anything you want to share for either 👀🧡

For the WIP Ask Game!

Oh. Oh. Oh. Being Gaz's ex is... a helluva project. It's an exploration of the end of a relationship when no-one is "winning." I wanted to explore another side of Golden Boy Gaz, where his dogged determination to do right in the world has a negative impact on his relationships.

The main character is Autumn, who has filed for a divorce that Gaz refuses to sign off on, and I'm waffling between writing it from a first person/reader POV or third person.

This first part takes place with Gaz in the hospital after an injury. Autumn is still his emergency contact. I'm skipping ahead a bit, but I think this short exchange really showcases the energy I'm going for.

“Who are you texting?”

“Ron,” you answer without looking up from your phone.

“Does Ron know that you’re married?”

When you set your phone down, Kyle, Price, and Soap are looking at you with hard expressions. Simon’s out, picking up lunch. If Kyle was going to spring a guilt trap, now would be the time.

You'd tell him that Ron is your cousin Veronica, who’s allowed you to move into her apartment since you started your new job, if he’d just asked. A part of you reflexively thinks about his pain levels, if he’s due another round of pills. That part is quickly squashed by the knowledge that he knows to ring the nurse if his pain gets to bad, instead of taking it out on you.

So you go low. “Did Crystal know you were engaged?”

The next section hurt my feelings when I wrote it, so I'm putting it under the cut.

CW: Discussions of infidelity, relationship turmoil, inattentive partner

Autumn isn't leaving Gaz because he cheated, by the way. That happened once before they got married and once after. They almost called off the wedding, the first time, but they did premarital counseling and things were "resolved." The second time happened a year into their marriage. With a second round of counseling, Gaz really seemed to get his act together. Autumn went into individual counseling to work on trust, anxiety about his job, her expectations of the relationship, and general maintenance. And there weren't any issues with infidelity ever again. In fact, she once offered to open the relationship, with rules, and he declined.

She's divorcing him because her eyes are brown.

The issue in their relationship, as I see it, isn't that Gaz did something really bad. It's that he and Price have the same affliction that makes them not recognize that they don't actually see their partners as whole beings. Two years after they got married, Autumn realized that Gaz didn't really care about her as much as either of them thought. He got her birthday wrong (switched the month and day). He forgot their anniversary after he cheated. He bought her apology flowers, an arrangement which contained flowers she was allergic to.

And when she bought colored contacts on a whim, he didn't make any comment until she prompted him.

"Hey, does anything about me look different?" She asks, three days into wearing the contacts.

"I've been trying something new with my eyes, but I'm not sure if it's that noticeable."

"I dunno, lovie, you look stunnin' as always."

"Nothing seems different to you?"

And he looked at her, really looked at her, for a minute. "You know I've always loved your green eyes."

And that was the beginning of the end.