#[julia]

[klywrites]

AU where Dave and Julia stay married and have 3 kids and they are all like Julia lmaoo

Loll so it'd be like this?

[klywrites]

currently can't stop thinking about dave/julia dating in uni, studying together at the diner until midnight and dave waiting for julia outside the library and julia sneaking him into her dorm and their silly conversions and playfulness 🤧

All their pre-divorce scenes make the post-divorce scenes hit so much better and hurt so much more.

[klywrites]

I know dave and julia were friends first, then started dating.. who asked who first? 😆

Julia probably asked Dave first, but indirectly. I imagine she just eventually got tired of waiting for him to realize she was flirting lol.

Dave probably would've noticed because he's thoughtful and observant, but he's an overthinker. So even after developing feelings, he'd probably spend weeks convincing himself he was imagining hers. (She probably just hugs everyone. / She smiles like that at everyone. / Don't ruin a perfectly good friendship.)

Julia, on the other hand, is warm, straightforward, and comfortable expressing affection. She's not reckless with people's feelings, but she also doesn't enjoy unnecessary games.

So maybe after they've already fallen into what others think looks suspiciously like dating (studying together, grabbing meals, spending weekends wandering around the city, going to the movies, listening to music in Julia's dorm), one afternoon she'd finally stop, look at him, and say something like:

"Dav... are we ever actually going to go on a date, or are we just going to keep accidentally behaving like we're dating?"

He'd blink and say "...I thought we were just spending time together."

Julia would laugh. "We are. I'd just like to kiss you at the end of it."

Cue Dave turning bright red lol. And then maybe after a long pause, he'd say that he'd like that.

I think after that first step, their relationship would probably feel completely natural since they'd already built such a strong friendship, so becoming a couple wouldn't change much overnight. They'd still spend hours talking, browsing record stores, teasing each other, making cheap dinners. The biggest difference I guess would be that they could reach over and take the other's hand without wondering if they were crossing a line.

[klywrites]

write me something about dave and julia pls I love them 🤧 (jk no pressure but im lying)

They loved each other decades before, but what remained after the marriage ended was a lifelong bond built on trust, affection, and shared history. They had become each other's home in a way that no change in their relationship could undo.

[klywrites]

sometimes Julia will fix Dave's collar or something and she'll realize a second later and be like "sorry, old habit"

and sometimes Dave will drop by Julia's place with groceries because she's been having a busy week and Julia will roll her eyes and say like "you don't have to keep looking after me" and Dave will shrug and say "old habit"

[klywrites]

do we find out why dave and julia divorced? I'm very curious bc its hard to imagine them separating 😭

Probably not, because I don't think that's the point. Like, it almost doesn't matter what the reason was. If someone in-story (e.g. Crina) asked them why, they'd probably just give a simple answer, and if I wrote it I'd probably leave it at that.

But I do know the reasons, and it's too much to answer here without context since all the nuance would be lost. So I'll send you an essay later. 😂

The point of all those pre-divorce scenes isn't to show why they married, they're to highlight their friendship and show how they managed to stay friends after divorce. It does make the divorce more sad (because there was no betrayal, no abuse, they didn't stop loving each other), but I always wanted to emphasize their friendship because that, to me (and to them), was always the most important aspect of their relationship. Their friendship is the foundation that their love is built on. The marriage may have ended, but the love is still there. Obviously it's changed, it's no longer romantic, but it's still there. The marriage was just a stage that didn't last. And yes it's sad because we're so conditioned to think marriage is the ultimate measure of love. But they chose to divorce while they still loved each other and that's part of what helped them stay in each other's lives. It's not about a "failed" marriage or failed love story, it's about a love that changed shape.

Usually in fiction we see messy, bitter divorces. There's often cheating, lying, or some kind of violence involved. Sure, there are divorced couples who remain civil or casual friends. I wanted to see something a bit different. I get that Dave and Julia are unusually close for a divorced couple. So all those scenes are there to show why they just click together as people and why, despite the divorce, they remained so intertwined afterwards.

Obviously things would be a bit different if either of them remarried someone else, which is something to note. But the good news is, I'm the writer, so I can avoid that! 😂

[klywrites]

imagine when they were in college/uni, Julia used to sneak Dave into her dorm room 😂

100% believable, Julia would do something like that despite poor Dave's hesitation in getting caught 😂