Dexer

=Dexer=

"Trust me, I'm the one who needs you the most."

- Exer to David in Episode 72

Dexer is the [https://shipping.fandom.com/wiki/Shipping_Glossary#:~:text=Slash%20%2D%20Slash%20refers%20to%20relationships,slash%2C%20%27/%27%20between%20the%20characters. Slash] ship between David Miller and Exer Campbell from the Jackson's Diary fandom.

Season 1
David and Exer's first appearance was in Episode 1, when they entered the school. In the next few panels, they're trying to help a girl being harassed by Ricky and Marty, two school bullies. In Episode 2, Exer's morning POV is shown. After leaving the house, he picks up David and they go to school together. Moments later, David realized that Exer shaved his beard and he tries to touch his face. but as they stopped at the red light, two girls passed by with their car, so they tried to be sort of flirty with them.

A few panels later, it's shown that Exer is crushing on [Https://jacksons-diary.fandom.com/wiki/Brenda%20Miller Brenda Miller], David's twin sister. Even though, David never knew that Exer had feelings for Brenda and that they used to date in 1988, since this was kept secret from him.

In later episodes, David is shown blushing around his friend, most specifically in Episode 19, when he sees him shirtless. Later on, he blushes repeatedly around him. In Episode 37, Jackson Smith had the idea to go to the arcade with the RED's. David and Exer met there when they were 8 years old and had some unforgettable memories in the arcade. David is shown to be flustered once again, before Ronald interrupts them.

It is possible that he had feelings for Exer before the current story timeline. In Episode 42, a flashback from Junior Year is shown. When Exer was going to tell David about his romance with Brenda, his friend was slightly blushing. It was a pretty clear sign he is developing feelings for his best friend, but he realized his weird behavior in Episode 52, when he sniffs Exer's jacket. He thinks something is wrong with him for having feelings for a man, and also, his best friend. While Ronald was heading to Exer's room to bring the takeaway food, he saw David and peaked trough the door.

Two episodes earlier, after Exer fought Jackson, David had also fought back, leaving him injured. When he woke up in the infirmary, he hugged Exer and then pulled back from it, feeling awkward about it. Exer holds his face and then he tells David that he can take care of this mess. Afterwards, David is seen awestruck and (likely from the "badump" texts in the panel) his heart was also pounding.



In Episode 53, David is at his mom's house with Brenda, he has to order some food since their mom didn't cook anything. As he was searching for the phone number, he heard Ronald and Brenda's phone conversation and then he finds out about Exer and Brenda's secret romance. Moments later, Exer appears at his front door, while David was extremely mad and felt betrayed about the fact that Brenda and Exer's relationship has been kept secret from him, the worst part being that everyone else knew except him. When he tries to get away from his best friend, David almost confesses his feelings for him and then runs away, crying.

At the Halloween Dance, David was dancing with other girls from the school, while he accidentally grabbed Exer, too. At the same time, Brenda wanted to talk to David, but he decided to ignore them, so he spinned away Ricky and Marty so Brenda and Exer could get away from him. In Episode 57 (Season Finale), David found his sister after Exer caused a blackout in the whole school.

Season 2
The two boys haven't interacted since, because of how hurt David felt. He really missed Exer, but he wanted to get over his feelings for him. In Episode 63, it's shown that everyone is talking about Exer candidating for School President, alongside Mariah and Norman. David is sick of always hearing stuff about his best friend candidating and people acting like it's the end of the world. After Exer came in the classroom, they stared at each other for a matter of seconds, and then looked away. Afterwards, Exer said that he won't candidate this year, he was sick of popularity so he decided to restart from zero. David notices the fact that Exer quitted the football team and that he doesn't want to be popular anymore.

In Episode 65, Ronald goes to David's place to study, when suddenly I Wanna Know What Love Is (By Foreigner) plays on the radio. David immediately shuts off the music, because this was Exer's favorite song and it reminded him about his unreciprocated feelings for his best friend. Afterwards, Ronald tells him that he knows he is in love with Exer because he saw David sniffing his jacket a few weeks ago at Exer's house. David tries to deny it, fearing of losing his friend, but instead, Ronald supports him no matter what. Some time later, in Episode 67, David finds out Brenda went at Exer's house and that they're just going to stay as friends. In Episode 71, Ronald and David go to Cup o' Cat, the café where Exer works at. Ronald said that he's going to order something sweet, but he lied about it and ordered two lattes, so Exer can serve them to Ronald and David. When Exer came, both of the boys became flustered, most likely because of the tension and awkwardness between them.

In Episode 72, Exer and David made up, while finding out that Exer's feelings for Brenda are no longer a priority to him, but his best friend. They realized they need each other the most, but there was one more thing Exer wanted to do. In Episode 74, he decides to tell his friends (and David) about his magic at the lake. He admits that Pamela was right about him having magic powers and then he proves them he actually has them. He accidentally makes his friends float in the sky.

David remained the only one floating, while Exer was trying to bring him back to land, complications occurred and he fell from a big height. David was scared of his best friend's powers and he realized that everything that happened to Jackson was only because of Exer's jealousy. The two boys almost ended their friendship, but until at some point, Pamela said that it's hard sharing such secrets. This parallels David's feelings for Exer and the fear or being rejected, being similar to Exer hiding his powers. When Exer wanted to go to the café to get his mind off the stuff that just happened, David runs after him, telling him that he doesn't want to end the friendship like this. He accepts Exer for who he is, even though his magic is creepy. He wanted to hug David, but he pulled away, saying that he is still trying to process what happened. Exer hid his face behind Lucy-Furr (his cat with powers), while also being embarrassed, he thinks David gives the best hugs, which leaves David awestruck.

In the next few episodes, the two boys get so much closer than before. Afterwards, it is shown that Exer started developing feelings for his best friend. In Episode 81, it is shown that the two boys were riding one of their bikes. When Exer accidentally bumped into something, the boys got extremely close to each other, making them really flustered and then looking at each other fondly. Not long after, William Miller, David's dad, finds them and he finds out that Exer quit the football team, then slowly changing his opinion about him.

Later on, in episode 83, when Exer has to talk to Jackson, he develops a magic attack. Seconds later, David appears and he becomes relatively calm. This also happened in Episode 82, but this time Exer jumped over the counter at the café to see his buddy. Exer's co-workers from the café saw the way he acts around David, so in Episode 86, they find out that Exer thinks that David has a cute smile. In Episode 84, during the P.E. class, Exer is eliminated from the dodgeball game. Afterwards, David gives him his water bottle before getting into the game. Moments later, Exer accidentally checks him out, leaving him really flustered. Brenda and Ron interrupted his thoughts and he went outside the gym to get some air. Because Exer left, David had no more motivation to play and gets eliminated. At that point, Brenda suspects there's something wrong between them.

In Episode 89, when David and Exer were in the Cafeteria, he tells David that he is his favorite person. David doesn't understand and then things get awkward between them. While at the same time, Brenda wanted to know something from Ronald, which was obviously David's feelings for Exer, even though Brenda had no idea that he had feelings, until in Episode 90.

David had a phone conversation with Exer so he can check up on him. Exer apologizes for the vomiting and for making things awkward. David accidentally "friendzones" Exer and both of the boys feel awful about it. Exer hangs up the phone and David goes to sleep. An hour later, Brenda checks over his brother, but she hears him sleep-talking and sort of confessed to Exer in his dream.

In the next episode, after David and Exer had another awkward conversation, Exer asks Pamela if it's weird that he feels upset about David seeing him as a friend. When the bell rang, he said that he feels differently about him. The next episode, Brenda found out, too. After she asked Exer about his general opinion on gay people, he overreacted and accidentally outed himself. Even if the two had history, Brenda supports him.

Quotes
"I'm always here for you, just like you're always there for me... I can't imagine if something bad happened to you... You're one of my favorite people in the world, you know? My favorite, actually."


 * Exer to David in Episode 89.

Exer: "Hey, you better not! Back off!"

David: "What?"

Exer: "I know what you're doing!"

David: "Oh, really? What am I doing?"


 * David and Exer having a fight in the Cafeteria in Episode 85.

"And what the hell is wrong with me? David, you're a man... He's a man... And... Your Best Friend..."


 * David talking to himself regarding his feelings for Exer in Episode 52.

Fanon
David x Exer is the most popular ship from the Jackson's Diary fandom. Ever since the release of the comic and the close contact they had in Episode 2, many fans started shipping them. Unfortunately, the feelings were only one-sided (on David's side) in season 1 and it was most likely that David will not end up with Exer. Most of the fanfics that have been written include the two boys confessing to each other. There isn't a big number of fan media of them, since the fandom doesn't have such a big number of fans.

Another reason why fans started shipping them was because of how close and deep their friendship is.

Gallery
wip

Fan fiction

 * Exer Campbell/David Miller tag on AO3.

Other

 * Exer x David tag on Tumblr

Trivia

 * Dexer is the author's favorite ship from Jackson's Diary. (the answer to one of the questions from Paola Batalla's Instagram Q&A from late-December 2022, where they answered with an image featuring the two. The original story-post is no longer available.)


 * The official Webtoon Instagram account once posted different ships from different Webtoons under different hug categories. One of the ships was David x Exer under the "I Swear We're Just Friends" category, that might reflect the fact that they're no longer "Just Friends" in the later episodes. It also reflects the fact that the Webtoon account admins ship them.


 * Exer is the only person who calls David "Day".