: Re: The problem of the throwaway boyfriend In the first 10% of my novel, my MC has a boyfriend. MC is accepted into the Space Corps (or he's summoned to fight Troy - the particulars don't really

@Kaufman555

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I'm struggling to maintain tension in the struggling-relationship
period.

Make the relationship more interesting (to the author and the reader)

In Watsonian terms, their relationship may need more rough edges to make it seem real. It might help to (briefly) imagine the alternate timeline where they stick together. What might be their loves and peeves when this couple grows old together? What are the sort of things that would make them argue? Do they want children? How well does each integrate into the partner's family and class? Maybe imagine a few big conflicts that would befall them, so you can seed some hints of that possible future into the existing relationship.

They might be a little young to be planning retirement together, but I don't think anyone dates another person exclusively without imagining themselves with that person at least a few years into the future. It can be a very naive idea of the relationship ("When we live together let's get a cat and name it Nemo." "I hate cats."). Perfect relationships trigger suspicion for (exactly as feared) a sacrificial character – they are too good to be true.

You might need to "hide the forest with plenty of trees". In other words, make their relationship as real as possible by distracting with an immediate conflict (outside of Space Corps) as if that is the story, before you derail it.

Gay breakups are given extra scrutiny

In the Doylist mode, the thing to watch out for is the trope where in a gay couple one typically dies, or the breakup is used to narratively reset a gay character to be effectively asexual. It's perceived by LGBT media critics to be a cop-out to writing a mature, well-adjusted same-sex relationship.

In my opinion, this is a case where pointing out that hetero relationships are sacrificed all the time for emotional payoff doesn't address the "problem", which is the lack of representation of long-term gay couples in media. I'm not saying it's your responsibility to fix that issue, I'm just pointing out that it's a trope that has received extra attention in certain circles which you may be hoping to reach. There may be (unwarranted) scrutiny put on this breakup as it is held to a different standard.

From your description, it sounds like they try to maintain the relationship for a while. Consider "having cake and eating it too" by making them so committed they come up with creative ways to be romantic while they are apart. They go the extra mile to make the relationship work. Ultimately what happens is that Space Corps changes the MC. They break up because they are not the same people they were before, not just because the long distance makes it unworkable. Distance will put extra stress on the relationship of course, but do the unexpected and make it seem like they will beat the odds. It doesn't turn sour until the MC starts re-prioritizing, and that's a slower but "earned" character shift that can play out in stages, like with Amadeus's answer.

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