his parents divorced when he was bitty -- his mama was kind of a gold digger and his dad was wealthy. this was about when he was twelve so he'd kind of gotten used to having all the stuff he wanted, since his mom was usually out with her friends and his dad worked. his dad did his best to impress a good work ethic on day but day preferred to snoop on whatever his mom was doing and latched onto the easiness of her lifestyle instead of the inspiring story of how his dad actually earned his living. when the split went down, his mom got excellent lawyers and walked away with a lot more than she should, but his dad got custody of day.

his father spoiled him a lot less and still wasn't around a ton, which embittered day towards him. but it also motivated him to do things his way and still achieve success as kind of a "fuck you" since after the divorce his dad tried to reason with him that his mom had never been perfect and day would never have any of it. he'd still see her and she'd always bring him gifts. so he was a total mama's boy, in case that wasn't obvious from the get-go. he moved out when he was eighteen, with no financial support from his father (not in any spiteful way, just trying to get him to grow up and be a better person but no dice), but with a modelling scholarship. his mother connected him with a job at a magazine, and the older he grew the better he got at manipulating people around him with charm.

he went into advertisement, graduated, and by near the time of the menagerie had his own firm. so he rarely wanted for anything, and when he did, he found a way around it and often a way to get it via the path of least resistance. this involved being substantially less charming when peoples' backs were turned, and he made some enemies this way, but often left them behind soon after so he never really cared. one such "friend" was the reason he came to the block in the first place. the easiest way to get day to do something is to insinuate its exclusivity. so obviously he had to have dinner with circe, without quite knowing the consequences, and the rest is history.