#WITH LITERALLY NO ONE BOTHERING TO SPEAK UP IN HIS DEFENSE OR SOLIDARITY

[doux-amer]

Variety's reportage has been deplorable, but this is on another level.

More than 450 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter denouncing Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” Oscar speech. The list of co-signees provided to Variety Monday morning covers a broad swath of the industry including actors (Debra Messing, Tovah Feldshuh), executives (Gary Barber, Gail Berman), creators (Amy Sherman-Palladino), directors (Eli Roth, Rod Lurie), producers (Lawrence Bender, Amy Pascal, Hawk Koch, Sherry Lansing) and representatives (UTA’s Jake Fenton, Gersh’s Jeffrey Greenberg, attorney Craig Emmanuel). About 50 more individuals have added their names since the open letter was first published.

[bigskydreaming]

Hello, hello, tis I, your friendly neighborhood ‘dude who is obsessed with people making jokes and insults out of Dick’s name’ back with another episode of Why No But Seriously Why!

In today’s episode, we’re going to focus on the fanon of the swear jar. That thing ordained by Alfred that makes many an appearance in fics and headcanons....including ones that also show Jason and/or others calling Dick a Dickhead and other things all willy nilly and suchlike and forthwith.

How does this track, asketh I? Does Alfred provide exemption clauses for making fun of your brother, to the others? Does Alfred not consider making crude insults out of the name Dick to be a swear? Does Alfred, a born Brit, hailing from the land of the “We’ve Been Calling Richards ‘Dicks’ For Longer Than The Rest Of You Have Been Calling Them Rich’s,” not consider the fascination with making penis jokes out of the name of a child he’s helped raised from the age of EIGHT to be uncultured, crass and frankly unacceptable in any house he resides in?

I’m just saying, does it really make sense, and is the risk of pulling readers out of your story if they’re NOT amused by the jokes made of his name really worth whatever it is you feel is added to a story BY making the same old jokes about Dick’s name?

As I’ve said many times before....Dick Grayson? Fictional character. Has no feelings that actually need protecting....OUTSIDE of fiction. Making jokes about his name from beyond the fourth wall, just people commenting on a fictional character’s name? Go wild, go crazy, have a freaking Bacchanalia. Truly does not matter, if you ask me.

But IN universe? IN fiction? Totally different story, because look what those jokes require or make assumptions out of:

1) That Dick truly has no protective or defensive feelings whatsoever about his childhood nickname, and genuinely feels nothing about people habitually taking his choice to keep it as an invitation to insult or mock him.

1b) That Dick doesn’t in any way ever perceive peoples’ insistence on associating his name MORE with the insults and penis jokes than they do with it just being a name, to in any way be a slight against his beloved parents, of the “well they should have known better than to call him that” variety.

1c) That Dick has no negative feelings whatsoever about the fact that even his close friends and family regard his name as being no more worthy of respect or being ‘offlimits’ than the average Gothammite or public citizen might regard it, despite the fact that his close friends and family are perfectly aware of the public’s history of looking down on Dick for his origins and thus you’d think would WANT to appear different than them in Dick’s eyes.

1d) That Dick has never at any point expressed anger, frustration or bitterness that he can’t even have his name respected without even loved ones superimposing their own associations on top of it, no matter what it means to HIM.

2) That Alfred truly has no opinions whatsoever of the other charges in his care disrespecting Dick’s name and its origins stemming from his first parents.

2b) That Alfred has never expressed this opinion to any of them or made his displeasure about such jokes known.

2c) That Alfred doesn’t find it disappointing that the rest of the family and associated friends and allies seem disinclined to separate themselves from the general public’s opinions of Dick’s name by regarding it with a little more respect as at least a sign that they regard Dick himself with a little more respect than the general public.

3) That Jason or none of Dick’s other friends or family have never taken the initiative to wonder for themselves how Dick might actually feel about the frequent jokes or insults, and if shockingly, he might not actually be fond of them.

3b) That Jason or Dick’s other friends or family have chosen not to care or respect the opinions of Dick and/or Alfred or anyone else who states or suggests that these jokes or insults aren’t welcome.

4) That none of Dick’s other friends, be they Titans, or Uncle Clark, or siblings like Cass or Damian or frankly anyone, ever speak up in defense of Dick’s name and suggest that there’s a significant lack of respect around it and thus around him, that they personally take a very dim view of. (Even when Jason’s best friends include Dick’s former fianceé and own longtime BFF).

5) That nobody has ever bothered to think that only EVER being addressed by some form of insult by even his own siblings might possibly have a slightly demoralizing effect on someone’s self-esteem over time.

5b) That nobody has ever bothered to think that making sexual jokes about his name and thus innately sexualizing Dick from even his earliest days in Gotham, when coupled with the hyper-sexualized stereotypes people often apply to Romani individuals and further coupled with the suggestive rumors surrounding Bruce’s reasons for taking in a young boy, might possibly have contributed over time to Dick having an extremely skewed view of himself as an innately sexualized being no matter what he actually did in terms of sexual behavior.

I mean.....there’s more. If I felt like it.

But the point is......there’s a LOT of implicit assumptions that creep in alongside the seemingly harmless jokes and insults surrounding Dick’s name, the second you start to really focus in on how it might appear from his POV....IF you include even just the possibility that he DOESN’T like it.

EDIT: Also, lots of people have pointed out that its just sibling culture to make fun of a sibling in ways that you wouldn’t be okay with someone outside the family making the same jokes. And this is absolutely true! BUT. My issue here and why I don’t think the Dickhead jokes fall under this umbrella, is because I can say in my experience being from a blended family, and from what I’ve discussed in the past with other kids from blended families....there are ‘rules’ about this sort of thing, when you have adopted siblings, and the one near-universal truth that I’ve always found is that anything that stems from an adopted sibling’s first family, the one you do NOT share with them, is absolutely off limits. You mock them for something that originated outside your family, you’re the asshole, because at that point, you’re literally no different from outsiders to your current family making fun of that sibling. That ‘joke’ is not YOURS to make or share in, if you do not have the history with the thing you’re basing the joke on, that your sibling has with it. Shared history is the entire basis of siblings being able to mock each other while still citing solidarity against outsiders, and in adopted families, there absolutely are elements of each others’ lives that YOU are the outsider to, and it absolutely falls on you to respect that just as you’d want your sibling to respect the same of you in turn. If Jason absolutely would not be okay with Dick or anyone else making jokes about Catherine or his life with her, he should not be okay with making jokes about Dick’s name, circus origins, or other aspects of his life that stem from or call back to his time with his first family. The same holds true of all the others as well.

The other aspect of this name-calling not falling under the excuse-umbrella of just being typical sibling culture is its entirely one-sided. Show me the tendency where Dick responds to these everpresent jokes or insults by even light-heartedly calling Jason and the others insults like Hey Asshole, or Dumbass or anything like that. When things are entirely one-way, the impression given is not that of a camaraderie of back-and-forth. It becomes just one person or multiple people punching down in a way they feel confident from experience the other person will NOT respond in kind, which gives them an outlet for venting frustration, resentment or aggravation which risks them nothing, because they KNOW Dick won’t retaliate, and at that point that exchange becomes something very different from a general sibling back-and-forth....because there’s no ‘back.’ What you end up with at that point is literally just hostility, no matter if more mild than other cases, and a situation where one sibling is simply taking ADVANTAGE of the opportunity afforded by another sibling’s good nature and refusal to engage in hurt feelings even while you feel free to cause those feelings in them. And that’s just not a good look. Its just not. And even if you find those exchanges humorous yourself as a writer or a reader, you might want to keep in mind that to plenty of other readers, its making even the characters you like and INTEND to be liked, just....come across as kinda not cool assholes instead.

END OF EDIT.

And here’s the other point:

Its not really about his name, and never has been.

His name is simply emblematic of how EASY it is for people to fall into the trap of just....choosing to overlook Dick’s POV entirely, the second its pitted against other characters and what they might gain from their POV....even if that ‘gain’ is as simple and basic as the slight moment of humor Jason gets from making a joke or mocking insult out of Dick’s name.

Here, let me present this another way:

Every single person alive has SOMETHING they get defensive or protective about. SOMETHING that they’re like no, this is offlimits to people, this is not for their consumption, their entertainment, its not for THEM to take and twist into something other than what it is for ME, because its MINE. This is basic human nature. EVERYONE has this feeling about SOMETHING that’s particular to them.

And with Dick, most of the things that we’re generally given to view him being protective or defensive about are either almost more about other people than him - such as being protective of his family members - or else, they’re things that he’s not ALLOWED to be purely defensive or say, territorial about.

Like for instance, the name Robin.

Think about how Robin is pretty much one of the ONLY things Dick is largely deemed to be defensive or proprietary about.....BUT how that’s also largely used NOT to have him wholly in the right for feeling that way.....but to put him in conflict with the other Robins, given that they also have strong feelings about the name regardless of its origins, and its not solely Dick’s anymore.

Now here’s my question:

If for example, you go with the take that Robin was Dick’s mother’s name for him, and that’s why Dick is so protective and defensive of that name.....why would he be any LESS protective or defensive about his mother AND father’s OTHER name for him....given that the only possible reason for him TO stick with the name Dick all throughout adulthood, is that its the form of his name they referred to him by, and thus, clearly, it DOES carry emotional significance for him?

See what I’m saying?

Why is it, that the only time so many people see Dick laying a claim to something, being defensive or protective of something that’s HIS, standing up for HIMSELF.....is when the waters are murky, when its not a clear cut case of him being wholly in the right, when it pits Dick against someone else and says both are at least somewhat valid?

Why is it so RARE to see people imagine Dick putting his foot down in defense of himself, in defense of something that’s HIS.....where its 100% crystal clear that he has every right and reason in the world to feel this way, where there’s no doubt whatsoever that he’s on the correct side of thinking “this is mine and I get to say this”?

Even about something as simple and basic as his own name?

And why is it the only time we seem to see people sticking up for Dick or weighing in on his behalf, its in the case of extreme actions like him having been raped or abused? Why are there hardly any stories of people looking at alleged family and friends bitching about Dick or heaping insults on him or his capabilities and saying hey, he’s been doing this while most of us were sitting in middle school detention, you could show him some respect? Why do none of the people who value and respect Dick so highly ever seem to weigh in like THAT in stories?

My challenge, should you choose to accept it, is just to look at the above list of possible reasons why Dick might not be thrilled about how people use his name....and just IMAGINE what it would look like, if Dick just said to another character....”Hey. Could you cut that out. I would appreciate it if you didn’t do that.” Even just “I really don’t like that.”

How does a scene like that go? One where Dick is wholly and completely justified in putting his foot down, in feeling that someone is overstepping or paying him an insult or a disservice?

We hear all the time in fandom about how in the name of ‘humanizing’ Dick and ‘making him more relatable’ some people focus overly much on emphasizing his flaws, his alleged temper, his secretiveness, etc.

I’d like to argue that flaws are not actually the only staple of humanity. Risking making a character more dislikable is not actually the only way to make them feel more human or relatable. THIS is another way to do that. Make them defensive, proprietary, territorial, even prickly.....but with REASON. With CAUSE. With JUSTIFICATION. Because people are ALLOWED to be, when people are being a - all irony intended - total dick to them.

And there is a long, LONG history in fanfics, of people being exactly that to Dick, and him just....smiling.

EXCEPT for when his choice NOT to smile, and to actually take offense and push back......pits him against another character but with the other character usually being granted just as much right and reason to not give way.

So? I’m saying you have right here a perfect example of how to flip the script on that. To make it abundantly clear that Dick has just as much right to put his foot down with even people who love and care about him and say hey, you’re doing something I don’t like, that in fact even hurts me, and I want you to stop.

Why not use it? Why does there always seem to need to be an ARGUMENT about whether or not Dick is in the right to feel wronged in some way.....when its so abundantly clear that he’s given no shortage of reasons for that in practically every other fic?

And consider.....if you’ve never previously entertained the idea that Dick might take offense to how people treat his name, or feel defensive about it......what else might you be overlooking that he could feel that way about, and is there any reason why you think you tend not to view Dick as being defensive of HIMSELF and things that are uniquely his?

*Shrugs* Just food for thought, mayhaps.

[dabi-drift]

Yaoyorozu, Hawks, Bakugou, Amajiki, Dabi, Mirko & Geten with a Genderfluid S/O:

If you want any characters adding here or to anything else I write, just drop me a comment or an ask!

Momo Yaoyorozu:

☿ It was hard enough for you to acknowledge your own gender- fully understanding it was a different topic - so coming out to Momo was going to be tough.

☿ Really tough.

☿ She was a lovely girl and a wonderful girlfriend.

☿ But could you really expect her to be supportive of something so complex?

☿ Your gender fluctuated a lot - sometimes you'd feel distinctly outside the binary, and sometimes you'd feel more masculine, or more feminine.

☿ You hadn't noticed this until recently; you rarely gave gender a second thought.

☿ Looking at yourself in the mirror and questioning everything that felt a little off, you'd figured that maybe you just wanted to feel special, a little different.

☿ So you researched. A lot.

☿ You had a system that no-one understood because you were still deep in the closet: a different coloured strand/extension in your hair (on one side only) that stood out but was never questioned.

☿ Red = Feminine, Purple = Non-Binary, Blue = Masculine, Green = Third Gender/Multigender.

☿ Coming out was a decision you spent countless nights debating.

☿ No-one 'deserved' to know, it was really nobody's business…but being gendered correctly 100% of the time did sound nice.

☿ Deep breaths, and positive thoughts.

☿ "I identify as…no, I am genderfluid. You, eh…you should probably know that."

☿ This sweet, precious thing was confused at first.

☿ But you explained it:

☿ "Sometimes I'll feel more masculine, more like a boy, sometimes feminine, neither or both/all genders? I'm still wrapping my head around it too, but eh…it can change a lot. Sometimes a few times a day. Um…sometimes one gender will stick for a while. That's why figuring it out can be…confusing. But it's also enlightening, uh…kinda nice, warm, y'know?"

☿ Instantly says she understands and supports you.

☿ Expect a flurry of hugs and kisses.

☿ Acts like a very proud girlfriend.

☿ Pays extra attention to your hair - never wants to get anything wrong.

☿ If she does, she'll apologise immediately and reprimand herself.

☿ Go easy on her, she'll be an utter mess.

☿ Overall, her love for you is unconditional, and she makes sure that you know she's sorry.

"You shouldn't ever have to be scared to explain who you are."

Keigo Takami/Hawks:

☿ Keigo knew something was amiss.

☿ You'd been dating for two years, and although he never pried, he couldn’t help noticing the way you'd suddenly become uncomfortable when someone addressed you, or when you stayed in one set of clothes for too long.

☿ It wasn’t always the same, and he just figured it was anxiety and general insecurities coming to the surface.

☿ So he held you closer, wrapped you in his wings and fussed over you for hours (or however long his job would allow).

☿ He didn’t have a lot of time to consult the internet.

☿ He also didn’t want to pressure you into revealing anything.

☿ But now, the topic was unavoidable.

☿ You'd broken down, crying and mumbling to yourself when you thought he couldn’t hear you.

☿ He finds you kneeling in front of the full-length mirror in the bedroom.

☿ Rushes to your side in an instant.

☿ "What did the mirror do to you, dove?"

☿ Very, very worried, feathers shaking around you.

☿ Defensive birb, ready to protect you from that loathsome mirror.

☿ "I-I look so…so girly today! It's awful! My chest, and…and…I don’t have a binder, and I…"

☿ Doesn't understand, but is determined not to worsen your mood.

☿ "Hey, look at me. What are binders, and where would we get one?"

☿ He places both hands on your cheeks, and you lean into him.

☿ "They're…they flatten your chest, um…sports bras and binders…I-I've never bought one, so I don’t know…"

☿ He nods. "Do you wanna come with me to look for one?"

☿ You're perplexed - shouldn’t he be weirded out by this?

☿ He laughs, and somehow, it warms your heart. "I just want you to be happy. I'd do anything to make that happen, angel. You might need to explain all this to me, though. I'm a newbie, after all."

☿ He takes physical notes - nothing will catch this man out.

☿ If someone misgenders you, he'll correct them immediately.

☿ If someone acts ignorant or spiteful, he'll 'politely' tell them how to adjust their attitude, and how to address people outside the gender binary.

☿ I.e, respect them even if you don't have a complete grasp on their identity, and never, ever misgender or marginalise them.

"You are yourself, not how others perceive you."

Katsuki Bakugou:

☿ You decided to use pronoun badges. There were some awesome-looking designs out there, and you'd been feeling a little more confident lately. It couldn’t hurt to clue your classmates in, right? Plus, you supposed Katsuki ought to know…he was your boyfriend, after all. He'd definitely be pissed if he discovered this a few years down the line, rage about you not placing enough trust in him, and it'd be a huge mess…

☿ You'd never interrogated him on LGBTQ+ issues, so you weren't sure how he'd take your news; he wasn’t always the most accepting (Midoriya & the quirkless community being obvious testaments to that).

☿ Needless to say, instead of being confused, he was frustrated. Why was he with someone who didn’t even know their correct pronouns? He pointed it out, very matter-of-fact.

☿ When your dazzling smile suddenly dropped, he became concerned. Was he the idiot after all? Why did he upset you? What in the Nine Circles of Hell possessed him to do that?? He didn’t even say anything bad! All he mentioned was…

☿ Oh. Shit.

☿ This boy isn't accustomed to apologising, so don’t expect it to flow naturally. He’ll try, because he loves you, but he won't keep eye contact for very long and he'll recant every few seconds.

☿ This perceived insincerity only masks his guilt, though. He’ll beat himself up for years, unless you stop him. This boy has no chill. He's always the first to go off on people when they disrespect or degrade you, so he's gotta make amends in some way, right?

☿️ Honestly, if there are any pronoun badges with really cool or pretty designs, he'll buy them for you. He'll also get for himself, to prove his acceptance and solidarity. He won't ever allow you to feel alone again. He's more than okay with your identity - it changes absolutely nothing about you. If anything, it gives you a sense of completion. He's here for that, 100%.

☿️ You better believe he'll fight for your rights.

☿️ If there's any hate/intolerance directed at you, he'll explode. Quite literally.

☿️ You'll be tasked with ensuring no-one dies. Unless you want them to, of course.

☿️ They'll deserve it.

☿️ Katsuki is very perceptive, so when he gets to grips with it, he'll most likely notice every indication (however subtle) of a gender change. He'll carry spare pronoun badges around, just in case you lose yours.

☿️ Secretly, he's swimming in pride.

☿️ He's kinda like 'Yeah, that's my awesome partner! Look how cool they are, flaunting their pronouns like that, all confident and happy!'

☿️ This boy adores the ever-loving shit out of you. He hates reflecting on the day you came out, because he handled it so poorly at first. Thankfully now though, you're more secure.

"Gender doesn't matter. I'm gonna be a hero, not a hater."

Tamaki Amajiki:

☿️ (Y/n) wasn’t a dead name, but sometimes the very mention of it made your skin crawl.

☿️ It was a gift from your parents, so you wanted to keep it.

☿️ But it was a very gendered name - you couldn’t escape that.

☿️ So you decided on a few more - ones both your mind and heart adored.

☿️ The names corresponded to different gender identities, and although you weren't out just yet (though you planned to be shortly), they gave you the fluffiest feeling.

☿️ Because you hadn't come out, you didn’t bother making it easy for people - no different coloured bracelets, rings or anything to highlight your gender at the time.

☿️ In your heart, you knew who you were.

☿️ Still…everything seemed tied to the binary - official documents, school, the chatter of other students…you'd seen and heard it all.

☿️ These people didn’t accept non-conformists.

☿️ So why should Tamaki?

☿️ Sure, he was kind-hearted, heroic…amazing, but what would he do? What would he say, when you finally came out? You couldn’t remain in the closet forever.

☿️ No way that was happening! You were human too, your feelings mattered! Surely you were allowed to voice your truth…

☿️ Tamaki loved you.

☿️ He'd be accepting…right? Memorising some more names and pronouns shouldn’t be so tricky.

☿️ To minimise discomfort for both of you, you chose to explain things in his room.

☿️ He got really nervous at first - he thought you wanted to break up.

☿️ Boy was sweating profusely, coming up with all sorts of counter-arguments in his head. He really, really loved you.

☿️ "(Y-Y/n)-"

☿️ "Um, could you maybe call me (O/n) today? It's an…off-spectrum day."

☿️ Cue more confusion than Momo.

☿️ He'll ask about it in a really gentle voice - being anxious himself, he can easily pick up on other people's signs.

☿️ "Basically…my gender's fluid, so…you know how 'sex' is biological and 'gender' is a sense of identity? Well, sometimes I align with my birth sex, sometimes I don't. Today is…one of those days."

☿️ He'll hold your hand while he listens, squeezing it periodically to reassure you.

☿️ Now it's your turn to question the strength of your relationship.

☿️ This boy's love is deep, though; he cares way too much to let anything come between you.

☿️ Plus, nothing about you has actually changed.

☿️ You've just come into yourself, gained more comfort in who you are.

☿️ Tells you how proud he is.

☿️ Asks you to let him know when you sense your gender change, so he never calls you by the wrong name or pronouns.

☿️ It's They/Them today, but who knows about tomorrow? Or even an hour from now?

☿️ Finds gender-neutral compliments and nicknames, and does a ton of research.

☿️ Has an entire script in his head - if you want to come out but can't speak for yourself, Tamaki will push aside his anxiety and recite the words he's practiced a million times.

"You've finally found yourself - only change if it feels right."

Touya Todoroki/Dabi:

☿️ Your identity was really important and dear to your heart.

☿️ But that didn’t stop those you cared for tearing you apart whenever you tried to speak up.

☿️ Your family, your friends…you loved them, but they just couldn’t accept you.

☿️ So you killed them.

☿️ You went on the run, evading police and heroes alike for years.

☿️ And then, you found the League of Villains - a strange dynamic, kind of like family but much more welcoming.

☿️ Yet, your identity stayed hidden. You didn’t have the strength to harm all these people, if they rejected you.

☿️ Besides, there was more solidarity here than there ever had been with your blood relatives.

☿️ Dabi was your companion, though whether that meant closest friend or love interest, you didn’t know.

☿️ He was observant, transforming his thoughts into words regardless of how that affected people.

☿️ He pointed things out immediately.

☿️ "New bracelet?"

☿️ You paused, half-shocked, half-afraid.

☿️ You knew that he'd see through any lie you posed.

☿️ The truth would be the only thing to save you from his flames.

☿️ "That means something, doesn't it, (Y/n)?"

☿️ Step 1: put the drink down so you don't shatter it in anger.

☿️ "Yeah, um…this colour means 'masculine'. I'm a guy…now."

☿️ His face betrayed nothing.

☿️ "Like a reverse Magne?"

☿️ You wondered if that was a genuine question or an attempt at humour.

☿️ Todorokis don't understand jokes.

☿️ "No…she's a transgender woman, I'm genderfluid. I'm not confined to a single gender. It, uh…it changes."

☿️ His nod didn’t instil you with confidence.

☿️ "You out to the others yet?"

☿️ "Didn't think they'd accept me."

☿️ He made a 'Really? You're the least weird of the bunch' face.

☿️ "Ah, I'll just burn 'em if they don't."

☿️ You were too stunned to employ a comeback.

☿️ He contemplated for a while.

☿️ "So, you got any other names?"

☿️ Helps you plan how to come out to the rest of the League.

☿️ Will legitimately burn the haters.

"Found families are more accepting than the real thing."

Rumi Usagiyama/Mirko:

☿️ You bought three mugs - 'It's a Girl', 'It's a Boy' and 'It's a Mess'.

☿️ The excitement had been bubbling away inside you for weeks.

☿️ Rumi still didn’t know that you were genderfluid, but she was about to learn.

☿️ There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that she'd accept you.

☿️ You hadn't told her yet because it was a big thing - lots to take in, and you needed to be completely sure of it, and of your relationship.

☿️ You weren't gonna tell just anyone.

☿️ Dating Rumi was awesome, and this was just the next stage.

☿️ It didn’t go according to plan.

☿️ Not at first.

☿️ "You're pregnant?!" Was her very concerned response.

☿️ She kept muttering about how she needed some space to think things over.

☿️ Until you dragged her back, exasperated but determined to explain yourself.

☿️ "It's in reference to myself. I wanted to let you know, in a funny way, that I'm genderfluid. There's a Girl and a Boy one, and the other is for Non-Binary."

☿️ She made a noise like she understood, but you saw the confusion.

☿️ "Today's an Enby day, but you might have a girlfriend tomorrow. Or a boyfriend. Who knows?"

☿️ In an instant, the biggest smile took control of her face, and she brought you into a crushing hug.

☿️ "So I could have a girlfriend, a boyfriend and a murder partner??"

☿️ "Eh…if you can do the jail-time, count me in."

☿️ This one won't necessarily search for information herself, but she will consult you whenever she's having a difficult time processing something.

☿️ You're like,, the expert in all things LGBTQ+, and she loves listening to you talk so passionately.

☿️ She's really glad you told her - that you trusted her with something so important.

☿️ She feels loved, and makes sure you do too.

☿️ Asks if you ever thought she'd reject you.

☿️ "Nah. We'll go strong forever, Rumi."

☿️ She's overjoyed, honestly.

"You're so brave for coming out, and if someone doesn’t like it, I'll kick their butt."

Geten/Iceman:

☿️ Geten didn’t have the faintest clue about gender identities. He accepted male and female, but without a proper education or motivation to learn anything beside his quirk, you didn’t expect him to understand. You would've held it in, if you were strong enough to deal with the constant misgendering.

☿️ If you use Neopronouns, you're especially worried. They aren't as widely welcomed as the general She/He/They. And Geten being the angry, feral gremlin he is, his temper was a major concern.

☿️ You couldn’t change for him, so if he decided to lash out or disapprove, you'd be crushed. You'd obviously have to walk out of the relationship, if he didn’t do so himself. As deeply as your love ran, you simply couldn’t put yourself through such anguish. You weren't of the soundest mind, so to be rejected by Geten…

☿️ He isn't gonna understand unless you sit him down, crack open the slideshow presentation and maybe start crying? He'll feel guilty, but he doesn't ever wanna see you in distress. He said as much, in the beginning of your relationship.

☿️ So cry. Cry your little heart out, and he'll do everything within his power to comfort you. He's not the most receptive to other people's emotions, but with you, it's different. He's always by your side, always watching over you. His hugs are a little stiff, but wrap your arms around him tightly, and he'll protect you with his life.

☿️ "So…genderfluid?"

☿️ His tone is gentle, like he's afraid to cause any more tears.

☿️ "Yeah, um…you identify with your birth sex, right? Well, I don't…not all the time. And if you could…could use those pronouns? That would mean…a lot. To me. It'd mean everything, actually…"

☿️ He's quiet for a while, still trying to make space in his brain for all this new information. It isn't something he needs to 'come around to', though. He'll be completely painful and respectful. He's bound to slip up a few times, but he'll always correct himself.

☿️ Hates seeing you cringe whenever he makes a mistake. Always vows never to let it happen again.

☿️ You're okay though - you know it's gonna take time.

☿️ Angry boi never uses your gender identity as an insult, and openly condemns (threatens) anyone who does. He'll want to prove himself - prove he's gonna love you regardless of gender, regardless of everything!

☿️ Honestly doesn't know why you were so nervous to explain this. When he said his love was unconditional, he wasn’t lying.

“There’s no way I couldn’t accept who you are.”

[writingsteph]

TTT Sneak Peek Ch. 15

So this is literally all I’ve written for this chapter, but here’s proof that I’m writing at least lol.

The car ride was silent. Tense. Lucas was driving while Brooke stole glances of her children from the rearview mirror. Riley and Carter were sitting next to each other hand in hand. Carter in the window seat and Riley in the middle. Riley’s head leaned on Carter’s shoulder. Solidarity. 

Carter looked so much like Lucas in Brooke’s eyes. But his heart was always on his sleeve like her. Right now though, the boy’s jaw was tight. He was trying not to cry. And that, that made Brooke worry even more. 

“So you’re not going to say a word about it, huh?” Lucas broke the quiet startling almost everyone in the car, save himself. 

Carter glanced at his father and gave him a single curt shake of the head, laying his head back on the window. Eyes misting more. Brooke could see that he was miserable. 

Riley tightened her hold on Carter’s hand while Brooke murmured to Luke to wait until they got home. He didn’t need Luke’s anger to make things worse between the parents and a clearly furious Carter. Brooke caressed her husband’s arm, The man turned and looked at her, a weary but grateful smile on his face. His anchor. His Brooke. Yet it was in that short interaction between wife and husband that they missed Carter slipping his hand away from Riley and nudging her head gently off his shoulder. They missed the glint of confusion that crossed the girl twin’s eyes. They missed her hand that slunk away back towards herself. A chasm appearing between the two siblings. 

Both kids tried to disappear as soon as the engine of the white Range Rover cut off. Swirling emotions of confusion and anger were thick inside the car and all involved were trying to get away from it. The twins zipped to the stairs as quickly as a speed walk could take them. 

“Carter,” Brooke called before Lucas could say anything, “Living room, please.”

For a split second both parents see the hint of rebellion in the boy's eyes. Brooke put a hand to her hip, was he really going to disobey them? But without mincing words Carter dropped his hand from the banister and walked back towards the living room, falling onto the right side of the couch, leaning his head onto a bent arm. “Stay there until mom and I get back.” Lucas grabbed Brooke’s hand and headed with her into the kitchen. 

“You notice what’s missing from the picture.” Lucas asked his wife while leaning on the island, feeling like he desperately needed an anchor.

Usually Riley would be defending her older brother, asking to stay with him. Usually they’d have to tell her at least twice to go to her room while they talked to Carter when he was in trouble. And like his sister, Carter always did the same for her. But this time, Riley had disappeared to her room without issue, a door closed harder than usual in the process. What the fuck had happened? 

“Riley not asking to stay down here.” Brooke massaged her left temple while Lucas nodded in affirmation, glad they both thought the same thing, “Do you think she’s somehow involved in this?” She peeked into the living room where their son hadn’t moved his spot on the couch. One of his cheeks slowly turning a deeper purple. “ I don’t know, but I need to get him ice.” She pulled some from the freezer and placed it onto a towel. The pair headed straight back, Brooke placing the ice into Carter’s lap, “Put this on your cheek because it’s clearly bruising.” Her voice terse.

“Carter, you have to tell us what happened.” Luke spoke, trying to stop himself from begging his kid to speak, “We know you and you’re not like this. You’re not violent.”

“I already TOLD you at school,” Carter’s head shot up, his posture straightening. He was going to war with his father whose anger was growing by the second.  “I’m not saying anything. I got suspended at school for a week so I already got a consequence there, can’t you just punish me and let me go to my room already?”

Shake. Lucas felt himself shake.  “Oh, little boy. You are pushing it. Who do you think you’re talking to?” 

“You! I’m talking to you!” 

“Okay!” Brooke spoke up over the both of them. Stand offs between Lucas and Carter never went anywhere besides the land of hurt feelings and silent treatments, and Brooke was not up for diffusing either. She guided her extremely irate husband to take a seat in his lazyboy, “Everyone needs to calm down.” She ordered both of the men in her life, “We’re not going to get through anything like this. Carter you know better than to speak to your father that way.”

Carter glowered as he forced himself to breathe before he dug a deeper hold for his inevitable grave if he kept going the way he was. The parents waited until Carter’s defensive pose gave some slack. 

“Sweetheart.” Brooke sat on the arm of the chair by Lucas, trying the good cop approach, “Your father and I are worried. You’re not the type of person to just fight someone for no reason...to hurt someone. You’re not.”

Carter’s face softened, “I-I’m not.”

“We know you’re not.” Lucas spoke, calmer now, “Which is why you need to tell us what happened. Did he threaten you? What did that boy do?”

“Why can’t you just trust that I fought him for a reason and leave it at that?” Carter didn’t want to talk to his parents about this. He wanted to wallow alone. He was feeling rather sorry for his situation and was sure that no one in his family could understand him. 

Luke shook his head, tousling his hair in the process. Carter was by far his hardest child to understand. Brooke had a way with him that he simply didn’t. He loved the boy to death, but sometimes their differing ways of moving through life really made them butt heads.   “You know that’s not how this works. We do trust you. And we want you to trust us enough to tell us.”

“Did he hurt your sister?” Brooke inquired further. Carter looked down and away, “No.” 

They were at a standstill. The boy was refusing. Lucas knew that his son had more than earned a spanking over the seat of his khakis. Carter could never hold up his insolent walls when his father had him over his knees. But Luke’s parental instinct was telling him that a bottom warming was not what Carter needed. “I can tell this is bothering you big boy.” Lucas spoke kindly, “We want to help.”

“No, you’re bothering me.” Carter was not letting up and it was Brooke who surprised both father and son. She stood up from her perch on the chair and strode towards Carter, bending in her heels and cupping his cheeks so their eyes could meet, “You are allowed to be angry. But you do not get to talk like this. Do you hear me? Your father and I are not the ones that should be receiving this displaced anger. Is that understood, young man? You got the wrong ones if you think that’s the case.” Her eyes dared him to disobey and Carter knew that if he kept pushing his bum was not going to be happy, “Answer me.”

“Yes, okay.” His voice sullen. He hated being scolded by Brooke. She usually had the most patience with him. He was a mama’s boy through and through.

Lucas let out a deep breath, “Just go upstairs. Don’t come down unless you’re ready to speak about what’s bothering you and what really happened at school. One of us will bring you dinner and more ice for your cheek.”

“Gladly.” Carter mumbled, tears jumbled in his eyes before scampering away. A sight that made Brooke’s heart sag. What was wrong with her baby?

[disruptedvice]

ABC (easy as 123)

Starmora highschool au For @ephemeralcontinuum

Summary: “I still don’t see how you two ever became a thing,” Her friend commented, referring to Gamora’s boyfriend on defense. He makes me smile, was the first thought Gamora had. “He’s quite… persistent,” is what she actually said, with a begrudging fondness.

AO3 link _________________ ABC (easy as 123) _________________

November meant soccer. It also meant that it was finally starting to get cold enough for Gamora to start wearing a jacket when she hung around after school and waited for Peter’s practice to end. It was a habit she started back when they were nothing more than friends- he was always in practice for some sport year round, depending on the season. She was never a team player, but sticking around for his practices gave her an excuse to stay after school instead of heading home. Then it became a habit. She liked the solitude too- it was centering, sitting alone on the bleachers or benches off to the side of whatever field of that particular sport season.

Gamora wasn’t alone that afternoon though. She found she didn’t mind.

Gen was the only other girl in school who had hair dyed an unnatural color- blue bangs- and with Gamora’s pink tips it was like they were destined to get along. Was there such thing as solidarity in hair color?

Even though they’d been in the same art class since the beginning of that year, they didn’t really end up talking until getting partnered up on a project recently. This was the first day she invited Gen to come with her as she started walking out to the sports field after the school bell rang. Much to her surprise, she accepted, and it was actually kinda fun just hanging out and talking on the bleachers for the past half hour.

Okay, not just kinda. It was nice, and Gamora was having fun. They both were. And Gamora was actually snorting with laughter as Gen tried to extrapolate the meaning of the horrendous pattern on the goalie’s uniform that was like a psychedelic trip mixed with a kaleidoscope that was trying way too hard to get attention.

“I still don’t see how you two ever became a thing,” Gen commented, referring to Gamora’s boyfriend on defense. Who she could hear whining from here for being whistled and shouted at for being offsides.

He makes me smile, was the first thought Gamora had.

“He’s quite… persistent,” is what she actually said, with a begrudging fondness.

Her friend raised an eyebrow. “So what? He just annoyed you into going out with him? That doesn’t explain why you two are still together.”

It was no use pretending Peter wasn’t what one would call popular. Everyone knew him, or at least knew of him. Gamora was used to it. Hell, she remembered whenever she used to be infamous on her own and labelled a loner before the gang got together. She also remembered how worried the teachers seemed to be whenever she, Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Peter really became a posse. It just seemed like a bad idea when five troublemakers became a group of friends. Though Peter was more mischief maker than troublemaker (you couldn’t say the same for the rest of them). He was the class clown who got in trouble for goofing off, but had typical well-adjusted highschool student activities too. Like sports. Participation.

And he turned out to be a good leader. There was a reason he was usually voted team captain for all the sports teams he was on (though he definitely didn’t act like it during practice). And he turned out to be a surprisingly good influence on the rest of their friends, Gamora included.

“No, he just has this way of worming his way into your heart, whether you want him to or not,” she tried to explain. “Whether or not you give him permission to make you start caring about him. But it’s… He starts caring about you first, and you just can’t help but care about him in return. Or something like that. I don’t know how it happened either. Damn him for being so cute and lovable. It’s his fault. He just worms himself into your heart, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.” Yeah, that was it, shift all the blame on Peter. It was better that anyone thinks the sentiment was his fault, instead of Gamora being Sappy. Or… ugh… romantic. He must be rubbing off on her- she swore she wasn’t this sappy before she met him. No way.

“Weren’t you worried about his, you know, reputation at first? The love ‘em and leave ‘em Peter Quill who’d never been with the same girl longer than a week, and had a new notch in his bedpost like every other night?” Gen asked, not bothering to beat around any bushes. This was something that Gamora appreciated about her personality. “You’re the last person I’d ever expect to end up with a guy like him, Gamora. Now it doesn’t seem like a big deal since you’ve been together- how long?”

“A year as of July,” Gamora supplied.

“Right. Now it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but you didn’t know that when you first started going out. Weren’t you, I dunno, worried?”

She shrugged in response. “Not especially. He pursued me for a year before we went on our first date. Not like, hounding me. I would’ve cracked his jaw open for that. It’s like I was saying about the whole genuinely caring thing he does. I always knew I was something more to him. He’s got the whole puppy dog heart on his sleeve thing, and it’s disgustingly endearing.” She paused then, to recollect particulars- besides, she had time to kill. Why not tell the whole story? A truncated version, of course.  

“We almost kissed the week we met, but then I threatened him with physical violence if he ever tried to pull something like that with me. A kiss. So he didn’t. He just became my annoying best friend after that, somehow. And we just got closer and closer. All the while, Peter Quill, big man on campus, stopped hooking up at parties like he used to have a reputation for doing once we started hanging out. Started being friends.” Once they all started being friends, really. Once the group got together. Peter always said they should come up with a name, she recalled fondly. Drax thought it was a great idea (he always thinks it’s a great idea whenever Quill brings up that long argued over point). Rocket threatened to ‘quit’ if he ever even tried to give them a team name.

“He’s told me since that he already started… developing feelings for me by the end of the month we met,” she continued. “And whenever he had feelings for me, he didn’t want to be with anyone else, even superficially, at all. So no, I wasn’t worried. He was horribly honest about all of it, too. I always knew how much I meant to him.”

“How’d you guys meet anyway? You run in totally different circles.”

“Detention,” Gamora answered easily, and Gen laughed.

“Okay, now that I buy.” _________________

“There’s a reason why Drax, Rocket, Groot, and I are such good friends now. Why our group of friends even exists. It’s because of Peter.” Gamora’s learned that sharing things about yourself is a way to make friends, and to solidify a budding friendship. She’s also since learned that it’s much easier to talk about Peter than herself. And waxing poetic about your boyfriend is a way of getting personal, in a friendship building way- so it’s a work around. Gen is probably the first friend she’s made in years, outside of their little group. It’s nice. Plus, Gamora’s also proud of her boyfriend, and she secretly liked bragging on him. Not that she would ever admit that.

“Now don’t tell him I said this, because his ego doesn’t need to get any bigger, but he’s the best person I know. He has a way of changing people, for the better. I think it’s that whole genuinely caring about other people that he has a habit of. The whole reason our little ‘posse’ is friends- it’s cause Peter reached out to us first. We were all in pretty bad places when we met him. And he reached out and stuck around and made you feel important because you were important, and this utterly ridiculous goofball of sunshine actually cared about the sad sack of shit you were, and gave a crap about you, when you’re not used to mattering to people at all. It… he’s infectious.”

“You make it sound like he’s some benevolent sort of superhero.”

“No, he’s just kind with a drive to help out other people, for whatever reason. And a keen sense of someone in trouble I guess. Not like spider sense sort of trouble, but… he has a good heart. I think he sees pain in other people, and wants to help them. I won’t speak for the rest of the group, but none of us come from very good… situations. Rocket likes to joke we’re the most fucked up kids in school, so of course we all became friends. I certainly wasn’t at a good place when we met. My parents died when I was a kid, and my adoptive family after them… let’s just say they weren’t healthy.  I think Peter was the first person who cared about me in years. So yes, he has a way of kicking down the door to your heart and announcing to make room cause he’s taking up permanent residence there.” _________________

“Gamora!” Peter shouted, waving his arms above his head as he jogged over to the bleachers. Like he was trying to get her attention or something. Even though he literally did this every practice. Every time he got a break, he’d run over to go bug the prettiest girl in the world (who he also happened to be dating). “My biggest fan!” He greeted with the widest smile on his face once he reached her.

“Try your only fan,” Gamora scoffed, rolling her eyes at him and their familiar banter that they always fell into so easily.

Peter gasped, his hand flying over his heart like she’d just shot him through it. “Oh, ouch!”

It only took two seconds for him to drop his mock offense though, his facade falling into his easy laughter that always made her want to laugh too. His cheeks were a bit pink from all the running and exertion, and with the happiest look on his face- Gamora just had to smile at how cute he was. She obviously wasn’t going to say so, not in front of her friend (she did have some respect for other people to not put on gag worthy sentimental displays like he was prone to), but she thought she may just have to tell him sometime later.

Speaking of friend.

Peter looked expectantly between the two girls, noticing how close they were sitting and how they were talking until just a moment ago. He raised his eyebrows, almost bouncing on his toes, and he was very clearly waiting for an introduction, but no one said anything. He didn’t seem surprised.

“So… let me guess,” he started excitedly, motioning to whoever was sitting next to his girlfriend. “This is… new friend from art class?” Peter phrased it as a question, but he was confident he nailed it.

Gamora’s friend raised her eyebrows, looking reasonably impressed.

“Gen,” Gamora corrected him.

Before he had any real time to chat, Peter was being called back over by the other guys on the team (who were shouting at him to get his butt back on the field and stop flirting, cause his teammates were so unoriginal).

So he gave Gamora a quick kiss on the cheek and said an even quicker goodbye to her friend before jogging back onto the field, prepared for the ribbing he was definitely going to get from them before they got back into the game. It was a rather short break, apparently.

Meanwhile, Gen looked at Gamora, awaiting an explanation. They’d really only met last week, and them hanging out right now wasn’t planned in advance, so Gen was curious as to how Peter knew who she was.

“I told him about you one time,” Gamora sighed in answer to the unasked question. “And I’m pretty sure my exact words were ‘I met someone in art who’s as big of an asshole as I am.’”

“A boy who listens to you?” Gen waggled her eyebrows with a knowing smile. “You’d better hold onto that one.”

“Trust me, I don’t plan on letting go of him anytime soon.” _________________

“Though for real, that was some deep shit,” Gen told her, meaning it as a sincere compliment. “All reflective and introspective. Seriously, Gamora, you sound way too mature, especially when talking about that ridiculous goofball, as you like to call him. I swear, you could submit what you just said to some sort of writing competition and win, like, everything. You’d be so good at angsty poetry. I'm not even kidding, what you just said sounded really good, and beautiful, honestly. But you should maybe take out all the curse words before submitting it to something. Did you just come up with that off the top of your head? Cause that was deep.”

Gamora shrugged. “Peter comes up a lot in my mandated therapy sessions. I still have to go to them every week, even though I haven't been in a fight at school in over a year now. I of course spend a lot of time with my boyfriend, so I end up talking about him whenever I have to talk about what my week was like, every week. You realize a couple things with forced reflection.”

“Man, I wish I had known you back when you got into fist fights,” Gen said almost wistfully. “I only got to hear about them afterward when everyone was talking about how you beat someone up at lunch. I thought you were the coolest girl in school when I heard those stories. I mean, good on you for not punching anybody lately. I just kinda wish I had gotten to see Michael Crichton cry. Dude’s an asshole. Even a bigger asshole than the two of us,” Gen elbowed her with a smile, and Gamora had to laugh.

Yes, she was glad to have found a friend with the same asshole sense of humor she did.

“He still won’t look me in the eyes in the hallway,” Gamora stated proudly.

At that, Gen held up her hand for a high five, and Gamora gave it to her.

“You are my hero, man,” Gen grinned. “I heard you got suspension for that, right?”

“Mhmm. Three days,” she confirmed.

“Well, on behalf of all the girls who’ve had to put up with him for two years, thank you for taking one for the team and decking him in the face. That day was the last time he cat called anybody. He’s too afraid you’ll hear him and punch him again,” Gen snickered.

Yes, Gamora had a feeling this was the start to a beautiful friendship.