#also before you tell me I’m homophobic because of the terms it’s cringe because white 12 year old girls are saying it irl

[camaroanus]

Social media comments nowadays are so wildly out of touch and weird to the creators I can’t imagine having any sort of following and having to hear “yes queen slay mommy it’s giving mother it’s giving mommy it’s giving slay boots mommy queen giving”

[adorpheus]

on fujoshi and fetishization

Lately, more and more, both here on tumblr and on other sites, I keep seeing people spew unfiltered hatred at fujoshi - that is, women who like mlm content such as gay fanfic and fanart featuring men with other men. And I don’t mean like a specific type of fujoshi, like the ones who are genuinely being weird about it, but just like a general hatred for girls (but especially straight identifying girls) who express love for gay romance.

I hate to break this to you all, but women (including straight women!) actually are allowed to like mlm fanfiction and fanart, even enthusiastically so. A woman simply expressing her love of gay fanfic, even if it is in kind of a cringey way or a way that you personally don’t like, is NOT automatically fetishization.

I’ve been on the receiving end of fetishization for my entire life, from a very young age, as many black and brown folx have, so I consider myself pretty well acquainted with how it works. Fetishization isn’t just like, being really into drawings of boys kissing, or whatever the fuck y’all are trying to imply on this god forsaken site. 

Fetishization is complicated imo, and can encompass a lot of things, such as (but not limited to):

1 - dehumanization, e.g. viewing a group of people as sexual objects who exist purely for entertainment purposes, rather than acknowledging them as actual people who deserve respect and rights

and

2 - projecting certain assumptions onto said people based on their race/sexuality/whatever is being fetishized. These assumptions are often, but not always, sexual in nature (like the idea that black people in general are more sexual than other races, etc etc etc).

I’m going to use myself as an example to illustrate my point. Please note this isn’t the best or most nuanced example, but it is the most simplistic. A white person finding me attractive and respectfully appreciating my black features as part of what makes me beautiful is not, on its own, fetishization. A white person finding me attractive solely or mostly because I’m a PoC is now in fetishization territory. Similarly, assuming I’m dominant because of my blackness (like saying “step on me mommy” and shit like that) is hella fetishistic. 

That being said, theres definitely a difference between how fetishization works in real life with real people, and how it shows up in fandom. 

Fetishization manifests in many different ways in fandom, but most commonly on the mlm side of things, I personally see it appear as conservative (or centrist) women who love the idea of two men together, but don’t actually like gay people, and don’t necessarily think LGBT+ people deserve rights (or “special treatment” as its sometimes dog whistled). These women view queer men as sexual objects for entertainment rather than an actual group of people who deserve to be protected from systemic oppression. I’ve noticed that they often don’t even think of the men they “ship” together as actually being gay, and may even express disgust at the idea of a character in an mlm ship being headcanon’d gay. In case its not obvious, this is pretty much exactly the same way a lot of cishet men fetishize lesbians (they see “lesbian” as a porn category, rather than like, what actual LGBT people think of when we read the word lesbian). There’s a pretty popular viral tweet thread going around where someone explains seeing this trend of conservative women who like mlm stuff, and I have also personally witnessed this phenomenon myself in more than one fandom. 

The funny thing is, maybe its just me buuuut.... The place I see this particular kind of fetishization happen most is not in the anime/BL fandom, from which the term fujoshi originates - I actually see these type of women way way more in western fandom spaces like Supernatural, Harry Potter, and Hannibal. I can’t stress this enough, there’s a shocking amount of people who are like, straight up trump supporters in these fandoms. If you want to experience it, try joining a Hannigram or Destiel group on facebook and you will probably encounter one eventually especially if you happen to be living through a major historical event. Like these women probably wouldn’t even be considered “fujoshi”, because that term doesn’t really apply to them given they aren’t in the BL/anime fandom, yet they’re the ones I personally see actually doing the most harm.

Of course this isn’t the ONLY kind of fetishizing woman in the mlm/BL world, there are other ways fetishization shows up, but this is the most toxic kind that I see.

A girl just being really into BL or whatever may be “cringe” to you, or she may be expressing her love for BL in a “cringey” way, but a straight woman really enjoying BL is not, on its own, somehow inherently fetishization. Yes, sometimes teenage girls act kind of cringe about how much they like BL and that might be annoying to you, but its not necessarily ~problematic~. 

That being said, IT NEEDS BE REMARKED that a lot of the “fujoshi” that you all hate so deeply, are actually closeted trans men or nonbinary people who haven’t yet come to terms with their gender identity, or are otherwise just NOT cishet. I know because I was one of these closeted people for years, and I honestly think tumblr and the cultural obsession around purity is one of the many reasons I was closeted so deeply for so long. STORYTIME LOL!!! In my early adolescence, I was a sort of proto “fujoshi”. I identified as a bi girl who was mostly attracted to men, or as most (biphobic) people called it, “practically straight”. I wrote and read “slash” fanfic and looked at as well as drew my own fanart. We didn’t use the term fujoshi back then, but that’s definitely how I could have been described. I was obsessed with yaoi, BL, whatever you want to call it, to a cringe-inducing degree. I really struggled to relate to most het romances, so when I first discovered yaoi fanfics (as we called them at the time), I fell in love and felt like I finally found the type of romance content that was made for me. I didn’t know exactly why, I just knew it hit different. LGBT+ fanart and fanfiction brought me an immense amount of joy, and I didn’t really think too hard about why.

At some point, in my early 20s, after reading lots of discourse™ here on tumblr and other places like twitter, I started to get the sinking feeling that my passion for gay fanfiction was ~problematic~. I had always felt a sense of guilt for being into mlm content, because literally anyone who found out I liked BL (especially the men I dated) shamed me for liking it all the fucking time (which btw is literally just homophobic, like can we talk about that?). In addition to THAT bullshit, now I’m seeing posts telling me that girls who like BL are cringey gross fetishists who inspire rage and should go die? 

Let me tell you, I internalized the fuck out of messages like this. I desperately wanted to avoid being ~problematic~. At the time, I thought being problematic was like the worst thing you could be. I was terrified of being “cancelled”, before canceling was even really a thing. I thought to myself, “oh my god, I’m gross for liking this stuff? I should stop.” I beat myself up over this. I wanted so badly to be accepted, and to be deemed a Good Person by the internet and society at large.

I tried to shape up and become a good ally (lmfao). I stopped writing fanfic and deleted all the ones I was working on at the time. I made a concerted effort to assimilate into cishet culture, including trying to indulge myself more deeply in the few fandoms I could find that had het content I did enjoy (Buffy, True Blood, Pretty Little Liars, etc). I would occasionally look at BL/fanfic/etc in private, but then I would repress my interest in it and not look for a while. Instead I would look at women in straight relationships, and create extremely heterosexual Couple Goals pinterest boards, and try to figure out how I could become more like these women, so I, too, could be loved someday. 

This cycle of repression lasted like eight years. Throughout it all, I was performing womanhood to the best of my ability and trying to become a woman that was worthy of being in a relationship. I went in and out of several “straight” relationships, wondering why they didn’t make me feel the way reading fanfic did. Most of all, I couldn’t figure out why straight intimacy didn’t work for me. I just didn’t enjoy it. I always preferred looking at or making gay fanfiction/fanart over actual intimacy with men in real life. 

Eventually, I stumbled upon a trans coming out video that someone I was following posted online, my egg started to crack, and to make an extremely long story short, after like 3 years of introspection and many gender panic attacks that I still experience to this day, I realized that I’m uh... MAYBE... NOT CIS..!? :|

I truly believe if I had just been ALLOWED TO LIKE GAY STUFF WITHOUT BEING SHAMED FOR IT, I probably would have realized I was trans way way sooner. Because for me, indulging in my love of gay romance and writing gay fanfic wasn’t me being a weirdo fetishist, it was actually me exploring my own gender identity. It is what helped me come to terms with being a nonbinary trans boy.

Not everyone realizes they are trans at age 2 or whatever the fuck. Sometimes you have to go through a cringey fujoshi phase and multiple existential crises to realize how fucking gay you are AND THATS FINE.

And one more thing - can we just be real here? 

A lot of anti-fujoshi sentiment is literally just misogyny. omg please realize this. Its “women aren’t allowed to enjoy things” but, like... with gay fanfics. Some of the anti-fujoshi posts I see come across my dash are clearly ppl projecting a caricature they invented in their head of a demonic fujoshi fetishist onto any woman who expresses what they consider to be a little too much enthusiasm for gay content and then using their perception of that individual as an excuse to justify their disdain for any women, especially straight women, ‘invading’ their ~oh so exclusive~ queer fandom spaces.

 god get over yrselfs this is gatekeeping by another name

idk why i spent so long writing this no one is even going to read it, does anyone even still use this site

*EDIT: HOLY SHIT WHEN DOING RESEARCH FOR THIS POST I FOUND OUT THAT Y-GALLERY IS BACK OMG!!! 

[legrandepapillon]

The One With The Dinner (mullwashette)

Summary: A dinner with George Washington's non-binary signif, his male signif and his deeply Southern family. What could go wrong? Prompt: ‘Meet the family + dinner’ Author’s Notes:  Actual new favorite ship? Mullwashette is so underrated lets argue

The entire dinner fiasco began with a simple trip. A trip to Westmoreland County, Virginia, more accurately, which was the birthplace and hometown of the esteemed politician George Washington. George had finally decided─after a positively agonizing wait of two years, or at least that’s how Lafayette described it─that his two significant others were at last ready to meet his family. George had already met Lafayette’s family─Laf’s eccentric cousin, Thomas and little sister, Adrienne. And had a brief run-in with Hercules’─though the man’s parents’ English was rather poor, and he’d already known his step brother James Madison. They felt it was only fair they got to meet his. However, George explained to them countless times that they had to wait until the Washingtons were more comfortable with this… arrangement their son had with his two ex-interns. Mostly because he did not want Lafayette nor Hercules to experience the pain of discrimination─especially at the hands of his own flesh and blood.

But at long last, his family had decided they were ready to meet the two people that made the prodigal son so happy. George’s older brother, Lawrence─as well as Lawrence’s wife and their three children─and his parents.

When the trio had arrived in Virginia, they’d been immediately engulfed in Mary Washington’s arms─all three of them hugged tightly and thoroughly until George’s father had interrupted with an uncomfortable clearing of his throat. Mary was a lovely person─a heavy set woman with skin the colour of the night sky and shining brown eyes. She exuded warmth and joy, and both Lafayette and Hercules could tell from the way she looked at George─and of course, from the way he looked at her─that the bond she shared with her son was positively unbreakable. And even though Hercules─who was an excellent people reader─could tell she was upset that she’d most likely never have a nice young girl to call a daughter-in-law, she seemed to be happy that her child was happy.

His father, Augustine, was the polar opposite of his wife. A tall, stoic white man with hard set dark eyes that gave Lafayette and Hercules firm handshakes in place of a hug. He seemed to be far more distant than George’s mother was, and his lips curled down at the sight of the two kids lingering just behind George. It was obvious that he would be the two college students’ biggest obstacle in getting in good with their longtime boyfriend’s family.

“Well,” Lafayette had muttered in French, looking to Hercules with nervous eyes─of whom simply wrapped an arm around them and squeezed their shoulder. “I can see where George got his emotional distance from.”

“C’mon in, boys, come meet the others!” Mary had called before Hercules could respond, and George had motioned for them to get inside.

The home that George Washington grew up in was nothing like their simple apartment in New York, City. Their apartment back in New York was small, and homely. Lafayette had filled every open window space with plants, and things didn’t seem to have one set place. And due to Lafayette being a painter, Hercules being a clothing designer and seamster, and George being a very busy politician─more often than not, their home was a complete disaster. Only when Martha, Adrienne or Beth came over to chastise them did the place resemble something tidy─and never did it last long.

However, the Washington Estate is a complete opposite. Every surface is pristine and sparkling─not a spec of dirt or grime in sight. Everything also seems to have its own neat and tidy place, nothing at all is out of order. There are several maids and butlers that Lafayette sees scurrying around─picking up this, adjusting that, fixing something there. Not to mention how grand and gorgeous it is. Expensive chandeliers hang from the ceilings, the floors are made out of marble and everything is so clean the boys are scared to breathe too hard for fear of breaking it.

As soon as they’re five steps into the house, Augustine calls for one of the servant girls to come take their bags. Lafayette tries to insist that they could easily take the bags upstairs if shown their room, but Augustine glares them down so hard that they merely swallow their words and hand the suitcases to the girl─who does give them a small, sweet smile at their attempt.

“Please, Mr. Lafayette,” Lafayette cringes briefly at the use of ‘Mr.’ but makes no attempt to correct the man. Afterall, they didn’t need anymore reason for Augustine not to like them. “I don’t pay them for nothing. You are our guests. I’ve arranged a room upstairs for each of you─George will sleep in his old room, and there is a room with two beds for you and Mr. Mulligan.”

Augustine says all of this with a no-nonsense tone of voice. Lafayette, Hercules and George all hear his message loud and clear─there will be no sleeping in the same bed while they’re under his roof, and if he is to catch them attempting to do so, there will be hell to pay. Laf hasn’t slept in a bed by themselves since they were eighteen─when they and Hercules first moved in together─and they’re twenty-three now. They don’t think they’ll be getting any rest the three weeks they’re supposed to be here in Virginia.

“You can call me Herc,” Hercules pipes up, in order to change the subject on sleeping arrangements. Lafayette briefly notices that their boyfriend has a slight frown painted on their lips, and they immediately know what he’s going to say. “And we usually call Lafayette Laf, Marie or Gilbert depending on their mood for the day.”

“Hercules!” They hiss between their teeth, but luckily there is no time for further comment─as they’ve come to a sliding door now. Once George reaches forward and slides the door open so that they can step outside, Lafayette feels a wave of calm wash over them. Immediately, Lafayette is relaxed at the sight of children happily running around the vast, gorgeous gardens. They’re unsure if it’s the sight of plantlife─one of their favorite hobbies, something that always managed to relax them─or children, but the sharp pain of being misgendered ebbs a little at the atmosphere.

“Ah!” Mary exclaims, which draws the attention of the children playing and the lovely couple sitting in cushy yard chairs beneath an umbrella. Lafayette immediately notices how strikingly alike Lawrence and George look─both have caramel coloured skin, with bushy eyebrows and a warm honey colored eyes. The only difference is that when Lawrence smiles, he doesn’t seem to have the small gap in his teeth that George has─one of Lafayette’s favorite qualities about their boyfriend, as they believe it makes him look so adorable─nor does he have the man’s dimples. And, Hercules will later point out to them, Lawrence is considerably shorter than his younger brother.

Lafayette is more taken with the man’s wife, however. She’s a gorgeous woman, but not at all what Lafayette had expected. They’d expected a stiff, cold woman─well, they’d expected Augustine Washington in woman form, actually. From the way George described his sister-in-law, she was very no nonsense and quite strict with her children. However, Lafayette is considerably taken off guard. She’s obviously of Middle Eastern descent, with skin the colour of treebark and long, silky black hair. And she’s got quite the award winning smile, which she flashes at George when the man steps off the back porch to greet her. Where Lafayette had expected a fancy business suit and heels, she wears a nice sundress and white flats─though, that’s probably because her belly is swollen with pregnancy.

“Oh, I love babies!” Lafayette finds themselves exclaiming before hopping off the porch after George to go and greet her. They don’t know why they’d expected her to harbour the same homophobic thoughts as her father-in-law, but if she does she is an expert at not showing it. Her eyes light up and instead of simply shaking their hand, she pulls Lafayette into a warm hug. They hug her back just as eagerly, trying not to squish her belly bump between their bodies, and greet her with a warm, “Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Lafayette.”

“I’m Anne, it’s nice to meet you, too. So, you’re one of the boys that managed to wrangle our crazy George, huh?” she asks, hand coming to rest protectively on her belly─it’s not long before she starts rubbing her stomach through the cloth of dress absentmindedly, positively glowing with pregnancy. Lafayette winces again at the misgendering, but before they can open their mouth to give an answer─that would’ve most likely skipped over the hiccup, for fear of stirring the pot with George’s family─, George himself is butting into the conversation with,

“Actually, Anne, they are genderfluid. And today isn’t really a boy or girl day, so if you could kindly refer to them as they/them or use gender neutral terms,” George says, making sure his voice is at a level that his father could hear. Lafayette doesn’t miss the distasteful snort from Augustine Washington, but the man’s reaction is completely wiped from their mind when Anne’s mouth forms a small ‘o’ and she gives their bicep a comforting squeeze.

(Not to mention how they simultaneously swoon and become turned on at the way George rushes to defend their honour.)

“Oh, you have to forgive me! Yes, Lafayette, of course. Just alert me if ever I misgender you, honey, and I will make every effort to do better,” she says warmly. Lafayette must look confused or thrown off at her answer, because she gives them a small smile. “I know. Deep south, you’re lucky if you find someone that accepts homosexuality─yet alone those that identify with the transgender community. But I’m a social worker and advocate for homeless LGBTQ+ youth─kids that came out to their parents and got kicked out, mostly─, so I’m very… uh, do they say ‘woke’, these days?”

“Wow! I have to say, I admittedly didn’t expect someone to be so accepting,” Lafayette says, feeling flustered at how quick they were to assume who Anne was and what she thought of certain types of people. “Thank you. And thank you for what you’re doing for those kids. It’s important to have some validation when you’re that young and have been turned away by those you call family.”

He knew that well.

“Well, I do have my hiccups, of course. But I’m learning from these kids everyday. I just wish I could say the same for my husband. In the terms of political views, he’s very much like his father,” Anne sighs wistfully, and her eyes travel over to the man. Speaking of Lawrence, he and Hercules seem to be setting up a game of cards at the table─which causes the three talking to go over and attempt to join them.

“Prepare to get your ass dumped on in this Uno, son,” Lawrence is saying, when George, Lafayette and Anne pull up chairs to join them for the game. Once they’re all seated, Lawrence looks up and shakes Lafayette’s hand. “Nice to meet you, by the way. I’m Lawrence, li’l Georgie’s big brother. You are…?”

“Lafayette. It’s nice to meet you, too, Lawrence. I hope you didn’t challenge Hercules to a round of Uno─he is painfully good at that game,” Lafayette responds, though they accept the cards that are dealt to them by their boyfriend. George offers some murmurs of assent to that statement, much to Lawrence’s chagrin─who continues to insist that he’s the best at Uno. Hercules blows a kiss at both his spouses for the support, and much Lafayette’s surprise, Lawrence doesn’t scoff or make any snide comments. Anne had said that he was similar to Augustine when it came to view, they’d expected at least some sort of expression of distaste.

Maybe George had waited for his family to get more onboard with the thought of him in a gay polyamorous relationship. Maybe Lawrence had been practicing being more accepting. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad.

They’re five games deep into Uno─with Hercules winning four and Anne winning one─when Mary returns outside. This time it’s to call everyone in for dinner, which the kids practically trip over themselves trying to get inside to receive.

While helping Mary and Anne fix the children's’ plates─”I grew up in a house with my little sister, and all my cousins. I know things get done faster with more hands, ma’am.”─Lafayette gets to know Lawrence and Anne’s children. The eldest is Augustine Washington II. He’s twelve, and he seems to be really into his ‘emo’ phase. His long dark hair swoops over one of his eyes, and he has to keep tossing his head to the side dramatically so that he’ll be able to see what he’s doing─much to Mary’s distaste, who keeps making comments about how Anne needs to take him to get it cut. However, he’s a really smart kid─even teaches Lafayette a little something about the history of the Washington house while they’re making his plate.

The middle child is Mildred, though she complains loudly when Anne introduces her as such─insisting that the name is old and gross and is the subject for plenty of bullying from both her older brother and the kids at school. No, she practically pleads with Laf to call her Milly. She’s ten, and a very pretty girl with a close-cropped pixie cut pushed back with a bright pink headband. She really likes rap music and dancing, and she promises that she’ll teach Lafayette a dance routine she choreographed all by herself after dinner.

The current youngest is John, who is only five-years-old. He’s very quiet, and doesn’t say much to Lafayette besides ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ so they can’t really decipher much about him. Anne says that he really enjoys drawing and superheroes though, so Lafayette makes a vow to make him something really nice when they get back to New York.

One thing about George’s nephews and niece─and by relation, Laf and Hercules’ nephews and niece?─is that they have a lot of questions. More specifically, they have a lot of questions about Lafayette’s gender, their relationship with George and Hercules, and life in New York.

“Do you live right by the Statue of Liberty?” Auggie─Augustine’s preferred nickname, so that he isn’t constantly getting confused with his grandfather─asks incredulously when Hercules mentions their home in New York. The tailor chuckles at the question and shakes his head.

“No, we actually live closer to Brooklyn, in an apartment above one of my shops,” Hercules says, leaning back in his chair a little bit. Lafayette can’t help but smile at the way Auggie’s eyebrow arch with curiosity when Hercules mentions his ‘shops’─hell, even Augustine seems to have a piqued interest at the thought of Herc running his own businesses. “George didn’t tell you guys? I own and operate a chain of clothing stores that sell my own fashion line, Culper. If it’s okay with your mother and father, Auggie, you could come to New York during New York Fashion Week with me. I could take you to see the Statue of Liberty.”

Auggie looks to his parents expectedly at Hercules’ words, and Lawrence gives a small ‘we’ll see’─though it seems obvious that he’s not entirely willing to let his son go. Lafayette isn’t sure if it’s because Hercules is a gay man, Hercules is a gay man in a poly relationship with his brother, or if it’s simply because New York is a big city that he doesn’t want his son going to alone. Whichever it is─the disappointment is obvious on the preteens face and he slumps down in his chair with a moody pout.

“Models, huh? Do you know Maria Reynolds? She’s my favorite model ever, plus she’s a really famous dancer! Did you know she danced for Beyonce?” Milly asks, voice raising in both octave and decibels before being gently lectured by Anne to keep her indoor voice. She blushes at the reprimand, but still looks expectantly to Hercules.

“I do, actually. Maria walked when I showcased my Spring collection of dresses. Along with our wonderful Laffy,” Hercules says, lacing his fingers with Lafayette’s. Now it’s their turn to blush, though they bring the man’s hand up to kiss the back of it. “They originally were just going to come to the show, but once they saw this lovely, flowy pink gown… they had to walk. I believe George captured some pretty awesome video of that show on his phone.”

“So, wait, Laffy, I have a question,” Milly asks when it seems the rest of the adults have gone back to being mostly distracted with talk of local politics and gossip, poking at her peas to make the question seem innocent enough. Lafayette looks up from their own plate of food─glancing briefly to George and Hercules to see if they’re paying attention. In case they need to come to their immediate rescue should this turn sour. Just because Laf liked kids didn’t mean they were good with them. Luckily enough, they both are─Hercules with expectancy, George with nervousness. “On your girl days… do you actually dress as a girl? Like, do you wear makeup and dresses and heels like Mommy and Grandma?”

The kids had heard Lafayette discussing with Anne earlier about their girl days while they were in the kitchen, giving advice to her about how to deal with her genderfluid teens on the days where they feel more of one gender than the other. Though, after the initial questions of what to call Lafayette, they hadn’t seemed too interested in it. Laf guesses that their observations of what the kids were and weren’t into was completely off─which is why Hercules was better at people analysis.

“Sometimes. It depends on how lazy I am that day, as well. What I wear doesn’t really matter, though, Milly─even if I dress like a typical ‘boy’ on a girl day, I still expect to be addressed as a girl. With she and her pronouns. Do you know what pronouns are?”

“Yes! I’m the best in my English studies, I’ve never failed,” Milly says excitedly, before lowering her voice again when her father briefly glances to the end of the table where she’s sitting across from Lafayette. “and... I got another question. How come when Daddy took the Secretary lady on a date, Mommy called him a cheater… but you and Mr. Hercules and Uncle George go on dates and it’s not cheating?”

Hercules nearly spits out his mouthful of wine at the question and George goes so pale it looks as though he may fall out of his chair and faint. Apparently, everyone else heard the young girl as well, because the entire table gets deathly quiet when Milly is finished with her question. All eyes are on them, waiting for the answer they’ll give, waiting to see if they’ll fuck this up. Desperately, Lafayette looks to George─who makes it a show to look away─then to Hercules─who smiles into his wine glass but says nothing─and lastly to Anne─who just seems positively heartbroken, and in no position to answer such a difficult questions.

“I… I uh…” Lafayette clears their throat, takes a sip of their wine, and takes a deep breath. Here goes nothing? “When you and your partner willingly bring someone else into the relationship… when both you and your partner know about this partner, and are comfortable with them, then it it’s something we call polyamory. That’s what George, Hercules and I have. We all know about each other, we all are comfortable with each other, and we all love each other. But when you bring someone into your relationship without your partner's permission, when you lie to them about it, or when they’re not comfortable with it… it’s cheating. It’s important that if you want a poly relationship, everyone knows about each other and everyone is happy with the arrangement.”

Milly thinks about this answer for a moment, and while she does, the tension could be cut with a knife. But then she nods her head, seemingly accepting this answer, and goes back to shoveling food into her mouth. Crisis averted… for now.

Hesitantly, the conversation at the table picks back up─and closer to the head of the table, Lafayette notices Anne giving them both grateful and sad eyes. They wonder what the story of that is, and if she’s going to be alright after such a question was asked by her own daughter, but they decide that now─and maybe never─is not the time to ask these things. So instead, they flash her a pitying smile and raise their glass in her direction.

Later that night, when Lafayette and Hercules have squished against their lover in George’s tiny twin bed─after checking to make sure Augustine is sound asleep and won’t be coming to raise any hell about them sharing a bed─George plants a soft kiss on Lafayette’s temple.

“You handled that incident at dinner really well, baby,” George whispers into the dark of the room, his voice thick with sleep from where he’d been dozing off. Lafayette can feel Hercules reach across their man─who is laying in the middle of them─and lace their fingers together, giving their hand a comforting squeeze. An affirmation of George’s words, agreeing with the older man. “You’d make a great parent someday.”

“You think so?” Lafayette asks quietly back, eyes attempting to find George’s face in the darkness. They can see where Hercules had propped himself up with his elbow, and if they follow the darker outlines in the shadows, they can just make out the sight of George snuggled against the broad tailor. George was usually the big spoon, but Lafayette couldn’t help but muse at how adorable he looked when he allowed himself to be the little one.

“I know so,” George whispers sleepily, shuffling under the covers. “Now go to bed, my love. We’ve still got two more weeks and six more days of this. ”