#is there a shipname for zelda gorgug and ragh??

[cactusnymph]

Prompt fill #10 for @dimension20alphabet:

Jitters / Joy

One of the most important lessons Gorgug has learned from his parents is to always talk about his feelings—not necessarily with his parents, but with someone, maybe even anyone, especially if it was something that makes him feel bad.

 Gorgug learned that his parents are usually right about stuff like this when he simply gave up on talking about his rage issues—simply because his parents were never angry in their life and it had been frustrating to try and explain it to them. Instead of just going away, like Gorgug had hoped, his anger had become worse.

 Now he has Zelda and Ragh to talk to when his anger feels overwhelming or shameful or scary. And his parents were right.

 Talking about his feelings helps.

 Or, in this special case, freaking out with either one of those two or both of them was really good to keep his anger in check in the long run.

 Sometimes finding the right person to talk to about a specific problem is a challenge. He has tried to breach his recent conundrum with Fig, but she only stared at him with blank eyes and seemed so confused that Gorgug decided that she wasn’t the right person for the job. To be fair, maybe she was still scarred from that whole debacle with her mom and Garthy. Or maybe she is just so in love with Ayda that she can’t imagine being in his position at all.

 Finally, Gorgug decides on Jawbone.

 Jawbone is great to talk to for a big variety of topics, although sometimes Gorgug just prefers talking to someone his own age. But in this case it seems unlikely to find someone and Jawbone is perfect simply because Gorgug knows that Jawbone has experience with the topic that’s keeping Gorgug up at night.

 That topic being polyamory.

 When he first heard about it in relation to Jawbone he hadn’t really known what it meant, so he asked Adaine about it. Adaine who—in Gorgug’s book knows about almost everything—didn’t disappoint and explained that some people are in a relationship with more than one person.

 Gorgug still remembers the feeling in his stomach that reminded him of missing a step on one of the stairs at school or the first few seconds of an elevator moving down. He identified the emotion as excitement, which then led to guilt towards Zelda.

 Feelings are really complicated.

 He walks around in front of Jawbone’s office for what feels like an eternity and his nervousness gets worse the longer he walks, so finally he just rips the door open and forgets to knock.

 Jawbone is eating a salad and chokes on a lettuce leaf when Gorgug nearly pulls the door off its hinges before quickly entering.

 “Um—sorry”, he says sheepishly and scratches the back of his neck.

 “Hey there, Gorgug. I would say come in, but...”, Jawbone chuckles and motions to one of the cozy armchairs standing in front of his desk. Gorgug sits down and tries not to accidentally break anything while his fingers nervously try to find something to occupy themselves with.

 “What’s up, kiddo?”, Jawbone asks gently and puts his salad bowl aside.

 “I guess I wanted to talk to you... about—um. About you being poly?”, Gorgug says, his voice a little higher than normal. He tries to calm his breathing but his stomach feels a little bit like someone dropped one of Fig’s bathbombs in there.

 “About me being poly? Or about you possible being poly?”, Jawbone asks and Gorgug feels a flush on his cheeks.

 “Yeah. I mean. About me, I guess.”

 “Okay, that’s cool. So, tell me a little bit about that”, Jawbone says encouragingly and smiles at him, pushes his glasses up and leans back in his chair.

 “Uh—well. I’m—hm. So, Zelda is my girlfriend. And I—I—uh. Iloveher. And. And it’s really good being with her and I don’t want to break up or anything. But—um. But I also like someone else? If that makes sense.”

 “Yeah, that makes total sense to me, kiddo. So, have you talked to Zelda about liking someone else?”

 “No. I’m scared to hurt her. Like, what if she thinks I don’t like her anymore because I like another person? Or if she thinks she’s not good enough as a girlfriend. She’s, like. Really awesome. I don’t want to make her feel bad. And—and I don’t know if that—if that other person... Um. If h—if they like me back at all.”

 Jawbone is listening to him patiently and nodding along, like he knows exactly what Gorgug is talking about. It makes him feel a little less nervous and he finally manages to loosen his grip on the armrests of the chair.

 “So, the most important things about polyamory are communication and consent, right? Truth being told, that’s the most important thing in any relationship, but if you’re potentially juggling more than one partner, then it becomes even more essential. And if you and Zelda trust each other, there should be no problem in expressing your feelings, right? Liking another person doesn’t have to take away from you liking Zelda. Just like you liking Riz doesn’t take away from you liking Fabian or Fig or Kristen or Adaine. And hey, maybe she will be a little shocked, or maybe she will say that she’s not poly, or doesn’t want to try. And it might end up staying a closed relationship, right? That’s entirely possible. But if she’s open for it and trusts you, then maybe you two can talk about it and you can think about telling that other person about your feelings too. It’s just important that everyone is open about their feelings and everyone knows about what’s going on, you know?”

 Gorgug nods.

 Being open about feelings is something he’s been working on anyway, and something he’s been taught since he was small. He thinks about what Jawbone said and it makes sense, that just because he has five friends, that doesn’t mean his love for them is diminished by liking other people too.

 Now that he thinks about it, romance seems to be the only thing that has this pressure of being an exclusive thing. Parents are supposed to love all their children equally. Siblings might like some more than others, but Gorgug assumes that this doesn’t have anything to do with the number of siblings. He loves both of his dads, too.

 It makes sense.

 “I can give you some stuff to read, if you’re interested”, Jawbone says, watching him attentively as if to see if Gorgug is upset. But Gorgug, now that he has entangled his worries into words and said them out loud, and after thinking about what Jawbone said, feels an inexplicable sense of joy about his new understanding of things.

 He’s not sure he would have gotten here on his own, but he’s learned that he doesn’t have to.

 And the thought about having two partners is such a happy potential unfolding in front of him that he feels a smile spreading over his face.

 “Yeah. Yeah, I think I would like that”, he says. “Thanks a lot, Jawbone. I’ll—uh. I’ll talk to Zelda. And. And um—maybe then I’ll talk to... Ragh. Depending on how it goes with Zelda.”

 Jawbone’s face breaks into a big smile and he reaches over the desk to clasp his clawed hand on Gorgug’s shoulder.

 “I’ll have my fingers crossed for you, kiddo. Ragh is a good kid. And so are you and Zelda. I’ll lend you that book when you come over next time, okay?”

 “Yeah. Yeah, okay. I feel like I might be over again soon”, Gorgug says and scratches the back of his neck as Jawbone chuckles.

 “Well, I’m glad I could help you out, Gorgug. If you have any more questions, my door’s always open.”

 “Thanks, Jawbone.”

 “No problem, kiddo. And by the way? Welcome to the community.”

[mangop1e]

did someone ask for the ultimate gorgug polyship first kisses oneshot? (no? just me? that’s fine, take this self indulgent oneshot anyways) it’s like . ragh/zelda/gorgug/riz/fabian, because gorgug has two hands and deserves to have them held by Four People At Once.