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oldguardleatherdog · 1 year

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let me start by saying, I'm okay to agree to disagree on this, and I respect you greatly as my queer elder. I hesitate to even send this because I don't think this cause is worth dogpiling (and not even the fun way) on anyone against and , like , I will continue to follow and admire you as a mutual who has been through a lot of the hell that I'm going through right now and got to a place I want to someday be. (for context, I am currently housing & food insecure and am trying to live in a queer-accepting city)

Posting will never be praxis, you are my brother in arms no matter what you call trump or cops or whatever. There are some fat liberation blogs that take issue with calling cops "pigs" for a lot of the reasons I bristle at calling Trump a fatass, and like, if someone is actively fighting cops who can and will actively hurt me and my found family, I don't care what names they shout while doing it. So I see where you are coming from and I'm glad you fight for me. I fight for us too, in what little ways I can while I keep me and my found family afloat. I do better work in the community just by existing around people as a living breathing transgender than I could do in a million posts on this website.

I do think that this is a valuable conversation to have, though, even though you are completely right that this is a trivial thing and not at all the bigger, more real issue at hand. I think it's still important, on online platforms such as this, to talk about how we refer to the other people on this planet.

Think about why you didn't call Trump a "retard". You certainly could have, it doesn't *not* apply to some of his behavior. I know people of our generations once used that word a lot, and we don't anymore. Why and when did we change that? I honestly don't remember. For me, my aunt was medically classified as "retarded" and she was the best person I'd ever met, so I decided that word shouldn't mean bad things. The first time I ever hit someone was over them using that word in a derogative way. it wasn't about "mental illness positivity" it was about humanizing the people that word has been used against - people who have been stigmatized and oppressed with that word.

Right now, hopefully, the same thing is happening to the word "obese". Fat people are less likely to be hired, granted loans or secure housing. they can be kicked out of airplanes and fired from their jobs because of their body size. There have been laws proposed to take fat children away from their parents and "treatments" proposed to wire children's jaws shut and starve them to make them thinner. They are often medically mistreated and misdiagnosed. I once went to a doctor with an ear infection and instead of antibiotics, he prescribed me *bariatric surgery.* I have been refused transgender top-surgery because of my BMI, which keeps me at a passively higher risk for self-injury and worse.

I do not care about body positivity. Honestly, between being fat, trans, and poor, I'm at a point where I've given up on ever feeling good about my body again. All I care about is getting jobs and meds and keeping a roof over my family's head and food on our table. Normalizing the idea that fat is a bad thing that anyone can change continues that stigma. When you use Fat as an insult, you are saying fat=bad. Fat is a neutral thing that some bodies can be, like short or tall or lean. The revolution needs to be intersectional, and body size is another axis of oppression that needs to be acknowledged, just like sexuality, gender, race, class, disability, etc.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for hearing me out. I'm sorry that others are just performatively parroting the same things over and over. Civility is bullshit, and if you still want to use body shaming as one of the ways you fight against bigotry, it doesn't really matter to me. Just as long as you acknowledge anti-fat bias as part of that bigotry too.

Thank you for writing and sharing your life experiences with me, and for your solidarity as well. You're striving to make your way as part of a despised minority in a world that's turned unspeakably harsh toward you in an aggressively mean way seemingly overnight, and I admire you for the life you have lived, for your courage and perseverance during this difficult time where resources are scant and your housing and food security is uncertain at best.

(FWIW, after I was bombed out of my Lower Manhattan home on September 11th, my income went from six figures down to nothing overnight, and I was homeless and destitute for years. Twenty years ago, I was where you are now, and I can tell you that what you're enduring today will not last forever, that there is light and hope and blessing in your future, that you're not as alone as you might think, that you must never give up.)

What more can I do to make the point that "fat" has nothing to do with this? As I've said, I grew up obese, and it wasn't until I enlisted in the Army at age 17 that I was able to free myself from my violent and abusive family and unlock the potential of the body that had been hidden under layers of fat and shame all my life. I know that my path is not for everybody, that many others are not so fortunate, and I ceased long ago to think that fat equals bad or lack of character or any other pejorative attitude that society has attached to it for generations. I hope I've made that clear and that you take my word as truth.

I am not saying "let's fat-shame Donald Trump to make him feel bad." I am saying that I'm deeply troubled by the LGBTQ+ community prioritizing hurt feelings over the very real damage that's being done to us right now all over the country by Trump, his minions, his proxies, and his cult of bloodthirsty followers and worshippers. Trump's accomplices in Congress and state legislatures and Moms For Liberty are taking over school boards all over the country, banning books and emptying library shelves and harassing teachers and librarians to the point where they're being run out of town, where the State of Missouri has defunded its entire public library system rather than follow a court order to restore books banned just for featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

DeSantis and Abbott have put in place policies that are unspeakably brutal, that are forcing trans people in Florida to slowly and brutally revert to their pre-transition state, that have given health care providers in Florida the right to deny treatment to you and me and all LGBTQ+ people because we are gay, lesbian, non-binary, trans... but God forbid we should call Trump mean names!

We've seen what happens when we buy into the "when they go low, we go high" fantasy pipe dream. This is not the way the world works, it has never been, and we need to put this loser idea in the trash bin where it belongs once and for all.

We're being attacked and harmed in unspeakable ways that are happening now. This is not theoretical or hypothetical. It's happening to us, to those we love, this minute and every minute of every day. And worse is in the pipeline - they're writing laws that will place us under virtual house arrest, that will regulate where we're allowed to go in our own cities and towns, when we're allowed to be seen in public, when and where we can shop, how we're allowed to dress, even what we're allowed to say and SING, for Christ's sake!

And I'm supposed to be concerned about some minuscule hypothetical percentage of my own people being OFFENDED because I'm somehow being insensitive and violating some trivial picayune social justice warrior philosophy, because there's a possibility of some fragile flower taking it personally, and that I should shut my mouth and let the MAGA nutjobs run roughshod over us? Oh, come let Daddy kiss it! while our brothers and sisters are suffering in real time. Sickening.

Anyone who has a problem with my stance doesn't have to follow me or emulate my proven effective tactics as an activist with 37 years of successfully defending our rights under my belt if they're so dainty and delicate and easily bruised. Everyone else that sees this for the strawman bullshit it is, get ready to hit the streets with bullhorns and whistles once again. We've got work to do.

Your arguments are strong and well-reasoned, and I accept and acknowledge everything you're saying. We can disagree on this, certainly, and still work together to turn back the progress that the MAGAs are making, restore our rights, and protect ourselves and each other. But that will require the snowflake contingent among us to get their collective head out of their collective ass, stop whining, and get with the damn program. Calling me names and telling me I'm being a bad gay activist is a waste of time and energy that should be spent fighting the fascists and the haters who are out to kill us.

And to you, my friend and fellow traveler with a radiantly beautiful soul and spirit, I urge you to hang in there, to keep the faith, to keep caring about life, to work with me to secure our own future and the future of our kind. I send to you my very best wishes, energy, and prayers that you will find your way to a place of health, security, stability, and love for yourself and for this precious community to whom we've both dedicated our lives, who mean the world to us.

Yours In Service, Animal J. Smith

#what more can i do to protect you all #to get you to realize the mortal danger we're in #to put the suffering of our own people ahead of our feelings #to join me in this fight that's eminently winnable #to get you off your butts and your high horses and get to work #to do something - anything - to help save us and save yourself from what they're planning to do to us and are already doing #to think of anyone but yourself for a damn change #to show me and the world your incredible courage in the face of evil #to restore our rights and roll back this tide of hatred and death that's about to overpower us #to make sure that my life's work these past four decades has not been wasted #to let me at long last step back from the front lines and cherish my time left on earth at 61 with AIDS and love my family #to be the dog and the man they need and deserve and long for #to lay down my sword and shield at last #please please please do this for me - it would be your greatest gift #for god's sake wake up #queer activism #queer is not a slur #it's a fucking battle cry #god i am so scared for us all #information gladly given

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thecandywrites · 2 years

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Kinktober Day 23- Hair Pulling

Yeah, I had to go all the way back to my very first orc x human pairing reader insert story, the one that's been on hiatus for...way too long. To get these two. But TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Meet Bronson- who goes by Bro and Darcy. And yeah, I know it's Kinktober and this is pure fluff with very little kink but there's plenty of literal hair pulling. So it counts. Right? And it's that - been friends since elementary school- trope. But they're *" technically"* cousins, only because Bronson's mother's brother is Darcy's step dad. But not related by blood, just circumstances. Which is both a blessing and a curse. But back to the trope- so because of this- you secretly pine for each other and love each other but don't want to fuck it up by admitting you have feelings so you try to act normal and you fail because your actions still prove how you feel' trope/cliche that you shall pull from my cold dead hands.

A millenia's worth of thanks to @starsandskies for providing these kinktober prompts. Yes I know it's November. I got behind. But I only have a handful left to do and I wanted to make sure I got to do all of them even though my personal life has been a dumpsterfire.

But this was just so fun. I couldn't resist.

Kinktober Day 23- Hair Pulling

Bro sat in geometry class and was feeling particularly possessive and angry as the class clown- Daren this time- yanked on Darcy’s braid for the second time in a row as he had noticed Daren’s antics and was recording it. It didn’t matter how Darcy wore her hair, but especially when she wore it in the more “traditional” orc styles that she had worn to school that day and any other day that this tended to happen to her. And while Darcy had some of the most beautiful hair. Bro was getting sick and tired of others touching it without Darcy’s permission.

Bro and Darcy had been friends since elementary school. And Darcy was human, who had a human mother Richelle, but had remarried Bro’s uncle Pierce about 9 years prior. Darcy still wore the necklace he first got her, still wore his first bead he had commissioned for her on it, along with all the others he had ever given her ever since and the necklace, had to be on a very robust gold chain now. But still sat very prettily around her neck as she still used that first bead he commissioned for her as her personal worry stone to touch during class and coursework or especially during tests.

Darcy- even nine years later- was still the prettiest girl in class. She was still the most eligible bachelorette. Mostly because her mother forbade her from dating while in school, because Richelle wanted Darcy to focus on school while in school and for the most part, Darcy was happy to use it as an excuse to thwart the hordes of interested parties.

So while she practically had to take a vow of singleness and celibacy. The older she got, the more she grew and developed, it seemed every year, every guy completely forgot about all of that previous year and so far, sophomore year was turning out just like freshman year. But instead of just everyone in her grade. Now it seemed to consume the entire highschool, and this punk was a freshman from a different middle school who hadn’t gone through the same elementary or middle school she did. So now she had to contend with every boy from Freshman to Senior year.

But Bro was still her closest friend in the world. And he never stopped crushing on her or loving her from the moment he met her for his 7th birthday party where she and her mom ended up being his last minute guests to because they just happened to be at the same recreation center his mother hosted his birthday party at. Where coincidentally, his uncle met Darcy's mother, and promptely fell in love with her that day too and several months later, got married, built a farmhouse in the country and had their own homestead farm on.

Bro had helped name every chicken she ever got. He helped build the damn coop. He had a horse, at her farm that they rode together with. He still spent most of his weekends with her, riding horses and caring for them, helping her taking care of the chickens, planting gardens in the spring, harvesting during the summer and fall. Since they first met at his 7th birthday party the two were practically insperable after that.

And during school- doing homework, doing big assignments together too when they could team up. He tried to make sure every class he took, he could be in the same classes with her, or at least, his friends could when he couldn’t because Darcy depended on Bro’s protection and the protection of his other friends since she was 7 and started to go to elementary school with him and was always in the same elementary classes, the same middle school classes and now- same high school classes.

Because when Darcy was not with one of them, she was always targeted and practically had to sit next to the teacher and be the teacher’s pet just to keep safe from hormonal crazed boys. And while she had tried to keep a few friends, mostly the girlfriends of Bro’s friends, they were always jealous of the unwanted attention and admiration that Darcy got. So she still had to endure everyone's infatuation, yet ultimately- isolation and alienation from everyone else because of it.

Darcy now had two little siblings, a little brother and a little sister now, who were half human and half orc, who she felt she needed to protect too.

But after 9 years of this and a potential two more of it, Darcy was beyond fed up with it. And while she did her best to dress down, never wear makeup, never wear anything even remotely revealing. She even tried to go for- full ‘cowgirl’ aesthetic with steel toed cowboy boots, jeans, a belt with a belt buckle she had won at her last barrel racing tournament. And a simple t-shirt with a flannel shirt over it. It didn’t matter how loose her jeans were, or how much she covered up, she still turned heads just walking to class, from student and teacher alike.

Bro had gotten into more than his fair share of fights to keep Darcy safe from boys who had a hard time taking “no” for an answer. And his friends, thankfully never wavered from being his friends and helping him take on other boys who could be heads and shoulders taller or twice as broad and strong as himself.

Technically he could- at this point- graduate. He had a job at his dad's and uncle’s video game development company lined up that he did part time on the side. He even had an office that was practically waiting for him. He could rent an apartment and strike out on his own. But he would not do it. Because if he did, that would leave Darcy alone because humans didn’t consider their teenagers “adults” till they were 18. And Bro did not want Darcy to endure the last two and probably the hardest two years of school that she had left, especially without him to be there and watching her back and still being her shield between her and everyone else.

And honestly hair pulling? Really? Did Daren have the maturity of a toddler?

“Stop it.” Darcy growled at Daren behind her when she felt it a second time. When he did it the first time and she was quick to snatch her hair out of Daren’s grasp and ask him to stop which he played dumb to which irritated her to no end.

“Stop what? I wasn’t doing anything.” Daren tried to play dumb again.

“I felt you grab my braid and pull it for the second time now. Stop pulling my hair. What are you two?” She accused.

“It wasn’t me, sorry, but since I have your attention, did you want to go out on Friday? Go to Dave and Busters or something?” Daren offered.

“No thank you. I have plans. I have asked you to stop touching me twice now. But if you ever think about pulling my hair a third time or touching me or anything that belongs to me, you will regret it. Now- if you’ll excuse me I have classwork to do and since your papers are still clearly blank- you should try to do the same.” Darcy curtly dismissed before she turned around to try to refocus on her class work.

But just as Daren was about to reach out to pull her braid again- Bro loudly got out of his desk and grabbed Daren by the shoulder and slammed him back into his seat as he set his phone with the camera facing them down on Daren’s desk to focus on himself and Daren having this exchange.

“She said she didn’t want to be touched. When a lady says she doesn't want to be touched, she means it. I saw you pull her braid and she asked you to stop. Try again and you and I will have problems.” Bro growled dangerously into Daren’s ear as Darcy simply smiled proudly while she continued to solve the math problems laid out for her in the geometry worksheet.

“Gods it’s right what they say about the two of you.” Daren laughed before Darcy’s heckles went back up as she glared at him over her shoulder and slowly turned in her seat but kept her glare fixed with Daren and kept his gaze as she lowkey pulled the brass knuckles she kept in her pockets that had been wrapped in a pretty piece of cloth to make it look like just a normal scarf tied around her knuckles, but could also be hid in the secret compartment of her belt buckle too.

“And what would that be?” Darcy asked as Bro now recognized her temper flare in the fire of her eyes as her gaze bored into Daren as her jaw clenched and her chest start to heave in preparations for another fight.

“That Bro is always the Bro in the friendzone and that you’re Darcy Dick-tease.” Daren practically cooed and before Bro could do anything, Darcy, with lightning fast speed struck first and punched him right in the nose.

And the sound of the crunch of bones and the sudden yell in pain from Daren was enough to draw the entire class’ attention as Darcy just as easily slipped the brass knuckles back into her pocket as she leaned over, grabbed Daren by the hair and slammed his face down into the desk as hard as she could.

Which for the last 9 years of having a farm and taking care of horses and riding them, Darcy was always an active child. But she was also very strong for her size which her clothes did a good job of hiding pretty well.

“Insult me and my honor again motherfucker!” Darcy seethed ragefully towards him as she had her fists up to her face and was already in a fighting pose in case he tried to sneak a hit in himself.

“Darcy!” The teacher- Mrs. Robbie gasped in astonishment.

“He pulled my hair twice, I asked him to stop twice. I warned him if he put his hands either on me or my hair again, that he and I would have problems. He asked me out, I told him no. And when he insulted me after I turned him down, I fought back. He put his hands on me first. So if you feel I stepped out of line- go ahead, send me to the principal’s office again for defending myself to keep myself out of harms way and from being sexually assaulted in your classroom- again. Which you have already witnessed all the other boys do since the start of class this semester and you have done nothing to protect me except give them a stern talking to.” Darcy justified, granted, just a bit disrespectfully, resentfully and spitefully to Mrs. Robbie.

“And I watched him do that and asked him to stop since Darcy already asked him not to touch her. And he denied it.” Bro gestured to Daren whose face was bleeding profusely as he was coughing and splurting blood to try to argue. But instead was using his own hoodie to soak it all up.

Bro held up his hands showing how- for once, he wasn’t the first one to start or finish it, Darcy was. As Bro felt particularly proud for giving her those. He always gave her a pair of brass knuckles at the start of a new school year since middle school. He had already stopped the recording and slyly put his phone into his own backpocket.

“Fine, all three of you, principles office.” She said as she pointed to the door while Darcy gladly packed up her stuff as did Bro.

While Daren’s friends tried to help him and clean up all the blood before Daren went to the school nurse who was a real nurse and EMT and called for an ambulance for Daren to go to the ER to get his nose fixed.

But Darcy didn't feel the least bit of sadness or remourse for the damage she inflicted because she was sick and tired of being the whole "damsel in distress" but also knew she was up against boys who were literally two to three times her size and strength. So she had to have something to keep herself safe. Even at this relatively "safe" space that was school.

So she and Bro sat together in the office with their backpacks between their feet and waited for the principle to see them as Darcy had her arms crossed over her chest but was still leaning into Bro’s side and letting her head rest on his shoulder- which he didn’t mind one bit.

“So. Who was it this time?” Principal Walters asked as she saw Darcy and Bro sitting there together, again, as she sighed tiredly. But this time, neither of them seemed to have a scratch on them.

“Daren Drake. He pulled my hair twice. I asked him to stop- twice. I warned him that if he did it again and put his hands on me or anything that belongs to me that we were going to have problems but he did not heed my warning. Instead, he asked me out, and when I turned him down, he insulted me by calling me “Darcy Dick-tease”. So I punched him in the face and slammed his head onto the desk. He’s just here because he witnessed it all go down and was recording it happen and was asking Daren to stop after he caught Daren pulling on my braid both the first and second times.” Darcy repeated before she nodded over to Bro who happily pulled his phone out and played what he had captured. And thankfully had the camera pointed away from Darcy and trained on himself and Daren to record their own conversation and conceal the fact that she punched Daren with brass knuckles on.

“Oh by all the gods.” Principal Walters sighed tiredly again as she watched the scene on the camera unfold. So she had them come into the office while she wrote up the report and an excuse for both of them to not get detention. She had a rule for her school, if you instigated a fight, would you get in trouble or get detention for it. While the person who simply was defending themselves after giving a warning didn’t get punished. And ever since Darcy came into her high school, after getting the heads up from the Principal for the elementary school and the middle school. She had seen how almost every boy in every grade above and below Darcy’s grade but especially all the boys in Darcy’s grade, with Bro and his friends being the only ones who had not pulled something like this on Darcy. And so far, no one was stupid enough to press charges especially when their sons were guilty of sexual harrassment as Darcy and Bro were both texting their parents about it.

“My parents want to know if they should come to the school or if you want to have a sit down meeting with Daren’s parents so Bro can show him the footage of their son harassing me?” Darcy asked the Principal.

“Well, hang on, let me ask.” She said as she finished with the report and called Daren’s parents.

“What happened to my boy?” Daren’s father Grug demanded angrily as he got a call to come from work to go to the hospital where his son was getting his nose fixed and realigned.

“Sir, your son Daren was caught on video by another student harassing a sophomore girl in their geometry class. She asked him twice to keep his hands to himself and off of her and he denied touching her even though the video clearly proves otherwise. He then asked her out, she denied his request and his insult to both her person and her honor in response to being turned down for a date- instigated a fight. She warned him, he didn’t listen and so she punched him.” She repeated matter of factly, just like she had for countless times both freshman and now for Sophmore year.

“I see. Well then I would like to thank her for reminding my son to mind his manners, especially when it comes to girls, and please assure her that this behavior will never be repeated.” Grug grinned rather proudly.

“Thank you very much for understanding. Sorry to pull you from work or give you any worry.” She offered.

“No need, these things happen, especially at this age.” He reassured her before they said their goodbyes.

“There, all done, you two can go back to class.” She excused as she handed both of them their excuses to get back to class.

“Thank you again for having my back and understanding the situation and handling it Principal Walters. If you could please remind Mrs. Robbie of my history, especially when it comes to my safety on school grounds, I would really appreciate it because sadly this isn’t the first time this has happened in her class. This was just the first time it went from being purely verbal and threatening to go physical into actually being physical this time.” Darcy replied graciously as she took the note.

“I’m sorry. I’ll remind all the teachers and give your future ones a head’s up.” She nodded in understanding.

“Thank you. And if it isn’t too much to ask. My cousin Bronson has always been my shield for this kind of thing since the fourth grade. And I feel bad that he’s had to spend his entire school career watching over me and protecting me over his own school work. Can we try to do what we did second semester of freshman year and just have us in all the same classes again? I don’t care what class it is- I just don’t trust anyone who isn’t already a friend or family not to pull this kind of thing on me again.” Darcy requested.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure from here on out, that if your cousin Bronson wants to stay in school for Junior and Senior years, to stay with you.” She readily agreed.

“Thank you.” Darcy and Bro thanked her before they got out of there.

“Well at least you got to finish it this time.” Bro murmured to her as they walked together back to class with the excuse notes in their hands to keep any hall monitors from giving them any trouble either.

“Hey I have a favor to ask.” Darcy murmured as her steps slowed before they would both approach the classroom.

“Shoot.” Bro invited.

“Afterschool, could you take me to that feedstore that’s next to the drive through liquor store?” She asked hopefully.

“And get you hard cider?” He guessed with a knowing grin because the legal drinking age for orcs was 16. As was full driving privileges and Bro had been picking her up and dropping her off for school so she didn’t have to deal with the other idiots on the bus.

“Please?” She pleaded.

“A horse of course.” Bro readily answered with a charming smile that got Darcy to snort a laugh.

“One of these days that joke is gonna fall flat.” Bro shrugged as he reached for the door to the classroom so she could go in first.

“Not today.” Darcy reassured him as they both happily gave their notes to the teacher.

“Bronson, if you could please change seats so that you now sit behind Miss Darcy so that no further incident can happen, that would be much appreciated.” Mrs. Robbie requested as it seemed she had already gotten a call from the Principal and was trying to correct the issue as Bro glady used more wipes to disinfect the desk from the presence of the previous occupant.

After school Darcy practically hopped out of the truck at the feed store to order more horse feed and supplements for the horses and the chickens and even got the chickens a snack block.

She waited for Bro to go through the liquor store’s drive through before she noticed he was back and he came inside just as she was making a show of perusing the other things in the store. But once Bro reappeared, he happily got the heavy bags of feed for her to load them up in the truck. While she got the snack block and containers of supplements and treats and loaded them into the back of his pickup truck.

Then they drove back to her house and backed his truck into the back of the barn so they could unload what they needed to in the barn. Then she got up into the hay loft and pulled down a bale of hay and distributed it among the stalls once the horses would come in from the pasture. Bronson put the bags of feed into the feed containers for her and went ahead and fed the chickens for her too.

And once all of that was done, they retreated to the bed of the truck to drink the six pack of hard cider together. Which hardly had any alcohol but was something that Darcy’s parents let her have at home anyway.

“Maybe I should just shave all my hair off, so no one can pull it anymore or think I’m that pretty anymore.” Darcy suggested as she finished off the first bottle as they sat in companionable silence off of the edge of the truck tailgate. Bro nearly snorted out his mouthful of hard cider through his nose. Because of all the things she could say- he had not been expecting her to say that.

“Then you’d get even more attention from guys thinking you have “the canca”, and try to make sure you don’t leave this world without getting off first.” Bro answered once he stopped choking on his drink but couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he mimicked Forrest Gump when he had said ‘the cancer’. Which got Darcy to giggle and laugh in response.

“Yeah, that’d be the last thing I would want either.” Darcy sucked her teeth and shook her head before she opened the second and took a very long pull before she laid back into the bed of the truck and not caring if she got filthy dirty or not as she just stared up into the clouds overhead as Bro mirrored her and did the same.

“Besides, even without hair, you’d still be beautiful, at least to me anyway.” Bro offered which got Darcy to smile.

She hated it when everyone always praised how pretty or beautiful she was. But never did mind when Bro said so himself and never argued with him over it.

“Do you regret inviting me to your seventh birthday party yet?” Darcy asked.

“Nope, never have and never will. Haven’t regretted inviting you to anything and everything since either.” Bro answered as he at least put an arm behind his head while the beads on the single braid that hung down from the back corner of his neck slid from his chest to the bed of the truck before Darcy turned onto her side to face him.

“You sure? You really, really sure? Because you’ve had to give up a lot. New friends, a girlfriend, a normal school life, actually paying attention in class and getting better grades because you’re always taking care of me instead.” Darcy pointed out as she pouted into the mouth of the bottle in her hand.

“Darcy Lillian, when have I ever complained?” Bro asked which got her to finally look up at him as he turned to face her.

“And when has your safety ever been less important than my mediocre grades?” He asked before she just rolled over onto her stomach and groaned as she buried her face into her folded arms as she set her beer aside.

“Just because you don’t complain, doesn’t mean you can’t start to feel resentment.” Darcy murmured, her words muffled by her flannel overshirt.

“Well I don’t resent it or you. Being your shield has always been the biggest and best thing I’ve ever done with my life.” Bro reassured her as he couldn’t resist but reach over and rub soothing circles into her back after brushing all the dirt and fall leaves that had fallen into the bed of the truck. He still smiled when she seemed to sigh contentedly as she peeked out and looked at him as she took a breath and was about to say something but decided against it and just turned back to hide her now blushing cheeks while also really enjoying the back rub nonetheless.

“What?” Bro asked her when he saw her withdraw from him and practically turn into a hedgehog trying to hide away.

“What were you gonna say?” He asked as he paused in rubbing her back and leaned down to where her head was to hear her answer.

“What if it’s not enough?” Darcy asked as she fought not to cry.

“What’s not enough?” Bro asked in confusion.

“This, us. What we have now, what if it’s not enough?” Darcy enunciated a little louder.

“Well what else do you need me to be?” Bro asked and all Darcy could do was laugh through her tears as she tried to rub them off on her sleeves.

“Only you would ask that. With everything that you’ve done and everything that you do. You already do and give so much. But yet when I say ‘what if it’s not enough’ you ask how you can make it enough. You have never once asked for any other reward for all that you’ve done and continue to do- other than my friendship which I’m happy to give you. And we’ve used the ‘he’s my cousin’ excuse in elementary school and middle school and now it seems that we’re both in high school, that isn’t working anymore. Because I’m not- by blood- your cousin which everyone seems to constantly remind both of us as if we don’t already know. And as much as I love being part of your family and you being a part of mine and being your friend and you being my best friend in the whole wide world. It’s not enough…” Darcy began to rant before Bro finally realized what she was referring to and after 9 years of hoping, praying, planning, yearning and wanting, he finally had his chance.

So he slid his fingers into her hair and used his purchase on her hair to pull her head up to kiss her. And really kiss her, the way he had always fantasized about. And like two magnets always coming back together she was practically gravitating her body to be flush with his as she kissed back as her tears finally ceased as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to partially lay down over her, with his hand still cushioning her between her precious head and the bed of his truck as he was happy to do so and so happy that this wasn’t blowing up in his face.

But the fact that she finally allowed herself to show at least what and how she felt, made those 9 long years barely feel like minutes or even seconds worth of waiting. Because she was running her hands through his hair and scratching at his scalp while they continued to kiss and make out in the back of his truck before the need for air arose and he finally had to pull back so that both of them could catch their breath.

“So what else do you need from me? What else can I be for you?” Bro asked as he pillowed her head with one arm but stroked down down her side with the other affectionately.

“I just need you to keep loving me and not give up.” Darcy answered.

“At this point, it’s going to take an act of the gods to get me to stop.” Bro confessed which got her to smile.

“Shh, don’t tempt them.” She whispered before she kissed him sweetly as kissing him felt like the most natural thing in the world to her.

“Well, I have a way of making it unofficially official.” Bro offered.

“You give me one of your beads like all the other couples?” Darcy guessed as Bro nodded as she fingered the very first one she had got him that he still refused to take out of his hair except to clean and wash his hair only to put it right back in once it was rebraided.

“Well we can always ask my parents - to simply “pretend” to date while in school. And once they catch on that it’s not pretending. I think the sleepovers aren’t really going to be allowed or be a thing anymore. But we might get the same excuse that we’re technically cousins used against us.” Darcy noted.

“When have I ever cared about any of that? Well, the sleepvers are really nice. Any chance I can get to be with you, you know I always take.” Bro shrugged.

“Likewise.” Darcy smiled as she buried her face into the crux of his neck and shoulder and sighed happily when he just laid with her and hugged.

“Just for future reference. You’re the only one allowed to pull on my hair, especially like that.” Darcy giggled.

“Oh you mean like this?” Bro asked as he did it again only to bring her face back up to kiss her again.

“Uh huh.” Darcy hummed as she smiled into the kiss.

“We’ll figure it out.” Bro reassured her.

“I know. We always do.” Darcy smiled.

#Kinktober #Kinktober 2022 #Kinktober Day 23 #starsandskieskinktober #starsandskies #Pierce and I #god it has been so god damn long since I did anything with that story because in my brain #they got married and had kids and built a gorgeous modern hobby/homestead farm #And then if you go back and read the very last part that I have for this story you'll see how I planted this little mini romance in them #when they were kids #and Bro immediately stepped up the to plate and was Darcy's sword and shield #And yes they have the whole princess and her knight dynamic #and I love it #Now if I had married the guy I crushed on super hard when I was 16? I would be miserable as an adult now #But there is are other examples of this having a happy ending #it's rare but it's there

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