#barely even a man he's a demiboy

[straponz]

that one tiktok that's like "i like dominant women, not because im submissive but because im autistic and they're direct with what they want" is so alhaitham but like with men bc he's gay ash lol

[arecaceae175]

IT’S AROMANTIC VISIBILITY DAY!!!!

FELLOW AROSPECS, YOU ARE SEEN AND LOVED AND SO SO SO VALID

HAVE A FIC

825 words of discussions and fluff <3 And everyone's here!

Hyrule: aro/ace, nonbinary, they/them

Wild: aro/ace, genderfluid, he/him today

Sky: polyamorous and bisexual, he/she

Twilight: bisexual, demiboy, he/they

Time: only loves Malon, asexual, agender, xe/xem

Wind: too baby for romance yet but becoming interested, bisexual probably, genderqueer, no pronouns

Four: pansexual and also somewhere on the aro/ace spectrums, genderqueer, she/xe/they

Legend: aro/ace, transfem, they/she

Warriors: gay, grey-aromantic, demisexual, trans man, he/him

“And then she showed me the coolest fruit I’ve ever seen!” Hyrule said, hands thrown out as they recounted their story. 

The chain was sitting in a circle around the fire as they recounted their days. After a long week staying in a town to rid the area of monsters, they decided to have one last day in the town to stock up on supplies then head into the woods for the night. They were all far too tired of socializing with anyone but each other.

Four, Wind, and Wild were sitting together playing some sort of dice game Wind found in town as they listened to the conversation. Time was next to Four, watching the game out of the corner of his eye and seconds away from joining in. Sky and Twilight were sitting on a log with their arms pressed together, wrapped in Sky’s sailcloth and Twilight’s pelt. Legend, Warriors, and Hyrule were on the ground, legs crossed and knees brushing against each other. 

“We shared it and it was so good! She said it was her favorite fruit. I think it might be my favorite fruit now, too,” Hyrule said. 

Sky raised her eyebrows with a smirk and shared a glance with Twilight. Twilight could barely hold back a giggle, and had to hide it behind his fist. 

“She was really cool,” Hyrule finished. They leaned back on their hands and stared at the fire with a dopey smile on their face. 

Warriors chuckled and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Sounds like you really liked her,” he said. 

“I did. I almost wish we could go back into town tomorrow,” Hyrule said. Then, they froze, their eyebrows furrowed, and they slowly leaned forward as the realization hit. 

“I’ve never wanted to go to a town before,” Hyrule said slowly. Their voice was slightly distressed. The others looked up from their game in concern, but Sky, Warriors, and Twilight were smiling so no one was too concerned.

“Why do I want to go back? Why do I feel so fluttery talking about her? Did she curse me?” Hyrule frantically turned to Warriors and grabbed onto his arm. “Am I cursed?”

Warriors laughed as he gently pulled Hyrule’s hands from their intense grip on his arm. “You’re not cursed, Rulie. Sounds like you might be attracted to her.”

Hyrule’s expression turned even more confused. “What? Really? But… I’m ace! And aromantic? This has never happened to me before!”

“Malon is the only person I’ve ever felt any kind of attraction toward,” Time said. 

The color drained from Hyrule’s face. They very, very slowly turned to look at Time. “Do I… have to… marry this girl?”

“That’s not-” Time began.

“I’m not ready for marriage!” Hyrule exclaimed.

“Woah, Rulie, calm down. You don’t have to marry anyone if you don’t want to,” Warriors said. He was trying his best to be calm for Hyrule, but internally he was giggling. He had the same reaction, once. 

“Ignore the old man,” Legend said. 

“Good advice,” Four mumbled, still focused on the dice. Wild nodded in agreement. Time sent Four a glare, which she resolutely ignored. Wind stifled a laugh behind a hand. 

“What Time was trying to say,” Warriors continued, “Is if you can feel attraction only sometimes you’re aromantic or asexual. It’s a spectrum. I’m aroace but I’ve still felt attraction to a few men.”

“So… what do I do about it?” Hyrule asked. 

“That’s the fun part. You don’t have to do anything about it,” Warriors said. Hyrule’s eyes were wide as he latched onto every word Warriors said. 

“Really?” Hyrule asked. 

“Yeah, really. You can recognize the feeling, but if you don’t have any desire to act on it, then you don’t have to,” Warriors said. 

“I’ve felt attracted to a few people over the years. I did something about it once, but not the other times,” Four added. 

“Huh,” Hyrule said. Their gaze fell back to the fire as they considered Warriors’ words. “It was fun for today, but… I don’t think I want to do anything about it.”

“Yeah, sticking with the aro/ace crew!” Wild cheered, giving Hyrule a thumbs up from across camp. Hyrule giggled and returned it. 

“Your very first attraction,” Legend said as she slung an arm over Hyrule’s shoulders. “Our little Rulie is all grown up.” 

Hyrule laughed and gently shoved them away. 

“Ah, I remember the first time I felt attracted to someone,” Sky said dreamily. 

“Let me guess,” Twilight said with a grin. “Sun?” 

“Pipit, actually. You met him, right?” Sky asked. 

The group fell back into amiable chatter as Sky recounted his story. Hyrule leaned back on his arms again and fell into thought. They were jolted out of their mind as Legend put an arm around their shoulders again.

“Hey, you good?” Legend asked. 

Hyrule considered, then smiled and nodded. “Yeah,” they said, leaning into Legend’s side. “I’m good.”

[fixa-ryeter]

here's ageswap!Ritsu!

before we go on, quick heads-up: this is a heavier and wordier post; there’s going to be discussions about PTSD, its symptoms and Ritsu's response to them, and because i’m on PC i can cut off that section with a ‘Keep Reading’ bar? so i’ll do that and try to lay out the rest of the facts before that. also there's gonna be a bit of a format change here bc PC so afblakdhbf

a few people have shown interest in Ritsu and i was. so happy. im still new to tumblr imo and im so excited about all of this FBALDKHFBASFB so here he is. and with this it’ll be a huge look into what happened between him and his brother. also shoutout to my friend bc she is VERY MUCH part of the creative process. i’m not sure if she wants to be mentioned here but credit goes to her too! (bestie if you see this please tell me) update: SHE SAID YES @escape-from-twinkov say thank you escape from twinkov

Ritsu! Popular, all-rounder kid in academics and sports who started burning out in university and dropped out to pursue music with a few of his friends. it worked out for them, and his life is relatively stable. kinda stable. a little stable. really depends on your definition of stable. here’s the facts:

he's a good 5'11, about 24 years old

he/they demiboy. doesn't really feel the need for a solid label for his sexuality

plays guitar. is the band's frontman. he has three other bandmates and Shou Suzuki is one of them.

suffers from PTSD and anxiety (more on it below the cut)

loves playing Just Dance (even though he sucks at it) and Guitar Hero (he's better at this one)

your average My Chemical Romance + vocaloid enjoyer, AND a closeted 1D fan

he's a quick thinker, but when they're anxious he can barely think at all

loves udon. loves tofu. give this man either or both when he's upset and it cheers them up quite a bit.

tells people he has a diary no one should read. not because it's his diary, but because he doodles a lot in it and finds it embarrassing. of course Shou finds out. of course Shou thinks it's adorable.

he went through a lot of friends in his later school life. had many, lost many, and struggled to make friends in university. Found some buddies in their second year, made a band, dropped out with them at the start of third year.

if you've decided not to keep reading until here thanks so much for getting to this point already!!!!! heavier stuff below the cut so read at your own risk. it's lore so if theres a need for it i'll post a summary on it.

So remember the ???% incident in childhood that led to Ritsu getting hurt and Mob being unable to remember what happened? That's where we're getting at. It was never resolved in their childhood or adolescent years. Ritsu tells Mob he doesn't remember either, and tried to sweep it under the rug. Worked for the most part.

his PTSD was delayed onset. his symptoms were there, but not enough to fit the diagnostic criteria. they got worse in university because he was experiencing heavy burnout with no one he felt like he could turn to. he'd moved out and was struggling to make friends.

he has nightmares which only increased in frequency, something he never gave much thought to because they figured it was a logical response to the event. didn't bother to question it either even when he had been experiencing them for months since he had other things to worry about. doesn't mean they didn't bother them and scare them though.

sometimes they just don't show up and don't reply to messages after shooting a quick text to his mates about feeling ill. his bandmates were getting concerned.

a little bit difficult to work with in the studio sometimes because he has difficulty concentrating and doesn't seem present.

terrible sleep quality, something he and his brother have in common.

often lacks motivation to do anything outside of his music job and things he feels like he's obligated to do, like hang out with his friends sometimes. never moves things out of place in his apartment, but his room is usually a mess because he struggles with cleaning up.

Ritsu had no fucking idea how to cope with any of this and made a decision to remove their perceived source of trauma from his life. He completely cut out Mob from his life for a few years. Blocked his number. Blocked his socials. Moved and never gave him a new address.

at first he felt as though he really did something to fix things for himself. after all he didn't need to bother checking up, visiting, hanging out with a person who had caused him all this trouble. he felt optimistic about it at first. waited for their own symptoms to get better. eventually no matter how he looked at it he hadn't fixed anything. he was still being stubborn for years after cutting his brother off.

had a breakdown in front of his bandmates and they started asking him to get help. he caved in and he did! now they're learning to live with their PTSD and their issues in a healthier way. but he's also starting to really miss his brother and feel like an asshole for lying to him about the incident and leaving him in the dark.

soooo that's all that's going to be revealed in this post. more on mob's side of the story and how they try to fix things next time? i've actually already written a oneshot on it but i'm not sure if i should share it. i'll go ahead and burn that bridge when i get to it afbdhsakfb but if you're still reading at this point thanks so much for reading until here 😭😭😭

[cvbullshit]

Simulacra Headcanons + Simulacra AU headcanons

(Be prepared, as some headcanons will conflict with each other since I believe in multiple possibilities for the things in these games. Not to mention, the AU I want to mention is more of a "for fun" AU-type thing that's mainly made for possible content such as videos and what not, you'll see what I mean.) Simulacra Headcanons: -The Simulacra in the first game is the same as the other two shown simulacra, which is funny to me because that mean that thing can now be known as possibly genderfluid. -The Simulacra in the first game is not one of the other Simulacras, possibly both, and that there are possibly way more somehow. -The Simulacra in Pipe Dreams is somehow based on either Maya or Ashley, possibly both. -The MC in the first game is female, partly female(She/he, Demigirl, ect.), or was a female(ftm, non-binary, ect.) -The MC in Pipe Dreams is a male. -The MC in the third game is either male, non-binary, or a Demiboy(He/they) -The MC from the first game could have possibly been the one to tip off Murilo after their encounter with the simulacra. -Taylor(if an ending where he's alive is canon) and the MC from the first game totally keeps in touch. -Anna(if an ending where she's alive is canon) and the MC are sort of semi-friends but only through Taylor(only possible if they're both alive). -Anna and Ashley totally got at least one date in, even if they didn't last as a couple, they totally went somewhere for a date. -Taylor(if he's alive) and Ashley(if Anna is alive) get along as friends sort of, Ashley going along with his humor and singing whenever she's drunk. -Teddy def had feelings for the Pipe Dream's MC at least once in his life. Simulacra YT/Tumblr Content AU Headcanons: -The three Simulacras mess with the 3 main characters, 2/3 of them do it for fun. -The three Simulacras are their own beings. -The Pipe Dreams Simulacra(will refer to her as PD, Gamey, or Flappee) is def more energetic than her "co-workers", upbeat, cheery, though can act sort of overdramatic and annoying at times. -The 1st Simulacra(will refer to him as Phoney, Pretender, or Spark) totally is not in tune with his "co-workers" and finds them somewhat overly goofy and annoying. -The Ripple Man's personality changes between Maya's, Rex's, Mina's, and Arya's. -Phoney goes by he/him/it, Flappee goes by she/her/it, and Ripple Man goes by they/them/it. -Flappee flirts with both the Pipe Dreams MC and Phoney to annoy both of them. -Ripple Man isn't goofy like Flappee but just follows along with her bs because they can. -Phoney will for real just rather sit and somehow drink coffee with the first game's MC if it means not having to deal with Ripple Man and Flappee. -If Flappee and Taylor met, she'd date him. Not for love, just for fun, to mess with him, and bonus it may make it easier to convince him to play her game. -Phoney is AroAce, Flappee is Pansexual-Aromantic, and Ripple Man is Asexual-Biromantic. -Ripple Man is both great at conversations, introductions, making social plans, but is somehow ultimately also socially awkward. -If she could drink, Flappee would become an energetic crazywoman/child if she drank coffee or anything with high caffeine. -If he could drink, coffee would be Phoney's breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. It could even be counted as his alcohol. -If they could drink, Ripple Man would use coffee in place of tea so they can have a reason to set up "tea(coffee) parties" and just to use as a way to invite people to hang for a bit. -Phoney is great when it comes to love advice, just has no reason to share that to anyone and barely tries it himself.

[thewingedgoat]

LOREEE

Hehe, I thought I'd copy a friend and write down my characters Lore without revealing to much of the story, so enjoyy

Lucifer/The Devil (Genderlfuid/Pansexual)

The Devil is probably the most powerfull demon on earth, not even his fallen siblings compare to his powers. Why? Nobody knows. He's the oldest of the demons and second-oldest when compared to ALL of his siblings. Although of his tough extirior(?) he is actually just a wittle guy that needs a break of everyones bs desperatly. To him, his most important duty is protecting the family he still has, with his very life. They may have fallen but he still cares deeply about his siblings. All over he may seem like he would kill you in an instant for coughing (wich he will if there's a good reason for it) but he is infact a very logical man.

Beelzebub/Beelze(pronounced like "Bells" btw if there's confusion) (Cisfemale/Bisexual)

Beelze is the mute Princess of Gluttony, she can only talk with the help of a special Collar made by the gatekeeper. She is a very sceptical person who never judges a book by it's cover, that doesn't mean there aren't certain people she just doesn't trust tho. Dice is one of those people, she just does not trust him, maybe she knows something the devil isn't aware of. She is very overprotective of her family and will literally kill someone for making a wrong comment. She will also be a very supportive character of Ink and care-taker of levi.

Leviathen/Levi (laughs in the face of gender/aroace)

Levi; the mentally unstable prince of envy, while he doesn't really represent his sin greatly, he makes up with it with his personality. He's always smiling and generally just very fun to be around considering his child-like behavior at times. Altough in reality he does get overwhelemed very easily and it takes him a bit to calm down again. When Leviathen gets angry you better run, since he is one of the most powerful beings in hell. He's the main characters fun uncle and often plays the role of the comic-relief.

Mammon (Demiboy/Bisexual)

Mammon is the Blind, edgy, grumpy character that just needs some affection. They weren't always like this, while Satan was still alive he was quite good company. The Incident broke him tho. He has a hard time getting around no thanks to his blindness and uses hellhounds as basically guide-dogs. He distanced himself alot from his family and barely talks to any of them. They can never forgive Lucifer after what he did.

Satan/Satanas (Any pronouns/unlabeled)

WE DON'T TALK ABOUT SATAN

Asmodeus/Ozzy (doesn't give a shit/pansexual)

Ozzy is a very cocky person (in more ways than one ;])(okay I'm sorry that one was bad) but a very comfortable dude to hang out with. Contrary(?) to popular believe, he actually does respect boundaries. He is kind of a comfort-person for anyone who is unsure about their Identity, may it be sexual,romantic,gender or just overall. He is supportive boi.

Belphegor/Belphi (Cismale[very confused abt his gender]/doesn't know what He's into He just falls in love with ppl)

Belphegor is the prince of sloth so there's no surprise that he's mostly just relaxing. Other than the other Princes He doesn't have fur, but is covered in feathers. He's just existing and not caring about anything.

Ink/the kid/kiddo/kid/Inky (Cismale/Biromantic/Asexual)

Ink, the main character and the devils and Dice's adopted son. He was found in the back-ally of the casino, badly injured, when he was only 6yrs old. At first it was asumed that he's a toddler due to him being severly smaller than anyone else. He's still pretty small only reaching about 1,3 metres is size (americans google bc I have no Idea) He works as anything the devil needs him to be really, Dealer, Waiter, Barista, Bounty-hunter or Assasin, He doesn't care.

If you have read 'till here I can't thank you enough, you get a goat smooch

[rosefilledpiano]

---- Character details

Enid Wright (15. 5'7. Lesbian. She/her)

Having a dad who's a detective, Enid's always looking for solutions. Whether it be something simple, like a debate. Or something complicated, like a missing persons case you have to solve with a bunch of (mostly) idiots. Enid is hot-headed, stubborn, and gets frustrated easily. Her fatal flaw is that she's too stubborn for her own good; refusing to go with anything other than her plans unless she doesn't have a choice. She's the leader of her little mystery-solving group, keeping them all in check, and the oldest of four kids.

Enid has brown skin, siren-like black eyes, and curly black hair that's usually in two buns, two little strands of curly hair being loose in the front. She wears her school uniform most of the time, being incredibly busy in her everyday life with her grades, chores, etc. While she's usually distant and cold, if she likes you, she'll be a sweetheart in her own little way. Definitely more dominant than submissive.

Rubi Lawrence (16. 5'5. Straight ally. She/her)

Rubi grew up in a dysfunctional family. Her mother an attention whore, her father a busy man with barely any time for her, and her brother the only one she could rely on without being let down. As a child, she and Enid were fairly close. Always going on playdates, and always together. Growing up, the two stayed close. Rubi plays basketball for the school team, with her brother always there to cheer her on. Rubi is distant as well. More than Enid is. She's got a bad temper and tends to take it out on sports. While she may be intimidating, she's sweet once you get to know her. Being like a mother.

Rubi has tan skin, brown eyes, straight light brown shoulder-length hair, and dresses in a casual style whenever she isn't in her uniform. With significant others, her love language is touch. A switch.

Selene Aedes (15. 5'4. Demisexual. Genderfluid. Any pronouns but they prefer he/they.)

Selene isn't the easiest to handle. Her parents never gave her much attention, so they learned to fight for it. Growing up, they never had many friends outside of her brother and her cousins. Always having been known as the "weird kid" at school, but never actually being picked on. Just avoided. Which they were fine with because "who wants to hang out with those losers anyway?" in his exact words. Selene is the comedic relief of the group. Cracking jokes to lighten the mood is hard when you're solving a murder, though. They never seem to shut up, and they're always distracted. Enid is the one who keeps everyone in check, and Selene is the one who keeps Enid in check. Making sure she was mentally okay and in the right headspace to continue. Selene's almost the exact opposite of Enid. Being social, a pushover, and having worse grades than anyone in the group. (Mostly C's and D's, but still less than mostly everyone). She developed a love for analog horror, horror, the paranormal, cryptids, and developed an obsession on Percy Jackson.

Selene has wavy dark brown hair that reaches her upper back, tan skin, dark brown eyes, slight freckles, and a slim build. She isn't the strongest, but she might just be able to lift twice her weight with adrenaline. She's biologically a female, but nobody other than her family really knows that since she's spent years convincing them he's either a male or female. Nobody can take much more than a guess as to what his gender is, and he prefers it that way. His clothing style is cryptidcore, always ready for an adventure. (A definite sub btw.)

Liam Hernandez (16. 5'1. Gay. Demiboy. He/they.)

Liam has no idea what he's doing half the time. In a way, he prefers it like that. Liam is the definition of 'no thoughts, head empty'. Always doing what he's told no matter what. Liam grew up in a supportive and stable family, having a close bond with his younger sister and older sibling. Growing up, Liam was afraid to come out. He saw the way people treated Selene, and even just being around her made his gaydar go off. (Not that kids were avoiding Selene because he was gay, no. Just because he was the type of kid to run around chasing other people screaming "I eat children.") He didn't come out to anyone for a while. Eventually, he and a cute boy started dating and Liam told his older sibling. Naturally, word spread in the family. But they still accepted him nonetheless. Liam has short curly blonde hair, blue eyes, slightly tanned skin, and slight freckles. Compared to most boys, he's more pretty than anything. He's a complete book nerd. When he isn't wearing his school uniform, he's wearing either light academia or just casual clothes. A huge sub with a desire to be praised. One of Enid's favorites in the group because he's just so easy to be around. He doesn't complain, and Enid likes that. (She also likes how much shorter than her he is, often teasing him about his height. It's all in good fun, though.)

Aries Deam (5'6. 15. Bisexual. Transgender male. He/him.)

Aries is that one quiet kid in the corner of the class who you expect to start spouting some ancient curse. He's unpredictable and prefers to be alone or with a tight-knit group of friends. (Bet you can't guess who.) He's often seen around campus either drawing, hanging out with friends, listening to music, or trying out different hairstyles on his boyfriend. He's a huge Mitski stan and listens to music in class. Using his hair to block his earbud as he either naps, doodles, or uses his phone. Aries has short curly black hair, fair skin, slight eyebags, long eyelashes, and brown eyes. His hands are slim, and his body a bit scrawny. Really giving that punk (or just emo) vibe. As expected, he dresses in either pajamas outside of school, or punk/goth clothes. He has a good relationship with his parents and family despite people thinking he doesn't, lmao. A switch.

Tyler Aedes (5'9. 16. Pansexual. He/him.)

The brother of Selene, and the one that always keeps her in check. He grew up responsible. Taught to take responsibility if others won't. He didn't have to fight for his parents' attention. Always having it on him was like both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, he liked the praise and the good reputation he was giving them. On the other hand, he was constantly pressured into keeping his grades high and his attitude low. He tries his best to be a good brother, but finds it hard to spend time with his sister since he's always so busy. That being said, I do think he acts like a parental figure. Even if he did have his parents attention, Selene didn't. And that made him feel really bad. So he makes Selene lunch, leaving little notes like 'I love you :)' or 'stay safe!' into cute little bento boxes for him and Liam.

Tyler has dirty blonde hair, pale skin, slight acne, big and bright blue eyes, an almost permanent smile, and smile lines. He absolutely lives for acts of service. When he isn't in uniform, he's usually wearing something casual. Like jeans and a t-shirt. Nothing special, just plain. He looks damn good in white, though. Definitely a switch with a top lean. Boys gotta get his frustration out somehow. But at the same time, he just loves being whispered sweet nothings as his partner takes care of him. Loves being called "prince".

Sammy (Sam) Deam (5'3. 15. Lesbian. Pangender. Any pronouns.)

Literally dead asf.. Since this post is going up before my actual series, I may as well just say this now. Sammy's fucked, lmao. But seriously, this girl is a sweetheart. She grew up with a punk/goth brother, so she doesn't judge too hard. She enjoys painting, drawing, anything to do with art, really. She's always been interested in the paranormal. She knows a lot about the town history and the fucked up secrets and wont hesitate to talk about it. Long brown hair, tan skin, a birthmark on her neck, and brown eyes. As sweet as she is, she's super easy to manipulate. But no fear, Aries is always there to back her up. With a significant other, her love language would be gift-giving. She works super hard just to get her darling something with her own money.

Anyway, feel free to send in some requests. The fandoms I write for are in my other post. Feel free to guess who I'm pairing with who in this little series, or send in requests for them. I'm just happy to write tbh. NSFW will be alright as long as the characters are aged up!

[fabulouslygaybean]

For the hyperfixation ask game: 📌💔🏳️‍🌈

ohoho here we go

📌 - how did you find your hyperfixation?

i basically went down a rabbit hole and eventually ended up here lol. back in mid september, i was feeling nostalgic at like 2am and decided to look up some tmnt stuff because i used to be SUPER into the 2012 series when i was in elementary school, and i saw some folks talking about rottmnt. some of it was about the great animation, and others were 30+ year olds whining about how different it was, and that was enough to hook me in lol. i found the premiere/pilot episode that nickelodeon uploaded to their facebook page, then i saw the trailer for the rottmnt movie, and i watched both seasons over the course of the following week.

💔 - tell us about one of your LEAST favorite characters and why you dislike them.

i don't like either of the sando brothers, unfortunately </3 i just think they're both kind of annoying, and not in an enjoyable way. i know they're more or less just one-off characters used to add more villains and such, so they're obviously not gonna be as well developed as the rest of the villains, but i just. don't like them very much :')

🏳️‍🌈 - do you have any headcanons that are important to you?

YES YES YES. okay so, like,,, im usually not super concrete about my headcanons and such bc i like playing around with this stuff, but i DO have some that stay pretty consistent:

leo - gay trans man w/ adhd <3 he/they, bc why not. plays guitar but sucks at it bc he barely practices (projecting onto him lmaoo). sneaks out of the lair to go to shitty concerts sometimes, both in the hidden city and on the surface. medic of the team, but tends to pass off the more severe stuff to donnie.

donnie - bi, queer, and masc aligned nonbinary (or agender maybe. kinda like both headcanons so i can't pick between them). they/he, but he doesn't really care about terms (masc/neutral are usually used by others, but they don't mind fem ones either). autistic, but idk if that counts as a headcanon since it was confirmed as canon recently? but yeah. loves plants and botany in general, even though tech is still his wheelhouse. second most capable when it comes to cooking (behind mikey, of course), he just doesn't do it very often. also sneaks out like leo does, but he usually just does stupid and/or mildly to moderately unsafe shit bc dude likes the adrenaline.

raph - unlabeled queer. he just doesn't feel the need to pick a label, y'know? he's just raph, and that works for him. folks usually use he/him bc it's familar, but he has no real preference most of the time, so any work. autistic + possibly some other flavor of neurodivergent. picked up knitting at some point and he sometimes makes gifts for his family. the only brother with a decently strict sleep schedule.

mikey - pan + either genderflux or demiboy. any pronouns, but his preference changes pretty often. adhd, dyslexic, and probably autistic. lots of vocal stims bc i like projecting <3 him + raph used to be closer, but they drifted apart a bit as they got older (they're still close, of course, but it's different compared to when they were kids). his favorite season is either spring or fall. despite how seemingly adept he is at handling other people's negative emotions, he SUCKS at handling his own. buddy tries to bottle that shit up and it does Not work out.

aaand those are my current favorite ones i think. ive got some, uh,,, slightly more embarrassing ones ig? nothing objectively bad obviously but. just might talk abt them in the tags bc i can <3

[ur-dad-satan]

Y'all said you want some more me lore, so here we go!!

This will just be a tiny rant about someone in my life. I don't want any advice, and I won't be using their name for privacy reasons. Sit back and enjoy some tea about a crumbling friendship. <3

TL;DR: my best friend/ex sucks and I'm tired of his bullshit. I'm not saving this friendship anymore. I'm done.

So, I'm gonna preface this by saying that I'm gender fluid. I'm very open about it online and to my friends. I figured it out in 2021 or 2022 and I told my friends as soon as I was sure. One of my friends is a transmasc demiboy (B) and another is a cishet guy (D). Neither of them fully understands my gender but I think that's fine. I try to explain it as nonbinary but uses all pronouns as a simple way to remember. B understands this and uses all pronouns, masc titles and complements and everything and it makes me feel so affirmed and happy. D does not. He almost exclusively refers to me with feminine titles and things like that. It's not a horrible thing or anything, but I do like variety.

Now the main part: D and I have been friends for four (4) years this year and during that time we dated twice. I personally don't give people a third chance because this is life, not baseball. Despite me telling him that I don't want to date him, and I want to explore my sexuality and be gay and all of that, he still keeps asking me out. And then it's not even questions!! It's literally like "We should" rather than "Would you want to" or anything taking my opinion into account. He told asked me again today "You should be my girlfriend". So, I replied "Dude I'm barely a girl as is". I haven't really been feeling that fem as of late and I've been feeling mostly nonbinary in a masc way if that makes sense. Rather than talk to me like a rational adult about like "would you rather me say partner than girlfriend" or anything else he pretty much just goes "Oh. that's fine then." So, I asked him why it seemed like he only saw me as a girl. It was literally just asking, and I said that I was just curious, and he said that he had never really thought about it. That's valid. Then he way like "I didn't know you felt so strong about it, I'll leave you alone. ????? What the fuck do you even mean??

What are you talking about "feel so strong about it"? Asking why it seems like you're not acknowledging part of my literal identity? If I was feeling strong about it, I would have corrected you every time you called me something feminine. I would have asked you why you didn't once ask me if I was feeling masc or nonbinary or anything. Even if you didn't have the vocabulary, you still could have asked the "wrong way" so I could help you.

Honestly, I shouldn't even be surprised he has so little regard for me aside from when it benefits him. He didn't even tell me happy birthday when it was my birthday despite talking to me for a while that day. Why would the cishet man care about my queer identity? It's gotten to a point where I don't even want to salvage the friendship anymore. It doesn't feel genuine and it's making me feel like he doesn't even want friendship anymore. He just keeps me around in case I change my mind and date him again. That's not going to happen. Both times the relationship ended were because he ended it. The first time was literally because he said he "didn't feel the love anymore"??? What? Then I stupidly took him back. But then his reason for breaking up with me was having a lot on his plate and not being in the right mental space. That's completely valid, but I'm not giving you a third chance. We don't even want the same thing!

This has gotten way longer that I planned. It's a never-ending pit with this fucker and I'm over it. I guess if y'all want more of this kind of "lore" I have plenty or whatever. I fucking hate real men, dudes (gender neutrally ofc).

[magma1000]

look what I found while shifting through the garbage :D

HEADCANON TIMMMMME

First off, their names:

Blue Addie: Addison Azure (nicknames: Azzie, zu-zu, waterfall, Addie, blue, Ada, Ms. Decor)

Pink Addie: Addison Rose (nicknames: Rosey, asshole, Addie-Rose, Addie, pink, king advertising, Mx. Stylish)

Yellow Addie: Addison Lemon (nicknames: Lemmy, Lems, Addie, yellow, Al, yellow-head, Mr. Motors)

Orange Addie: Addison Vermilion (nicknames: Mili, Mils, Addie, Addie-Mils, orange, AV, Mr. Tech)

ok, now the headcanons:

•think of Spamton as a lil brother • they think Spamton is dead • Azure constantly cries about it • lemon is too cocky for anyone • mili is the level headed one • Rose is too happy sometimes • they each have their own lane of advertisements (Azure: decor | Rose: fashion/beauty| Lemon: motors| Vermilion: tech) • they tried to sabotage Spamton at one point • didn’t go through with it • Azure talked them out of it • Rose and Lemon are the most popular out of the four w Mili being third and Azure being last • Rose: Demiboy bisexual (he/they) • Lemon: trans man poly and gay (he/him) • Mili: bi and demisexual (he/xer) • Azure: bigender aroace (he/her) •

Relationship w Spam:

•Lemon - didn’t rlly get along w him. Constantly thinks he’s never going to make it anywhere and chooses not to engage at the risk of loosing popularity. Always cared for Spamton in general, but didn’t want to show “weakness”. By far the most upset that Spam is gone.

•Rose - too busy for Spam to even talk to. Didn’t want to engage either. Rose has high standards, he barely talks to Azure and Mili, Spam was no exception. But they do care for him, wanted to help him with sales before their popularity. Eventually gave up, seeing as spam never got any deals, but still cares and kinda blames themselves for not being there.

•Azure - by far the closest with him. Nicer than the others, doesn’t get a lot of sales often, so they have something in common. Misses Spamton a lot and constantly cries about him, wishes she didn’t leave him in the dark.

•Mili - was close-ish to Spam. They spoke often enough to be considered friends. Helped Spam more directly. Tried to assist him with sales (which never worked). Gave up on him fairly quickly, and regrets it. Thinks it’s his fault Spamton is “gone”.

[pinkpruneclodwolf]

Doomscolled Into the Wrong Side of TWST—

TWST and the Audacity of Some of You Bitches.

I think the reason I've been so inactive recently stems from me doomscrolling into a post complaining about people Headcanoning Vil as Trans or the entire Pomefiore dorm as GNC af.

Their post was basically: "Vil's character is effective as a cishet man but effeminate because the point of Chap 5 is fighting against the current and staying true to yourself."

But they turn around and say shit like—"anyone who does not view Twisted Wonderland in the same lens of a 'unrealistic progressive' more commonly 'expected' in Western cartoons are shunned"

What in hell's name is that supposed to mean???

First I'm gonna start off by saying that Vil being hc'ed as transfem, transmasc, nonbinary, demiboy, or just a plain ass white boy who wears makeup in his freetime and fears potatos won't change Vil fundamentally—he's a character in a game about fantastic mental breakdowns due to systems that they cannot control and can only find peace in themselves and support from their friends..

Many genderqueer ppl find him relatable bc being gnc is apart of his character, instead of it being just a one off thing— he doesn't view masculinity and femininity as two fucking boxes the whole human population has to fall into—and he isn't made fun of for it in the story as much. (Outspoken feminine coded people face more flak in fandoms)

You whining about people making him trans does nothing, changes nothing, isn't a new take, isn't hot,, just lackluster, and old as shit. I've seen too many posts that boil down to shit like this and have others cosign it— stop that shit, real talk.

Long story short Vil being hc'ed as genderqueer isn't gonna hurt you.

We also need to talk about how yall play in my face about East Asia being the monolith of purity especially in anime spaces—"anyone who does not view Twisted Wonderland in the same lens of a 'unrealistic progressive' more commonly 'expected' in Western cartoons are shunned"

Anime has always had the potential to portray BIPOC, Michiko and Hatchin, Yoshihiro Togashi been making trans characters ?????

So, what the hell does that mean exactly???

And the fact they used Yana being overworked as a shield to diss people who rightfully call out the racism and fetishism that is rampant in the game and fandom.

Like bro FAIRY GALA started off with Crowley rounding up Leona, Kalim, Jamil, and Ruggie and Malleus even says [botched quote] "fairies of pixie hollow want to feel exotic— the elegance of another country" as if Rook isn't from the same land of Leona why wasn't he selected hmmm?????

Some of yall definitions of fantasy exclude BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ and it shows every fucking day.

"The hunted become the hunter, oppressed become the oppressors, all in the name of equity and equality"

Bitch are you serious????

This is the same white supremacist logic that gets people fucking killed—so many people get killed just by that idea omfgg????

No matter how loud black people, poc, lgbtq people are let's not forget how long it took to get to that point, Civil rights movement isn't even in it's hundreds yet, Gay marriage across all 50 states is barely a decade old (legalized in 2015) , and trans people are constantly having their laws overwritten wtaf is wrong with some of yall?????

And the fact that it's reblogged as "this is important" bitch gtfooo leave, boooo brick brick brick im actually throwing bricks.

Yall play in my face like East Asia is a monolith of purity like they weren't out here murdering and colonizing like Britain was going out of fucking style, Manchuria, Taiwan, Korea don't ring fucking bells for you dimwits???

Ainu people are literally suffering from Linguistic Purism and colonialism as we speak.

Yall like East Asia because of how homogenous it is, and, I dare say how white it is, bc you wouldn't have to face bigotry affects BIPOC in a space where everyone looks like you and if they didn't you could get the free pass of bullying them because you "didn't know any better"

Yall excuse the bigotry of East Asia because "uwu they just don't understand"

They do.

They aren't fucking babies, yall infantilizing JP/East Asia is a form of fetishization in of itself.

They do know what the fuck they're doing and will keep doing it bc yall like to defend them vehemently so its why Korea can plagiarize black culture and get away with it, its why Korean idols can post themselves holding a racist caricature of a black person and smile knowing that their fans will defend them using that logic.

Go directly to hell with that "The hunted become the hunter, oppressed become the oppressors, all in the name of equity and equality"

Thats not how shit works at all this isn't some fucking animal kingdom where only the apex predator or the fucker who managed to overthrow the previous leader decides how the world works, touch some grass and realize you're a goddamned human, have some fucking decorum.

I swear humanity will never progress bc yall have zero imagination of what the world could be like if yall weren't assholes to a certain group of people.

[lgbtqia-stim-and-icons]

Is being a bi lesbian kind of like being ace and not aro? Because I'm ace and bi and I'm not sure what a bi lesbian is.

—

In response to @obamaonaunicorn's question, I'm going to be going over what I know about the bi lesbian identity. This is by no means an exhaustive explanation of the label, merely an overview based on my own experiences and knowledge. There's a lot to cover to fully answer this question, so I hope you don't mind if my answer becomes a bit of a ramble.

That said, though, I can answer your initial questions here:

1. Being a bi lesbian simply means you identify with the labels of both "bi" and "lesbian" for whatever reason.

2. And yes, this reason may include the Split Attraction Model. One of the primary reasons that someone may identify as a bi lesbian is that they are biromantic and homosexual, or homoromantic and bisexual, and simply find "bi lesbian" an easier way to communicate their identity.

More under the cut.

Now, the label of "bi lesbian" is a tricky one due to the recent discourse surrounding it. It has been in use since at least around 1973, but very well may have existed before then (if anyone's curious, send me a message and I'll direct you to a post with more history). The term comes from a time when "lesbian" was not as exclusionary as it is now, and referred to any woman who was attracted to other women (including mspec women). The reason this usage fell out of fashion was due to political lesbianism. Political lesbians were – to put it bluntly – transphobic misandrists who saw bisexuals as "men loving traitors" and trans people (especially trans women) as perverts or liars, so they excluded any attraction to men (or trans people) from their lesbianism. You see a lot of their views echoed in modern TERF views, which is part of why TERFs hate bi lesbians so much. But I digress.

Because the label of bi lesbian has not resurfaced very often until the past few years, there are many misconceptions about it, such as claiming that TERFs coined it (untrue, they're against it's usage) and that it's lesbophobic to respect it (also untrue, barely a few decades ago bi lesbians were known and respected members of the lesbian community).

With the progress that has been made in identity and LGBT+ communities, there is nowadays a greater understanding of labels and the personal intersections of identity – thus, there are a lot more known reasons for people to identify as a bi lesbian. (If you didn't understand that line, I'm just saying that nowadays there are many reasons that someone may identify as a bi lesbian, which is part of why the term has resurfaced.) Some of these reasons, with explanation and rebuttals towards hateful arguments, include:

1. Using the SAM.

There are women who are homosexual biromantic, or bisexual homoromantic, who use the term "bi lesbian" to neatly capsulate their sexuality without using such long terms all the time.

2. Not being attracted to all genders.

Some bi people aren't attracted to all genders, just more than one, so they use the term "bi lesbian" to describe how they're attracted to women and some enbies but not men. "Bi gay" is usually used to reflect the other side of this, where someone is attracted to men and some enbies but not women.

I have heard some people ask if it's enbyphobic for a bi person to not be attracted to some nonbinary people (in this example, those who are more masculine in gender, such as demiboys) based on their gender, and in my opinion, it is not. This isn't a case of "I don't like you because of your gender," it's a case of, "Because of your gender, I am physically incapable of experiencing attraction to you." It's similar to when a straight man finds out he was actually hitting on another man, not a woman like he originally thought. Innocent mistake, but now that he knows, his attraction is gone and he can't feel it anymore.

3. Not planning on acting on attraction to certain genders.

Even if a bi person is attracted to all genders, they may not be planning on acting on their attraction to men. Due to this preference, they use the term "bi lesbian" to signify that they're much more likely to choose their partners and live their life the same way a mono-attracted lesbian (a lesbian who isn't bi) would.

4. Using the historical meaning of the word "lesbian."

Again, "lesbian" used to refer to any woman who liked women – and this definition is still used sometimes, such as at Stonewall. So, some bi women will use the term "bi lesbian" because they're reclaiming the label that used to belong to them before exclusionists tried to take it from them.

5. A trans partner.

Sometimes, a lesbian dates someone who discovers – over the course of their relationship – that they are a trans man. These lesbians may lose attraction to them or they may not. Those who don't may chose to describe themselves as bi lesbians for the reason that this is the only guy they've ever been attracted to, and it's because they have already built up a relationship + bond.

Contrary to what some may say, it's not because they don't respect their partner's identity. Quite the opposite, actually! The "bi" part of "bi lesbian" signifies their very rare, conditional attraction to men (or specifically, a man).

6. Shifting sexuality.

Some people's sexuality changes over time. For those who change mostly or only between bi and lesbian, they may choose to call themselves a bi lesbian for simplicity or to avoid going into detail about their sexuality.

7. Community upbringing.

There are some instances where bisexuals have been mostly brought up in lesbian spaces or vice versa. The example that comes to mind is of a bisexual woman who spent most of her life interacting with other wlw – mainly lesbians – married a woman, and joined a lesbian group with her wife, but never stopped identifying as bisexual. This story, marking the intersection between community and personal sexuality, is one that has been echoed elsewhere (for example, I often meet people on the ace spectrum who feel more comfortable partaking in the aroallo community for various reasons, and many of these people identify as acespec aroallos – another "contradictory" identity. Or if you want an example unrelated to sexuality, some people who are not deaf partake in aspects of deaf culture, such as having sign [language] names, because they are intertwined with the community in ways such as being an interpreter or having deaf parents).

In short, the community that a person dedicates much of their time to may be important enough that they consider it part of who they are, even if they aren't personally part of the community.

That was... A lot (and there's more reasons I didn't cover). I hope it's understandable! If you have more questions, you can feel free to message me. And the offer for links to bi lesbian history still stands.

Tl;dr: There are many reasons why someone may identify as a bi lesbian. The people against bi lesbians usually have roots in transphobia, biphobia, and/or misandry.

{ID in alt text!}

Please don't add discourse to this post, it's merely meant to answer a question.

[thoughtsbynyx]

BNHA Pronoun, Gender and Sexuality HCs

Pro Hero Addition

Part 1

if there’s a specific hero or person you want pls comment or come to my ask box (it’s very low on engagement)

Yagi Toshinori (All Might)

He/Him

Cisgender

Bisexual Himbo but lowkey Homophobic

Todoroki Enji (Endeavor)

..He/Him

Cisgender

Homophobic Gay™️ (you can’t tell me that obsession with All Might wasn’t a little fruity)

Takami Keigo (Hawks)

He/They

Demiboy

Biromantic Asexual (queer platonic relationship with Rumi)

Usagiyami Rumi (Mirko)

She/They

Masc Non-binary

Stone Cold Lesbian (queer platonic relationship with Keigo, and pining after Ryuku)

Kayama Nemuri (Midnight)

She/Her

Femme

Queer

Aizawa Shota (Eraserhead)

They/He

Agender

Depressed Gay™️ (and married to Presentation Michael)

Yamada Hizashi (Presentation Micheal)

He/They

Cisgender

Pansexual (and married to Aizawa)

Shuzenji Chiyo (Recovery Girl)

She/Her

Genderqueer

Aromantic Asexual

Ectoplasm (what is this mans name)

They/Them

Agender

Graysexual

Fukukado Emi (Ms. Joke)

She/Her

Bigender

Queer (constantly flirts with Aizawa even though she was invited to the wedding, Mic is cool with it and joins in sometimes)

Fourth Kind (what’s his name)

They/Them

Cisgender

Gay (and TetsuTetsu’s Gay Panic™️)

Gun Head (3 for 3, what are these peoples names)

He/They/She

Femme Man

Queer

Ishiyama Ken (Cementoss)

He/They

Agender

Aromantic Asexual

Takagi Ken (Rock Lock)

He/Him

Cisgender

Distinguished Bisexual

Crimson Riot (4 for 4, where’s the name at?)

He/Him

Cisgender

Gay (and Kirishima’s Gay Awakening™️)

Mizushima Masaki (Manual)

He/Him

Cisgender

Token Straight

Mirai Sasaki (Nighteye)

He/Him

Nonbinary

Gay and Homophobic

Inui Ryo (Hound Dog)

They/He

Nonbinary

Panromantic Asexual

Tatsuma Ryuko (Ryukyu)

They/Them

Nonbinary

Lesbian (and oblivious to Rumi’s pining)

Kan Sekijiro (Vlad King)

He/Him

Cisgender

Biromantic Asexual

Selkie (would you look at that? Number 5 with no name)

They/He

Bigender

Straight

Kamihara Shun’ya (Edgeshot)

He/Him

Cisgender

Distinguished Bisexual

Sirius (where’s her name 🤨) aka Asui Tsuyu’s Lesbian Awakening™️

She/Her

Femme

Soft Butch Lesbian

Snipe (hero number 7...) aka the reason Shigaraki almost didn’t have a second appearance

He/Him

Cisgender

Demisexual

Torino Sorahiko (Gran Torino) aka knock off Yoda

He/Him

Cisgender

Straight on thin ice

Toyomitsu Taishiro (Fatgum) the best man at Suneater and Red Riot’s weddings

He/Him

Cisgender

Straight Ally who later came out Pan

Iida Tensei (Ingenium)

He/Him

Cisgender

Androsexual

Thirteen (hero number 8 with no civilian name)

They/She

Nonbinary

Aromatic Asexual

Uwabami (hero number 9...) aka Momo and Itsuka’s Lesbian Panic™️

She/Her

High Femme

Femme Lesbian

Takeyama Yu (Mt. Lady)

She/Her

Cisgender

Token Straight and on thin ice

Wild, Wild Pussycats (Ik they have individual names but bare with me) (aka 3 bisexuals and a gay man)

Sosaki Shino

She/They

Cisgender

Bisexual (what straight person would have that haircut

Tsuchikawa Ryūko

She/Her

Cisgender

Disaster Bisexual (with a few questionable “preferences”

Shiretoko Tomoko

She/They

Nonbinary

Distinguished Bisexual (who’s very much into cottagecore)

Chatora Yawara

He/Him

Trans FtM

Raging Homosexual

[raavenb2619]

Hi, if your still taking ask, I'd like to ask about gender.

I'm amab and I use he/they, I heard about demiboy and it sounded exactly like me, but it didn't feel right. I feel weird identifying as not cis because I don't have dysphoria. I know you don't need dysphoria to be trans. Maybe I'm just gender nonconforming? But I don't feel wholly like a man?

I guess I feel like transness itself isn't a valid option for me because I don't have dysphoria but I feel good when people refer to me as they

So I guess the big question is how do I work through whats left of the internalized transphobia and the transmedicalism that was ingrained in me when I first became active in the community?

So if this is incoherent and rambly

There are a lot of reasons I think making dysphoria a requirement of being trans is a bad idea. 

On a personal note, I don’t want my existence as a trans person to be inherently defined in terms of negative experiences; isn’t the idea of Pride that instead of believing that your existence is inherently negative and bad and shameful, that you can believe it’s something positive, something valuable, something worth being proud of? Being trans is a positive experience for me. I like being trans, and I’m proud to be trans, and I don’t want anyone or anything to take that away from me. 

I’m a trans person who has dysphoria, but if dysphoria was a requirement of being trans, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have realized I was trans until a lot later than I actually did, because dysphoria can be subtle and confusing. Sometimes I’ve been dysphoric about something, and then for no discernible reason, it’s disappeared and doesn’t bother me anymore. Sometimes I’ve been comfortable with something, but then I hear that someone else is dysphoric about something, and then I start being dysphoric about it. There are things that I’ve been dysphoric about for pretty much as long as I can remember, but before I was trans, I had convenient excuses for them. “Oh, everyone’s like that. Oh, that reflexive behavior you’re barely conscious of doesn’t mean anything.” It was only after I realized I was trans that I understood that I was feeling dysphoria. Without that additional context and new perspective, my dysphoria was just...noticed but unnoticed. 

I don’t think gatekeeping is in the interest of the trans community. The idea that a nefarious cis person would pretend to be trans for personal gain is pretty unrealistic. (Like, most cishets are super uncomfortable when someone thinks they might not be straight, let alone not cis.) But if there really are some nefarious cis people who want to pretend to be trans, they could just claim to have dysphoria, so gatekeeping is completely ineffective at stopping the hypothetical cis invaders. On the other hand, gatekeeping dysphoria would probably lead to kicking people out of the community who need support. If you definitely experience dysphoria, but not as much as other people, are you still “trans enough”? If you experienced dysphoria, but you transitioned and took steps to get rid of your dysphoria, are you still “trans enough”? Whoever answers these questions wields enormous power to withhold support from people who likely need it. The whole point of a community is that we’re stronger together than we are apart, so why should we turn on each other? 

I think prioritizing dysphoria could put pressure on trans people to transition in ways that aren’t necessarily comfortable with. Dysphoria can take many different forms, and people have different ways of coping with it. If you and I are dysphoric about the same thing, but I transition a small amount to cope with it, and you transition a large amount to cope with it, that could lead to people saying I’m not “really” trans because I “clearly” don’t have “real” dysphoria, because any “real” trans person with “real” dysphoria would have to transition a larger amount. In that scenario, I have to choose between the transition that manages my dysphoria in a way that’s right for me at the risk of losing my community’s support, and transitioning in a way that I’m “supposed” to so that I can “prove” that I’m “really” trans. I think that’s a terrible position to be in, because transitioning should be about what’s best for you, not for other people. Trans people already have to deal with cis people telling us how we should look and dress and act, so why should we have to deal with trans people telling us that, too? 

Saying that trans people need dysphoria ignores our history instead of learning from it. As I wrote in this post, the term “genderqueer” was originally coined by people who wanted to use the term “transgender” but were excluded at the time because of the dominant narrative that only trans men or trans women who had had (or wanted to have) bottom surgery could call themselves “transgender”. A lot of people who felt distinctly non-cis sought out the trans community but were rejected, and I think that’s really unfortunate. Being rejected by mainstream society is hard, but being rejected by someone you expect to have your back can be even harder. If someone doesn’t feel dysphoria, but they’re still seeking out the trans community, I think there’s probably a really good reason for that, and we should welcome them instead of rejecting them. 

Hope that helps, as always feel free to ask for clarification/any follow up questions. 

[ghost-light]

we rot, thinkin' lots about nothing

My contribution for Pride Day of @willieappreciationweek!!!

Summary:

Their gender- hm.

It was sort of like gender envy. Except remove the envy part. Because sure, ghosts could have gender. But it wasn’t really the gender he wanted. Stuck with it. Just like they were stuck in the afterlife, if you could call ghosthood an afterlife.

Read it under the cut or on ao3

To be fair, ghosts had never really needed a specific gender.

They still didn’t, at least not by any standards or official rules (spoiler alert; that’s because there were no definitive rules. The closest ones Willie had ever known to be rules were smashed to smithereens by Caleb Covington and Alex's band).

So when Julie asked if they wanted a pride flag or pin, it threw him off. When Julie showed them some pictures of pride flags for different gender identities, it threw them off. Hence the mini-spiral of skateboarding and maybe avoiding a certain band of ghosts and their lead singer.

It wasn’t hiding, per se. Willie Williamson Ortega didn’t hide. There was nothing to hide from, anyways. And yet, here he was, skating the day away, stuck in their own head with a problem that wouldn’t resolve itself.

He never had a label before. They were just a gay skater in the 80’s. He was just Willie, or William, to Caleb.

It didn’t feel quite right anymore.

The thing was, Willie's gender just was. They were a ghost. Couldn’t that be their gender?

(Agender, Flynn had suggested. Not having a particular gender. But that wasn’t quite right. He did have a gender. Probably.)

Willie tried explaining it to Alex, because he was a ghost too, right? Except… not quite in the sense that Willie was. Alex tried, he really did. But seeing the blonde’s encouraging but confused smile, and the way Alex’s eyebrows furrowed with intense concentration sank Willie’s spirits.

Flynn was a little more understanding. But they had found a label, was comfortable calling herself a demigirl lesbian. Demiboy and gay felt- close. Maybe. He hadn’t thought about these things so urgently before, hadn’t been able to find people that could truly get the situation. After seeing his look of distress, and the way their hands repeatedly combed through their hair, Flynn’s face softened. They put down their phone, still keeping a half-casual air. Adjusted their hat (where did Flynn get so many hats?).

“You know,” she paused. Exhaled slowly. “You know, gender is more like a concept. Like- my gender is basically a lesbian, yeah? It doesn’t make sense, but it makes sense to me. Some people call it a performance, but the point is that it shouldn’t define you. If you don’t find a label that you like, who cares, dude? If anyone gives you crap for it, hit them with your skateboard.”

The last line startled a laugh out of Willie, their shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. “I, uh, yeah. I’ll keep that in mind. You’re-you’re pretty great at this stuff.”

Flynn smirked, tilting their head to the side. “I know. Now go get ready for your,” she wiggled her eyebrows a bit, “date with blondie. And I am off to catch my demon of a girlfriend’s dance rehearsal.” Their eyes sparked at the word “girlfriend”, and Willie couldn’t help but grin back.

“Not a date!” he called out. “Not- it’s not a date. It’s just movie night with Alex. And Luke and Reggie and Julie. See? Not a date.” Willie was fumbling with their words, meaning he was probably blushing hard too.

“Mhmm.” Flynn looked bemused, shaking her head a little. “Have fun on your not-a-date-ghost-party-plus-my-best-friend then, skater boy.”

—

Okay, so Flynn had been helpful. That wouldn’t explain why Willie still felt lost, though considerably less so than before.

Their gender- hm.

It was sort of like gender envy. Except remove the envy part. Because sure, ghosts could have gender. But it wasn’t really the gender he wanted. Stuck with it. Just like they were stuck in the afterlife, if you could call ghosthood an afterlife.

So gender envy without the envy. And it was still unclear if “ghost” was a real-enough gender, or if Willie was making it all up. So that took away from the metaphor quite a bit. Gender envy, but without the envy. Oh, and scrap the gender too. Nice metaphor, Ortega. You’re really making progress here.

It’s ok. Everything’s fine. Willie isn’t the least bit concerned. He didn’t need a label, honestly. So why did they feel like they needed one so badly? Nobody was going to care, Julie certainly wouldn’t mind regardless of the answer she got. (If Willie was being honest, it wasn’t really about Julie.)

Didn’t Willie figure this out when they were alive? Skaters didn’t need a gender. Skating was what defined them, not a gender identity label or their sexuality. Skating was the one thing that made them feel free and alive. And then they died, of course. That didn’t mean they couldn’t still skate, though. And yes, maybe he couldn’t really feel the wind in their hair as he rushed down Hollywood Boulevard, and as much fun as phasing straight through lifers was, it did only emphasize the fact that he was a ghost. Not real.

If Willie themself wasn’t real, then why should their gender have to be real? It was barely a significant part of them, anyways.

In all seriousness, he did have an idea of why Julie’s simple question was affecting them so much. Nobody had ever asked them that before. For years, decades, Willie had simply. Been. Willie Williamson Ortega, ghost skater at the Hollywood Ghost Club.

It hadn’t occurred to him just how much they didn’t feel like a person during that time. Skating was wonderful, of course. Their only true escape from the strange hodge-podge of Caleb’s talent show. It was Caleb that was the problem, Caleb that had been leeching off Willie’s being the whole time.

And then, he was alive again. Willie, that was. Not Caleb. Alex brought Willie back to life, and wasn’t that just ironic? Because Willie was so, so alive in ways that they had never been before. And all while he was dead, to top it off.

And the craziest part about it was-

And then their board rammed into someone, sending both parties to the ground in a groaning heap.

“Ah damn, I am so sorry, I- Reggie??” This was great. Another one of the band members that they ran over with a skateboard. Alex was never going to let him live this down. At least they weren’t obsessing more over the board than the person. (Although, Willie had done a quick check of his board, which seemed unharmed.)

“Man, I just wanted to go for a walk, not get turned into roadkill,” Reggie laughed, sitting up cautiously.

“I’m so sorry dude, I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention. Honestly, I was kinda having a minor afterlife crisis, as Alex would say.” He doesn’t know why he said that, doesn’t know what it is about Reggie that made them suddenly willing to stick around instead of apologize and skate off.

“Minor afterlife crisis, huh?” Reggie raised their eyebrows, hands propped up on his knees. “I mean, the afterlife is weird. Luke poofed my shirt away the first time we teleported! And Alex still gets wedgies, even though all our clothes are made of air!” Willie glanced at him, checking if he was serious or not. It was hard to tell, with Reggie’s earnest-puppy-dog confused face.

Willie inhaled deeply, sighing as they sat down. “Yeah. You know, I don’t think I’ve felt this alive, with Alex and you guys and Julie, since like, I died. And then Julie was asking about pride, and I can’t quite figure out what my gender identity is. It’s kinda…” His voice trailed off, unsure of what to say.

“Like you just are, but in a different way than everyone else.” Reggie murmured, eyes downcast.

Willie’s eyes snapped to Reggie. “Yeah! Exactly. You know that feeling? Because you just are, but nobody can understand that. I’m alive like I haven’t been in forever, and I can’t. Can’t put a name to myself anymore.”

Reggie nodded enthusiastically. “Luke keeps saying that maybe I’m like him. But I think he’s wrong. I used to wear skirts to our band performances. They were just fun to stomp and jump around on stage with. Nobody asks me, but if they did, I would say my gender’s like that. I’ll do it if it makes me feel good, but not because of labels.”

It was as simple as that. Willie took a breath, felt it sink into his bones and settle there. Simple. As. That. They’d been so busy worrying over finding a proper label. And truly, it wasn’t such a big deal.

Beside them, Reggie was still talking. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re ghosts. We can pretty much do anything. Skating makes you feel more you, right? You say that a lot. Skateboarding, that’s enough to be an identity, gender or not. My sister used to say, when our parents would get mad at me for wearing skirts or makeup, that it didn’t matter. Because I would always be me, you know?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m always going to be me. Thank you, Reggie. I think you solved my minor afterlife crisis for me.” Skateboarding is a part of me. I can be a skater. I can be a ghost. I don’t need any other labels than that.

Except maybe Alex’s boyfriend. Or spouse. No! Stop thinking that much ahead, you haven’t even asked him out yet, Ortega! Focus on right now.

“Nah, it was all you. You knew it, you just needed to hear it again.” They grinned, green eyes sparkling in light of the setting sun. Willie huffed out a laugh, offering a fist. Reggie tapped his fist against Willie’s, not hesitating for a moment.

—

When Alex met Willie’s gaze, all he could see was happiness.

“Everything okay?” He asked, already knowing the answer that would come.

“Yeah. Reggie helped me figure some things out. And I’m still me. Just Willie.” They smiled, reaching out for Alex’s hand.

“Well, Just Willie, I hope you’re ready for Friday movie night. Luke picked A New Hope,” he leaned in and stage whispered, “for the seven hundredth time.”

Luke protested from across the couch, standing up to make his point.

“It’s a good movie, but we’ve all memorized the script at this point, Lucas.” Alex shot back, squeezing Willie’s hand slightly.

Willie leaned back, eyes fond as he took in the scene. Luke and Alex bickering loudly over who had the better movie choices, Julie laughing, exasperated as she bent over to paint Reggie’s nails a pale purple.

Definitely the most alive they had felt in a long time.

[solarcitymelodies]

Wowza sorry y'all about the random massive Rockafire spam, I'm pretty sure ??most?? People on here? know me for just Knight Rider because that's the only thing I've ever REALLY posted about--

but I Do Not Care it's RAE hours right now so uhhh here's some headcannons that probably aren't Canon compliant very much because I just got into RAE like last week

So like. I feel like Mitzi is a Good Amount younger than the rest of the band like she was in highschool when she joined, the rest of em were all Adults™ and she was a little bit nervous about it because...... ADULTS™

She was just lookin for a place to get her singing voice out there, because ya girl REALLY wanted to perform, and showbiz happened to have a slot open, but she did not expect all of the members to be older than her (although looking back, she realized she probably should have expected that)

It was intimidating at first but Billy Bob and Fatz were just the absolute sweetest and they introduced her properly to the rest of the band because she was like "oh I barely talk to them because I get nervous :(" and the resident dads p much said "aight we can do all the talking for you then, how about that?" And badabing badaboom she's now attached to these two and like honestly who isn't or maybe that's just me but ANYWAYS I feel like the band would become a second home/safe space for her

Yeah fr some reason I have BIG long headcannon for her joining the band but the rest of them? Nobody knows how they got there for all I know they just Showed Up One Day

Also I came across this

https://youtu.be/UU7BeUWQBDI

Which got me thinkin about what my headcannons were as far as sexuality/gender stuff

And I find the concept of Billy Bob being Very Much Straight And Ignorant but trying his hardest to be a good ally SO funny like if someone came out to him he'd probably be like "oh!! I don't understand why you would choose that lifestyle but I respect you!!" not realizing how incredibly stupid he sounds sjkrjh like I don't think he can very easily wrap his head around how people are just. not cishet. so he's like "OH then it must be a choice, right? like you can choose to be gay but you're born straight. Right?" and everyone just shakes their heads in the background but he does earnestly try his best and my man would rather DIE than disrespect someone's pronouns I know this for sure

Fatz is pretty similar, straight ally and a lil confused but he's got the spirit, you know? He still least knows being gay (as well as,,, m o s t sexualities that aren't straight, although some he doesn't get/know about at all) isn't a choice but he hasn't quite grasped that being trans is also not a choice. He will respect your pronouns to hell and back but by god he doesn't get it,,, he's trying though and he feels very accomplished in himself that he's starting to get the hang of using they/them even though he slips up a lot

The rest of the band encourages the HELL out of these two because they're. Trying their best and making an honest effort which is more than a pretty good chunk of people would give

Rolfe, Earl, and Dook are the reasons Billy Bob and Fatz are trying so hard to understand it lmao

Rolfe took it upon himself to hang up a MASSIVE gay pride flag backstage, being the flaming homosexual that he is, and the rest of the squad quickly realized "oh he's GAY gay he wasn't kidding" because at first they literally thought he was joking as he was actually just being openly and obnoxiously a raging mlm (and like I mean no shade to him this isn't me tryna to make fun of it because my dumb sapphic ass almost crashed my car once because I saw a pretty girl walk down the street. And by "once" I mean. Yesterday.) Anyways yeah that's when the rest of em Realized and were like "OH" but after the massive pride flag was hung up that prompted Dook to come out and they were all like "???? YOU TOO????"

Dook is a non-binary ICON he's a demiboy and goes by both he/him and they/them and probably would have a bunch of pride pins I think,,, I'm not really sure of his sexuality though!! honestly he kinda gives me bisexual vibes but Who Knows . Not me. He has a HELL of a time trying to explain his gender to the rest of the band (except for Rolfe because like. He's a part of the community so he knows) and basically he was met with "so you're just a dude but ✨spicy✨?" and it was like, "no, but I have no idea how to explain it in a way that will make sense to you, so. yes?" And that explanation seemed to suffice for most of them

Mitzi went in knowing NOTHING about what being non-binary was so she asked a l o t of questions about it, which Dook just kinda dealt with answering (he's heard most of it before, and it gets tiring after a while. if you're nb or trans or honestly any part of LGBTQ+ you know what I mean) but he thought it was really sweet of her to be so determined to learn about it and eventually she did get a grasp on it ish, so she was able to understand why it wasn't just ✨spicy male✨ (the conversation pretty much went "well if i was just male, don't you think I would label myself that way instead?" "....oH TRUE!!!") and she ended up a VERY passionate ally, and she'll ask occasionally about how to be better at it, bein a queen as she is 👉👉 also definitely started questioning her sexuality after a while and just went with "maybe bicurious" and Rolfe, Dook, and Earl were all like "ONE OF US, ONE OF US"

Earl has never once spoken about his sexuality in his life, because 1. He's very aware that's an awkward conversation to have with a puppet, and 2. He's aroace anyways, which is basically what people assume even if they don't realize it just for their own peace of mind, because seriously, puppets and any identity that ISN'T aroace creates a really uncomfortable mental image for... Most people, pretty much. So it's not like he ever needed to say anything about it, which is convenient for him because he wouldn't want to say anything either way. not worth the risk of embarrassing himself and making everyone feel awkward

(side note ish though Rolfe 100% came out to Earl first and was met with "I already knew that but okay." Rolfe was mildly offended)

And spEAKING OF EARL he's VERY much sentient but he can't say he's particularly enthusiastic about it because Rolfe has to carry him around everywhere

He can move on his own but it's limited and generally annoying to maneuver around with his tiny body so he just says screw it half the time and stays on Rolfe's arm or hitch a ride on Random Object, but like... Yeah, the majority of the time Rolfe just has to deal with only having one arm available and a puppet directly next to him making fun of him at every possible chance

They high-key have chaotic and unorganized college roommate vibes (like they're actually roommates because... Where tf is Earl supposed to go?? So Rolfe took him in) and idk if this is really like a part of my headcannons or if I just think it's funny so I keep entertaining the idea of it but I think it would be Fantastic if Rolfe had no idea how to cook but Earl somehow did so this idiot is trying to take instructions from a puppet, who can't physically show him what to do, and it's like Hell's Kitchen live featuring a furry and a sentient stuffed animal

Aaaaamd going off of my Rolfe and Earl headcannons still Rolfe for SURE has some sort of executive dysfunction issue. ADD or ADHD I'm not sure (probably ADHD) but he definitely has it also this totally isn't just me projecting how dare you accuse me of that

And!!! More about Dook!!!! I don't know how or why I thought up of this but I cannot possibly imagine him any other way now-- he's autistic and space is his Big Huge special interest, and if you ever ask him about it you have to be prepared to get infodumped or possibly even shown a PowerPoint presentation, because GOD he loves space!!! He wants everyone to know all about it!! He knows not everyone thinks it's as cool as he does so he tries to keep his mouth shut but when someone asks about it he can't help himself and will infodump a LOT, also haha drumming stims go brrrr, playing the drums isn't really a stim but he likes to just take his drumsticks and whack em around in the air and get that good ol Wavy Arm Action (wavy arms is best stim change my mind you can't it's GOOD)

Also i bbbbelieve earlier I reposted somethin about someone else headcannoning that he has echolalia, which I don't really know enough about to say anything on it?? But even if he doesn't have echolalia he'd probably repeat phrases over and over until he gets tired of them (which is,,, something I do lmao, it's either memes I get stuck in my head or things I've heard from various medias I like the inflections in (like one tiktokker I saw was talking about their tourettes and their vocal tics and one of them was "uh oh! How unfortunate!" and now I CAN'T STOP SAYING IT)) but like uhhh yeah :))) repeating phrases that get stuck in your head for various reasons for the win

This is already really long so I'm just gonna vibe out thanks for coming to my Ted talk feel free to ask questions I probably won't be able to answer a lot of em though because my headcannons are a Mess hehe >:)

[pridebooks]

It’s Trans Day of Visibility, so have some books!!

Full list of books (with synopses) under the cut.

First picture: Books by trans authors (most also have trans characters)

Memoirs of a Man’s Maiden Years by N. O. Body - "I was born a boy, raised as a girl. . . . One may raise a healthy boy in as womanish a manner as one wishes, and a female creature in as mannish; never will this cause their senses to remain forever reversed." So writes the pseudonymous N. O. Body, born in 1884 with ambiguous genitalia and assigned a female identity in early infancy. Brought up as a girl, "she" nevertheless asserted stereotypical male behavior from early on. In the end, it was a passionate love affair with a married woman that brought matters to a head. Desperately confused, suicidally depressed, and in consultation with Magnus Hirschfeld, one of the most eminent and controversial sexologists of the day, "she" decided to become "he." N. O. Body was identified as Karl M. Baer (he/him).

Spy Stuff by Matthew J. Metzger - Anton never thought anyone would ever want to date him. Everyone knows nobody wants a transgender boyfriend, right? So he's as shocked as anyone when seemingly-straight Jude Kalinowski asks him out, and doesn't appear to be joking.The only problem is ... well, Jude doesn't actually know.Anton can see how this will play out: Jude is a nice guy, and nice guys finish last. And Anton is transgender, and transgender people don't get happy endings. If he tells Jude, it might destroy everything.And if Jude tells anyone else ... it will. Matthew J. Metzger (he/him) is a queer trans man.

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver - When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents' rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.But Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.At turns heartbreaking and joyous, I Wish You All the Best is both a celebration of life, friendship, and love, and a shining example of hope in the face of adversity Mason Deaver (they/them) is nonbinary.

George by Alex Gino -When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl.George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy.With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all. Alex Gino (they/them) is genderqueer.

Starglass by Phoebe North -  Terra has never known anything but life aboard the Asherah, a city-within-a-spaceship that left Earth five hundred years ago in search of refuge. At sixteen, working a job that doesn't interest her, and living with a grieving father who only notices her when he's yelling, Terra is sure that there has to be more to life than what she's got. But when she inadvertently witnesses the captain's guard murdering an innocent man, Terra is suddenly thrust into the dark world beneath her ship's idyllic surface. As she's drawn into a secret rebellion determined to restore power to the people, Terra discovers that her choices may determine life or death for the people she cares most about. With mere months to go before landing on the long-promised planet, Terra has to make the decision of a lifetime--one that will determine the fate of her people. Phoebe North (they/them) is genderqueer.

Power Surge by Sara Codair - Erin has just realized that for the entirety of their life, their family has lied to them. Their Sight has been masked for years, so Erin thought the Pixies and Mermaids were hallucinations. Not only are the supernatural creatures they see daily real, but their grandmother is an Elf, meaning Erin isn’t fully human. On top of that, the dreams Erin thought were nightmares are actually prophecies.While dealing with the anger they have over all of the lies, they are getting used to their new boyfriend, their boyfriend's bullying ex, and the fact that they come from a family of Demon Hunters. As Erin struggles through everything weighing on them, they uncover a Demon plot to take over the world.Erin just wants some time to work through it all on their own terms, but that's going to have to wait until after they help save the world. Sara Codair (they/she) is nonbinary.

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve - When genderqueer fourteen-year-old Z Chilworth wakes from death after a car crash that killed their parents and sisters, they have to adjust quickly to their new status as a zombie. Always a talented witch, Z can now barely perform magic and is rapidly decaying. Faced with rejection from their remaining family members and old friends, Z moves in with Mrs. Dunnigan, an elderly witch, and befriends Aysel, a loud would-be-goth classmate who is, like Z, a loner. As Z struggles to find a way to repair the broken magical seal holding their body together, Aysel fears that her classmates will discover her status as an unregistered werewolf. When a local psychiatrist is murdered in an apparent werewolf attack, the town of Salem, Oregon, becomes even more hostile to monsters, and Z and Aysel are driven together in an attempt to survive a place where most people wish that neither of them existed. Hal Schrieve (xie/hir) is a genderfluid trans man.

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender - Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings. Although he’s the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate’s seen the demise of too many relationships to believe that happy endings exist in real life.Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom to unravel—but this strategy is not without fault. His best-friend-turned-girlfriend-turned-best-friend-again, Florence, is set on making sure Nate finds someone else. And in a twist that is rom-com-worthy, someone does come along: Oliver James Hernández, his childhood best friend.After a painful mix-up when they were little, Nate finally has the chance to tell Ollie the truth about his feelings. But can Nate find the courage to pursue his own happily ever after?  Kacen Callender (they/them) is a demiboy.

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee - Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim. Yoon Ha Lee (he/him) is a trans man.

Second pic: Books with trans characters

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky -  Alone at home, twelve-year-old Grayson Sender glows, immersed in beautiful thoughts and dreams. But at school, Grayson grasps at shadows, determined to fly under the radar. Because Grayson has been holding onto a secret for what seems like forever: “he” is a girl on the inside, stuck in the wrong gender’s body.The weight of this secret is crushing, but leaving it behind would mean facing ridicule, scorn, and rejection. Despite these dangers, Grayson’s true self itches to break free. Strengthened by an unexpected friendship and a caring teacher who gives her a chance to step into the spotlight, Grayson might finally have the tools to let her inner light shine.

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills - "This is Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, on community radio 90.3, KZUK. I'm Gabe. Welcome to my show."My birth name is Elizabeth, but I'm a guy. Gabe. My parents think I've gone crazy and the rest of the world is happy to agree with them, but I know I'm right. I've been a boy my whole life.When you think about it, I'm like a record. Elizabeth is my A side, the song everybody knows, and Gabe is my B side--not heard as often, but just as good.It's time to let my B side play.

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin - The first thing you’re going to want to know about me is: Am I a boy, or am I a girl?Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. The thing is…Riley isn’t exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in uber-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley’s so-called “normal” life.On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it’s REALLY like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley’s starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley’s real identity, threatening exposure. Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in—or stand up, come out, and risk everything.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson - David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he's gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth: David wants to be a girl.On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal: to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in his class is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long…

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller - Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class—and the nobles who destroyed their home.When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen’s personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge.But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only if they survive.

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson - A good friend will bury your body, a best friend will dig you back up.Dino doesn’t mind spending time with the dead. His parents own a funeral home, and death is literally the family business. He’s just not used to them talking back. Until Dino’s ex-best friend July dies suddenly—and then comes back to life. Except not exactly. Somehow July is not quite alive, and not quite dead.As Dino and July attempt to figure out what’s happening, they must also confront why and how their friendship ended so badly, and what they have left to understand about themselves, each other, and all those grand mysteries of life.

I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman -  For Angel Rahimi, life is only about one thing: The Ark – a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything – her friendships, her dreams, her place in the world. Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark too. He’s their frontman – and playing in a band is all he’s ever dreamed of doing. It’s just a shame that recently everything in his life seems to have turned into a bit of a nightmare. Because that’s the problem with dreaming – eventually, inevitably, real life arrives with a wake-up call. And when Angel and Jimmy are unexpectedly thrust together, they will discover just how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.

The Pants Project by Cat Clarke - Whoever wrote the uniform policy decided (whyyy?) that girls had to wear skirts, while boys were allowed to wear pants. Sexist. Dumb. Unfair. “Girls must wear a black, pleated, knee-length skirt.” I bet I read those words a hundred times during summer vacation. The problem wasn’t the last word in that sentence. Skirt wasn’t really the issue, not for me. The issue was the first word. Girls. Here’s the thing: I may seem like a girl, but on the inside, I’m a boy.