#rated G for gender

[tobythetrashyartist]

"Despite everything, it's still you."

My piece for the Rated G for Gender charity zine, in which all profits go to the Black Trans Travel Fund! You can purchase this 50+ page zine full of art and fics over here!

"The works in this zine celebrate non-cis characters, whether canonical or not. You'll find fics and art from multiple video game fandoms."

[linden-and-berry]

Endlessly and Endlessly

[ID: art of Ciri and her horse, Kelpie. They rest in a golden field, with a blue sky above them. Ciri has green eyes, ashen hair, and pale skin. She has a scar across her left cheek, and some facial hair. She wears a headband, Polish clothes, and a cloak in trans pride colors. Far behind them is a tower, its three banners resembling a bi pride flag. In front of them lies Ciri's wave sword, Zireael, engraved with a bird and flowers of life. In one corner is a minimap with a quest marker. It reads, "Trans Rights!" end ID]

this art is made for the Rated G For Gender videogame charity zine, and all proceeds go to the Black Trans Travel Fund! @ratedgforgender

[dismayedhunter]

Lively Pride

instead of giving money to TGC, you could pick up the videogame charity zine Rated G For Gender (@ratedgforgender) on itch.io! all proceeds to the Black Trans Travel Fund!

[ID: Digital art of the Lively Navigator spirit from the Season of Flight. They are leaping high into the air, above clouds and floating islands. They have tan skin and white hair. They wear goggles and a feathered cape in aroace pride colors. Their dress is made of stars. They hoist a gold flagpole, adorned with the Flight insignia, and streaming out from it is the nonbinary flag. end ID]

[ratedgforgender]

Pre-orders are open! All money raised will go 100% to Little Petal Alliance, a Texas-based organization that supports trans individuals across the USA.

Expect content from the following fandoms:

Assassin's Creed/Protocreed

Batman: Arkham Knight

Cuphead

Hyper Light Drifter

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Slay the Spire

Snipperclips

Subnautica: Below Zero

[theposhperyton]

All evidence suggests yes

[frameacloud]

Scarlet E Pestell (June 11, 2019). "Accepting I’m trans masculine is an 'act of self-love.'" PinkNews. https://www.thepinknews.com/2019/06/11/trans-masculine-melz-act-of-self-love/

Excerpts: "YouTuber and writer Melz Meshach Yaa-Yaw Owusu says [...] Navigating their identity as a 'dark-skinned' trans masculine and non-binary person has meant finding themself 'amongst all of the white noise.' [...] 'Growing up, I thought in order to be a trans man you had to be white, have a small chest, and a small boxy boyish figure before any medical transition [...] I literally thought I was disqualified and had to do my best to make do, and just live with my dysphoria and discomfort.'”

[bijoumikhawal]

Im gonna need the ds9 Fandom, just like everyone else on Tumblr, to delete the word yaoi from their vocabulary

[faggy--butch]

sorry to ramble in your inbox but its kinda fucking me up how "trans man with a cishet boyfriend who misgenders him behind his back" is like seen to be a person to make fun of in the general queer tumblr space instead of a person who is in a vulnerable situation. i know that there is trans men who are also women and there are trans men who are genuinely okay with dating a cis man who considers himself straight but people talking about these hypothetical couples arent talking about these situations but rather about "haha stupid trans man doesnt realize hes dating a bigot"

theres this attitude that the hypothetical cishet boyfriend is actually a conservative so it should be obvious to trans man that he doesnt respect his identity but i feel like its less "oh its obvious that this specific man is a bigot" and more "obviously cishet white men are bigots" and its weird how people laugh at this person instead of acknowledging that even if you are dating a bigot its usually not a big win for you personally. like the bigot cishet boyfriend isnt going to be okay with his trans man boyfriend starting testosterone. like we can sympathize with emotional abuse happening towards other groups but when its gay and mspec trans men its like "oh he should have known that would happen" or "its his fault for dating a bigot"?

of course people have the same making fun of the victim narrative with afab nonbinary people who date cishet men who misgender them [and im sure this bleeds over to affecting all nonbinary people if people arbitrarily decide theyre afab if the nonbinary person refuses to tell them personal information about themselves but the larger narrative always specifies that this is an afab person] and its almost like a "this is what you get for being attracted to men" sort of thing.

and also i theres something to be said about warning people for signs their partner or potential partner doesnt respect their identity but considering i imagine its a common anxiety among trans and nonbinary people who are into that sorta thing to wonder "am i ever going to find someone who loves me and is also accepting of me for being [insert gender here]?" its sort of fucked up for it to be common to basically claim "yea if youre dating a cis man who said he was straight before he started dating you but says he respects your identity hes probably just straight up lying to your face" and then laugh at the person getting misgendered for not knowing they were being misgendered.

anyway sorry for this big ramble i cant even remember specific instances of this to reference so i might seem like im making up a guy to be mad at but i swear this is like a general attitude and almost running joke i see around. anyway. have a good day.

I absolutely see that too, and I think it's a mixture of straight up victim blaming, because oh noo how dare you WANT to date *gasp* cis men

but it come with an intense transandrophobia and exorsexism because there's a lot more sympathy when it comes to cis women dating cishet men "poor things uwu" but when it's trans men or in this case non binary people assumed to be women, it's always "see I told you so" smug superiority. (cis women get this too, because of misogyny obviously, but it's different and worse for trans men) People are just waiting for a chance to be misogynistic and trans men are an acceptable target. This is honestly extra fucked up when we remember that trans men experience some of the highest rates of domestic violence and rape in the community though.

being trans is such a vulnerable place to be in, and a lot of people, trans or not are insecure or just want to be loved, that's normal. A lot of people are willing to accept certain behaviors from their partners that are bad, because of those reasons as well, victim blaming, and ESPECIALLy telling trans men to toughen up or "what did you expect" is apart of the toxic expectations that get placed of trans men as well. I could honestly go on for hours about this. good ask,anon

[scyllas-revenge]

Leap of Faith

aka an Only One Bed headcanon with no context whatsoever

because this popped into my head and I wanted to be able to write and finish something for once god damn it. @the-girl-with-the-algebra-book this is for you 🥰

Legolas/Human Reader (gender-neutral)

Word count: 663

Rating: G

Read on AO3

New!! There’s a part 2 here!

Legolas is instantly flustered at the sight of the single bed, his eyes darting between you and the pillows and back again. Despite himself, he’s half-contemplating diving out the window to freedom—but at the look on your face, he forces himself to take a shuddering breath.

You’re more than happy to share the bed, you reassure him: there’s plenty of room, and you’re a heavy sleeper, so he won’t disturb you. But he rejects the offer smoothly. Elves do not sleep like mortals, of course, and he need not lie down to find his rest as you do.

For the first time, he regrets it.

Legolas is a gentleman: he turns away quickly as you slip out of your traveling clothes and boots and slide under the covers, but the rustling of your garments and slide of fabric against your skin is so loud in the silence of the little bedroom, so intimate, that his heartbeat lurches in his chest. By the time he risks a glance back at you, you’re buried in blankets and pillows, looking more at peace than he’s ever seen you.

And now there is nothing to do but wait for dawn.

He pours water over the coals in the fireplace as your breathing evens out in sleep. He paces quietly. He sighs. Time slips by, and his eyes dart to you more and more often.

He’s curious. That’s what he tells himself, anyway. Legolas has so rarely been around mortals, and the way they sleep is fascinating. You’re deeply, wholeheartedly asleep—no wide-open staring eyes, no mind still active and wandering, elf-like.  

He’s curious. Your chest rises and falls under the blankets, your breaths even, calm. In through the nose, with the slightest snore, then out through the mouth in a warm puff. He finds himself stepping closer to the bed, transfixed.

He’s curious. That’s all. His elven eyes can make out the darting of your pupils beneath their lids, the slight parting of your lips. He leans closer, unconsciously. Perhaps you’re dreaming—and he hopes, with a sudden jolt, that you’re dreaming of him. And as though in answer, your lashes flutter restlessly, a single word escaping your parted lips: “Legolas.”

Oh, fine. He’s far more than just curious.  

Legolas is perched on the bed beside you before he is aware of it, his heart in his throat. Perhaps it meant nothing—very likely it meant nothing, for rarely was there sense to be found in mortal dreams. He should move away, and stop staring longingly at your sleeping form. You would hardly appreciate it if you knew.

Or would you? You had invited him to share the bed with you, after all.

Thoroughly defeated, Legolas slips under the covers to join you. Even in sleep, you’re enough to overpower him. And even in sleep, you turn toward him, clutching at his torso and pressing yourself close. His breath hitches.

Your hands clutch tight to his tunic as you nuzzle into his side, and Legolas curls against you, your legs tangling together. A shudder runs through his body.

He breathes in and out as evenly as he can, in imitation of you, and closes his eyes against the pillows, just as you did. Perhaps he can sleep as you do, just this once, so he can survive this overwhelming closeness. Keep his eyes shut tight and his mind closed off from the world, so he can outlast it.

It frightens him for a moment—the uncertainty of his tight-shut eyes, the lack of awareness of the wider world. How odd this mortal sleep is. It feels like a leap of faith. But your breath is warm and even against his neck, your hair soft as it splays against the exposed skin of his neck and collarbone, and his heartbeat slows, sleep—true sleep—stealing over him at last.  

This leap is an easy one to take, for he has faith in you utterly.  

[slytherheign]

LETHAL LOCKET | harry potter

PAIRINGS: harry potter x reader, hermione granger x reader (platonic), ron weasley x reader (platonic)

WORD COUNT: 1.9k

SUMMARY: each time one of you wears the locket and how you comfort each other when things get overwhelming.

WARNINGS: depression, doubts, anger, and hopelessness. let me know if i missed any warnings. [⚠︎︎RATING: G]

AUTHOR’S NOTE: this is a gender neutral one and i didn’t specify which hogwarts house the reader is in. requested by an anon here. also, ron leaving hasn’t happened here yet. i barely got time to proofread this so please let me know if you see any mistakes!

DESTINATION: Angst Avenue | GO BACK TO THE STATION. CLICK HERE FOR ALL THINGS LETHAL LOCKET (reviews, commentary, etc. about this fic).

Nothing has been the same ever since you managed to get Salazar Slytherin’s locket from Dolores Umbridge. And now you were hiding in a tent in some forest Hermione led you all into.

You all knew that the locket contained a piece of the Dark Lord’s soul, that was why you and Hermione deduced that whoever wore it gets irritated, angry, and extremely depressed. You came up with a plan to take turns wearing it and it was your turn.

You slowly put the locket on your neck, already feeling anger clawing its way into your heart. It was suffocating, corrosive, eating away at every ounce of happiness you tried to hold onto. You did your best to shake it all off at the moment.

“Are you okay?” asked Harry, holding your hand. You squeezed his hand to tell him you were fine. You followed him towards the table, sitting on the chair beside him. 

The tent glowed from within under a starlit sky as Hermione poured tea from a kettle into the cups. “How’re the mushrooms? Seem to be the only edible things growing round here,” she asked.

Harry could only grimace as he chewed. “They’re great,” he lied. 

“Make sure to leave some for Ron,” Hermione said.

You looked at Ron who was sleeping as Harry asked Hermione how bad he was at the moment. “He’ll be alright in a few days. Hopefully. If we could take him to Hogwarts, to Madam Pomfrey–” she cut herself when Harry glanced at her, giving her a look that confirmed what she already knew—it was not possible to take Ron to Madam Pomfrey. You would just have to settle with what you have right now.

You felt it again, that familiar weight pressing down on your chest. The world felt like an empty void, and the possibility of winning the war seemed so distant… so out of reach. You took a deep breath, trying to push the darkness away. Yet, depression started to creep its way in, causing your shoulders to slump.

“Take it off,” Harry instructed you, instantly feeling the change in your demeanor. 

“But I haven’t been wearing it for that long. I can manage a little longer,” you reasoned.

“No, Y/N. Take it off. I’ll wear it instead,” he told you and you didn’t bother to fight with him anymore. You gave him the locket, and he placed it on his neck.

“Thank you,” you whispered to him, kissing his cheek. He smiled in response, yet again squeezing your hand that still held his.

“It’s comforting to know how much you care for each other. Especially during these times.” Hermione grinned at the two of you.

Hermione was agitated, you could tell it by the way she handled the fish she was about to cook. And you knew it was mostly because of the locket she was wearing. 

You immediately grabbed her hands tightly, stopping them from further stabbing the fish when she was supposed to remove the scales. “You know the fish is already dead, right?” you asked. She looked at the fish, realizing what she was doing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was doing that,” she replied, shaking her head. You could see the disappointment that etched her face.

“It’s okay,” you smiled. “I can cook for tonight.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Of course. You’ve already done so much today. You deserve some rest. I’ll just wake you up when it’s time to eat,” you replied, taking the knife and the fish away from her.

She teared up a bit, smiling widely. “Thank you so much, I really appreciate this. If you need any hel–”

“Hermione,” you stopped her. “Stop. Please, just rest. I know how to cook a fish. I’ll be fine.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll help her cook,” Harry offered, coming up from behind you. “I’ll make sure the fish stays edible.”

You glared at him and he just laughed. You did not appreciate the fact that he couldn’t trust you with cooking, but you did appreciate that he was going to help.

“Thank you guys so much,” Hermione smiled, hugging the two of you before going to bed.

You saw Ron covering her with a blanket and you looked at Harry to see if he saw it too. He did, and now you were giggling with each other at how your two friends couldn’t just admit their feelings for each other.

Ron was staring at the fire. There was so much anger and doubt beneath his eyes and you understood where they were coming from. You walked towards him, sitting down beside him.  He nodded, acknowledging your presence before looking at the fire again. You could tell from the way he breathed deeply that he was attempting to steady his thoughts. However, a pang of anger emerged, causing him to clench his fists.

He was still injured and you have noticed that he seemed more quiet and reserved lately. You wanted to ask him a question, to ask him how was he but you were scared you’d make him more annoyed than he already was. The locket on his neck wasn’t helping.

“I’m guessing you’re here to ask how I feel?” he voiced.

“Yes…” you replied, still skeptical of whether you should leave him alone or stay with him. 

You chose to stay with him.

“Well, how do you think I’m feeling?” he snapped. “What do I look like? Do I look like I’m fine?”

Harry and Hermione stopped their conversation as soon as they heard Ron. Harry stood up from his position immediately, ready to intervene. 

“Ron, I’m just concerned–” you told him.

“I feel horrible,” he interrupted you. “I feel like I’m a barrier stopping all of us from making progress.”

Harry’s stance changed, he was ready to fight Ron earlier when he heard him snap at you. But now, he felt heartbroken for his friend. He sat down beside you and Hermione followed him. Now, the four of you sat in a circle.

“What makes you feel like that?” Hermione asked him. “That’s not true.”

“Really? Do you think I don’t hear you all constantly talk about how long it takes until I get fully healed?”

“Ron, it’s just–we don’t have all the time in the world and we want to get you healed as soon as possible,” you reasoned.

“Exactly,” he said. “I’m halting all of us. You all wanna leave but you feel like you’re forced to stay because of me.”

“You are taking all of this wrong,” Hermione spoke up.

“It’s the locket,” Harry interrupted, trying to remove the locket from Ron’s neck but Ron swat away his hand. “Take it off,” Harry warned him. He was getting irritated as well.

“Can you both stop?” you vocalized. “Ron, I don’t know what it is that you want us to say but at least believe me when I say that we don’t feel forced staying with you here. Yes, we could’ve traveled more these past few days but we still made progress by staying here. We had more opportunities to talk and brainstorm together. And at the same time, we were able to get some rest from constant traveling. If we wanted to leave you, we could’ve done that way earlier. We could’ve left you injured, but we didn’t. We didn’t leave you, we stayed with you because we care for you. Now, please take that locket off before you assume things again.”

That seemed to calm him down. Harry tried to take the locket off from him again, but this time, Ron let him. Ron looked down, letting your words sink into his head. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. Hermione moved so she could sit beside him, rubbing circles on his back to comfort him.

“It’s fine. We all overthink things when we’re stressed,” you said, smiling at him.

“Thank you,” he spoke, looking at each one of you. “I’m glad I have you all.”

You were all gathered around the table when you noticed that Harry’s hands started fidgeting. He hid them behind his back but it was too late because you already saw them. When Hermione asked him a question about where all of you should go next, he only shrugged. At that moment, Ron and Hermione knew something was wrong. Harry suddenly walked out and you immediately followed him. Hermione wanted to go after him as well but Ron stopped her before she could even move a step.

“Let Y/N talk to him,” Ron said and Hermione agreed it would be the best.

You saw Harry sitting alone, visibly overwhelmed. His hands were grasping tightly onto each other, trying to fight off the anger and depression creeping in. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to regain control. The locket he was wearing doubled up the anger and depression he was already feeling.

"Come on, pull it together," he whispered to himself. He didn't notice you sitting beside him. It saddened you to see him like this. If you told your young self that the giggly kid you met at the Hogwarts Express back in your first year would end up like this years later, you wouldn’t believe yourself. But now here you were, beside him, watching him say positive things to himself when you knew there were little to no positive things left.

Harry hugged his knees. His eyes were still closed, and he put his head down as if he were trying to cover himself from the world. You teared up just from that sight alone.

That little kid who gave you candy on the train years ago grew up with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and you were a witness. The war was far from over and each day that passed without finding a horcrux troubled every one of you.

You didn’t know what to say so you just did what you could do at that moment. You hugged him, so tight to make him feel that if he wanted to cover himself from the world, you would provide a second layer of protection.

His body stopped shaking and he looked up at you. That was when you saw he was crying. You wiped his tears gently with your hands, telling him that you were there for him and that you were always going to be there for him.

“What if everything fails and he wins?” he asked, hugging your body with every bit of his strength. He was holding onto you like his life depended on it. You hugged him back, kissing his forehead before putting your chin above his head. You saw Ron and Hermione standing at the entrance of the tent, their eyes were tearing up as well. You didn’t know how long they had been watching you and Harry but you motioned for them to go outside.

They joined the hug, and right after, you felt safe from every harm that would come your way. Moments where you felt safe only happen rarely, so you cherished this moment.

“He won’t win,” you stated.

“How do you know so?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know so. I just believe so,” you answered. 

You hugged them even tighter, whispering that it was going to be alright when in reality you weren’t sure if everything would be alright.

Maybe what you were doing was instilling them with false hope, but at least it was still hope.

And right now, you all needed hope so badly.

SLYTHERHEIGN TAGLIST: @writingstoraes @joshiiieeenesx

message me or comment down below if you want to be added to my taglist! specify if you want to be added to my main (slytherheign) taglist where i’ll tag you in everything i publish in the future or just the wizarding world/hp taglist.

[legendofmorons]

I’ve had this idea in my head all day, could I get a scenario or headcanons or something about the chain not knowing that twilight and the reader (gender neutral if possible please) are married? Like the reader is from Ordon village and ended up sneaking through the portal with Twilight. I just want to see everyone else have that “wait a minute” moment after like idk months of traveling and now suddenly someone notices that Twi and the reader have matching rings

Definitely Married, not just besties (Twilight)

Of course! I'm super excited to do this!!!

Pairing: Twilight x reader

Rating: G

Summary: The chain manages to miss that you and your husband are married, you, Twi, and Time enjoy the realization.

Warnings: Vauge injury (no details)

Other: If I missed anything, please let me know.

You'll admit that maybe your husband wasn't thrilled that you followed him through a mysterious and possibly dangerous portal. But he hasn't been too mad, mostly just worried.

Which is fair. It's not been boring on this trip.

The other heroes are fond of you, your skills helpful in many ways. From patching them up, to getting discounts, and even to keeping Twilight from absolutely raging when he finds hurt kids.

It would suffice to say that you fit right in.

-------

You lay in the bedroll you share with your husband, stars above you bright as the others all whisper about plans you can't come to care about.

Unfortunately, Wolfie dosen’t seem to care that you're tryingto sleep, the pesky wolf form of your husband flopping over your torso.

"Wolfie." You warn lowly.

"Oh- (Y/n)! Hey!" Sky smiles from a few feet away.

"Hello, Sky."

"Something wrong, (Y/n)?"

"I'm just tired." You say, pushing Wolfie to lay on your legs as you sit up, "Anyone seen Twi?"

Twilight, in true wolf form fashion, gives a soft bark and noses at your hand. You don't have to ignore him!

"He said he went on a walk. Why?"

"Just wondering, he has a penchant for finding trouble. "

Time laughs at that, "Yeah. He does. We're just talking about our next plan of attack. Any thoughts?"

"We should probably split into groups. Archers and sword fighters." You add with a sigh, reaching to scratch behind Wolfie's ear.

This earns you a happy sound and some tail wagging.

"Smart." Legend says as he works on cleaning out from under his nails with a dagger. All aware of safety and such.

"I think so." You smile.

"How'd you and Twilight even meet?" Wind asks, obviously done with all plans and interested in gossip now.

They others must have been at the strategy for a while if the way everyone immediately tunes in is any indication.

"Oh, well we grew up in Oradon together. We met real young, you know? I hardly even remember a before him."

"You should tell him you like him." Hyrule pipes up, "It's really sweet."

"What?" You ask.

"Tell Twilight you like him!"

You laugh, realizing the others have no idea you're married to your beloved husband. "I'll think about it."

(How do they not know? You two are almost always near each other. There's no shortage of affection. You share a bed roll!)

If later, when Twi is back to human form, you jokingly tell him you have a crush he just laughs and wraps you in his arms and says, "Good."

You fall asleep in Twilight's arms, one hand clutching your ring on the chain it's been on for months now- since the startof the journey. Your other hand rests on his chest.

-------

You sit in your underclothes and pout at Twilight.

Twilight sits across from you as he patches you up while the others wither patch up or help someone else. His gaze is soft, but he's obviously a little upset you took his hits to save him.

"I didn't know you had a ring on a chain." Wind says from where he's wiping off monster gunk a few feet away.

"Oh- yeah. I've had it for a few years now." You say, smiling at Twilight gently instead of looking to the Sailor.

"Kinda looks like the ring the rancher wears around his neck."

"That's on purpose. "Twilight says, adjusting the gauze under the bandage he's finished placid around your bicep.

Time can bee seen behind Twilight, looking smug and amused. The tall gremlin probably has known for a while but he seems as amused as you and Twi to watch the others miss the whole point.

"Why would you have matching rings? Are you super duper best friends or some shit?" Legend huffs.

"Or something." You say, biting back a giggle.

"That's like a married people thing." Hyrule says helpfully.

"Almost like we're married." You say evenly.

This earns a swat at your shoulder from Twilight. "Hey now." He says with a smile.

"Oh my hylia." Time mutters.

"You're married!" Wind declares.

"Yep!"

"To Twilight?" He demands, sounding shocked as can be.

"Unless you know someone else named Link from my home town?"

"Don't tease them, sweetheart." Twilight says, " 's not their fault their dense."

"You're married to eachother?" Sky asks, tone going soft like it does when he talks about his Zelda.

"Have been for a few years, actually." Twilight answers, pressing a kiss to your cheek. "Why?"

"Just surprised." Sky says, "I thought you two were pining."

"We all did." Hyrule adds helpfully.

"I didn't. "Time pipes in, "I've known since the second day."

"Show off." Legend mumbles.

"Awww, it's okay guys! We didn't exactly tell you." You say, trying to make them feel better.

"We didn't hide it either." Twilight says.

"You are telling us everything. "Wind says firmly, "The wedding, the proposal, your getting together, all of it."

You laugh, "Sounds good kid."

"Yeah... That sounds good." Twi echoes, and he's so star-struck just remembering the mentioned points of your relationship. He's whipped.

To this day, the chain likes to ignore the several months they missed the whole 'you and Twilight being married thing.

[otherkinnews]

One anti-furry bill died, the other two wait to be heard

(This blog post was originally posted on the Otherkin News blog on DreamWidth by Orion Scribner on March 24, 2024.)

Content warnings: Rated G. An urban legend that describes an unsanitary situation. Sexism against transgender people, including attempts to prevent them from going to school or using facilities, and outing children to their parents. A straw-man version of furries being used to try to discredit transgender people, in a way that could cause trouble for people who identify as nonhuman.

So far this year, Republicans have proposed three pieces of legislation that are opposed to furries or people who identify as nonhuman. That’s something they started doing last year, inspired by an urban legend about litter boxes in public schools, which they made up in parody of transgender students asking to use school restrooms. We’ve been ending up calling these “anti-furry bills” as we keep track of them in our Otherkin News blog. Furry isn’t the accurate word, but it is the word that Republicans use in the urban legend and usually in the bills too. Every once in a while, I’m checking on the status of the bills, and trying to see if there are any new ones. Here is the update for this week.

1. Oklahoma House Bill 3084 (OK HB 3084) “Schools; prohibiting certain students from participating in school curriculum or activities; effective date.”

Background: We wrote about this bill in detail in a previous Otherkin News post. The bill says that furry students should be taken out of school by animal control. Its only sponsor (writer) is Justin Humphrey (he/him). This seems linked with his opposition to LGBTQ people, as well as his efforts to legalize animal fighting. Later, Jim Olsen (he/him) took over as principal sponsor of the bill. He proposed changing it to have the same text as an unrelated bill of his, one requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

Update: The bill’s current status hasn’t changed since our last update. It’s still at 25% progression toward becoming a law. Its text hasn’t changed from what it was originally, so it's still about furries.

2. Mississippi House Bill 176 (MS HB 176) “Gender dysphoria; require school personnel to notify parents of student who request to be referred to as different gender or nonhuman.”

Background: This was introduced at the same time as the first bill. As we previously wrote about it, the bill is mostly against transgender students in a way that could put them in real danger. It would require schools to out transgender students to parents, and to allow faculty to not accommodate any student who “identif[ies] at school as a gender or pronoun that does not align with the child's sex on their birth certificate, other official records, sex assigned at birth, or identifying as an animal species, extraterrestrial being or inanimate object.”

Update: This bill’s current status is dead! Hooray! It died in committee on March 3. When a bill dies, that means that it won’t progress toward becoming a law.

3. Missouri House Bill 2678 (MO HB 2678) “Prohibits students from engaging in ‘furry’ behavior while at school”

Background: We previously wrote about this bill. The bill says to pull students out of school for being furries or purporting to be animals. The bill’s only sponsor is Cheri Toalson Reisch (she/her). This appears to be connected with her opposition to transgender people as well as her efforts to undermine public schools in favor of charter schools.

Updates: This bill hasn’t changed or moved forward. It’s still the same as it was when it was introduced. A hearing hasn’t been scheduled for it, and it’s not on a House calendar.

-

About the writer: This blog post was written by Orion Scribner (they/them), who has been a community historian and archivist for more than ten years.

[dismayedhunter]

Lively Pride (Preview)

[ID: Digital art of the Lively Navigator spirit from the Season of Flight. They wear goggles and a feathered cape in aroace pride colors. They hoist a gold flagpole, and streaming out from it is the nonbinary flag. end ID]

[ratedgforgender]

Donations from April zine sales

In total through March and April, we have raised $35 for Black Trans Travel Fund and $45 for Little Petal Alliance!

[its-straykeedz]

silver lining; myg

pairing: min yoongi x afab!reader

established relationship!au; marriage!au; pregnancy!au

rating: fluff, smut, angst;

wc: 7,4 k

MINORS DNI!

TW: language; mentions of infertility; conceiving difficulty; mature contents; explicit sexual scene [but like sweet lovemaking]: piv, unprotected sex & cream🥧 (for a purpose), car seggs; heavy themes such as: mentions of an unplanned pregnancy, mentions of a miscarriage, mentions of abortion; Yoongi being so soft it breaks my poor little heart; mentions of a pregnancy scare; mentions of a teenage pregnancy; (please let me know if I forgot something)

Disclaimer: all of my works are entirely fictional and do not represent the characters involved in any way, I just write my fics for fun. 

There are a few Korean words in this fic, such as: jagiya, which is a gender-neutral pet name; appa, which means “dad”; eomma, which means “mom”; jal ja, which means “good night”.

Please keep in mind that English is not my first language, therefore feel free to correct me if you spot any mistakes or typos!

☔︎

“He’s so pretty…”, you murmur, holding little Jisung, Taehyung’s son, in your arms, gently rocking him, watching as his little eyes peacefully close as he falls asleep. “I want one…”, you whisper, gently caressing the baby’s soft hair. 

“I know you do, jagiya.”, Yoongi wraps his arm around your shoulder, gently pulling you close, careful not to wake the baby up. He places a soft kiss on your temple, as his hand caresses the skin of your bare shoulder. “I want one, too.”

You and Yoongi’ve been trying to get pregnant for years now. You’d started trying before he even proposed to you, and now you’ve been married for over two years and still nothing. It crushes Yoongi’s heart knowing that he still hasn’t been able to give you the thing you want the most: a family.  

“I think I’d be a great mom.”, he hears you sniffle, but you’re not looking at him. Instead, you’re looking at the baby in your arms, carefully wrapped in a sage green blanket, with a little pacifier with a bunny on it in his little mouth. 

“You will be the best mom in the world, jagiya.”, he places another kiss on your head, and he lingers a bit. “We just have to wait a little longer.”, he wants to reassure you that everything’s gonna be okay, that you’ll have the family you dream of, that you’ll finally welcome a child to the world, but he can’t. He can’t make a promise he’s not sure he can keep. 

“I love you so much, Yoongi.”, you whisper, leaning in to kiss him on the lips, but you’re interrupted by Jisung’s stirring, right before he bursts into a loud cry, and Taehyung immediately rushes towards to you, ready to pick his baby up and soothe him. 

☔︎

The sensation of Yoongi’s delicate, long fingers brushing against your soft skin is familiar to you, but it makes you shiver nonetheless. He caresses your breasts as he places a series of wet, sloppy kisses all over your neck and collar bone, squeezing one of your nipples between his index and thumb, earning a muffled moan from you in response. 

His hand sluggishly moves all over your waist and pelvis, until you feel him place his thumb on your clit, as he keeps thrusting in and out of you at an excruciatingly slow pace, repeatedly brushing over your g-spot with the tip of his dick. He starts moving it in a circular motion, and you let out a timid moan, which only encourages him to repeat the action again and again, until you’re a whimpering mess under him. 

“‘m about to cum, jagi…”, he groans in your ear.

“Me too…”, you pant, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with Yoongi kissing your neck and working your clit at the same time. “Please don’t stop.”, you whimper, encouraging him to go faster. 

“I love you so much, jagi…”, he lets out a groan as soon as he feels you  clench around him, and he finally cums inside you, before collapsing on your naked body, sweaty and exhausted. You run your hand though his soft, black hair, then place a tender kiss on his head resting on your bare chest. “I love you too, so much. So, so much, Yoongi…”

He notices that something’s off, by the way you shift uncomfortably under him and by the way your hand, the one that was caressing his hair, stops moving. He doesn’t ask you what’s wrong, though, and simply lifts up and retrieves his body from between your thighs, before heading to the bathroom to grab you a towel to clean yourself from his cum, that’s slowly dripping out of you. 

Once he lays down next to you, in the darkness of your bedroom, and hugs your body close to his from behind, you can’t help but let a few tears slip from your eyes. You hope he doesn’t hear your muffled sniffles, but he does. He does, and tears well up in his eyes too, because he knows the exact reason why you’re crying and it kills him that he can’t take your pain away. 

He places soft, delicate kisses on your bare shoulder, but suddenly stops when you call his name. “Yoongi…”, your voice trembles as you fight back the tears. “Why don’t we just…”, you take a deep breath, not sure you even want to say it out loud. “Why don’t we just stop trying?”

Yoongi feels as if his heart just stopped beating once he hears those words come out of your mouth. What is he supposed to say? He knows he can’t make the situation any better, but it hurts him too, he just wishes you knew that. It hurts his heart the way he sees you crying on the bathroom floor with a pregnancy test in your hands, negative every damn time; he was heartbroken too when Taehyung’d given him and his friends the news that he was soon going to become a father. 

“Jagi…”, he intertwines his fingers with yours, his voice trembles as his lower lip quivers, signaling he’s about to cry, too. “Are you sure? Do you… do you want to give up?”

You bite your lower lip so hard you can almost taste blood in your mouth. The thought of giving up on having a family with the love of your life makes you feel weak, but at the same time, it’s just too much for you to handle right now. You and Yoongi have been together for many years, you’d started dating when you were in high school, and the moment you met him, you instantly knew he was the one. 

You’ve always wanted to become a mother someday. As for Yoongi, he never knew how much he wanted to become a husband and a father until the day he met you. You were both really, really young to even think about having kids or getting married, but it was nice to know that you were on the same page, at least. 

When you decided to finally start trying for a baby, you were twenty-three and he was twenty-four. Luckily, both you and Yoongi had already graduated and had stable and well payed jobs, plus you were already living together, so a baby would fit just perfect. 

But now, after nearly three years of trying… you’ve almost lost hope.

“I just don’t want to go through all this anymore… the hope I feel every time my period’s late and how it gets crushed the moment I take a pregnancy test and only one damn line shows up…”, you sigh, swallowing the lump in your throat, as you feel Yoongi’s body stiffen behind yours. “I don’t want to feel that kind of pain anymore, Yoongi, it breaks my heart.”

You feel something wet on your shoulder, and that’s how you realize that Yoongi’s crying as well. “Jagi…”, he murmurs, holding you even tighter than he already was. “I’m so sorry, jagiya, so, so sorry…”, he manages to say between sobs, “I want to give you the family we’ve been dreaming of, I want to give you the world…”

You try to turn your body so that you’re now facing him, but struggle a bit, since Yoongi’s holding you a bit too tight, but you somehow manage to do so. When you meet his eyes, you notice his cheeks are flooded with tears, his nose is a bit runny. You cup his face in your hands, brushing away a couple of dark locks from his eyes, then you place a soft, chaste kiss on his plump lips. 

“I love you so much, Yoongi…”, you kiss him again, wiping away some tears from his face. “You make me the happiest, it’s just… it gets too much sometimes, I feel like maybe we should take a break from trying, maybe we’re just stressing too much about it.”

He just nods with his head, and this time it’s him who kisses you softly. “Anything for you, jagiya.”

☔︎

Yoongi feels his legs shake and his head starts to spin as soon as he processes his friend’s words. “What?”, he blinks a few times, speechless, secretly hoping that maybe, just maybe, he misheard what Taehyung had said. 

“Yup, Jihyeon’s pregnant. A couple of months already.”, his friends repeats himself, with a big smile on his face. “Jisung’s gonna be a big brother.”

Again?, Yoongi thinks, immediately feeling bad afterwards, but he really can’t help it. Little Jisung’s only, like, nine months old and Taehyung’s girlfriend’s already pregnant again? 

He gulps hard, as he feels his palms become sweaty, and his thoughts go immediately to you. Yoongi knows that, if Taehyung’d decided to tell him and the boys the happy news, then his girlfriend Jihyeon probably told you and the other girlfriends already. Shit, he thinks, you’re probably going to be devastated. 

You’d decided to take a break from trying, yes, but Yoongi knows you like the back of his hands by now, and he knows that you’re probably breaking down inside. He wonders whether he should text you just to check up on you and see how you were doing, but he then decides not to, just in case Jihyeon didn’t tell you anything about the pregnancy. 

But she did. She announced her second pregnancy with the brightest smile you’d ever seen on her face, practically shoving her ultrasounds to you and the other girls’ faces.  The other girlfriends are all happily cheering and smiling and laughing and you can’t take it anymore. You feel like you’re the worst friend ever, but you really have to force yourself to smile, because it’s just too underwhelming. 

“I didn’t know you and Taehyung were trying again.”, Chaerin, Namjoon’s girlfriend, says to Jihyeon, wiggling her eyebrows and playfully elbowing her on the arm. 

“We weren’t.”, Jihyeon confesses, blushing a little, and your stomach drops, as your legs begin to shake. “We hadn’t been exactly… careful, so when my period was late we knew there might be a chance, you know?”

You can’t believe it, and you can’t help but feeling a bit angry. You and Yoongi’ve been literally trying for years, and the moment Jihyeon and Taehyung have unprotected sex once she gets pregnant with her second child? This must be one of God’s sick jokes, because seriously, what the fuck? 

When Yoongi comes home later that night, he finds you laying on your bed, still with your clothes on, and he can hear your sobs even from the doorstep, and his heart crashes into a million pieces, because he knows. He knows the reason why you’re so sad, and the worst thing is he can’t do anything to make the situation any better. He can’t take your pain away, as much as he wants to.

“Jagiya…”, he murmurs, sitting on the bed next to you. He places his soft hand on your cheek, caressing it with his long fingers, as he feels your hot tears on his skin. 

“I… Jihyeon’s…”, you can’t even get the words out of your mouth. 

“I know.”, Yoongi interrupts you, and you’re thankful for that, because even saying it out loud makes your heart ache even more. “I know, jagi, I know… I’m so sorry.”, he whispers, placing a warm kiss on your forehead.

“It was unplanned.”, you manage to say, taking a deep breath. “Why us, Yoongi? Why?”, your voice trembles. “We’ve been trying for years after… after…”, you can’t say it out loud, it hurts too much. 

And Yoongi knows, because as you speak those words he gulps and closes his eyes, letting the pain sink in at the thought of your miscarriage. His mind goes back to when the doctor told you that your baby didn’t make it, and it hurts him just like that day. 

You and Yoongi had decided not to tell anyone about your pregnancy. You’d just found out, plus it was too early to be announcing it to all of your friends and family, and you wanted to keep it just for yourselves for a little while. Until that morning, when you woke up to an unusual pain in your lower abdomen and an unexpected red stain on both your pajamas and bedsheets. And you just knew. 

Yoongi didn’t cry then, nor in your gynecologist’s studio when she confirmed your suspicions, because he knew he had to be strong for you, even though it was killing him. He cried in the shower though, when he was alone, where his tears got mixed up with the hot water drops falling on his face, hoping that it’ll somehow erase all the pain he was feeling. It didn’t. He didn’t feel any better, he doesn’t feel any better, he just learned how to live with the weight, instead of being crushed by it.

“I don’t know, jagiya…”, he lets out an hopeless sigh, fighting back his own tears. 

“It’s so unfair.”, you snap, not angry at Yoongi, but at your fate. “I want to be a mom, I want it so bad. And then she mentioned she thought about having an abortion, because the thought of having another kid so soon scared her, and I was dying inside.”, you sit up on the mattress, wiping away the dried tears on your face with the hem of your green sweater.  

“Yeah, Taehyung told me about it.”, he sighs, letting himself fall on the mattress on his bed, covering his tired face with both of his long, tapered hands. “But it’s not their fault. I mean, they don’t know about our… issue. It doesn’t make me feel better, though.”

“Jihyeon probably hates me.”, you mumble, and Yoongi removes his hands from his face to look at you with a confused look on his face. “I didn’t even want to see the ultrasounds. I just sat there, smiling awkwardly.” 

“Taehyung probably hates me, too, then.”, Yoongi comments, as he gets up and starts undressing only to change into his pajamas. “Didn’t wanna see them either. I was the only one.”, he says, unzipping his jeans, as you stare at his half-naked body, because he looks just so gorgeous. “I know it shouldn’t bother me because, as I said before, it’s not their fault, but it’s just so hard to pretend you’re happy when you’re actually not.”, you nod, watching him slip into his pajama pants, the ones you’d bought him last Christmas. “I mean, of course I’m happy for him-“

“I get it.”, you interrupt him. “I feel that way too. I thought that I was just being selfish, though, and I feel so guilty.”, you stand up too, removing your sweater to change into one of Yoongi’s t-shirts, one of your favorite to sleep in. 

You lay next to each other, body entangled in the soft cotton sheets, but with your eyes wide open, staring at the white ceiling. Yoongi’s fingers are intertwined with yours, but neither of you dares too speak, too absorbed in your thoughts. You just lay there, wide awake, in complete silence. 

“Yoongi?”, you break the silence, but you don’t turn to look at him, too scared that the eye-contact might stop you from asking him what’s on your mind. “Would you still love me? If I couldn’t have kids, I mean… Would you still wanna be with me?”, your voice quivers as you speak the last few words. 

“Jagiya.”, Yoongi sounds almost as if he’s scolding you. Little does he know that it’s your worst nightmare. You’re so scared that he’ll leave you if he finds out that you can’t give him the family he wants, that you won’t be carrying his children, that he’ll just leave you for another woman, one who can and will give him what you can’t. “I’ll love you no matter what. Forever. That’s what we promised to each other at the altar, and I do not intend to break that promise.”, his tone is serious, as if he’s almost offended by your question. “You’re the love of my life, jagiya.”

He hears you sniffle, and then he feels your body shift, until you hid your face in the crook of his neck, as he envelopes your body with his muscular arms, caressing your back to soothe you. “What if it’s me?”, he murmurs, his voice is so quiet you almost don’t catch what he says. 

“What if it’s you what?”

He gulps hard, his eyes become watery. “What if I can’t give you kids? What if I am the problem?”, you feel something wet fall on your hair, and that’s how you realize that he’s crying. “What if…”, he chokes, “What if you wake up one day and realize that you’re just wasting your time with me? That you could have everything you ever wanted with another man?”

You lift your body to meet Yoongi’s eyes, before placing your cold hand on his cheek, making him shiver at the sudden feeling. “Yoongi…”, you brush the tip of your nose against his, “You’re all I ever wanted.”

☔︎

“Oh my God, we’re… the worst babysitters ever.”, you say between moans, as you sink down on Yoongi’s lap once more, allowing him to go even deeper. 

You don’t know exactly how you and Yoongi ended up having sex in the backseats of his car, parked right in the path that runs along Taehyung and Jihyeon’s backyard. Thankfully, it’s dark outside and there’s no one around, otherwise you’d be screwed. Taehyung and Jihyeon had asked you and Yoongi to babysit little Jisung for the night so that they could enjoy some time for themselves. 

You were right about to open the car door and ring the bell, when Yoongi pulled you in for what was, in the beginning, a peck on the lips. It then turned into a heavy make out session, and now you’re on his lap, legs spread wide, his veiny hands squeezing your thighs in such an erotic way it makes you shiver. 

“Relax, jagi, we still got time. About ten minutes.”, he pants, eyes closed, as he bites his lower lip, focusing on how wet and soft you feel around him. “But I don’t know if I can last that long.”, he chuckles.

You let out a high pitched moan when he moves one of his hands from your thighs and places it on your exposed breasts, cupping one of your boobs, slightly pinching your nipple with his thumb and index, and you see him playfully smirk at you. “You’re so hot like this, jagiya.”, he grunts, snapping his hips up so that the tip of his dick roughly brushes against your g-spot, making you yelp once again. “I almost forgot how you feel around me.” he moans as he watches you bounce on top of him. 

You and Yoongi didn’t have sex at all the past month and a half. Sure, you did other things, such as foreplay or occasional dry humping, but ever since you’d suggested a break from… trying, you haven’t gone all the way until tonight, when you both gave in to lust like a couple of horny teenagers. 

“I’m gonna cum, jagi, are you close?”, Yoongi pants, his black hair is stuck on his sweaty face and it’s the hottest sight you’ve ever witnessed. 

You nod, “Yes, so close.” Yoongi moves his other hand so that his thumb would brush against your clit, but you stop him before he can touch your sensitive spot. “No, I-“, you gasp for air, “I think I can cum just like this.” 

Yoongi growls at the sound of your words, as he grips your hips, squeezing the flesh tight. “Fuck, you’re so hot. I’ve missed this so much, jagi, please cum on my dick, I’m so close.” As soon as he feels you clench and tighten around him, he squeezes his eyes shut, cussing under his breath. “Fuck, jagi, I’m close.”, he pants, “Lift yourself up, I’m about to cum.”, he bites his lip, gesturing for you to lift your body from his lap in case you didn’t want him to finish inside you. Instead, you pushed your body down, sinking onto him even more, so that his length fills you up completely. “Fuck, I’m-“, he’s cut off mid sentence by his breathtaking orgasm. 

You stay there, in the backseats, you on top of Yoongi, both of you desperately trying to catch your breaths. Your arms are around his body, and you rest your head on his chest, as he runs a hand though your long hair. You feel his cum slowly drip out of you as he softens inside you, good thing you always carry wet wipes in your bag wherever you go, otherwise you’d be screwed. 

“Get up, jagiya, we have to go now.”, Yoongi whispers in your ear. You hum in protest, but get up anyway, because you have a baby to babysit, otherwise you’d stay here with him, cuddled up to his chest, as he holds you tight. 

“I’m sorry…”, he mumbles, as he zips his jeans and fixes his hair, and you look at him confused. “Because I…, you know, came inside.”, he gestures, visibly embarrassed, his cheeks blushing a little. He’s so cute. 

“Why are you sorry?”

“Well, since you said you wanted to take a break from trying…”, he trails, but you get the point. “I wasn’t expecting… that,” he goes on “otherwise I’d have brought condoms or just, you know, finished somewhere else.”, he sounds guilty, and you hate that. 

“Yoongi, love, it’s okay. I wanted it, I liked it.”, you reassure him “The whole taking-a-break thing was just because it was just too much to handle back then. I just needed some time. It’s okay, I promise.”, you kiss him on the lips, hoping that it’ll wash away all the guilt he’s feeling, and somehow it does. 

“I love you.”, he places a soft peck on your lips. 

“I love you too.”, you giggle, brushing your nose against his, “Now let’s go, Min Yoongi, we got a baby to babysit.”

Kim Jisung is an utterly adorable baby. He’s got the prettiest little eyes, and the softest gummy cheeks you ever squished, plus he’s always super calm and quiet, you barely heard him cry since he was born, except for when he was hungry. Taehyung’s always manifested his love for kids, and it really was no surprise to you all when he and his girlfriend announced the pregnancy after just a couple of years of dating, since he always rambled on and on and on about wanting to be a father while he was still in his twenties -technically, he wasn’t even twenty-five when his girlfriend gave birth to Jisung, but whatever. 

Jisung sleeps quietly, as you and Yoongi watch him squeeze his favorite plushie in his tiny, adorable hands, and you can’t help but let out a sigh, that has Yoongi to quickly pull you into a hug from behind. “He’s just too cute.”, you smile at the precious baby boy, and you hear Yoongi hum in agreement. “He grew up so fast, though. It feels like yesterday when Taehyung called us, saying that Jihyeon was in labor.”

“Babies do grow up fast.”, he agrees with you. It’s kinda sad, though, isn’t it?”, Yoongi squeezes you tighter, eyes locked on sleeping Jisung. “They’re so cute, wish they could stay like this forever.”, he speaks as if he’s daydreaming -and he is.

“Bet you won’t be saying that when you’ll have to change, like, a million diapers per day.”, you and Yoongi jump at the sound of Taehyung’s voice. You’ve been too caught up in the moment to notice the rattling of the keys and the door opening. “But he is cute, I’ll give you that.”, he chuckles, placing the keys on the table, before helping Jihyeon, his fiancée, take off her coat. Her baby bump is showing already, and you wince at the sight, biting you cheek. 

Taehyung immediately goes to the crib where his baby is peacefully asleep, and caresses Jisung’s puffy cheeks with his fingers. Little Jisung stirs at the feeling of his father. “Hi buddy, I’m back.”, he whispers to his son, completely and utterly in love. 

“Tae, don’t wake him up.”, Jihyeon scolds him, getting closer to the crib as well, but watching her son from afar, not wanting to disturb his sleep any more. 

“But I missed him.”, Taehyung pouts, unable to keep his hands off his son. “It’s so hard to stay away from him.”

“Did Jisung give you a hard time?”, Jihyeon smiles at you and Yoongi as she sits on the couch, caressing her belly.

You and Yoongi both shake your heads no. “No, he’s an angel. He’s so cute.”, your heart aches a bit at the thought of having to leave him soon. 

“I wonder if baby number two is going to be so calm and peaceful, too.”, Jihyeon giggles, her hand still on her baby bump.  

You wonder how it feels, to have a life growing inside of you. You haven’t got to experience that yet, and when your miscarriage happened you were only four weeks pregnant, and there had been no significant changes in your body. 

“Sorry if we ruined your plans for the evening by asking you to babysit Jisung.”, Taehyung says, picking up his sleeping baby from the crib, before holding him closer to his body as little Jisung nuzzles into his chest, still not letting go of his plushie. “We didn’t know who else to ask.”, he kisses his son on the head. “Seokjin and Namjoon are out of town celebrating their hundredth anniversary or whatever, and Jungkook… well, I don’t trust him with my baby yet. He’s still a baby, for God’s sake.”, Taehyung jokes, making both you and Yoongi laugh.

“It was our pleasure.”, you reassure him. “We love Jisung, we had so much fun.”, there’s sadness in both your voice and your smile, Yoongi can feel it. 

“Are you sure? Thought you might wanted to be alone.”, Jihyeon insists, but you shake your head once more. 

“It’s fine, really. We really do enjoy spending time around Jisung. Plus Yoongi and I are alone 99% of the time anyway…”

Jihyeon and Taehyung quickly look at each other before looking away. Jihyeon clears her throat, “We just thought you were uncomfortable around babies?”, her voice comes out more like a question. 

You and Yoongi both gulp hard, visibly taken aback. You are definitely not ready for this conversation. You and Jihyeon are close, yes, but you have always been the type of person to keep her personal stuff… well, private. You don’t like to share too much about your life, especially when it’s about sensitive topics like this. 

Literally no one knows that you and Yoongi’ve been trying to have a baby. He’s close to Taehyung, he’s one of his best friends, but it’s not like they talk about these kind of things. 

“We’re not.”, Yoongi simply says, hoping that it’d change the topic. His words are followed by and awkward, unbearable silence, until he clears his throat before he speaks again, “It’s getting pretty late, we’ve got plans for lunch so we have to be up early, we better get off.”

☔︎

You feel like you could faint right there on the spot when Jungkook’s new girlfriend, who just turned nineteen, confesses to you that she’s late. Late late. Like, her period’s late. A couple of weeks, actually. She stares at you with her big, doe eyes, and she looks like she’s about to burst into tears. Thankfully, Jungkook’s in the other room with Yoongi and the rest of your friends, and you and her, Nara, are completely alone. 

“Have you…”, you clear your throat, clearly uncomfortable in this situation. Why did she decide to come to you? Sure, you and her are pretty close, and you almost look after as if you’re her big sister, but damn, that was quite straightforward. “Have you and Jungkook had unprotected sex?”, you ask, but deep down you already know the answer, otherwise she wouldn’t be in panic. 

She bites her lower lip, guilty, as she nods. “Yeah, but only a couple of times. We didn’t have any condoms and were too caught up in the moment to think straight. He didn’t finish inside, though.”, she tries to find a silver lining, but you know that it could’ve been enough. She could be pregnant. 

“You have to take a test.”, you tell her. “It could mean nothing though, my period’s late all the time, I should have had it three weeks ago” you shrug “But, you could also be pregnant. You have to take a test.”, you repeat. 

The thought of Nara being pregnant too makes you feel sick. It’s as if everybody else is living your dream and you are just… watching. 

“But please,” you sigh “don’t have unprotected sex again if you’re not ready for the consequences.” She nods in silence, knowing that you are right. You’re not really scolding her, you’re just looking out for her. Nara is young, too young to understand all the challenges that a teen pregnancy brings, and you wouldn’t want that for her. Especially because Jungkook and her’ve just started dating. 

“Unnie?”, she asks after a couple of minutes of complete silence. “You said your period is late, too.”, she starts explaining herself. “I actually bought two pregnancy test, just in case. Why don’t we take them together? You said you’re late, too. It’d help me release some tension.”, she pulls out two pregnancy tests from her bag.

☔︎

You can’t believe you’re actually peeing on a stick right now. You don’t even remember the last time you took a test, and surely you weren’t expecting to take one now, on a random Saturday night, while your boyfriend was just downstairs, laughing and drinking with his friends. 

Nara’s already taken her test, and placed it inside the box without looking at it -which is, in fact, the whole point of a pregnancy roulette-, so you do the exact same. You open the bathroom door to get Nara in, before closing and locking it to make sure no one disturbs you. 

“Should we take a look?”, she asks, panic in her voice. 

You nod, before taking both boxes in your hands, ready to pull out the tests and see the results. You just know you’re not pregnant, that’s why you’re not anxious or anything. Your period is always late, and this time it’s no exception. 

“I’m scared.” Nara’s voice trembles, and she sounds like she’s about to cry. 

You instantly pull her into a hug, and she finally lets a couple tears slip from her hazel eyes. “It’s okay, Nara.”, you pat her back. “It’s okay to be scared. I’m here. Breathe in, then breathe out”, you instruct her, hoping it’ll help her calm down a bit. “Whatever the tests shows, you’re not alone.”

She lets out a desperate whine. “What if I’m pregnant, though? My parents don’t even know I’m dating Jungkook, how am I going to explain a baby to them? What do I tell them?” 

“Nara, calm down. You don’t even know if you are pregnant. And if you are, then I’m sure you and Jungkook’ll figure it out together.”, you pull away to wipe away some tears from her face. “He likes you very much. He’s not a dick, I know he wouldn’t leave you alone if you were pregnant with his child.”

She nods, convinced by your words. “Okay.”, she swallows her own saliva. “You’re right, unnie, thank you.”

“Ready to look?”, you ask. 

She nods, before taking a deep breath. And you do too, even though you know you’re not pregnant. You can’t be. “Yeah, unnie. Let’s get this over with.”

You pull out the test from the box in one swift motion, before placing them on the sink, but they somehow slip and, when you recollect them, there’s absolutely no way you can tell which one’s yours. That’s when you accidentally look at the results.

Negative. 

You take a look at the other test. 

It’s positive. 

Fuck.

☔︎

Yoongi literally throws himself on the bed, and you glare at him because you just hate it when he sits on the bed without changing his clothes first, especially since you changed the sheets this morning. He decides to ignore the look you’re giving him, playfully pushing you, making you fall back on the mattress. “Don’t give me that look, jagiya, I had the shittiest day today, I deserve a good sleep.”, he smirks, but you frown. 

“What happened?”, you get closer to his warm body, nuzzling your face into his collarbone. 

“I don’t know,” he sighs “my boss stressed me a bit too much, I guess.”, he places a kiss on top of your head. But you know Yoongi like the back of your hands, and you know that something else is definitely bothering him, he’s just not the type to stress too much about work. You lift your head to look at him. “What?”, he asks, not looking into your eyes, which is something he always does when he’s trying to hide something from you. 

“Tell me what you are really upset about.”, you insist. 

“I already told you.”, he frowns. 

“Yoongi, sometimes you seem to forget we’ve been together for almost eight years. I know you.”, you tease him by playfully tickling his side, and he squirms under your touch. 

“It’s fine, jagi, it’s nothing.”

“Tell me.”

He takes a deep breath. “It’s just that Jungkook told me something, and I just can’t seem to get it out of my head.” You gulp hard at the sound of his words. You know what he’s talking about, but Yoongi doesn’t know that you know. 

“What is it?”, you hope he doesn’t sense the quiver in your voice, and he doesn’t. He’s too much inside his own head at the moment. 

“I don’t want to talk about it, it’s stupid.”, he mumbles under his breath. 

You sigh heavily. “Stop being so grumpy,” you playfully flick his head “tell me.”

“Fine.”, he gives up. He runs his hand through his hair, unsure whether he should even be telling you that. He doesn’t want to bring up the sensitive topic of pregnancy once again, but you’d find out soon anyways. “Jungkook told me Nara’s period is late.”, he blurts out, unable to look at you. “She hasn’t gone to the doctor yet, but Jungkook’s pretty positive she’s pregnant since they had unprotected sex this month.” 

“Oh.”

“I didn’t want to tell you, jagi, but I figured that she’s going to tell the girls and you’d find out anyways.”, he sounds guilty, and he immediately wraps his strong arms around you to comfort you. 

“Why are you upset, then?”, you ask, your voice is muffled by your face being pressed against his sweater. 

He lets out a long, heavy sigh, as he lets go of your body. “I don’t know, it’s just…”, his head falls back on the soft pillow under his head “The thought of Jungkook becoming a father��� I don’t know, it makes me wish I was in his place.”

“You wish you’d gotten Nara pregnant?”, you joke, and he chuckles. 

“You know what I meant.”, he sighs. “I really can’t believe Jungkook’s going to be a father…”, he trails, covering his face with both of his hands out of frustration. 

You stay quiet for a couple of minutes, in complete silence, before you speak. “Jungkook’s not going to be a father, Yoongi.”, you take a deep breath, “You are.” 

Yoongi doesn’t say a thing. In fact, he doesn’t even move, he even stops breathing for a solid five seconds, before he sits up on the mattress and whispers an almost inaudible “What?”, and you already feel the tears starting to well up in your eyes as you get up from your shared king size bed and hurry to grab your purse. You then proceed to pull out a couple of pregnancy tests and a piece of paper Yoongi’s never seen before. 

“I took one of these the other night.”, you start, showing him the positive pregnancy sticks, placing them on top of the duvet cover, “It started as a joke, I really didn’t think I could actually be pregnant.” 

You tell him how Nara’d talked you into taking the test, and how only one of them showed two lines. You also tell him that, the next day, you’d bought two more pregnancy tests and took them first thing in the morning just to make sure, because you never know. You weren’t really expecting two pink lines to show up, and you tell him how you almost fainted right there on the spot. You also tell him that the next day, still shook, you went to the hospital to run some beta blood tests, that confirmed what the sticks’d been telling you all along. 

You are pregnant. And what shook you even more was finding out that you are eleven weeks pregnant. You had never missed your period during the past months, however you had to admit it wasn’t like the other times. There was much less blood, and it only lasted a couple of days. You didn’t think that it’d be spotting from implantation. 

“I didn’t go to the gynecologist, I wanted to tell you first. I want you there with me.” You don’t even realize you’ve been crying the whole time as you were telling Yoongi the whole story of how you found out you are soon going to welcome your baby to the world. 

Yoongi’s crying too. His beautiful, pale skin is soaked in tears as he sniffles and clears his runny nose with the hem of his sweater. “Jagi…”, he sobs, pulling you close for a hug. “Are you serious? Is this real? You’re not joking, are you? Please, please tell me you’re not joking.”, he chokes. He’s so scared you’ll tell him that it’s some kind of sick prank, but it is not. 

It’s all true. 

“It is, Yoongi. It’s real. We’re having a baby.”, you sob too, soaking his clothes with the tears that are falling from your eyes, but neither of you care. You’ve been waiting so long for this moment, and you don’t care about a damn sweater getting wet. 

“Lay down, jagiya, I want to hug you and our baby.”, he wipes some more tears from his beautiful, yet teary eyes. 

You nod, laying down, sinking in your soft mattress, and you soon feel Yoongi’s hands pull down your pajama pants just so that he could have better access to your, still pretty imperceptible, baby bump. You muffle your sobs in the sleeve of your sweater as you feel him place a series of light kisses on your belly, before pulling your pants back on, muttering a “That’ll keep you warm” to the baby in your tummy. 

He gets up only to change into some comfortable sweats and an oversized t-shirt, before returning to bed to lay next to you under the soft, vanilla scented sheets. He hugs you from behind, his warm hand drawing imaginary shapes on your belly. “I still can’t believe it, jagi, I’m so happy…”, he whispers, placing a kiss on your hair, “I’m going to be a dad.”, you can’t see him, but you know he’s probably smiling from ear to ear. 

“Yeah, you are.”, you turn your head to kiss him on the lips. “And you’ll be the best appa, Yoongi.” 

He stays quiet for a while, and you think that maybe he fell asleep, when he suddenly speaks again. “Wait, you said eleven weeks?”, he sounds like he’s thinking of something. You nod. “Jagiya… isn’t that when we… you know, in the car, before Taehyung’s house?”

Your eyes widen as you remember that night. Oops. Yup, that must definitely be the night you got pregnant, since you hadn’t had sex in the previous month. Even after that one time in your car, whenever you and Yoongi had sex he’d pull out last minute until you managed to convince him that you seriously were fine with him finishing inside -which took a while, surprisingly. So yeah, that night in the car has to be the night. 

“Oh my God, jagiya, I can’t believe we made our baby in the backseats of our car.”, Yoongi chuckles, and you laugh too because really, what are the odds? You’ve had unprotected sex for the last years and you get pregnant the one time you do it in your car? 

“Goodnight jagiya, sleep tight.”, Yoongi pulls you closer and kisses your cheek. He then slips one hand into your pajama pants to caress your belly. “Goodnight baby, sleep tight, appa loves you so much already.”

☔︎

Yoongi’s been extra affectionate since he found out he’s going to be a dad.

He asks you how you’re feeling at least ten times per hour, and when he’s not physically there with you, he texts you. It’s not only because he’s protective of you and your baby, but also because he wants to be even more involved in your pregnancy than he already is. He wants to know every little thing that’s happening in your life: every mood swings, every craving, every time you’re feeling nauseous, he just wants to know. He needs to know. 

When you went to the gynecologist to make sure you are indeed pregnant, he asked a million questions to your doctor. You believe you won’t ever forget how his eyes were glistening when the obgyn confirmed that your baby is perfectly healthy and your pregnancy’s not at risk. He’s genuinely so happy to finally be able to share all this happiness with you, the love of his life, the mother of his child. 

You both agreed you’d tell the news to your friends once you entered your second trimester, just to make sure everything was fine. The day you told them, they were all so happy and congratulated the both of you. 

Yoongi bursted into tears when the doctor told you you were expecting a girl. He’d been emotional for the whole day and kept his hand on your belly all the time, caressing your bump as he talked to his daughter, telling her how much he loved her already and how he couldn’t wait to meet her. 

“What do you think about Unmyeong?” Yoongi asks all of a sudden. 

You’re in bed, Yoongi’s arm is around you and his hand is on your belly. You’re almost at the end of your third trimester now, and you’ve definitely gotten bigger. Still, you and Yoongi haven’t chosen the perfect name for your baby girl. You both kind of want a unique name for her, a name that represents what you feel for her. 

“What?”, you ask him, confused. 

“Unmyeong.”, he repeats. “For our baby girl. It means destiny.”, he explains. 

You stay quiet for a while. Unmyeong. The more you think about it and repeat the name over and over in your head, the more you like it. Destiny.

“I think we were destined to have her, you know?” Yoongi murmurs, nuzzling against your back. “We went through a lot to have a family. But we’re here now, our baby girl’s due date’s in a couple of weeks, and I can’t help but think it’s the destiny that gifted us with her.”

His words make tears well up in your eyes, and you can’t help but believe he’s right. You were definitely destined to have her. After almost four years of negative pregnancy tests and desperate cries, you finally got what you’ve been praying for for so long. 

You turn your upper body to meet Yoongi’s eyes, and notice they’re glistening as well. “I like it. Unmyeong… I like it.”, you smile at him. 

“You do?” 

You nod, smiling at him. “It’s perfect. The perfect name for our perfect baby girl. Min Unmyeong.”

A couple of tears fall from Yoongi’s eyes when he hears the full name for the first time. It’s real, it’s all real, finally. You feel him move under the sheets until he rests his head on your stomach, careful not to hurt you in any way. 

“Hi Min Unmyeong. This is appa.”, you can’t stop the tears from streaming down your face as well. “I can’t wait to finally meet you, baby girl. I can’t wait for the three of us to be a family. I love you so much, baby girl. Now sleep tight and let your eomma rest well. Jal ja, baby girl.”

[frameacloud]

“ASMR | Meditation To Comfort Dysphoria Surrounding Gender & Species,” a video by Arrowheart ASMR. The video has chapters for viewers who are trans-masculine, trans-feminine, canine, or feline. See the video’s description on YouTube for more information.