From @jegulus-microfic prompt "skirt" | 600 words
Part 1 of Let them be (can be read as a standalone)
Part 2 >
Let boys wear trousers
Regulus Black hated the Hogwarts uniform. Absolute despised it. He could hide his chest with spells or tight bras or bigger clothes - thankfully he had small breasts already. But he couldn't do anything about the bottom part. He had asked Dumbledore himself to wear trousers instead but he was denied, as it was "tradition" and "the school rules" and Ms. Black was probably "confused" - fucking prick.
He wasn't fully out. His friends knew and called him by the name he chose. So did Sirius and his mates. At first people slipped, calling him by his deadname and used she/her pronouns. It didn't last long, though. And thankfully it barely happened at all with his brother. None of their friends had a problem with it, thankfully. But it was still hard to connect to people. Fully connect.
Tears of frustration were running down his cheeks after he left the Headmaster's office.
"Black?" He looked to his left and faced a tanned Gryffindor with round glasses. Potter was Sirius's best friend. "Black, are you okay?" James got closer to the boy, his voice sweet and comforting, dark eyebrows furrowed with worry.
"Dumbledore is a bloody fucking prick!"
"Regulus, what happened?" The people he was out to called him by his last name when in public, but they were close enough that others wouldn't hear.
"He won't let me wear trousers. Transphobe. It doesn't even make sense! Some girls don't like skirts! It's such a fucking stupid rule!"
"Hey…" two big hands rested on his shoulders and he looked up for the first time. "It's okay, we'll fix this somehow. I'll talk to Mcgonagall, she can convince that old man sometimes."
"You can try but it probably won't work…" Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Black pulled himself together. Like he was taught. "It doesn't matter. I'll be fine." That was a lie and they both knew it. Still no one said anything as he walked away.
Pandora was lovely. She did her best to cheer him up in the dorm but the fact that he was sharing with a girl brought him dysphoria. Regulus didn't belong there.
It's an understatement saying that he was shocked when he saw James Potter strutting confidently into the Great Hall for breakfast wearing a skirt. What the fuck was he doing?!
"Potter. Why in the name of Merlin are you wearing a skirt?! You're going to get detention!"
"See, Black, I am protesting. Until girls are allowed to wear trousers, I will be breaking the dress code." He blinked. Regulus blinked twice. His heart stopped and the way he saw his brother's best friend suddenly shifted. He was protesting for Regulus. Getting in detention for Regulus. Most likely would face hate, all for Regulus. Yet he was completely unfazed. Potter wasn't stupid. He knew what he got himself into. But still, he did it anyway?
"But… Why? I mean- where did you even get the skirt??"
"It's Mary's. And I felt like it. Occurred to me randomly. Was bored so I thought 'why not start a protest?', you know?" That was a big fat lie and the Gryffindor wasn't even trying to hide it. He wore a wide smirk on his face. Gosh, how Regulus wanted to kiss those lips. Instead he just smiled. His genuine curved down smile, a rarity.
"You're gonna get in trouble, you know that right?"
"Since when do I, James Potter, the king of mischief, care about that?" That grin again. Black could stare for hours, take in every detail of the handsome Gryffindor's face.
"You're an idiot."
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fellas is it gay to give this boy you basically rescued your own birthname, that you had to abandon when you became a spy?
fellas is it gay to then take his original name as your new name in exchange?
fellas is it gay to wish him a happy birthday omfg just had a realization and give him a hat (with fucking rainbow metal lining i might add) just so he is one step closer to becoming a human with free will?
fellas is it gay to wait a whole year, not even sure he would actually show up, just to use your ability (that can only be used once in a lifetime) to save his life even after he literally shot you in the back and did monstrous things?
fellas is it gay to hate all humans except for that one person that changed your mind? and stop the destruction of at least yokohama for him? even tho he's been dead for a year?
fellas is it gay to, when he didn't really like the hat you give him as a birthday present, instead give him his life back?
fellas is it gay to spend the rest of your life underground, because the outside world doesn't interest you anymore because your one friend is dead so now you just train others like he used to do?
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Thinking tonight about Caelus, and the nature of his loss and his grief after the Everything that went down in Penacony during 2.0.
Because Acheron, Black Swan, and Misha kind of knew of Firefly, they at least met her, but they didn't like really know her, and Caelus never even got the chance to introduce her to the rest of the Astral Express Crew. The only person who would have talked to her much was Sparkle, who is. Probably not really someone Caelus is interested in grieving with skznmsks
Anyway, all this to say, I like thinking about how alone poor Caelus is in his grief, because he was the only one who knew Firefly. He's the only one really mourning her. There's no one to talk about her with. There's no stories to trade or memories to reminisce with anyone over. It's not as though he knew her for long, but still. No one else knew her at all.
And I love the thought of all of this coming bubbling up, hot and acidic and bitter, during a conversation with Sampo, who Caelus just so happens to run into in the Golden Hour. Poor Sampo is kinda blindsided, he knew shit was going down in Penacony, but yeesh. And he just. Isn't quite sure what to say about it all, because he's never really encountered this before. His feelings about the Masked Fools are...a mixed bag, but he's been a part of them for a very long time, and when you're with a close organization like that, it's hard to feel alone, in grief or otherwise.
So Sampo sits there on their little bench that the two of them have occupied, and he thinks of his old friend April, how she'd died in his arms cackling and spitting her own blood after a heist gone wrong, and how after he'd dragged himself back to the World's End Tavern they'd all held a Fool's Funeral- which is basically just a big party where everyone gets really really drunk and reminisces and toasts the dead and celebrates their life.
He still thinks about her a lot, and he remembers how the time he'd most keenly felt her absence was on Jarilo-VI, the one place where he couldn't talk about her because he couldn't say anything to give himself away as an alien. The Fools still tell stories about her every time he goes back to the Tavern. His first toast of the night is always in her name. Even now, all these years after she'd died, Sampo is still learning new things about her. He's never had to grieve her alone.
Caelus doesn't have any of that.
He might never have that. As they speak, Caelus has no proof that Firefly was even her real name, or if she dreamt with her true appearance. He might not ever find out who she even was.
And just imagining that kind of loneliness hollows out a strange little pit, right behind his sternum, deep between his ribs.
So Sampo claps Caelus' shoulder and offers him a deal. Come find him outside of the dream. He knows a guy who can get them a lot of beer for really cheap-
("Is that guy you and your five finger discounts?" "Whatever do you mean, dear friend, I don't even know the meaning of the phrase, hehee.")
-and they can hole up in a bar or a hotel room or something, and get completely shitcanned. Tell him all about Firefly, tell him everything, and he'll tell Caelus about April and everyone else he's ever lost. Sampo will carry Caelus' memories of Firefly with him, and at least this way, Caelus will be a little less alone in remembering her. And the next time they cross paths, Sampo will be the one to bring her up, and to tell her stories, and Caelus can get to be the one listening. He won't have to be the only person to talk about her anymore.
Caelus rolls his eyes when Sampo avoids another remark about sticky fingers, but...ok, yeah. That sounds good. Nice, even. Thank you. Caelus bumps his shoulder against Sampo's. Sampo bumps back.
(They find each other again the next day, and true to their word, get themselves completely and utterly shitcanned. Caelus talks more than Sampo has ever heard him; every minute detail, every word choice, Firefly's every odd little mannerism and habit. Because Caelus wants to make sure this will outlive him, that even if the Stellaron dwelling within him finally burns him to a crisp and he really does up and kick the bucket, or even, godforbid, if he forgets, he wants to make sure someone remembers her. She deserved that.)
((And it takes quite a while, after that. Caelus doesn't see Sampo again until after everything has settled down. On his last day in Penacony, he finds the guy slinking out of a seedy back alley and all but runs right into him. Sampo happily leads him to some dive bar in an even seedier back alley that Caelus has never even heard of, and Sampo raises his glass. "To Firefly! Who sounds like she probably would have hated me at first, but I would have liked to have met her anyway."
And Caelus stares at him, almost looking startled, long enough that Sampo worries that he's read him wrong and brought this up too soon. He's halfway into planning how to talk himself out of this situation when Caelus finally throws back his head back and laughs, tells him that yeah, Firefly would have politely called him out on every lie he told, and all their conversations would take twice as long with the way Sampo is so full of shit.
And he can see it, the same way he watches and sees through everyone, that Caelus' eyes have a tightness to them, his knuckles are nearly white around the handle of his mug. But he smiles. He hits his glass against Sampo's far too hard and throws it back and gets foam everywhere like he does every time they drink because the guy's about as elegant as a raging bull, but those things don't lessen the genuineness of his smile.
The grief is there, but so is the elation, and those emotions aren't a sliding scale between one or the other. It is all of both and both at once, and that's what contents Sampo enough to throw his own mug back when Caelus makes a toast of his own, "to April!!".))
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