Hunting Season pt6sub1

Instructions

Ace and Deuce had been together for a few weeks. Deuce was the man, definitely, but Ace did start stepping up every once in a while. The blue-haired boy was proud. Ace was freaking out. He of course didn't show it because he didn't want to worry his boyfriend, but he didn't know how much longer he could suppress it. He didn't know if he was a boy. Dresses and skirts were appealing at times, as were smaller tank tops. Ace felt like he didn't know anything. The labels of "boy" and "girl" had been stupid to him since birth, but that comes with having openly gay relatives (his aunts, his older brother, the list goes on). Ace felt he fit neither category, though. "Okay, so like, you've GOT to have a diagnosis or synopsis of what this is, right, Yuu?" the redhead panicked, pacing back and forth in Ramshackle Dorm's living room. "I actually do," Yuu replied calmly from their formal sitting position on the couch. "It's literally just dysphoria. I don't fit the gender binary either. I'm just fortunate enough to pass as either. People like you who present more masculine, though...it might be a little different to socially come out." "Well yeah, no crap, but still!" Ace protested. "What AM I?" Yuu looked at Ace for a while, deep in thought. "You could be nonbinary, agender, genderfluid, transgender, the list goes on. Or you could just not have a label or pronouns. I knew someone back in my world who did that." Ace stared at them, shocked. He never thought Yuu was dumb or under the average intelligence level, but this was new. Their knowledge was immense and extremely helpful to Ace's gender crisis. "Do you want to try some of my skirts?" Yuu put their hand on Ace's shoulder, sensing his mind taking off. "I bought a couple to help confuse people on my gender." Ace giggled. "Hell, why not?" An hour later, Ace was standing in a red and black plaid pleated skirt that went to just above his knees. It blended in near perfectly with the school uniform, especially the vest and polo shirt everyone was forced to wear underneath. "Wow," Ace breathed as he looked at himself in the mirror. "I'm wearing a skirt and it doesn't feel weird." "Why that one?" Grim groaned from his position on Yuu's head. "There's so many better ones out there, and you chose THAT?" "Hey, I don't wanna hear it from the cat who wears the same tacky bow from the day he was picked up off the porch!" "You got some nerve calling me a cat!" Yuu put a halt to the fight, grabbing Grim's scruff and holding him midair. "Air jail for two minutes," they scolded, then turned to look at Ace. "Ignore him. It looks great. If you DID want to go get more skirts or even a full on dress, I could accompany you? Maybe even Vil-senpai as well?" "Not sure if I want HIM to come along," Ace shuddered, getting war flashbacks from the last time Vil had taken the SDC squad out shopping. He had made everyone, including poor Jamil, try on these frilly, lacy outfits that no one but him and Rook liked. Ace had felt strangely suffocated in the Renaissance outfit Rook had somehow found. "Eh, fair point," Yuu concluded. "So, now that we've deducted you're a-okay with skirts, would be like to address the whole pronoun and name thing now or another day?" "I want to know what I am." Ace stated firmly. "Alright," Yuu smiled warmly. "Let's start with pronouns. We have the default sets, he/him and she/her. Outside the binary is they/them, all, he/they, she/they, or none. There's also neopronouns, but you can figure that out on your own." "So, how do I figure out what works for me?" "I'll start with simple sentences that talk about you, but I'll swap out the pronouns each time. It won't be predictable. Just let me know whatever feels most comfortable to you." The structure was "Ace is an interesting person. [pronoun] is a bit of a problem child but a great friend." "Dammit!" Ace laid facedown on the floor. "I can't pick just one!" "Y'know," Grim piped up again, snacking on a fruit he had found behind the fridge. "Yuu did say that there were, like, combinations. But hurry up. Yuu said they'd tell me a story tonight. Or Mickey would." Okay. Ace could do this. He might lay awake tonight thinking about it, but he could do this. Bleh. "He." How had Ace put up with it for so long? "They", on the other hand. That was right. Yeah. ~~ A couple hours later... ~~ Ace snuck back into Heartslabyul, their skirt cradled to their chest protectively. They wanted others to know, but not right away. This needed time. "Ace!" came the familiar voice of Deuce followed by the "extremely graceful" thudding of his feet against tile. He barreled into Ace, hugging them tight. Ace was going to have to come out soon. The thought pressed into Ace harder than one of Deuce's cauldrons concussing them. "Where've you been, love?" Deuce's affectionate nickname for his dear Ace. They found themself rather fond of it, to be honest. (+)