30 Day BSD Pride writing challenge!

chapter 15

Day 15: Neo-pronouns (ChuuAku)

(Am I projecting my Neo-pronouns onto Akutagawa? Yes. Yes I am 😌)

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"Hey Chuuya? Can you.. Help me..?" Akutagawa's nerves were made obvious by zeir voice, slightly worrying the ginger man.

"Sure, let's sit down." The pair sat down on their couch. "Now, what's the problem? Anyone I need to kill?"

Akutagawa was quick to dismiss that comment. "No, no. It's nothing like that. It's more like.. I'm going through a sort of.. Identity crisis?" Zey questioned zemself, doubting zeir own words despite being sure of what zey were thinking.

Chuuya nodded, taking a quick swig of his wine. "So, an identity crisis, eh? What's going on?"

"Well.. It's kind of stupid.. I don't know how to say this.." Akutagawa hung zeir head down. "I apologize if I am wasting your time."

Chuuya shook his head, putting down his wine. "No no, it's fine. Please, go on."

Akutagawa took a deep breath before starting to explain zeir predicament. "Well.. I'm confused.. Because I don't like when people use masculine pronouns for me, but also feminine ones. I hate both of them. But I don't know what I would use instead." Zey mentally cursed himself. "This is stupid, I'm sorry.."

"It's not stupid, Ryuunosuke." Chuuya deadpanned. "Now go on, I'm running out of time." He wasn't 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺
running out of time, but he wanted Akutagawa to get this out of zeir system. He knew it was probably something really important, so the sooner it came out, the sooner he would be able to help.

"I'd like to request a pronoun change." Akutagawa suddenly blurted out. Zey were a bit taken aback by zeir own words, but it was too late to take them back. The cat was out of the bag. As a result, zey hung zeir head even lower, a feeling of shame overtaking zem for getting so upset over such a small issue. Was this really even necessary??

"Okay. What're your new pronouns?" Once again, Chuuya's response was blunt and right to the point.

"Wha- I- oh um.." Akutagawa was dumbfounded. Zey didn't expect this kind of reaction, especially from someone as busy as Chuuya. Certainly he had more important things to do?

Chuuya sighed. "I can literally 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 you over-thinking. Ryuunosuke, I am okay with this. Now, new pronouns?"

"S- Sorry.. Um.. They're kind of.. Bizarre. They aren't your usual pronouns.."

"So like Neo-pronouns?"

Akutagawa's eyes widened. "Y- Yeah.. Exactly like that.."

"I've had some experience with them. Back when un-mentionable brunette bitch was working here, he used Neo-pronouns. Not sure if they use them now, but they did back then." Chuuya explained, still looking as calm and nonchalant as ever.

"Oh.. Well.. I use Zey and Zem pronouns. Like they them but with a Z." Akutagawa explained.

"Okay, that's easy enough to understand. Thank you for telling me. I'll make sure to inform the boss." As Chuuya stood up to go about his day again, Akutagawa stopped him. Turning around; "what now?"

"What if the boss doesn't understand?" Akutagawa asked nervously.

Chuuya's eyes softened. "He will, don't worry." Then they darkened. "And if he doesn't, I'll 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮." He smiled sadistically, before returning to normal and walking off.

Akutagawa was left standing there, hoping and praying that the boss was understanding. Leaving that to Chuuya, zey went to go inform zeir other colleagues.

In the end, Mori understood, changing Akutagawa's files to use use zeir proper pronouns, and zeir other colleagues were very understanding. Akutagawa was very happy, for once, which everyone pointed out but he didn't mind. He wanted to be happy, because now he had a reason to be. And Chuuya was that reason, for many reasons.

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Thank you for reading!

To all my fellow Neo-pronoun users, y'all chill😎 I love y'all 🥺✊

Happy pride!

- Julian🏳‍🌈

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