Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

32

Trigger warning: child abuse (in the italicized part at the end of the chapter)

Andy, standing on their rock, spun around. Everyone was impressed that he hadn't fallen yet, but what they were more impressed about was the fact that he hadn't told them what was making him jump and spin and smile ear-to-ear; he usually wouldn't shut up, so the fact that he was biting his lip giddily and keeping secrets was surprising.

The other four just watched the little performance, stealing confused, yet amused, glances at each other. When Andy finally looked across at them and sighed, the sun shining through the canopy of trees seemed to cast a spotlight on him.

"What you are all witnessing is gender euphoria in its purest form," Andy finally said, standing on their boulder as though it was a stage.

"That's great, Andy!" Pond said, "But, also, why?" she voiced the question everyone else had, too.

"Because this morning I finally got a referral to a gender specialist, which means I'm finally gonna be able to talk to someone about starting T."

"Oh, fuck yeah!" Finn shouted first, but everyone else soon followed with their congratulations, pulling Andy down from his rock and enveloping them in a group hug. They all tried jumping up and down together, only stopping when every person's toes had been trampled on.

"I'm just so—" Andy started, but cut themself off by burying their elated face in their hands. Harley had never seen them speechless before, and she could guess that no one else had, either. "Ahhh," Andy finished.

As everyone migrated back to their respective rocks, they continued to congratulate Andy as the smile on his face only grew wider. He didn't sit down. He paced around the circle, too much energy coursing through his veins to force himself to stay in one spot for too long.

"You guys go ahead and talk, I'm just gonna think about the moustache I'm gonna grow," Andy said.

Pond lied back, let their head hang off one side of the boulder, their legs dangling from the other. Looking at the world upside down, they said, "Sometimes I think about going on T."

Doesn't everyone? Harley almost said, but bit her lip and busied herself by playing with the cuffs of her hoodie sleeves.

"Yeah? You think you will?" Finn asked.

"I don't think so—I mean, I don't know. I don't have any plans to. I think some of the effects would be nice, like, a deep voice. And I would kill for an adam's apple... then again, I have days where I'm really feeling okay with myself and I start wondering if I'm wrong about being nonbinary in the first place, you know? Like I get some weird form of imposter syndrome. I don't know, it's confusing. Gender is whack."

"Gender is so whack!" Andy agreed, finally finding their voice again. They also seemed to have expensed enough energy to stop their paces and instead lie down on the ground in the middle of the circle and look up at the sky through the cracks in the canopy of tree branches.

"I don't like it," Pond continued, "it's too complicated. That's why I think we should just throw away all gender roles, all expectations, all labels. Let's all just be vaguely human orbs."

"God, to be a vaguely human orb, haunting a forest and terrorizing anyone who dares set foot in my territory. Honestly, that's the dream," Andy said.

"What if I entered your territory?" Finn asked, a hint of suggestiveness in his voice. "Would you terrorize me?"

"I think he already does terrorize you," Harley pointed out.

"Me, terrorize him?" Andy asked, sitting up. He had pine needles stuck to the back of his shirt and caught in his hair, but he didn't seem to notice. "Have you seen how he treats me?"