Space Pirate Family | One-Shot Collection |

Doesn't Matter

Synopsis: Marvelous catches Joe staring at himself in a mirror and has some things to say about it

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It had been a long day. Joe let out a sigh as he entered his room. Another rough day out. Things never were easy ever since they had ended up being so interested in Earth.

Joe walked over to the dresser in his room, a mirror attached to the top of it. He took of his shirt and stared at the binder that was underneath. He knew it wasn't very good to be doing all this physical activity in it, but he didn't know what else to do. He didn't want to not wear it out. Didn't want to risk anyone noticing his chest and having things to say about it that he didn't want to hear. He'd been there and done that and hated every minute of it. He was never going back to those days if he could help it.

His chest hurt a lot right now. They had done quite a lot of physical activity today and it was really getting to him now. Didn't help he had been hit there by the enemy a few times. He let out a small sigh and pulled it off. He couldn't stop himself from staring at his chest in the mirror. Wishing what could be.

There was a knock on his door and then it opened without warning. "What's taking ya so long?"

Joe jumped and covered his chest with his arms. He awkwardly turned around to see Marvelous standing by the door. At the sight, Marvelous was at least kind enough to completely enter and shut the door behind him. Joe didn't move his arms away though. Even if this wasn't exactly something Marvelous hadn't seen before, it didn't mean he wasn't embarrassed about it.

"You gonna put on a shirt or just walk around like that?" Marvelous said, a slight teasing tone in his voice.

Joe looked away. "I was... thinking about things..."

"About wishing those things didn't exist?"

"Yeah..."

Joe turned back toward the mirror. He hated having these things attached to his chest. How he wished he could find somewhere that would get rid of them. Unfortunately, this was not the best time for all of this. They might've found some options but with a threat breathing down their throats, he didn't exactly have the luxury to do so and take time to recover.

Marvelous walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "They don't make you any less of a guy."

"I know that... but I still hate having to see them and be reminded of the past."

Marvelous moved over and grabbed Joe's discarded shirt and tossed it over onto him. "Then stop looking at them."

Joe cracked a little smile at the joking attitude and did finally put back on his shirt. It felt uncomfortable still but at least he couldn't see them that well now.

"Do you think... I'll ever get to look how I want?" Joe asked quietly, still staring at his reflection.

"One day. Maybe once all this madness is over." Marvelous replied. "You've changed a lot since we first met already."

"Yeah... why didn't you even bat an eye at any of this?"

The two had first met back when Joe hasn't exactly figured out his gender identity. He had looked like and acted like a girl. It was probably only a month or so after joining Marvelous that he finally realized what his discontent was and started changing how he looked. Marvelous had just shrugged and adapted to the change. It had barely taken any time for him to change the name and pronouns he referred to Joe with. He had even been the one to first give him a haircut. It had been horrible, but hey, he had short hair now.

And he never mentioned the past to anyone, even the others when they all joined. No one but the two of them knew of this stuff. Until Joe wanted them to know, they weren't going to. Marvelous had never even asked if he wanted to tell them except once. He had simply dropped it after that.

"Why would I police how you define yourself? If this makes you happy, I don't care. We're pirates, for fuck's sake. You think I'd care about some arbitrary rules idiots try to put in place?" Marvelous replied, inviting himself to sit on Joe's bed.

"I... guess that's true." Joe took a seat next to him. "I just kinda expected you to have something more to say when I told you I wanted to be a boy."

"What else was there to say?"

"I don't know."

"Exactly." Marvelous said. "Now, you coming to the game night or hiding here?"

"Do I have a choice?" Joe rolled his eyes. "Someone will drag me out to play if I don't go. Forced group bonding activities. Gotta love them."

Marvelous stood up and held out a hand. "Then let's not keep them waiting."

Joe took his hand and Marvelous pulled him to his feet. Joe grabbed a jacket and threw it on. It hid his frame pretty well. When he wasn't wearing his binder, this was how he hid his figure from everyone. It seemed to work or if not no one said anything about it. He sometimes wondered of anyone else picked up on something being amiss.

The two of them left the room and went out to where everyone else was waiting for them. Once they were in the room, the game got started. Well, after a bit of an argument over who was being what.

Joe spared a glance at Marvelous at one point. He was very grateful to have met someone who was so casual about everything like this. He didn't want to think what could have been if he figured this stuff out around people who weren't as nice about it.

He really did need to consider telling the others about this at some point. Joe felt like they deserved to know about this eventually. It would be easier than having to make sure he didn't reveal anything. But, he had no idea where he would even start. Maybe he should really start thinking about that.

But for now, he just enjoyed the game as best he could. It was nice having a group like this. Depsite the hell they dealt with during the day, they managed to relax pretty well at night. Then again, they needed downtime to keep their sanity.