Irhaboggle Pride (2018) 30 Days, 30 Stories

Platonic Friendship

"So, how long have you two been together?" Aces asked.

"Together?" Iris echoed in confusion. "You mean like, how long have we known each other?"

"Oh, sure, I guess. I was just curious how long you two had been dating," Aces clarified.

Once Iris realized the misunderstanding, she began to laugh. "Oh, no, no. Clover and I never dated. We're platonic friends!"

"Wait, wh-what? But aren't you gay?" Aces sounded genuinely confused now.

"Uhh, well, I'm bi," Iris narrowed her eyes, growing just a little impatient with the interrogation. "And just because I'm attracted to girls doesn't mean I'm going to lust after every girl I meet! Or that any girl I'm seen with is automatically a lover!"

"Alright, Iris, deep breaths," Clover tried to bite back a laugh as she rested a hand on Iris' shoulder. Although she could understand, and agree with, Iris' frustration, the whole "doesn't mean I'm going to lust after every girl I meet!" amused Clover just because Iris was very prone to swooning over attractive women. But of course, Clover knew such an interjection wouldn't help right now. Instead, she focused on keeping Iris from lashing out. Aces was a friend, after all, and his question had been innocent.

"Right, sorry," Iris had the grace to look ashamed, quick to realize that Clover was right. Even though that question was a huge pet peeve of hers, Aces was a friend. He would never ask a question to intentionally hurt either of them.

"No, I'm sorry for assuming," Aces chuckled sheepishly.

"Nah, it's understandable," Clover shrugged. "We do act like a couple sometimes." And that much was just a simple fact. The two weren't just incredibly close, but they were also incredibly affectionate, and they spent a lot of time together. In public, it would be easy to mistake them for partners because of all the hugs and touches and words of adoration and admiration.

But there were several reasons why Iris felt stung by the assumptions. For one, it did feel a little weird and creepy that other people were observing her friendship with Clover closely enough to draw assumptions at all. But even bigger than that, it just felt disrespectful to the importance of platonic friends. Their world was so romance-crazed that there was an implicit implication that romantic and sexual love were the pinnacles of true love. But that was such a faulty, unhealthy way to look at love and relationships. Platonic friends were just as important as any lover! So Iris hated when people assumed that Clover had to be a lover just because, surely, Iris wouldn't love a mere platonic friend that intensely. What trash! Just because she and Clover weren't "going farther" didn't mean either of them loved the other any less.

And lastly, as a queer girl, Iris felt as though she was always being judged for having same-sex friends. If people had assumed that both she and Clover were straight, nobody would've batted an eye at their friendship. But because Iris was openly bisexual, people would always assume that every time she was caught with another female, it was probably a girlfriend, just as she'd chided Aces for earlier. So she always had to be so careful with female friends, both so that strangers wouldn't start judging them, and so that the female friend in question wouldn't assume Iris was only in it in hopes of scoring something.

That had indeed happened in the past. After Iris came out to another one of her female friends, that friend had immediately asked if Iris had a crush on her. Even though it was an understandable question, and the friend had genuinely only been curious, it still stung Iris to think that in the one second it took for her to come out as bisexual, her companion's perspective of her had instantly switched into wondering if Iris had only been her friend in hopes of one day going out with her.

And even with friends who had known that she was queer before they became friends, Iris had to be careful. She had to make sure she never said or did anything that might be taken as romantic, because she didn't want to have to open that can of worms with every platonic friend she had. So it wasn't even just judgement from strangers that she worried about. It was even judgement from her own friends, or potential friends.

As she'd once told Clover, "I always feel like I have to hide my affection for you in public, just because you and I are not a couple!"

"How funny to think that in order to make our relationship "socially acceptable", we would have to make it romantic," Clover agreed with a snicker. The irony that, in this case, it would be "more acceptable" to be "gay rather than straight" was not lost on either of them.

"But yeah, call it what you want to," Clover shrugged, addressing Aces again. "Iris is my best friend, that much I'm sure of. I like her for her, and I enjoy spending time with her because I enjoy spending time with her. It's got nothing to do with sexuality or gender. It's her personality, and all the history we've shared. We take care of each other, that's what matters. That is how and why I love her. I feel comfortable with her!"

"Yeah," Iris agreed, smiling fondly up at Clover. "I know how I love Clover, and even if it confounds an outside perspective, that's not what matters. It doesn't change the truth that I love her platonically, but she's one of the most important people in my life, because those two things are not mutually exclusive. Like she said, she's the one I feel safest with. She's my oldest friend as well as closest! And we just mesh really well!"

It was not necessary to say any of this, because Aces understood it all, but it was clear that Clover and Iris were still more than happy to reaffirm their friendship to one another. As they'd both said, no matter what the rest of the world might've assumed about them, that would not change their truth, so that's why they didn't care what conjectures people might come up with. Sure, the speculation could be tedious, but again, that wouldn't change the way they loved each other, and that was the important part.

"But also, I am pretty attractive, so I'm sure Iris is also happy that her friend is quite the looker!" Clover finally added.

"Oh my god," Iris rolled her eyes in exasperation, but she couldn't stop a laugh.

"Well, it sure is an added bonus," Aces agreed, laughing as well.

"I can't stand you," Iris continued to laugh and roll her eyes, nudging Clover.

"Love you too, buddy!" Clover smiled cheerfully. Then she addressed Aces again. "You see? This is why we're best friends!"

And neither he, nor Iris, could deny it.

AN: Sorry for this sermon-esque story, but it was meant to be a critique on how society romanticizes everything and subconsciously devalues non-romantic relationships in the process. I specifically wrote Clover's character to be a foil for this "romanticizes everything" mentality. And it touches upon the struggle of having same-sex friends while being queer, because we DO worry about that stuff sometimes.