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Miles likes the colour mauve very much, but he also has a fondness for many other shades of red. But there is a certain time of year when bright red is his favourite colour.
In the month of April, a certain group of evil people who shall remain nameless want everyone to ‘light it up blue’, wearing the colour blue to support ‘autism awareness month’. But Miles knows that this cause is bad and outright dangerous, because autism doesn’t need more awareness. Everyone knows what it is, even if their understanding is made of harmful stereotypes.
What autism needs is acceptance, for everyone to learn what autism really is and try to help autistic people live their lives rather than trying to force them into acting neurotypical. So many autistic people have invented Autism Acceptance Month, and decide to counteract the obsession with blue by wearing Red Instead.
Miles cares so much about this because he is autistic. He was diagnosed at seven years old and lived a comfortable life with his father, but things went very wrong after the… incident. He went through a massive burnout and then spent the next ten years living with Manfred von Karma, who really didn’t like that Miles is autistic. He forced Miles to suppress his traits and punished him simply for being who he was, and Miles grew to hate himself. And it took him a long time to learn to like himself again.
So he knows how it feels to be treated awfully simply for being autistic, and he wants to try and help other people escape this negativity, and to realise that all of these people are wrong, because there is nothing wrong with being autistic. And that is exactly why Miles has decided to join in with Autism Acceptance Month by also wearing Red Instead.
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On 1st April, Miles dresses in bright red clothes and keeps his red Tangle stim toy in his hand at all times. He exits the bedroom and walks into the kitchen, and bumps straight into his husband – literally.
Phoenix smiles and sips a glass of grape juice. “Morning, Miles. I like you robes. Very red.”
“Thank you, Wright,” Miles says, still prone to calling Phoenix by his surname despite their marriage of two years.
But then he looks at Phoenix properly, and his eyes widen. Phoenix is dressed in a suit almost identical to his usual blue blazer and pants; the different being that this suit is bright red. His tie is also red he has a badge pinned to his lapel that features the Neurodiversity symbol on a red background, with text that reads:
Go Red Instead!
Miles smiles, totally amazed. “Wright… what are you doing?”
“Remember when you were telling me about this Red Instead stuff?” Phoenix says. “Well, I was listening and I did some Googling, and… well… I decided to join you. let’s wear red all month, Miles, and try and make a difference.”
Still smiling, Miles twists his Tangle toy around his fingers. “Thank you. This means a lot.”
Phoenix grins. “No problem. Can I kiss you?”
“Of course,” Miles says, and Phoenix leans forwards and presses a quick kiss to his lips. He gets grape juice on his lips and grimaces. “But wipe your mouth next time.”
---
Needing more information about a case, Miles walks into the criminal affairs department of the police station. He hears thundering footsteps and Detective Gumshoe comes hurtling over.
“Hi, pal!” he says, grinning. “How are you?”
Miles is about to make a sarcastic comment, but then his eyes focus on Gumshoe. The detective is wearing a red coat, and has the same badge as Phoenix pinned to his lapel.
Miles manipulates his stim toy, eyebrows raised. “You are wearing red.”
“Um… yeah, so I am,” Gumshoe says. “It was Mr Wright’s idea. He said about your Red Instead thing ‘cause of your autism, and I wanted to join in.”
He stares at Gumshoe, a small smile crossing his face. “Really? Well, thank you, Detective. I appreciate it.”
Gumshoe grins. “You’re welcome, pal.”
---
Over the course of the day, Miles bumps into many more people, all of them wearing red or those badges, and it makes him so happy. When he gets back home that evening, Miles locates Phoenix (sat on the couch next to Trucy) and gives him a hug.
“Wright, thank you for all of this,” he says.
“Did you like the badges, Papa?” Trucy says, giving Miles a hug. When Trucy first called him Papa several years ago, Miles was so moved he nearly cried. “Because I made them! Daddy asked me to make badges and I did and then we gave them out to everyone who came to the Agency and gave some to Mr Gumshoe at the police station and everyone’s wearing them. It’s brilliant, isn’t it?”
Miles smiles and pats the brim of his step-daughter’s top hat. “Yes, it certainly is brilliant. Thank you, Trucy.”
Trucy and Phoenix smile, and Miles looks at the badges they are both wearing, and he’s so glad to have such a wonderful family.