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Elle was always proud of being nonbinary. It's something they wore on their chest like a badge of honor, for they had no reason to be ashamed of it. She's proud of who she is, and will stand firm to protect that.
"Ah why'd we get a lesbian?" One of the officers in the station mumbles as she passes. "Don't respect men, that lot."
They don't react, but the words fuel a fire starting in the pit of their stomach. She's not a woman, they're a nonbinary person. It's enraging, but they try to douse the flames. Causing a fight here won't help, the fight lies elsewhere in other ways. Just for now.
They walk into the conference room where Hotch and Gideon are looking at the crime boards, and Gideon notices something is off (he always notices). "Elle? What's wrong?" He asks, and they shake their head.
"It's fine. Just a few assholes, nothing I'm not used to." They brush off the question, because it really is true. They're used to being seen as a woman when they're not. But they could never be with a woman as a woman, nor a man as a woman. She's not a woman, she's nonbinary and fucking proud of it.
Gideon nods. "Okay. Just let us know if it gets bad."
Elle nods, understanding. It doesn't happen again, not that they can tell. Not here. It doesn't happen ever after she resigns.
-
"You're David Rossi, the man who can't hold a woman?" A man working the front desk scoffs, looking Rossi up and down. "How sad is your life? Or maybe you used them."
It's not the first time this man has tried to get a rise out of Rossi during this case, and honestly, he was over it the moment he opened his mouth the first time.
"I did love all my wives." He decides to answer. "Things just change." such as realizing you were never in love with them like you had convinced yourself to be.
The man scoffs again, turning his body away to avoid Rossi, not that Rossi minds. The guy's a complete jerk, not worth anymore of his time.
"Maybe if you weren't 'stupid-romantic' or whatever you might actually be a decent husband."
Rossi is rooted to the floor. He doesn't know how to react to that, honestly. He hadn't told many people, but he never hid the fact that he's cupioromantic. He's never had someone try to use it against him thus far.
"Don't talk about yourself like that." He responds smoothly, trying to straighten out the mess going on inside his head. "I bet with some education, you could be a very decent husband."
He tries not to think about it from that day on (although a small part of him wonders what if)
-
Morgan knows he presents masculine, it's on purpose. It makes him feel like himself. Feel whole.
He also knows Reid doesn't. And while Reid has assured him that being called his brother or pretty boy is fine (xey said that those words are Reid words for em, not gendered words), Reid is adverse to any other gendered terms for em.
So when a few officers offer a "guys night" after apprehending their unsub, and grossly turn down Reid because xyr just a "queer boy", Morgan turns them down in return.
"I guess a nonbinary like me wouldn't fit in with the whole 'guys' part of guys night." He says, draping an arm over Reid's shoulders. "But I think we all know that you are intimidated by such a dashing one like Reid here."
Reid is protesting while the officers frown at the pair. "If a f*g like you wants to fuck something like that, go ahead. Go to Hell for all I care." One spit and drags the others out.
Reid looks at Morgan with concern. "Morgan, you okay?"
Morgan swallows the lump in his throat, the simple suggestion of forcing himself on anyone, much less Reid, is sickening. He will never, ever, be that kind of man. "I will be." He sighs.
Reid nods, gently leaning eir head on top of Morgan's (the tall bastard). "You know, the hotel tv's have access to Animal Planet and National Geographic." Xey mention absently, and Morgan laughs.
"C'mon you nerd, I'm going to introduce you to the wonders of action-adventure." He laughs, the knot in his chest unraveling a little.
-
June is Garcia's favorite month for a reason. Firstly: every year on the first of June she gives the team homemade buttons with either one of their flags or their pronouns or something silly but definitely queer (one year it was some bird screaming 'respect people!'). At some point she comes in with cupcakes with their flags decorated on top. Reid and her always gets three, which they laugh about from time to time. Sometimes they're able to go to the parade, which is always fun.
They never know, so Garcia always has a small party in the conference room to celebrate them. Nothing big, just some banners she makes every year and some music.
But this is the first June since she started dating Kevin. She's admittedly slightly worried, he's always been confused to the small celebrations she has with the team. Sometimes with just the team members (she always celebrates the day someone came out. Always). But he's been so accepting to her so far. To her being trans and pan, especially. It was weird, having to come out again. For so long she's just been Garcia, she forgot that being just Garcia came with preconceived notions of who she is.
She comes in with 12 cupcakes, and Kevin is a little confused, as she expected.
"What's with the baker's treats?" He asks as they walk to the elevator.
"Just a team tradition." She smiles. "Oh! This one is for you!" She hands him the one with the ally flag.
He takes the cupcake and looks at it with curious eyes. "Uh, what's the decoration mean?" He asks.
"Oh, that's the ally flag."
He nods. It's gone by the time he gets to his floor.
Garcia walks into the bullpen and hands everyone there their respective cupcakes. With Reid, she smiles and says "Three sweet treats for the sweetest genius I know."
Ey laugh at that, graciously taking the three cupcakes and going back to talking to JJ about how xey organized eir books this time.
Rossi smiles at his cupcake, for the first time not having an ally flag. He had told the team earlier in the year.
She hands Hotch an extra bag of rainbow M&M cookies. "For the little man."
"You do know that you're Henry's Godmother, not Jacks, right?" He says as he takes the bag.
"Oh don't worry Henry got plenty." She nods. "Have a good day, sir."
"You too, Garcia." Hotch smiles, and she goes to her den wanting to spin around in her chair. She loves making the team smile.
-
JJ remembers the conversion camp almost every week. She doesn't know why, exactly. Maybe it's the horror of what had been happening, what has been happening. Maybe it's the thought that she could have been sent to one of those.
She gets the emails in September. About 15 emails full of links to conversion camps for adults, ways to repent, how to get therapy for straying off the path. It's sickening. She actually throws up and calls in sick. She asks Garcia if she can permanently block the emails the third time they come.
After that day, she keeps a picture of the team and her family on her at all times: to remind her why being herself is so amazing.
-
Prentiss doesn't mind the officers calling her a lesbian. It's one section of her sexuality, yes, and the stronger one, but there's more to her than an attraction to women. She's been attracted to men too, although to a lesser degree, and people across the nonbinary spectrum.
It became personal when they said that JJ cheated on Will with her.
Prentiss will admit, she was interested in JJ when she started, but it quickly faded when Will came into the picture. JJ loves and adores Will and Henry, to suggest that JJ would cheat on Will was upsetting. To say it was with her was enraging. JJ is her best friend, but just because she's seen as a lesbian who's best friend is a woman means that they must have had sex at some point. Which is bullshit.
But instead of decking them like she wants to, she instead smiles and asks if they're even happy in their relationships. And based on how both of them scampered off fairly quickly, she guesses the answer to be no.
-
Hotch wishes he had known who he was before Haley died. Even after they divorced, she was still his friend. That didn't change.
He's glad he still can be there for Jack. He's glad he can be himself for Beth.
He remembers telling her, saying that he's never been anything, anyone other than Aaron Hotchner, other than Hotch. And after Jack, anyone other than Dad. He remembers her smiling, gently taking his hand and saying "Well, of course you are." With a smile.
He remembers picking up Jack one day, he had made a friend at lunch, pointing to him and saying "Dad! They're my Dad!" With such a bright grin on his face.
He's glad he's nothing other than Hotch. Hotch is all he's ever needed to be.
-
Reid knows xyr weird. Ey usually dresses in the same style of clothing, as most others feel uncomfortable, and xyr outfits fall squarely into "androgynous" most of the time. Ey ramble a lot about things that don't matter and ey sometimes end up dominating conversations. Xey pace a lot, click and unclick pens, draw circles on paper to help think.
But never has any police station been filled with so many agonizingly idiotic men. The moment that xey, Prentiss, and Morgan stepped in, one of the officers groaned and said "I don't want any dicksucker fairies here."
Morgan ignored him, going to one of the detectives. "I'm SSA Derek Morgan, and these are SSA Emily Prentiss and Dr. Spencer Reid. We're here to help with-"
"The serial killer, yes, yes. I know." She cuts him off. "You have a room to set up over there."
Over the course of the case, many officers asked Reid how many guys he ey had slept with (answer: 0). Each time xey would tell the officers that ey really doesn't like sex in general, to which they snort and say something along the lines of 'everyone likes sex, it's the best thing ever' or something like that. Reid usually just frowns and continues working.
One time, though, was with Rossi nearby. The officer who complained when xe, Morgan, and Prentiss had entered came over and touched Reid's back. Ey yelped and jumped aside, nerves screaming like ey had been stabbed (even though xe knew that it was purely an overreaction).
"What the hell? I was just trying to get you to move!" He yelled, causing Reid to flinch. "What, sore back? Didn't pin you as the kinky one."
"That's quite enough out of you." Rossi's voice floats through, gentle and calming. Reid always liked Rossi's voice, it had a very soft and soothing quality to it. "You get away from my team, and don't talk to them for the rest of the case, you understand?"
Ried never really looked at Rossi, so ey had no idea what his face looked like, but based on how the officer ran from the room, it probably was not good.
"Is it okay if I touch your head, kid?" Rossi asks, and Reid nods. Rossi gently ruffles the hair upon xyr head, making Reid hum with contentment. "Tell me if anyone else tries to mess with you."
Reid hums again, turning to the board ey were looking at.There has to be a connection somewhere...