Work Text:
*Bloop*
Steven glances up from his book and over to where his phone has chimed, alerting him to a new message from (Y/N). They somehow managed to personalize their message alert noise in the two seconds it took them to put their information in his phone last week when they had met. He places one of his bookmarks to save his place and reaches for his phone.
< So, crazy idea, buuuuuut what do u think about going to that other museum that has all that egyptian archelogy stuff? The Petrie one, that way u can geek out with me and not have to worry about your boss pestering us the whole time.
Only a second after he has read that text, another one comes through.
< I will admit that this is for purly selfish reasons, cause I have a paper due in a few weeks that I have to do on a historically significant object that I have to physically see and examine, or something like that. Plus u can give me tons of more info and help me chose what to do it on.
A smile makes its way to Steven’s face as he reads the text. The two of them have been texting and talking back and forth for the last week now, nearly everyday. They’ve gotten to know each other pretty well.
Steven found out that they were currently taking classes to become a history major, only two more years until they graduate. He also learned that they had bounced around a lot as a kid and recently ended up living in America for a few years before moving to London to go to college, something about more affordable tuition and things like that. They are also proudly addicted to an online app called ‘Tiktok’ that none of the three men had heard about, but Steven now has an account where (Y/N) would periodically spam them with little videos they found that were funny or cool that he might like. They also are a fan of Egyptology, although they typically were interested in any type of mythology, not just Egyptian, but that didn’t matter much because that meant that they were content to listen to Steven ramble on and on about the different myths and stories to his heart’s content.
In return they know that Steven works at a museum, where his boss is a complete nightmare but he stays anyway in hopes of one day working his way up to a tour position. (That and they are usually pretty forgiving of his history of poor attendance, or at least forgiving enough to not have fired him by now.) Steven also told them about his ‘sleeping disorder’, because he is not quite ready to open up to them about the whole DID situation yet. Plus sleeping disorder is a lot easier to explain to a stranger they had just met. They had also become very well acquainted to both Gus’ via daily pictures of the fishes in various states of swimming.
Another ‘bloop’ yanks Steven out of his thoughts and back to the phone in his hand.
< Or not, no pressure my dude.
Steven is quick to respond this time, fingers moving across the screen quickly.
> That’d be aces! They have the oldest preserved women's linen article of clothing in the world there. It’s supposed to be over 5000 years old. That’d be pretty wicked to do a paper on.
After a second of thought, Steven sends another message.
> I’m free today if you’d like to meet me there around noon.
He sends it before thinking it through and instantly panics a bit, not wanting to sound overly-eager to meet up with (Y/N). Steven doesn’t have much time to panic though, because their response is almost instantaneous.
< Brilliant! See you then! :P
Steven almost thinks that last bit is a typo, but after a second he notices that it is a typed out emoji and chuckles at it, shaking his head in amusement. He sets down his phone and goes over to his closet to choose what to wear. He wants to wear one of his skirts out, but it is a bit chilly today and he does not fancy freezing himself for the sake of fashion.
When he gets in front of their shared wardrobe, he stares at the small assortment of skirts that have accumulated. So far he has the most, about six, Marc has two, and Jake has three. They are all bundled together so as to not mix any up, although there is no doubt which ones belong to the cabbie. The first time Steven co-fronted and saw the body in one of his miniskirts he nearly had a heart attack. He could almost see his butt cheeks!
As he is fingering through his choices, he remembers his newest one had just arrived yesterday, but he hasn’t put it away yet. It was the longest one any of them have bought, going down to almost his ankles, so as long as he wears some longer socks, he should be able to be mostly out of the cold.
Steven turns around to start looking for the package, but curses when he can’t find it.
What are you looking for? Marc asks, appearing in the mirror in their bedroom and watching Steven bussy around the room.
“My new package that arrived yesterday. I don’t remember where I put it. I wanna wear that yellow and black skirt I bought the other day.” Steven grumbles, glaring around the room in frustration.
That's because I put it away. It’s on the bathroom sink. Jake chimes in, not bothering to appear in any surface that Steven could see. He pauses his search and looks over to the bathroom, where the door is open enough to see the corner of a brown box sitting on the white sink.
“Why the bloody hell would you leave my package next to the toilet?” Steven huffs out, making his way over to where it is.
I had to take a leak and it was either that or toss it on the table. I’m waiting on a new Smith and Wesson M&P from my buddy and thought it would be best not to throw a possible handgun on the table. He doesn’t always unload them when he sells them, that I’ve had to learn the hard way.
Steven had the box in his hands before he fully processed what Jake just said.
You’re ordering guns through the mail to our apartment!? Marc yells, echoing what Steven was about to say.
Well it’s either that or get a new dealer here in London. My buddy has connections to get them to me from the States and there's less of a chance of my accidentally buying from the mob this way. Jake shrugs in one of the multitude of mirrors in the bathroom and Steven glares at him, but ultimately decides that that is an entirely different headache to deal with later.
If Jake wants to buy new weapons nothing is going to stop him, and besides, it is almost eleven o’clock now and if he wants to be ready and get a bite to eat before meeting (Y/N) at the museum, he has to start getting ready.
~~~~~~~~
When Steven gets to the museum he is only four minutes late and he can instantly spot (Y/N) at the entrance, waiting for him with a smile. He hurries over to them, apologies already spilling from his lips, but they wave him off.
“No worries Steven, I just got here myself. Haven’t even gotten one of the brochures yet.” They say, leading Steven through the doors and inside. They look Steven up and down and grin. “Nice outfit. I love the pattern, gives off a hufflepuff type of vibe. I like it.”
That draws a small blush from Steven along with a shy smile. He knew the yellow and black skirt would go well with the top he chose. He mutters out a thanks before following them inside. The warm air inside is pleasant as they start their way into the museum. When Steven looks at (Y/N), he catches a glimpse of a small button pinned to their jacket that has their pronouns on it. (Y/N) catches his gaze and smiles, pulling on their jacket so that they can look down at it as well.
“Yeah, I wore my pronoun pin today. Wanted to show you in person since I messaged you about it earlier.” They explain, dropping their jacket and turning around to read the signs and decide where to start. Steven tries to shake off the unusually strong urge to glance at the button again and tries to pay attention to where they are going.
They make their way through to rooms, Steven spouting off additional facts about the various artifacts as they go. They have finally made it to the room with the Tarkhan dress that Steven had mentioned earlier when the tiny pin on their shirt draws Steven’s attention again and he can’t help but stare at it for a minute. Thankfully, (Y/N) doesn’t seem to notice, too absorbed in reading the information card in front of the display they are currently at.
If you wanna talk about that thing you avoided a few weeks ago, (Y/N) seems to know a lot about it. They could probably tell you a bunch about it. You don’t have to if you don’t want to though. Marc’s voice causes Steven to jump, not expecting the sudden commentary. The movement draws (Y/N)’s attention and Steven looks away quickly, feigning interest in the exhibit they were standing by. Steven thinks about it for a moment before taking a deep breath to steady himself.
“Do you remember what you asked me when we first met?” Steven hesitantly asks, eyes glued to the shirt in front of them. “And then you brought it up a few days ago too?” He continues, not having the courage to say the actual words he wants to.
“About pronouns?” (Y/N) clarifies, and Steven nods. “Yeah, what about them?”
Steven tries not to seem too interested and shrugs. “I was just thinking about what you said. About how there are more than just the main three that most people use. I was just wondering what other ones there are.” He looks over to (Y/N) and sees them nodding along.
“Well, for starters there are the most popular and abundant, she/her/hers and he/him/his. Those are most commonly used and I’m sure you have an idea of how those are used by the general public.” Steven nods and (Y/N) keeps going. “Then for those who are somewhere in between, a lot of people use they/them/theirs, which kind of represents that that person is not a girl or a boy, but something in between or a mix of the two. Then we move onto neopronouns.” They pause again to check and make sure Steven is still following along, once they get another nod they move on. “Those come in a wider variety. The ones I have heard used most often are ze/zir/zirs, xe/xem/xyr/xyrself, and ze/hir/hirs. But with neopronouns there are tons of them, and sometimes people just make their own to fit how they feel.”
Steven’s eyebrows are furrowed in confusion on the last bit. “But if people make up their own, how are other people gonna know what they use? Aren’t they going to use the wrong ones all the time?” He asks, fiddling with the waistband of his skirt for something to do with his fingers. (Y/N) makes a small ‘hold on a sec’ motion and swings their backpack off and set it on the ground, opening the zipper and starts to sort through it for something.
“Well, yeah. Anyone who uses pronouns that are not she/her, he/him, and even they/them are more often than not going to get misgendered or referred to by the wrong pronouns a lot. Some people like to wear pronoun pins that tell people what they would prefer to be called, or some just wait until someone talks to them to tell them the correct ones to use.” (Y/N) explains, pausing to root around in their bag before letting out a small ‘ah-ha’ and pulling out a small black drawstring bag. “Here we are. When we set to meet up today I tossed these in my bag in case we ended up on this subject.”
They look around the room for a second before spotting a bench in the corner of the hallway, slinging their bag back onto their shoulder, and grasping Steven’s hand to pull him towards it. When they get there they sit at one end and motions for Steven to sit down as well, leaving a bit of space between them. They pull the bag open and dumps the contents on the bench. A bunch of pins clatter onto the metal, and a few tumble to the floor. (Y/N) lets out a quiet curse before reaching down to retrieve them.
As they are collecting the fallen ones, Steven starts to sort out the rest that remain on the bench, flipping them all over so that they are facing upward. They are all pronoun pins, all different colors and varying in pronouns. He starts grouping them together to see all the different options.
“There we go.” (Y/N) mutters once the pins are all together and starts putting the ones they picked up into the groups Steven was making. “I help run the LGBTQ+ club on campus, and we bought a bunch of pronoun pins for our welcome week this year. These are some of the leftovers and I got the okay to keep some on me outside of school for anyone who wants them. I don’t have all the options, but I have a pretty good variety and I think I have a couple blank ones for specific neopronouns at my flat somewhere. But I figured this was a good place to start.”
Steven looks at all the different options and is thinking about which one he wants when suddenly his hand moves without his consent and scoots a black and red he/him pin to the side.
Yo quiero ese.
His other hand soon moves a white and gold he/him pin to join it.
I might as well get one too.
Steven flushes at his alter’s actions and glances up at (Y/N) quickly, before his eyes dart back down to see which one he wants to grab. His hand hovers over a blue and gold he/him, a black and silver they/them, and a green and blue ze/zir pin. After they make a circle around those three for the third time without his saying anything (Y/N) nudges Steven’s shoe with their own.
“You can take more than one if you want.” They offer, seeing how torn he was between the tiny buttons.
“I can use more than one kind of pronoun?” Steven blurts out, flushing when he realizes that he said that way too quickly. They don’t seem to mind though, because they are smiling at him and nodding encouragingly.
“Oh yeah, tons of people do. Some people use more than one at a time, some switch between pronouns based on their mood, or just don’t care which ones are used from a list they chose. The thing to keep in mind when it comes to pronouns and gender is that it is very fluid, and things can change all the time. Or maybe you just find something new one day that you realize fits you better than what you had been using before. It can take a while to figure out what really works for you, but you’ll figure it out eventually.”
“You mean I can use different pronouns in the same day? Wouldn’t that get a bit confusing?” Steven asks, fingers still hovering over the three that have caught his eye.
“I actually have a friend who lives in America who is a bit, uh, different from most people.” (Y/N) says, shooting Steven a hesitant look. “He lives in New York, and you know what kind of shit goes down in New York. Alien invasion and whatnot every year it seems like.” They laugh, but it seems a little bit off. “Anyway, he happens to know an alien. Kind of. Well, technically they share a body, but that's a whole other story.” They wave their arm in a dismissive motion. “Not the point. But my friend uses he/him pronouns, but his, uh, alien friend uses they/them. So when you are talking to or about either of them you are constantly switching between two pronouns simultaneously. That's a little different because they are both different entities, but they share the same body so it's still a good example of how that same physical person is being referred to by multiple pronouns. Sure it can get a bit confusing, but as long as someone is willing to take the effort to respect the other person and that person is willing to help the other learn and forgive them if they have a few honest mistakes, it all works out.”
Get rid of the alien bit and throw in some mental illness and that sounds a bit like us if you think about it.
Little bit, yeah. Or the whole sharing a body part anyway.
“So you know someone with more than one person living in the same body?” Steven questions, feeling his heart pick up a bit in his chest. Just the idea of telling them about Marc and Jake is enough to make him nervous.
“Yeah, kind of. With Ed- uh, my friend,” They cut themself off and try to backtrack. “He and his alien are a special case. I’m sure there are other cases of more than one person inhabiting the same body that might have different pronouns. They were just a good example of someone I know and can explain pretty well.” (Y/N) finishes, fiddling with the strings of the small black bag they had set on their lap earlier.
Are you wanting to tell them about our DID?
Steven catches some movement on the floor and when he looks there is a very wobbly outline of Marc looking back up at him from the polished floor. Steven’s eyes dart between (Y/N) and Marc, unsure where exactly he wants to lead the conversation.
You can if you want bud. They seem like they aren’t going to run away screaming if they have a friend who has an alien living inside him.
A non-binary alien at that. Not really much they can judge us on at this point with that already out in the open.
“Well, uh…” Steven trails off, mind racing to try and figure out how he wants to bring up the subject.
I can tell them if you want. You don’t have to if you don’t want to Steven, it's totally up to you.
Steven shoots Marc a look and shakes his head a bit, not wanting to say anything out loud and weird (Y/N) out.
One of us can do it bonito.
“Let me handle this myself, will ya?” Steven hisses to them, wanting to be able to keep his thoughts straight when trying to tell (Y/N) exactly what he wanted to say without any distractions. He can see (Y/N) shoot him an odd look, but he busies himself with re-arranging the pins in front of him to avoid looking at them. “Have you ever heard of DID?” Steven asks, trying to sound as casual as possible while quickly glancing at (Y/N) to look for their reaction.
“Yeah, I think so.” Is their response. “I mean I have followed a few people on tiktok with DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder, right? I know like, basic terminology and background information about it, but I’m not an expert. Why do you ask?” They glance back up at Steven when they finish their answer.
Steven swallows and tries to think about what he wants to say next. Marc and Jake still haven’t said a word, just like he asked, but Steven is suddenly starting to wish maybe they would chime in and help him out anyway, because he has no idea where to start.
“Well,” He starts, fiddling with the bottom of his skirt as he struggles to find the words. It’s now or never. “I have that. I have DID and I just thought you should know if we are going to continue being friends.” He rushes out, fingers twisting the fabric around his digits with nervous energy. “Plus Jake and Marc want pins too, so I’d be taking almost half a dozen of them if they can have their own as well.”
(Y/N) is quiet for a moment, and for a second Steven starts to worry that they are going to get upset or leave him and never talk to him again.
“Oh.” They finally say, and Steven looks up to see them already looking at him. “Okay. Thank you for telling me. And I completely still want to be your friend. You having DID won’t change anything, as long as you still want to hang out or talk with me I am down.” There is another pause before their eyes widen and they look a bit upset. ”Oh my gods, I didn’t like, pressure you into telling me that before you wanted to, did I? Just cause I started info-dumping on you does not mean you have to do the same if you aren’t comfortable.”
Steven is quick to shake his head saying, “No, no of course not. It’s just, if we did stay friends then at some point you are probably going to meet one of them fronting, or I’ll mention them, and I just figured it would be best if you knew all this before that happened. That’s all.”
(Y/N) looks a little less upset, but still gives him a concerned look. “I don’t want to overstep anywhere or make you feel uncomfortable Steven. I never want to do that to anyone, so if I say something ignorant or offensive just let me know, yeah? That way I know not to do that again. I really like spending time with you and talking to you, I would hate to do anything to muck that up.”
Steven nods, a little surprised at their insistence, but also kind of glad that someone is willing to learn that kind of stuff just so he is more comfortable. “Yeah, alright. I’ll be sure to do that.”
(Y/N) finally seems to relax back into their seat, content with his response. Their eyes draw back to the pins sprawled out between them. “What pronouns did they want to use?” (Y/N) motions to the pins as they speak.”They are both more than welcome to take whichever ones they like.”
Steven flushes a bit and reaches for the two that Jake and Marc had moved earlier, picking them up and setting them down against his leg. “They both chose he/him pins. Jake wanted the red and black and Marc wanted the white and gold. They each have their own distinct style and are also incapable of sharing a button apparently.”
Hey, I ain’t sharing anymore shit! We already share a body, if I want my own pin, I am going to get my own damn pin.
I didn’t want to share a pin with you anyway, asshole. Marc grumbles in return, and Steven can see him crossing his arms in the reflection. He has to bite back a laugh at their bickering and goes back to looking at the three pins that had caught his eye earlier.
“You’re sure I can have more than one? I don’t know if they’re the right ones or not though…” Steven trails off, eyeing the trio in front of him. (Y/N) nods and smiles at him.
“Yeah, it's totally fine. If you decide later on that they just don’t fit you can give me the button back if you want, or keep it as a keep-sake or something like that. And they can both have their own buttons, I don’t mind. We have hundreds of these things back on campus so it is really no big deal.” They assure him.
Steven shoots them one more look before gathering his own selection and pocketing the other two. Once he has his choices in hand, (Y/N) starts scooping the ones left back into the black pouch, and Steven stares down at the three choices currently laying in his hand.
Steven grins and pins the ze/zir pin to zir jacket. It almost matches the dark blue material of the shirt ze put on that morning. Ze looks back up to (Y/N) and they are beaming back at zir, glad to see Steven so happy and excited with the new pronouns. Steven stands up with a new found sense of confidence and beams down at them.
“Come along then, we still have a ton of exhibits yet to see. Now that we’ve spent all that time on me, let's worry about you now, yeah? Might take a bit to find the perfect exhibit for your paper.” Ze says, this time being the one to grab (Y/N)’s hand and pull them along, further into the museum.