Work Text:
Jedediah Smith is a lot of things
One of those things is confused, very confused
He’s figured a lot out about himself over these years, especially with Larry and his son, Nicky, but theres a whole lot he still hasnt figured out. Of course he has thought about going to one of them for advice like he’s done in the past, but no, he wants to figure this out himself.
Over the course of the last year he’s been acting….odd, to certain phrases, the word “cowboy” makes him grimace, some days worse than others, even him thinking of himself, he never thinks of himself as a man most days. He doesnt even think of himself of anything, male or female, it made him so confused. One time, Octavius expressed that he only has an attraction to men when a lady asked him out and Jed got….disappointed? It didnt make any sense!
Jedediah sighed heavily, and walked towards where Nicky and one of his friends are, even if he wants to figure it out himself, sometimes you get stuck. Nicky and his friend laughed until Nicky spotted Jedediah “hey Jed! What’re you up to?” the miniature just shrugged “just takin’ a bit of a walk, thinkin’ somethin’ over” Nick nodded, CC, his friend, hummed the tune to a song while on their phone, Jedediah took a seat “so, what are y’all up to?” he laughed, gesturing to his friend “CC is fighting a teacher” CC looked over “its not my fault! I wasnt gonna say anything until she said it was historically inaccurate! Me! Historically inaccurate!”
Jedediah chuckled, CC had a tendency to get very passionate about things, and fight for those beliefs too, Jed thought it was quite admirable. CC looked back over to their phone “‘those beliefs werent common until 2013-’ ITS SET IN PRE COLONIZATION HAWAII” Nicky choked on his laugh, coughing a bit “you think she cares about hawaii?” Nicky asked, CC made an exasperated noise, typing frantically, Jed was very curious about what was happening, he’d never seen someone be so frustrated with something someone else said. CC suddenly slammed their phone on the table, slapping their hand over their mouth before double checking “what?” Nicky asked, CC handed him the phone, Nicky laughed and threw his hands in the air “I KNEW IT!”
CC grabbed their phone back, pressing two buttons at once to take a screenshot “principal, principal, principal!!” Nicky chanted “okay okay give me a second to recover!” CC said “what in the sam hill just happened?” Jedediah asked, Nicky gave another astonished laugh “the teacher just got fired is what happened” CC held a finger up “not necessarily true, but ‘being called a slur by a teacher’ is a hell of a thing to put on the bingo card” Nicky snorted but turned to explain “CC’s teacher had assigned a short story, not too long 15,000 word limit, but they wrote about a character they already created, and did some background study, it went….alright, until the teacher asked why it was so confusing”
CC rolled their eyes “confusing my ass” they stated “and instead of just asking why i chose for the character to be non-binary, she just stated i was being “historically inaccurate” because she thinks all queer and trans people just chose to be gay in 2013 or something like that” Jedediah thought it was a dumb thing to be mad about but he was still confused on one thing “whats “non-binary”?” he asked, putting the word in air quotes, CC smiled a bit “its just a word for people who dont fit into the category of “male” or “female” not trans, but an umbrella term, it just means you’re neither or a bit of both, Non-binary people usually use they/them pronouns, like me!”
Something clicked, or maybe shifted, in Jedediah “non-binary” he muttered, he was still totally in the dark with the whole being queer thing, coming from 1800’s America, and his real life counterpart being a devout Christain, but it felt, nice, comfortable “do all of them use those?” Jedediah asked, CC shook their head “nope! Some use just she/her or he/him and some use he/her, but sometimes they use he/they or she/they, meaning they just use he/him or she/her and they/them pronouns” they nodded “if….if its alright with y’all, do y’all mind any with usin’ that for me? The whole “they” thing?”
CC smiled more “thats no problem! You still want us to call you a “he” sometimes or just "they?” Jed thought on it “im alright usin’ “he”, i dont mind it none but i also think that i realized why ive felt so odd recently” they laughed, Nicky smiled too “gotcha, so, non-binary…..cowboy? Cow….person?” CC rolled their eyes “cowpoke, cityslicker”
A cowpoke, yeah
Jedediah Smith is a lot of things
one of those thing is a cowpoke