Reincarnated ~ A Modern Newsies Au (Nowsies)

30 | Light-Hearted Moments

The title isn't ironic. This will be a fun, light-hearted moment amidst the chaos of late.

Well, at least half the plot will be. The other half of the plot will (hopefully) be intrigue. Both are important.

Enjoy! :)

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It's a Friday in late May, everyone is eating lunch, and Tony is having to defend one of his favorite animals.

"Explain to us once again what's so special about this fish?" Jack asks.

"The Kobudai is not just any random fish," Tony counters, again.

"So what makes it not a random fish?" Charlie asks curiously.

"Because it's freaking awesome," Tony says, in a tone clearly indicating you all should be agreeing with me right now. "They're one of the largest species of wrasse, and they live in the Pacific Ocean. We still need to learn a lot more about them. And you wanna know what these fish are known for? The fact that a lot of them are trans." Tony throws his arms up in the air. "Come on. The FtM kobudais should be trans icons. Why aren't they? Because only Blue Planet II and probably only a couple other nature documentaries talk about them, and because the small-minded are greatly disinterested in some of the most interesting things."

David perked up at Blue Planet II. He didn't know anyone else actually watched that show. Maybe it's because he likes documentaries, or learning, or because the narrator of both Blue Planet and Blue Planet II is David freaking Attenborough, but he really likes it.

"...Can you back up a little?" Nick asks. "Trans fish?"

Tony is all too happy to start explaining. "You see, a lot of species of fish can change their biological sex," he begins. "Mostly female to male." They're freaking lucky. "And then Blue Planet II dedicated a good portion of the first episode to talking about the kobudai, and even sorta got the transition of female to male on film. Anyway, it takes time, but the female kobudai can change to a male kobudai over a long period of time, and then that female-now-male kobudai becomes the king of the reef instead of the agressive cis-privileged male kobudai, which that female-now-male kobudai can now dominate over. If that's not a power move, I don't know what is."

Sean loves when Tony gets like this, when he's so excited about what he's talking about. He's not entirely sure how long Tony's had this hyperfixation, or how long it'll last, but he loves it anways.

Tony's eyes light up and he turns to face Sean. "Oh-oh-oh-here's the other thing." He taps the side of Sean's shoulder with each excited little oh. "Get this: it's also referred to as the Asian sheepshead wrasse."

Sean bursts out laughing.

"Did we miss something?" Louis asks.

"Sheepshead is a place in Brooklyn," Sean explains. "It's a place that Racetrack Higgins went to all the time." He turns back to Tony. "That's perfect. Absolutely perfect."

Tony throws his arms up in the air again. "I rest my case."

And so lunch goes on.

Jack still teases Tony about how his favorite animal is a fish, and how he is obviously getting gender envy from said fish. No hard teasing. Tony glares daggers at him, but he does have to admit his feelings of gender envy.