little fitz perfect

Thirteen

As the weeks passed, Fitz began to notice changes. There were still people who glared, threw notes at him and Dex, and vandalized their lockers, but he did see people give them curious, but not mean, glances here and there. Eventually, he began to see things that made him want to look twice. He saw two Level Five boys holding hands during lunch. Once, while walking down the streets of Atlantis, he saw one woman kiss another on the cheek. Seeing other people starting to normalize this kind of thing gave Fitz a small boost of confidence he didn't know he'd needed. Above all, it made him feel a little less alone.

Something in particular that he noticed most were these small, colorful striped rectangles starting to pop up in places. He wasn't sure if it was a positive thing, but he found a note tucked in his locker. It had a rainbow-striped rectangle.

You're really brave :)

It was just three words, but Fitz had to stop himself from tearing up. Those words of encouragement felt really good with all the hate he'd been getting, at school, in public, and at home.

He still wasn't sure what the rainbow meant, though. He felt like he'd seen it before, he just didn't know where.

He showed Dex the note later that day and asked him what the stripes meant. Dex looked at it for a few seconds and said, "I think it might be a human thing. Or something that originated from humans. My parents might know, I could ask them if you want."

He reached for the note, but Fitz pulled it away ever so slightly. Dex looked at him. "Fitz?"

"Sorry, I just..." he traced his fingers over the words. "I kind of wanted to keep it. Never mind, that's stupid, here." He handed the note to Dex.

Dex smiled softly as he took it. "I'll give it back, I promise."

The next day Fitz learned that it was indeed something that originated from humans. They called them "pride flags" because they were basically flags to show pride in being who you are. Fitz kept the note in his pocket after that.

"I think I wanna do more research on these pride flag things," Dex mused as they walked into the cafeteria one day. "Like, find out their different meanings and stuff."

Fitz nodded. "Let me know what you find."

Fitz was glad things were getting a bit more normal, especially in their friend group. It had been a little awkward, or maybe tense was a better word, since he and Dex had come out. Maybe because of what people had been saying, or maybe because of the fight that had happened a few weeks ago.

"Look, we switched uniforms!" An excited voice called as Tam and Linh approached their table. The twins were indeed wearing each other's clothes, although the skirt looked a little long on Tam, and Linh's pants went a few centimeters above her flats.

Biana laughed. "You guys look great! Look, Dex, you started a trend."

"It's just Tam and Linh," Dex told her.

"No, look," Sophie pointed to a different table. "Is that Jensi?"

All of them turned to where she was pointing. Jensi turned out to be the person who had first informed Fitz and Dex about the rumors, and he was indeed wearing a skirt.

"Oh, yeah, I gave them my uniform," Marella said from behind them. "And they gave me theirs!"

Fitz turned to see Marella, her hair pulled into a ponytail and wearing the boys' uniform.

"Aww, so pretty!" Linh stood up and wrapped Marella in a hug.

"Hey, not too tight. You look great, too," Marella said, laughing.