Just the Way You Are
Jun. 20th, 2019 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
intheheartTitle: Just the Way You Are
Rating: PG
Summary: Summer has a secret.
Warnings: bullying, ableism
Notes: none.
People, Summer has discovered, like to make fun of everything.
She would be angry about this, but it wouldn't be any use; they'd just make fun of her for being angry, and not a thing would change. But they like to make fun. Even Ivy does sometimes, poking at Aaron until he laughs and pokes her right back, or sometimes he snaps and calls her a rude name. She can tell that they love her, though, because they do not make fun of her, because they know she does not like it.
Other people are not nearly so kind.
They call her names, mostly. Spaz and weirdo and retard. Sometimes they take her things, or pull her hair, but that mostly stopped after Ivy found out about it. Summer thinks she should be angry with Ivy, for threatening to beat people up, because they both know that's against the rules, but she can't help feeling relieved.
--
But she has her secret.
"Your words are a private thing," Mama told her, when she was very little, before she could even read. "You don't show them to just anyone."
She had nodded wisely like she understood, and accepted the wristband that Mama gave her to cover them up. Later, she was glad she wore it. She liked the pressure on her skin when she was feeling upset and frightened, and it was one less thing that the other people knew. One less thing they could use against her.
She takes the bracelet off sometimes and traces the words, the smooth copperplate that changes abruptly to a spiky scrawl midway through. She knows that means that she has more than one soulmate, which is one more thing that's different about her, which would be one more thing they would pick at, if they knew. Which they don't. And it's soothing, the light touch of her own fingertip, the predictable pattern of swirls and sharp spikes.
Just the way you are.
--
She doesn't know exactly what it means, of course. Nobody does. You don't know until you meet your soulmate, that's how it goes. But she has an idea.
Just the way you are. Exactly as she is. Summer knows that she's different, that her mind doesn't work like other people's. She'll never really understand how other people work; the best she can hope for is a convincing pretense. She also knows that most people will never understand her, and will never even try. Most people will want her to change, or at least to pretend to change, so they can be comfortable. She knows that she'll have to pretend, if she wants to be a part of society.
And she knows--her words tell her-- she won't have to do that with everyone. She has her family already, her mother and father, her brother and sister, and all the people they love, the people who are as close as family. Those people love her as she is. They are a refuge.
And... the people she's waiting for, whose handwriting is on her wrist. They will never tease her. They'll never ask her to change.
Just the way you are.
She hugs her secret close, when they call her names.
She knows it won't be forever.
Rating: PG
Summary: Summer has a secret.
Warnings: bullying, ableism
Notes: none.
People, Summer has discovered, like to make fun of everything.
She would be angry about this, but it wouldn't be any use; they'd just make fun of her for being angry, and not a thing would change. But they like to make fun. Even Ivy does sometimes, poking at Aaron until he laughs and pokes her right back, or sometimes he snaps and calls her a rude name. She can tell that they love her, though, because they do not make fun of her, because they know she does not like it.
Other people are not nearly so kind.
They call her names, mostly. Spaz and weirdo and retard. Sometimes they take her things, or pull her hair, but that mostly stopped after Ivy found out about it. Summer thinks she should be angry with Ivy, for threatening to beat people up, because they both know that's against the rules, but she can't help feeling relieved.
--
But she has her secret.
"Your words are a private thing," Mama told her, when she was very little, before she could even read. "You don't show them to just anyone."
She had nodded wisely like she understood, and accepted the wristband that Mama gave her to cover them up. Later, she was glad she wore it. She liked the pressure on her skin when she was feeling upset and frightened, and it was one less thing that the other people knew. One less thing they could use against her.
She takes the bracelet off sometimes and traces the words, the smooth copperplate that changes abruptly to a spiky scrawl midway through. She knows that means that she has more than one soulmate, which is one more thing that's different about her, which would be one more thing they would pick at, if they knew. Which they don't. And it's soothing, the light touch of her own fingertip, the predictable pattern of swirls and sharp spikes.
Just the way you are.
--
She doesn't know exactly what it means, of course. Nobody does. You don't know until you meet your soulmate, that's how it goes. But she has an idea.
Just the way you are. Exactly as she is. Summer knows that she's different, that her mind doesn't work like other people's. She'll never really understand how other people work; the best she can hope for is a convincing pretense. She also knows that most people will never understand her, and will never even try. Most people will want her to change, or at least to pretend to change, so they can be comfortable. She knows that she'll have to pretend, if she wants to be a part of society.
And she knows--her words tell her-- she won't have to do that with everyone. She has her family already, her mother and father, her brother and sister, and all the people they love, the people who are as close as family. Those people love her as she is. They are a refuge.
And... the people she's waiting for, whose handwriting is on her wrist. They will never tease her. They'll never ask her to change.
Just the way you are.
She hugs her secret close, when they call her names.
She knows it won't be forever.
