[October 22nd] [Yu-Gi-Oh!] Understanding
Title: Understanding
Day/Prompt: October 22nd - What an elegant way to say it!
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Character/Pairing: The Big Five, Nesbitt's parents (OCs)
Rating/Warning(s): K+
Word Count: 2,187
Summary: Nesbitt's parents have never accepted that he is asexual and aromantic. When they suddenly show up one evening, it goes about as well as he had expected. Written for Ace Week/Asexual Awareness Week.
Nesbitt really hadn't expected or thought he would ever hear from his parents again. He had started to dread the thought a little once he had realized what chaos might result, but it still didn't really prepare him for pulling into the driveway one evening and finding both of them standing and waiting on his front porch.
His stomach dropped around his knees. Still, he took a deep breath and got out of the car. Maybe, just maybe, they actually wanted to make amends and were willing to accept him as he was?
"Hello, Mother, Father," he greeted.
"Still so formal, as always," Mrs. Nesbitt remarked. She came down the steps and took his hands in hers. "Robert, you're looking so well. I'm so glad."
"We've heard about your recent ventures in the news, Son," Mr. Nesbitt added. "We're very proud of you. You're getting your life back on track again!"
"And most importantly, you've found people to love," Mrs. Nesbitt gushed. "I knew eventually you'd have to. It just wouldn't be possible for you not to have such feelings!"
Nesbitt slipped his hands out from hers. "I feel every kind of love except romantic, Mother," he said. "I always have." He had known it was too good to be true.
"You were always so icy, so distant, even as a child," Mrs. Nesbitt complained. "If you can't feel romantic feelings, you can't possibly feel other kinds of love."
"Why not?" Nesbitt said in irritation. He walked past her up to the porch. "It's not like they're connected."
She followed him. "You're so close with that one man especially. Mr. Lector, is it? Surely you must feel something for him!"
"I feel a lot for him. He's my best friend," Nesbitt said through clenched teeth.
"Friends often become something more," Mrs. Nesbitt replied.
Mr. Nesbitt sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. He didn't accept Nesbitt's asexuality and aromanticism either, but he also thought his wife could have a one-track mind. He wanted Nesbitt to marry a woman and continue the family line. Mrs. Nesbitt just wanted him to show romantic or sexual feelings for anyone . . . or possibly anything. Mr. Nesbitt wouldn't be surprised if someday his wife pleaded with their son to be attracted to an Army tank, just so he would be attracted to something.
And Nesbitt was angry now. "More?!" he echoed. "As if romantic feelings are somehow better and more meaningful than any other kinds of love?!"
"Well, they are," Mrs. Nesbitt sniffed.
"Ugh." Nesbitt unlocked the door and pushed it open. "I said I didn't want to talk to you again unless you could accept me as I am. I can see nothing has changed."
"But we were so hopeful that something had changed for you!" Mrs. Nesbitt lamented.
Nesbitt's eye twitched. "You don't simply ‘change' from being asexual," he retorted. "I have never experienced sexual desire. It's not going to suddenly happen. And I'm most certainly not going to start being attracted to my brother."
"You're not related to him!" Mrs. Nesbitt exclaimed.
"That doesn't matter," Nesbitt shot back. "I've learned a lot from all of these men, and one of the most important lessons is that being born into a family isn't the only way to get one."
"You consider all of them your family?" Now Mr. Nesbitt looked a bit angry. "That's a total and complete disregard for us! We're the ones who raised you!"
"It's nothing against either one of you," Nesbitt growled. "Although I have to say that they have all been accepting of me when you would not even consider it. And right now, neither of you are welcome in my home."
"But Robert . . . !" Mrs. Nesbitt wailed.
"Don't you even have any pride, Son?" Mr. Nesbitt demanded. "Performing well in bed is what gives men their pride!"
Nesbitt snorted in derision. "Some men, Father-such as you, apparently. My pride comes from the machines I create. I have a great deal of pride over that. It's certainly more constructive than what gives you pride."
"Oh?" Mr. Nesbitt sneered. "You wouldn't even be here if not for that."
Nesbitt's patience was bending very quickly. They had gotten into this argument so many times over the years, each time as though it was the first time it had ever happened. Maybe Mr. Nesbitt really didn't remember each time, or maybe he was convinced that his son didn't and needed to be reminded, that somehow it would change something. But Nesbitt remembered.
"I have never said people shouldn't reproduce," he said through clenched teeth, "even though I am not interested and do not personally want to participate. But we both know you weren't talking about using sex for reproduction, just for pleasure and conquest."
Mr. Nesbitt wouldn't acknowledge that. "Then what kind of legacy are you leaving behind?" he asked. "Your machines? No one will remember them."
"How do you know, Father?" Nesbitt countered. "Many of my inventions have been important to the military. It's possible that someday, some of my other inventions will be household names as much as the television and the computer."
". . . I take it back," Mr. Nesbitt said. "You do have a great deal of pride. Probably too much."
Nesbitt finally slammed his palm against the front door. "There's no pleasing you, either of you!"
"Get married to someone, anyone, and that's all we care about," Mrs. Nesbitt said.
By this point, Nesbitt really felt like retorting with an obscenity against their obsession. But while he was struggling with himself to not blurt something that he really found childish and immature, another vehicle pulling into the driveway cut the conversation short. Everyone looked up as a confused Lector got out and headed up the driveway. "Nesbitt? What's going on here?" he asked.
Nesbitt heaved a sigh. "These are my parents," he all but mumbled.
Mrs. Nesbitt made a beeline for Lector and grabbed his hand. "Robert insists he doesn't feel anything romantic for you, but you do for him, don't you?!" she babbled.
"Excuse me?!" Lector stared at her. "Nesbitt was afraid you'd come up with something like that about us, but that's not the nature of our relationship at all!"
Mrs. Nesbitt looked devastated. "But . . . it has to be!" she wailed. "You're the first person our Robert has ever become so close to!"
"Actually, that was Crump," Nesbitt muttered. "I didn't even like Lector at first." But odd as it was, he had become closer to Lector than he had ever been to Crump-although Crump was also very dear to him, of course.
"Mrs. Nesbitt." Lector looked firmly at the distraught woman in front of him. "Your son and I couldn't be closer, but we are not romantically involved and don't have any such feelings for each other. We are best friends and brothers. Even if Nesbitt wasn't asexual and aromantic, that would be the nature of our relationship. If you truly love your son, I suppose you must be worried that he's unhappy if he doesn't have a romantic or sexual connection with someone. But look at him! Does he seem unhappy?"
"No," Mrs. Nesbitt said. "He's been happier than he ever used to be, so I was sure that had to mean . . ."
"It doesn't," Nesbitt growled.
Lector nodded. "There isn't only one way to love in order to be truly happy. I would say the way to happiness is to truly love people, and your son loves all of us very deeply-with a love that has nothing to do with romance or sex."
". . . There's no budging them," Mr. Nesbitt said. "Come on, honey, let's leave them alone."
Mrs. Nesbitt looked reluctant, but defeated. "Well . . . alright. . . ."
Nesbitt looked to Lector with relief. "And if you're ever willing to really accept that, you're welcome here," he said to his parents.
Mr. Nesbitt sighed a bit as he drew his arm around his wife. "We'll think about it," he said. "We've both missed you, Son."
"I've missed you too," Nesbitt admitted. "And I miss the way it used to be, before it seemed like all you cared about was my sex life. I'm still your son, whether I feel any sexual attraction to anyone or not. And an aromantic does feel other types of love. I love both of you as my parents, and I love all of these men as my best friends and more family members. I'm sorry if you never realized I cared about you."
"We thought we knew," Mr. Nesbitt said, "but once we realized you aligned with these . . . aromantics, we thought we were wrong, that you couldn't feel anything."
"That's a gross misconception," Nesbitt said.
Lector gave a firm nod. "Your son feels more deeply than most people I've ever met," he said. "I never thought his asexuality or aromanticism had anything to do with how distanced and aloof he can be, but regardless, it took me a while to realize who he was behind that wall. When I did, it was so obvious that I could hardly believe I hadn't recognized it before. I am very sorry that neither of you ever figured it out, especially since you've known him all his life."
Mrs. Nesbitt actually looked somewhat baffled. She gave her husband a questioning look, to which he shook his head.
Nesbitt looked away. Even though he hadn't recognized his feeling nature for quite some time, it still hurt to see that his parents hadn't known.
The rest of the Big Five were starting to pull up as Nesbitt's parents were driving off. "So, who was that?" Crump blinked, getting out of his car.
"My parents," Nesbitt sighed. He came down the steps to greet the rest of his family, with Lector close behind.
"Apparently they thought we had a thing going," Lector said.
Johnson stared. "But you set them straight, I hope?"
"We did our best," Lector said. "I'm not sure it really worked, but at least it got them to back down for now."
Nesbitt shook his head. "My father only understands, maybe, that an aromantic does feel love, just not romantic love. That doesn't change that he thinks I should get married to a woman and give him a grandchild. . . . In other words, that I'm still not ‘normal' to him and he can't accept me when I'm not. I think he just decided to back down to try to shut my mother up. I'm pretty sure she's a hopeless case. She doesn't care who I'm attracted to, as long as I get attracted to someone. Which I won't."
Gansley sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Me too," Crump said. "I sure know about parents acting crummy."
"I'm sorry you have to know," Nesbitt said.
Crump gave him a sympathetic look. "Well, since we can't change it, how about we all go in and have dinner?"
Nesbitt nodded. "Come on." He got back on the porch and pushed the door open wide. As his friends all trouped inside, he gave a gruff smile.
Lector turned to look at him. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Nesbitt laid a hand on Lector's shoulder. "I knew long ago that they couldn't accept me."
"But I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier to deal with," Lector frowned. He still struggled with the way his parents had come to treat him, especially his father.
". . . It doesn't," Nesbitt had to admit. "And even though I was afraid this kind of confrontation would happen, it still hurts that it did."
Lector pushed the front door shut. "A lot of people still have trouble accepting asexuality, unfortunately. I never understood what all the fuss was about."
Nesbitt sighed. "Because you and the others are more open-minded than most. When you and Crump each accepted me as I am, I knew I'd found something worth exploring more. And then Gansley and Johnson both accepted me too."
Johnson nodded. "I could relate to lack of desire to some extent, since I didn't want that kind of entanglement to get in the way of my work."
"And even though I didn't understand, per se, I certainly didn't think it was a reason to treat you as your parents have," Gansley said.
"No kidding," Crump agreed. "I've sure never understood it, but hey, I've always believed that you had a right to live that kind of life. Especially when you're not hurting anybody."
"And I understand quite well, since I have no desire for sexual activity even though I can appreciate feminine beauty," Lector said.
Nesbitt smirked a bit. "I'd still like to think that you're a fellow asexual."
"We'll see," Lector said. He still thought of himself as heterosexual, and yet he knew that didn't exactly fit either. Nesbitt's previous deduction of asexual but heteromantic might be closer to the truth.
"Well, in any case . . ." Nesbitt shifted, looking awkward and embarrassed now. "As syrupy sweet as it sounds to say, I have the best friends anyone could have. And the best family. I wish I'd met all of you years ago, but I'm glad I met you when I did."
"So are we," Lector smiled, and the others echoed their agreement.
Day/Prompt: October 22nd - What an elegant way to say it!
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Character/Pairing: The Big Five, Nesbitt's parents (OCs)
Rating/Warning(s): K+
Word Count: 2,187
Summary: Nesbitt's parents have never accepted that he is asexual and aromantic. When they suddenly show up one evening, it goes about as well as he had expected. Written for Ace Week/Asexual Awareness Week.
Nesbitt really hadn't expected or thought he would ever hear from his parents again. He had started to dread the thought a little once he had realized what chaos might result, but it still didn't really prepare him for pulling into the driveway one evening and finding both of them standing and waiting on his front porch.
His stomach dropped around his knees. Still, he took a deep breath and got out of the car. Maybe, just maybe, they actually wanted to make amends and were willing to accept him as he was?
"Hello, Mother, Father," he greeted.
"Still so formal, as always," Mrs. Nesbitt remarked. She came down the steps and took his hands in hers. "Robert, you're looking so well. I'm so glad."
"We've heard about your recent ventures in the news, Son," Mr. Nesbitt added. "We're very proud of you. You're getting your life back on track again!"
"And most importantly, you've found people to love," Mrs. Nesbitt gushed. "I knew eventually you'd have to. It just wouldn't be possible for you not to have such feelings!"
Nesbitt slipped his hands out from hers. "I feel every kind of love except romantic, Mother," he said. "I always have." He had known it was too good to be true.
"You were always so icy, so distant, even as a child," Mrs. Nesbitt complained. "If you can't feel romantic feelings, you can't possibly feel other kinds of love."
"Why not?" Nesbitt said in irritation. He walked past her up to the porch. "It's not like they're connected."
She followed him. "You're so close with that one man especially. Mr. Lector, is it? Surely you must feel something for him!"
"I feel a lot for him. He's my best friend," Nesbitt said through clenched teeth.
"Friends often become something more," Mrs. Nesbitt replied.
Mr. Nesbitt sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. He didn't accept Nesbitt's asexuality and aromanticism either, but he also thought his wife could have a one-track mind. He wanted Nesbitt to marry a woman and continue the family line. Mrs. Nesbitt just wanted him to show romantic or sexual feelings for anyone . . . or possibly anything. Mr. Nesbitt wouldn't be surprised if someday his wife pleaded with their son to be attracted to an Army tank, just so he would be attracted to something.
And Nesbitt was angry now. "More?!" he echoed. "As if romantic feelings are somehow better and more meaningful than any other kinds of love?!"
"Well, they are," Mrs. Nesbitt sniffed.
"Ugh." Nesbitt unlocked the door and pushed it open. "I said I didn't want to talk to you again unless you could accept me as I am. I can see nothing has changed."
"But we were so hopeful that something had changed for you!" Mrs. Nesbitt lamented.
Nesbitt's eye twitched. "You don't simply ‘change' from being asexual," he retorted. "I have never experienced sexual desire. It's not going to suddenly happen. And I'm most certainly not going to start being attracted to my brother."
"You're not related to him!" Mrs. Nesbitt exclaimed.
"That doesn't matter," Nesbitt shot back. "I've learned a lot from all of these men, and one of the most important lessons is that being born into a family isn't the only way to get one."
"You consider all of them your family?" Now Mr. Nesbitt looked a bit angry. "That's a total and complete disregard for us! We're the ones who raised you!"
"It's nothing against either one of you," Nesbitt growled. "Although I have to say that they have all been accepting of me when you would not even consider it. And right now, neither of you are welcome in my home."
"But Robert . . . !" Mrs. Nesbitt wailed.
"Don't you even have any pride, Son?" Mr. Nesbitt demanded. "Performing well in bed is what gives men their pride!"
Nesbitt snorted in derision. "Some men, Father-such as you, apparently. My pride comes from the machines I create. I have a great deal of pride over that. It's certainly more constructive than what gives you pride."
"Oh?" Mr. Nesbitt sneered. "You wouldn't even be here if not for that."
Nesbitt's patience was bending very quickly. They had gotten into this argument so many times over the years, each time as though it was the first time it had ever happened. Maybe Mr. Nesbitt really didn't remember each time, or maybe he was convinced that his son didn't and needed to be reminded, that somehow it would change something. But Nesbitt remembered.
"I have never said people shouldn't reproduce," he said through clenched teeth, "even though I am not interested and do not personally want to participate. But we both know you weren't talking about using sex for reproduction, just for pleasure and conquest."
Mr. Nesbitt wouldn't acknowledge that. "Then what kind of legacy are you leaving behind?" he asked. "Your machines? No one will remember them."
"How do you know, Father?" Nesbitt countered. "Many of my inventions have been important to the military. It's possible that someday, some of my other inventions will be household names as much as the television and the computer."
". . . I take it back," Mr. Nesbitt said. "You do have a great deal of pride. Probably too much."
Nesbitt finally slammed his palm against the front door. "There's no pleasing you, either of you!"
"Get married to someone, anyone, and that's all we care about," Mrs. Nesbitt said.
By this point, Nesbitt really felt like retorting with an obscenity against their obsession. But while he was struggling with himself to not blurt something that he really found childish and immature, another vehicle pulling into the driveway cut the conversation short. Everyone looked up as a confused Lector got out and headed up the driveway. "Nesbitt? What's going on here?" he asked.
Nesbitt heaved a sigh. "These are my parents," he all but mumbled.
Mrs. Nesbitt made a beeline for Lector and grabbed his hand. "Robert insists he doesn't feel anything romantic for you, but you do for him, don't you?!" she babbled.
"Excuse me?!" Lector stared at her. "Nesbitt was afraid you'd come up with something like that about us, but that's not the nature of our relationship at all!"
Mrs. Nesbitt looked devastated. "But . . . it has to be!" she wailed. "You're the first person our Robert has ever become so close to!"
"Actually, that was Crump," Nesbitt muttered. "I didn't even like Lector at first." But odd as it was, he had become closer to Lector than he had ever been to Crump-although Crump was also very dear to him, of course.
"Mrs. Nesbitt." Lector looked firmly at the distraught woman in front of him. "Your son and I couldn't be closer, but we are not romantically involved and don't have any such feelings for each other. We are best friends and brothers. Even if Nesbitt wasn't asexual and aromantic, that would be the nature of our relationship. If you truly love your son, I suppose you must be worried that he's unhappy if he doesn't have a romantic or sexual connection with someone. But look at him! Does he seem unhappy?"
"No," Mrs. Nesbitt said. "He's been happier than he ever used to be, so I was sure that had to mean . . ."
"It doesn't," Nesbitt growled.
Lector nodded. "There isn't only one way to love in order to be truly happy. I would say the way to happiness is to truly love people, and your son loves all of us very deeply-with a love that has nothing to do with romance or sex."
". . . There's no budging them," Mr. Nesbitt said. "Come on, honey, let's leave them alone."
Mrs. Nesbitt looked reluctant, but defeated. "Well . . . alright. . . ."
Nesbitt looked to Lector with relief. "And if you're ever willing to really accept that, you're welcome here," he said to his parents.
Mr. Nesbitt sighed a bit as he drew his arm around his wife. "We'll think about it," he said. "We've both missed you, Son."
"I've missed you too," Nesbitt admitted. "And I miss the way it used to be, before it seemed like all you cared about was my sex life. I'm still your son, whether I feel any sexual attraction to anyone or not. And an aromantic does feel other types of love. I love both of you as my parents, and I love all of these men as my best friends and more family members. I'm sorry if you never realized I cared about you."
"We thought we knew," Mr. Nesbitt said, "but once we realized you aligned with these . . . aromantics, we thought we were wrong, that you couldn't feel anything."
"That's a gross misconception," Nesbitt said.
Lector gave a firm nod. "Your son feels more deeply than most people I've ever met," he said. "I never thought his asexuality or aromanticism had anything to do with how distanced and aloof he can be, but regardless, it took me a while to realize who he was behind that wall. When I did, it was so obvious that I could hardly believe I hadn't recognized it before. I am very sorry that neither of you ever figured it out, especially since you've known him all his life."
Mrs. Nesbitt actually looked somewhat baffled. She gave her husband a questioning look, to which he shook his head.
Nesbitt looked away. Even though he hadn't recognized his feeling nature for quite some time, it still hurt to see that his parents hadn't known.
The rest of the Big Five were starting to pull up as Nesbitt's parents were driving off. "So, who was that?" Crump blinked, getting out of his car.
"My parents," Nesbitt sighed. He came down the steps to greet the rest of his family, with Lector close behind.
"Apparently they thought we had a thing going," Lector said.
Johnson stared. "But you set them straight, I hope?"
"We did our best," Lector said. "I'm not sure it really worked, but at least it got them to back down for now."
Nesbitt shook his head. "My father only understands, maybe, that an aromantic does feel love, just not romantic love. That doesn't change that he thinks I should get married to a woman and give him a grandchild. . . . In other words, that I'm still not ‘normal' to him and he can't accept me when I'm not. I think he just decided to back down to try to shut my mother up. I'm pretty sure she's a hopeless case. She doesn't care who I'm attracted to, as long as I get attracted to someone. Which I won't."
Gansley sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Me too," Crump said. "I sure know about parents acting crummy."
"I'm sorry you have to know," Nesbitt said.
Crump gave him a sympathetic look. "Well, since we can't change it, how about we all go in and have dinner?"
Nesbitt nodded. "Come on." He got back on the porch and pushed the door open wide. As his friends all trouped inside, he gave a gruff smile.
Lector turned to look at him. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Nesbitt laid a hand on Lector's shoulder. "I knew long ago that they couldn't accept me."
"But I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier to deal with," Lector frowned. He still struggled with the way his parents had come to treat him, especially his father.
". . . It doesn't," Nesbitt had to admit. "And even though I was afraid this kind of confrontation would happen, it still hurts that it did."
Lector pushed the front door shut. "A lot of people still have trouble accepting asexuality, unfortunately. I never understood what all the fuss was about."
Nesbitt sighed. "Because you and the others are more open-minded than most. When you and Crump each accepted me as I am, I knew I'd found something worth exploring more. And then Gansley and Johnson both accepted me too."
Johnson nodded. "I could relate to lack of desire to some extent, since I didn't want that kind of entanglement to get in the way of my work."
"And even though I didn't understand, per se, I certainly didn't think it was a reason to treat you as your parents have," Gansley said.
"No kidding," Crump agreed. "I've sure never understood it, but hey, I've always believed that you had a right to live that kind of life. Especially when you're not hurting anybody."
"And I understand quite well, since I have no desire for sexual activity even though I can appreciate feminine beauty," Lector said.
Nesbitt smirked a bit. "I'd still like to think that you're a fellow asexual."
"We'll see," Lector said. He still thought of himself as heterosexual, and yet he knew that didn't exactly fit either. Nesbitt's previous deduction of asexual but heteromantic might be closer to the truth.
"Well, in any case . . ." Nesbitt shifted, looking awkward and embarrassed now. "As syrupy sweet as it sounds to say, I have the best friends anyone could have. And the best family. I wish I'd met all of you years ago, but I'm glad I met you when I did."
"So are we," Lector smiled, and the others echoed their agreement.