hey full offense but the ‘use the right pronouns even if the person is horrible!’ statements arent made to coddle horrible ppl, its saying ‘dont view correct pronouns as a fucking privilege that can be taken away once people decide you’ve fucked up enough’, misgendering someone on purpose is transphobic no matter what bc it equates transphobia as a ‘punishment’ for bad people, pronouns are a part of baseline human respect, its that simple
this was, verbatim, the topic of my final paper for a class last year. it’s such an astoundingly easy concept to grasp that not a lot of people even think about
"Saeran ~," Saeyoung chimed, as he skipped into their room, making the younger twin jump in surprise at the sudden noise. "Guess what month it is!!"
His eyes grew wide at the unexpected question. Looking around the room, Saeran tried to find an answer to his brother's question, even though he thought, it would be in vain. After all, even if the answer was posted around somewhere, he wouldn't be able to read it quickly.
"I dunno….but don't yell so much - if mommy hears, she'll be very angry…."
Saeran's voice was but a timid whisper, his gaze trained to the dusty floorboards.
Sighing at the fearful display, Saeyoung closed the door behind him.
"Don't worry. That woman is….sleeping," he said, his voice trailing off a bit at that last part.
Then, he hurried to one of the old wooden shelves in their room, pushing it aside with relative ease.
"It's june!", he answered his own question, his excitement returning immediately.
Behind the shelf, that was now out of the way, there was a poster Saeyoung had put up a few years back. Its light blue coloring clashed with the rest of the dilapidated room, alongside the stickers depicting stars and rocket ships Saeyoung had decorated it with, all of which he had received from the church.
"That means it's our birthday soon! And it also means that we get to see how much we grew!"
Saeran was silent for a moment. He really wanted to get swept up by his brother's excitement, but he couldn't quite find it in himself to actually do so.
"I probably didn't grow at all…"
Frowning a bit as he heard him say this, Saeyoung pulled a black felt liner from his pocket.
"Of course you did. You can't not grow. Plus I can tell by looking at you that you're much taller than last year!"
Saeran's eyes lit up at that.
"Really??" he asked, making the other laugh happily at the sight of him coming out of his shell a bit.
Saeyoung nodded excitedly, before pulling a little chair next to the poster.
"Can you measure me first?"
A bit nervous at this request, Saeran bit the inside of his cheek. Saeyoung had always been much taller than him, making it quite difficult for him to reach. As for the little chair Saeyoung was patting as he looked at him expectantly, Saeran lacked the confidence to climb it, too afraid he may fall and hurt himself.
Still, he didn't want to disappoint his brother.
"Okay," he mumbled, shuffling over to the poster Saeyoung had already aligned himself with.
Standing on his tiptoes and holding on to Saeyoung with one hand, Saeran tried his best to draw a straight line above the top of his twin's head.
Once he was done, Saeyoung turned around quickly, wanting to see for himself.
Saeran winced at noticing that the line he drew was rather crooked, making it difficult to make out which line from the poster it aligned with.
He watched anxiously as Saeyoung squinted at the poster, not saying a single word.
"This…," he finally started, making Saeran tense up in anticipation of being scolded for doing such a bad job, "...is super awesome! That’s at least three centimeters!"
Surprised at the positive reaction, Saeran simply stared at Saeyoung, who had already grabbed the felt liner to put his name next to the crooked line before spinning around to Saeran.
"Your turn!!" He exclaimed, holding out his hand.
Taking a deep breath, Saeran grabbed the outstretched hand, allowing Saeyoung to guide him to the optimal place to stand.
"You have to stand very straight and not move, so I can see properly, okay?" Saeyoung instructed him, placing one of his hands on Saeran's chest to help him stand upright.
Focusing on getting an accurate measurement, Saeyoung stuck out his tongue, glancing at his brother's nervous face. As his hand moved above Saeran's head, Saeran held his breath, trying his hardest to not move an inch.
Saeyoung grinned at the cute sight and drew the line quite a bit above Saeran's actual size and much closer to his own.
"Got it!"
Saeran almost jumped away from the wall, eager to see how he compared to his brother.
"I'm almost as big as you!" He exclaimed excitedly, struggling to believe his eyes. "...but I look so much smaller when I stand next to you…"
Saeyoung waved his concern off.
"That's because normally, we don't stand completely straight!"
Thinking about that explanation for a moment, Saeran pursed his lips. He wasn't quite sure if what Saeyoung said was true, but at the same time he had no reason to believe that he was lying.
Walking over to the poster, he measured his distance of growth from last year with his finger, comparing it to the distance from this year.
"I grew much more this year," he recognized.
"Yup! That's because we're turning eight this year!"
Saeran started to count on his fingers.
In the meantime, Saeyoung continued his explanation.
"That means you're growing quicker now, because I'm taller than you and I will grow slower, until we're the same height and then we'll grow at the same speed!"
Scoffing, Saeran let his hands fall to his sides. "You made that up."
"Nope! I read it in a book at the church! It's because we're twins, so our genes will work hard to make us look the exact same!!"
Of course Saeyoung knew that this was utter nonsense and maybe it would've been for the better to just drop that claim when Saeran called him out. However, he knew very well how much Saeran wished to be more like him. Plus, for all he knew, his little brother might actually experience a growth spurt some time in the future.
"Let's make a bet!" He offered. "If I end up being wrong, I'll treat you to a bowl of ice cream with as many scoops as you want!"
Saeran's eyes lit up at the idea, before his smile faltered a little.
"What if I lose?"
Saeyoung thought about the question for a moment. Then he said:
"Well. If you lose that bet, not only will you be as tall as me, but I will still get the ice cream for you, except I get to choose the flavors - and we have to share!"
Saeran's smile returns at that notion.
"But I will always share with Saeyoung, even without having to."
A happy laugh escaped the other twin, before he engulfed Saeran in a big hug, almost throwing him to the floor.
As cruel as the world seemed to be to them, Saeyoung thought, at least they would always have each other as they would keep growing - together.
there’s obviously a lot of nuance to to this conversation, but I feel like the way that people nowadays talk about friendships is so cold and devoid of love or empathy. like you aren’t allowed to complain or be sad, ur burdening ur friends with ur problems, helping someone through a hard time is ‘emotional labour’ and ‘you don’t owe anyone anything’ and I’m just thinking what does friendship even mean to you then? like honestly? people say ‘I’m not your therapist’ as if therapy is the answer to everything. what a sad world where a paid clinician is the only person you’re allowed to be emotionally vulnerable with. this ultra individualistic mindset leads to everyone feeling alone and isolated and we’ve lost all concept of community and support systems
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