A Yu-Gi-Oh! zine about queer adulthood. Proceeds go to Lambda Legal, a charity working to fight for queer rights and freedoms. Visit our carrd to learn more.
Okay so! We've had a bit of a setback from a number of our contributors dropping due to illness and real life issues to the point that we don't have enough content for a full, printed zine. But rather than get discouraged, we've decided to change from a paid zine project into an open fan event to celebrate this upcoming pride month!
Our theme will remain the same: Our favorite characters navagating life as queer adults. And now we'd like to invite everyone and anyone to participate! This also means no page limits, no word count limits and everyone may contribute as many pieces as they like. Then at the end of the event, we're aiming to put together a free anthology of everyone's contributions.
This is the basic idea but please feel free to leave feedback and suggestions to make it a fun, enjoyable pride event.
Also, please send us a DM on twitter or a non-anonymous ask here if you’d like to participate in the discord! (Asks of this nature will be answered privately.)
Oops, one more and it's my fault this one is so late!! For our VERY last entry we have Maybe One Day from our own mod, @darkxyzduelist <3 It's very sweet T.T
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Written for the awesome @queerlyyoursygo zine, which will be released at the end of Pride Month - have some deathshipping domestic fluff and angst (but mostly fluff) :D We all need positivity in these dark times!
Oops, got a little behind but next we have “No Gender in the Mesozoic” by @unknown-lifeform!
Tyranno stopped the car, and looked over at the small group of people gathered in the dusty parking lot. Ve recognized professor Stuart, digging through his backpack. Not Tyranno’s favorite person by far, but it was undeniable that he was excellent in his field, and so ve would have to put up with him.
If ve had survived multiple otherworldly beings trying to kill ver throughout ver teens, ve could deal with an annoying professor for a few days.
Ve didn’t know the other people. Four of them so far. Tyranno had never met most of the students involved in this dig. Ve was just here because one of ver professors had put in a good word for ver, so ve was a bit of an outsider. There should be a guy Tyranno knew, but he wasn’t here yet.
A brief moment to take a deep breath, and Tyranno left the car with a smile. Ve wasn’t looking forward to Stuart, but ve wouldn’t let him alone ruin the trip. It had taken a lot of work to get into ver doctorate program, pushing past people who didn’t think someone with a background as a Duel Academy student had what it took. Getting to work in the Hell’s Creek Formation, with all its fossils waiting to be discovered, was a dream come true.
“Good morning!” Tyranno greeted. It wasn’t even nine in the morning, and the heat was already uncomfortable. Ve would be sweating ver ass off soon.
“Ah, Kenzan,” Stuart said, with a smirk. “Move aside, Williams, we’ve got our real gender minority here.”
How Tyranno would like to land a punch on this guy sometimes. But he was the boss here, and ve would have to suck it up and swallow the microaggressions. How ve wished this was still high school, with the Academy’s unhinged teaching body who could be put back in their place with a good duel.
Williams, Tyranno guessed, was the only girl of the group, or at least the only person who was visibly not to a cis man. She eyed ver up and down with a strange expression.
“Professor,” Tyranno greeted, trying to keep ver voice neutral. “What are we gonna do?”
“Wait for the others, clearly. Here, take this.”
Tyranno took some papers from his hands. Maps of the area, a large geological one, then a few smaller topographic ones. Stuart could have told them to print and bring them on their own, but he was an old fashioned kind of man, with his own ideas on how to work. And on life in general.
Ve turned to the other people, and smiled. “Hey there, nice meeting you. Tyranno Kenzan.”
“Tyranno?” one of them repeated, sounding slightly disbelieving.
“Yep. Picked it myself!”
The other nodded, mouth opening. “Oh, so the thing about gender minorities is…?”
“I’m nonbinary,” Tyranno said. Some days ve wished that wasn’t one of the first things ve had to talk about whenever ve introduced verself, but it was what it was. “And I use ve pronouns, before anyone asks.”
“What is ve?” another person asked.
“Well, you can say, ‘ve is Tyranno, and ver name is the damn best there is’.”
“Sure,” the guy laughed.
Williams, the girl, looked at ver up and down. “You’re not pulling our leg, right?”
Tyranno blinked at her. “No, why?”
“Nothing.”
The guy standing next to Williams spoke up. “You are really… nonbinary?”
“Yeah?” Tyranno replied.
“Huh. Don’t think I would have been able to tell.”
Oh for–
“Why not?” Tyranno asked, not sure what answer ve was hoping for. Maybe ve should have ignored the comment, but ve had never been too good about ver temper.
He shrugged. “You’re… Well, you are very masculine.”
And there it was. The usual assumption that because Tyranno didn’t look like an androgynous twink ve couldn’t be serious about being nonbinary. Because according to some having muscles that would make most cis guys seethe with envy was an automatic sign ve couldn’t be a gender minority.
It wasn’t like anyone ever dripped femininity on a paleontological dig, so Tyranno didn’t know what people expected. No one would show up with make up and a skirt while hiking in the dust. Maybe ve did look like a cis man whenever ve dressed practically, that didn’t mean ve was anything but what ve said ve was.
Before ve could reply – and in ways that might have been less than polite – another car drove into the parking lot, the wheels dragging up enough dust to make some people cough. A couple men got off, and Tyranno’s eyebrows raised up into ver hairline.
“Jim!” ve shouted.
“Surprise, mate!” Jim laughed.
Tyranno walked up to him, and dragged him in a hug. “What are you doing out of Australia?”
“I’ll have you know I can survive not seeing a kangaroo for a few weeks. Got a last minute invitation to join.” He gave a firm slap on Tyranno’s back, and stepped away. “Been too long. Karen will be so happy to see you.”
“Did you bring her?”
“Do I ever go anywhere without my girl? Hold on, gotta go introduce myself.”
Tyranno leaned against the car as Jim and his companion went to greet Stuart. Ve couldn’t believe he had said nothing. Jim stuck to Australia most of the time, ve highly doubted he would just be randomly invited to an American dig. He must have planned this.
And he had known full well Tyranno was here, because ve had been gushing to him about it for months now.
“Jim Cook,” he was saying to the professor.
Stuart raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. “Ah, the one with the emotional support animal, right? Seems right you’re friends with the gender minority.”
Jim glanced at Tyranno as Stuart went to dig out some maps for him. Ve just shrugged.
“You’ve brought a dog?” one of the other people asked.
The guy Jim had been in the car with snorted. Tyranno didn’t know him, but if he was Jim’s friend he had to be a nice guy.
“Karen’s not a dog.”
“What is she, then?”
“I’ll just let her out, poor girl must be feeling cramped in the car,” Jim said, having gotten his maps.
Everyone gathered by the car, only to scream when the large crocodile crawled out of the backseat with a hiss.
Tyranno crouched. “Hey girl, remember me?”
Of course Karen did, she was the smartest reptile Tyranno had ever seen. She crawled to ver, and ve rubbed her head vigorously, so that she could feel it even through her scales. Ve was rewarded with a deep exhale.
Jim crouched down next to ver. “She deserves a good prize after being in the car for hours.”
He held out a sausage to her, and she took it from his hand with infinite gentleness.
“Prof giving you trouble?” Jim whispered to Tyranno.
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“I know, I know.” Jim patted Karen as she swallowed. “Just tell me if you need help.”
Tyranno appreciated it, but ve was fine. Ve had always been tough, and just because ve couldn’t solve all ver problems with card games anymore it didn’t mean ve couldn’t take care of verself. Prof would have to eat his words by the end of the dig.
And as for what the other people thought, well. If Sue the T-rex could use they pronouns, Tyranno could do whatever ve wanted too. Ve’d show them gender had nothing to do with being a good paleontologist, and after all ve had a much more direct experience with dinosaurs than anyone else here.
“Don’t worry, got thicker skin than your girl here,” ve said.
Jim huffed in amusement. “If you say so.”
Karen was doing her best to shove her face inside Tyranno’s pockets to check for more treats. Ve hoped Jim had brought lots. A hungry Karen could be a much bigger problem than any mean professor.
“Don’t be rude,” Jim chided her. “Anyways, will we rely on your dinosaur sense to find the fossils?”
Tyranno grinned at him. “I’ll sniff ‘em out like a T-rex on the hunt.”
“Hope we don’t find your distant cousins.”
“Why not? We can make it a family reunion.”
Tyranno might be considered a weirdo by human standards, but ve was more than sure the relatives of the dinosaur whose bones ve carried would not see ver as any weirder than any human in the world.
“Alright, we only need to wait for a couple more people,” Stuart said, outloud. “And you, Cook! I don’t know what kind of quack doctor said that thing could be your emotional support animal, but you’ll better keep it under control.”
“Will do,” Jim said.
Tyranno stood up, shaking ver head. Such discrimination against archosaurs around here.
The guy Jim had come with held his hand out to Tyranno. “We haven’t met before, right? Name’s Damien.”
“Tyranno. Nice meeting you,” Tyranno replied, shaking his hand.
“So you’re one of Jim’s old schoolmates, right? Was that card game school half as insane as Jim says or is he pulling my leg?”
Tyranno grinned. “Jim was only in our branch one year. He has no idea.”
“Pretty sure I would have died if I’d been in your branch the whole time,” Jim piped in, putting one arm around Tyranno’s shoulder.
Maybe he should have said, died more than once. However, that wasn’t the kind of thing they could mention around most people.
“Sure,” Damien said. “I don’t believe either of you.”
Tyranno shifted ver weight. If only Damien knew all the things they said were real, and that not all the unbelievable things had to be connected to the Academy either. Everyone in this parking lot would have a fit if they knew there was an actual fossil in ver leg.
And they wouldn’t be in the wrong. Back then, Tyranno had been thrilled to have a real piece of dinosaur in ver body. Nowadays ve recognized how bonkers those doctors had been.
Heh. Ve was the gender minority and species minority here all at once, if one wanted to get nitpicky about it. Real special snowflake and all. Last person who had called ver that had gotten hit in the nose.
Another car pulled over. At the wheel was Alex, that Tyranno had met before a couple times. A second person was in the passenger’s seat, but that was all Tyranno could make out from behind the dust cloud.
“Morning,” Alex said, hopping out.
“And we’ve got out last ones here,” Stuart said. “Hurry up so we can start.”
Jim clapped Tyranno’s back. “Let’s get these dinosaurs.”
My piece for @queerlyyoursygo!!! I decided to do a piece of Rua helping Ruka out post-op at his college dorm after moving out of their parents high rise. I’ve always loved 5D’s and getting to do a piece about these two was so awesome. I hope some of y’all can find the easter eggs I added in too <3
Next is this lovely story by @rymyanna ! Please enjoy Malik attending a pride parade for the first time <3
The Way Is Long
When Malik looks at the marchers behind them, he can see that the people in the back are still at their starting point, waiting. The sheer amount of people feels surreal. Despite having lived in the outside world for years now, he’s still sometimes awed at crowds and the noise of people going about their daily business. He thinks back to that fateful day in his childhood, when his sister had taken him to the marketplace for the first and only time. It’s a complicated memory; not something he wants to forget because it started his journey in so many ways, but unpleasant to think about for that very same reason.
Back then, he hadn’t really had the time, or the information, to think about identity. He had thought about revenge, destiny, and responsibility. There had been so many expectations for what his life would be like, no one had asked him what he wanted. If he had sometimes looked at another man and thought him appealing, it hadn’t been something he’d dwelled on.
Now, there are so many flags waving in the air around him. One of them almost hits him in the face. He can’t say he knows what all of them mean, but he has access to the internet so he can find out at any time. The people around him chant, and someone in the distance has a bluetooth speaker, the sound of music barely carrying over to where the three of them are. He’s with his sister and her friend, Mai Kujaku. Though, he’s not sure “friend” is the right word.
They talk as they walk. Card games are still something he dabbles in, just for fun. Mai has played professionally for years and she has a lot to say about the topic, particularly when it comes to her own technically-legal strategies. Malik doesn’t really care one way or the other, but Ishizu has always been far more rule-abiding than he.
“It’s not cheating,” Mai argues. “There’s nothing about it in the rules.”
“It’s the spirit of the thing,” Ishizu says, shielding her eyes from the sun as they march forward.
“It’s the lack of imagination on the part of the rulemakers,” Malik tells them. Mai nods along as she digs through her purse for a pair of sunglasses for Ishizu. They’re pink and heart-shaped and do little to actually protect one's eyes from the rays.
“These do very little,” Ishizu agrees with him as Mai places them on her face for her.
Mai looks at her, up and down in an exaggerated manner. “No no, they do a lot for you.” She winks, laughing, and walks ahead of the siblings.
He can hear his sister sigh next to him, but when he looks over at her, she’s smiling. The sunglasses make her look more like she’s here to have fun, and less like she’s attending a very colorful funeral march.
“They look nice on you,” Malik comments and gets a raised eyebrow for his troubles. He goes on, “Be grateful your friend is so well prepared.”
It doesn’t faze her. “I will thank her later.”
They walk in silence for a while. Rishid isn’t with them today, but he had promised to join them for one of the bigger parades. They were easing into it, the whole being in big crowds thing. Even now when they were living on the surface, the Ishtars were private people; small social circles, quiet evenings with just the three of them.
So being surrounded by hundreds of people, chanting and colorful, is a lot. He doesn’t hate it, though occasionally it feels like all the people and colors start blending together; it’s no longer a bunch of individuals but a mass flowing down the street. He’s a part of that mass, streaming between the buildings. They come to an intersection, there are police cars and officers holding back the flow of traffic. Someone pokes their head out of an open car window and shouts. Perhaps luckily, Malik can’t make out what they’re saying.
Malik feels Ishizu touch his arm and sees her looking at him with a frown.
“How are you feeling?” she asks. He smiles at her, shrugging it off.
“Fine, fine.” There is nothing to worry about, he can handle it.
Mai stops to wait for them then, joining them on Ishizu’s other side. “You guys look so gloomy,” she says. “Aren’t you having fun?”
“It’s a protest, historically,” Ishizu points out. “It wouldn’t do to have too much fun.”
“No such thing!”
From the corner of his eye, Malik can see Mai taking Ishizu’s hand and swinging it back and forth. His sister is smiling again. Malik looks at his own hand, empty, and wonders if maybe next year, or the year after, he could be marching with someone, too. It feels like a far off thing, even though he could meet that someone today. Plenty of people don’t find out about themselves until far into adulthood, so it wouldn’t even be that unlikely to experience it together with someone.
“What are you thinking so hard about, huh?” Mai pokes at him, grinning. She’s been in high spirits all day and it is a little contagious.
“Nothing,” Malik says at first and then changes his mind. “Relationships, I guess.”
“I see,” she says, knowingly. “Well, you can talk to your sister about it later. Or you can talk to me!” She nudges him with her elbow, winking. “I’m sort of like your big sis now, too.”
Malik gives Ishizu a look while she ignores him and keeps staring ahead. “And how long has that been the case?” he asks, innocently. This time Ishizu does look at him, seeing right through his façade.
“Let me know if you have any relationship questions,” she tells him, calm as ever. “I’m by no means an expert, but we can look things up together.”
Malik makes a face at her and Mai laughs. “I can do that on my own, thanks.” And he has, not that his sister needs to know about his internet search history.
“Alright, you two,” Mai cuts in. “Let’s yell slogans about our rights.”
I made this for @queerlyyoursygo and it turns out it is during @aiyusamonth
I think of them as a relationship with asexual, demiromantic, and nonbinary or agender elements, and I wanted to express some of those here. I like that the shape of the relationship changes and Ai's literal shape changes, and I like the hope of 'Yusaku finds Ai and they just keep going forward Together.' I never draw Yusaku in his school uniform because I always imagine him having finished and continued working on what the new shape of the world would be along with Ai.
Anyway, I love them.
Two page spread version under the read more. I split it up for purposes of Tumblr, but I had wanted it to be seen together like this:
