Yeah, so Heated Rivalry stuck with me enough that I read all the books and decided to adopt Troy Barrett. And then this week, I saw what this jackass did at the SF Giants Pride Night and thought, "Well, the gayest team in hockey wouldn't stand for that.”
Trigger warning for Christian-influenced homophobia.
Read the whole thing on Ao3.
***
What does gen nine twelve sixteen mean?”
“What?”
Troy looks up from where he’s stretching on the ice. From this angle, Haasy looks like a giant—a confused, rainbow-streaked giant. Troy loves more than a little what the front office did for the Centaurs’ pride jerseys this year. “Gayest team in the league,” Harris had laughed when he’d revealed them last week, “might as well lean into it!” And lean into it they did. Explosive rainbow swirls curl up and around the white-backed jerseys, creating a heart-shaped puff of color around each player’s number. Garishly beautiful, Troy thinks, though it makes Haasy’s confused figure look even more ridiculous.
“Over there,” Haasy says, pointing across the ice to where the Metros are also warming up. “On Comeau’s helmet.”
Troy looks up awkwardly from his hands and knees—his hips are always a little tight these days—and cranes his neck. And narrows his eyes. “That’s…that’s a Bible verse.”
“What?”
He pushes himself to his feet, toeing his blade into the ice. “Book of Genesis, chapter nine, verses twelve through sixteen. It’s a Bible verse,” he says again flatly.
Haasy blanches. “Tonight?”
“Par for the fucking course,” Troy grimaces.
They’ve faced Montreal any number of times over the last few years since Hollander joined them—well, since Hollander was outed, ostracized, and exiled from the Metros—and the Centaurs come up on top more often than not. But it’s always a slog, and it’s only gotten worse since Ottawa won the Stanley Cup the same year Montreal finished dead last. You’d think the Metros’ hatred for Hollander’s new team would cool at some point. You’d be wrong. When the front office announced that the Centaurs’ Pride Night would be during a Metros game, well…maybe that’s why Harris pushed so hard for such showy jerseys this year.
“But what’s it mean?” Haas asks.
Troy shakes his head. “No idea. We never really went to church. Probably something homophobic, though.”
“It’s about the fucking rainbow.” Rozy’s face is a mask of cold fury as he skates up to them. “That fucking asshole.”
Haas blinks.
“Noah!” Rozy says angrily, gesturing in a loop over his head. “When the rain came down and flooded everything and then there was a rainbow? Do you not know the story about the two-by-two animals?”
“Ohh,” Haasy says, “yeah, okay.”
Troy raises an eyebrow. “You knew that off the top of your—“
“Yes, yes.” Rozy exasperatedly shakes the chain around his neck. “Is not just pretty decoration, you know.”
“But that’s a nice story—“
“Genocide of humanity aside,” Rozy grumbles under his breath.
“—with cute animals and a happy ending,” Haasy continues, while Troy goggles at Rozanov knowing how to translate genocide, “and a rainbow. Is Comeau really being an asshole?”
Playing God of War: Ragnarok for the first time and found the Eternal Campfire tonight to start “Favors.” I’d read about it back when the game first came out, but I still wasn’t prepared for the absolute gut punch. Already crying, no idea how I’m gonna finish it.
For reference:
A side quest in God of War Ragnarok honors the real love story of two developers, Sam Handrick and Jake Snipes. In 2020, Snipes passed away
Just…I know everything is terrible. And broken. And getting worse, and it’ll get even worse before it gets better. But a celebration of queer love, written by a queer man in honor of his late partner and celebrated by his studio, in a major video game that’s at its core about what masculinity is and is not, with this kind of emotional depth?
There is still beauty in the world, all I’m saying.
I love being queer. Happy Pride, friends, a few days late.
Okay look I know things are bad but here's the thing: when I was a queer closeted teen back in the late 90s, none of the video games I was playing had queer content. None of them. The best I had was small moments like this, from Final Fantasy VIII:
Zell, on his knees, thanking Squall for rescuing him. Canon's pretty clear that Squall ends up with Rinoa, but just for a second, I could imagine Zell and Squall together. (To the point that I went on my parents' dial-up AOL internet late one night and found my first fanfic, Zell/Squall slash, shoutout to bishonenink.) I could imagine a world with people like me, and it was wonderful, even if it was me reading way more into the text than was actually there. And fic is great, and imagination is powerful, and I made it through and love my queer self and everything.
But never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine something like this would not only be canon but shown on screen:
Or this:
People like me, on screen, in love and showing it.
It's not that fanfic is bad - it's incredible, and I love it. And shipping characters in non-canon relationships is great, too. And I know that just representation isn't enough, and plotlines matter, and there's so much more that needs to be done, and things are bad.
But I wish I could show my closeted queer teen self those two images, or the dozens more from games like Dragon Age or The Last of Us or others, so he could see how much the world has changed in twenty-five years. And I'm so glad my kids are going to get to play these games one day, even if they're not queer.
Just some pride month encouragement for my younger self.
