Happy Pride!!! I'm here to ask if you'd be willing to share a headcanon or anything about our favorite Zed boy? I re-read your work lately and it just makes me happy.
Happy pride!!! I will happily share some thoughts!
I may have talked about this before, but Zed loves singing. He gets really drawn into voices, and has a particular fondness for deep vocals (warm bass gives him chills). It is also an area of frustration, because his voice doesn’t match what he wants to sing, and he’s struggled with being self conscious of it.
He has very much enjoyed the trope of a woman dressing as a man that appears in media, with two of his favorites being Mulan and She’s the Man. He was, however, always a little sad when they didn’t maintain their persona at the end of the movie.
I enjoy the idea of Zed being autistic, but that not being something that Kryptonians address. So him coming to Earth meant that he had more resources to examine that in himself. Earth is really harsh on his sensitivity to noise, and he has often resorted to humming to try to block out everything that is overwhelming him (Alex knows the melody to a few Kryptonian lullabies because of this). On the flip side, Earth has been really great for his tactile sensitivity. He was very rules oriented when he was learning Earth customs, and that made him very stiff in the early years, as he was trying to hold onto a very black and white approach to situations. He’s definitely begun to loosen, especially as his awareness of his struggles broadened.
Nia has opened his world up to queer culture. She was the first one to take him to see a drag performance, and his pride in himself really flourished around her. They also have a habit of making casual jokes about swapping parts. Like Zed groaning about his chest, all “I’m so done with these, you want them?” He’s a lot more openly queer around her, rather than trying to ‘pass’ as cis.
Zed is really happy. There are a lot of things he’s needed to work through, and things are still not perfect, but he’s finding more and more in life that makes his heart sing. He’s taking up more space, and allowing himself to thrive, and that has made him a lot more bright.
