Happy Pride Month! Here’s an old fic about genderfluid Yuu (though the only pronouns used in this fic are they/them) This isn’t one of my greatest fics, but I wanted to put out something with genderfluid representation this month
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Jewelry is important in Briar Valley, especially to its royal family. Being dragon fae, one of the most sacred gifts they can give is things from their hoard. This typically manifests itself in the gift of jewelry because gifting straight up jewels and gold doesn’t go over as well these days even among other fae.
Different gems have different meanings, but the two most important ones are emeralds and amethysts. Being the colors of the royal family, they symbolize the desire to court and wed respectively. Malleus knows this tradition very well. Yuu however does not, and this of course leads to shenanigans.
Yuu is fond of jewelry, particularly when it is fancy jewelry. Malleus often compared them to a corvid even before coining their nickname, Stormcrow. And of course Malleus being a dragon fae loves jewelry as well. This shared love of shiny things causes instincts to bubble inside of our dear dragon. Mainly the need to adorn his chosen mate in jewels. The problem is that they are not dating, let alone mates.
So when Yuu and him are wandering around Silk City, mostly looking at market stalls with books and antiques, he is caught off guard when they begin examining some cuff bracelets. They’re thinner than the cuffs the two of them received with their outfits from Kalim, and they’re also silver instead of a light gold. There are three different bracelets, each with slightly different engravings and different gems as details.
The first one had a swirling pattern and amethysts embedded throughout the band. The second appeared more like a starry night sky with blue sapphires in the center of the star engravings. While the third seemed to be inspired by the jasmine flowers that were so popular in the city with emeralds dispersed throughout the finely carved foliage.
“Are you interested in the bracelets, Stormcrow?”Malleus asks, despite the answer being obvious.
Yuu sighs,”Yeah, but there’s no way I can afford even one of them. They’re pure silver and have real gems.”
“May I ask why these in particular interest you? I’ve seen you wear plenty of jewelry, but not many bracelets.”
“Well you know how I’m genderfluid right?”
“I used to wear beaded bracelets that my friend made me to indicate my pronouns for the day. I didn’t do it too often though because plastic beads don’t really go with my aesthetic even if I appreciated the gesture. I thought these would work well for that job, but like I said they’re too expensive.”Yuu explains as they walk away from the stall, expecting Malleus to follow them.
However, Malleus is too engaged with fighting his instincts to buy and gift the bracelets to his not yet mate. It would after all be a good courting gift as one of the bracelets has emeralds. The sapphires also are fitting as they represent intelligence, a trait he admires in Yuu. And of course the amethysts are technically a proposal, but they could just be meant as a promise of a proposal in the future.
For once, his instincts make an argument Malleus doesn’t disagree with and he throws more than enough money at the stall owner for the set.
Unfortunately, immediately after purchasing them he begins fretting over how the hell to give the gift to Yuu. I mean he can’t just walk up to them and hand them over, it’s a courting gift.
As he’s stewing in his thoughts outside of the stall, Yuu has returned after realizing that Malleus did not follow them further into the market. They let out an audible sigh of relief when they see that Malleus has not moved.
“Tsunotaro, what are you still doing here?”they ask, somewhat annoyed at almost losing track of him again.
Malleus stares at Yuu and eventually just pushes the box with the three bracelets inside into their hands. He internally curses his awkwardness, but hopes Yuu won’t mind.
Yuu blinks at him before opening the box. They immediately soften when they see the three bracelets,”Oh Malleus, you really didn’t have to buy me these.”
Malleus finally finds his voice,”I wanted to though. You’re important to me and your gender expression is important to you, so I want you to be able to express that in the way you want.”
Yuu actually tears up a bit at that,”Thank you Malleus, really."They put the lid back on the box and pull the dragon fae into a hug.
Malleus is on such a high after the successful interaction that it takes him until he’s back at NRC to remember that Yuu doesn’t know fae courting methods.
He promises himself that he’ll tell them eventually, but in the meantime he’ll just enjoy the sight of his glittering gift on his future mate’s wrist.
