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the1975attheirverybest · 9 months

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Malaysia, July 21st, 2023

DISCLAIMER: Here is the requested piece in support of the boys' decision today. I decided it needed to be a one shot cuz I couldn't do it justice in just a few words. I've based the conversations in this piece on similar things Matty has said about gender. GENDER AND SEXUALITY ARE NOT THE SAME THING, THOUGH. So, if any of it comes off in bad faith, erroneous, or in any way harmful, its not my intention to do so, and PLEASE feel free to let me know INSTANTLY!

Warning: nothing. but idk how i feel about the writing quality given that it was written on the spot. I mean, I'm not necessarily aiming for ART here. just an appreciation for today and a gesture of support to LGBTQ+ Fans everywhere.

----

She could feel her phone buzzing in her pocket all throughout her 3 pm meeting. It was distracting, but not necessarily out of the ordinary. With time zone differences, it wasn't unusual for Matty to be texting her while she was at work, asleep in the middle of the night, or early in the morning before her coffee. Even when she'd finally wrapped up her meeting and left the conference room, the messages on screen weren't cause for concern. Receiving texts from her friends and colleagues like "omg your boyfriend," "Matty sure loves the drama, lol." and "PUT A LEASH ON HIM HES INSANE" just came with the territory of being Matty's partner. She didn't mind it at all. In fact, sometimes she found it funny.

She scrolled past several texts from her friends, spotting Denise's name "two countries now. Bets on which one's next?' with several confusing emojis. she frowned, her heart sinking slightly. Was this more serious than a regular Matty rant? a fan kiss? a polarizing meme? with apprehension, she reluctantly checked the news, whispering "oh fuck," under her breath when she saw the headlines.

She tossed her laptop and meeting notes at her desk, rushing outside as quickly as possible, and scrolling through her call log to find Matty's number. She clicked the elevator button, willing it to arrive faster by repeating "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon." knowing that it wouldn't help, she still gave into the urge to click the button repeatedly and curse when the elevator failed to bend to her will. Finally, she decided to just take the fire exit, using the stairs instead.

She clicked Matty's name on her screen as she made it down the stairs, bringing the phone to her ears.

An overly cheerful female robotic voice announced in her ear that "The number you have dialed is disconnected."

"fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuckkkk!"

she paused in the middle of the staircase, leaning against the wall and attempting to calm her mind with several deep breaths. She knew the only person who could help her right now would be Denise.

***

"No, I get that, but- like- so, you haven't heard from him directly?" she bit her lower lip.

"Not yet, no. But I wouldn't worry about it, love. this isn't his first foreign government ban, you know." Denise giggled, sounding as proud as a mother of a child who just learned to take their first steps. "doesn't that sound impressive? He's like a less secretive James Bond."

Impressive wasn't exactly her first thought, but she knew that if Matty is safe right now, he's probably impressed with himself. The thought made her crack a smile. "Knowing Matty, he'd probably say that he'd love to be a super secret spy who gets pussy, but he's anti government espionage, so he can't be James Bond."

***

All she could really do in the moment was send a barrage of messages that covered the entire spectrum of human emotions: from expressing concern for Matty's safety, to accusing him of messing with her heart, to begging him to give her a sign that he's alright, she found herself unable to think about anything else for the rest of the afternoon.

Just as she'd walked through the door of their shared home, she nearly jumped out of her skin at the feeling of her phone vibrating in her hand.

Matty: Call rn? ❤️

She instantly hit the "Video Call" icon on her FaceTime screen.

The line rang once, twice, and then "yo!!" Matty attempted to greet her before being interrupted by someone off-screen. She could faintly tell that it was Ross. "No, no. I'm just on FaceTime with her- yeah- it's fine....sorry, Darlin.' I'm just-"

"Next time you plan a government rebellion give me a courtesy warning in advance, will you??" she interrupted him. All the feelings and worries she'd been attempting to repress came pouring out of her. "I had no idea where you were for, like, all day. And- why was your phone turned off, anyway! We have a deal. You promised-"

"oi! it wasn't off! Breathe, baby. It wasn't off. Just...no reception at the venue, and then at the airport. Breathe! I love you, yeah? I'm fine. Look. Look at me, I'm fine. I promise.' He flashed her that boyish smile of his and cut through the haze of spiraling thoughts in her mind. Finally, she looked directly into his eyes on screen, smiling at him.

"Hi! There she is." He giggled.

"So, where are you now? is everyone with you? are you all safe?"

"Airport. Yeah, we're all good. They've just got us in some room while they process some documents or some shit. I don't know. I don't care." She watched him walk over to the other side of the room and take a seat on an uncomfortable leather couch.

"Is everyone else with you as well? Ross okay? the band? Polly and Gabi?"

Matty smiled at her insistent questioning. "We're all here. let's do a head count, shall we?" He hit the "Flip Camera" button so she was no longer seeing him, but had a view of the rest of the room. "Here's George, sleepy as always. John's playin' a game on his phone. Say 'hi' John...over here we have Hann. right next to the trash, where he belongs....Here's Ross. Jamie's here I promise, he's just looking for a toilet. Say 'hello' to Polly, who's on the hunt for granola or some hippie shit." Matty giggled when Polly brushed the hair out of her eyesight to give him a look. "And last but by no means least" He cover the camera lens for a dramatic reveal, "it's Gabi! see? everyone's here and we're all okay. Happy?" He turned the camera back to him, returning to his spot on the couch.

"...for the time being." She couldn't help but break character and laugh when she saw him roll his eyes. "Seriously, though, I'm proud of you.'

"but?"

"there's no but!' She rebutted a bit too eagerly.

"I know you. There's a 'but.' Let me hear it. Go on."

"I had just wondered if....maybe it would've been safer for everyone if you guys just pulled out....you know?"

"Pulled out of the lineup, you mean? like just not done the show?" Matty's demeanor shifted. He straightened his posture, taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, you could've returned the money. Made some kind of....statement about how, after learning of the governments laws, you found it morally repugnant, and refuse to perform there. Safer for you guys, the fans, and less costly."

Matty always respected and valued her opinion, but he was also always honest with her. "I suppose it would- I suppose it would've been but thats not the point." He could feel his bandmates eyes shift towards him. They were all invested in the conversation now. "Because then they'd have just replaced us. Found another artist to perform that slot and our so-called 'stance' wouldn't have done anything. Maybe lasted 5 seconds online, and then everyone would have moved on. The point here wasn't to morally congratulate ourselves or make ourselves feel good. It's about actually doing something. sometimes discomfort is necessary."

She could do nothing but smile, in awe of him. Their relationship meant a lot to both of them, but one of her favorite things about it was that she never had a chance to forget why she fell in love with Matty in the first place. "That's why I'm proud of you." she simply stated.

"well don't be."

"Matty, stop that. I kn-"

"No because I'm not ACTUALLY gay. I'm not ACTUALLY Malaysian. Okay? I get to make out with my mate, make a little speech, and then jet set, off to some other country by the time that everyone's made him home from the show. And- sure, I'll get banned, but my job and my life is entirely unaffected. I'll go on doing what I do, it's no skin off my back. Why be proud of ME? hmmm? there are people, activists, all over the world, who ARE gay, ARE outcasts, ARE fighting for their rights. How about we pay attention to them instead? you know what I mean?"

George got up from his seat to retrieve a water bottle from one of the bags, patting Matty on the shoulder and mumbling "exactly." as he passed by.

"why'd you do it then?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, I'm everyone's favorite villain at the moment. Lots of eyes on me. Figured I'd make it mean something."

"all things considered, you happy?"

She saw a smile flash across his face as he considered her question. "Yeah," he nodded slowly as he made up his mind 'Yeah, I checked online and....seems like fans made it out okay, so...yeah, I'm happy." He looked into her eyes through the camera. "I do miss you, though."

"I miss you, too. Oh, speaking of which! Put Ross on the phone, would you?"

Matty smiled knowingly and handed the phone over to Ross. "You deal with this one. I'm out."

Ross's face lit up, ready for the challenge. 'Hey, mate!"

"Ross, I want you to know; message received. Loud and clear. You make out with MY boyfriend? In front of the whole world? AND you do it for a good cause? I see you, mate. I get it. This ain't over, though. I'll be the better kisser in the end."

#matty healy x y/n #matty healy x you #matty healy x reader #matty healy fanfiction #the 1975

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ectonurites · 2 months

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Sorry to bother you, but you seem to know a lot about the comics, and specifically about Tim Drake. I was wondering if you knew off the top of your head when Tim and Steph last canonically dated? Because I see people blaming Meghan Fitzmartin a lot, but I could've sworn that they last broke up before she became Tim's author.

So, the people 'blaming' Meghan Fitzmartin are correct—but I can understand some confusion happening because the breakup occurred off-panel. So like, if you weren't following things closely at the time these books were coming out, it might seem like the first Tim story Fitzmartin wrote was referencing a breakup that already happened somewhere else... but that is not the case.

The other possible confusion point would be that there was an earlier 'break up & get back together' storyline with them in the Rebirth era, a few years before she wrote Tim.

To briefly go over the Rebirth & onward Tim/Steph dating timeline just to clear things up (and I'll be using cover dates just for consistency, so if you want release date subtract two months):

Detective Comics #934-935 August 2016 [written by James Tynion IV] Tim & Steph are established to be dating in Rebirth continuity. We don't see the actual moment they start dating, we're just shown that this is now the situation.

Detective Comics #940 November 2016 [written by James Tynion IV] Tim is 'killed' (he's not really but everyone thinks he is, and he is out of the picture for a while) and thus that effectively pauses any relationship between he and Steph, obviously.

Detective Comics #969 January 2018 [written by James Tynion IV] Tim is back and reveals himself as alive to Steph, and the two of them resume their relationship. After a short timeskip, we then learn that in the aftermath of his return... Tim is not being honest with Steph about his plans (to not go to Ivy like he said he would, to instead continue hero-ing indefinitely).

Detective Comics #970 February 2018 [written by James Tynion IV] Tim & Steph start to have some tension here because of how he's overworking himself, how he's handling things with her, and there's a moment where she says she's leaving, he asks if she means 'The Belfrey, the team, or me?' and she says 'I'll get back to you on that.'

Detective Comics #974 April 2018 [written by James Tynion IV] In the aftermath of the team sort of exploding due to ~plot events~ Steph breaks up with Tim while he's throwing too much of himself into his work.

Detective Comics #981 July 2018 [written by James Tynion IV] More plot stuff happens (a whole big mess with Brother Eye) but once that's settled, the two reunite and rekindle their relationship as they head off ‘to Ivy University’ as they tell Bruce, but we know that’s not actually where they’re going.

Young Justice (2019) #5 July 2019 [written by Brian Michael Bendis] Flashbacks show us that after leaving Gotham, Tim & Steph had specifically gone to see the Justice League/Zatanna for help with timeline memory things rather than going to Ivy. Even though they’re in separate places at the main timeline of the book, this shows us that they're still together.

Young Justice (2019) #11-20 February 2020 - January 2021 [written by Brian Michael Bendis] Steph & Tim immediately try to get ahold of one another via text once Tim's back on the correct earth, and work on getting back in touch until eventually reuniting. They are shown together [and depicted as still dating] during the later parts of the book.

Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe #1 February 2021 [written by Joshua Williamson, James Tynion IV, and Scott Synder] Shows the two of them together within the larger group of former Titans/YJ members—specifically one panel towards the end shows us Tim with his arm around her while they talk with others [fun fact that’s the panel my icon is from I just had edited Steph’s head out of the way]. As I recall/as far as I'm aware, this issue is the last time we see them interacting together/together as a couple before Future State and then the Infinite Frontier relaunch. [disclaimer that there could be like... a splash page group shot or something that I'm forgetting elsewhere during the Dark Nights: Death Metal event but like, that's not actual interaction that's just physically being present in the same group shot].

NON-CANON BUT RELEVANT: Future State: Robin Eternal #1-2 March - April 2021 [written by Meghan Fitzmartin] During the Future State event which was used largely to tease/set up plotlines for the Infinite Frontier relaunch, in this potential future Tim & Steph are seemingly no longer together but still on okay terms—teaming up in the story, but with clear tension and history there.

Batman: Urban Legends #4 August 2021 [written by Meghan Fitzmartin] We learn that Tim & Steph broke up off-panel before the events of the issue. Steph appears in the following issue further reiterating that they recently broke up.

So yeah! They broke up off-panel and this was first referenced in Batman: Urban Legends #4, thus under Fitzmartin's pen.

#sam explains #i did briefly reread each of these issues im referencing here to confirm they had the content i thought they did but i was doing that #in a very Speedy way so. keep that in mind. but like the general events here im certain of. + i was keeping up with almost all of these #things as they originally were released. [except like. some of the later parts of the 'tec run. i was there at the start but checked out #for a while bc busy with college lmaoooo but i was back in and keeping up with stuff once later parts of YJ 2019 was coming out]#<- though to be clear i have READ all of these. i just mean the later parts of 'tec i read like a while after their release

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