i. about 2 weeks ago, i was told there's a good chance that in 5 or so years, i'll need a wheelchair.
ii. okay. i loved harry potter as a kid. i have a hypothesis about this to be honest - why people still kind of like it. it's that she got very lucky. she managed to make a cross-generational hit. it was something shared for both parents and kids. it was right at the start of a huge cultural shift from pre to post-internet. i genuinely think many people were just seeking community; not her writing. it was a nice shorthand to create connection. which is a long way of saying - she didn't build this legacy, we built it for her. she got lucky, just once. that's all.
iii. to be real with you, i still struggle with identifying as someone with a disability, which is wild, especially given the ways my life has changed. i always come up against internalized ableism and shame - convinced even right now that i'm faking it for attention. i passed out in a grocery store recently. i hit my head on the shelves while i went down.
iv. he raises his eyebrows while he sends me a look. her most recent new book has POTS featured in it. okay, i say. i already don't like where this is going. we both take another bite of ramen. it is a trait of the villain, he says. we both roll our eyes about it.
v. so one of the things about being nonbinary but previously super into harry potter is that i super hate jk rowling. but it is also not good for my mental health to regret any form of joy i engaged with as a kid. i can't punish my young self for being so into the books - it was a passion, and it was how i made most of my friends. everyone knew about it. i felt like everyone had my same joy, my same fixation. as a "weird kid", this sense of belonging resonated with me so loudly that i would have done anything to protect it.
vi. as a present, my parents once took me out of school to go see the second movie. it is an incredibly precious memory: my mom straight-up lying about a dentist appointment. us snickering and sneaking into the weekday matinee. within seven years of this experience, the internet would be a necessity to get my homework finished. the world had permanently changed. harry potter was a relic, a way any of us could hold onto something of the analog.
vii. by sheer luck, the year that i started figuring out the whole gender fluid thing was also the first year people started to point out that she might have some internalized biases. i remember tumblr before that; how often her name was treated as godhood. how harry potter was kind of a word synonymous for "nerdy but cool." i would walk out of that year tasting he/him and they/them; she would walk out snarling and snapping about it.
viii. when i teach older kids creative writing, i usually tell them - so, she did change the face of young adult fiction, there's no denying that. she had a lot more opportunities than many of us will - there were more publishing houses, less push for "virally" popular content creators. but beyond reading another book, we need to write more books. we need to uplift the voices of those who remain unrepresented. we need to push for an exposure to the bigotry baked into the publishing system. and i promise you: you can write better than she ever did. nothing she did was what was magical - it was the way that the community responded to it.
ix. i get home from ramen. three other people have screenshotted the POTS thing and sent it to me. can you fucking believe we're still hearing this shit from her when it's almost twenty-fucking-twenty-three. the villain is notably also popular on tumblr. i just think that's funny. this woman is a billionaire and she's mad that she can't control the opinions of some people on a dying blue site that makes no money. lady, and i mean this - get a fucking life.
x. i am sorry to the kid i was. maybe the kid you were too. none of us deserved to see something like this ruined. that thing used to be precious to me. and now - all those good times; measured into dust.
/// 9.6.2022 // FUCKING AGAIN, JK? Are you fucking kidding me?
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nsfwish
“I need an oil change,” Steve mumbles in the dark of their bedroom.
Billy’s just got back from the shop an hour ago, he’s showered and ate and now he’s having sleepy small talk with his boyfriend about their days. Bitching about Keith, laughing together over a funny story Robin shared, ranting about a bitchy customer who said she didn’t need new tires when they were smoother than sealskin.
“That so?” Billy mumbles back, turning onto his side to face Steve, wrapping his arm around him to keep his pretty boy close.
Steve nods with a soft ‘mhm’ as he throws his leg over Billy’s hip, hooking it there and pulling him closer.
In the soft light of the street lamp outside, Billy can make out Steve’s face — his playful expression — as he hums, “But, I don’t have any money.”
Like a fucking cheesy line in a porno.
Billy feels an amused smile pull at his lips regardless, his eyes half-lidded as he’s staring at his boyfriend, sliding his hand up and down Steve’s back. He makes a soft ‘tsk’ sound of disappointment, as if he hasn’t changed Steve’s oil a dozen times already at no charge.
But, it’s fun to play pretend.
“Well, I’m sure we could work out some sort of payment plan for your broke ass,” Billy smirks, grinning as Steve bursts out into a bit of laughter in his arms.
He lets Steve regain his composure, although he’s flushed pink and grinning now as he says, “I just lost my job, I can’t pay you…”
“Mm, that’s too bad,” Billy hums, sliding his hand down the length of Steve’s back, smirking again, “I think we have an extra pair of coveralls in the back, let’s get you started on Monday.”
“Oh my god, just let me suck your dick!” Steve laughs again, making a show of trying to escape his boyfriend’s arms but Billy just laughs with him and clings even harder, unwilling to let Steve go for even a second.
“Ooh, is that what you were trying to do?” Billy grins again, chuckling along as he pokes at Steve’s sides just to hear his boyfriend yelp.
Steve’s quick to pinch his side, though, and that’s when they begin to wrestle.
Flipping each other over and grunting from exertion, laughing quietly in the dark as they try to pin one another, swearing under their breath until Billy’s got Steve pinned face-down, his hands holding his boyfriend’s down onto the bed.
“You…you’ve got me in a compromising position,” Steve pants with a soft chuckle.
“Not quite,” Billy breathes, sliding one of his arms under Steve’s neck and gently putting him in a headlock, his mouth pressing against the shell of Steve’s ear as he grinds his half hard cock down into his ass, muttering, “Now I do.”
He can feel the vibration of Steve’s moan in his throat against his arm, and the way his boyfriend grinds back against him, the soft and firm plush of his ass making him hot all over.
“If I let you cum in me, do I get a free air freshener to hang on my rear view mirror?” Steve asks, a little breathless now, his face flushing.
“You’re such a fucking dork,” Billy chuckles, although the question goes straight to his dick so he sighs, “Yeah, you do.”
Steve laughs so Billy flexes his arm, turning the sound into a choked off moan.
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