Ah, we know so little about teenage Gellert and I admit to knowing very little about the period that he lived in (the Oscar Wilde trials are a prominent topic within the Grindeldore fandom, but they happened in London and way before Grindelwald had been forced to flee).Ā
What we know, from Harryās (Harry - totally not bicurious - Potter) comments is that Grindelwald was a handsome teenager. So he was probably used to affectionā¦from all sides. Physical affection, I say, because teenage Grindelwald was also already a prodigy and had very much a mind of his own, that didnāt even falter when he was expelled from Durmstrang. If the answer Albus wrote to him regarding this expulsion is any indication, then Gellert himself might have considered this a failure of himself ā hence Albus explaining to him āwhatā his mistake at Durmstrang was, but he never tried to appeal to Durmstrang and return, so one can conclude that heād cut this tie off.Ā
Anyway, what I was going to say isā¦Gellert probably had suitors and maybe even had suitors of the same gender, and he had likely found a way to deal with that mentally. Maybe he himself was even sort of bi-curious during these years - we might never know, lol - and maybe his thought process was like: āSo many people find me handsome and want to snog me, the only way this is unnatural is how unnaturally handsome I amā (*flicks blond hair, somewhere, Albus dies*)Ā
I do think that he might have been more snippy at homophobic comments (āYouāre just jealous I get all the gals and guys!ā) but he wouldnāt have let that affect his self-esteem, given that he was already aware he was talented above them all.
(hence why I think, when he first met Albus, he was neither impressed with him AT THE VERY FIRST nor was he surprised when Albus developed a crush on him. Albus fell first, Gellert fell harder, I guess.)Ā
Disclaimer: All of this is my headcanon, of course. :DĀ
