#acepride

I’m continuously blown away by how useful these ace graphics are. They always help me re-affirm where I sit in my identity c:

WRONG

Asexuals do not feel sexual attraction.

It's a completely different feeling to 'want' to have sex or not.

I've had sex with guys I'm not sexually attracted to.

I've not wanted to have sex with guys I am sexually attracted to.

Wanting to have sex with someone is not the same as being sexually attracted to them.

Gotta give the people what they want

By maccusnormann on Instagram

Description and transcription below the cut

@laurasimonsdaughter, this made me think of you.

dawnmbennettva

🌈 Happy Last Day of #Pride2024! 🌈

I’ve always been a li’l anxious to say it out loud, but screw it!

🖤🩶 I’m asexual! 🤍💜

To be more specific, I fall under the demi category. I’ve actually been demi for over a decade, but didn’t know it had a name until much later! 🏳️‍🌈

I got inspired to finally say it after a fan came up to me at a con recently wearing ace attire. I blurted out, “EY ME TOO” and realized I’d outed myself. 🤣

But for them to be wearing it so proudly… It was awesome. And it made me feel a little less alone, you know?

Church Street was already alive when Wells, Alton, Trey, and Coach stepped into the Pride crowd.

Toronto had fully woken up.

Rainbow flags hung from storefronts. Progress flags moved in the breeze. Music spilled out from cafés and bars. Drag queens glided past in sequins and towering heels. Leather men leaned against brick walls in the morning light. Queer couples held hands. Chosen families laughed over iced coffees. Elders smiled from shaded patios, watching the city they had helped shape come alive again. Church street was already closed to traffic ahead of the weekend and the Pride festival was already in full swing.

The four of them stood out even in the crowd.

Alton moved with easy confidence in a shiny metallic gold fitted athletic T-shirt with “KNIGHTS” across the chest in bold black letters, paired with glossy black jogger pants and metallic gold sneakers. He looked polished, bold, and impossible to miss.

Trey looked intense and striking in a shiny metallic gold athletic shirt with a large black “59” on the front, matching metallic gold athletic shorts with black trim, and a heavy chain necklace at his throat. His blond hair with its blue streak caught the light, and there was something fierce and focused in the way he carried himself.

Wells wore a tight glossy black athletic shirt with a large metallic gold “58” across the chest, metallic gold fitted shorts, black knee-high athletic socks with gold stripes, and metallic gold sneakers. He looked powerful, steady, and grounded, the kind of man who drew eyes without even trying.

Coach strode beside them in a tight silver-grey compression shirt with “DADDY” printed across the chest in gold, black fitted shorts, white socks with black stripes, and black athletic sneakers. His black cap with “COACH” in gold lettering sat low over his brow, and the whistle hanging at his chest gave him the same commanding energy he carried everywhere.

They stopped when they reached a long flag installation stretched across a wall in the Village.

It was not just one rainbow.

It was many flags. Many colours. Many meanings.

Rainbow. Progress. Trans. Bi. Pan. Ace. Nonbinary. Intersex. Two-Spirit. Leather. Bear. Pup. More than Trey could name at a glance.

He slowed, looking up at them.

“Damn,” Trey said quietly. “I knew Pride had flags, but not this many.”

Alton smirked. “That’s because Pride is not one flavour, babe.”

Trey shot him a look. “Thank you, Professor Gold.”

Wells laughed softly, but Coach kept his eyes on the wall.

“Each one means somebody fought to be seen,” Coach said.

That settled over them for a moment.

Wells stepped closer to the installation. His black-and-gold shirt caught the sun as he looked across the colours. It felt less like decoration and more like a map. Not of places. Of lives.

A young person nearby posed with a nonbinary flag wrapped around their shoulders. Two older men stood arm in arm under the leather flag. A trans woman fixed her sunglasses while her friends cheered and took photos. A Two-Spirit banner moved gently in the air while someone nearby explained its meaning to a small group listening closely.

Trey watched all of it, his expression softening.

“So Pride’s not just one story,” he said.

“Never was,” Wells replied.

Coach nodded. “Different identities. Different histories. Different cultures. Different bodies. Different ways of moving through the world.”

“Different outfits,” Alton added.

Coach turned his head slowly.

Alton lifted both hands. “I’m not wrong.”

They kept walking, the crowd flowing around them.

Church Street felt like the whole community had spilled out into the open. A remix thundered from one patio while a hand drum pulsed somewhere farther down the block. Someone handed out flyers for HIV testing. A queer youth group sat laughing on the curb. A drag performer waved to a little kid in a rainbow cape. A leather pup knelt happily beside his handler while tourists tried very hard not to stare too obviously.

Trey shook his head, still taking it all in. “Toronto really is something.”

“It’s not just Pride,” Wells said. “It’s the city too.”

He gestured around them.

“Toronto’s built out of layers. The Village. Queen West. Kensington. Chinatown. Little Italy. Greektown. Little India. Parkdale. Scarborough. Regent Park. The Islands. Different neighbourhoods, different communities, different histories. Everybody brings something.”

Alton nodded. “And everybody thinks they’ve got the best food.”

“Some of them do,” Trey said.

Coach almost smiled. “Dangerous opinion.”

Wells grinned. “That’s the point. Toronto works because it’s not one thing. Caribbean, South Asian, East Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Indigenous, Latin American, European. Newcomers, locals, artists, office workers, activists, club kids, families. It’s crowded, loud, messy, layered—and somehow it keeps making room.”

Trey looked back at the flags.

“Like Pride.”

“Exactly,” Wells said.

Alton folded his arms over his gold shirt. “So the community is strong because nobody has to match.”

Coach looked at him, approving for once. “Correct.”

Alton blinked. “Was that praise?”

“Don’t ruin it,” Coach said.

Trey laughed, and the tension broke.

The four of them stopped in front of the full flag wall again.

Alton in gold and black. Trey in his fierce gold “59.” Wells in his black “58.” Coach in silver-grey and black, solid as ever.

Different looks. Different energies. Different ways of standing in the world.

Still together.

Wells looked up at the colours overhead and thought of the phrase that had been following him all morning.

United within diversity.

It sounded simple. But standing there, watching Church Street move in every colour, every age, every identity, every style, and every kind of joy, he understood what it really meant.

Unity was not sameness.

Unity was making room.

It was knowing the community could hold drag queens and leather men, queer elders and trans youth, loud ones and quiet ones, those who had always known themselves and those still figuring it out. It was understanding that the rainbow was never one colour because the community was never one story.

Coach crossed his arms and looked at the wall.

“Different colours,” he said. “Same fight. Same family.”

Wells nodded.

Alton tilted his head. “And, respectfully, same slay.”

Coach gave him a look.

Alton immediately straightened. “Respectfully.”

Trey burst out laughing.

Wells joined him, the sound folding into the music, the crowd, and the flags overhead.

Around them, Toronto kept moving, diverse, complicated, proud, alive.

Not one colour.

A whole spectrum.

And brighter because it stood together.

Diversity is not division. It is strength multiplied. Stand proud, stand golden, and protect every colour in the spectrum. Join the Golden Army. Contact: @alton-gold77, @polo-drone-125

(delusional love, obsession, stalking, disguised identity, posing as a human, still stubborn reader being there Apothisexual and proud of it along with refusing to date a different species no matter how dispirit.)

Moving day finally arrived for you and your cousin, neither of you told anyone where you where two where living but you did trust Optimus enough to tell him since he was the type that didn't gossip. Both being careful and leaving in the middle of the night only leaving a note that you two had wrote, your cousin didn't have a car cause her broke down recently and couldn't afford another but you had vehicle. Though unknown to the two of you where followed in a sense Rodimus knew that you where leaving but didn't know when, he had place a tracking device under your car so he'd be able to track you.

Your new place was a gated community so there wouldn't be any worry about any sudden break-ins, you had been moving all your gothic furniture into your new place little by little after you had purchased the home. Along with hiring painters in properly turning the inside of your home into the gothic palace you had always dreamed of and your cousin would get there own space, it had taken about a month in getting the house ready to be moved into and it was worth it.

"Alright we gonna celebrate cous?" Your cousin question that to you after the both of you had officially move into the house and setting down yawls luggage in the living room you winked as you headed upstairs with your luggage

"Way ahead of ya, doing a party in a couple of days for the house warming my friends are looking forward to it." It was a breath of fresh air for you especially with getting away from Rodimus and hoped he would move on to someone else, you didn't realize how wrong you where. Rodimus did track you down but stopped himself seeing how you lived in a gated community. Then Rodimus had an idea, cybertronians don't use it often but there was the option for human avatars in staying low key if they go out in human public for amusement, which wasn't that often now that he had met you and wanted a relationship with you it gave him excuse in using his avatar. Not only that he wanted to prove himself to you and did something a little drastic and that was changing his color, his once red and orange where how dark and light purple and even blue within twenty four hours.

Rodimus's sudden new look did catch a lot of attention on the ship both from the bots and the humans, Rodimus made the excuse saying that he felt like a change with his look. The only one that had some suspicions was Ratchet since he was one of the small few bots that you interacted with besides Optimus, he knew that the colors he had picked where your favorite colors besides black. Along with your sudden notice that you and your cousin had moved out leaving only a note in your old quarters, without telling anyone where you had moved too.

Rodimus's plan took action during your house warming party, thee entire neighborhood of the gated community was invited along with your friend group where where just as conservative as you where. Half of them where goth like you and the rest where regular looking people, you had hired a cratering service for the event and within the first thirty minutes the party was going great and people told you how you house screamed the 'Adams family' with the gothic furniture. Just when you had finished talking to one of your new neighbors you had accidentally bumped into someone and the person was Rodimus using his human avatar with his new color scheme but wearing gothic attire that she knew would catch her attention.

"Sorry about that I wasn't looking where I was going." Was what Rodimus said when he helped you up

"Oh no it's fine, a lot more people showed up than I thought." Was what you said to him and he said

"Oh your hosting this party? A friend invited me here and wanted to give it a shot in meeting new people." Before you knew it the two of you where having a nice introduction and even talking to each other after you both exchanged names, Rodimus had introduced himself as 'Rod' to you after you said your first name to him. During the rest of the party you two talked a lot and you saw that he had a lot in common with you and really listened to you, while the party continued your cousin and even some of your friends noticed you talking with the guy and seeing how happy you where. By the time the party ended Rodimus was bold enough in asking you out since he made a great first impression with you, to his joy you had said yes if he had to pose as a human for a while in earning your love he was willing in taking that. In honestly you where looking for a boyfriend after you had dumped your last one, you felt like 'Rod' was different from them.

The first date was something that shocked you when 'Rod' surprised you with Metallica tickets at the second row away from the pit, Rodimus may have done a little hacking in getting the tickets without being caught in tricking the system that he had paid for those tickets.That concert left quite an impression with you, thus started your offical dating with 'Rod' after the first week.

After the first month you where surprised by his tolerance unlike your previous ex's, most would think after the third or fifth date would be sex. However 'Rod' never asked that and respected your wishes with open arms, however you did noticing something a little off. You had never seen his place and you where told that he was having some issues that he was trying to solve out, that should have been a red flag with you though you where happy in finally finding a partner that understood and really listened to you. However you cousin had some suspicions about 'Rod' she knew you well enough to know that not just anyone can handle your real personality, what all your ex's had in common was that they where pissed off that you hated sex. Where as 'Rod' had never once asked you, as if he already knew, you never made it public on your social medias that you where apothisexual and it got her asked questions in yours and even her friend circle.

"Hey Y/N we gonna talk." Your cousin said that to you after you had returned from your date and you said to her

"What is it?"

"You told me that Rod was a friend's friend if the group right?" Being curious about your cousins words you answered her

"Yay and?" Saying that your cousin got serious

"I just got done talking with yours and my friend circle on Discord neither side knows him, I sent them a picture of him and they all said they had no idea who he is." Hearing those words naturally shocked you and your cousin even showed you the messages on Discord and proving that your cousin was true to her word.

"You think he might even lying about his name?" You asked your cousin that as she put away her phone

"I wouldn't be surprised by that. There's questions that need to be answered." You knew your cousin was right and you deserved the truth and didn't want to live a lie, though when you cousin said those words you had finally noticed some things about 'Rod' you hadn't noticed until now. He never had a vehicle and yet always showed up at your date locations that you two talked about, even when he came by the house you had never seen his car. That curiosity got you to talk to the security at the gate and started asking questions.

"No haven't seen him at the gate before, I would have recognized him." Where the guards words that confused you as you asked another question

"Wait he didn't come threw the gate like close to an hour ago, he just left my place. How the hell did he get in without coming threw the gate? He doesn't live in this community."

Saying those words had set off the alarm for the guard in thinking that there was a blind sport for intruders with the surrounding gates, thus started a little investigation with the members of the security that where called in for an emergency. Meanwhile you where freaking out cause you thought you where dating a complete stranger and almost fell in love with the guy, you weren't certain if you should confront from or not right away. Just as the rest of the security showed up you had gotten an unexpected call.

"Ratchet? This is a surprise, to what do I owe the call?" You had said that when you answered and from the other line Ratchet said to you

"Hi Y/N, I'm actually calling you if you've been Rodimus lately?" Hearing that name confused you and it was clear in your voice when you answered

"Rodimus? What makes you think I've been him, I haven't seen him since me and my cousin moved out. Did something happen?"

"We haven't seen him at the base for about a week now, some of us started noticed that he was disappearing on and off for about a month." Hearing that last part made you worry and you repeated

"A month? He's been disappearing for a month?" Saying you had asked Ratchet a question

"Ahh was there anything else that seemed....different about him lately? Like ohh I don't know ahh different color scheme perhaps?"

"How did you know that, he changed his color about a few days after you left. Couldn't help but noticing that they where your favorite colors." That answer made you more nervous and finally some things made sense to you, it also made you ask another question to Ratchet that made you look around your surroundings

"Umm Ratchet if memory serves me right don't some of you have avatars in camouflaging yourselves to whatever local life outside of your species?" Ratchet knew what you where talking about and him disappearing along with his new look now made sense, you wanted to talk to Ratchet more but in person. You told him where to go and to go alone to avoid being too noticed and to tell Optimus about it in hopes he can do something, after the call you talked to your cousin and told her everything that made her freak out. Like with Ratchet things started coming to light and why she left like something was off with 'Rod' but couldn't figure it out at the time, you really didn't feel so safe in your own home and called up one of your friends that lived in another state and explained how you needed a temporary place to stay and that friend was on board in helping you.

Within an hour things quickly changed, you had called your boss and told him about the dangerous stalking situation and needed to take an emergency leave from your job. Your employer understood and allowed the leave, at the same time you had quickly packed what you could take in a suitcase before your friend showed up. Your cousin would keep a close eye around the area in cause she saw Rodimus in town, you had left the neighborhood by uber while you where quickly booking a one way plane ticket to your destination. You hid behind the back seat avoiding the windows until you felt safe and that wasn't until you had gotten on the highway to the airport, you had never thought when your found the perfect guy he turned out to be a liar and now crazy........