It was a fine day in the Debate Void. The sky and ground were as pure white as ever, and the ornate table with its matching set of chairs was, as well, with that pleasant dusting of soft, light grey-blue defining their edges. Despite the lack of any sun or moon to speak of, the Debate Void maintained a comfortably chilly temperature, warmed by some unknown aura. It was certainly sun-adjacent, that's likely how one would describe it to someone who had never set foot in the Void.
And there sat the lovely Meridiana, head of The Sue Syndicate, her black legs crossed where she sat, pouring a cold glass of water for her guest, a comparatively modestly-dressed girl in a black t-shirt and jeans. A simple, clean look.
If the girl wasn't an agent of the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, Meri had to assume she was at least the sort of person who supported the PPC's endeavors.
You see, they had been in the middle of a rather long, rambling, disjointed conversation - as most conversations with Meridiana tend to be - jumping from topic to topic, and their latest topic was this.The girl took a sip, then a gulp of water, and said, "Look - that's the thing about these fangirls. If they're not out here sexually harassing every fictional guy they can get their hands on, their assuming every guy who exchanges eye contact with another is gay or something."
"I think that's an unfair stereotype," Meri said, rolling her eyes affectionately, "It's a talking point someone came up with, but never bothered to delve into the reasons why such a thing, if it happens at all, would be happening."
"Oh, no— I mean it literally happens. All the time. Like- any two guys in anything, I guarantee the fangirls ship them. Like… Ed and Roy in FMA.""I certainly hope not," said Meri, eyes closed as she took a drink of water, knowing full well that EdxRoy was real, "That would make Colonel Mustang a disgusting monster of a man. Poor Edward, only 16…"
"Right?! And like, Frodo and Sam in Lord of the Rings," said the girl, chuckling. "Like, have these people ever heard of friends?"
"I once wrote a paper on their relationship from a queer theory perspective in college," Meri hummed, "I got an A - clearly a professor of fiction analysis thought my argument was sound."
"What?" The girl snorted, rolling her eyes, "That's fake, you totally just made that up. College professors don't support yaoi fangirls, they would shut that shit down right away. They're professionals - they're respectable, they've gone to school for this stuff themselves."
"Nope, it happened. I just can't show you, the submission was electronic and the online space for that class isn't on my Canvas page anymore - but, rest assured, I even spoke to her beforehand about it and she said she felt there was strong merit to a gay interpretation of the, ah… Friendship between Frodo and Sam. That's why I did it in the first place, because she encouraged that sort of analysis."
"I mean… Alright, I guess that makes sense, but you can't really think Tolkien intended for us to read it that way, do you?"
Meri nearly choked on her water, and said, holding back laughter, "Tolkien has been dead for over 40 years, love."
At this, the girl frowned. "So… What, that means he doesn't have any say over how people interpret the work he poured his heart and soul into?"
"That's precisely what it means." Meri tilted her neck to one side, cracking it, and then the other. "If you put something out there into the world, it's inevitable that people will read whatever they want to read into it."
"Well… I don't think that's fair," said the girl, looking away. "I think you're disrespecting his memory and violating his canon."
Meri seemed offended by this wording. Wincing, she retorted, "It's a series of books, not a human being. It's a wonderful series of books I enjoyed very much, that very much changed me as a writer and a reader, don't get me wrong - but it is ink printed onto paper. Be careful of assigning too much personhood - and your preferred kind of personhood, at that, your preferred opinions, and morals, and boundaries - to ink on paper. I don't think page 42 of The Two Towers feels particularly violated by anything, especially not someone thinking the love between Frodo and Sam is romantic rather than platonic."
"Well…" It seemed that the girl was at least somewhat convinced. "I guess? But what about stories where the creators are still alive to see all the weird stuff people make? How do you think, like… Hashimoto and Nomura feel, with all the work they've put into developing the friendship between Sora and Riku, seeing a bunch of fangirls act like that makes Sora and Riku gay?"
"I would have simply asked why they made Sora and Riku so gay," Meri said, chuckling before taking a sip of water.
"What?! Oh— pfft, come on, they are not gay! They're just friends! What is with you people and friendship?! Why can't two guys just be friends anymore, why do they always have to be gay, all the time?"
"Again, I think you're using a common talking point to avoid asking why, if that even happens at all, it happens. Why do you suppose 'fangirls' read gayer themes into male friendships?"
"Like… I dunno, I always just assumed it was because they think two boys kissing is 'hawt'." The girl shrugged.
"That's sometimes part of it," Meri muttered, resting her cheek in her hand, "But do you think maybe… The way straight romances are written may have something to do with it? What sort of bonding do you see Sora and Kairi go through? What tension do they ever have to work through? What adventures have they shared? What deep, cerebral conversations about their bond do they ever have?"
The girl was silent, so Meri went on. "Or do they just grin at each other, hug and become separated again, only for Sora to mention her once or twice during his adventure, the narrative telling us rather than showing us that he's pining for her? I think Kingdom Hearts 2 wasn't so bad about this, it actually managed to sell me on the idea that Sora really does love Kairi, but after that, it's sort of all flown out the window. Do you think that's what romantic love is? Hugs and then separation, with lukewarm pining?"
"Now that you make it sound like that, I hope there's more to love than that," the girl said with a grimace.
"You can't tell me that 'fangirls' are so wrong and twisted to read romance into Sora's bond with Riku, then. Not when their dynamic is so much more… Well, dynamic." Meri smiled. "They're not yaoi-obsessed, I think they're just smarter regarding romance than Hashimoto and Nomura give their audiences credit for being!"
"Alright, alright, I guess that makes sense," said the girl, before stopping for a second. "… Or… Would make sense, if most of their fics weren't so god-awful. Are you gonna defend bad grammar, characterization and plot at me too?"
Her smile growing slightly strained, Meri said, "Now you're talking about a very specific genre of fandom. You'll have to be patient with middle schoolers, my friend. You were one once, I was too - and I don't think either of us would look kindly on our writing ability at that age."
The girl lightened up a bit, feeling some common ground with Meri, "See, that's what my side is trying to help with, though. We critique fics constructively so the authors will improve."
"Tell me again about how lampooning the fanfiction of tweens, insulting their headcanons, portraying their original characters as dangerous sexual harassers violating their fictional crushes and turning them into the joke of the week helps them improve as authors. Come on, do it. Right here, to my face." Meri's smile was unwavering.
… Well, it was tough to argue with that, now that it was worded like that.
"Good," said Meri. "I didn't want to smack you, you've been so civil so far. What I've learned as an artist and writer is that the difference between critique and bullying is consent. When someone asks to be critiqued, they are an artist or writer wanting to improve their craft. When you take a tween daring to post her OCxLegolas fanfiction as inherent request for 'critique', and then 'critique' her like this, well…"
"… I guess that's. Kinda assholish," the girl conceded.
"Oh, it's very assholish," Meri snapped. "Very, very fucking assholish. It's things like that I have no tolerance at all for, so don't act like you're some innocent helper if all you're doing is bullying people."
There was a moment of silence, as the two drank their water.
Deciding to break the ice that Meri had re-frozen over, the girl said, a little awkwardly, "Well… How do you think Riku himself feels?"
"… What, about SoraxRiku fanfiction?"
"Well - yeah. I've run into canon Riku now and again in my work, and I don't think he would feel comfortable with all these ship fics."
"… You're asking how I think a fictional character feels about a fictional ship?"
The girl sighed and said, "Come on - you know they feel and think just like we do! And I can prove to you, that he's super freaked out by all the yaoi, and that should be reason enough to shut down all the fangirl nonsense."
With that, the girl simply reached out to her side, a dark hole materializing, from which she rather roughly pulled out a wrist, an arm - an entire person, looking very confused in his pajamas.Meri blinked, wide-eyed. She didn't think her guest was going to start yanking canon characters out here, and yet here he was - Riku Kingdom Hearts, in the flesh.
"Uh— hey," said Meri, waving gently. Awkwardly. "You—you sleep alright, champ?"
"No," said Riku, who was too tired to come up with a lie or joke.
"Yeah, that's fair, I wouldn't— either— uh—" Meri simply glanced over at the girl, curious what she was about to do.
"Riku," the girl started, brows furrowing a bit. "How does it make you feel that people think you and Sora are gay?"
… Riku just seemed confused, blinking the way he was, to which Meri said, "Well, for goodness' fucking sake, give him a second to wake up before drilling him on his sexuality." She, ever the polite host, was already pouring a glass of water for the young man standing in front of her table, and, with a snap, there was a third chair for him. "He seems confused enough about that canonically to begin with."
"Aw, come on, no he doesn't, you know Hashimoto and Nomura didn't make him like, for-real gay," said the girl, which only confused Riku even further.
"I didn't say they intentionally made him gay, I'm saying there's a reason every gay person I know and their lesbian grandma, including myself, identifies with him on the level of being a confused, angry kid."
"Okay, okay- what is going on?" Asked Riku in a raspy voice, rubbing his eyes and seeming altogether too sleepy for this bullshit.
The girl looked to Riku and rephrased her initial question, "Riku, are you gay?"
"Huh-? Wha— no, I'm not anything like that," Riku replied, suddenly a bit uncomfortable, "Why are you asking me all that?"
Meri rolled her eyes and said, "No closeted kid I knew would ever say 'yes' to a question like that. Just, 'are you gay', totally point-blank."
"Okay, then how do you suggest I ask him?" Asked the girl, crossing her arms.
"What matters isn't how gay is canonically is or isn't, what matters is this - Riku, what do you think of the fact that people think you and Sora are gay?"
"… Uh… But it's not… We're just friends?" Riku and Meri were in a similar boat, not 100% liking the idea of two adult women asking a teenager such pointed questions, but Meri took a deep breath through her nose and resolved to be as non-creepy as possible.
"I believe you, that's your call to make. But we have people like this one over here, bashing gay teens over the head for identifying with your struggle to accept your - platonic, even - feelings for Sora, and thinking your relationship with him is human and relatable."
"I— I'm not bashing gay teens!" Cried out the girl, "It's fangirls who are the problem!"
"At that age, you wouldn't have known the difference in someone like me or my friends," said Meri slyly. "Believe me, most of these 'shallow fangirls' are people working out some inner truths of their own."
… Something about that phrasing - a struggle to accept his own feelings for Sora… Made Riku's stomach turn in a way he didn't understand, didn't want to understand, but knew better by now than to turn away from.
Very meekly, Riku looked down and asked, "I mean. Am I gay? It's not weird for two guys to care about each other like that."
"Of course it's not weird," said Meri. "Your relationships are what they are, and they don't have to follow any rules that hurt or restrict you. But being gay isn't weird - and I think this is a question your canon hasn't allowed you to ask yourself."
"Hasn't… Allowed?" Riku glanced over at the girl, who simply shrugged, just as lost as he was."That's right. Can a story lacking in gay themes altogether accurately allow its characters to explore their sexualities?"
"Of course it can," said the girl, scrunching up her nose a bit, "It just means no one in it is gay.""No one in it is gay?" Meri asked, squinting. "Not the main character? No one the main character knows? None of the side characters? None of the shopkeepers? None of the random people the characters talk to? Absolutely everyone is 100% heterosexual?"
"… Alright, I guess that's. Improbable. But not every story has to be all about gay stuff!" Replied the girl, rolling her eyes.
"Not every? Or not any?" Meri frowned, furrowing her brows. "That's not fair of you, to paint gay and bisexual people like me, as greedy little gremlins who demand the world, when all they're asking for is to exist in fiction and be depicted as human beings."
Glancing back over at Riku, she went on, "That's what I'm saying. A theme your story doesn't cover isn't a theme you can claim to fully understand, when you haven't even delved into it. I'm not saying you are — required to be gay, for my benefit - I gain nothing from your canon changing other than a sense of gladness that people like me exist and kids can grow up seeing positive gay figures in their favorite stories. I am saying you, Riku, deserve space to question and explore your identity even if canon doesn't allow it. That sort of thing is what many of these fic authors are depicting… Sure, it's not always perfectly graceful works of literary genius, but that's the spirit of transformative fandom as opposed to curatorial fandom. Expanding canon and making it better."
The girl gasped. "You think you can do Kingdom Hearts better?!
"I think I could do Kingdom Hearts better in my sleep, given the inherently restrictive nature of canon, and I would love to see what a good, healthy fandom would do with any story I write given all this," said Meri, grinning. "Don't get your panties in a twist over it. Transformative fans do it better, it's the whole idea of what we are, and it's the basis of the conflict between my Sue Syndicate and groups like the PPC."
Riku, though a bit confused, felt a bit more at peace with himself.
"While canon can never give you the space you deserve, I'm afraid," Meri went on, "That's what fanfics about you and Sora kissing are often for. That make sense?"
He paused for a moment, but Riku eventually said, "That's… Fine by me, then." He stood, stretching his back, turning away from the women and said, "I gotta get up early tomorrow. Me and Sora have our Mark of Mastery exams - I'm gonna head back to my world now and get some sleep."It was a strange way of thanking the women for their perspectives, but it was essentially what he was trying to get across, and Meri understood that. The girl just thought he was being a bit rude, as he stepped out through the portal he was pulled in through.
Once he was gone, Meri leaned across the table, grinning at the girl.
"That all make sense?"
And, much to the girl's chagrin, it almost did.