Disclaimer: I don't own anything Rick Riordan related.
Summary: this is for the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, specifically book two, the Hammer of Thor. Spoilers!
Warnings: LGBT+, specifically a gender-fluid and transgender character (in her own words) and a not quite heterosexual character whose sexuality is thus far unnamed but has a very obvious crush on said gender-fluid character.
Enjoy!
"Hey, Alex?" Magnus asked suddenly from where he had been laying down, staring at the ceiling as the two of them tried to get into a relaxed state after worrying about Loki and the upcoming Ragnarok for far too long.
Magnus hadn't bothered to get up and leave Alex's suite, and she hadn't said anything, so he'd taken it as permission to stay and hang out for a while, even if they'd been drawn into their own thoughts.
"Hm?" she responded absentmindedly, more focused on her current project taking shape on her pottery wheel than focused on him.
Not that Magnus particularly minded. He would never say it aloud lest he risk painful decapitation via garrote, but Alex was really cute when she was focused on something.
"I was just wondering," he started, glancing away from her and trying to shake the mushy thoughts out of his head. "If I ever have to refer to you in the past tense, should I use the pronouns that you were using at the time, or the pronouns you use in the present?"
It was silent for a long moment, long enough that Magnus, against his better judgement, turned to glance at his friend curiously.
She was looking at him in that strange way that she sometimes did, heterochromatic eyes feeling like they were staring into his soul.
It was the same look she'd had back after Loki was freed and, during a conversation with her, he had instinctively been able to tell what gender Alex was at the time, even managing to notice when he had switched back to female mid-conversation.
He'd never quite been able to figure out what that look meant.
"Oh!" his eyes widened in horror. "Sorry! Was that offensive?"
"No." she answered immediately with a firm shake of the head. "Not offensive at all. I just wasn't really expecting it; you're the first person to ask."
Magnus calmed down slightly at that, relieved that he hadn't accidentally been rude, as that hadn't been his intention at all.
"I guess I would prefer to be referred to as the gender I was during the time you're referring to, since at that time I was that gender." She answered after a moment. "Just remember that—"
"You're not a poster child, teacher, or ambassador representing every gender-fluid person." Magnus said automatically, paraphrasing what she had told him shortly after they had met. "I remember. Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
It was silent for another moment as his green-haired friend (*cough* crush *cough*) processed that.
"Good." She said finally, and thanked her lucky stars that Magnus had gone back to staring at the ceiling and didn't see the pleased flush that was creeping on her face.
A moment later, she started pedaling to start spinning her pottery wheel, and the room was filled with the quiet noise once again, the pair once again falling into a comfortable lull in conversation, content with the other's silent company.
Please review! :)
I'm probably going to end up starting a separate collection of Magnus Chase 'drabbles' like this one, though I don't know if it'll get nearly as big as this one has.
Would you guys be interested? Would you prefer I keep the collections entirely separate, or post the chapters here as well as in their own separate story (so it's easier to find for those looking for Magnus Chase stuff specifically)?