Eddie Brock, my cousin, sat in the passenger seat tonight, and as we headed to the city we expected to meet Derek. I changed to a radio station with good music.

"What's your name again?" he asked, leaning against the car door.

"Idunn," I answered.

Eddie was the kind of guy who didn't talk with his hands, and when he spoke he looked away from the others in the conversation. He was shy and, on his Earth, he was the kind of fresh meat toxic masculinity fed off raw. I assured him early on in our acquaintance the LGBT community was a lot safer on this Earth, which the gods and I nicknamed 'Luck'.

"What kind of name is that?"

We stopped at the lights and waited for no traffic on the opposite side of the road. Did the lights work on an algorithm, or were my parents thinking that? Either way it was a betrayal to our side.

"It's Nors; it's ancient!" I said. "If I remember, it means 'little apple' in Taamubaan."

Eddie snickered. "That's… sweet."

"I hated it, don't get me wrong," I retorted, keeping my eyes on the road.

He turned his head to face me, only for a second. "What nerds called you that, then?"

"The townspeople in Anaheim." Whenever I talked about my past, my accent changed ever so slightly. No one on Luck could pinpoint it, but probably the closest was German or Danish. "My hair was like, firetruck red so I looked like an apple to them."

He slapped his knee, laughing. "So if you hated it then, what changed your mind now?"

"It's reclaiming the insult," I explained. "That's why I also make so many gay and bi jokes."

"So I could make gay jokes and no one would bat an eyelid?" he asked.

I shrugged. "As long as they know you're gay."

He groaned. "I don't think I like that."

"You're not proud of your family?" I asked.

He stopped leaning on the car door, and leant back into the chair."Yeah, but not here. I'd rather read the room before I even step into that territory." He had a point.

"Well, I'll keep making the jokes, so you're not safe with me."

"I'm taking off my seatbelt and leaving this car." He chuckled.

"Better yet, Derek might draw it out of you," I continued. "He has, like, double the husbands."

"Can't wait to meet him in person," he droned. "I bet he's jacked as shit."

I laughed hard enough for me to lose my focus. "Do you wanna bet?"