Hard to Explain

“I figured it was something like that,” he said slowly, looking only a little mortified. “But I really don’t know anything about that stuff outside of like... basic, normal things.”

Josh frowned slightly. “It always feels weird when people try to apply the term normal to sex things. I always prefer vanilla as a term, there. Because, like, there’s nothing weird about liking getting eaten out, or about being into kinkier things, and trying to separate it out from normal is really…” Josh paused to think of the right word. “Othering.”

“Othering?” Ai asked. “What is othering?”

“It’s essentially alienating someone, or making them feel like they are fundamentally different or wrong. It’s like you’re sorting the world into little boxes, and there’s ‘people like me’ and ‘other’.”

“So something everyone does. Human nature and all of that messy stuff.”

Josh nodded. “It’s something that a lot of people don’t think nearly enough about, and no one’s perfect, but I’m working on it.”

“There’s no such thing as perfect.”

“No, there isn’t,” Josh agreed. “There is such a thing as being as good as you can be, though. I don’t have a lot of political opinions or religious beliefs or any of that stuff, but I believe in making no one feel left out or unwanted, because that’s shitty, and no one deserves that.”

“I think that’s a really nice to way go through life. Because being the person on the receiving end of those feelings sucks. A lot.”

“Yeah. I can definitely agree with that.”

“Story of my life.”

“Things have been kind of shit for you, then, haven’t they?” Josh asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“It’s life,” he said quietly. “And I’m working on feeling better about it, even if it’s not changing. I’m changing.”

“Like a butterfly,” Josh said, not entirely pulling off seriously. “Aiden the butterfly.”

“...sure,” he said slowly, not quite sure if he liked that comparison.

Josh laughed. “Someday, you’ll grow out of your shell, and things will get better. Or, well, I actually really can’t say that for certain at all, but I have faith in your ability to branch out.”

“Well, thanks?” Aiden was questioning the value of a stranger’s faith, but he’d take it nonetheless.

“You’re welcome! After all, if you can make friends with Dodge, there’s gotta be hope for you.”

“He’s just sort of inserted himself into my life without my consent.”

“But he isn’t omnipresent. If you really didn’t want him there, you could avoid him. It seems like you gave him a chance, though, and let him hang around.”

“Well, yeah... I mean, he’s not so bad even if he is a sort of terrible influence.”

“He’s an absolutely HORRIBLE influence,” Josh agreed. “Not the worst, but a pretty terrible influence.”

“Not that I’m a perfect one. I’ve encouraged class skipping.”

“Tsk tsk tsk,” Josh teased. “Like he wasn’t doing that enough on his own.”

“Why bother with class when there are zombies to massacre.”