Before you say it, Mom, I know. Dating can be difficult for everyone. It can be hard, opening yourself to someone like that. To be seen completely. To be heard. I do want that for myself. I want almost all of it. I want to hold hands and watch movies with someone. I want them to come home and tell me about their awesome day. I want them to wait for me while I jump off rooftops chasing down Lady Shiva. I want someone to share ice cream with after I get press-ganged onto a bananas immortality island murder tournament where I’m forced to fight a literal demon. I want to share myself. It’s just so hard, when sharing yourself is so often assumed to mean your body as well as your soul. Primarily your body. I understand why most people see sex and love as interchangeable. Society is composed of celebrations of the sexual aspect of love, it’s cacophonous. Which is what made this so hard to realize. Because when that… noise… is everywhere, it can be hard to hear the silence within yourself. Especially when everyone in the orchestra thinks your silence is… an aberration. Ruining their chorus. But this silence is me, and it has a beauty of its own.I’m asexual, Mom. And I’m proud of who I am, now that I can hear it.
CONNOR HAWKE in DC PRIDE (2022) story by Ro Stein and Ted Brandt
