Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Bell household was nice and full of a familial warmth he rarely saw, and honestly, was even nicer now that it came with the lack of a need for a filtration device over his mouth. Learning that the Bells were a magical family with magical guests and magical children had been something of an eye-opener and he took to it eagerly. Not that he didn't love his own house, of course--it was hard to truly complain about a mansion with all the fixings--but there was something nice about stepping into a home where the first thing he expected was a hug and a warm greeting for gossip or food.

... Luke gave particularly good hugs, admittedly. Must have been his dad energy.

It had been a few weeks since he had visited versus the other way around. Luke had said something about how Ignacio was going through something at the moment, and it was probably best to give him his space. That was fine. There were a lot of people staying there anyway, so probably best not to encroach too much. Luke and Safira both knew where to find him.

But today? He had sent a question to Luke asking if it was okay if he invaded, and Luke sent a message encouraging him to come by.

So there he was, letting himself in with a tap of his Bluetooth fob against the lock. His steps were slow and easy as he tried to figure out where Luke had put himself, not seeing him in his office, so figuring the best bet was probably the kitchen. What he hadn't been expecting, though, was to see the familiar figure of Sadie curled up on the couch and watching a video, and he backtracked for a moment to make sure he wasn't mistaking her for someone else.

"Sadie!" Well, Ignacio had said he was close with Sadie-- "Hey!" At the question, though, he couldn't help the way his lips ticked up.

"I love that that's stuck, honestly. The upgrade's fun." He leaned against the archway, glancing up with a hint of deviousness in the curve of his lips. He glanced around briefly to make sure the other siblings weren't around before adding, "Though some arguments could be made of the opposite..."

He let that trail off, glancing back to her directly instead. "But yeah, I am. It's nice here though. I like the close-knit family feel. Never had too much of that growing up." Well. Beyond his parent.

"Nothing rude," responded Michelangelo, with a quiet laugh. "Mostly just gesturing as they tried to figure out what the right name for me was. I'm clearly not the boyfriend." He was fine with Michelangelo, or Michel, or even Micha, just as long as they weren't calling him Angel. He had never really liked that one, especially because people who thought they were being clever used it in pickup lines.

Had it ever turned him away? Not on its own, but nevertheless.

Boytoy was a solid title, and it meant that something of that had been settled. It was an upgrade from the confusion, at least. He was a boytoy now! Worked for him!

"Mm, can't wait to see what he's cooking," Michelangelo glanced toward the kitchen for a moment before turning back toward Sadie in time to see her reach toward him. "Oh, yeah, sure!" He knew Ignacio was going through a few things, but he had to wonder if that meant Sadie was, too. What had happened to have both of them unsettled-- "And I mean, you can call me whatever you want. I don't mind at all."

Michelangelo was happy to let her if she wanted to call him something. That kind of affection was lovely, really. The concept of someone just nicknaming him gave him some warmth in his fingers and toes. "Don't think it's weird to give your close people pet names and such, right? And if we don't."

He shrugged, sitting next to her and lifting an arm to drape around her shoulders--something that was a bit easier to do when they were seated, considering there was a half-a-foot between them. "And I'm always here for hugs. What's up?"

The thought of being Luke's boyfriend brought a tick of amusement to his eyes. To be honest, he had never really thought of the concept. Luke was a nice guy, and it wasn't even in that way that some douchebag guys tried to whine that they were so nice. A legitimately warm-hearted guy who just wanted to be everyone's supportive friend--or father, as it were for others. But being his boyfriend implied, well, "Honestly, never really thought of him in that romantic light," he pursed his lips, "but I don't think of many people that way. Romance feels like something other people do mostly."

... Though now he was thinking about it...

Michelangelo let the thought go somewhere else to be picked up later as he went where he was pulled, settling almost bonelessly alongside her. Did she want to call him her boytoy? Perhaps there were other implications that people would see behind the statement, but then, did it matter what other people thought when she knew what she meant and he knew what she meant? "Yeah, go for it." He shot Sadie a grin over his shoulder. "You can call me whatever feels right honestly, so long as it's not late for dinner."

And if it was boytoy? Well, he was fine with being the boytoy of two people, even if it had different meanings for each of them--

Well.

Well, s**t, that would do it. He wasn't sure what was up with Ignacio specifically that was bugging him severely enough that Luke advised that they just meet at his place instead for a bit, but a whole youmaification instead of purification felt like it would be a qualifier. "The half-youma aflame, right?" He knew Faustite, and had even run into him once at the partially rebuilt remains of that place that had been set aflame a few years ago. Farnsworth, wasn't it?

The thought that despite how much sleep Pendour had been losing he still became fully monstrous was a strange one to confront.

It sat with the concept that some people either couldn't be rescued or simply had no desire to be in the first place. "A messy ambush. Negaverse ambushing, I presume?" Nothing else really made sense. "Guess they couldn't stand to potentially lose their own, or perhaps it was all just an elaborate trap."

Very elaborate. Faustite had legitimately seemed to be suffering. He couldn't even guess what had gone wrong in the process, considering he was arguably hearing about this issue third hand if Sadie hadn't even been there. But it had happened, anyway. "I'm sorry it didn't work out." He had been hoping it would with how hard she was pushing and pressing herself. "I've only been in this war for a short time, but considering the chaos I've seen on other worlds, it seems really deeply ingrained. For generations, to the point it has wiped entire species out."

In their whole. Even if Alastor as a world was alive again, Abzu occasionally thought about the fact that Alastor was the last of his people. The world was living again, but his people would never again.

"You did everything you could, Sadie, and it's not your fault," he glanced over to her. "And I mean that."

The concept that she, too, wasn't necessarily alloromantic was a nice one. He settled like liquid, chuckled lightly. "Yeah, me too. Arospec. I think the term for what other people call me is demi?" Michelangelo didn't call himself that, but it was in part because he didn't think much about it. He wasn't eager to partner off, the concept of dating was strange, and he never necessarily visualized himself finding a romantic partner. If it never happened, it never happened.

He was fine with that, and he didn't feel like he was missing anything like others sometimes seemed to mourn. Relationships of all sorts made him happy.

"Exciting isn't the wrong word! It is exciting to find people you have things in common with." Especially in things like orientations. Their preferences were not of the usual strokes. Why not be excited about it? "I got the ace vibes when I hit on you and you didn't really notice, but that's okay? Don't need that from you or even expect it. Just a tendency I have when I first meet people." Michelangelo winked. "I do have some other ace and aspec people in my life, too. My parent's one of them, actually."

Another of the myriad conversations they ended up having as they were discovering themselves, too--

Not the point necessarily, but seeing as she seemed to like those points of commonality, he was happy to mention them.

Whatever would help her relax, in the scheme of things, and feel a little more normal. These moments to recharge and recenter and relax were nice, and Michelangelo had always been an overindulgent type anyway, so he would never protest, but he liked when they were for these reasons. She had been through something that offset her, at the very least.

"Always happy to help relax like this." He never wouldn't be. "I'm glad you've had some time to process everything, and it's good to hear you reaffirm that. It isn't your fault. And I'm glad you've seen some improvement with Ignacio, too. He's a good guy.

Just gotta keep at it. Just," he laughed lightly, "maybe watch your own health, too."

Sadie didn't know? That seemed to follow, but the way she froze made him wonder, too: had he been a bit more subtle when he was talking to her, initially? Michelangelo was generally known for his flirty nature; it wasn't necessarily something he was even fully aware of considering how he approached most people. It had even applied to his approach to the Negaverse, if it seemed like it would get him somewhere and not dead like that woman with the axe in black and red--

"I was a bit taken with how much you knew, admittedly," Michelangelo laughed at himself, in that case, "so I wasn't terribly blatant about it. Charming smiles," of which he flashed her one, "open suggestions to come over to my place, a warning that the song I was going to show you first was known for its sensuality. But that isn't really something I wouldn't offer to a friend either. You just ... never seemed interested in a different approach."

He wouldn't say intimate. This was clearly its own kind of intimate, a more platonic intimacy that even seemed like the wrong term for it. Michelangelo let that one go.

No need to analyze what they were.

His brow quirked in light curiosity. Her gender wasn't straightforward? He offered, lightly, "Should I be using a different pronoun for you?" Because if she and her was the incorrect one, he'd make the required adjustment immediately. "Just checking."

It was a little checkpoint before he continued with, "Ah, yeah. He caught me pretty blatantly hitting on Luke once and I guess it messed with the image of his father figure." Michelangelo's eyes glinted with amusement. "Which is fine. I get it, but I rub it in a bit on purpose. Nothing malicious, but hearing him grumble or watching him squirm is fun sometimes."

He shrugged, chuckling.

"If he stopped really reacting, I'd stop doing it. Not often the type of person to needle unless it's wanted. But it's part of why I was delighted when he finally dubbed me Luke's boytoy."

It both showed his dismay with it and also showed that maybe he was coming to terms with it--

She had come to his house, hadn't she? Even gotten into his bed a few times. It just had a different angle than what getting into his bed usually ended up meaning, and he was very alright with that. "You did, it's true." He laughed. "And now here we are."

And there she was. Or he. Or they. Or xe? It sounded like Sadie was fine with any pronoun he gave, and he relaxed to hear the easy definition. "Maybe I'll drop some he's on you in a conversation at some point." Michelangelo had played the game of switching up pronouns for other people, even to help them figure themselves out and what felt right. He wouldn't switch up the pronoun on her constantly, but if she was alright with any of them--

Why not let him have any of them?

It was easy enough, and he easily listened to her explanation. Oh! She was intersex! That was doubly interesting just on its own, and in some ways Michelangelo seemed rapt. "Yeah, dysphoria. Sometimes that's pretty uncomfortable, but for other people it's just ... incorrect. You're Sadie, and Sadie is Sadie, no matter what that means." He grinned. "I've always felt fairly comfortable in my masculinity, but I'd be lying if I felt comfortable with it in that ... stereotypical man way you see." The way he waved his hand around to display that probably leaned into that, now when he thought about it. "Just ... know that 'man' is what feels right to me. I've thought about it, though. Hard not to confront when people have called you non-conforming and your whole older..." he paused, "not sibling goes through an entire gender journey in front of you."

And with his help, admittedly.

"I've met a couple of intersex people before. A nice reminder that not even our sex is as binary as people like to think it is."

Just because he lived in a definition that fit the binary didn't mean everyone else would or even should--

Well, he didn't like the way Sadie was shaking her head at him. "Well, maybe it's a bit more than necessary," okay, perhaps a lot more than necessary, but he even had the backup from his little sister! Clearly that was a win. Supporting siblings trolling each other was always fun-- "But what would you consider needed teasing?" He'd be lying if he said he really wanted to stop when the way Ignacio grumbled about it was so amusing.

He supposed her feelings would be more personal about it, considering... Well, she herself was a reminder that the binary didn't make sense. He spoke as someone who knew people who didn't fit the typical, and even as it could be argued he was someone like that too, it wasn't quite the same, was it? "That's fair," he murmured. "Our social structure is kinda puritan. A lot of societies have had multiple genders beyond the binary. A lot still do."

And she deserved to fit if she wanted to, but she also deserved that space to just exist without being bothered if she wanted it. "And... Thanks. Honestly, it's never bothered me that people might call me a little effeminate sometimes but," he laughed, "I'm comfortable, you know? And it's nice that other people think I should be, too."

... Wait. His family.

"You know, if you're looking for a distraction," he snickered, "my family's a bit messy. The not sibling and the ace parent are the same person. My grandparents tried to raise us as siblings after a teen pregnancy that resulted in, well," Michelangelo gestured at himself. "Didn't know the truth until I was," how old had he been? "Ten? and my grandparents weren't even the ones that told me."

His parent, by that point, was in their mid-twenties and was tired of playing the game from his understanding of the whole thing. It did explain a few things about why his parent seemed to bristle every time they were directed to do things in certain ways--

"And oh, trust me, flirting with Luke does make me happy," he might have tilted his tone downwards for good measure, glancing in Luke's direction where he was situated in the kitchen as she mentioned. Just in case saying his name got his attention -- "but Ig's sister enjoys the needling of him, honestly. Maybe I can find a middle ground until Ignacio finally stops reacting to it."

Michelangelo figured that would happen eventually. It had already started with him finally having a name for Michelangelo--