I never expected to be a part of pride (at least beyond a ally). Growing up I had a crush on a girl starting in middle school, in college I finally got over that crush and later crushed on another girl. The closest thing to LGBTQIA+ feelings I had were my fetishes/kinks around transformation and growth that developed, but for the longest time I saw them as male-focused purely for self-insertion reasons. They were escapism and I could relate more to males transforming than females.

Though I'll be honest, occasionally I would question if I was actually gay because of my arousal at transforming, inflating, and growing men. But I decided I wasn't wanting to have sex with the men, it was just some body envy working its way into the escapism and self-insertion. That and not looking too hard at it.

In college, I found the term asexuality and followed some Tumblr blogs about it. But I said they were relatable but I wasn't Ace. I was straight and just not especially interested in dating; after-all, I had crushes on girls. Besides, there were plenty of reasons outside of my sexuality that I wasn't dating anyone. I was too busy, ladies weren't into disabled guys, lack of ability to do a lot of couples things, contentment with my friends.

Mid-2020 I've started actually completing stories of male transformation and my other areas that have been posted here. Including bits of gay sex and similar. But the above logic all holds well enough. I've got the important story beats for GPIM Haywood mapped out, including Daniel's orientation ironically enough.

Then rolls around November 2020 and Brandon Sanderson's fourth book in The Stormlight Archive, Rhytmn of War. I won't spoil anything, but it's a minor detail anyway. I see the post from Sanderson about a specific character being Ace (before reaching that point in the book) and why it felt like the right choice despite a sizable portion of fans wanting her to be Bi or Lesbian. I agree with his post but again, things don't click.

Come February 2021 and I reach that point in the book. Yes, it finally clicks, or rather I'm finally willing to accept what I've known since college, probably 6 or 7 years by then. I believe the exact wording was along the lines of she couldn't understand why people were so obsessed with physical pleasure when there were riddles and challenges in the world to solve. That definitely resonated with me, but it was more seeing the sexuality represented in and supported by my favorite author (tied with Pratchett who I imagine would as well).

Side note, one of the first things I watched when getting Netflix was Bojack Horseman because I knew Todd came out as Ace. But I loved the show regardless of that.

By early 2022 I had worked up the courage to come out to my best friend as Ace. I think he misunderstood asexuality as something super pure and free from horny (the horror if he saw this account), but he was supportive and that's all I could ask. After that, I quickly told my good friend  Verath on here.

After that, I came to the realization that I'm aromantic as well. While I have had crushes, the one from middle school was just me thinking she was awesome and beautiful. I never wanted to kiss or anything. And the crush in college I think I only wanted to date because I knew I was supposed to want to date her as my crush.

Another best friend was the next I came out to and we invented an AroAce superhero that's immune to villainous seductions. She was the first person I came out to as Aro. I'm happily attending her wedding this weekend, she's lucky with a wonderful man. But he's the real lucky one of them.

And by the end of the summer, I had come out to my last best friend as Ace. I'm not sure he had any idea what I was talking about, but still. He did provide the obligatory mitosis joke, so totally worth it.

And by now I'm fully out in this online persona. And proud to be so. Happy Pride everyone!