OKAY THIS STORY WAS JUST AMAZING. Forst I have to say I will re-read because I zoomed through it like I got the just of it but I didn’t read everything just bits and pieces. With that aside, this was very cute and wholesome. One of the tags that drew me in the most was the tag “Genderfluid” because it’s not common for stories to feature characters that identify outside the gender spectrum. Arima struggled a lot with his gender especially the pressure from his mom wanting a girl. I think it was good that he stuck to his identity especially after that horrible incident with his teacher. I think he healed a bit after the incident even when it made him not want to be a girl for a while. I’m glad he could express both versions of himself. As for his relationship with the boy (forgot his name) he loved him either way. I remember in the story he said something like “I was drawn to you for the feminine version of yourself” and that upset Arima making him remember his mother’s desire for a girl. They ended up talking over it and the boy told him he liked him both ways. Another thing I liked was while I was speed reading, I processed the boys reactions as being open about his sexuality. Even when people called him gay he didn’t mind it even showing affection towards Arima was very open and to me it seemed like he did not care. I apologize for saying “seemed” or “how I understood it” because again, I sped through it so I may be wrong. If I end up being wrong on some parts then I’ll correct it when I re-read it. The last thing I want to cover is how Arima viewed the boy as his hero because of the flower he gave him reminded him of his hero from that incident. I feel like it was very sweet and I shed some tears because he had a deep connection between him because of that. I just feel like that just feels warm and healing for Arima because he has a person that is similar to his hero that makes him safe and happy when around him. I think that’s all I wanted to say and I’ll just throw in that I hope that disgusting teacher that hurt Arima got put into jail. It was a nice story and very heart-warming, only trigger warning is the rape from the incident but still a beautiful story.
Boy Meets Maria