Here’s the geekiest love story ever told. Today marks the 12 year anniversary for me and my wifey. Why am I posting pictures of Gundam Wing? Because this, my dear followers, is how we met.
This story actually starts 14 years ago. When I was 16 I discovered Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network and got hooked pretty quickly. Back then, the internet was still a new thing, but I used it when I could to find whatever information I could on the series. I ended up discovering a page that cited evidence of Heero and Duo’s relationship. Back then, I had no idea what yaoi was, but I learned pretty quickly. I also didn’t know what fandom was, or the difference between “fanon” and “canon,” oh man, it was the late 90s and everything we new and wonderful.
Anyhow, I wrote some pretty terrible fics for these two boys. I wrote terrible, terrible yaoi sex scenes because all of my information came from whatever dirty fics I could find. When I was 17, someone messaged me about joining a Heero and Duo yaoi mailing list, but you had to be 18 so I waited. When I turned 18 I joined the list. A month later, I went off to college, and went full force into the list (I was the youngest member at the time).
Two things happened. Well three things, really.
1. I accidentally started a ship war between Heero and Duo versus Duo and Heero (or 1x2, and 2x1). However, unlike the ship wars we see today, this was super friendly and probably the most fun I’ve had in a fandom, since we all wrote fics and drew art to “fire shots” at each other. There was a girl who preferred 2x1, but she decided to take my side because I was the baby of the list. More on that girl later ^^
2. I got my nickname, Chibi. I was going by “Chibi Shi-Chan” on ff.net, but there was a certain girl who said that that name was too long and that I should just go by Chibi. Which leads me to the most important thing that happened, 12 years ago.
3. I met my wifey, who named me Chibi, and joined my side of the ship war because I was the baby of the list.
Now at the time, I had a boyfriend. But he ended up not talking to me anymore because I wouldn’t sleep with him. I was pretty upset about things and she ended up sending me a white tiger (which I still have). We talked and talked, not just on the list, but on IRC (wow yes I am that old) and everything. We wrote a terrible Resident Evil/Gundam Wing fic together, and just… it was good fun. We sent each other pictures, and even started talking on the phone. I didn’t realize that feelings were developing until she told me about this girl she had a crush on in her class.
Now, back then, the thought of being attracted to a girl never ever crossed my mind. All my friends back at home had boyfriends, and even I had a boyfriend at one point. There’s also the fact that no one really talked about homosexuality, nor did we really know anyone who was gay. The one girl I remember who claimed to be a lesbian also had a boyfriend, or at least, a guy who got her pregnant? We didn’t really know what “bisexual” was at the time, and just called her confused.
But anyhow, when I realized that I was jealous of her liking this girl, I freaked out. I stopped talking to her and everything. I thought, there was no way I could like a girl, no not at all. That’s not something that was done, right? Girls had boyfriends, right? But when I stopped talking to her I started to miss her, and it was really hard not to send an email, or call her, or anything like that.
So finally, on this day 12 years ago, I stood in my college library and sent her an email that told her that I liked her.
The plan had been to take things slow, since we hadn’t met in person. That didn’t work at all, because we both liked each other, so we just went with the flow of things. We met in person at Anime Central 2002, and then at some point she started coming to see me once a month while I was in college. Before I graduated, I told my parents about her (well I told my mom, my dad found out). My mom was cool with it, my dad not so much. We had a pretty big fight, but we talked it out and now he loves her to death.
She told her parents and they pretty much ignored it/didn’t acknowledge it, and we figured that they never would.
Over the years we’ve been through a lot together. Apartments, a new home. Being broken into. Dealing with her parents not acknowledging us. Conventions, writing dreams, hard realities of my job being terrible and me being miserable. Rejection letters for books. Money problems. Losing both of our cats. Just… a lot, and I mean a lot, has happened. But with the bad there’s always something good, or at least, she makes me feel like there is. And so much has improved with our relationship that it’s hard not to be optimistic about the future.
Her parents love me now. They’re supportive of us. For the first time ever her dad introduced me as her partner this year.
The writing dream is coming together, slowly, but surely. Also, so is the costuming convention art dream.
Hell, we can get married in our state now.
After 12 years, I still love this woman more than anything. It’s amazing what she does to me. She can always make me smile no matter how bad I’m feeling, whether it’s me missing my brother, or having writing frustrations, just… she can make me feel so good about things. And she makes me feel good about myself. She makes me feel like I can do anything. She makes me feel beautiful and creative and talented. She makes me feel all of these things. Sometimes, I look at her and can’t believe that I found this woman, and it’s so cool that it’s all, essentially, thanks to anime and the internet.
So thank you Gundam Wing. And the 1x2x1 ML. And fanfiction. And just… all of those things helped create this relationship. It’s been an amazing 12 years and I’m looking forward to 12 more.
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