When You ASSUME

Prompt from PrideOnThePage

“Hey, Kris!” Beth trilled as she swished in the door. “Happy Pride!”
“Er…” Kris shot her a perplexed look. “Happy Pride to you, too, boss.”
Beth faltered and peered at him. Taken aback.
“…Ah.” Kris leant on the counter and grinned. “So, did you assume I was gay from the moment you found out it was a guy applying to work at a flower shop, or…?”
“U-uh…” Beth flushed to match the poppy display behind her.
“Sorry, but no.” Kris said breezily. “Just a boring ol’ cishet dude who loves flowers. And being able to pay rent.”
“Fair.” Beth mumbled.
“But hey, I’m all for celebrating Pride, ‘cause I owe queens a huge debt.” Kris’s smile turned crooked. “I mean, the people who want to stamp them out are happy to stomp me down too. And sure, giving up flowers would suck, but way less than giving up who I am, y’know? I have nothing but respect for fighters like that. So if you wanna plaster the place with rainbows and flags, I’m in.”
“Well, I don’t know about plaster, but I did get a few…” Beth set the box she was carrying down on the counter and started rummaging through it. “Oh, er, here, you can have the ‘proud ally’ badge.”
Kris decided not to make a fuss about whether she’d gone and bought a gay badge for him before having this conversation. Not like he wasn’t used to people making assumptions. Sheesh. The sooner society got over this nonsense, the better.
He simply pinned the ally ribbon above his name badge and clipped a pronoun pin on. It was blue, of course. Apparently there was no escaping such things, even for Pride measures. Being a guy meant your stuff being a boring, depressing colour.
At least it was only one prescriptive spot amongst the kaleidoscope of the shop. He really shouldn’t complain.
“And I got a big flag for the front display, and some bunting for around the place. You know me, any excuse for bunting!”
“Hey, it’s your shop. I’ll get the step ladder.”
“Thanks! Oh, do you think we should change the music?”
“Er…” Kris scratched his head. “What would we change it to?”
Beth’s expression was a masterwork in ‘boss trying really hard not to show that they were hoping you’d have ideas’. After a moment’s motionless flailing she brightened up. “The radio stations will be doing themed charts, right? At least one of them must be. I’ll get the radio hooked back up and we can just play from there.”
“You have a radio?”
It sounded cringe the moment he said it. Kris winced.
Beth’s eyes crinkled. “Well, yes. It came with the building. Used to be the best way to play music, you know. And I’m pretty sure it still works. You get the flags up and I’ll see about getting the party started!”
“Er, sure thing, boss.” Kris shook his head with a bemused grin and headed for the cupboard. Allying ho!

Prompt was “blossom”.

[The question of “where does ‘genderqueer’ end and ‘GNC cisgender’ start” is a conundrum for the ages. Preferably ages where we’ve sorted out all the actual problems and have only semantics left to quibble over. While Pride is not for people like Kris, Pride does benefit him, and allies benefit us, so everyone celebrate the win-win. Preferably with bunting! Just make sure to take it down and dispose of it responsibly after.]