Lyoko Warriors of Love in I'm not a boy(a Code Lyoko fanfic)

After deactivating the tower and stopping the X.A.N.A. attack, the Lyoko Warriors were in the factory. Since it was Sunday afternoon, they were in no hurry to leave their secret place.

The group was lounging around the computer room. They were all curled up against at least one of their partners. Yumi had picked Jeremie up off the chair and sat down, placing him in her lap. He had long since stopped acting like he didn't like it and rested his head on the strong girl's shoulder. Odd and Aelita had sandwiched Ulrich, who was happy to cuddle as long as no one outside of their polycule knew about it. They sat at the base of the hologram setup.

After a while of talking a joking around Odd changed the tone of the conversation. "I have something I want to tell you," Odd spoke softly, their normal confidence was completely stripped from their voice. This caught everyone's attention and concern as they all turned to give them their undivided attention. They had long since known that some of the blond's cheer and confidence is bravado, but for it, all to be gone was something was cause for concern. Odd pulled their knees up to their chest and looked down.

"I think somethings wrong with me... and I'm afraid that if I tell you, you'll think I'm weird and won't love me anymore," everyone circled the scared warrior, ready to offer any comfort they could.

"But Odd, you are weird, that's one of the reasons that we love you," Ulrich chuckled.

"I agree, and I believe that I speak for everyone here when I say there isn't anything that you could possibly do to make us stop loving you," Jeremie spoke as if this was an undeniable fact; which it was.

Odd took in a deep breath, letting out a sigh before speaking, "I don't think I'm a boy. Yeah, I know I have the body and stuff, but I really don't feel like I am one. But I don't think I feel like a girl either," no one spoke as they all tried to figure out what their partner meant. Odd explained a little more. "Gender just feels weird, like I kinda feel like a boy but not really and I kinda feel like a girl but not really," they let out another sigh. "You guys probably think somethings wrong with me now," the silence lasted only a few seconds, but to Odd, it felt like an eternity, during which Odd looked down at their knees and started to cry. They only looked up as they felt the embrace of four sets of arms, and someone wiping away their tears.

"Oh, Odd," Aelita whispered sweetly, "even though I don't think any of us know what you're feeling."

"But you are our boyfriend?" Ulrich paused, scratching the back of his neck, "wait, is boyfriend the write word? Ug, we can figure something out."

"We love you, no matter what gender you are, I really don't know why you'd think that we wouldn't" Yumi finished.

"No matter what you are you will always be Odd," Aelita reassured.

Odd smiled at their partners. "I thought that I would weird you out telling you something about me that is just so confusing... and scary," the last part was barely a whisper.

"You know Odd, that even though none of us has any experience, with uh, um, this, but the human brain is a complex organ and there are a lot of variables that can vary from person to person. Due to the amount of people on this planet I'm sure you can't be the only one. I'll do some research tonight and let you know if I find anything," the blonde boy reassured.

Odd smiled, glad to have such supportive partners. "So, uh, Odd, was boyfriend the right word? Or do we need to find another word?" Ulrich asked as the hug loosened into more of their usual dog pile.

"I don't know the boy part just doesn't seem right, y'know, I don't really like being called he or him that much either," Odd answered, no longer sounding defeated, but still not back to their normal chipper self.

"Well, what do you want us to use?" Yumi asked.

"Sometimes when talking about all of us we use partners for boyfriends and girlfriends, maybe I can just be your partner?" Odd offered, everyone responded positively. "Can you use they instead of he, I know that normally it's used for more than one person, but sometimes it's used instead of he or she," Odd looked away sheepishly knowing how much they're asking from their partners.

"Well, this change might take some getting used to but hey, you're worth it, partner," Yumi flashed them a smile. Everyone agreed to use the right pronouns. They spent the rest of the afternoon trying out and getting used to it. All the while assuring them that no matter what's going on with their gender, they still love them. While Odd was just overjoyed by how well everyone was taking it, they were a little concerned as well as excited to see what Jeremie could dig up. At Odd's request, they also agreed to keep this to themselves.

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The next morning as the dormers gathered at a table for breakfast, Jeremie looked tired. "I did some research about what you told us last night and found some interesting results," he explained his lack of sleep. "After class we can meet in one of our rooms and I can explain everything,"

"Does this mean that I'm not the only one that feels this way?" a grin crossed their face as he nodded. Causing them to jump up, cheering, almost knocking over the table gaining the attention of the entire cafeteria, and a stern look from Jim. They chuckled sheepishly as they sat back down

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Once classes were over, the group conjugated in Jeremie's room, the blond boy was sitting at his desk chair facing the bed while everyone else was piled on said bed.

"You're not going to like the first part but I find the second to be quite fascinating," Jeremie started, "I found that what you have is called gender identity disorder," he began, but continued before anyone could comment, with anything but looks of shock, disgust, and defeat. "After doing a bit more research, I found that this "disorder" for the most part only exists based on gender roles. I did some more research that this type of gender roles only came to exist due to the spread of Christianity. Because of this I started looking at cultures before they were taken over. That's where I found that many cultures did in fact have multiple genders. In some cultures, they were actually treated with a higher regard than everyone else. I also saw the terms transgender and nonbinary, which I believe to be what you are. Transgender means that you don't identify with the gender you were born with, as and non-binary means that you don't identify as either male or female, like you Odd," he finished as Odd wriggled his way out of the pile on the bed to attack the other blond with kisses, almost knocking him off the chair.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" they said while peppering him with kisses, "now I know what I am! I'm non-binary!" they exclaimed proudly. "wait, did you just say in some places I'm better than you?" they smirked.

"Um, in some cultures, yes," Jeremie spoke hesitantly.

"Great, now he, wait, they have something new to brag about," Ulrich groaned, causing everyone but Odd to laugh.

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Author's Notes

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Please note that not all of the facts and definitions are properly worded I'm using what a cis person, who only studied gender for one night, would describe it based on things that existed on the internet in 2003. In 2003 gender identity disorder was considered an actual mental health condition, it was in the DSM 4 which was what was used then, it only got removed in the DSM 5(the current one) which came out in 2016. While Gender Identity Disorder, is no longer in the DSM, gender dysphoria, is. Gender dysphoria is distress caused by one's body or the way one is treated not aligning with their gender identity. The DSM is the big book that explains and is used to diagnose mental health disorders.

Also note that I am completely ignoring the French language, as it is very gendered and there was no non-gendered pronoun in 2003, and the newly created one is still not commonly used today.

Also note that there are cultures where trans people are treated with higher regard, I looked up scholarly articles about multiple genders in indigenous culture from 2003, there's surprisingly a lot there. I did not read them.

Another note, I am using 2003 as that is when the show took place.

If you like this story? I have others in this collection, and I have and several different series that I am working on, as well as a poetry collection. I keep a google doc housing summaries of each story and all of the installations that I've posted in an easy to navigate google doc: Click Here

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~~Ben Ray