Title: Rumour and Truth
Author: fengirl88
Fandom: Gentleman Jack/ Historical RPF
Length: 111
Content notes: no warnings apply
Characters: Anne Lister, mentions of others
Author note: also a fill for the Explicit challenge at femslashficlets
Summary: Behind her back the whispers grow, louder, louder.



Behind her back the whispers grow, louder, louder. From Shibden to Halifax to Paris, everyone knows there's something odd about Miss Lister. In polite society, rumour runs in hints and innuendo. In the street, a rough fellow challenges her: "Does your cock stand?"

Behind closed doors, she writes things the whisperers can't begin to imagine. Explicit diaries, in her own private code and her own private language, about the women she's bedded and the orgasms they shared. About masturbation, too: incurred a cross.

I liked to have those I loved near me as possible, she tells one soon-to-be lover. In writing, she gives her preference another name: press queer to queer.