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"I've never seen someone who looks like me on television"
"Um, yeah, I think there's plenty of white men on the BBC, James"
"No, that's not what I mean" he told her. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "I mean, I haven't seen someone who also has..." he gestured vaguely at his scared upper lip, to which the redhead raised her eyebrows in understanding. "It's not a big deal, I suppose" he conceded. "Just slightly bothers me"
It had been a week and a half since that conversation. James had mostly forgotten about it, and Alyssa herself hadn't thought all that much about it, but she had been halfheartedly doing some searching in her free time, looking for shows and movies that would make her partner feel more seen.
She quickly realized that finding a good one was gonna be hard, and the only decent examples she could find for a while were American shows- Nothing wrong with those, but she didn't want it to be too obvious to James that she had hunted for an example. Eventually, though, she stumbled across a BBC show called The Musketeers, and among their cast was an actor- And, by extension, a character- With the same affliction as James.
"James, I want to watch The Musketeers"
"...The what?"
"It's a BBC show that got canceled. I think it looks cool"
"Okay"
"Will you watch it with me?"
"Okay"
Good enough.
The first scene with Athos (the character) had his face covered, and Alyssa was beginning to worry that this was going to end up being a complete dud because the guy's face was covered. However, after the opening intro played out, it cut to a scene of a hungover Athos getting ready in the morning, no mask.
Alyssa subtly looked over at James when the camera panned up on the man's face and found a smile plastered on as he saw himself on screen for the first time in his life, and she knew she'd hit the mark.
"This looks like a good show, Alyssa"
"Told you"