Heartwarming / Rain (2010)

"No bad dreams tonight, okay?"

• After Gavin initially rejects Rain's change, Maria and Rudy comfort and become friends with Rain.
• Gavin and Rain finally finding something familiar from their childhood: the Fighter Frogs video game they used to play. They both spend the whole night trying (and failing) to beat it.
• Rain and Emily together create a lot of these:
  • In Chapter 6, Emily gets mad that Rain is also wearing an angel costume, but brushes it off with the comment that they're like sisters. Chapter 14 has Rain admit that she took that comment to heart when she's trying to get Emily to tell her about her pregnancy.
    Rain: Don't go, sis.
  • After getting approved for transition, Rain comes out to her and lets her be the first to know.
  • Chapter 23 features many of these for Emily, with her being a supportive Cool Big Sis to Rain, but two moments in particular come to mind:
    • After talking about her acceptance issues, Rain draws parallels between them pointing out how they're not so different. Emily agrees and has this to say:
      Emily: If I'm awesome, that means you are too~!
      Rain: Whaaat? No. It's just you!
    • The last page of the chapter where she hugs Rain after she wakes up crying from a horrible nightmare about her father.
  • And the heartwarming moments continue on in Chapter 24:
    • Rain and Emily are standing in a long line to see the author of Kaminari, but Emily starts feeling sick and has to go sit down. Faced with either leaving her pregnant friend alone or missing out on seeing her idol, she walks out of the line.
      Random Bystander: Whoa! Are you crazy? You're never going to meet Koizumi if you both get out now! Look how long the line has gotten.
      Rain: You're probably right. But some things are just more important.
    • Just how important? Well
    • Despite missing out on the main event Rain wanted to go to, she and Emily still have fun looking around the rest of the con.
    • Emily buying the last Kaminari plush for Rain when she doesn't have enough money to pay for it.
    • No bad dreams tonight, okay?
• Rudy asking out Rain.
• Aiken admits that he doesn't understand Rain's dysphoria. He does, however, understand that she's happy, and decides that's good enough for him.
  Rain: Thank you, Big Bro.
  Aiken: I'm not sure what I did to deserve that, but you're welcome... Baby Sis.
• Aiken in general. Despite his treatment of Rain and Jessica at first, he goes out of his way to have them meet because he thinks they can help each other. He takes full accountability for his mistakes and tries, and succeeds, at making things right with Rain, first and foremost because Family is important to him. He is even patient with Kellen when pointing out that she was wrong for cutting Rains hair, and remains neutral for the sake of both of his sisters. He has also implied he is still in love with Jessica despite everything, but is too ashamed to approach her.
• The non canon (at least at the moment) image created by the author when gay marriage is legalized on a national level.
• After a major Wham Episode that hit a little too close to home for some people, Jocelyn writes in her DeviantArt journal an apology, reassuring the readers that Rain will make it through this and this heartwarming message:
  Same goes for you, Rain Beaus. You are stronger than you may realize. Don't let anyone hold anything over you. And if you think you're alone, remember that we're ALL friends here. Myself and 2,000+ other people watching this page want to see you and everyone else here live positively in the way you want to.
• Jessica and Heather learning their mutual secrets and accepting each other.
• In the newest page, Chanel suggests that when the Kaminari anime comes out, she and everyone else watch it together before everyone potentially goes their separate ways. That's a sweet way to share a memory with everyone.
• Against all expectations, Allison is surprisingly civil when she runs into Rain, even commenting how pretty she looks, which means a lot to Rain considering what she had been through recently.
  • Furthermore, Allison ends up helping most of Rain's problems in one fell swoop: apologizing for and repairing their failed friendship from the past, encouraging her to be able to confess to Emily, and most importantly, telling Rain that her short hair makes her look more femme, which, while she doesn't know the significance, definitely helped boost Rain's confidence.
  • She also fixes Rain's Your Make Up Is Running problem. If that doesn't cement her as a likable character, I don't know what will.
• The ending of Chapter 28. After so much build up for so long, Rain and Emily finally admit their feelings for each other. They also admit their fears and insecurities about the future, especially with Emily's baby and the drama that would come with it. But they still believe there's a way to somehow make things work, ending with a Big Damn Kiss.
• The last page of Ch. 32. After a whole day of feeling unfeminine, Chanel has this to say after Rain uses a loophole to register her for the prom
  Chanel: And I hope you don't still feel unfeminine...because honestly, you're the kind of woman I aspire to be.
• Another moment from Jocelyn herself: after a pretty dark Wham Episode where Maria runs away from home, she assured that Bury Your Gays is never going to come into effect in the story, much to the relief of readers.
  • Also, Rudy standing up for his sister is so nice and heartwarming.
• Emily doing everything she can, even risking expulsion, to help protect Maria from her Abusive Parents, who she fears will send her to a "gay-curing" camp following her own expulsion.
  • In return, Maria hugs her and says she forgives her for all her past mistakes, and asks her not to beat herself up for what happened between them, since Maria's equally at fault.
• Blair tells Rain that Emily needs her.
• At the beginning of Chapter 36, Blair and Isaac do everything in their power to coax Maria out of her apartment, where she's been cooped up for far too long. It's clear that they care about her even though they haven't been friends with her that long.
• Rain inviting Allison to spend time with her and her other friends.
• In Chapter 36, when Maria and Chanel are having some issues, Emily has a talk with Chanel and reassures her that Maria loves her, and that if she tells Maria what's bothering her, she'll listen.
• Emily laments the kind of person she used to be and is certain nobody will vote for her as prom queen. Immediately, Rain and Ky both vote for her.
• The friendship between Rudy and Colette. He comes out to Rudy as trans after bumping into him when he was crossdressing, completely by accident, and they become fast friends. Rudy is even making an effort to keep this reveal between them. Being him, he almost slips at times, but he is trying.
  • And as the time progresses, the comic starts dropping Ship Tease between the two of them.
• Despite their rocky and distant relationship throughout the comic, when Emily almost considers going home to her mother, Debbie is the one who shuts down that idea and tells her to spend time with people who actually love her.
  • And of course, Rain is quick to comfort her afterward and both recount just how far they've come since they first met.
• Ana defending Ky, even if she does almost lets slip that she had an experience almost the same as them.
  • Speaking of Ky, Rudy letting them switch his tux with the dress they have on when they feel uncomfortable wearing it.
  • After 40 pages of absence, Maria shows up and surprises Chanel.
    • And then she appears to Rudy and Ky as Fara talks to the two.
• After all the ups and downs, the guilt over their misunderstandings and his fears of being judged, Drew finally starts to accept that he cares about Ky, no matter who they are, and is making a conscious effort to change and understand them. Equal points to Rain and Ana, who both assure him that it's a learning process and it's okay to make mistakes so long as he keeps trying to do better. The first step being that he should go and apologize to them.
  • Doubling as Awesome, on his way to apologize, Rob makes another crack about him liking Ky. Instead of trying to defend himself again, Drew just tells him off for being a horrible friend and gets back to what he was doing, proving that there's hope for him yet.
  • And Ky is quick to forgive them for what happened and only happy that they're willing to talk to them. And when ky asks if they're worried about people judging him, Drew assures them he's not ashamed to be seen with them anymore, no matter what.
• Emily being crowned prom queen. Granted, it comes right before a serious misnaming debacle where Rain is crowned prom king, but it's still sweet knowing that, despite her earlier concerns, people did genuinely vote for her. And when the names are recounted, Gavin is crowned prom king and Emily decides to hand her tiara to Rain.
  • And then Rain makes good on her earlier promise and gives her tiara to Ana, who's nothing but appreciative.
  • After that, everyone gets to dance with their partners: Rain with Emily, Chanel with Maria (the latter even gives Chanel her new phone number so they can still keep in contact while continuing to keep a low profile after this), Gavin with Ana, and Ky with Drew.
  • One small scene in that chapter has Gavin giving Colette his blazer, thinking he's cold. Gavin was just being nice, but in that moment, Colette was feeling dysphoric, and the gesture meant more to him than Gavin realizes. (Or maybe Gavin did realize it...)
  • At the very end of the chapter, Rain and Emily share a Big Damn Kiss right in front of everyone, including Debbie, Holly, Devon, and the teachers, deciding not to hide who they are or let other's perceptions hurt them.
• A lot throughout Chapter 38.
  • Jess and Aiken gradually reconciling, with Aiken admitting that he's trying his hardest to be a better person.
  • Heather admitting she loves Jess and wants her to be happy.
  • It's a smaller one, but Kellen finally acknowledges that what she did was wrong, and that she never wanted to the bad guy. She does want what's best for her family, to be involved and she wants to understand their whole situation better. She even calls Rain by name.
• Arthur names Rain right when she graduates. He saw her dead name and ignored it for her sake.
  • Before Rain leaves, he thanks her for being a positive figure on his life, admitting to her that her situation opened his eyes, and now wants to reconnect with Will, whom he disowned because of his personal biases towards trans people.
• Chapter 42 is full of reassurances that, despite them moving forward with college and others planning on moving especially with Emily and her baby, everyone promises to remain in touch.
  • In a way, Rain fullfills her childhood dream of becoming a mother.
• Chapter 43 has Rain and Fara reading Liriel's final letter. Not only was Liriel ultimately supportive of Rain being trans, it turns out he was a closeted trans man himself. Rain responds to this by adopting Liriel's name for her own, much like Ryan did, while keeping "Rain" as a middle name.
  • The name change also includes adopting Liriel's bachelor name Bryer, which also serves to honor Fara, the only real family Rain had after Liriel's death.
  • Liriel Rain Bryer ultimately decides to use the money of her inheritance to provide her child Lydia and her loved ones a new home at the cost of delaying her surgery. Despite this, she assures to the viewers that she will get there someday.
  • In her dream, Rain reaffirming that her true dad is Mr.Bryer and her true mother is Fara.
• The final chapter opens with Rain in 2019, now age 24. The shy girl who buried herself deep in the closet, afraid to let anyone know she's trans, is now an internet personality and lets-player who's sharing her story with people online. That alone is an amazing accomplishment for her. Not only that, but people were asking her to share her story and many of them found it helpful and relatable.
  • It also turns out, a few months earlier, she and Emily finally got married.
• The rest of the gang in the final chapter is quite heartwarming too.
  • Rudy and Ryan being confirmed to be in a relationship.