There's not really a ton of context for the beginning of this comic, but since it gets cut off at the end I'll probably add some notes at the end or smth. The dialogue starts w/ Dmitri walking into a class that he and Lafayette are taking together.
Also, Dmitri's calling Lafayette "Ritsu" for part of this because that's what teachers and stuff usually call Lafayette. Dmitri also typically uses she/her pronouns for Lafayette. (I think I've mentioned this before, but just a reminder in case you get confused. ;o)
....and that's as far as I got, haha;; ABRUPT AS ALWAYS!!! Anyway, yeah. The main thing I was planning to bring up in the rest of the scene is Lafayette's insecurity (?) with his arms. I think the reason I was going to give for why he's been thrown into kind of a mild panic attack here is because he was wearing a costume that was tight-fitting on the arms for theater class or something. This scene ends with Dmitri giving Lafayette his sweatshirt to wear. Wearing loose-fitting clothes (especially on the arms) can sometimes help Lafayette cope w/ his body image issues.
I kind of briefly mentioned in the above dialogue, but Lafayette had a much worse relationship with his body in middle school. Idk I won't really go into detail here because I'm disorganized and don't really know how to eloquently talk about body image;;; But he had issues with his self-image in relation to being neither feminine nor masculine enough or smth. He also felt estranged from all his peers which he found really frustrating. This is all happening in the context of his peers going through puberty in middle school (while he ultimately wasn't) and also in the context of him and his peers learning about sex education and such for the first time (which he found difficult to relate back to himself). When he learns he's intersex his frustrations with his body gradually level off. (I feel like I've mentioned all of this before, whoops;; SORRY IF I'M REPETATIVE!)
But yeah. For the most part, Lafayette in high school onward doesn't really have any huge problem with his body (he's more or less indifferent toward how his physical body looks). There's still things about his body that he compulsively has insecurities about and tries to avoid drawing attention to--mostly his arms I guess, but also just how skinny/bony he is in general. (He's fine with his legs tho.) Mentally and realistically he has no issues with his arms/body and how they look, but wearing tight shirts (like tank tops and also long sleeved shirts with tight sleeves) still gives him really bad feelings due to association with his middle school body insecurities.
Anyway, there's that. I FEEL LIKE THIS IS KIND OF A HEAVY TOPIC, SORRY;;;
