gender. they have it

trans toads x2

On one fine evening, the professor and captain found themselves curled up together on the professor's bed. He was fine-tuning a lesson plan for an upcoming class, Ode looking over his shoulder and only half-paying attention.

After a bit he sighed, falling to lean on Ode. The lesson was sufficient, it had been for a bit now, but his attempts to perfect it were unending. Though, Ode took that moment to break the silence.

"Felix, could I ask about the origins of the scars on your chest?"

"What, the, these?" The professor indicated the horizontal scars partway down his ribcage, before continuing. "They're from my top surgery, a few years back."

"Top surgery?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. Ah, right. Sometimes Felix forgot that Ode still wasn't particularly, up-to-date. Being frozen for centuries would do that, he supposed!

He paused for a moment, hesitating. It wasn't like Ode would be surprised he's trans, or be gross about it or anything. He assumed. Well, worst-case scenario, he could probably get out quickly. It'd be fine, he assured himself. Probably.

"It's a surgery that flattens one's chest, it's a relatively common gender confirmation surgery among transmasculine people," he said, holding his breath as he waited for his partner's response.

He had to say, of all the responses he could've gotten, an intrigued "They're able to do that now?" wasn't one he particularly expected. Especially since Ode wasn't usually very expressive, having enough passion for it to be a distinct emotion must've been truly notable.

"Sure they are, it's been a known practice for at least a few decades or so! You seem really interested, why do you ask?"

"Simply, we never had anything of the sort when I was younger. I'd assumed that it remained the same, in this time period."

What reason would he have to specifically know about that? Did he know someone back then? Or-- "Wait, then. Ode, are you also trans?"

"Is that the word for it? I'm not a man in the conventional sense, no."

With that realization, so much suddenly made sense. Well, not that much, really. But a good amount of Ode's mannerisms were, in retrospect, so clearly trans! How had Felix not realized!

"Would you be interested in hearing about other new gender-related developments?"

At that point, Ode had sat up to face across from Felix, leaning in like he didn't want to miss a single word. He nodded, incredibly invested.

"Well, there's top surgery, like I've mentioned, there's bottom surgery, which is genitalia reconstruction, there's voice therapy though it's more widely used by transfems than transmascs, and there's testosterone and estrogen, which respectively masculinize and feminize the body, which are the main medically-adjacent things. Are there ones that you have particular questions about?"

"Would you tell me more about testosterone, just in general?"

"Like I mentioned, it's a masculinizing hormone, it's commonly taken through weekly or biweekly injections though it can also be taken as a daily application of gel. Its physical effects include hair growth, fat redistribution, acne, and various other things. There's also voice changes, often there's increased libido, and many people find that it's harder for them to cry once they've started taking T."

"That very much seems to be something I should look into, thank you."

"Anytime, do you have any other questions?"

"Not for the time being, though I appreciate your willingness to answer."

"It's no issue, I assure you," he said as he picked back up his lesson plan. Ode responded with a nod, returning to his previous position of curling up beside Felix. He placed an arm around him, once again watching the professor in his work.