Mighty Fall {Trohley, Petekey}

6: this cliché has been done so many times

Joe lay in his bed, scrolling through tumblr, laughing at the memes that appeared. He scrolled past a gifset of aRuPaul, a shitpostgenerator post, and a signal boost of a blogger in need of financial support. He reblogged a picture of a happy-looking dog before noticing a text message from his cousin Foe. He tapped on the notification to go to the messages app.

From: Foe Jizzle
Yo, you up?

To: Foe Jizzle
Yeah, it's only 10. Why?

From: Foe Jizzle
I just wanna tell you something

To: Foe Jizzle
Sure, go ahead

From: Foe Jizzle
I've just been thinking for a while now

From: Foe Jizzle
I just wanna let you know that I identify as a guy now (I'm genderfluid)

From: Foe Jizzle
So can you use he/him pronouns for me please?

To: Foe Jizzle
Of course! Anything for my baby cousin :P

From: Foe Jizzle
I'm only 2 years younger than you

To: Foe Jizzle
Shut up, you're a baby.

From: Foe Jizzle
Fuck you.

To: Foe Jizzle
That's incest. And gay. No homo.

From: Foe Jizzle
I've seen your tumblr, Joseph.

To: Foe Jizzle
What's that supposed to mean??

From: Foe Jizzle
Nothing.

Joe chuckled at himself before noticing it was almost 10:30, he turned off his phone and tried to sleep.

-

Stump had never been so tired yet so reluctant to sleep.

He kept trying to think of a damn name for himself: a task that seemed simple if you had ever tried naming a pet or a video game character, but this was something entirely different. He was naming himself, the name he chose would represent him forever in the future, he would be always associated with the name he chose, so it had to be something he liked, and something other people would like.

It was true that he could decide to change it, but the fact was, he didn't want to change his name and make everything more difficult for those around him. He wanted to live a life as a boy, not "that dyke who forced herself back in the closet by pretending she was a boy", or whatever people thought of him. He just wanted to be known as a boy, and while he would always be a part of the trans community, he wasn't just a trans boy. He was... Him. The part about him being trans wasn't the sole part of his identity, it was a small fraction of the things that made him, well, him.

He almost lost himself in thought, catching himself before he got too deep, and reminding himself of his main focus: a name for himself. He has narrowed it down to two criteria: something meaningful, and something that sounded nice. There was also a third, other criteria, that he also considered but would never admit to thinking of it: he wanted a name that was unusual enough so that he didn't know anyone else by that name, but not too out of the box so that nobody would remember his name.

Feeling satisfied with this progress, he allowed himself to nod off, grateful for any kind of progress made in his conundrum.

-

"I think I'm gonna fetch a drink from Starbucks, actually, guys," Pete replied to Joe. It was the next day at lunch, and Joe had just asked if they could hang out in the cafeteria.