I had a memory from a long time ago bubble up recently after talking about tcg stuff with someone. When I was 17, I used to loiter at my local tabletop gaming store. I was introduced to a worker there via a mutual, and I would chat him up every time he was there. And he let me use his employee discount which was a bonus One day he asked if I wanted to hang out and I was like ofc. He was 18 with his own car and an apartment and I was impressed by him how put together he seemed. I also loved the chance to get to know him better since he didn’t talk about his private life very much. In retrospect I definitely had a crush, but I wouldn’t have thought about it like that back then.

So the day comes and he picks me up and we go to get food. The first thing I noticed was the music that was playing, it was like… j-pop covers of the Beatles. I distinctly remember “I wanna hold your hand” with a bubbly girl voice. He bought us pho for lunch (my first time). After we went back to his place to chill. He asked if I wanted to watch anime. He puts on Ranma 1/2 (also my first time). I don’t remember any of the convo we had but I do remember being really interested in the concept (WONDER WHY). Anyway after a few episodes he said he had work later so he drove me home.

Anyway thinking about it now I was just all Clearly this is a story of two closeted trans girls connecting right?? I’m not just imagining things or projecting my transness retroactively? I wish I could’ve continued spending time with him but almost immediately after this my family was kicked out of the house we were renting from a family member because he decided he wanted to sell it and so in less than a month I was staying with extended family in a completely different state and I lost contact and never really saw him again.

Sorry about using he/him pronouns when I’m also saying they’re possibly a trans girl but I wasn’t sure how to handle it. I only have suspicions and I don’t want to assign pronouns when I don’t know what they use now.