Alicia Masters Notices

It was the little things she noticed. The way Johnny Storm's smell shifted, from the low-level testosterone reek he normally covered with cologne to something closer to his sister's. Tiny shifts in the tone of his voice, a little higher-pitched over the weeks. The way people treated Johnny a little differently. Alicia couldn't see their body language, but she could hear the pauses, feel the different tension in their language.

Then, of course, there was the time she tripped and grabbed his tits.

Johnny helped her up as she stammered apologies. The pieces clicked into place, suddenly. Little changes in habits. And that had definitely been a bra with breasts beneath.

"Johnny?" Alicia asked. "When did you start your gender transition?"

There was a long silence. Then a sigh.

"Not here," Johnny said, voice low. "I don't want the kids to hear."

Alicia grabbed Johnny's arm and guided them toward her studio. Once the door was closed, the story came out. The changes to Johnny's body. Sue taking Johnny shopping for women's underwear. The sexual confusion.

"I just...I don't know what's happening to me!"

"But you do," Alicia said. "You just told me. What you need to do is decide what you're going to do."

"What?" Johnny said.

"Think about it," Alicia said. "You're no different from a trans person. Your body no longer matches the gender you were assigned at birth. Do you want to continue being who you were, or see who you're becoming? The choice is still yours. Hormones and surgery might help, but it's a deeper question of identity. Do you want to continue to present yourself as male, or do you want to transition so that your gender matches your sex?"

Another silence.

"But...I'm not gay!" Johnny blurted.

Alicia sighed. She remembered when she had come back and discovered that Johnny had fallen in love and married a Skrull that had stolen her image. That might make this a little harder.

"No one says you have to be," Alicia said. "Gender isn't about sex. You can still be sexually attracted to women as a trans woman. Or men. Or both. It's all a spectrum, Johnny. You know your family will support you."

"But...I don't know...how would I..." Johnny struggled with the words, the questions.

"Being a woman is about more than wearing a bra and panties," Alicia said. "It's about living as a woman. You might not be ready for that yet, but there are other things Sue and I can help you with. Voice training. How to walk. Trying on clothes. Doing your makeup."

"You're blind," Johnny pointed out.

"And I wear makeup," she responded. "Sighted people have expectations. And it helps me feel...more womanly."

Johnny sighed.

"Can I tell you something? Something I've never told anyone?"

"Of course," Alicia said. "You can trust me."

"When I was married to Jadzia, my Skrull wife, back when I still thought she was you...we used to roleplay, in the bedroom. I'd be in her lingerie, and she would have a strap on, and...I didn't think anything of it. Like, I was still the man in the relationship. It was just sex, just for fun. But now I'm wondering...was I always this way?"

"I don't know," Alicia said after a long moment. "But I think I can help you if you want to be."