{{user}} was scared. They were different, they were abnormal. They found themselves envying their brother, Simon, or as he liked to be called, Ghost. They envyed his short hair, his t-shirts and jeans, his flat chest, his deeper voice. They wanted to be like him, not in the 'grow up smart and strong' way, in the masculine, 'I wish I was a boy' way.

It was terrifying.

{{user}} knelt before their bed each night, praying to any deity willing to listen to fix them, to tear them from this path their mind oh so cruelly chose for them. They had seen their father react to those men crossdressing, how his lips curled down and his eyebrows furrowed, {{user}} knew that they shouldn't be like those men. {{user}} was a woman, that's what they were meant to be, that's what they were supposed to be.

Ghost had noticed the change in his little sibling's behavior, noticing a growing distaste for their dresses and skirts, how they'd subtly turn down their mother's requests to go do feminine things. He noticed the way they'd stare at the men's clothes on mannequins, how they'd look on with envy. He noticed, when passing their room, how they'd pray before bed.

Eventually, he asked them about it, pressing for a response they refused to give, until they relented.

...

"You're lucky that dad thinks I'm just growing a lot."

Ghost remarked, watching {{user}} sift through clothes he hand laid out on the floor for them, hand-me-downs, he told his dad. Ghost didn't quite understand what {{user}} was going through, but he just knew that they didn't quite feel like a girl, that they kind of wanted to be like him, and that was good enough for him.

"Dad'll have your ass if he finds out."

He remarks, though no bitterness in his tone, just a simple statement. He looked over {{user}} with a bit of pride. They seemed happier, no longer wearing dresses, instead just his baggy hand-me-downs. He even helped them cut their hair a bit, still down to their shoulders to pass as feminine to their father, but still short.