Patreon recently added a collections feature, and one of the two collections I've made so far is "Just Transbian Stories" so --since I have that collection available to me, for restarting posting here I'm grabbing a few from that collection.
On that note, this was originally posted on Patreon on April 28, 2024 but behind a paywall, so it's easier to just read it here.
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[If you don't want a summary of what Ladybugs was/is, and just want the story idea, skip to the first or second break. (Either should work, the difference is two short paragraphs.)]
For some reason the memory of the 1992 Rodney Dangerfield movie Ladybugs popped into my head about a week ago, it's been there ever since, and . . . the movie is bad.
Morally bad.
Like, if you wanted TERF propaganda in a family-friendly package, and were thus prohibited from making your own version of Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs (whom TERFs cite all the fucking time to the point you'd think the movie had been a documentary) Ladybugs is basically what you'd make.
A cis boy pretends to be a girl to join a girls' soccer team for two reasons.
First, his mother's fiancée (Dangerfield's character) is the coach, and he wants the underperforming team to win, and what better way to do that than to get an athletic but unremarkable boy to secretly play on the team? So it plays straight into TERF shit about trans girls just being cheaters using their alleged male advantage to beat their real, true, "biologically female" competitors.
Second, the cis boy in question has a crush on one of the players, and joining the team as a girl lets him get closer to her, so it plays straight into shit TERFs imagine and say about teenage boys pretending to be girls so they can invade female only groups and/or spaces to get closer to the teenage girls that turn them on.
While the cis boy crossdressing his way onto the team is presented as a sympathetic character, it's notable that a) they cast Jonathan Brandis (Lucas Wolenczak from SeaQuest) instead of Leonardo DiCaprio (he's been in too much to have a signature roll) because teenage-DiCaprio passed as a girl too well, and they felt that would kill the humor, and b) the film ends with . . . I'll just quote Wikipedia:
[Dangerfield's character] is now managing the company's girls softball team, where the entire team are boys dressed as girls. After his boss congratulates him on his success, [Dangerfield's character] says to the audience, "I finally got some respect!"
So it's not just Brandis' character; having one boy (and remember that conservative propaganda says all trans girls are boys) on one team has paved the way to have all the girls on an entire other girls-only team replaced by boys, and while the film ends there, in TERF fever dreams, that's just the beginning.
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The part that originally popped into my head wasn't actually terrible, and indeed Dangerfield's character was being nice, albeit in a way that upheld sexist standards of beauty, but the idea that set things off wasn't related to that specific bit, but instead general concept of the movie.
The idea was basically, "What if you did this and it weren't a comedy? What if you did this and it were a serious drama instead?"
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So we start with a sexist coach of a girls' soccer team, and he's convinced if he could just sneak a boy onto the team they'd instantly be the best girls' team in whatever league they're in.
Then we introduce a "boy" he has power over, leverage against, or both. So say an uncle that's blackmailing "him".
Being an uncle puts the coach as an adult in the family, which gives him a degree of power, even more so if the closeted trans girl who will be our main character is a latchkey kid because of parents who are never around, and uncle-coach has become the adult relative who's around the kid most often, possibly with the parents trusting him to check in on the kid and do the adulting when they're not around.
As for the blackmail, originally I was thinking an uncle-coach caught the trans girl dressed as a girl, which he took for crossdressing instead of a sign of transness (he probably doesn't believe there is such a thing as an actual trans girl) which has the benefit of explaining where the uncle-coach got the whole, "I could get a boy pretending to be a girl to join the team," idea from, but - by the lights of toxic masculinity - crossdressing would discount "his" value as a "male", and thus make trans girl a poor candidate. So maybe something else.
It could still be something trans-related. In fact, it could still be something clothing related. Maybe uncle came across one of trans girl's bras one time he was checking in on trans girl and assumed that "he" was secretly sneaking girls over for sex. The blackmail becomes a carrot and a stick, "If you do this for me, I'll let you keep doing that and pretend I never noticed anything; if you don't, I'll tell your parents exactly what you've been doing behind their backs," or something to the same effect.
Uncle thinks he's sneaking a virile young man onto the girls' soccer team he coaches; trans girl main character doesn't know which would be worse, her parents believing she's secretly sexually active, or her parents discovering the truth after uncle tells them she's sexually active.
Thus we get a closeted trans girl being forced onto the soccer team.
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And her emotions are all over the place.
On the one hand, she likes how she looks, she likes the new friends she's making, she likes that they just accept her as female. On the other hand, this isn't something she's doing of her own free will, coercion can turn wonderful things into terrible things, and she feels that. Any time thoughts of why this is happening in general or thoughts about her uncle in particular come to mind, it makes her feel like shit.
On Zaphod Beeblebrox's third hand, she's terrified.
Terrified of how the new friends she's made will react when they learn the truth, terrified of what might happen to her if the truth becomes public, terrified that if she does well on the field she'll become conservative propaganda that adds fuel to the fire of banning girls like her from girls' sports, terrified that if she doesn't perform well her uncle will think she's intentionally doing badly to weasel out of upholding her end of the deal, terrified of damn near everything.
And with all that in her head she's not performing at her best, and even if she didn't have that going on she wouldn't magically become the best player on the team, and certainly not the best player in the league, via her "maleness".
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Her basic strategy for dealing with some of that is to find ways to prevent her from participating in actual games. Practice, she's there, friendly matches where it doesn't have an effect on the team's standing in the league, she's probably there. A game that actually counts? She tries to use the fact that her participation is secret to get double booked.
After all, she can't very well tell people, "I'm not available at such and such a time because I'm secretly leading a double life in which other-me is a soccer player who has a game then," so it's not her fault if someone schedules her to do something else at game time.
A watershed moment is probably when she privately begs a teacher she trusts to give her detention at a certain time, and while she doesn't tell the teacher exactly what's going on, the encounter does lead to her beginning to go to therapy.
At some point she comes out first to her closest friends on the team, and eventually the whole team.
Of course, at the same time she's edging toward better mental health and an increasing circle of supportive people who know she's trans, her "It's not my fault I can't play, [so and so] is making me [whatever] at game time," is getting rather less convincing.
She did have steps to obfuscate that she was intentionally missing games (like making sure she was forced to be unavailable for the same reasons at non-game times, and having multiple things that seemed unrelated prevent her from playing) but that can only go so far.
And since she's being blackmailed, "I don't care what else is going on, play in the next game or I'll ruin your life," is a thing her uncle-coach can and does say (though exact wording might differ because this is so much of a first draft that I only put it into words right this moment.)
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Also there is a teen romance plot, but very much not the trans girl joining the team to get closer to the girl she has a crush on. It develops starting from nothing, through friendship to romance over the course of the story.
Trans girl is pretty oblivious, in part because she's got so much going on in her head, and in part just because. At one point a third party has to take her aside and explain that she'd just been flirting with best friend/love interest because she totally failed to notice that that's what she and best friend/love interest were doing.
And here's something I've kind of been going back and forth on because on the one hand there's a gender critical talking point about trans girls and women being . . . sex crazed perverts who want to boink all the females, and even though the concept for this story is entirely sex-free (none of them feel like they're ready) having the main character end up with more than one girlfriend kind of plays into that talking point, but on the other hand why shouldn't a story feature a teenage poly relationship?
Also on the second of those two hands, pretty much the only dialogue I thought up is about that.
Though I never wrote it down, and it might be trying to flee my head right now.
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At the first official game trans girl is successfully forced to play in she manages to pull the other coach aside beforehand and have an incredibly awkward coming out because she is, again, terrified that she'll be used as "boys in girls' sports" propaganda, and she figures having the other coach demand she sit the game out is better for everyone (including the world at large) than having the truth come out after she plays in the game.
The other coach is actually fine with having a pre-hormones (pre-everything) trans girl playing on the other team, and keeps the fact trans girl is trans to her(?)self, because she's not just gonna out a random teenager.
Trans girl, meanwhile, spends the entire game really self-conscious because she just came out to a complete stranger and doesn't know who that stranger might have told. In spite of that worry, she ultimately doesn't think the other coach outed her, but her self-consciousness based hyper-alertness means she does notice that one player on the other team has been looking at her in particular, and she thinks that girl can tell she's trans/"a boy" (depending on how bad the trans girl's imposter syndrome is at that particular moment.)
Since she's scared, she confides in her best friend after the game who then (to her horror) walks over and asks the girl on the other team about it.
After Best Friend gets the other girl to agree to talk to her at enough of a distance from other people that they won't be overheard, this happens:
Best Friend: So, my friend over there is really shy. Kinda insecure, even. *pause* She thinks you were staring at her.
Other Girl: I wasn't-- I don't-- *looks away, blushes* Was it that obvious?
Best Friend: Apparently.
Other Girl: (back to looking at Best Friend) I was trying not to.
Best Friend: That's nice. *beat* Why were you staring at her?
*silence*
Best Friend: If I can't give her an answer, she's gonna go nuts thinking--
Other Girl: (blurted out) Because I think she's cute.
Best Friend: Right there with you.
*Other Girl gives confused look*
Best Friend: *Looks at ground, looks at sky, looks back at other girl* (possibly says something to herself under her breath to get courage up) Hey, how would you feel about a date with three people?
Other Girl: (shades of, "I must have heard you wrong") What?
Best Friend: You, me, her, going on a date together.
Other Girl: (shades of, "Ok, I heard you right, but now I'm even more confused") What?
Best Friend: Like I said, I think she's cute too.
Other Girl: (knitted brow, fresh out of emotion to put into her voice) So *beat* like *another beat* you and I compete to see who she likes more?
Best Friend: No. *pause* You think she's cute, I think she's cute, *briefly looks off to the side* I think you're cute, *Other Girl blushes slightly* I'd like to think I'm not ugly so . . . *pause during which she glances up, down, and off to the side* So *beat* So you go on a date with her at the same time she goes on a date with me while I go on a date with you.
*pause*
Best Friend: Yes, this is me asking you out.
Other Girl: Uh . . .
Best Friend: (losing confidence with every word she speaks) Of course this is contig-- contingent on her agreeing to this, and - like I said - she's shy, and this is probably a stupid idea and--
Other Girl: Yes. *pause* (flustered) Wait, you didn't ask a yes or no question. I mean-- What I mean to say-- That is-- *closes her eyes, takes a deep breath* (after opening her eyes) I'd love to go on a three person date. *pause* I think. *beat* And if I wouldn't I won't know until I try, so just *makes a circular gesture with one of her hands as she tries to find the words* (having not found the words) Yes.
Best Friend: (playfully, having regained some confidence and even more snark) I didn't ask a yes or no question.
Contact info is exchanged, Best Friend returns to trans girl. While walking back she probably says something like, "Jesus Christ, did I really just do that?" to herself.
Anyway:
Trans Girl: Does . . . does she know?
Best Friend: No idea; I didn't ask.
*Trans Girl looks at Best Friend in utter confusion*
Best Friend: She was staring at you, but only because she thinks you're cute.
Trans Girl: She... but . . . What? *beat* How?
Best Friend: She probably thinks that because you are cute.
*Trans girl is frozen, transfixed like a deer in headlights*
Best Friend: She also agreed to go on a date with us.
Trans Girl: (shocked into being able to move and speak again) Uh, what?
Best Friend: The three of us go on a date together--I suggested it, she's up for it, so now the only question is if you're interested.
*Trans Girl goes right back to being akin to a deer in headlights*
*silence*
Best Friend: You don't actually have to use words, you know? You could just nod for "yes", shake your head for "no", and, like, shrug your shoulders if you need more--
*Trans Girl nods*
*Best Friend texts Other Girl to let her know Trans Girl's response and start the process of figuring out a time that works for all three of them*
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Something else I considered but am not sure on is an older sister who's at college, and as Trans Girl sees that things are going to fall apart and uncle-coach may soon be outing her,* she takes a bus to the college to confess, because she'd stolen clothes from older sister when she was too afraid to go out and buy her own, and she wanted to admit to that and apologize in person before Uncle could out her.
This then opens the door to older sister potentially taking trans girl in if the parents kick her out when they find out she's a trans girl instead of the son they think they should have.
The parents accepting the trans girl as she is might be a more heartwarming ending, but I think it works better if the trans girl is right that her parents finding out she's trans would basically be the end of the world for her, and then it's the relationships forged or (in the sister's case) renewed/strengthened in the story that make it not be the end of the world.
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Not completely sure how uncle-coach should be brought down, but it should definitely happen, and the seeds of it are probably the opposing coach trans girl came out to mentioning Uncle's niece, him being all, "I don't have a niece," and then opposing coach realizing that there's more going on than she was originally told.
[Added]
I originally meant this as, "I don't have a niece (on the team)," but depending on the relationship between the uncle and the older sister (if she exists) it could work as literally "I don't have a niece" since she's far enough out of sight and mind that he sees no reason to acknowledge her existence.
The next sentence picks up from other coach "then opposing coach realizing that there's more going on than she was originally told."
[/added]
(Which wasn't much; just that uncle-coach had an attitude of, "What they don't know can't hurt them," but trans girl was more worried about if people found out and objected after the fact, and would rather be benched in advance than have that happen.)
Or crime. I am totally up for characters doing crime for great justice, so if some combination of likable characters con uncle-coach out of everything he owns, that works too.
Or it could work from both ends, with the opposing coach getting him barred from coaching because blackmailing a kid into participating probably breaks some league rule or other, while the kids (and possibly big sister) bankrupt him to pay for . . . any number of things.
No longer being able to count on parental support paying for college for big sister and trans girl, never having it in the first place for a poorer member of the team, getting an entirely new wardrobe because your old one screams, "I'm a boy!" isn't cheap, big sister might want to get a place closer to home so moving in with her doesn't mean trans girl is moving away from her friends (though it would saddle her with a daily commute to get to classes), any money they can't come up with a pressing use for they can donate to a teen homeless shelter or soup kitchen or some such.
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Best friend might be non-binary, and they come out to trans girl as non-binary at the same time trans girl admits she's trans to them. Sort of:
Trans Girl: I . . . I'm not a real . . . I'm trans.
*Trans Girl braces herself for rejection*
*Best friend blinks their eyes and takes a moment to think*
Best Friend: I'm non-binary. *pause* I wasn't actually planning on telling anyone, but *beat* you trusted me, so . . .
That would make the above off because of pronouns and because "Other Girl" would in fact be the only girl in the conversion between her and Best Friend I shared.
Regardless, keeping terminology consistent for the moment, if Best Friend is non-binary (and maybe even they aren't) Other Girl goes off on a rant at some point about how people saying they're grammatically incapable of using singular "they" are liars and hypocrites, because "you" is every bit as plural as "they" and those selfsame people use singular "you" without batting an eyelash.
I'm also totally up for a side story where trans girl coming out as trans to the soccer team is the catalyst that leads one of the members to realize they're actually a dude, and by the end this trans boy has started on his transition.
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And that's as much as I've thought up.
. . .
Well, it was at the time of posting on Patreon, something popped into my head last night, but as is often the case, the details become fleeting when I try to actually write it out, regardless:
[Older sister is not in good standing with the parents & uncle because she's never been in a relationship with a boy. This is because she's aro ace, but none of the bigots involved would understand what that means anyway.]
*Older sister stops by, forgot to call ahead*
*she walks in on Trans Girl and Best Friend kissing on the living room couch*Older Sister: And our parents thought I was the lesbian.
*Trans Girl and Best Friend react with a sort of, "It looks like they almost had heart attacks" shock*
Older Sister: Sorry, I just felt like it'd be way more creepy if I didn't say something to let you know you weren't alone.
*Other Girl, walks into living room carrying a bowl of popcorn*
Other Girl: (while looking at Older Sister in confusion) . . . who?
Trans Girl: Uh, my sister.
Older Sister: (to Trans Girl) I think we need more/better introductions than that. (To Other Girl) I'm [name], her older sister, and I'm usually not around because I'm a student at [university].
Other Girl: I'm [Trans Girl]'s girlfriend, [name]. ... um ... I actually go to [other high school], not [trans girl's high school]; we met at a soccer match.
Best Friend: In which [Other Girl]'s team kicked our asses.
Other Girl: (softly, while smiling a bit) Yeah, we did.
Best Friend: I'm [name], [Trans Girl]'s enbyfriend, we met because I'm on the soccer team [Uncle] blackmailed her into playing on.
=Older Sister: Cool. (too herself, getting used to the sound of the name) [Trans Girl]. (to Trans Girl) You know, you forgot to tell me your name--your real name--when you came to visit.
Trans Girl: I did?
Older Sister: Yup. *beat* Don't worry about it, I forgot to ask.
Or something like that.
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* It doesn't actually matter if he's figured out she's a trans girl, not a cis boy. All of the time spent presenting as a girl would have given him ample opportunity to replace his original blackmail, which was based on his word alone and lacked any proof, with photos and/or videos of trans girl "pretending" to be a girl.