one
“Hey, Gina?” Emma called into the apartment, as she picked up Regina’s passport with her plane ticket, reading 11 AM, not PM. With a quick look at the watch Regina had gotten her for their first
christmas together as roommates, she was told that it was just past nine AM, meaning her roommate’s flight was in less than two hours. “You uh- you getting ready to go?”
Regina scoffed and shook her head as she came stumbling out of her room, dressed in a short robe covering her nightgown with light makeup already applied. “No, I slept in. I have nothing to do today except finish packing and head to the airport tonight, why?”
“You aren’t finished packing??” the blonde looked towards her, mouth gaped open. Just then, Regina’s phone rang. The annoying tune of Barney And Friends played through the air. Regina accepted the call and with a scowl,
“What do you want, Mary Margret??”
Even from across the kitchen, Emma could hear the high pitched, overly excited women’s voice telling Regina that she had been downstairs waiting for fifteen minutes already, and the woman had offered to come upstairs to help Regina with her luggage. “No, of course not, Mary Margret! The flight isn’t for another fourteen hours! Eleven P.M, not A.M, Mary Margret,” the brunette rolled her eyes, listening to the overhyped women go on about how the flight was leaving in the morning. Emma winced, as she slid the plane ticket across the kitchen island towards her moody roommate, her finger gently tapping the time stamp on the bottom corner of the ticket.
Regina’s eyes flicked up in horror at the blonde in front of her, “I’ll be down in ten minutes. Wait a second!” she growled into the phone, hung up, looked at Emma for a split 0.3 seconds with fear in her eyes, before they both darted to Regina’s bedroom. Emma quickly threw open Regina’s suitcase and pulled out random dresses and clothing articles from Regina’s closet, shoving them into the suitcase as Regina grabbed a random pair of black slacks and a white blouse, changing as fast as she can without care. She went to her bathroom, thankful that she kept all of her toiletries and cosmetics in one bag, grabbed the bag and helped Emma shove everything into the suitcase as fast as they could. After forcing the suitcase shut, Emma helped Regina into her boots as Regina focused on putting on her coat and throwing her hair up into a ponytail. The two rushed to the door, Regina grabbing her phone, ticket and passport as Emma had unlocked and opened the door. Regina ran out without another word, her suitcase following suit behind her.
Emma sighed, and just as she was closing the door, Regina came running back. The brunette quickly cupped her roommates cheeks between both hands, placed a rushed kiss to the side of her cheek, “I love you, thank you, I'll see you when I get back!” She called as she was rushing back down the hall to retrieve her suitcase before she headed down the stairs. Emma was left with a wide grin, standing at the door, dumbstruck as she took in the fact that Regina had kissed her, and told Emma that she had loved her. Emma let out a small chuckle, hand reaching to the back of her neck as she closed the door.
Emma could think of the first time she had met Regina. They were placed as roommates, freshman year of college.
~
“Emma Swan, Freshman year?” Emma had said to the senior with the clipboard, “I need to know my room number, please,” She had flashed her best fake smile at the blonde as the woman flipped through pages.
“Ah, yes. Emma Swan, you’re in room 2B. If you go down the blue corridor and turn to your left, it should be a couple doors down on the right hand side. I’m your dorm supervisor, along with Belle, the brunette with the other clipboard. I’m Alice, welcome aboard!” the woman handed her a key
“Thanks alot, Alice.” Emma waved her goodbye after the brief conversation, took the key and followed the woman’s directions, down the corridor and turning left once she got to the end. Emma took in her surroundings, watching some students with their doors open unpack, and say goodbye to parents. On the inside, Emma could feel a slight twinge of jealousy seeing the students hug their parents goodbye, or laugh in embarrassment as their mother met their roommates. Sure, long ago Emma had processed the information that something like that would never happen for her, and she had gotten over it. She just couldn’t help the pinch of jealousy running through her head.
When Emma found her dorm room door, with two painted golden pieces of metal formed into the shape of 2B, she inhaled deeply. She had hoped that since the door was shut, that meant her roommate hadn't arrived yet. Maybe Emma could use that to her advantage. Unfortunately, when Emma tried the doorknob, the door had opened. Emma carefully stepped in, her suitcase making a loud noise as it went over the metal part on the floor. The blonde looked up and saw two beds. One side of the room had been claimed already, she suspected the brunette sitting on the left side bed who had previously had her nose in a book, but now was staring at Emma.
“And who are you?” the brunette woman asked, but Emma was too preoccupied to answer as she was looking the woman up and down, realizing her roommate was a total ‘hottie’ as her best friend would say. “Uh, hello??” That pulled Emma out of her trance, and she realized the woman was now standing.
“E-Emma. Emma Swan. This is Two B, correct?” the blonde stuttered, and in an act of nervousness she pushed the thick, black framed glasses further up her nose.
“Yes.” the brunette cleared her throat, closed her book, and extended her hand, “Regina Mills. I suppose I’m your roommate. Welcome. I’ve gone ahead and claimed the left side of the room, I hope you don’t mind.”
“No! Of course not.” Emma reached out and shook the offered hand, with a smile, before she turned around and closed the door.
“So, we have a bigger than standard room, for some odd reason. We have our own bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink. We only have one closet, however i will be purchasing a dresser next week so if you don't mind sharing for a couple days, it shouldn’t be a problem. My clothes, again, are on the left side but once I get the dresser, or whatever, you’re free to the left and right side. Uh.. I have laundry baskets? I hope you don’t mind, I’m kind of a neat freak,” the brunette paused to bite her lip and look around the room for anything else to say. “Oh, right, there's two desks, and um, I have storage bins coming next week as well if you don’t mind, I probably purchased way too many for myself so you’re free to use them as well. I took the liberty of putting an air conditioning unit in here as well, I've been told that the heating and air con in these places are the worst, so I also have a heater stored in the closet for later on in the year. Feel free to change the temperature, I just ask that you mention it to me if you change it drastically, so I don't wake up absolutely freezing my balls off or anything, oh shit!” Regina’s face heated up, and Emma could’ve sworn she could’ve been redder than an over ripe tomato.
“I should probably tell you I have-”
“Hey, hey,” Emma cut her off, placing a hand gently against Regina’s soft arm. “Just chill out.” she chuckled and sat down on her own respective bed. “I appreciate everything you’ve done already. I can tell we’re going to be friends.” Emma gave the brunette a wide smile.
Regina had then helped Emma unpack, and bring the couple boxes up from her car. From changing the sheets on the bed, to putting away her clothes in the closet. They had soft conversation, and they had learned that they had the same taste in music. They both liked bands such as Theory of a Deadman and Nickleback, but also liked artists such as Taylor Swift. Regina had learned that Emma was an orphan, when she had asked if her parents were going to come help her move in. Emma then learned that Regina’s father had driven down with her, and helped bring her boxes and stuff up but had to go before Emma had arrived as it was a three hour drive on his own, and her father, Henry, couldn’t drive at night, and her mother had passed a few years back with early onset dementia. Still, Emma looked forward to meeting her father the next week when he came down with the dresser Regina was telling Emma about.
The next week, Emma had bet Regina’s father, Henry, and the three of them had gone out for lunch, Henry’s treat. By the end of the day, Henry had ‘claimed’ Emma as his own daughter, after learning she was an orphan. That, no doubt, had made Emma tear up.
Within the next month, the two girl’s had started class and had quickly become friends. By month three, Regina’s worst fear had come to life.
It was a mid-October night. Emma sat on her bed, on one knee she had her book, How to Kill a MockingBird, for a book report, and on her other knee she had a notebook that she was writing notes in, black pen in hand. Regina had come out of the bathroom, hair soaked, and just a white towel poorly wrapped around her body. “Sorry, sorry! I forgot my clothes!” she had called out as she walked over to her bed. She bent down to reach the small pile of clothes, but as she held them in her arms and stood up, her towel fell. Both sets of eyes widened, and Regina slowly turned around to reach her towel. Emma, eyes trying to meet Regina’s, but instead was met with Regina's semi-hard, penis. Regina had quickly rushed, pulling her towel up just enough to cover her waist before she ran, towel and clothes in hand back to the bathroom. Emma’s eyes silently followed, mouth gaped, pen and paper forgotten. The bathroom door lock clicked. Emma took a breather to calm down, try to forget what she saw, before she attempted to go back to writing her paper.
Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Regina had rushed and gotten dressed after closing and locking the door. Once she was dressed, she wrapped a towel around her dripping hair and slid down the door, face resting in her hands as she slowly started to cry. After nearly ten minutes, Regina sniffled as she reached for her phone, and dialed her father’s phone number. After he picked up, Regina spent a couple minutes, in between soft sobs and sniffles, telling her father the situation; she had accidentally flashed Emma and leaked her secret to her roommate. Eventually, her father was able to calm her down, and he reminded her that this was Emma. The same Emma who had stayed up all night with her to make sure Regina had finished her first college essay. The same Emma who had hugged her, just days after meeting, to comfort her on the anniversary of her mother’s death. The same Emma who had pushed her way into Regina’s life and became one of her first friends in years. After saying her goodbyes to her father, she hung up, stood up, and worked up the courage to leave the bathroom and face Emma, only to be faced with an empty dorm room and a post-it note.
‘Went for a walk to clear my
head. Be back by 11. Be
safe. ~Emma xx’
Regina checked her phone. It was only 10:35. She sat down on her bed and started going over some stuff in her head, trying to think of a way to tell Emma about her condition. By the time Emma had gotten back, Regina was passed out on her bed, clutching her pillow tightly. Emma smiled lightly, and shed her outdoor gear. After a couple minutes, Emma had sat down on the edge of Regina’s bed and gently shook her awake. Regina protested at first, but when she opened her eyes, she saw Emma looking down on her. In the most broken voice Emma had heard Regina speak in, “I-I understand if you want to look for a new room. O-or I could look for a new room.”
Emma chuckled softly, and shook her head. “Nonsense. You’d never be able to find a better roommate than me,” the blonde smirked cockily. “I do, uh, have a few questions though, if you don’t mind..” she scratched at the back of her neck.
Regina nodded and carefully sat up, still clutching the pillow, with a slightly less firm grip, “ask away.”
Emma pushed herself back onto the bed further, so she was face to face with Regina. “So.. you have a dick?”
Regina found herself letting out a nervous giggle. “Yes, I do.”
“O-okay, um. How? Are you transgender? Did you like.. Have top surgery? Cause that would explain your awesome rack,” Emma smirked, looking at her roommate teasingly. “It's okay, if you’re trans. Sabine, down in 1D is trans. She’s pretty cool.”
Regina blushed, heavily. “I-I’m not transgender, and I haven’t had and cosmetical or plastic surgery. I’m female, but I was born with a male’s reproductive system. So, when I was born, I was born with atypical genitalia. That means when I was born, they couldn’t figure out if I had a small dick, or a longer clitorious. After a little while, they determined I had a dick, so I was raised as a male. It wasn't until I was about seven, when my mother had a heart attack. You know she was older than most first time moms, but she wasn’t quite old enough for heart attacks to be more expected. But then five years later, when I was twelve, she was diagnosed with early onset. They did a ton of testing on me afterwards, because apparently dementia can be a genetic thing, turns out I do have the genes for that, by the way, and they realized I wasn’t a boy. I was just a girl, with a male reproductive system. It wasn’t exactly what my parents were expecting, however they did have a feeling I might have been transgender. Dad always says that ever since I could walk I would be trying on mom's shoes and jewelry,” Regina let out a soft, sad sigh before continuing. “I was so happy.. to have been told that I was a girl. I remember.. The relief after I had been told. I was just so happy. I had always felt more.. feminine, but I would never admit that. So, nearly a year later, my hair was growing out, I had boobs, I was exploring with makeup, and I was just a preteen going through puberty, I guess, just like any other preteen girl, but with a penis.”
Emma sat in awe of the woman in front of her. To go through that identity crisis at such a young age, Emma was so proud of the woman she had become, and she knew Regina's mother would have been too. “So, you identify as female. Is there a word for a female with a dick, but isn’t transgender?”
Regina nodded, “Intersex. To sum it up, I identify as an Intersex female, and I have both male and female physical characteristics, such as boobs and a dick.”
“Are you.. like.. able to get a woman pregnant?”
“When I went through puberty, around the age of 15 I was tested. They said I was one of the few who was fertile. So, I suppose so.”
“So.. you grew up, until the age of twelve, as a boy? Surely you weren’t called Regina?”
Regina chuckled and shook her head, “definitely not. Regina is latin for ‘queen’, just as my mother had planned. It’s not necessarily a masculine name.”
“Can I know what your name was, then? Did you get to choose your name?”
“No one, could take that ‘right’ away from Cora Mills. She chose my name, current and past. She did, at first, remember us. She watched me grow up for a year or two after, as a female, until she started to forget us all.” Regina smiled sadly, “that part of me is long gone.. I don’t think I ever actually was.. him, you know? I didn’t become myself, until I was fully Regina.”
“Okay, could you tell me his name?” Emma looked up at her roommate, before she placed a soothing hand on her thigh.
Regina's smile widened at the touch. She looked up to meet Emma’s eyes, and after nodding ever so slightly, “Daniel. His name was Daniel.”
~
Emma smiled as she sat down against the sofa, thinking about their freshman year of college, how close they had gotten, so quickly. It wasn’t until her stomach growled that Emma realised how long she had been reminiscing of the past. The blonde quickly got up and headed back to her kitchen, finding her abandoned, now cold, pot of coffee. She poured a cup, and placed it into the microwave to heat it up. As she was waiting, Emma made a bowl of cereal, cut up a banana and placed it on top of her cereal bowl. Just then, the microwave beeped. She made her way over, retrieved her now hot cup of coffee, poured a small amount of creamer into the cup, and sat down at the kitchen island with her cereal and coffee. Just as she was about to take her first bite of the cereal, the doorbell rang. Both Emma, and her stomach growled as she hopped off the stool and made her way to the front door. When she swung open the door, she saw a kid, only about the height of her hip.
“Hi, I’m Henry. Are you Regina Mills?”