I did say that 'he' was 'supposedly' cishet
Friday, January 3rd, 1992
Alex opened her bedroom door and found that the person on the other side was Oliver Wood.
"Can I come in?" He asked quickly, almost panicked, as soon as the door was open.
"Sure." Alex responded and moved to let him come in. Oliver walked over to the far side of the room and sat at Alex's desk, turning the chair to look at her. Alex, mean while, closed the door back and walked to sit on her bed, facing the older teen.
"I have a problem." Oliver admitted, just as urgent as he had been at the door.
"What is it?"
"I-I'm broken!"
"In what way?"
"My gender and sexuality." Oliver admitted, reproachfully.
"I don't think your gender and sexuality can break." Alex informed.
"Well, they feel broken."
"Can you tell me about it?"
"It's just....I'm so confused. I'm not a boy and I'm not a girl. But, I'm almost a girl. Like I'm mostly nothing I think, but then there's little bits of girl inside of that nothing. And that's without going into sexuality."
"Oh. Well, then there's lots of things you could be."
"There are?"
"Yep. You could be nonbinary, genderqueer, bigender, genderfluid, trigender, a demigirl, or a nonbinary girl. And those are just the first things that come to my head. Also, you totally don't have to label your gender. You can settle for an umbrella term instead of finding your exact gender or you can remain completely label less."
"So...I'm normal?"
"There's not a such thing as a normal or abnormal gender. Gender is a social construct that we mostly just use to try and show others who we are in a simple way. So, yes, there is absolutely nothing abnormal or 'broken' about your gender."
"Oh....Can I wear a dress?"
"Do you want to wear a dress?"
Oliver nodded, turning his head to hide his slight blush.
"Then, yes. You can wear a dress. You can wear whatever you want to wear."
"I hate being masculine." Oliver admitted. "I don't want to use he/him pronouns, I don't want to have masculine terms used for me, I don't want to wear masculine clothes, I don't want to have short hair, I don't even want to be called Oliver!"
"Okay. Are you leaning more towards androgynous or feminine?"
"Androgynous, but feminine clothes and stuff."
"Do you have any idea what pronouns you want to use?"
"Well....I have been using they/them pronouns in my head for a while, and it feels really good. So, I think they/them." The blonde admitted, seemingly embarrassed.
"One last question. How much progress do you have on picking a new name?"
"....I have one picked.....But, it feels kinda dumb."
"Your name isn't dumb. You can be called whatever you want to be called. It's no ones business but your own."
"Okay....My name is...Olive. I know I should have done something more than remove one letter, I just really like how Olive sounds." The ending was really rushed and obviously fueled by anxiety.
"Olive! It's fine. Don't worry, like I said your name can be whatever you want it to be."
"Okay. So, Olive Maria Wood is fine for a new name? Even though my dead name is Oliver Martin Wood?"
"Yes, Olive. It's fine. Y'know my middle name is basically just the feminine version of my dead middle name." Alex once again assured, before handing Olive a new pronoun pin and name badge.
"I guess that's true. Thanks. But, what about my sexuality?"
"Do you have any idea what you might be?" Alex questioned, back on her bed.
"I think....I think I'm pansexual. But, I still feel confused about some stuff."
"What stuff."
"I just mean....I rarely have crushes, I've only ever had a couple. And it's always been on someone I'm super close with. And, well, I don't really want to talk about sex with you much, but I don't think I really want to have it. And I'm not sure if I'm demiromantic and asexual or just one of them or neither." Olive was panicking again.
"It definitely sounds like you could be both demi and ace. But, you're the only person who can figure out your sexuality. Just remember that you don't have to have it all figured out right now. It's okay to remain label less, or to realize later on that you were wrong about your sexuality. You're only fifteen, Olive it's okay to experiment. Not that it will ever be not okay."
"Okay. Okay, Alex, thanks. That actually means a lot. I should probably go now, I still haven't unpacked. But, thanks for talking to me. Bye."
"Bye, Olive. And you're welcome."
Alex repositioned herself on the bed and picked her book back up. She still had over two hours until dinner, and she was going to make the most of it.