Chapter Text
Veronica was being shaken awake at 3 in the morning by Lance. She began to panic, thinking they were in danger again, and became more worried when she saw that Lance was crying. Veronica remembers asking him what was wrong and Lance saying that he didn’t want to be called Valeria anymore. “Pero porqué? Why?” Veronica questioned. “I think it’s a pretty name.” She wiped away Lance’s tears.
“Because that’s a girls name.” Lance told her with a pout.
“But you’re a niña, silly” Veronica told him in an Elmo voice to make him stop crying.
“No I’m not,” Lance sniffed. “At least I don’t feel like one.”
Veronica arched her eyebrows in surprise and reached to the bedside to turn on the lamp so that she could see Lance better. “What do you mean by that?”
“It means that I feel like I’m a boy, not a girl,” Lance kept eye contact with her. “Como que nací in the wrong cuerpo.”
Veronica stayed silent and started to think. She did hear about people like that, if she recalled correctly, they were called transgendered people. She knew some assholes didn’t like them for some reason, but she doesn’t care. If that’s what her little brother was, then she didn’t care, as long as he was happy. She made a mental note to do more research about it.
“Veró,” Lance asked in a quite voice. “Do you hate me now?”
Veronica smiled at him brightly, “There’s nothing, y digo nada, en este mundo that can make me hate you.”
“So,” Veronica pokes his nose, and he does laugh that time. “What new name are we going to choose for you?”
Her little brother cocked his head to the side in slight confusion, “new name?”
“Yeah, new name, silly,” Veronica told him. “You said you don’t want to be called Valeria anymore and you can’t walk around with no name como un gatito perdido, verdad?”
He giggled at being compared to a cat. “I guess you’re right.”
Veronica made a serious face, “entonces what name vas a escoger? You have any in mind or do you want me to help you come up with a list?”
He thinks for a little bit and suddenly jumps up with excitement. “I want my name to be Lance!”
She laughed at his excitement, “Lance is a great name! Why’d you choose it though?”
“Because in the history books I read a while ago, Lances were really cool-looking swords!” Lance told her with a wide smile.
Veronica hugged him tight. “You’re such a little goofball.” She whispered to him.
Lance hugged her back and they stayed like that in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes.
“You want me to cut your hair, so that you look more like a boy?” She whispered to him again.
Lance just about exploded with excitement and happiness and wasted no time to find some scissors his sister could use.
Veronica didn’t care if Señor Antoñio would yell at her for cutting her sibling’s hair off, she would do anything to make Lance happy. He might’ve been only seven-years-old but he knows better than anyone who he is and how he feels. Plus, it’s never too early to know who you are.