Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Sam, I'm home." Sprout called as she walked in through the door. It had been a rough first day at her new school. Practically all the people there knew each other, even the teachers.

Sprout was definitely an odd one out. Bright red hair, snow white complexion, freckles everywhere, all tall and lanky, she was bound to get picked on. And the teachers did nothing when it inevitably came.

Once people found out she was easy to toy with, that she wasn't tough or able to stand up for herself at all, things escalated pretty quickly from there.

She set her bag down on a random chair, looking around at all the unpacked boxes and her Mother— Father? Gender neutral parental figure? She didn't know what to exactly call them. Just saying Sam, or her parent, would do for now. They were pacing around the empty living room, talking on the phone. Well, not really talking, it was more like shouting.

They probably didn't hear Sprout enter.

That was fine though.

Sprout climbed up the stairs to her room, then began walking into the connected bathroom to see how bad the damage was.

She looked into the mirror, rotating her face in every direction to make sure she didn't miss anything. Her lips were busted (it looked like she had stretched her lips as wide as possible while they were horribly chapped), a bit of blood smeared on her face from when her nose was bloodied, and a shiner developing on her left eye. Nothing a little makeup and a good scrub can’t fix.

She looked down at her shirt, immediately feeling sick at the sight of her chest. She felt the same way when she wore feminine clothes, or when she got her period, or any time she was called 'she'. It's just the way she is at this point. She doesn't tell anyone though, she's convinced she'll get over eventually

Back on topic, there was a good bit of blood on her shirt (most definitely from the nosebleed), she's going to have to clean it off later. Other than that, she was all good.

She brushed out her hair a little before going back downstairs, hoping to find some food or something on the kitchen counter, but alas, there wasn't anything there. She decides she could probably wake up early and run to McDonald's before school. She looks at the time. It was only 4:12 pm. She couldn't go to sleep now, it would ruin her schedule.

So, She just decides to sit at the bottom of the staircase and eavesdrop on her parent's phone call while she pretends to stare at her schedule.

"We literally moved here so you could keep your job! I don't want to hear any more excuses. You are coming home tonight. No exceptions. I know your building doesn't stay open this late."

Sam slammed their phone down on the dining room table, and Sprout stared at her schedule a lot more intensely.

Sam walked into the room, stopping at the sight of Sprout sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Sprout didn't look up at them, gaze locked on the paper in front of her.

"Sprout, what're you doing?"

"..I think I need a schedule change."

"Why?"

"Bullies."

"Is it that bad?"

"...yeah."

"Well, let me see the damage."

Sprout looked up at her parent now, shiner and slightly bloodied face now entirely visible to them.

"Oh geez.."

Sam cupped Sprout's face, cupping her face and turning her head gently to look at every angle.

"Well, go to the bathroom, I'll help you clean up."

And so, Sprout climbed up the stairs once more to get in the bathroom, and Sam followed. When they were both in the bathroom, Sprout sat herself on the counter while Sam dug around in a plastic bag from under the sink.

They took out three cotton balls and some isopropyl alcohol, putting a little on one of the cotton balls and bringing it up to Sprouts face.

"Hold still. Try not to flinch."

"Okay."

Sam started gently dabbing the wet cotton ball on Sprout's busted lips, doing their best to clean all the small wounds. They threw away the used cotton ball after her lips were cleaned up, and wet another cotton ball with water from the sink. They then started to wipe all the blood off of Sprout's face, being especially careful around her eye with the fresh shiner.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something if you promise to not tell dad?"

"Uhhm, sure, go ahead."

A beat passed. Then another. Then three.

Sprout finally spoke.

"..I don't like my body."

"Sprout, hun, you're beautiful."

Sprout got that sick feeling again, the same one she got when she looked at her chest.

"You don't need to change your looks to fit invisible standards. You–"

"No, no, I meant like.. I feel really sick when I see my.. chest. And down there. It makes me feel horrible when look at them."

"Oh."

"...And I feel the same way when I get called 'beautiful', or 'young lady'."

"Sprout, that's gender dysphoria."

"..Really?"

"Yeah. I had it too."

"Well, do you know any way to help with it?"

"Well, I have an old chest binder you can use."

"What does it do?" 

"It makes your chest look smaller."

"Okay.. That sounds like it would help."

"If seeing your chest makes you feel like you say it does, it probably will.”

“Alright..”

Sprout gave Sam a hug.

“Thank you..”

“No problem, kiddo.”

Chapter Text

Sprout wandered the bustling halls of the school, searching for his first class of the day. Sam had sent an email to his counselor, and he had a new schedule now. He didn’t know where any of his new classes were.

Would he really have to ask a teacher? He didn’t really want to talk much. Even if he felt much more confident with his new chest binder on.

He was so deep in thought that he didn’t even realize he was walking straight towards someone

And they were walking straight towards him.

He toppled to the ground, dropping the books he had in his hand

“Oh my- I’m- I’m so sorry!!”

The taller boy whisper yelled as he scrambled off of the shorter and tried to gather all of the items he had dropped when he ran into them, trying to escape the awkward situation before it even started.

“It’s okay! No need to worry!”

The taller kept apologising anyway.

“I’m sorry!!”

“Calm down, calm down, I said it was okay!”

“Oh.. Okay.”

The shorter started to pick up books, putting Sprouts’ books in a pile and keeping his own in his hands.

“I’m assuming you’re new here?”

“Uhm.. Yeah.. Is it that obvious?”

“Honestly? Yeah.”

“Oof..”

“But it’s okay! I can help you find your classes if you need.”

“Really? That would be amazing!”

“No problem! Could you show me your schedule?”

Sprout handed the shorter a neatly folded piece of paper. They unfolded it and looked at the page for a few seconds.

“We have first, second, fifth, and seventh together.”

“Could you show me where everything else is? If you want to, of course.”

“Sure! So, your first period is gym. I’ll show you where it is”

They gently took Sprout’s hand and started leading him towards the gym. Sprout didn’t know why, but he felt a weird flutter in his chest from that.

Once they were in the gym, they let go of Sprout’s hand.

“What coach do you have?”

“Mendez.”

“Oh, you have to sit in the ‘I’ or ‘J’ bleacher section. Coach Mendez is really nice though, you got lucky.”

“Huh?”

“Most of the other coaches are either really mean or unqualified for their job. They’re just kind of there to take attendance.”

“Oh.”

“But you don’t have to worry! Just, uh, talk to the counselor to switch coaches if you get coach Reed at any point in the future.”

“O..kay...”

Sprout didn’t want to ask why, it was most likely this whole big complicated story that probably involved certain allegations, as drama surrounding male gym teachers usually was.

“Well, I have to go to my area. Good luck, uhm, what was your name again?”

“Sprout! What’s yours?”

`

“I’m Cosmo. Good luck, Sprout!”

Cosmo waved goodbye with a smile on their face and ran over to where they were supposed to be. Sprout felt that weird flutter in his chest again. This was probably normal. He sat in the very front of the bleachers, since there were the least people there as the teacher walks over.

“Hello everyone! My name is Coach Mendez, but you can call me Ms. Mendez if you want! I’ll be your Physical education teacher for this year. You’re not going to do anything for this first week since we’re still trying to sort out our rosters, but I promise we’ll have a lot of fun next week!”

After the teacher was done speaking, there was silence. Well, not entirely silence, there were a few people chatting with each other. The Teacher continues after a pause.

“Alright. I’m going to take roll. When I call your name, raise your hand and say ‘here,’ alright?”

No response. The teacher just starts calling roll.

“Flyte?”

“Here.”

“Flutter?”

A beat passed.

“She’s here.”

“Yatta?”

“HEERE!!!”

“Blot?”

“Je suis là.”

“Hm?”

“HE SAID HE’S HERE!!”

“Alrighty! Vee?”

“Present.”

“Looey?”

“Oh- Oh! Over here!”

“Finn?”

“Here! Or should I say, SEARE-”

The person beside him elbowed him in the side before he could finish, but he just laughed it off so it obviously didn’t hurt that much.

“Shrimpo?”

The boy beside Finn raised his hand.

“Here. Hmph.”

“Sprout?”

Sprout raised his hand.

“Uh- Here!”

“Shells, I know you’re here.. Astro?”

“Here..”

“Dandicus?”

“Howdy!”

“Bassie?”

“Here...”

“Cocoa?”

“Here!”

“Alright, That’s everyone! You can chat with each other, just don’t be too loud. And, You can have your phones out too, just.. Don’t Tell Mr. Dancifer about it. And keep them out of sight!”

She then left to go do teacher things, probably putting the attendance into the computer.

Sprout feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around to see a tall boy - maybe even taller than him - with dyed light blue hair and dirty blonde roots. 

“You’re Sprout, right?”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“I’m Flyte, nice to meet you.”

The taller held out his hand for Sprout to shake, but Sprout hesitated.

“Sorry.. I’m not one for physical contact..”

“Ah. I see. That’s okay.”

Flyte retreated his hand.

“So, you’re new?”

“Yeah. Is this school really that small?”

“Not really, but it’s always pretty easy to tell if someone’s new.”

‘How come?”

“All the new people are always so nervous about everything.”

“Oh”

A beat passed.

“So, I was listening to your voice, and-”

“Oh no..”

Sprout tried to mutter under his breath, but Flyte heard anyway.

“Sorry? Are you insecure about your voice? Sorry if my questions make you uncomfortable, I’m just curious. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s just.. I recently found out I’m trans…”

“Oh? Like you found out you get gender dysphoria?”

“Yes, that..”

“You don’t need to be embarrassed about that. I’m trans too.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“How is your voice so deep then? A-And you have chin hairs?”

“I take testosterone injections once a week.”

“How do you get those?”

“Gender affirming clinic, but your parent or guardian has to consent to treatment for you to be treated.”

“Oh.”

Sprout pondered for a moment. He definitely wouldn’t be able to ask his dad. Maybe Sam? Sam would probably say yes. More than likely.

“Well, thanks for the chat. I have to go back to my sister now.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah. Her name’s Flutter, she’s over there.”

Flyte pointed to a girl who was sitting in the very back of the bleachers, she had undyed dirty-blond hair and headphones on.

“If you want to talk to her, keep your voice low and talk slowly. She gets overwhelmed really easily.”

“Alright then. Take care.”

“You too! It was nice meeting you, Sprout.”

And Flyte went back up the bleachers towards Flutter.

Sprout mentally sighed in relief. That was definitely enough social interaction for today. Flyte was pretty nice, yes, but talking to new people wore him out. Right about now was the time he would pick a spot on the wall and stare at it until the bell rang.

But fate had other plans, of course.

Sprout felt another tap on his shoulder, and saw a hand waving in front of his face. He turned around to see a girl with straight and short black hair and chocolate color skin. She was wearing a tux, and beside her was a boy slightly taller than her, with jet black hair going over his left eye in a swoop, and he had even paler skin than Sprout had. He was wearing a really tight slipknot t-shirt and black skinny jeans. The girl spoke first.

“Hey. You look like an important person. What’s your mom’s name?”

“I don’t have a mom.”

“How many parents do you have?”

“Two.”

“Do you have two dads?”

“No..”

“Then.. What?”

“I have a dad and a gender-neutral parent.”

“Oh. Then what’s your gender-neutral parents’ name?”

“Sam Mclaughin.”

“Huh. I don’t recognize that name but it doesn’t matter, you’re part of our group now.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me. You’re part of our group now.”

“Only if you want to-!”

The boy beside her blurted.

“It’s uh, it’s okay! I’d love to be you guys’ friend!”

“Great. We’ll introduce you to the rest of the group then.”

“It’s not just you two?”

“Nope. Shelly! Dandy! Come here!”

Sprout turned around to see who he assumed were shelly and dandy walking down the bleachers towards him. If he’s assuming right, Shelly is the girl with tan skin and long sandy blonde hair, wearing a red dinosaur hoodie, and Dandy is the very small boy with short brown hair and a complexion slightly less pale than Sprout’s, he was wearing a lemon yellow sweater and dark blue jeans.

Shelly spoke first.

“What is it Vee?”

“We have a new person in our group now”

“Who?”

“They’re uh..”

Vee turned to Sprout

“What’s your name?”

“Sprout.”

“Last name..?”

“Seedly.”

“Oh. So you got your dad’s last name. And you are a..?”

“A..?”

“Boy? Girl? In-between? Basketball? Pencil? We don’t judge.”

Sprout opened his mouth to say ‘girl’, like he was used to, but hesitated for a moment.

And then he said,

“I’m a boy.”

“Cool. So, this is Sprout. He’s the new member of our group.”

Dandy was now suddenly standing beside Sprout, arm outstretched for a handshake.

“Howdy! I’m Dandicus, but please, just call me Dandy!”

Sprout let out a small nervous chuckle. Why was everyone trying to shake his hand today?

“Hi, Dandy..”

Sprout gave a little wave, but didn’t shake Dandy’s hand.

Dandy’s eye twitched.

“Well? Aren’t you gonna shake my hand..? Show a little respect to a new pal…?”

“Ah.. Sorry, I’m not one for much physical contact..”

“And? It’s just a handshake. C’mon buddy! Shake my hand!”

“No thank you..?”

“Shake. My. Hand.”

“I don’t want t-”

“Just shake my hand, Sprout.”

Shelly, being the lifesaver that she is, stepped between them.

“Ooookay! That’s enough of that!! We don’t want to make our new member uncomfortable!!! Let’s move on, please?”

Dandy mumbled something under his breath and withdrew his hand. Sprout just nodded and looked away.

“Anyway! I’m Shelly, nice to meet you sprout!”

“Nice to meet you too!”

Sprout was quite relieved that Shelly stepped in. He doesn’t even want to think about what could’ve happened if she didn’t. Dandy gives him bad vibes. Shelly and the rest of the group seem nice though. Well, except for Vee. Vee’s a bit pushy.

“Oh, and that’s Astro.”

Vee pointed at the boy with the Slipknot tee.

“I can introduce myself..”

“Then why haven’t you..?”

Shelly asked him.

“I was.. Waiting for the right moment.”

“Oh. alright then.”

“Nice to meet you Astro!”

Sprout said after a beat of silence, and almost made Astro jump.

“Ah.. Nice to meet you too, Sprout.”

Sprout gave him a smile. Astro seems nice.

“Ok, so. What do we talk about now?”

“Uhm, maybe. . .”

. . .

And then they spitballed ideas of what to talk about until the bell ringed.

“See you guys tomorrow!”

Shelly called to the rest of the group, waving goodbye as she walked out of the door.

“See you!”

Sprout called back.

“Who were you talking to? Already making friends?”

Sprout whipped his head around at the voice. It was Cosmo!

“That was Shelly, I kind of got adopted into a friend group. I think.’”

“Awh, that’s nice! I’m glad to see you’re making friends so quickly.”

“Are we friends too?”

“Sure! I think I could use some new friends anyhow.”

Sprout smiled a little. His first day back was already going great.

"Want me to walk you to your second period now?"

"Yes please, thank you..!"

"No problem!"

And they walked out of the gym doors side by side.