Work Text:
Felicity had a bit of a problem.
When Simon had woken up aboard the Hail Mary, she was still recovering her memories. It was trivial stuff at this point, like her favorite band or something dumb she did in high school. But the other day, she’d discovered something pivotal. That she was a she, not a he like she’d previously thought. Explains the 10 years worth of estrogen shots she’d found after waking up. But now she had a dilemma. How in the everloving God was she gonna tell Simon? Sure, he’d told her about growing up trans on Eden and later in the COI, which meant he was okay with the whole gender thing, but what if he thought she’d been lying to him all these months? Especially since she’d started taking estrogen after she remembered she was trans.
“I just don’t know what to do,” she told Rocky one night. Simon had gone to sleep a few hours prior, and Felicity was starting to wind down as well. “I mean, he’s known me as Ryland for months now, I can’t just spring it onto him.” “Grace scared Simon will reject, question?” “I guess so, would be kinda sad to be rejected by the only other person you’ll ever see.” Rocky turned to her in his ball, turning his carapace up, a look she recognized as when he was thinking. “Grace stupid.” “What?” “See how Simon looks at Grace, reminds Rocky of how Rocky sees Adrian. Why would Simon not love Grace because Grace is female, question?”
Felicity shook her head, scrubbing her face with the sleeve of a sweater she’d found in Yao’s things. When had she started crying? “It doesn’t matter. I know I’ll just bottle it up until it comes bursting out of my mouth like every other secret I have. I’m going to bed,” she said, getting up off the floor and climbing into bed next to Simon. She’d tell him eventually.
The next “day”, she was sitting in the Don’t Go Crazy room watching an old Tom Hanks movie she’d liked as she heard familiar footsteps come up beside her. “Hey,” she greeted as Simon sat down next to her, his hair tickling her shoulder. “Hey yourself. What’re you watching?” “Philadelphia, it’s an old movie my brother showed me,” she said. “What’s it about?” “Well, Tom Hanks, that’s him right there,” she said, pointing him out. “He plays a lawyer who gets fired from his job after his boss finds out he was gay and had AIDS, so he asks another lawyer for help in suing his old firm for wrongful dismissal.” Simon hummed in interest, looking up at the screen to watch with her. “It’s really a great movie, it was made during the height of the AIDS Epidemic, and people were really nasty to queer people in that time, but it was one of the first to portray them in a good light.”
They fell into an easy silence, the sound of the film playing to fill the gaps. Felicity found herself looking at Simon, the way he stared in awe while Andrew Beckett delivered his monologue at the climatic court scenes, how he’d fought for himself when no one else would. She’d seen this movie a couple times, but every time she’d heard those lines, a part of her always stilled at the emotion on display. “Hey, Simon?” “Hm?” “If someone you knew kept a secret that could wreck your entire relationship, what would you do about it?”
Simon thought for a moment, letting the question permeate his mind. “I would tell them to just spit it out before it eats them alive. Why?” “I remembered something the other day,” she began, Simon immediately perking up. “Something pretty important, apparently,” she said, laughing to herself. “What was it?” Simon asked, placing his hand on hers. “I’m trans,” she finally said, looking down as she did so. “I found out a while ago, it just came to me,” she continued, running a hand through her hair. “I didn’t know for a while because amnesia and stuff, but I just kinda knew something was missing, right? But then I finally found out what it was, and I’m happy, but I also didn’t know how to tell you because I didn’t want you to think of me differently, I guess.”
Simon stared at her with an inquisitive look before taking her hand. “Name?” “I’m sorry?” “What do you want to be called?” “Felicity,” she said quickly. Simon nodded, turning back to the screen. “Nice to meet you, Felicity.”