Stealth. (FtM Karl)

Tommy (2)

Third person:

Phil and his sons were starting to slowly grow worried about 'Teagan', she hadn't said much for the past couple of days that she had been living there.
They hadn't yet spoken about these concerns, Wilbur and Techno tried speaking to her but she always seemed nervous and slightly uncomfortable so they usually spoke with her together so that it wasn't just one-on-one.

Phil tried to speak to her often, but not a lot. He always saw accepting new kids into the family as bringing home a rescue puppy. You need to let them settle on their own, it's all new for them and you will overwhelm them if you don't give them the space they need.
Plus, Phil didn't receive much about 'Teagans' background, he wanted her to feel comfortable enough to talk to him about it at some point in the future.

'Teagan' was just being polite, she didn't want to go up and hide in her room all day, and wanted to grow a connection with her new family. She just wasn't quite sure what to say or when to speak, so she ended up only speaking when she was spoken to first, and the others picked up on that quickly.

-(two weeks later)-

'Teagan' was starting to become more vocal. Phil was glad to see that she was starting to feel more comfortable in her new home. He was trying his best to make it feel that way.
The twins were happy too, talking with her more and learning new things.
They had even all gone out to buy her some things for her room, during this quest, they found about her hobbies, favourite foods etc.

-(one week later)-

It was apparent to Phil that there was something holding 'Teagan' back from fully being herself. She seemed to be very cautious about a lot of her actions and was never too fond of buying anything that could be seen as both feminine or masculine, only wearing hoodies. But the clothes weren't what was concerning, Techno wore feminine things all the time, he didn't really notice. It was the behaviour, it was behaviour that slowly stated to reveal itself over time.
'Teagan' would often show signs of discrete distress to anything feminine, it wasn't noticeable at first, but Phil realised one time when they were all laughing about something that whenever he spoke about 'Teagan', she would immediately look... hurt?
He wasn't sure at first, but made sure to keep an eye out whenever it happened. After a while he had nailed it down to this behaviour rooting from feminine reference.
What hurt him most was the fake smile she put on so it wouldn't show.
The twins didn't seem to notice, maybe he was just imagining it?
Maybe he's just overthinking it because he's been keeping a closer eye on her since she's still settling in?

-(three weeks later)-

Tommy was the name he had chosen. The one he preferred.
He had come to this conclusion whilst still bouncing around the system. He had access to the internet and  that is how he learned what transgender meant, sending him down a seemingly endless spiral of a gender crisis.
It answered a lot though.
But it made being called 'Teagan' and 'she/her' so much harder than before.

He didn't want to be distant from his new family, but it's hard not to feel out of sync from reality when you've known you're a guy for the past 2 years but still have to pretend to be a completely different person.

He would space out often, just spinning the ring on his finger round and round as he stared at the wall or TV, imagining how it would feel to finally be out without fear and truly feeling more comfortable within his own skin.

Since he moved in almost 7 weeks ago, he has grown closer his new family, and learned a lot about them. He was reluctant at first, not knowing when they would decide to send him back. But after a while, he truly started to feel accepted as one of them.
He didn't want to ruin that by coming out.