I do not own TDRR or the characters.
The night after the Hawaii challenge Geoff and Brody invited the other contestants to hang with them in the large hot tub. They were all having a good time together, but Brody seemed a bit uncomfortable. He was slumped in the water to where you could only see to his shoulders and kept close to Geoff. The blonde surfer noticed his friend's position and set a hand on his shoulder to reassure him it was okay.
"If you want to get your shirt…?" Geoff began gesturing over to where their clothes were on a table. Brody nodded and quickly got out and grabbed the tank top and turned away from the hot tub to pull it on.
"What was that about?" Noah asked but didn't really expect a response from the surfers. Brody stood there frozen for a moment before shaking his head and putting on his big smile.
"Nothing important bro, just felt like getting my shirt back on." Brody tried to lie, but nobody was convinced. This made the Latino boy nervous as he locked eyes with his best friend who nodded and got out to join him.
"Dude, I know you don't like talking about it. You don't have to answer if you're not comfortable." He reassured him again, this time taking his hand and squeezing it tight. This made Brody smile knowing how lucky he was to have Geoff as his friend.
"I know man, I don't think I can right now. I mean, I don't know what these guys think of...ya know…" Brody took a deep breath and looked back at the hot tub where everyone was watching him in confusion.
"What we think about what Brody? You can talk to us, we're your friends. Well, most of us anyways." Kitty said looking pointedly at the ice dancers who simply shrugged. Brody thought for a while and looked back to the rest of the contestants.
"About like, LGBTQ stuff. If you're okay with people who aren't exactly normal." Everyone went silent for a minute before Sanders spoke up.
"Brody, nobody on this show is normal, I think I can safely say you're alright here." The others all nodded and muttered in agreement. Brody smiled and looked to Geoff who smiled back. The two went back to the hot tub and climbed back in with Brody still in his shirt. He hadn't talked about this with a lot of people outside of his family and a couple friends so he was nervous about telling.
"The truth is, I'm kinda self conscious about my chest." Everyone waited patiently for him to elaborate.
"Because...two years ago I got surgery there and I still have scars from it." A few people nodded understanding being anxious about scars.
"But what does that have to do with LGBTQ stuff?" Owen asked. Brody took another deep breath, there wasn't any turning back from it now.
"That's because, the surgery I got...was top surgery to remove my breasts." Others looked around as things began to click together. They still waited as a few still didn't fully understand.
"You see... I'm transgender. I was biologically born a girl." A few gasped at the realization. Brody's face went red as he felt eyes on him. Telling didn't get any easier. Geoff put his arm around Brody to steady his friend who suddenly looked like he was ready to pass out.
"I think we should get out of the hot tub. Looks like the heat isn't helping with this." Everyone agreed and got out putting their normal clothes back on. Soon they all settled around in a circle and quickly got back on topic that's to Owen.
"So how did you know you weren't a girl?" Noah elbowed him in the side at blurting the question out. Brody smiled and shook his head.
"I kinda always knew I was different. I never liked normal girl stuff. I preferred playing kick ball over dolls or dress up. I liked things that other girls thought were gross. My parents thought I was just a tomboy, but it was more then that." Brody paused feeling anxious again, but he calmed quickly and continued.
"I told my dad that I wanted to be like him. When he asked if I meant I wanted to be a doctor like him, I told him that I wanted to be a man like him. After that my parents took me to a psychiatrist and he diagnosed me with a gender identity disorder." Everyone listened quietly and encouraged him to go on.
"I was about twelve years old when my parents let me start transitioning. They got me boys clothes, let me get my hair cut short, asked me if I wanted to choose a new name, started using the pronouns I wanted, it was nice." The last part sounded half hearted and Geoff became worried. He took Brody's hand and held it tight making Brody lock eyes with him again. Brody nodded and continued.
"That is, until the bullying started. The kids in my class called me a freak and a faker. They'd say I was pretending to be a boy to get more attention. It got bad, so bad my family had to move to a different province just so I'd be safe." His voice became faster and more broken the more he spoke. Kitty got up and sat at his other side taking his empty hand. Brody took several deep breaths as a few stray tears fell down his cheeks, which Geoff quickly wiped away.
"When we moved, things were better. As far as anyone there knew I was just a regular boy. My voice was kinda high pitched, but they didn't question it since I was so young and they figured it would deepen as I got older, which it did. Almost nobody outside of my family and a couple of my buds knows the truth." Everyone nodded and smiled liking that the ending was happy. But Owen still had a question.
"So how did Geoff find out?" Again Noah elbowed him. Brody and Geoff both laughed. It was an odd memory, but one they agreed was a good one. Brody gestured for Geoff to take the lead on the story and Geoff did.
"It was like three months after Brody came to our town. He was just starting to wear a binder and not real good with it yet. He kept it on way too long and ended up passing out. This just so happened to go down while he was at my place doing our homework." Brody turned red quickly hiding his face in his hands. This made everyone else giggle a bit.
"So my mom called is a nurse and she got down to figure out what was up with him. She pulled off his shirt to do chest compressions and... that's when we saw the binder. Mom took it off and that helped him breathe again." The two friends smiled at each other as Geoff nodded for Brody to finish the story.
"So once I woke up and figured out where I was, I noticed my binder was gone and started panicking. Geoff's mom calmed me down and explained what happened. My parents came shortly after. They sat me down right there and asked me why I kept the binder on longer than I knew I was supposed to." Brody sighed feeling dumb for ever having done it in the first place.
"I had been feeling more self conscious then normal at the time because an older guy had made a comment that I looked more like a chick then a dude and called me a sissy." Geoff looked bummed remembering how Brody told this to his parents with tears in his eyes. He wasn't crying this time, but it still bugged him that someone could be that harsh for no reason.
"So I kinda had no choice in Geoff finding out since he was literally right there the entire time. But he was super chill about it and promised to keep it between us. And to this day he's been true to his word. So that's the story." Brody concluded. Everyone applauded and Brody felt a little embarrassed. Geoff gave him a big hug and the rest of the night went smoothly. They all agreed to keep this night to themselves, even the ice dancers. It was a relief for Brody and he was glad they all understood, even if some less than others.
The end. What did you think? Bye bye.