Written 17 - February - 2013.
KinkMeme Prompt: skeletondetectivekinkmeme. dreamwidth 1787. html? thread= 3579
"You were born a woman?" There is no malice in her expression as she asks the question, no accusative in her tone, and yet the words sting.
"I was born a man," Skulduggery answers, calm, polite, fumingly angry. "People assumed I wasn't, because of the shape of my body, but I have always been a man."
"Is that how it works, then?" she asks, and the question almost sounds flippant.
"I don't know if that's how it is for everyone like me, but that's my experience." Skulduggery's face is schooled into something smooth.
"Have you ever met anyone else… Like you?" She's averted her eyes, is suddenly intent on her fingernails as her shoulders hunch in to shield herself from the world.
"I wouldn't know unless they told me," he says serenely and she smiles, brittle.
"I might as well tell you, then," she says and there's something shining in her eyes. "They thought I was a man when I was born."
"You're not, though?" Skulduggery asks, forcing his tone to stay casual.
"I'm a woman. Always have been," she says, and this is the first conversation Skulduggery Pleasant has with the woman who will one day be his wife.