Author's Note: This is pre-murder. It could be modern AU or in canon timeline (making this fic take place in the late 70s or early 80s). It's up to y'all. Beta'd as always by my good pal DippertheShipper. Please go check out their work! They're really great! The underage sex isn't explicit, and is more implied. But I tagged it just in case. This fic was inspired by The Beer by Front Bottoms. This might just be a one-shot, or I might continue with it. Not sure yet. I hope y'all enjoy it! WARNING: This fic contains homophobia, lesbophobia, transphobia, queerphobia, homophobic slurs, lesbophobic slurs, queerphobic slurs, transphobic slurs, sexist language, internalized transphobia, internalized biphobia, internalized homophobia, internalized queerphobia, sexism, alcoholism, references to abuse, underage drinking, bullying, underage kissing, food, and implied underage sex.

Charles was that one kid who sat in the back of class. That one kid who didn't have a lot of friends. That one kid. That one kid who was trans. Not a good thing to be in Hackensack, New Jersey. He didn't have many friends. Well, he only really had one friend, to be truthful. His one friend was Eddie Caputo. Both of them were poor and lived in the same neighborhood in Hackensack.

They had been friends since they were little kids, and at age 17, they still were. This likely would not have been so, if it hadn't been that they were both queer as a pair of $2.00 bills.

When they were 13 and 12 respectively, (Charles was a few months younger than Eddie), they had been at the local playground.

Charles was, oddly nervous. There wasn't a lot that made him nervous. His father, pretty girls, and older guys. He opened his maw, and blurted it out.

"I'm a dude."

Eddie looked up from where he was drawing in the dirt with a stick.

"My name's Charles. Call me 'he'."

Eddie smiled a little. "That's cool. I like guys."

Charles grinned, leaned down, and kissed his best friend.

"Good to hear it, Eddie Spaghetti."

Tiffany seemed like she was happy. And she did have a certain vivacity for life. But there was a lot underneath the surface.

For one, she was trans. For another thing, she was poor and living in a trailer with her alcoholic mother, and younger sister. She was able to get ahold of some breast forms and feminine clothes without too much difficulty.

One of the positives of her mother's alcoholism was that she didn't really care much about anything, including that her oldest daughter was trans. Tiffany didn't have a lot of people she could go to. She didn't have any friends at school, and her sister was too young to really understand.

Well...There was one person she could go to.

It was no secret that Charles Lee Ray was like her. He had his own fucked up problems. And he was often referred to as 'that tranny dyke' by most people at school. He seemingly only had one friend, that being Eddie Caputo, the gay guy with brown curls in her physics class.

Even though she and Charles had never spoken, there was something about him that intrigued her. Maybe it was just that she knew he wasn't cis either. But it seemed like there was more to it than that. His blue eyes told tales that were all too familiar to her.

Little did Tiffany know that Charles felt similarly toward her. He didn't know she was trans, of course. Nobody knew. But troubled kids are good at recognizing each other, and these two were no exception. He knew that she had shit going on. Bags under her eyes, and messy makeup on her face. He liked her. He had been curious from the moment he saw her.

He watched her walk down the steps outside of their high school. It was the last day of the year, and all the kids were whooping and chatting excitedly about summer. Except her. She just kept walking, until she turned down the sidewalk, and out of sight.

His train of thought was interrupted by a taller boy with curly hair coming over to him.

"Hey Chuck, how was your last day day?"

"Same old shit, Eds."

Eddie smiled. "There's an end of school party at Chris's tonight. You wanna go?"

Charles gave him a sneer. "Yeah sure, like they'd even let me in. Get real, Eddie."

"Nobody has to know you're there. I bet I could sneak you in, easy. C'mon, live a little!"

If only you knew the kind of thoughts I have about living, Eddie. "Fine. If you can manage it, then I'll go. But I doubt it'll work"

Long story short, it did work. And so here Charles was, standing toward a corner and sipping at a solo cup of cheap beer. He was bored. How the hell had Eddie talked him into this?

"Well, if it ain't the little dyke, come out of her shell for the evening!"

Charles cringed and looked up. Of course. It was the usual gang of assholes who gave him shit for his gender.

"The fuck are you doing here, tranny?"

"Fuck off, school's over, and I just wanna be left alone."

The leader of the pack, a burly senior with red hair, who was at least a head taller than Charles sneered, and pulled back a fist.

Charles shut his eyes. Well this is it for now. I told Eddie that this was a shit idea. Fuck, I'm gonna get blood all over my clothes.

But before the senior's hand made contact with his face, the dark-haired boy heard a voice.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"

He cracked open an eye. It was Tiffany fucking Valentine, of all people. She met his gaze, and something in her wild eyes softened.

"Butt out, bitch, we're just teaching this faggot a lesson."

The blonde girl lifted her chin and moved to stand in front of the trembling blue-eyed boy.

"You wanna be known as the guy who hits a girl, then go ahead, fucknut. But I'm not moving."

Charles realized, with some dazed happiness, that when she said 'girl', she meant herself and not him. He grinned wildly. The leader saw this, and decided to back off.

"You're safe for now, asshole."

He and his goons trudged off, and the brown-eyed girl turned to the boy she had saved.

"You ok, Sweetface?"

He tried not to blush. "Fine. Those fuckers are always giving me shit."

She frowned at him. "I'm sorry to hear that...What're you doing here anyway? I wouldn't have thought parties are your thing."

"I could say the same about you. But to answer your question, Eddie dragged me here. He meant well, but that doesn't count for much."

Tiffany smiled sympathetically. "I can understand that...Hey, do you wanna get out of here? They're bound to come after you again, and I don't think either of us want that."

Charles felt a little spark of excitement in his gut. "And go where? I can't go home right now." Not with Dad awake and probably angry.

"Well, do you wanna go to my place?"

And that was how Charles ended up in his crush's bedroom. It didn't start out sexual. It started out as the two of them just sitting and talking. They discussed anything and everything. But Tiffany eventually brought up the elephant in the room.

"Charles, I wanna ask you something…"

"It's Chucky."

She paused. "What?"

He continued. "My friends call me 'Chucky'."

She smiled. "Well, Chucky...I was wondering if you wanted to do something besides talk." She smirked.

His mouth went dry. Was she suggesting what he thought she was? "Uh...Don't think I'm a perv if I'm wrong, but are you talking about fucking?"

Tiffany giggled at his blunt approach. "Yeah, I'm talking about fucking. Do you wanna? It's ok if you don't, but if you're down with it, I'd love to."

"Tiff...I should tell you...I uh…"

"If it's about you being trans, I know. People at school aren't exactly subtle. It sucks that they're like that, though."

This is really happening. She knows I'm trans and she's still interested.

Within a few moments, Charles was mostly undressed and on Tiffany's bed. He watched as she began to strip. She was hesitant, but she still undressed herself. He saw, with some shock that her breasts were from forms, and that she wore compression shorts. He could have fucking cried with the realization that he had found somebody else like him. And she was so beautiful.

"You look great, Tiff," He managed.

She smiled shyly, and joined him on the bed.

And that was the start of their summer. Charles, Eddie, and Tiffany sat on the bench at the playground, enjoying the ice creams they had bought from the truck that went around the neighborhood during the summer. Eddie and Tiffany were gently bickering with each other about which flavor was superior: rocky road or mint chocolate chip. Tiffany was mint all the way, while Eddie prefered the chocolate and marshmallow concoction. Charles sat between them, amused. Over the past few weeks since he and Tiffany had become a couple, she and Eddie had hit it off as well.

These were the people he loved. And he knew that they loved him too. The three of them loved each other. Their lives may be shit at times, but he knew that as long as they had each other, they would be ok.