Wasabi stared down the book store aisle, brow furrowed.

People told him all the time he didn't look like a bookworm, and he wasn't, really, but books had helped him out a lot in managing his OCD, supplementing his scientific learning and bolstering his love of Star Trek. Usually, if he was at a bookstore, he was there to pick up a Star Trek expanded universe book, since they were a good way to unwind when he was stressed out over school work. Sometimes he picked up a cooking book for Honey or a motorcycle magazine for Gogo. Today's trip, however, was focused on Hiro, which was unfamiliar territory entirely – as was the aisle he was in, which admittedly he should've browsed through before.

Fred came out as a trans man (transdude, in his own words) at the start of his freshman year in college, before Wasabi met him through Tadashi. Wasabi had always known him as Fred, not Francesca, so he managed to avoid the mistakes he was making with Hiro. He knew Hiro seemed to have forgiven him for calling her 'little man' as a nickname before he knew, yet he still felt kind of bad about it. One thing he was very sure of was that he didn't want to make any more stupid mistakes. She was fourteen, the same age as Wasabi's sister back home, and he knew fourteen was a sucky year for most girls (and most guys, honestly) as it was. Lacking resources, the black nerd had decided that when in doubt, a book was probably his best bet. He'd walked by the LGBT section of the bookstore on his way to the back where they kept the sci-fi many times, so he knew where it was.

He just didn't know what he was looking for. Should he get a book written by a trans person about coming out, so he would know what Hiro was going through? What if that wasn't accurate since those books were written by adults and she was a teenager? Would the books on trans history help or was that stuff that didn't apply? He stared at the book shelves intently, berating himself for not reading into this more when Fred had mentioned to him that he was trans. Fred was so chill, though, so at ease with the world, that if Wasabi had ever said anything wrong to him, he hadn't mentioned it or gotten upset. Very few people had Fred's insane level of 'eh, whatever' when it came to this.

"Excuse me," a voice said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "I need to get by – oh, I know you."

Blinking, Wasabi turned and found himself looking at Krei's assistant. He could not, for the life of him, recall the personal-assistant-slash-public-relations-manger's name, but he stepped aside with a nervous smile. "Sorry. I, uh, zoned out for a bit, there."

Krei's assistant looked at the shelves he'd been staring at, then back to him. He tensed, but the look he got was soft, even kind. "I noticed a certain superheroine's taken to wearing skirts lately." The voice was just above a murmur, in case someone should overhear.

"Yeah," he nodded, sighing. "And I'm, I guess you could say I'm learning about this sort of thing? Or I want to learn, at least." How many times had he compared Hiro to her brother? Was that the sort of thing that was upsetting to a girl trying to get people to see her as one? He kind of felt awful now that he knew.

A quick scanning of the shelves, and then, pulling books out with ease, "Here, those two books should help. This author's good; I read their textbooks when I was in college taking Gender Studies."

He breathed a sigh of relief, gladly accepting the books. "Awesome, thanks. Would it make me a jerk if I asked your name, and if I should be calling you by certain pronouns? I did a lot of reading online and it's totally disorganized."

"Humans are always disorganized," they replied sagely. "I prefer they/them, but Mr. Krei sometimes slips up and calls me she or her. And my name is Ntxhi Muas." They held out a hand for Wasabi to shake, which he took with a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, sorry I can't say your first name to save my life," he apologized, getting a chuckle out of the agender assistant as they stepped aside to pick through the small section of books regarding transgender topics, clearly invested now in the search.

They shrugged lightly. "I'm Hmong, I'm used to people not knowing how to speak my language. Hmm, this book might be worth getting," they mused, plucking a small book out. "Unless she's already found a new name, of course."

Panic struck Wasabi immediately. "Oh, man – what if I call her the wrong name? I guess I could start calling her Hamada but that'd be so weird, and should I even say 'oh man' around her? What if-"

"Breathe, Wasabi." Ntxhi placed a hand on his shoulder. He was struck by how sad their eyes were, behind the glasses. "Most people don't put in the effort you do. So long as you make sure she knows you're still her friend, that you still think of her as who she is, that's really all she needs. You may make mistakes, but you're trying. A lot of people never bother with that. Or they tell you it's a phase, or that who you are isn't a thing that exists, or that you're insane."

He swallowed, suddenly feeling as if he were privy to a glimpse into the Hmong person's past, one that made his stomach churn. While Ntxhi handled Big Hero 6's public relations through Krei Tech, they kept their distance, often staying nearly silent for entire meetings. He'd wondered why, since they hadn't seemed standoffish at the Expo. Now he knew why the Hmong lady - person, he corrected himself forcibly - stayed in the background. Was this the same reason Hiro ducked out of some hang out nights? Was that why she was still afraid to wear dresses and skirts in public, even though she'd started buying them? Was this why Hiro sat in the back of every class, only speaking when called on directly? Why hadn't Hiro ever said anything about all this? Had someone bullied her? He didn't know, and he didn't know how to fix it if the answer was yes like it clearly was for the person in from of him.

Before he could say anything, Ntxhi turned and walked away, smiling sadly as they shoved their hands into the pockets of their coat. "Just treat her like a person, okay? That's all anybody really wants."

Wasabi stood there silently and wondered why treating people like people was something that needed to be requested.