A/N: Hello! This fic contains pre-transition trans Jim. He'll be referred to as she/her pronouns until the reveal. I also just never came up with a deadname for him, I struggle enough just finding names for my own bloody OCs I can't bring myself to think of a deadname for Jim, so he's mostly just referred to as "Toby's best friend" or "the neighbor girl", hopefully it all makes sense.

It was Toby's birthday.

He was excited of course, his birthday was always an exciting day to a certain point.

But he was also curious this morning.

It was his 10th birthday today, which meant he would figure out if he had a soulmate or not, and if he did, what their name was.

He still had a few hours before the name would or would not appear on one of his arms, it was supposed to appear around the same time you were born. According to his Nana he'd been born in the morning, around 9:17 am. In his excitement for his birthday, he'd woken up early, so he still had what seemed like forever to wait before he really knew.

Toby yawned and stretched before hopping out of bed to get ready for today, his best friend wouldn't be coming over to hang out and celebrate until that afternoon once her softball practice let out. This morning meant Nana's special birthday breakfast and Toby being allowed to open at least -one- of his birthday presents, the rest, he would agonizingly have to wait until the afternoon to open.

It was a good morning, the birthday breakfast was delicious and Toby spent much of the morning pouring over the Gun Robot graphic novel his Nana got him. So enthralled by the book, he didn't realize that a name had appeared on his arm until his Nana had pointed it out.

"Toby-pie, look," She pointed to his left arm, he immediately turned to it.

James Lake Jr. was the name that was nicely printed on the inside of his left arm.

A mix of feelings came over Toby upon reading it.

He was excited, of course, because he had a soulmate. He had a person to be intrinsically bonded with for his life, it was an exciting thing to know. But he also couldn't help but be a bit disappointed, because it wasn't the person he'd been hoping for. He knew it wasn't good to hope for someone in particular to be your soulmate, that wasn't something for you to decide. But Toby figured if he did have a soulmate, he would have really wanted it to be the neighbor girl from across the street, his best friend.

She was smart, she was nice, she liked Gun Robot as much as he did, and liked playing video games and catching frogs with him by the creek. Toby would have loved to have her as his soulmate and have that guarantee that they'd spend the rest of their lives together. But such wasn't the case, and he tried to smother the disappointment by reminding himself that she was still his best as he stared at the name now on his arm, he couldn't help but be bothered by another aspect of it.

Lake, it was the same surname as his best friend, he felt like he'd just missed the boat that was actually being her soulmate.

Was James a cousin of hers? Or some other extended family? Toby couldn't remember her mentioning if she had any cousins, and he wasn't sure how common of a surname Lake was. Maybe it was a pure coincidence that the surname was the same as hers. Maybe he'd travel, and meet his soulmate across the ocean, Lake was an English surname right? His Nana said she didn't meet her soulmate, his grandpa, until she was 28. What if he was the same? 28 seemed like forever from now.

"Are you alright, Toby-Pie?" His Nana asked after he'd spent much too long staring down at his arm and the new name.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, totally Nana. I just ummm..." He still had a bit before his friend came over, but the thought of her seeing his arm and possibly recognizing the name if it was a relative of hers made him want to hide it.

"What's wrong, dear?"

"I think I'm gonna change my shirt," Was all he managed to get out.

"Oh? Is something wrong with that one?" Nana peered over at him, squinting at the name on his arm, knowing that it was the real culprit of his pause.

"No, no. I-it's just that...'' He showed his arm more clearly to his Nana so she could read the name better, "It's the same last name as her, a-and I don't know if..." He stumbled, embarrassed to explain his expectation and how the name undermined it.

"You think it might be someone related to her?" She filled in.

"Maybe."

"And you don't want to make it awkward if it's someone she knows?"

He nodded, not looking directly at his Nana. That was part of it, but more importantly he just didn't want to deal with his soulmate being anyone else but her at the time.

"Go ahead dear, just try not to overheat yourself," His Nana said, and he scrambled up the stairs, book in hand.

His birthday, otherwise, had gone off without a hitch. There was good food, yummy cake, great gifts, fun games to play, and his best friend who was always good company to spend time with. She didn't ask him about whether or not he had a soulmate or why he was wearing a sweater in the middle of the summer, they just enjoyed their time together. He could ignore the name for now.

Even after his birthday, Toby still didn't want to deal with the name on his arm, and had asked his Nana for ways to cover his arm without having to wear long sleeves all the time. She was surprisingly understanding about his hesitation, and went out to buy some kind of paint for him that was specially made for covering up tattoos. They sat down in his bathroom and she calmly showed him how to apply it to his arm. Like magic, the inky black letters of his soulmate's name disappeared from his arm with only slight discoloration for the paint not being his exact skin tone. His best friend either never noticed, or decided not to question him about it, either way he was relieved.

When it came to her 10th birthday, just a few months after his, she had the same kind of awkwardness. Though she was always awkward about her birthday, the date being a painful reminder of her dad walking out on her and her mother. Toby always did his best to make her birthday at least a bit special so she could enjoy it like he did his own, but she had a particular awkwardness about her this year, he noticed, one that was concentrated around her arm.

Though it was the autumn, and it was much more normal for them to be wearing long sleeves then when he had in the summer, she took to rubbing her arm once the afternoon had rolled around. Toby figured she was born in the afternoon, happening to finally see her arm and see if anything had appeared there when she ran off to the bathroom while they were watching their movie.

Just like she did at his birthday, Toby didn't say anything about it. Both because she looked bothered about it, and because he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the name or lack thereof, on her arm. The double confirmation that it wasn't him, while unsurprising, would still be disappointing.

So they just, pretended they didn't have soulmates, or at least pretended they didn't have soulmates around each other. Not that they had many other people to talk to about possible soulmates, they didn't have many other friends outside of each other. It was preferable for the two of them to remain friends and enjoy their time together without worrying about others that would eventually come into their life.

They were 12, when his best friend suddenly grabbed their walkie talkies and asked Toby to come over so they could talk. There was relief and tension in the request. She'd been particularly awkward around Toby for the last couple months, asking him odd questions about what it meant to be a boy that he didn't really have a clear answer to, and being subtly weird about her body. He hoped this talk would be able to clear some of that up, but he also couldn't help but worry that she didn't want to be his friend anymore with the way she'd begun to shy away from touching him.

He came anyway, of course, why wouldn't he?

Toby let his Nana know he was going to the neighbors while putting on his shoes. She simply nodded and told him to watch the road -though there weren't many cars that came to their end of the cul-de-sac- having gotten used to the two of them jumping between each other's houses.

A quick trudge across the empty cul-de-sac, glancing for cars as his Nana requested, followed by a curt knock on the door, and he was met with his best friend. Her hair was tucked up in the beanie she'd started to always wear outside of school for the past few months as an adoption of a new "style" (so she claimed) and a nervous smile on her face.

"Tobes, hi." She greeted, her nervousness more prevalent in her voice, it did little to quell Toby's own nerves.

"Hi," He smiled back, it was probably just as awkward, he was never a very good liar, "So, what's up?"

"Um... you wanna come up to my room?" She took a step back to let him come in through the entryway.

"S-ure."

He quickly toed off his shoes and followed her up the stairs, just barely catching Dr. Lake all the way in the back of the house, typing away at the computer. She paused to look at them before they disappeared up the stairs. They walked into his best friend's room, it looked the exact same as it had the other day when he came over after school so they could struggle through their math homework together. The door closed behind Toby with a soft, familiar click and she sat down on the carpet in the middle of her room. He wordlessly followed suit, sitting across from her, nervous at her silence in the moment.

"...So what's up?" He asked after only a short moment, unable to bear the silence, and internally smacking himself for asking the same question again.

She chewed her lips for a moment and looked to the side before taking a quick breath.

"Tobes, you know you're my best friend in the whole wide world right?"

Immediate relief flowed through him upon hearing that, she wasn't getting rid of him as a friend.

"Yeah, of course!" He said, his smile more genuine now.

"Good, good, and..." She nodded, but her own nervousness didn't disappear with his confirmation, "And I can tell you anything right?"

Toby leaned in conspiratorially, curious and worried about what she could possibly say with such a prelude.

"Anything, I'm your con... confidal..."

"Confidant?"

"Yes! Exactly."

She smiled, letting out a little breath and relaxing for a moment.

But she still hesitated

"You... you won't judge me? Will you?" She was stalling, Toby knew because he would do the same thing all the time when talking about something that worried him.

"I, I mean, I don't think so?" What could he judge that he didn't know? "Did... did you do something bad?"

"No! No. I just..." She picked at her sweater, "Sorry, I'm just, kinda.. scared, to tell you."

"You don't have to be scared," Toby scooted closer and took her hand, she didn't shy away this time, "You can tell me anything, I'm your best friend. I'll even help you hide the body if you killed someone."

She laughed at that, which was good, Toby was always good at helping her relax and smile with a simple joke.

"Tobes, I've been feeling this way for a bit, and..." She gave his hand a squeeze before letting it go and reaching up for the beenie on her head, "I'm a boy, I want to be referred to as a boy, and I'm going to start living my life as one."

They pulled off the beanie, revealing that their once perpetually messy bob had been cut off into a boyish haircut, slightly ruffled up from the beanie, but neater than Toby had ever seen their hair.

He gaped, not expecting this to be the news.

"What?" Toby squawked.

"I'm a boy," He said again, more confidently this time, though it waned, "A-and I want you to start referring to me as "Jim"."

The name rang a little bell in the back of Toby's head but he was too occupied by his friend's sudden declaration.

"I'm kinda confused," Toby meekly admitted.

"That's okay, I was confused at first too, well actually I was confused for a while," More picking at the sweater, "Remember how I was asking you what it meant to be a boy?"

"Of course," He nodded, "I didn't really have a good answer then. And I still kinda don't."

"Well I have an answer," Toby nodded in anticipation, "And to be a boy is to just, be a boy. To want to be a boy, and then just be it," He frowned, hunched into himself and muttered, "That sounds dumb when I say it out loud."

"So, you say that you're a boy, because you decided you are," Toby tried to understand.

"Yes! Exactly."

"Can... can people do that? Just... decide to be a different gender? I've never heard of that before," For a brief, stupid moment, Toby felt embarassed for not knowing about something that clearly worried his friend so much.

"Neither had I, a-and for a while I was worried that there was something wrong with me because I wanted to be a boy," He looked down at his hands, "But I talked to my mom about it, we talked a lot about it, and... She said was probably transgender."

Toby recognised the latter half of the word, but not the former, he could probably extrapolate for what he'd already been told, but his friend probably has a more concise answer.

"And that is?"

"Someone who does not identify with the gender they were born as. So like, I was born as a girl, but I didn't feel like one, I felt more like a boy. And now, I'm "transitioning" to be a boy, to look more like one, to change my name, and to be referred to as a boy."

"Okay," Toby nodded, it was still so very new to him, "I think, I think I get it."

He stared down at his hands, trying to imagine what it felt like to want to be a different gender, it was difficult for him to wrap his mind around.

"Are... you okay with this?" His friend asked nervously, leaning down to read Toby's face," You're not like... mad, or bothered by this or anything?"

"No, no, of course not," Toby waved his hands as if to wipe away his friend's doubt that Toby would ever have a problem with him, "It's just, very different, and I think it'll take me a bit to get used to, but like, if this makes you happy," He reached over and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "Then I'm okay with it. You're my best friend and I wanna support you through any kind of changes you go through, even if I don't understand them right away."

He only caught a brief moment of the absolutely glowing smile that stretched out on his friend's face before being pulled into a hug. Toby happily hugged him back, glad at least that they could talk about this and he could start figuring out how his friend -what was the name he said earlier?

Jim.

The bell in the back of his head rang again, but he couldn't recall why at the moment with everything else spinning in his head right then.

But, at least he could start figuring out how Jim felt.

"So, Jim, huh?" Toby asked once they'd finally let go and backed away for the hug.

"Yeah, or "James" technically," The little bell rang again, "After my grandfather, but you can just call me "Jim"."

"Jim," Toby repeated, testing the name again.

"James Lake Jr. in full," Jim said with a confident nod, Toby's eyes widened as he finally made the connection to the bell. He felt stupid in that moment for not putting it together earlier, "Since it's after my grandpa, and I like how the "Jr." sounds. My mom's gonna help me figure out how to change it legally and like, on school records and stuff so I can go by it everywhere. She's been a lot of help in... Tobes, you good?"

Toby wordlessly held up his left arm, pulling back his sweater sleeve to reveal the name underneath. Jim looked down at it, blinking once... twice...

And then jerked his own left arm forward, pulling his hoodie sleeve back with such ferocity that he accidentally scraped his nails against his arm, leaving faint white trails over the name on his arm.

Toby's name.

His full name.

Tobias Domzalski.

Right there on Jim's arm.

"What?"

"Yeah!"

There was so much elation on Jim's face right then that Toby could probably classify him as a flashlight.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Jim faltered as Toby let go of his sleeve and waved his arms around to try and wrap his mind around the second confusing revelation in such a short amount of time, "My name was on your arm the whole time? Me? Toby? My name?" He smacked a hand to his chest as he spoke, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"O-oh, uh," Jim straightened up and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck with a cheeky smile, "I thought, well, I didn't know... A-and you never showed me your arm, so I thought, I thought "oh I must not be his soulmate, or he must not have one" and I thought, eech," He sighed dramatically, looking anywhere but Toby, "I thought that maybe it was a coincidence, and like, t-there was another "Tobias Domzalski" or something? Or maybe even like, a relative of yours or something and it was a family name? I didn't know how common your last name was. A-and I mean I wasn't gonna like, try and wrestle you down to look at your arm if you didn't want me to know."

"Ohmigosh," Toby laughed, shaking his head, "This is ridiculous, we were right under each other's noses, but didn't know because we were too polite to say anything to each other."

"Well, I mean," Jim chuckled at the absurdity of the situation along with him, "Even if we did say something when we first got our names, I still think we might have been confused. I mean I didn't really feel confident in my new name until a couple weeks ago."

"Yeah, yeah, that's true," Toby sighed with a tired smile on his face, "I also thought that, like with the last names, that "James Lake Jr." was a cousin of yours or something."

"It makes sense," Jim nodded, "Is that why you didn't tell me? 'Cause you didn't want me to know that you were my possible cousin's soulmate?"

"It was... a small part of it," Toby blushed, rubbing at his exposed arm, "I mean, it would be a bit awkward, but um, mostly... mostly I was just disappointed that I thought it wasn't you."

"...Huh?"

"I..." Toby looked to the side, too embarrassed to look at the cute way Jim tilted his head at his admission, "Before the name appeared, I thought that if I did have a soulmate, I hoped it would be you. And when I thought it wasn't, I was kinda sad."

"Really?"

Toby glanced back at Jim and saw the way his face glowed at the confession, he couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah," he mumbled, "A-and then, when you got your soulmate's name, and didn't show me, I figured it was double official now, and just didn't want to bring it up with you if you didn't want to bring it up with me."

Jim laughed again, shaking his head.

"You wanted to be my soulmate, that's incredible," Jim mumbled, staring at his knees, "You really know how to make someone feel special, Tobes."

Feeling more confident at their mutual joy in being each other's soulmates, Toby reached his hand over and intertwined their fingers. Jim looked back up at Toby with a sweet smile, reaching out with his free hand to take Toby's other hand, before they both pulled themselves closer and twisted their arms around and fell into another hug. This one closer and tighter and longer, with both of them resting their head on each other's shoulders. Despite all the confusion from earlier, most of all, in that moment, Toby felt relief, and the utmost joy. Jim was his soulmate.

Jim was his soulmate.

"I'm so glad it's you," Toby mumbled into Jim's shoulder, "I'm so glad you're my soulmate."

Jim held him a little tighter, bunching up the fabric of Toby's sweater in his hand.

"I'm glad you're my soulmate too," Jim mumbled back.

They sat there wrapped up in each other for a good few minutes, slightly swaying from happiness and giving each other little squeezes as if to say "I love you" to each other.

"Do you wanna sleepover here tonight?" Jim asked softly into Toby's shoulder.

"Of course," Toby chuckled softly, "We have a million things to talk about with all this."

"Yeah," Jim chuckled with him, "Yeah, we do."

Toby gave one last hard squeeze and a hum, Jim imitated the motion and they finally let each other go.

"We should tell your mom shouldn't we?" Toby said.

"And you're Nana," Jim nodded.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

They both awkwardly stood up, stretching out their legs from sitting on the ground and shuffled out of Jim's room, Toby following after Jim. Stumbling down the stairs however, they found that Jim's mom and Toby's Nana were both here in the house. They both sat across from each other at the dining room table sharing a pot of tea, and turned when they heard Jim and Toby, expectant of their arrival.

"Hello boys," Jim's mom greeted, they stared wide eyed at their guardians, not hearing when Toby's Nana had come over, nor when they'd made tea, "Care to join us?"

They nodded awkwardly, shuffling over to the table and sitting next to each other in the open seats of the table.

"Are we in trouble?" Toby blurted out, unable to handle the way they watched Jim and him. He was certain that it was why his Nana had come over to talk with Jim's mom, remembering when this happened before when they tried to hide that they kept some frogs they caught from the creek.

"No, no-"

"Is there something you'd be in trouble for?" Toby's Nana asked suspiciously, holding up a hand to Jim's mom and cutting her off.

"I mean, I don't think so," Jim said, shying away from their eyes, particularly Toby's Nana.

"You're not in trouble, you two," Jim's mom said with more conviction, she shot a little glare at Toby's Nana.

"You never know," She said matter-of-factly.

"No, kids, we're ugh-" Jim's mom sighed, rubbing her forehead for a moment, "We wanted to talk with you two."

"About?" Toby asked, barely unshrinking from himself.

"Why soulmates of course dear!" His Nana said cheerfully, acting as if she was never suspicious to begin with.

Jim and Toby shared a look, their timing couldn't be coincidence, could it?

"So... is there something you want to tell us about your own soulmates?" Jim's mom prompted, an almost eager smile on her face.

"Did you know?" Jim asked accusatorily.

Toby looked between their knowing smiles, having easily given up that they'd been caught.

"Wait, you did know?" Toby asked, his own voice just as accusatory as Jim's.

"Well of course, dear," Toby's Nana said with a sip of her tea.

"Well we were confused at first, kids," Jim's mom admitted, "Don't get us wrong, I called your Nana to tell her about the name on Jim's 10th birthday when I got to see it, and we ended up confused why the names on your arms didn't match, Toby."

"It took a lot of talking and a bit of research between the two of us before we got an idea of what might be going on," Toby's Nana added.

"So... what did you think was going on?" Jim asked, and for good reason, "I mean did you know..."

He looked cautiously at Toby's Nana, having not officially told her, but based on how she rolled with everything Jim's mom said, Toby could guess that she'd already known, and maybe even knew before him.

"We had a couple of theories down from our research," Toby's Nana explained, unperturbed by Jim's hesitation.

"We talked with other people who'd had similar situations with names," Jim's mom supplied, "People whose names didn't match their birth names either by gender presentation, or by over present nicknames, or other things. We figured it had to be something with your gender, Jim since it didn't match up with your old name at all."

"So you did know," Jim said, eyeing her suspiciously.

"We had an idea of what would happen," Jim's mother clarified, "But we weren't certain."

"Why didn't you say anything to us?" Toby asked, they didn't have the same need for politeness and awkwardness that he and Jim did, did they?

"We wanted things to progress between you two naturally," Toby's Nana said, "If you two didn't know, and weren't sharing your names with each other, we didn't want to force anything, or cause any confusion between you two."

"And I wanted you to be able to figure yourself out, Jim, not force you into something confusing that I didn't fully understand myself," Jim's mom added, "And I knew you'd come and talk to me about things when it did come up, just like you talked to me about Toby's name when it showed up on your arm."

"Okay," Jim mumbled, Toby nodding along with him at their explanation. It made sense, in retrospect, let things develop naturally when you don't have a clear answer, don't try to force things, but it still felt weird knowing that their guardians knew (or at least had an idea) that they were soul mates before they did and that Jim would change his gender and name, "Is this why you wouldn't give me any names suggestions when I asked for them?"

"Ah, yeah," Jim's mom chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head in the same manner Jim would, "Again, I didn't want to force it, but also I honestly couldn't figure out how or why you decided to tack on the "jr." to your name at the time."

They sat there for a moment, all mulling over the explanations and finally understanding their situation as a whole.

"Would you guys have said something if Jim and I took too long?" Toby asked meekly.

Surely it was lucky that they only had to tiptoe around each other for 2 and a half years after receiving their names, but if it had gone even longer without them knowing anything or Jim figuring himself out?

"Maybe," Toby's Nana answered softly, Jim's mom looking uncomfortable at the question.

"We didn't want to force things," Jim's mom reiterated.

"But we do want you both to be happy, so we might have tried to figure out more subtle ways to nudge you both in the right direction," Toby's Nana grinned.

Jim and Toby nodded, it sounded like reasonable guardian feelings.

"Are you two okay?" Jim's mom asked, "With how things worked out?"

"Yeah," Toby grinned.

"I'm happy," Jim said, using Nana's words and taking Toby's hand under the table, though Jim's mom and Toby's Nana couldn't see it.

"That's all we ask." Nana said softly.

"Can Toby sleep over tonight?" Jim asked, looking brightly between their guardians, Toby followed suit.

"Of course, honey," Jim's mom said, Nana nodding alongside her.

"You'll need to come back home and pack a couple things for the night, but then you two can have the rest of the day together," Nana added.

"Thank you!" They both chimed, giving each other's hands a squeeze before Toby got up with his Nana to go home and pack.

Barbara and Jim followed them out the door, grinning as Toby put on his shoes and giving another hug and a "see you soon," before they left.

They spent a good part of the afternoon up in Jim's room once Toby packed for the night and returned, idly chatting while playing games together on their DS's and squished up next to each other on the floor of Jim's room, using his bed as a back rest. Jim seemed more relaxed about himself and his body, more happy to lean against Toby and touch him in general, likely now that he had an answer to himself, and that he and Toby knew who he was now. Toby was all too happy to lean into Jim, happy to listen to him, happy to be with him, happy that he was happy with himself.

They played for as long as they could until the pizza Jim's mom had ordered arrived and they came down for dinner, half and half of each of their favorites. They talked with Jim's mom about soulmates, she didn't have one herself but she'd had plenty of friends who did. She told them about how some of them met, and how they lived their lives and such, doing her best to answer any questions Jim or Toby had.

After dinner, they decided to watch a movie together, both for wanting an excuse to curl up and hold each other and for figuring it'd be a quiet activity since Jim's mom informed them she had to go to bed early for an early shift tomorrow morning. They curled up on the couch as she made her way upstairs to her room with a book in hand, again squished up against each other but this time with a blanket draped across their laps to keep warm and their hands tightly intertwined. Toby would make quiet jokes at the movie that Jim would snicker at, and Jim would make little commentary during the movie about things he noticed, Toby listening intently to his quiet whispers.

They weren't very tired by the end of the 2 hour movie plus all the bonus features they'd sat through, but it was late, about their bedtime, and they were at least good enough to go to bed at the time they were supposed to. They didn't actually go to sleep though, squished up on Jim's little twin bed in their pajamas and wrapped up in each other's arms, instead electing to mumble more to each other.

"Your hair is so short now," Toby ran his fingers through Jim's hair for the first time.

"Yeah, I think I might have gotten it a little too short," Jim admitted with a light chuckle.

"Oh?"

"I was a little too eager to have my hair cut short like a boy's, so I wanted it all off," Jim explained, "But I think I might let it grow out a bit, and see how that looks on me"

"I think it looks nice," Toby said, grinning up at Jim.

"You're not just saying that because we're soulmates, are you?" Jim grinned cheekily back.

"Of course not," Toby shook his head," It's so nice and clean like this, especially compared to the absolute tangled mess it always used to be."

"Ohh, owie!" Jim put his hand to his chest in mock hurt, Toby chuckled.

"Am I wrong?" Toby said, "Your hair was always a mess, it drove your mom nuts."

"I know," Jim nodded, "If you think she was happy when I asked to cut it to a bob, you should have seen her absolute relief when I asked to cut it all off."

Toby chuckled, mumbling another "it looks nice" under his breath.

"I'm glad you like it," Jim said softly, looking to the side.

"Now, you're not just saying that because we're soulmates, are you?" Toby lazily grinned, using Jim's words back at him.

"No," Jim said indignantly, but paused, "...A little."

"Really?"

"I care about what you think about me," Jim admitted bashfully.

"Oh..." Toby stared at him, surprised by the sudden shyness from Jim, but, "I care about what you think of me too."

"I think..." Jim began, "You're one of my favorite people in the world, and ...I'm glad, not just that you're my soulmate, but that we're able to be together and to be friends for so long."

"I think that you're a dork," Toby said softly, looking down at Jim's chest to avoid his eyes and hide the warmth Jim's words made him feel.

"It takes one to know one," Jim said, giving Toby a squeeze, he chuckled at that.

"That's fair I guess," Toby said, looking back up to Jim and blowing a quiet raspberry in his direction, "I also think..." Jim looked at him interestingly, "That we need to come up with a new nickname for you now."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Toby confirmed, "We've always had silly names, and now that you've got a new name, you have to have a new nickname."

"But "Jim" is already a nickname of "James"," Jim stated.

"And "Toby" is a nickname of "Tobias" and yet you still insist on calling me "Tobes"."

"Okay, yeah, that's fair," Jim chuckled, "So what were you thinking?"

"What do you think of "Jimmy"?" Toby asked.

"No," Jim shook his head, "Reminds me of Jimmy Neutron too much."

"Yeah, I thought you might say that," Toby snorted.

"Got anything else?"

"Hmmm..." Toby mused, a few silly nicknames floating around in his head, "How do you feel about "Jimbo"?

Jim hummed back, thinking over it while tapping his finger against his chin.

"I think I can deal with that one," He said with a nod.

"Yay!" Toby gave Jazz hands, though one was pinned underneath Jim, and wiggled in place, Jim smiled back at him.

"Jimbo and Tobes," Jim said softly, testing the names together.

"Jimbo and Tobes," Toby repeated back, just as softly.

"Tobes and Jimbo."

Toby chuckled at the swap.

"It sounds good."

"Certainly better than "Tobias and James"," Toby stuck out his tongue to sell how unappealing the names were.

"That's for when we're formal business men," Jim said matter-of-factly.

"Formal business men?" Toby stared at the impish grin Jim gave him, "What's our business?"

"We're in the business of "Nunya"."

"Homygod," Toby sighed, he swore Jim's smile got wider, "... Do we sell beeswax?"

"We're a competitor to "Burt's bees"," Jim's eyes crinkled as he beamed at Toby, proud of his bit.

And then Toby broke down into giggles, Jim following soon after, both of them quickly trying to shush the other so they weren't too loud and possibly disturbed Jim's mom. They sat there, hands shoved over each other's mouths, breathing heavily and scrunching up their noses in an attempt to hold in their laughter.

"You're gonna wake your mom, Jimbo," Toby hissed out once their laughter had overall subsided, testing the new nickname.

"You're the one who broke first, Tobes," Jim hissed back, smile not leaving his face.

"Can't believe you're my soulmate," Toby shook his head jokingly.

"Yes you can," Jim stuck his tongue out at Toby, "You said so yourself."

"Yeah, yeah," Toby sighed wistfully, a small grin coming back to his face before being cut off by a yawn.

Jim followed with a yawn of his own, "Ahh, you've cursed me," he mumbled sleepily.

"I sure have," Toby lazily agreed, snuggling into Jim's embrace.

"Sleepytime?" Jim mumbled, wrapping his arms tighter around Toby.

"Sleepytime," Toby confirmed, another small yawn escaped him as he felt the soft pressure of Jim's cheek on his forehead, "Goodnight Jimbo."

"Goodnight Tobes," Jim said softly,giving him a little squeeze before they finally allowed themselves to drift off.

A/N: :D This is actually an Au that's been sitting in my idea box since early 2019, and I finally used the Hammerhunter Week prompt (and a bizarre amount of motivation that came from who knows where) to actually write it and hammer (ha) out the details. I did not intend for it to be this long, but knowing me and my inability to make true one-shots and short fics, I'm not surprised. I do hope you enjoyed this, I had the unique difficulty of trying to figure out what kind of terminology middle schoolers from just shy of 10 years ago (as Jim and Toby would have been 12 around/in 2012) in regards to being trans & trying to remember my own knowledge and comprehension to being trans and such when I was their age.

Thank you for reading!