Over the next five years, my breasts have grown, and I try not to look in mirrors anymore. So of course, my Governess decides to tell me all about them.

"They produce milk to feed your baby, the danger is they can get cancer and have to be cut off"

"How do you get cancer?" I ask intrigued.

"I don't know," She shows me a letter from Frances Burney written in 1811 explaining the removal of a breast. When Daroga comes to dinner he asks "Genevieve were you only pretending to be a boy at the Opera?"

"Missiur Barnard let me be a boy!" I replied

"Did you like that?" he asked.

"Yes, because I am a boy"

"Isam says al-khilqī, or pretending to be another gender is wrong, but you say you weren't?"

"I was not pretending!" I exclaim.

"You were in costume Genevieve! That's pretending!" exclaims Papa horrified.

"That was the only way I could be a boy! I want to be one for real!"

"It would bring you peace then?" asked Daroga

"Yes," I piped

"Then you must let him," Daroga told Papa.

"Is that even possible?..." Papa drops off.

I give Frances Burney's letter to Daroga. He knows who to give it to.

"Geniveve get back in bed!" My Governess demands that night.

"I'm going to be a boy, I am going back to the Opera and you can't stop me!" I scream at my Governess.

"At least let me take you," said Erik, who was standing on my balcony.

He propels us down the side of the mansion We walk through the streets to the Opera, we go through Mama's dressing room mirror then down to the lake, rowing across it.

When we get to the house on the lake Erik says "I know you don't want people to notice you have breasts… You gave a letter from Frances Burney explaining how to remove them, I can do that if I follow her instructions-"

"You can do that?" I interrupt excitedly.

Papa bursts through the door Mama, and La Sorelli my first Mama, behind him is Missour Gaillard and Missour Barnard, "You give her back to me!" My Governess must have told them.

"Please, don't drown her!" screams my first Mama.

"He is not here against his will, he ran away, but I'm glad you are here, I was just going to start the surgery."

"WHAT SURGERY! Why?"Papa seemed scared.

"Because some girls who are like boys, but then there are girls who are boys" explained Daroga, who had brought Erik the letter.

"I don't want my breasts!" I exclaim!

"How will you take care of your children?" Papa asked as if that was at all important at the moment!

"I will figure it out," I say

"Erik's not a doctor! Papa says.

"He's a Genius it's the same thing!" I argue back.

"He doesn't have a medical degree, is what Papa means," says Mama "Erik are you sure you can do this?"

"Yes, it's not too different from what I used to do as the Royal Executioner of Persia. Except he'll be alive at the end!'

" HOW DO I KNOW THAT? THEY ARE ABOVE HER HEART AND LUNGS! And all you've done is kill people!" Papa was panicking. "And she's A beautiful young woman!"

"I'm a man Papa!" Didn't you know that from the way I stared at the picture of the Prince when I was little?

Papa looked at me "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're not me," I expressed my frustration.

"I knew," sighed Mama "I've known for a long time."

"I knew from the way Christine described him," Daroga displayed his open-mindedness.

"I knew he was a masterful Dancer En Tavesty I never knew why though," my first mama, La Sorelli, admitted.

"This sounds like it's going to hurt, are you prepared for that Gorgus?" asks Missour Gaillard.

"No" I admitted "I just feel sad"

"A Travesty Dacer can tolerate pain Maricer," comforts Missour Barnard.

"I think God made you this way If an actual doctor does this I'll let you but first I will cut your hair," Papa smiled in relief.

Mama takes. her sewing scissors out of her pocket, and Papa carefully cut my hair.

Long story short Erik did the surgery because no doctor would.

Authors Note

Gaston Lerouex's "The Phantom of the Opera" has a great basis for positive representation. Erik is deformed and therefore Disabled, the Persian is a person of color, and Christine is a woman. All that was missing was queer people, so it was an easy story to add queer people to. Gorgeous in the original concept was supposed to love drawing and painting, but it practically got cut out in favor of him being Transgender. When I added Missour Gaillard and made him Chief Set Designer, the once-forgotten sketchbook from Chapter One became what makes Goergus more than Transgender, the doll Victoria no longer comes out of nowhere in Chapter Five. It is established that Goergus knows who Police Cimissinor Mifriod is before they meet in "The Trunks Key" Adding more queer characters instead of having Goergus be a token minority made me a better /

This PhanPhic wasn't researched down to the smallest detail, fortunately, I put Erik in there for all the people who have crushes on him., and that turned out to be a good thing because I could explain most of my Ballet inaccuracies away. As for the swords in The Nutcracker that inaccuracy was left over from an early draft that I didn't want to change. I have Cerebral Palsy and have never done Ballet, but as I told a friend, "I never realized how easy it is to lie as a writer! I'm writing Phantom of the Opera TransFic about Genevieve De Changey who is TransMasc and thus of course is a dancer en travesty, and I've never danced ballet! Google"Ballet Moves" and Copy+Paste French. I can somewhat guess by the written descriptions of each move if it's what I think should be a synonym for "scamper" or "leap" but do I know anything no! Since the words are French my writing has style!"

When I started exploring If I was Transgender, most of the official information I could find was on kids under the age of 18, Goregous being a kid is based on that research. I would also acknowledge that kids being transgender is a hot-button issue in the UK, Australia, and America. It was not my intent to provide political commentary but that is what the story is by default. That being said, a child who is lucky enough to know they are Transgender should not have to wait until they are of age to deserve gender-affirming surgery, which is why Georges is 15, at the end of the story. Erik performs the Top Surgery on Georges because I was an Erik/Christine shipper when I was younger and wanted to show what active support of a Transgender person would look like.

My Characterization of the Persian, Is based on the fact that I was seven when 9/11 happened, And in the United States Islamophobia was part of my childhood. So reading the book when I was 12 he was the first good Middle Eastern character I had seen since Disney's Aladdin, so that means a lot to me to have him be accepting of my Trans character, being that multipole gender indenities existed in non-white cultures for a long time. I came across Kumu Hina about a girl dancing the hula with the boys in her hula class because she was mahu or in white terms Nonbinary. (I identify as Bigender) It resonated with me, so I came out to my Mom and she accepted me. So Persain's acceptance is reflective of that experience. As a white Non-Muslim writer, I felt that was the right move. Most Muslims I've seen in the media are conservative compared to the liberal white characters. It is, however, a controversial move, there are Muslims online who believe being Transgender is against their religion, I discovered during my research. I got my Information from A Way Beyond the Rainbow a Muslum Podcast episode #74 - On Gender Atypical Individuals and Intersex and I am so grateful. The fact that Gaston Leroux gave me a reasonable portrayal to work with blows my mind.

I came across that Women could get a permit to wear men's clothes for medical reasons, which in one documented case was "Riding a Horse." So Georges is autistic, like me, I hope it came across throughout the entire story, though I don't think it did.

While I love "Love Never Dies" it can't cover all my identities anymore. So I wanted Phantom to still be with me on my Trans journey so when I came across The Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet, on JSTOR, my heart fluttered. I had grown up watching the Mary Martin (directed and choreographed by gay Ballet and Broadway choreographer Jerome Robbins the inspiration for Miissour Barnard) and Cathy Rigby versions of "Peter Pan" so this wasn't a new concept to me that's why there are swords in The Nutcracker! I hope that since I wrote Fluffy Comfort younger readers will get the help they need on their own Trans Journeys.

With Love,br /

Phantomasc