I received an anonymous question on Tumblr:

I was wondering if you had any thoughts about how the Robert/Chris dynamic would be if Chris were a trans man. I imagine Chris would be stealth so Robert might not even know until they started whatever you would call their bizarre but fascinating relationship.

I can see exactly how this would come to light. Chris and Robert end up furiously making out after an argument, unplanned and unexpected, and then Chris feels Robert's hands heading below the belt and panics, starts pulling away, "There's something I need to tell you—"

"Chris," Robert says, with a concerned frown, "your penis appears to be missing."

Chris is so thrown - by the situation as a whole, but particularly by the fact that Robert is imparting this information as if he's worried that Chris might not know - that he completely forgets anything he was about to say.

"Do you need the hospital?" Robert asks.

Chris swallows, with some difficulty. "No, I'm... I'm fine. This is the, er, the intended state of affairs."

Robert's frown eases, but only a little. "Do you have any genitalia at all? Because I did rather have plans."

Does Robert... does Robert know what being trans is? "Er, I..."

How is Chris supposed to articulate this? It's a tricky thing to phrase at the best of times, let alone when he's so aroused he can't think straight and faced by someone to whom the entire concept is apparently new.

"May I check?" Robert asks. "If you're not sure?"

Chris shrugs, helplessly. "I... I suppose."

Robert strips off Chris's trousers and pants, swiftly and matter-of-factly. Contemplates him for a moment. All Chris can do is stand there, blushing furiously.

"Oh," Robert says, brightening, "that's fine. I know exactly what to do with one of these."

And, as it turns out, he does.

Shortly after sharing these thoughts, I received another anonymous message:

hiii do you have any more thoughts on trans!chris/robert??? i really enjoyed what you wrote!!! •ᴗ•

So, for an alternative scenario, what if Chris joins the drama society while he's still presenting as a woman, meaning that he comes out as a trans man when he and Robert already know each other? Again, I'm envisioning Robert somehow managing to be completely unfamiliar with the concept of being trans.

At first, when Chris attempts to explain that he's a man, Robert assumes Chris is simply mistaken and attempts to 'help' by explaining Chris's gender to him. No, Chris, you must have lost your memory. I've known you for years, and you've been a woman the entire time. Look, I've got photographs.

("For God's sake, Robert, you don't unders— why do you have so many photographs of me? When did you take these?")

Eventually, Chris manages to communicate that he'd like to be referred to as 'he'. Robert clearly doesn't understand the point of this exercise, though, and he makes an effort so token it's almost worse than not trying at all; he gets Chris's pronouns right maybe twenty percent of the time. He also hasn't grasped that this is a permanent state of affairs; when Chris corrects him on his pronouns the next day, Robert's response is "What, still?"

And then Chris hits on the answer. "Look, Robert, just think of this as an acting exercise. Up to this point, I was playing a female role. From now on, I'm playing a male role, and you should play your part accordingly."

It clicks for Robert instantly. Suddenly he takes great pride in treating Chris as a man, and in correcting anyone who slips up. Chris has no idea of whether Robert thinks of him as a man, but he'll take it.

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