“Makes sense.”
I squinted at him. “How’s that now?”
“You know,” he said. “Just… you. You usually can tell the kids raised in foster care.”
“You can?”
“Sometimes,” he said. “They’re just… different.” He looked panicked again. “But not in a bad way! It’s just… different. Like Kai is different, but in the best way possible.”
I smiled. “You really like them, huh?”
He blushed. It was adorable. “Yeah, I guess. Kai’s not like everyone else.”
“They’re different.”
“Yeah. But… like. You know.”
I laughed. “Yes, Diego. I know.”
He looked relieved. Then, “People can be dicks.”
“You mentioned that before.”
“Right,” he said. “But it’s like some people don’t appreciate different, you know? I mean, a lot of them are fine, but some people are mean.” He scowled. “And I don’t like it when they’re mean to Kai for being enby. I try and protect them as much as I can. I even got into a fight over it. Almost got expelled.”
He said it like it was something to be proud of. I didn’t think I should try to take that away from him, but it felt like we were treading on thin ice. “Almost?”
“Yeah,” he said. “They were going to, and Kai was shouting about how stupid it was, but then some other kids came forward. Said the other guy started it. Witnesses, or whatever.”
I nodded. “That’s good. Just so long as you know fighting should be avoided if at all possible.”
He scoffed. “I know that. But sometimes it just feels good to punch a homophobe in the throat.” He scrunched up his face. “Transphobe? Enby-phobe?”
I covered up a laugh. “I get it, Diego. Did you have a question, though? From your note, it sounded like you did.” Then, because I was curious, “And why did you want to come to me? I’m grateful you did, but—”
“It’s because you told us about you,” he said. “You didn’t try and hide anything. You were up-front about it.”
I was absurdly touched. “All right, that makes sense. What’s your question?”
Once again he looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know if I should say. I don’t want to get in trouble.” He looked away. “Or Kai to know I’m even asking.”
“Unless it’s doing something illegal, you won’t get in trouble for asking a question,” I told him. “At least not with me.”
He was quiet for a long time. I was about to tell him he could always come back if he wanted to when he said, “You don’t want to change. Like, completely.”
I thought I knew where he was going, but I wanted to make sure. “Change how?”
He leaned against the edge of the desk, crossing his skinny arms defensively over his chest. “Transition.”
“No,” I said simply. “I don’t.”
“Because you’re bigender, and that’s different.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, but, like… if someone wanted to, do they… go to the doctor and get shots?” He was frowning again. “T-injections.”
“For female-to-male transition, yes. But there’s more involved than that, Diego. You can’t just go to a doctor and ask for the injections. You have to be evaluated by a therapist before, and with consent of a guardian if you’re under the age of eighteen.” I hesitated. Then, “Is that what Kai wants to do?”