#I WROTE HAPPY TRANS AWARENESS WEEK INSTEAD OF VISIBILITY DAY

[mothhue]

Happy trans day of visibility everyone :D

[delkios]

A Secret Well Kept (DC TV)

I actually wrote this around six months ago but I guess I was originally envisioning it as part of something bigger. Re-reading it, however, I figure it's self-contained enough I can post as is. Title: A Secret Well Kept Fandom: DC TV Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 989 Characters: Len, Mick, some Lisa Summary: Another variation of Mick-stumbling-on-Len-in-a-skirt. The first time Mick had seen Len in a skirt was an accident. Restlessness and close scrutiny from Lewis caused Mick to branch out a bit, working without Len for the first time since they'd met up outside of juvie but the job fell through and he'd heard through the grapevine that Lewis had to bug out and lay low for a bit. So Mick decided to drop in on the Snarts for the first time in two weeks. The two had been watching some ridiculous thing on tv with Len putting braids in Lisa's hair and Len was wearing a skirt. Nothing flashy or frilly, just a dark gray skirt that wouldn't have been out of place on an office worker and Len looking mortified at being caught. Mick laughed it off- he knew Lisa always liked having things to her specifications and that Len would do whatever he could to please her when it was possible. Besides, she was 11 now. She was not only entirely aware of this fact but she was now old enough to take advantage of it for her own amusement. "Your secret is safe with me," he told Len with a huge grin, finding the entire thing hilarious. "No one else needs to know how much you're willing to suffer to keep Lisa happy."

Len laughed like something painful was caught in his throat and, off to the side, Lisa was glaring at Mick. "Yeah. Thanks, buddy." Mick offered to take them out to dinner and Len had excused himself to change. Lisa glared at Mick the entire time they waited and Mick thought it was because he'd interrupted their sibling time. He didn't really get it until Lisa barged into his apartment and demanded he watch a movie with her because Len was too busy to and she'd absolutely die if she was the last person in her class to see it. With a title like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Mick popped it in, expecting some kind of boring princess Disney type shit and ended up being very, incredibly wrong. Despite all of Lisa's non-pointed commentary- "Aren't their dresses amazing?" "Why don't you drive a car like that?" "I wonder how you'd look with a make-over." -Mick knew there was a specific reason for her making him watch the movie. It wasn't until Tick was standing in front of his son, visibly uncomfortable in typical men's attire, that the reason struck him like a blow between the eyes. He sat silent, lost in thought, for the rest of the movie and that must have satisfied Lisa because she announced she was taking over his bed for the night, threw a spare blanket at him, kissed his cheek and bounced off to Mick's room. It took the better part of a month before Mick figured out a way to broach the subject and had the courage to do so. He caught Len before the younger man was about to dive into a new heist- before a crew was hired, when he'd just started an outline and was beginning to make a list of things he needed to research. Once Len got into planning, it could take months before Mick would have the chance to say it and he wasn't about to distract Len in the middle of a job. Len was standing there, hand tapping against a stack of papers he was just about to sit and read through when Mick got his attention. Mick cleared his throat and, as he always did when in doubt, went for it. "Are you a woman?" The irritated crease vanished from Len's forehead, replaced by confusion. "What?" "You know. A trans..." Mick waved a hand vaguely, "whatever it is." "No. Why would you think that?" "You like to wear skirts, right?" Len's expression shuttered and Mick hurried on because if he gave Len the chance, Len would shut down the conversation entirely and Mick wasn't sure Len would ever come back. "'Cause if you do and if you think you're a woman," he saw a hard look flash over Len's expression and backtracked quickly, "sorry- if you are a woman, than me saying you were wearing a skirt because Lisa forced you into it is pretty shitty. And I don't wanna make you feel like you gotta pretend around me. I don't want you to think you gotta be scared of me. You're my partner," he said, a little uncertain as to how this was going to end, "that kinda stuff isn't gonna change that." "Mick..." Len sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm not a woman, I just like to wear skirts some times. And I'm not a cross dresser," he added quickly, "at least not in the sexual sense." "But... why would- I don't-" "I just... I like skirts like," Len paused as he thought, "like you like wearing suspenders instead of belts sometimes. They're comfortable, I like how they look and sometimes I feel like wearing them instead of pants." Then his expression went hard. "I'm not a woman and you better not treat me like one when you see me in a skirt." Mick's eyebrows jumped, unexpectedly happy with this. "Does that mean you're gonna wear them around me? Not hiding when you do, I mean." If he didn't know better, Mick could've sworn Len was blushing. "I could, I guess. I'm not planning on it but if it happens, it happens." "Sure. Whatever. Clothes is clothes." They both nodded a little awkwardly but fell back into their normal routine quickly afterward. When Mick got back to the apartment a few days later to find Len had fallen asleep on top of his blueprints with a skirt around his waist, Mick ignored the weird flutter of joy that came with it and just picked Len up to lay him out on the couch, just like always.