crack_van | All Their Rights Respected by Petra (Teen)

Fandom: GENERATION KILL
Pairing: Gen, Ray Person
Length: 3484
Author on LJ:

petronelle (closed, archive only)
Author Website: DW, AO3
Why this must be read:

This is another of those 'dealing with the hard stuff' fics - I'm not even sure if it counts as AU or what - but regardless, it hits home hard, and is beautifully done. This is about trans-people and transitioning, lying to yourself, and the changing of identities with people you trust the most.

This fic is entirely Ray's - or rather, Rae's. The transition is dealt with with a mixture of sensitivity and head-on shock, and Rae's voice comes through clear and strong in the narration. The dialogue is excellent - especially Rae's conversation with Brad - and these are clearly the characters we know and love. This is one of those fics that makes you feel hopeful after you've finished reading.

One morning--it's Iraq plus six months, 0200, he's in the trailer Cousin Suzie moved out of, nobody's going to bug him--he gets up and stares at himself in the bathroom mirror for long enough he feels like he's in a soap opera. His hair practically touches his ears now. He's carrying a fuckload of extra weight, because what is there to stay hard for?

Jesus, he's even growing man-boobs.

He takes off his shirt and stares.

The first time he brought a girl home who wasn't his second cousin, his mama broke out the family album and showed her the pictures from naked bathtime, from Ray-Ray's first Christmas, and from the time his big sisters went after him with their makeup and nailpolish and got him all gussied up in a pink, frilly dress.

He felt fucking gorgeous in it, back then, and played it up even harder so nobody would think it was anything but funny.

Good practice for everything else ever, and especially for driving through five billion klicks of desert with his mouth running faster than the unarmored Humvee, and never once saying anything important.

Ray leans his forehead against the mirror and gives up. He is a fucking awesome liar, but he's out of ephedra, he's out of coffee, and he's out of lies he can tell himself.

All Their Rights Respected