TF2 Drabbles Engie & Soldier - A Boy's Name
Summary: scenario where engineer meets a former someone he used to know, except they look different. No longer the boney shy kid, but a muscular and hyper persom… they cant possibly be the same person…. right?
[A/N] I assume the commenter is thinking of Soldier. So I decided to write their first meeting as kids because it let me explore my headcanon that Soldier is a trans man and that his birth name is 'Jane Doe' and that he's just comfortable with that name so he doesn't change it. It's a man's name because he's man, kinda thing.
Speaking of which though, I don't know if this would be a problem for anyone but just in case, better safe than sorry and give a warning. It's written from Dell's POV (calling him that because he's a kid here) who initially perceives Jane as a girl. And thus for the first half of the drabble he's misgendered but it gets corrected without issue.
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The playground was much the same as any of the others Dell had been too. Both in terms of the stuff to play on – swings, slide, monkey bars – and in the way the kids presently playing on it grouped up and excluded at least one kid. Said kid in this instance was seated one of the benches that the parents were supposed to sit on, seemingly watching the others play. That was perfect though because loners were easier to approach.
Dad had come here to make business connections and thus Dell should do the same. Its why Dad dropped him off at the playground; to socialize while he went and did job stuff with people. So, taking a deep breath, Dell walked over to the bench. “Howdy!”
Her hair was long and matted, hanging down enough to partially obscure her face as she looked up at him. “Hi.”
He lifted a hand for a business like handshake. If he was going to be like Dad and Grandpa one day, he needed to practice. “I’m Dell Conagher!”
She hesitated for a moment before accepting it. Her hand was thin, her grip soft. That was bad, right? Or maybe that’s how girls were supposed to do it. “Jane Doe. And um… it’s a boy’s name ‘cause I’m a boy.”
Dell looked him up and down again. “Why you dressed like a girl then?”
“’M’not. Boys can wear dresses.” He didn’t sound confident in that but well, it made sense, right? There was no logical reason why a boy couldn’t wear a dress if he wanted to.
“Okay. If you’re a boy though, when you shake someone’s hand you gotta do it harder. That’s what my Dad taught me. It’s a business thing.” Though what exactly that ‘business’ entailed, Dell still wasn’t allowed to know yet but hopefully one day soon he’d be trusted with it.
“Oh um… okay. Like… give me your hand.” Jane lifted his hand for another shake. Dell took it. This time Jane’s grip was more of a squeeze, tight enough to be almost painful. He shook Dell’s hand hard enough to jostle his arm up and down. “Like that?”
Taking his arm back, Dell nodded. “Yeah, like that.” Probably anyway. If a firm grip was good, a painful one had to be better, right? Because it was super firm.
Jane nodded. “Understood. Let’s play something.” He slid off the bench to stand next to Dell. Apparently they were friends now. Making business connections was easy.
