Lego City Adventures: True To Himself

[mattecat]

Summary: Mary Sinclair was the one who convinced him to be open about his trans identity. Not that R.E. Fendrich would ever admit it.

True To Himself

Fendrich started going by R.E. or just his surname very early in life. It was only when he was in his twenties that he realized why his birthname made him cringe, and by then, he was a successful businessman – with emphasis on the man – and his parents didn't have any standing to argue with him. They tried, still. Eventually, Fendrich made one, single concession: he would not change his name, at least, not while either of them were still alive.

So that was it. Fendrich went on hormones, got all the finest surgeries, and the girl his parents had expected was no more. Really, he had never been that girl, but having the ability to prove them wrong was exhilarating. Fendrich remade his identity, and went along in life happy as he could be.

Everything was perfect, with no complications.

Except for Sinclair.

"R.E. Fendrich, hm?" she said, giving him a once-over. "What does the R.E. stand for?"

Fendrich eye twitched. "Restricted information."

"You spell information with an E?"

"No, that's not what I said. The matter of my full name is restricted information. If you're not an immediate family member, I don't care to tell you."

"Well," Sinclair said, and walked away.

The Fendrich and Sinclair families had been rivals for decades. R.E. Fendrich and Mary Sinclair had never met before that day. But that one meeting was enough to set the tone for the rest of their lives.

--

Obviously Fendrich was going to dig up as much dirt on Sinclair as he could. He set his secret dark web hackers on the job and waited for the results. A few days went by without much of anything, so he called a meeting 

"I want an update!" he shouted, barging into the computer lab and making everyone jump. "Have you found any evidence of dark dealings? Dubious deeds? Funny business?"

"No, sir!" one of the hackers said. "She's covered her tracks well. All we've found is a secret sugar cookie recipe."

"Ah, but you know there are tracks!" Fendrich scowled. "I want you to uncover them! What am I paying you for?!"

Someone coughed. Fendrich whirled to face them. "What did you just say?!"

"I, uh, didn't say anything," they said, averting their gaze. "I just coughed, y'know?"

Fendrich narrowed his eyes. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then what's this?!"

He pulled their desk's drawer open. He didn't actually expect to find anything, so he didn't bother to look at the contents, but when the hacker's eyes widened, he glanced down and gasped.

"Sugar cookies?!"

The hacker tried to slam the drawer shut just as Fendrich stuck his hand in it, resulting in an exclamation that could be heard on the street fifteen floors below. Still, he grabbed the bag and pulled it out, wincing at the marks on his throbbing hand.

"Oh!" the first hacker said. "Those look just like the ones Mary Sinclair offered us!"

Fendrich slowly turned towards him.

"The ones we all refused," he added quickly. "Uh, I don't know why they're here."

"C'mon," a third person said. "We're crooks! What did you expect?"

Fendrich kicked them all out.

--

So Mary Sinclair had hired dark web hackers to dig up dirt on him, did she? That didn't mean they found anything! Fendrich wasn't going to worry about it, except for all the time he spent doing exactly that.

Forget the crooks – Fendrich had already bribed half the police department, though he had a strong suspicion regarding who was influencing the other half – even after changing his legal gender on all his legal documents, Fendrich was utterly terrified someone, anyone would find out he was trans. Curse his parents for convincing him to keep his birthname! He should have changed it the moment he realized he was a man! He had all sorts of ideas for a new name, too – Reginald had always sounded powerful to him. What about Edward? Reginald Edward! That would've been perfect! Even would keep his initials the same! Too bad he hadn't thought of that over a decade ago!

There was an important dinner that both Fendrich and Sinclair were invited to, through some oversight of the host. Fendrich growled under his breath and smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in his suit. There, that was it – he would confront Sinclair at the dinner and find out if she knew. If she didn't, good for him. If she did, well, he'd deal with that later.

But he couldn't give away his trans identity if she didn't already know – he would have to find a way of questioning her that was subtle, with no chance of letting his secret out.

So he cornered her in the coat closet and hissed under his breath, "Do you know what the R.E. stands for?"

Sinclair glared at him, a glass in one hand. "You said only immediate family members were privy to that enformation. What are you proposing, Mr. Fendrich?"

"I – what –" Fendrich sputtered incoherently for a few seconds before collecting himself. "I am proposing nothing! I know you hired those dark web goons – now tell me what they found!"

"Ah," Sinclair said, and she cracked a smile. Fendrich wanted to wipe it off her face. "So that's what this is about. Yes, Fendrich, I know your full name and all it entails. Is that all?"

It felt as if his heart stopped. His face flushed and he struggled to come up with a response. Sinclair knew. Mary Sinclair knew. Now she was going to tell the whole city, and Fendrich would always be known as someone he wasn't. That was it. That was the end of everything. Well, he was going to go out with a bang, that was for sure! He would take the entire Sinclair family down with him!

"Oh, stop being so dramatic." Sinclair took a sip of her drink. "I don't know what sort of ideas you're getting, but your name is not my business. I'm not going to spread your full name across the front page of the newspaper tomorrow morning."

"Is that a threat?!"

"No!" Sinclair snapped. "I would never stoop to that level! If you do not have the confidence to tell people yourselves, then I certainly won't tell them for you."

Fendrich grit his teeth. "Do you think I lack confidence?!"

Sinclair frowned. "On second thought, no, you do not. You're confident to the point of delusion. There are a lot of boys in your situation who would love to have a fraction of the confidence you do."

"Well," Fendrich said, and stopped. That was almost a compliment. What sort of mind games was Sinclair playing?

"Are we done here?" Sinclair said. "I have an important dinner to get back to."

Fendrich spilled his drink on her and left.

--

A day went by, and just as Sinclair said, R.E. Fendrich's full name was not in the newspapers.

A week went by, and business continued as normal.

Huh, Fendrich thought. Maybe she was telling the truth. 

But something was still eating at him.

Fendrich tapped his pen on the desk as he thought. He had been disconnected from the trans community as a young adult, and not having people like him to look up to didn't help. If there had been someone in his life when he was a teenager, if he had someone to go to who didn't shut down the idea he was anything other than their daughter…

Sinclair didn't think he lacked confidence. There were a lot of young boys in his situation who didn't have his confidence.

Fendrich picked up his phone and scheduled a press conference.

--

The organization was delighted to receive the check. "Thank you so much, Mr. Fendrich!" the woman said, shaking his hand as the cameras flashed. "I have to say, our organization is often overlooked as an option for charity."

Fendrich chuckled. "I certainly haven't seen Sinclair donating to help homeless transgender youth!"

"Could I ask why you've chosen to donate?"

Fendrich flashed a smile. "Well," he said, "it just so happens that this is a cause close to my heart. You see, when I was born, my parents expected me to be a girl. I sure proved them wrong!"

"You mean you're –"

"Transgender, yes." Was he sweating? He felt like he was sweating. Fendrich kept the smile on his face and tried to ignore the reporters with their cameras. "I am a trans man, and if that information gives even one young man the confidence to be true to himself, it will be well worth it."

The woman smiled. "That's very brave of you, Mr. Fendrich."

Yes, he thought. That was what Sinclair thought he lacked – bravery. Well, take that, Sinclair!

He managed to end the conference with only one person asking an inappropriate question, and he would be sure to ruin the man's career later. His coming out didn't even make front page news. Fendrich decided he preferred it that way. He sighed and leaned back at his desk. That wasn't so bad, was it? Now life could go on as normal, with no complications.

His phone rang. "Hello?" he answered. Then, "Stop babbling, I can barely understand you. You saw the news, did you? What did you – oh."

Fendrich mentally made the correction from "stepdaughter" to "stepson" and offered to fund the young man's name change. The name he had chosen sounded, frankly, stupid, but Fendrich supposed "Tippy" would grow on him.

He never did change his own name. After all this time, he supposed he was used to it. In the end, he had far too much power in the city for anyone to want to be on his bad side, so even the most heinous transphobes didn't dare touch him, regardless of what he was named.

He would, of course, never tell Sinclair she was the one who inspired him. That secret was one he would never let slip.

The End

quick note: this fic is not intended to say You Should Be Open About Being Trans because that's not an options for everyone. fendrich is in a position of power to the point where he's practically impervious to transphobes and it's safe for him to be open about his trans identity. were it not so safe, or had he felt differently, he could have kept it secret for his entire life. sinclair wasn't about to out him, and fendrich wasn't pressured to out himself; it was his own choice, and he made the right decision for himself. your decision will probably look different, especially since you are not a powerful cartoon villain in a fanfic of a lego kids show written by a person who doesn't want to write actual depictions of transphobia. that's it! hope you enjoyed!