The Me I Was

[Evan Pen]

A decorated school gymnasium. It was an almost painful reminder of all of those high school dances where Dimitri been forced to go by his mother or friends. Only here there was no groping or making out and no one was crying about being dumped halfway through the slow dances. No one was sneaking in alcohol -- to the best of his knowledge -- and there were people in dressier clothing. People in college or university or with jobs. Families. Businesses. And he hadn't been Dmitri Frey, then.

He had never understood how their school did 'class' reunions, either. There was no inviting the graduating class of a certain year, no, it was just whoever had graduated who wanted to come. Then again, that was probably just because he hadn't come the past few years, too busy with his own life, with change. He would have felt awkward coming here, knowing that people would apply his birth name to him and would ask question that would have made him more uncomfortable. Now he knew that there would be uncomfortable questions but he also knew how to deal with them, if they came up... that all in mind, he straightened the waistcoat he wore overtop of a rather casual button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He hadn't even bothered with dress pants, though the jeans we wore weren't ripped or distressed. What they got him to wear for photo shoots versus what he wore regularly wasn't all that different, except in price (well, except what he was given in return for doing certain ads, but that was besides the point). But he knew better than to show up like that, here, now. If he was going to recieve surprised looks anyways, he might as well look at least a little bit put together when he did so.

Which was why, as he crossed the room, he wasn't entirely surprised for someone to stop him, asking was he really -- yes, he was -- and 'Diedre? -- not anymore -- and 'wow, you've... changed' -- I know, before hewas allowed to continue. He wasn't sure whether hewas looking for someone specific. He didn't even know if there was anyone here who he knew who he would want to talk to at all, much less for any period of time about how things had 'changed'. He knew he was different, he didn't need to be told that.

 

[Wolfiethehybrid123]

Andrew wasn't a fan of class reunions, but his sister had forced him to come so now here he sat, in a suit, watching people talk to old friends that they stopped seeing when Highschool had ended. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair as he made his way over to the fruit punch, taking a cup and filling it before returning to his corner.

Andrew wasn't one for parties, he can go out and have fun but he preferred his old school skateboard over this, the thing had more stickers stuck to it then anything he had ever seen, but that board with wheels had helped him through more times then his family could ever dream of.

Andrew's chocolate brown eyes landed on several people he knew from Highschool, some jocks, populars and a geek he had been friends with who was now designing his own video game, he took a drink of his fruit punch and looked around again, hoping to see anymore familiar faces. Several teachers had talked to Andrew, along with many students, but none really talked about anything he liked and he was still waiting for his friend Calum to arrive.

 

[Evan Pen]

Dmitri avoided the teachers, knowing better than to put himself under that microscope. He wasn't quite ready for the barrage of questions or the looks he would get. He knew that the formed students might mention his less than spectacular -- to his mind -- senior year and that was fine, they had been teenagers then and would remember that and they had known him when he was a 'her' and 'Deidre' rather than 'Dmitri'. So they would mention it. But teachers were supposed to be professional, yet he knew at least a couple of them would give him disapproving glances and stern looks, like he had chosen to be this way.

He stopped by the punch bowl long enough to decide that he wasn't going to drink any, but hovered for a few minutes, smiling and -- he couldn't help himself -- agreeing to a selfie with a girl who he had known and who had always been reasonable if not necessarily actively trying to include him. After that, with a couple parting words that left her blushing, he retreated to the wall, deciding that he would try and interact in a few minutes, once he had decided who here was worth interacting with. He bumped into someone as he did so, however and had to glance up at him with a sheepish grin and a quick 'sorry'.

 

[Wolfiethehybrid123]

Andrew had been lost in his own world, day dreaming when somebody walked into him. He jumped slightly but looked down and offered a kind smile, "It's fine." He looked over the make and the gears in his brain started spinning, 'do I know him?' Andrew thought to himself.

"Do I know you? You look familiar." Andrew asked, his head tilting to side much like a confused dog's. The brunette thought for awhile as he ran over people he had known, or had cared to remember, from his highschool years. He never got time to hear the smaller boy's reply because his friend had appeared from nowhere and dragged him off, he sent Dmitri a nervous smile and small wave over his shoulder as he was dragged off to god-knows-where.

 

[Evan Pen]

Dmitri had had to look up at the man and it was a little bit uncomfortable though he knew it was also inevitable; he wasn't all that tall for a guy though he certainly wasn't as short as he had once feared he would be. But he had no chance to answer the question become someone else came and stole the guy, tugging him off somewhere else. Hm. It made Dmitri was bit curious, because in all honestly the guy wasn't unattractive but he knew that there were a few possibilities when it came to being attracted to people -- either they weren't attracted to men, weren't attracted because he was trans or they weren't attracted to women and still viewed him that way, as if he didn't need to shave his face every morning and didn't have the little 'M' on all of his identification.

"Hey, Dimi!" His attention was taken away from the male he'd bumped into in favour of one of the few people he had kept in contact with. He was pulled into a hug which put him, rather uncomfortably, with his cheek pressed against her chest but it was only for a few seconds and when she pulled back he chuckled and fell into an easy conversation at that point, discarding thoughts of other problems at the moment. Other people could wait. He would have to face them, but they couldn't hurt him either.