Vanessa had already spoken to Benny, the CEO of The POW Block Party, and he was going to be sending out a company email when she was ready, but it was important for her to do something face-to-face first. The members of her recording team in the Let’s Play division of the company were some of her closest friends. Booker was her only family and Gina was earning a special place in her life, but her team had earned to right to be considered brothers in their own way.

There was a lull in production where everyone was gathered together for lunch. Their last video was a hectic shooter guessing game and they spent the last ten minutes of it enduring the scents of hot hero sandwiches. Someone ran out to everyone’s favorite Italian sandwich place, and the scents of meatballs, chicken, veal and eggplant parm filled the air. The team of six gathered up once the cameras and recording feeds were closed.

Everyone was starving, including Vanessa, but she was too nervous to start eating right away. In an uncharacteristically quiet voice, she piped up. ”Hey guys, can I say something?”

“Can I eat my sandwich while you say this?” Johnny asked it lightly, but he was surprised to notice Nessa’s unsure expression. “Sorry. What’s up?”

”No, no, it’s okay. I just… you guys have been so good to me since I’ve been here, and I wanted to be honest with everyone.”

The guys all had their sandwiches set down, listening in curiously. “Of course,” Jamie said with almost fatherly concern. They were not used to Nessa getting serious like this.

The girl of their group gulped. ”I’ve been… keeping something to myself for a long time, but I’m finally being open with the people who matter, and you guys… well, matter. So, here it is: I’m a mutant.”

She expected silence, but it was quickly broken by a British-tinted, “Woah.”

“David,” Vince spat.

“What? I didn’t see that coming! It’s cool, but I didn’t guess.”

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Why would you have guessed?”

“I dunno. I thought I had good mutant guessing capabilities. I knew Dori was one!”

“My hair changes color, you idiot.”

While the boys bickered, Gian had stood up and walked over to Nessa. The tattooed, mustachioed man wrapped the younger woman in a tight hug. “Nessa, we’re gonna be here to supp—wait, is this a mutation that is bad for hugging?”

Nessa was already feeling teary eyed in the hug, shaking her head. ”No, I’m just a telepath.”

“Oh, good, a—wait, really?” The guys all shifted and looked at each other awkwardly. “Um, sorry.”

Nessa laughed, realizing what they were all thinking. ”You’re all fine. It’s only when I make contact, and… people have weird thoughts. I promise it was only ever surface-level stuff.”

Gian chuckled as the other guys got up to join in hugging their teammate. “Well, dicks. Okay, try to ignore when you accidentally catch the dirty s*** in our heads, but otherwise, we’re here for you.”

”Thanks. I love you bastards.”

“Aww.” There was a pause before Johnny finally asked, “So now can we eat our lunch, Miss Dramatic Reveal?”

”Oh, please. I’m dying.”

Video Title: [Nessa Comes Out (No Seriously, Keep Watching)]
The video began without the typical chiptune jingle or intro, instead fading into the recording room of the Bookman house. The video game themed wall art was still in the background, but the camera was focused on Vanessa Bookman sitting in the center of the couch.

Vanessa smiled and waved at the camera. ”Hello everybody, it’s Nessa from Pixel Rainbows and The POW Block Party, and I’m not playing video games today. Well, I am, but not, you know, on camera. Okay, I’m on camera, but I’m not—“

There was a jump cut to Nessa laying out on the couch, groaning to herself. ”Why am I such a spaz today?”

The camera jump cut back to Nessa sitting up straight again. ”Okay, trying this again. I’m admittedly nervous because I’ve never done a coming out video. Everyone knows I’m a lesbian because I came onto the gate on ViewTube with that being public knowledge. So it’s actually surprisingly intimidating to have a video where I’m going to come out twice.”

Vanessa grew more serious, steadying her breath since the entire video was obviously unscripted. ”So I pride myself on being me, but I’ve been accepting that I’ve done it with the things that are obvious. I’m obviously gay. I’m obviously a catty bitch. I can wear those titles proudly since it’d be hard to hide those things. In truth, there are parts of my life I only shared with the people who knew me well, and a part of my life I’ve only told to a handful of people, and even then, only recently. So here are the parts of my story I want to share because I do think they matter to the kids out there who are like I was and should be proud for it.”

Leaning forward, Vanessa rested her elbows on her knees and propped her chin up on her hands. ”Growing up was not easy when I was approaching my teenage years. This is known by some people who know me or used to know me, and I know there are rumors, but I do want to officially come out and say it: I am a trans woman.” Nessa sat up straighter, a weight lifting from her.

”I’m really fortunate that I am as passing as I am, and I want to acknowledge that and shout out to any trans sisters or brothers who aren’t, because you’re still wonderful and valid. I grew up feeling out of place and not quite right, and I grew up with parents who thought I was going through a phase and eventually kicked me out because I was going to pursue a medical transition. I was lucky to have some friends who had my back through that hard time, and no one was better to me than my brother, Booker, who is my family, and who has always supported me as his sister. The other members of The POW Block Party and the people close to me all know this, but I want the community to know, because I don’t want any trans followers to think they have to hide who they are to be loved.”

There was a jump cut where Nessa clearly took a sip of water and composed herself between cuts, as she returned setting down a water bottle on the side table. ”I really am not looking forward to the comment section of this video. I trust so many of you to be amazing and supportive and good to each other and me. Sadly, I can feel the oncoming storm of hate and trolls here. The transphobes, the alt right, the far right, the TERFs, the cis gay girls that might call me a ‘liar’ or something. I’m already bracing for it, and it’s gonna suck. That being said, they might not make up the bulk of the hate, because I do have one more big thing I need to share.”

”I don’t want to hide or be ashamed of who I am,” Vanessa reiterated. ”I have been hiding a lot of self-doubt or worry that the people around me would not accept who I was, which is dumb, because the people in my life are awesome. Sadly, I did not have the best start. My parents obviously did not accept me being trans, but there was more they did not know that they would have been upset if they found out. I knew it from the way they talked and the way they reacted to the news. Being trans in this day and age is not easy, but there’s one thing a larger majority of people have issues with, and that was the other thing I discovered about myself as an adolescent.”

Vanessa looked directly into the camera and spoke clearly and confidently. ”I am a mutant.” There was a pause as she seemed to visibly shiver on screen. ”Woah, that feels weird to say on camera. I’ve only started telling the people in my life recently. Booker, Gina, the rest of The POW Block Party. I kept it from them longer than I should have, and I’ve apologized to them all, because I should never have thought so lowly of them to think I could not be honest.”

Raised her hands up, as though questioning her own statement. ”So what is my mutation, you ask? Well, that’s personal, but since we’re all friends here, I’ll fill you in. I’m a telepath.” The brunette pointed to her dark brown right eye and continued. ”When I make eye contact, I automatically start to hear the thoughts in someone else’s head. It’s not something I can turn off, so this is also my blanket apology for anyone I’ve had to make eye contact with in the last decade. I promise I stopped judging all the weird thoughts people had a while ago. Most people have them, and if I didn’t come to terms with that, I would have lost my mind at seventeen.”

Vanessa sighed. ”I know this is divisive. Being a telepath is a huge responsibility and I’ve been doing a poor job of living up to that because I’ve been so concerned with pretending this was just my secret to keep. I am a mutant, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m just a person who wants to be happy like everyone else, and I can do a thing very few people do. Try to be merciful in the comments, as I’m figuring out how to be an out mutant. There’s a lot of hate out there for mutants… for my people.” It was a strong claim of ownership of an identity she had been keeping to herself for so long.

”I’m proudly gay. I’m proudly trans. I’m proudly a mutant. And if you’re watching this video, whether you’re a straight, gay, bi, ace, queer, trans, cis, nonbinary, mutant, a human, something else entirely, please be proud and know I love you. Well, unless you’re an asshole to people for being any of those things. In that case, ya know, f*** you. Anyway, yeah, seeya!” Nessa gave the camera a quick wave and the video ended.

The letter arrived to the home of Buck and Libby Bookman in an inconspicuous letter.

Hello,

It’s been a very long time, and I have written and rewritten this letter so many times over the last few years, and I’m still not 100% sure exactly what I want to say, but it’s too late to keep putting that off, so here goes nothing.

I am doing well, first of all—I want you to know that, since your letter seemed to imply you were curious. I am working a job I love with people who support me. Booker’s still great, as always. I have a gorgeous girlfriend I love. I’m living a happy New York City life as a proud woman.

I’m not sure if you are reaching out because you want to accept me, or if you feel obliged to after all these years. I’m also not entirely sure if I want to be your daughter again. I’m damn sure not your son, no matter what you might want to believe. But I need you to know who I am, and that I’m proud of the woman that is.

It’ll be public knowledge soon, but unless I really screw up the release time and delivery dates, you should be getting this letter first. I’m coming out publicly as a transgender woman, like I should have done a long time ago.

I am also coming out as a mutant, because as it turns out, I have been one all my life. I should have told you before this, if only because it isn’t something I should have had to hide, but I was young and scared of what you would do. I tell you now because it’s been holding me back for too many years, and I wanted to get that off my chest.

So you can send a letter back, or you can ignore this and throw it away, or you could publicly disown me for all I care, but I’m going to live my best and truest life, and I wanted you to know that.

Your Daughter,

Vanessa