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When James Fitzjames was born it was like any other birth. Except for one thing.
His daemon was the same way as him.
At the time it caused calamity. Such a thing was virtually unheard of.
At the time, James thought that was perhaps why his parents were so eager to get rid of him. To get rid of the scandal of a freak child with a freak daemon.
His new family had been nice enough and had been accepting of him and Aether. Aether and he were as close as close could be and she always knew what he was thinking almost before he knew it.
Perhaps she knew his secret before he even knew it himself. It wouldn't surprise him.
Feelings began to arise as he got older that his body didn't feel right. Curves grew in and body parts filled out in ways that made him quesy to think about. He would look at himself in the mirror and think about what was wrong with him, why did he feel this way.
Aether always consoled him, something always seemingly on the end of her tongue that she didn't have words for.
As time went on, James fell into an uncertain rhythm with his body. He met new friends, fell into relationships and left them again.
It was when he met Dundy that things began to really change. Dundy introduced him to new terms, new words and new feelings. He looked at Dundy and wanted his flat chest and his chiselled muscles. He wanted Dundy, but he also wanted to be like Dundy.
Dundy was brilliantly accepting, listening to James's words and giving his own advice but letting James find his own words. He relayed those words back to Aether and James eventually realised who he was and what he was.
Aether was delighted, cuddling up to him and jumping around with delight. James figured that she had always known, and that was fine with him.
He wasn't a freak. He was James Fitzjames and he was whole.
Dundy accepted him and then accepted him some more. When he first kissed James, he kissed him tenderly but firmly. When they first had sex, he used all the right masculine words and James had never felt so alive.
He started his physical transition with Dundy at his side and ended it with Dundy at his side, even if it was under different circumstances.
Times had changed and so had their relationship. But Dundy was gracious and so was James. They still talked often and their daemons were as close as ever
It would be a few more years before someone new came into James's life that would turn it upside down.
Francis Crozier and his daemon captivated him and Aether from the first moment, even through the angry times that both of them would rather forget.
When they finally became proper friends, everything felt easy. It didn't start off that way, but they both found a rhythm. They talked a lot, laughed a lot and their daemons were never too far away from each other.
Eventually James revealed his secret and Francis thought nothing of it. To him, James had always been a man and always would be. Francis consoled the little James inside the older James that still held onto childhood anguish. The hug they had shared afterwards left James clinging on for dear life lest his feelings for the man overwhelm him.
It wasn't too long after this point that they mutually revealed their feelings and fell into a relationship. A friendship born of fire but now sustained by a softer and more passionate flame that kindled in both of their hearts.
Francis helped James continue his transition until there was nothing left to do but be… James. He had never felt more alive and never more like himself.
He thought back to that little version of himself sometimes, wishing he could tell him that everything would be OK and that there was a reason why he was different. For now, he vowed to make that little James proud and to give his future self a lifetime of good memories to look back upon.