I shoved this one down pretty hard at the time. But not so hard that it couldn't pop up when I came out and slap me across the face with a giant sign that says "You fucking egg."
Comic, 13 Panels
Panel 1: Robin leaning against a couch and speaking to the reader "I remember a lot of little stuff from earlier in my life that should have clued me into my transness. But here’s one that sticks out:"
Panel 2: Past Robin, pretransition, sitting on a different couch, on a laptop. Present Robin continues speaking, "It's 2009, maybe 2010. I was hanging out in the green room of the student theater on campus." Caption: (Yes, I did theater, try to look surprised)
Panel 3: Past Robin raises an eyebrow
Panel 4: A mouse cursor over a link SFX: Click
Panel 5: Past Robin reading while present Robin sits on the couch and speaking, "It was an article about a sixteen year old trans girl in Germany. She’d started puberty blockers at twelve, and hormone therapy a few years after that."
Panel 6: The screen, with the article and a picture of the girl, "And she just… looked like a woman."
Panel 7: Past Robin continues reading while Present Robin jazz hands a little while speaking, "The article itself was fairly neutral, more of a “wow, modern medicine!” sort of thing."
Panel 8: Present Robin looking to Past Robin, "It was the first time I had heard about HRT, and very nearly the first time I had heard about transgender people*" Caption: (*in a context other than “hilarious” mid 2000’s “jokes”)
Panel 9: Past Robin reading, both eyebrows raised in interest
Panel 10: Past Robin looking suddenly very uncomfortable as purple shadows rise up from behind SFX: UNEXPLAINED FEELINGS
Panel 11: A freaked-out Past Robin closes the laptop. SFX: Slam
Panel 12: Past Robin standing up with an “I’m restraining my trans panic” face, and speaking “I’m gonna do something else!”
Panel 13: A very tired, haunted Present Robin speaking as Past Robin walks away, "I proceeded to not examine those feelings for over a decade."