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It was a rainy day in London, so it was a normal day in London. Arthur Dent was inside his home, watching the rain pitter-patter against the window with a steaming cup of tea in his hand. Perfect day, if you asked him. Unlike most people, he liked the rain. It meant that he could stay inside all day without having to interact with anyone.
There was a knock at the door.
And just like that, his plans of not having to talk to anyone all day were thrown out the window.
Who could possibly be trying to contact him on a day like this, he thought as he made his way over to the door. There couldn’t have been anything important enough to interrupt his peace and quiet on a very rainy day.
In fact, there was. Because Ford Prefect was standing in the doorway, drenched in rain.
Ford was Arthur’s only friend. Arthur didn’t really know why he was friends with him in the first place. Ford was the strangest man he had ever met. And yet… he truly didn’t know.
“Ford,” Arthur said in acknowledgment.
Ford smiled at him as always. “Arthur,” replied Ford. He did nothing else.
Arthur waited for Ford to respond. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone for more than ten minutes today, even his only friend. He just wanted him to get on with it. “Yes?” he looked expectantly at the other man.
Ford nodded. He looked normal for himself, but despite his smile, he looked spaced out. He also looked a tiny bit stressed, but hid it well behind his polite demeanor. “Yes.”
Arthur didn’t know what else to say. Ford didn’t say anything about why he was there. He just stared at him blankly. God, was Ford weird.
“Can I help you?” Arthur tilted his head.
Ford finally had a semi-normal response for Arthur. “You can help me. I would like to be let in.”
Arthur had no idea what this was about, but he wasn’t about to just shut the door on his only friend. The visit would be quick, he told himself in his head, and after Ford left he would have the entire rest of the day to himself and his tea.
So Arthur did as Ford said. “Alright,” he nodded quickly, stepping out of the way of the doorway so that Ford could walk inside his home.
Ford said nothing to Arthur, only made his way straight to the couch. The water on his body dripped onto the floor, staining the carpet that Arthur had recently cleaned. He sat down on the couch in Arthur’s living room, making it wet as well.
Despite the unexpected visit, Arthur tried his best to still be a good host for Ford. He always tried to be when Ford visited his house. “Do you want some tea?” He was still holding his cup in hand.
“Yes, please,” nodded Ford.
Arthur got right to that. He could hear Ford taking deep breaths from the couch. He seemed a bit stressed. He was getting worried about what was going on. Ford usually had something or other going on in his life, being his strange self, but he never looked this fazed about it. He was good at keeping himself together and acting nonchalant in stressful situations.
The tea didn’t take long, and soon enough, Arthur was handing Ford a piping hot cup of tea. Arthur noticed that Ford’s hand was shaking as their hands touched.
Ford raised the cup to his lips and took a sip. Arthur did the same as he sat down on a chair across from the couch. He really wanted to know what Ford was doing there on this kind of day and why he seemed so weird (well, weirder than usual).
“What did you want to talk to me about?” asked Arthur. “I assume that you wanted to talk to me about something important since you bothered me on what you know is my favorite kind of day.”
Ford hesitated before replying. His hand was shaking furiously holding the cup of tea. Arthur prayed that he wouldn’t spill it. He didn’t want to clean coffee stains as well as water stains off of his carpet.
Ford did reply, eventually, after taking a long and deep breath. “Arthur, you are a man, yes?”
Arthur furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Yes, I am a man,” he nodded.
“And… I am also a man?”
Arthur had no idea why Ford was asking him these questions. Why did he visit him during the middle of a rainstorm to ask him this? “That’s what I assume,” he chuckled with a twinge of awkwardness.
Ford chuckled as well. “The thing is… I don’t think I’m a man?” he said hesitantly. He gave Arthur a very awkward look from across the room.
Huh, was all Arthur could think. What could Ford possibly mean by that? Was he secretly a woman disguised as a man? Or was he… well, maybe he was. He very well could be.
“So, you’re transgender?”
Now it was Ford’s turn to look confused. “What?”
Arthur paused. “Transgender,” he repeated. Then he thought of something. “Do you not know what transgender is?”
“No. Educate me,” Ford shook his head.
Arthur cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. “Well,” he hesitated. He didn’t know much on the subject, not being transgender or knowing any transgender individuals, so he would have to explain what he knew. “Transgender is when someone is born as either a man or a woman, but they feel like they’re the other gender. So they live as the gender they want to be.”
“Huh,” said Ford. He stared into the distance for a few moments, taking that new information in. “So, transgender people can be either men or women?”
“Yes, they can. So, you could be transgender. So could anyone else.”
Ford made a noise deep in his throat. “But I don’t think I’m a woman either?” he shrugged. “I’m not a man or a woman. I’m… in the middle,” he looked ashamed.
Arthur thought about that. He had heard of that somewhere before. It wasn’t a super common thing, but it was a thing, to be neither a man nor a woman. Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if it were a Ford-only thing. He truly was different from the rest of humanity.
“I think I’ve heard of that before, of someone being not a man nor a woman. It had a name,” he squinted his eyes shut and snapped his fingers, trying to remember. Then, in a flash, the term came to him. “Non-binary! It’s called non-binary. I’m pretty sure it’s part of being transgender.”
Ford’s mouth grew into a smile. Arthur swore he - they? Since Ford was neither a he nor she - could see tears welling up in his eyes. “Wow. That’s great. That’s amazing. I never would’ve predicted that there was a gender that was neither male nor female.”
“Yeah, me neither, but it turns out that there is.”
Ford laughed and shook their head. “Gender is confusing.”
“You’re confusing, Ford Prefect,” Arthur laughed back.
Ford stood up from the couch. “Well, I better get going. Thank you for the talk, Arthur. It really helped,” they walked over to him and placed their hand on his shoulder. At that moment, Arthur finally realized why he was friends with Ford. Mostly because he had nobody else in his life. But also partially because they were a genuinely nice person. And they were probably alone, too. They never mentioned any family.
Arthur escorted Ford out the door, talking to them as they walked. “You’re welcome. Though, in advance, maybe don’t bother me on a rainy day. When it’s raining, I like to be alone. Only bother me when, like, the world’s ending.”
Ford laughed. “Don’t worry, the world won’t be ending for another two years.”
“Well, you better bother me then.”
“Of course, I will.”