See You In My Dreams
In development, queer coming-of-age romantic fantasy, 107 pages
An Asian-American high schooler discovers that the lover in her dream exists in the real world, but she can't bring herself to find him because she's a closeted trans girl living as a boy in real life.
Sophie is an Asian-American highschooler. One night in her dream, she meets Ande, a cute boy who shares her love of classical music. They both think the other is the figment of their imagination, so they decide to write each other’s name on the bulletin board to see who is real. The next day, “Hi Sophie” appears on the board, but Sophie doesn’t write back, because she’s a closeted trans girl who’s not ready to out herself.
In the real world, Sophie is Song, a boy who just moved to a new town for a performing arts high school known for its classical music program. He tries to blend in, even joining a hyperpop band in hope of getting close to Elvy, a boy he thinks to be Ande. Meanwhile as Sophie, she goes on epic adventures with Ande, never having to pretend to be someone she’s not.
Unhappy with this double life, Song decides to meet Ande in the real world, but he chickens out upon seeing Elvy making out with a girl. Ande shows up, but he is actually a closeted trans boy, who is Song’s piano studio nemesis Anna in real life.
The two overcome their differences. They become friends but stay short of coming out to each other. They learn to embrace music beyond genres but stay short of seeing their bodies beyond assigned genders. All it takes for them to fall in love is to believe that dreams can come true, but they can’t. To them, dreams are just dreams.
Ande eventually moves away, and they never meet again in dreams. Only four years later, when Song bumps into Anna and plays a composition Sophie once wrote for Ande, they finally realize they’re the lovers in their dreams.