I read once that in an earlier version of the script, or maybe the play it was based on, had him first kiss Victor(ia) still thinking he was a cis man (before they added the scene where he spies on her in the bath and is all smug about what he sees).

Aw man, I would've loved that version! And yeah, there's so much potential... also, no lie, Victor/Victoria kinda embodies how I want to be masculine in the world! Because ze CAN fight, but uses it mostly in defense of those ze loves, and ze doesn't feel the need to prove anything, and ahhhhh I love it.

And that fic almost made me like Marchand! If you can enjoy him, by all means, you enjoy that beefsteak, haha!