"So what do you guys think?" Feliciano asked taking a step to the side. Behind him were a series of sketches hanging from his corkboard.

"Is this for a class assignment?" Kiku asked examining the sketches.

"No, it's for the LGBT Art Showcase." Feliciano turned towards his work again and tilted his head a bit.

"Don't you have like a month to finish it?" Mei asked as she unpinned a drawing from the corkboard.

"I do but I need as much time as I can to get this right. I need to get the right paints, mix them, get the right campus, size and material, and I need to check my paint brushes." Feliciano ran over and pulled out a box. After he opened it, he pulled out a group of brushes tied to together but a polka-dotted ribbon. Untying, he examined each one carefully. He held one up and looked the missing hairs from the tip. "This one can go."

"I know you care a lot about your art pieces but is it really worth to go through all this for one painting?"

"I can't use a brush that losing hairs!" Feliciano gasped. He showed the brush to Mei and let her hold it. "A piece of it could get in the paint and then I would have to remove it. And that could ruin the whole thing!"

Mei walked over and picked up a different brush to examine it. "Why don't you just a different one?"

"Depends on what kind of paint I'm using." Feliciano picked up and a couple of brushes. "For example, this one is a watercolor brush, while this fan brush is used mainly for adding texture to a piece."

"Don't you have to take painting classes for your Printmaking major?" Tezera asked holding back a laugh.

"I've been putting them off." Mei collapsed on the floor. "It looks so simple but it's so much more complicated than I thought."

Feliciano laughed a little and placed all the paintbrushes back. He moved closer to his sketches and looked them over for the umpteenth time. He unpinned a few looking at the closer. The first one was of a same-sex couple looking at each other with a pride flag over their back. After a few seconds, Feliciano tossed it to the side and sighed. He looked a few more and tossed them to the side as well.

"This one looks good." Kiku picked up one of the drawings with a smile.

"It doesn't feel original enough." Feliciano crossed his arms and sulked on the floor. "Everyone does the gay couple with the pride flag."

"Why don't you do this but with a rarely used flag?"

"Still done." Feliciano's eyes widen and he sat up. "But you're on to something."

Feliciano ran to his desk and pulled out some pieces of computer paper. "I think I have an idea."

"Well, class today we start our LGBT Issues unit." The professor said as he walked into the room. "Now I except that everyone did the reading over the weekend. So spilt off into groups."

Ludwig gathered up his things and moved to the back of the class with three other students. He pulled out his noted and opened to his notes from the previous weekend.

"Alright what does anyone know about the author?" One guy said leaning on the back of his chair.

"Oh, she's an LGBT activist." The one girl in the group said right away.

"Is that all?" The guy asked unamused.

"Well no she's written a few essays on her struggles on being a lesbian. Including being forced to come out."

Ludwig remained quiet. He thought about all the times he deleted conversations between him and his close friends, simply for the fact that he is gay was mentioned somewhere. Often he would delete the message as soon as sent them. Not even mentioning anything related to that when he knew his family was nearby.

"Hey what do you think?" the second guy asked.

"Huh?" Ludwig asked without thinking.

"Do you think articles on gay issues should only be written by gay people?"

"Well, there is more to the community than just gay people." Ludwig paused for a moment. "But members of the LGBT+ have experienced the variety of hardships firsthand. Sure not everyone in the community deals with the same hardships but they all have to deal with the struggle of coming out. Unless you have to go through that it may harder to write about their struggles. However, straight people can still have witnessed these hardships with friends coming out. This includes being harassed on the streets, being denied services, and, sometimes, being, kicked out."

Ludwig stopped himself before he could say anything else.

"See I told you, straight people can still write about gay issues." The first guy said to the girl.

"I never said they couldn't." She defended harshly. "All I said was that it's more reliable when they aren't the authors."

Ludwig looked down and turned to the closest blank page in his notes. He wrote down what he believed to be important and only spoke when someone asked him a question. By the time class had ended he had only filled up half a page. When class was over he couldn't get out fast enough.

Later that night Ludwig sat in front of his laptop. His latest reading for class shone on the screen. He stared at it and read over everything carefully.

The hardest part for me was being kicked out. The author wrote. For a good portion of that time, I was living on the street. If I hadn't found a group of friends who loved and supported me, I don't where I'd be today.

Slowly Ludwig closed his laptop and laid down on his bed. He stared at the ceiling. His body started shaking and he looked over at the nearest window. The window was closed as it was before but Ludwig still threw a blanket over himself.

"I think this looks alright," Feliciano held up a sketch towards the light. He looked around his room and found it empty except for him. After a few seconds, he picked up his phone.

Hey what do you think of this? Feliciano asked before sending a picture of the sketch. He then leaned on the back of his chair and waited.

Ludwig kept staring at the wall. The blanket was still around him. A small ring came from his phone. Slowly he sat up and looked at it. A text from Feliciano was present on the screen. He opened it and saw a small sketch. The sketch was of a group of people, each holding up their hands in a heart shape. Ludwig could see some small writing in the hearts but couldn't read it.

It looks nice. But what's the writing in the hearts for?

Writing in the hearts?

I may be mistaken but there appears to some writing in the hearts.

Oh those are for me. It's so I know what to color them. Feliciano laughed as he sent the message.

Oh, my mistake.

Feliciano leaned his head on his hand and smiled. He laughed a little more and sighed.

Don't worry about it. Do you think it looks aright?

It looks great. Is it for an assignment?

No my school has an LGBTQ+ art showcase every year and this is a sketch for my entry.

That's interesting.

I have an idea, why don't you come to the showcase. It's December 3rd if you're available.

I'm sure if I am but I'd be happy to attend if I can.