Nothing is stopping me from writing gay fanfic now that I have fought back my own internalized homophobia and realized I was bi and ace.

Friendly reminder that pedophilia is not part of the LGBTQ+ umbrella and that I will not tolerate it in my comments section in any format.

I didn't know at first that I was going to write a chapter two, I was very much inspired by my friend TheSparklyKitten's story A Little Bit of Pride. She has a wonderful OC and a handful of headcanons that are different than me, which is awesome and absolutely should be celebrated.

We all have something to celebrate. WE all have something to be proud of.

"Are you ready?" Damon asked, looking at his younger brother with the biggest smile in the world.

"I'm ready," Khary agreed, his face proudly done up in his best makeup, with glitter and a special flag painted on his cheek. A larger flag was wrapped around his shoulders, and he was not the only one with a flag. His flag and face paint featured a black triangle, a large white stripe, and a large grey stripe with a thinner purple stripe in the middle. It had taken him a while to realize he was demisexual, it had taken him getting out from a house where straight was the required default, but now he was open and optimistic. He wore a shirt that said, "World's Okayest Demisexual."

Damon and Wasabi were decked out as well. Wasabi wore a shirt that said, "If you play for both teams you always win," had a bi flag wrapped around his shoulders, and had swapped out his ordinary headband for one sporting pink, purple, and blue. Damon was proudly holding up the pan-flag wrapped around his shoulders and was wearing a shirt that said, "Oh no everyone is so hot."

"Let's take a picture," Damon suggested, "commemorate your first pride." Khary blushed but agreed, and the brothers took a couple of selfies before joining the others. Hiro was the first one they saw, he wasn't as colorful as the others, but he held an ace flag in one hand and Karmi's hand in the other. Karmi wore a shirt that said, "Choose Love." GoGo wasn't far behind them, wearing a tank top that read, "Bi-furious." Fred and Honey joined Damon in their pan outfits. Fred wore a pan flag as a cape and a shirt that said, "Being Pansexual means I get to enjoy all the butts." Honey Lemon wore a gorgeous dress covered in pink, blue, and yellow roses, with a flower crown to match.

"You look amazing!" Honey Lemon squealed, pulling Khary into one of many unexpected hugs that would occur today.

"Thanks, you look awesome too. That dress is amazing," Khary complimented, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Where's Aunt Cass?" Wasabi asked.

"She is giving out free mom hugs," Hiro said, "you know, for people who uh… Don't get those anymore."

Damon, Wasabi, and Khary exchanged a glance.

"Let's see how many of those we can get today," Damon suggested.

"Oh," GoGo said, "can I join?" She didn't normally enjoy hugs, but she always appreciated feeling accepted.

"Absolutely," Wasabi said, wrapping his arm and flag around his friend, "you're one of us." He glanced around at the ragtag group of pride pirates, "we're each other's family now."

"Yeah," GoGo agreed, "let's go find some moms."

The day was a whirl. The whole group got separated several times, but the brothers stuck together through it all. Eventually, though, their day had to come to an end. So, Damon, Khary, and Wes headed for Joe's diner, the place where Damon and Wasabi had ended many pride parties.

"Imagine," Damon said, leaning across the table, "scrubbing off face paint and glitter at my boyfriend's home and then making it back before family dinner, only for mom to ask me when I was going to bring home a girl."

"Speaking of," Wasabi said, "how's Crystal? Why didn't she come?"

"Ah, well, Beck doesn't do well around large crowds. She sends her support and love to all of us. She's proud of you two. I'm proud of you two."

"Thanks, Damon. And tell her thank you as well."

"I will."

"Do you have pictures of Beck?" Khary asked, basically obsessed with his three-year-old nephew.

"Yes, actually, someone was feeling proud today and got decked out to support daddy and his uncles." Damon showed a picture of Beckett from this morning, wearing a shirt that said, "Love always wins."

"He's so cute. He's gonna group up knowing that he can be whoever he wants," Khary said, "love anyone he wants."

"Exactly," Damon said, beaming. Beck wasn't his biological son but he and Crystal were happy to raise Beck in a loving, accepting environment. He and his brothers hadn't had that.

"Do you remember your first pride?" Khary asked, leaning against Wasabi and stealing one of his french fries.

"Of course I do. I ditched my flag at Tadashi's house. Aunt Cass gave me a ride home and told me I would always be accepted there, told me she was proud of me and that I should never be ashamed of who I love. She's one of the first people to ever tell GoGo or I that. I cried the whole way home."

"I feel like I'm going to cry," Khary admitted, still wrapped in his flag, still proudly displaying what he couldn't before.

"Aww, Khare, it's okay to cry," Wasabi promised, pulling Khary close in a hug, "it's overwhelming. But I'm happy you get to experience this with us. I'm happy we get to go home as we are, glitter and all."

"There were so many amazing people around today," Khary mentioned, "more people, I guess… More people than I realized. All these people, loving who they love, accepting themselves, out and proud."

"Not everyone at pride is out to everyone in their lives," Damon said wisely, "mom is never going to know that part of me, and because of what she believes, there's a lot she'll never know about me at all. I've made peace with it. You have us, Khary. You can be open to us. You can be out to us. We'll always accept you."

"Thanks, Damon," Khary said.

"Now," Wasabi said, "if you're done stealing my fries, let's go home."