Found (BxB)

EPILOGUE

I've never thought I would be here one day.

Standing in the middle of so many people, so many colors, so much freedom. But here I was.

Will was trying to organize everyone to take a picture in front of the pride flag we had brought, but no one seemed to listen to him.

"Ethan, can you please tell everyone to shut the fuck up and take the goddamn picture?!" My best friend practically yelled.

"Oh damn... Will is mad" Kaden chuckled next to my ear.

I laughed quietly, trying to respect my friend's anger at the same time I thought it funny how he became extremely controlling and furious because of a picture.

"C'mon guys, let's take the picture already" I said.

"You see? Ethan is asking for the picture. If you don't obey him, you're being homophobic" He accused.

"You can't use this one forever" Jonathan threw his head backwards and groaned.

"I can and I will" Will retorted.

"You will" Jonathan laughed, causing my friend to snort.

"And you can't use this one forever" He mumbled.

"I brought hot dogs" Dad appeared suddenly with three hot dogs in his hands.

"How?" I frowned.

"Don't ask, just eat" He placed one inside my hand.

"Great, I was starving" Francis sighed in relief, but my father dodged away from him before he could touch the food.

"I didn't get one for you" He said.

"Why not?" Francis whined.

"Because you're not my son!"

"Guess we'll stay hungry then" Jimmy mumbled.

"Mike is gay; if you don't give him a hot dog, you're homophobic" Dane told my father.

"I don't give a shit" Dad took a generous bite from his bread.

"I'm not gay!" Mike protested.

"You are literally with the flag wrapped around you, get over it" Dane rolled his eyes.

Mike looked down, as if to check if he truly was wearing the flag. He was.

"That doesn't mean anything" He tried to get rid of the flag, stumbling on his own foot as he did so.

"Hello?! The picture?!" Will brought the conversation back to the previous topic.

"Fine, Will, let's take this picture already" Leah snapped, taking the camera off of Will's hands and gesturing for us to stand by each other.

"Wait, who is taking it?" Mason asked.

"Why doesn't Mr. Hales take it?" Jimmy suggested.

"I can't. My son is gay" Dad denied, though he seemed much more preoccupied with his hot dog than with me right now.

"So what?" I questioned him with dragged eyebrows.

"I'm a supportive dad" He argued with his mouth full of food.

"Gross" Casey grimaced.

"I'll take the picture" Dane offered, taking the camera from Leah's hands "On the count of three, everyone says 'rainbow'!" He grinned.

"I'm not doing that" Peter denied.

"Yeah, me neither" Kaden shook his head.

"You're all bad gays" Dane's grin dropped "Whatever, just smile then" He rolled his eyes.

Kaden closed an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him as the two of us smiled for the picture.

The picture went to my bedroom wall in no time. I didn't have to hide the things that made me happy anymore. My pictures with Kaden in the amusement park were all there, together with some we had taken during our dates, and some I had taken when Kaden was too distracted to realize I was taking a photo of him.

What once was a room of despair, was now a room full of light. That's because I changed. Everything, every place and everyone I saw was influenced by my hate. Like a camera with broken lens. Now it seemed like I was finally fixed.

I spent so many years wanting to be fixed. And I was. Just not the way I thought I should be in the beginning. But in a better way. I didn't need to change myself, I just needed to love myself. Once I did that, I could see love everywhere I went.

I didn't have a list anymore to rule how I lived. I could live according to how I was feeling, according to who I was. I let myself be taken by life. I didn't fight against myself anymore.

It was relieving. Freeing. I suffered a lot to get here. But it was all worth it.

And I would thank every day for being found the way Kaden found me.

***

I know. It's a short epilogue. But I wanted to write this because I felt like I needed to show again how much Ethan has grown.

I absolutely loved writing this book. It's my first book ever and I couldn't be more proud of myself. This book was motivated by all lgbtqia+ people who suffer from being who they are every day. If you are closeted, unhappy with your sexuality, have internalized homophobia, gets a hard time because of being who you are, this book is for you.

I believe words can change worlds (this sounded better in my mind). So I wrote this as a way to tell you: you don't need to hate who you are. There's nothing different or wrong with you. You're just you and, honestly, there's no better thing to be.

If you need any help to get through this type of situation, the best way is surround yourself with love. It can be from a movie, from a book, from people around you, but get the love you deserve. The love we all deserve. Kaden is a representation of how much love can change our lives. And I hope you find your Kaden. It doesn't have to be necessarily a person to help you. I just wish you love.

Thank you so much for accompanying me on this beautiful journey.

I'll see you next time.

PS:. Listen to the song I put above because I think it really fits the book.