Welcome to the Pride Parade [Frerard AU]

Part III: Chapter 14

"That's going to scare her, don't you think?"

"Maybe?" He crossed that out as well. I'm okay, he wrote instead.

"That's good; keep that," I agreed. "Might want to follow it with something along the lines of 'the reason I say that is...'"

He wrote that down, too, nodding his approval. The reason I say that is because coming to understand what I'm about to tell you has been pretty hard on me. I'm hoping you won't mind

I cut him off again. "Don't say you hope she won't mind. That's like indicating that it's a burden."

"She'll think it is a burden, though. How can I write this like a compromise without acknowledging that she'll be bothered by it?"

"Don't write it like a compromise at all, then," I suggested. "Be assertive. State who you are. Declare that she's going to have to accept it because it's a fact that can't be changed!"

"You don't know my parents. If I do any kind of standing up for myself, they call it disrespectful. If I try to do this like it's a declaration, they'll go insane." Regardless, he erased and rewrote the last sentence. I'm hoping you can accept it.

"That's good."

"But they won't accept it. That's an impractical sentence." I'm hoping you don't disown me.

"Oh, come on." I took the pencil from him and erased that.

"Look, I'm being forward about it. I know them."

"Do you honestly think there's a chance of... that?"

"Honestly, Gerard? I have no idea. There's a slight chance that their homophobia will go away as soon as they know their kid is homosexual. There's a slight chance of them getting even angrier and becoming one of those protesters we saw at the pride parade. There's a slight and equal chance of just about every conceivable outcome. I don't know where they stand, or the intensity of their bigotry; all I know is that they're there somewhere. I've heard them talk about people on the news, about the hate crimes that go on, not exactly condoning the criminals but not despising them. They're never affected by it at all. The lack of empathy is almost scarier."

"Okay, so that's the worst case scenario. What's the best one?"

"That they accept it, I guess, and then don't talk to me about it again."

"So if there's an equal chance of everything, the chance that they'll accept you is just as likely as that they won't, right? Why make assumptions?"

He paused. "I don't know. A gut feeling?"

"Still, how about 'I'm hoping you understand' instead?"

He took the pencil back and instead wrote, I hope this won't be as hard on you. I'm sorry if it is.

"You have to stop apologizing about a part of your identity you can't control."

"Fine." He erased the latter sentence and started a new line. I've come to understand that you are, he began, but then changed it to I know you are really in love with God and there's nothing wrong with that,

"Make sure you include that you're a Christian, too," I suggested. "That might let them know that the two aren't mutually exclusive."

"Good point," he said, crossing out there's nothing wrong with that and replacing it with I am, too.

He kept writing. I believe that God loves me just the way he created me. So

He paused.

"So..." I read, waiting for him to continue the sentence. Instead he crossed out the word completely.