I promised mom and dad that I would always look after you whether you were under my care or not. That's not going to change. Ever.' He smiles at her. 'Even though, at times, you're more mature me.' He adds. 'You've had to grow up fast. Too fast. It's not fair on you.'
'It's fine.' Brooklyn shrugs. She then stands up. 'I'm going to bed.' She hugs Travis. 'Night.'
'Night.' Travis smiles slightly. Once Brooklyn is in the tent, he gets his phone out and taps out a message.
Hey, it's Travis Montgomery. I know it's late, but I need to speak to you about something urgent.
.
The next morning. Travis is sat outside of the tent talking to Brooklyn's old therapist on the phone. The conversation they had last night rang alarm bells. The last time Brooklyn had a conversation like last night with Travis, she tried to kill herself. He's making an appointment for Brooklyn to speak to her therapist before anything bad happens. He gets off the phone just as Grant walks out of the tent. He sits down in the camping chair next to Travis.
'Who was that?' Grant queries.
'Brooklyn's therapist.' Travis sighs. 'She said some things last night that alarmed me. I've booked Bryn an appointment to see her. I'll talk to Brooklyn about it on Monday. I don't want to ruin her weekend.' They spend the next hour talking until eventually, Brooklyn and Alyssa emerge from the tent dressed and ready for the day. 'Are you two not going to get breakfast before you go into the festival?'
'We're going to grab something from one of the food trucks.' Brooklyn tells him. 'Get the full festival experience.'
'We're just making use of the VIP tickets. We'll get the complimentary breakfast from one of the food trucks and then we'll sit down on the main festival grounds with some of the artists that are here for the weekend and listen to music.' Alyssa adds.
'Well, we're going to enjoy a proper camping breakfast.' Travis says. 'We'll join you two at around 12. Y'know, when the actual festival starts.' Brooklyn sticks her tongue out at him.
'We'll see you guys later.' She hugs both Travis and Grant at the same time. 'Ooh! Don't forget we've got the meet and greets later at one-thirty.' She reminds them as she steps back.
'Do we have to wait in line with you?' Travis raises an eyebrow.
'It's not been made mandatory by the festival organisers but I'm going to make you anyway.' Brooklyn smiles.
'Fine.' Travis sighs and Grant laughs. 'You owe me though.'
'Owe you what?' Brooklyn laughs. 'I'm your baby sister. I don't owe you anything.' She smiles before turning around and walking off. Both Brooklyn and Alyssa show their V.I.P passes to the security guards at the entrance and walk onto the field. They walk up to one of the food trucks to get something to eat for breakfast and some coffee before sitting down on a patch of grass.
'You okay?' Alyssa asks Brooklyn. 'You've been a bit quiet this morning.'
'Yeah.' Brooklyn nods. 'Everything's fine.' Alyssa raises an eyebrow. 'Trav and I were stargazing last night and we started talking about our mom and dad and Micheal. It's just a lot, y'know, all the memories flooding back all at once.' Alyssa holds onto her hand.
'It's okay.' Alyssa smiles. 'They'd be dead proud of you.'
'Hey.' They hear a voice say. They look up and see Brendon Urie. 'Mind if I sit with you?'
'Sure.' Brooklyn smiles. Brendon sits down with them.
'You two were at the front last night, right?' He queries.
'Yeah.' Brooklyn nods. 'You saw us?'
'Of course.' Brendon smiles and nods. 'Most fans would freak out if I asked to sit with them.'
'We can control the fangirl that's inside of us.' Alyssa states. 'It saves us from embarrassment.'
'True.' Brendon laughs. 'What are your names?'
'I'm Brooklyn.'
'Alyssa.'
'Are you two together?' Brendon queries. 'Or just friends?'
'We're together.' Alyssa nods. 'It's our first pride festival. Well, since we both came out anyway.'
'My older brother's gay. He's brought me to Pride ever since I was ten.' Brooklyn says. 'Both Alyssa and I are gay and I'm also genderqueer. I use the pronouns she or they.'
'Has your brother come with you?'
'Yeah.' Brooklyn nods. 'He's taking us staying on the camping ground pretty seriously and having a true camp breakfast.' Brendon laughs. 'He's more like a dad than a brother to me. Our parents died five years back. I went into the foster care system because of his job as a firefighter. When my last foster parents found out about my sexuality, let's just say that they didn't like it and some bad shit happened.' There are a few moments of silence. 'But that's in the past now. My brother is in the process of adopting me so that we can be a proper family again.'
'That's good to here.' Brendon smiles. 'Not about the foster parents, about your brother.' Brooklyn smiles back. She then feels someone cover her eyes.
'Guess who.' Someone states. Brooklyn turns around and sees Ben Platt.
'Ben!' Brooklyn exclaims as she stands up and hugs him. 'I thought you couldn't make it?!' She says as they part.
'I promised you that I'd be here for your first proper pride so here I am.' Ben smiles. He looks at Alyssa and Brendon. 'Hey, Alyssa, Brendon.' He nods at them. Brendon stands up.
'I better get backstage.' He states. 'Brooklyn, Alyssa, it was nice meeting you. Will I see you two at my meet and greet later?'
'Yeah.' Alyssa nods.
'Bye.' He smiles.
'Bye.' Ben, Brooklyn and Alyssa all say at once. Ben and Brooklyn sit down.
'So.' Ben starts. 'How have you been?'
'Good.' Brooklyn nods. 'Mental health is still a bit low but I'm getting there.'
'That nice to hear.' Ben smiles. 'Everything going good with Travis and the adoption?'
'It's been delayed because of my mental health but it's all good. CPS hasn't been keeping us apart which is good because I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't able to see him and speak to him.' Brooklyn replies.
'You guys will get there. You haven't got that long until you turn 18 anyway, then it will be up to you if you want to move in with him or not.' Ben assures her.
'I just wish that they'd let me just move in with him now, like drop all the adoption stuff. In the UK they become care leavers at 16, why can't it be like that here?' Brooklyn says, frustrated. 'It's just-'
'Hey.' Ben cuts her off. 'It will all work out. You've just got to be patient.'
.
It's 1:45. Travis, Grant, Brooklyn and Alyssa are standing in line waiting for the meet and greet with Brendon Urie and Hailey Kiyoko. Ben has joined them.
'You guys met Brendon earlier.' Travis states. 'Why are you meeting him again?'
'Because this is the official meet and greet.' Brooklyn states.
'Plus we haven't met Hayley Kiyoko.' Alyssa adds. Travis turns to Ben and Grant.
'They're teenage girls.' Ben laughs.
'What did you expect?' Grant asks.
After another ten minutes, they finally reach Brendon and Hayley. Travis hands the camera guy the memory stick so that the pictures taken on the camera can be put straight onto there. The camera guy sicks the memory stick into the camera.
'Brooklyn, Alyssa, it's nice to see you again.' Brendon grins. He turns to Hayley. 'I met these two at breakfast earlier.' He then turns to face Travis. 'You must be Travis. Brooklyn told me about you.'
'She did, huh?' Travis smiles, looking at Brooklyn who has gone bright red. 'Well don't believe everything you hear from Bryn.'
'They were all good.' Brendon laughs. 'I promise.'
'Brendon told me that Brooklyn told him,' Hailey starts, 'woah, that's a mouthful,' she laughs, 'that you've been bringing Brooklyn to pride ever since she was ten.'
'Yeah.' Travis nods. 'She always used to ask about the rainbows and all that so I took her to one and it became a yearly tradition.'
'That's nice.' Hayley smiles. She looks at Brooklyn. 'You have one amazing big brother.'
'That I do.' Brooklyn smiles. It's now Travis' turn to go red.
'Erm- we better get these photos taken before someone starts a riot.' Brendon laughs. They all gather an pose for the first photo. Once they've done a group photo, they each do trio photos with Hayley and Brendon and then duo photos with Brendon then Hayley. Luckily for them, they were given five minutes. As they're doing the last photo, Brendon and Brooklyn, they hear a loud bang making Brooklyn jump. 'It's probably just a firework.' He tells her.
'At 2 pm?' Brooklyn raises an eyebrow. They then hear more bangs, this time there's more, one after another, followed by screaming. 'They're not fireworks.' Brooklyn shakes her head. 'They're gunshots.'
~~
I wanted to do a hate crime aimed at the LGBTQ+ community to show that it does happen and that it's not all sunshine and rainbows.
Let me know what you think!
Much love