"Adopted By" Oneshots!

Happy Pride! (Part 2)

AN: I know I'm a few days late, but you're gonna get the rest of the Pride oneshots sometime this week! Enjoy!

Keira

It's Pride. As I wake up to the sun streaming in my eyes, I have a sudden realization.

This Pride would be one of my first. I had never really celebrated Pride before. I had only spent 6 months in Hawaii after my parents died, so I wasn't there for June. And back home in Tahiti.. I wasn't really out to my family. I wasn't sure how accepting they were, and I also wasn't completely sure how I labeled myself yet, I just knew I wasn't straight.

But as I got myself out of bed, I decided to push the past to the back of my head and focus on the present. This year's Pride, with an accepting new family and an amazing queerplatonic partner, who should be showing up at my front door any second now.

"Hey kiddo."

"Dad!" I yelled, giving my dad a hug. "Dad, as much as I would love to hang out with you all day cause you've had work nearly every single day, I have a date with Avery that I've had planned for months. I'm sorry, we can spend time together tomorrow."

My dad nodded and gave me another hug. "It's okay, Key. I know how much Avery means to you, now where is she?"

"She should be coming in a few minutes, but for now, I need to get dressed in all my Pride merch."

Penney

It's devastating to think that my first Pride post-adoption was spent in the hospital. I spent what should be a happy, uplifting month celebrating who I am in the hospital, alone and afraid with no one allowed to celebrate with me.

That's all I thought about on every June 1st since then, how grateful I was to be waking up in my own bed and being able to celebrate Pride with my family, friends, and partners.

And on this June 1st, I smiled and took joy into who I was as a person. A panromantic demisexual, polyamorous demigirl, she/her pronouns because pronouns do not equal gender. A cancer survivor and chronically ill teenager with the best girlfriends I could've ever asked for.

All in all, I'm proud of who I am. And as I slithered out of bed and pulled on my rainbow sweatshirt and matching rainbow Converse, sitting at the front door waiting for Lacey and Asia to arrive, I thought of how lucky I was.

And that's when I went to say a very important thank you to the person that's made Pride that much better to celebrate.

"Mom?" I said, heading to the kitchen.

"Oh, Penney! You're awake, how are you?"

"I'm great! Um, I just wanted to thank you. Thank you so much for making me feel accepted and loved, for giving me a safe space to feel happy with who I am. I really appreciate it, I love you so much."

Dana gave me the biggest hug in the world, tears lining her eyes.

"I love you too, Pen, happy Pride. Don't change for anybody."

Clementine

I know it's a little cliché to come out during Pride, but this year it's something that has to be done.

My mom is the only person besides my biological parents that doesn't know I'm non-binary. My aunties know, my friends know, Cedar knows, all except for Britt. And she has the right to know, she took me into her home and stuck with me during the toughest times of my life.

The only problem was.. I didn't know what exactly to say. "Hey Mom, your kid's nonbinary but don't worry about calling her by a different name or anything, just use they/them pronouns more often?" Did that sound weird? Coherent enough?

Clementine, you're overthinking this. Mamae loves you, she's going to accept you, just take a deep breath and get this over with.

"Mamae?" I asked softly as I came out of my room. "Mamae, I need to talk to you about something. It's kind of important."

Brittney smiled and sat down at the kitchen table. "Yeah, what's up, Lemon?"

"Mom. What I'm about to say to you.. I've kept it hidden since the moment I met you. I'm honestly not sure why I kept it hidden for so long, but long story short, you deserve to know. I mean, you saved my life for God's sake!"

"Lemon, you know you can tell me anything, okay?"

"Yeah, Mom, I know that, but you know me. I have trouble finding the words for what I want to say sometimes, and I think I finally have them after months of trying to figure it out. Mom...I'm non-binary."

"Oh. Oh, Lemon, baby, it's okay. You know I love you no matter what. Wait, do you want to change your name?"

"No, just call me Clementine, that's fine. And you can still use she/her pronouns on me, but just try to use they/them a little bit more often?" I said with a soft smile.

And with that, I was met with the biggest hug I've ever received from my mom.

"I'm always going to support you, Lemon, always. I love you so much."

Tripler

The fact that today was June 1st was the only thing that made me realize I would have to go home in a day. I had been in Australia visiting my boyfriend Cameron for about a week now, we haven't seen each other in about a year and I missed him so much.

"Hey, babe." Cameron said, giving me a cup of coffee. "You're leaving in a couple of days, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's kind of bittersweet. I'll miss you terribly, you're the best thing in my life, but I'm excited to go see my friends again." I said. "I mean, I haven't celebrated Pride with them yet, I was a little late to the party."

"Understandable. But at least we have today." Cameron said with a smile.

"What? Cam, honey, I still need to pack up. I'm flying across the world in less than 24 hours and my belongings are still all over your room since I have zero sense of organization." I said with a smirk.

Cameron smirked back and moved my suitcase to the side. "Nonsense, TJ. We only have one day together, let's not spend the whole day moping about how you have to leave tomorrow. It's Pride, let's just have fun!"

"Yeah. Fun." I said with a smile. "Hey Cam? Dinner date?"

Miriam

"I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

"Mimi! Calm down!" my dad yelled.

"I can't calm down! I gotta hit the road in no later than ten minutes!" I said, pushing back my short dark hair and sighing.

"Why are you in such a rush?"

"Valerie wants me to see her friends. Apparently they're all celebrating Pride together and they want me to join them. I don't even remember half of her friend's names, but I'm not gonna give up that opportunity! Val has cool friends!"

"That I agree with, I met her sibling-" Dad started to say as he helped me pack some stuff in the trunk.

"VAL HAS A SIBLING?" I yelled. Dad laughed and said, "Yeah, she does, their name is Keira. As I was saying, I met her sibling and her friends once or twice, they're really good kids and I think you'd like them. I know you're a little older and you live out of state, but it's gonna be fun."

"I believe you." I said. "Also, I promised Sidra I'd spend at least some time with her this June. I'm not gonna be in NYC for the whole month, I promise. Plus, work is a thing that exists."

Dad hugged me and kissed my head, laughing. "I know you're gonna come back, Mira, go focus on having fun. Happy Pride, kid."