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You're getting ready for Pride with Mama in her room when your eyes catch on the green flag she's pulled down from the wall. She's worn it to Pride every year you can remember, but this is the first year you really understand why. The first year you understand what it's for."How did you know, Mama?" You ask, looking at it again after Mama's done putting glitter on your cheeks.Mama sits down next to you on the bed and tells you that she didn't have a traditional coming out story, that it took her a long time to figure it out. She tells you a story about a boy she dated in high school and the friends she had in college and breaking down on the couch and you throw yourself into her lap to hug her."I love you, Mama," you tell her and squeeze her tighter than you usually do."I love you too, Ari." Mama says, rocking you in her lap the way she used to when you were little. "Why are you asking?""I didn't know what your flag was for before," you say, but even as you say it you know it's not the whole truth. You don't tell her that your heart races when Jett holds your hand in a way it doesn't when Olive does the same thing. You don't tell her that when Adele is talking about her crush on the new boy at school all you can think about is Jett.You walk down the hall to badger Richelle into letting you use her glitter hairspray. You sit on the edge of the tub and kick your feet into the side of it while she shields your eyes.Your sister squeaks when you lean back after she's done. "Hey, keep your glitter to yourself." You giggle and lean back farther until she shoves your shoulder and affectionately calls you a brat.You finally leave her alone to go downstairs to wait for everyone else. You find Presley on the couch watching tv. You know she likes going to Pride, but you don't think she needs it the same way Mama and Richelle do. The way you're starting to think you do."Are all your friends coming?" Presley asks after she pauses her show and turns to face you.You shake your head. "Just the power quartet," you sign, rolling your eyes a little at the name Olive gave to the four of you.You look up when the light in the kitchen flashes. Mama replaced the doorbell a couple years ago with one that only flashes so Richelle didn't flinch every time somebody ignored the sign. There's also a light in the hallway upstairs and in Mama's bedroom, but you run to the door anyway. You slide across the floor and stop just short of slamming into the door.You throw the door open and shout, "Jett!"She immediately pulls you into a hug and you swear your heart stops beating for a second. Especially because she squeezes you tightly the way very few people do."Wow, that's a lot of glitter," she says when she pulls away."It's the one day Mama doesn't care if there's glitter everywhere, so I have to take advantage," you tell her. "Um, sorry if I get glitter on you.""That's okay. Besides, based on what Olive said, I'm pretty sure glitter is like required at Pride."You start bouncing on your toes. "Oh yeah! You haven't been before! It's a lot of fun. And there's a lot of glitter. Mama even got glittery sunscreen last year. That's mostly for Richelle and Presley though since I have my sleeves.""I like them, they're very colorful."You run your hands over your compression sleeves. "Thanks." You've gotten more self conscious about them recently. You mostly have been wearing darker solid colored sleeves because it just looks like you're wearing a long sleeve shirt underneath your t-shirts, but for Pride you have a pair that have rainbow watercolor that you've been wearing for the past couple years.You think Pride makes people feel safer to be themselves, whatever way they need to. You think that's why Richelle wears ear defenders at Pride when she usually even refuses ear plugs.Presley huffs about it a little, but moves to make room for you and Jett on the couch and you look for the remote to turn the sound back on.Jett came over early for reasons you don't really understand, but aren't going to question, so Richelle has joined you on the couch by the time the doorbell flashes again. Jett comes with you when you run to the door again.You let Maddox in and bound back to the couch."So we're just waiting for the other half of the quartet?" Maddox asks."Just Adele," you correct, rocking on your heels. "Olive talked her Girl Scout troop into marching in the parade this year so we're meeting her there with her family."Mama says something as she comes downstairs with her flag wrapped around her, but it sounds out of focus."Adele's almost here, get your stuff," Richelle interprets. Usually Mama is really good at signing, but sometimes you think she forgets she has kids who can't hear all that well.You grab your bag and drag Jett with you to the garage. You see Adele's dad pull into the driveway as you open the garage door. Jett gets her attention while you pull the seats forward so the three of you can clamber into the back row."Why doesn't your dad come, Ari?" Adele asks once you're all situated.You wring your hands in front of you as you try to figure out what to say. "Richelle invited him one year, but he said he felt like he didn't belong." You shake your head to try and clarify what you're thinking. "Not that he didn't belong at Pride, but that he didn't belong with us at Pride. Mama brings us to Pride because she wants to share that part of herself with us, Dad doesn't want to take away from that. I think now he could come if he wanted to, but we haven't invited him again.""I guess that makes sense."Mama puts on her Pride playlist and the three of you sing the whole drive, you even manage to get Richelle and Maddox to sing a couple songs too.You don't elope much anymore, but Mama still holds onto your backpack when you walk down to the parade route from where she parked."Jillian said Bernie and Alex should be waiting for us at the antique shop," Mama says when you get closer.You find Alex easily in the crowd, he has a flag draped around him like Mama, but his is a trans flag instead of an aromantic flag. You look back at Richelle, she used to wear a flag like Mama's, but she stopped wearing it a couple years ago. You asked her why at the time, but her answer, "it's not mine anymore", didn't make sense. You're starting to think you understand now. It makes you sad though that she never replaced it.You grab Jett's hand and drag her toward the barricade and your heart skips a beat when she doesn't let go when you come to a stop. In fact, she interlaces your fingers together like Richelle and Maddox and squeezes tightly for a second.Despite the fuss she made earlier, Richelle reaches over to ruffle your hair once you're all settled in your spots. You huff but don't say anything. Mostly because that would mean you would have to let go of Jett (you could sign one-handed if you wanted, that's what Adele does, so you're just using it as an excuse). The parade has already started so Richelle's rainbow painted ear defenders are already firmly in place.You watch the different groups march past, some of them you like better than others, especially the ones that toss out beaded necklaces. Jett catches one and puts it on you. Adele catches a couple too so the three of you are matching. Soon enough though you see Olive's troop and she waves wildly at you and you have to grab onto the barricade with your free hand to stop yourself from running out to hug her, it feels like Mama grabbed your backpack again too.The cheers around you die down a half hour later though, when a big bank float goes by. You don't even care that they're tossing out candy. This is the first year they've had a float in years. Mama told you this might happen, that floats with names you recognize would start showing up again, now that it's safe to show their support again (she'd said it with a lot of sarcasm). You're pretty sure that's why there are more people at Pride this year too.The big float is another block down when Olive rushes at you, tackling the three of you in a hug. "That was so much fun!" She says when she pulls away. The opening of her khaki vest exposes her t-shirt that says "I love my brother" with the trans flag overlaid on the word brother. "I wanna do that every year."Slowly the parade starts to die down around you, but you don't want the day to be over yet. You tug on Jett's hand and run over to the grassy area in front of the library. Your hands are all sweaty but Jett still hasn't let go of you so you pull her down to sit with you against the wall."I think I'm bi," you whisper, well, what you think is a whisper, but everyone else seems to think is just slightly quieter than your regular speaking volume.You look at Jett, trying to figure out what she's thinking. "Me too," she says. "Wait, no, I'm a lesbian."You giggle at her as she fumbles over her own coming out. But then she's staring at you too, and you think you understand what movies are talking about when they talk about love."Can I kiss you?" She asks. And it takes you a second to process the question but then you nod and finally let go of her hand. You turn so you're facing her and you lean forward to kiss her and you swear there's fireworks going off in the middle of the day.