"Alright, let's tell her a bit about ourselves." Bri suggests as we all sit together in the evening. I'm huddled up in my blanket and leaning against the wall, with Caleb sitting to my left and Olive to my right. She's pretty close to me, honestly, but... I don't mind it.
We all agree with Bri, so she starts: "Well, um... Basic information: My name's Bri as you should know by now. I'm a lesbian and a cis girl, fifteen, and... Yeah. My coming-out was... Kinda weird? I basically wrote 'Your daughter's a dyke' on a piece of paper, put it on my pillow and left in the middle of the night to go to the house of my girlfriend at the time, knowing my parents were extremely homophobic. Anygay. I found out she cheated a couple weeks later, didn't wanna talk to her anymore and left once again. I didn't have a place to stay this time, so I landed on the streets and met Caleb. Yay."

Caleb smiles. "Yep. I'm a sixteen-year-old pansexual - and panromantic - cis guy and when I came out to my parents, they thought I was also attracted to objects and animals and all that stuff. I tried to explain, but... I dunno, they're pretty dumb sometimes." He shrugs. "So one day, I overheard them talking about a conversion therapy, and I'd heard horrible stories from those, so... I ran." He makes a waving movement with his left arm - he's not wearing the sleeve pulled over it anymore - and I suddenly realize he's missing a hand.
Should I ask him about it? I don't want to come off as rude... But he notices me looking before I can say something.
"Oh. Yeah, that's... I lost my actual hand when I was thirteen. We got into a horrible snowstorm and it sort of froze and died, so they had to amputate it and... yeah." He moves his arm. "Here we go."
"Wow. That sounds pretty... bad." I say, unsure how to react. "Sorry for staring like that, I-"
"No, it's absolutely okay! I mean, I guess it's not something everyone has - or doesn't have - so..."
"Yeah."

There are a few seconds of awkward silence until Bri decides to break it. "So, um, Avery was the next one we met. You wanna tell your story, Aves?" She asks and Avery nods.
"I-I'm fourteen." They begin quietly. "My mom and my stepdad always said they loved me no matter what, so I thought it was going to be the same when I came out as aroace and agender, but it wasn't. They.. they yelled at me and said I was just lying to myself. I told them I was serious. And they said they didn't want Fiona growing up around someone like that. She's my baby sister, by the way. A-And they told me I couldn't live there anymore." Their voice broke, they gulped and as Bri pulled them into a hug, they put their head on her shoulder, but didn't stop talking. "So I had to go. And... Fiona will probably never know me. But... But I've got you guys now."
"You do, lovely." Bri said and kissed them on the head. "It's okay. It's okay."
"M-hmm."
"Just let Bri do it." Olive whispered as she saw me hesitate. "These two always calm each other. Kinda platonic-soulmate-ish. It's literally a miracle."
I nod before Bri says: "I think it'd be good if we just talked about something else. Do you wanna tell us - or Liv - about yourself, Olive?"
"Sure. Well. I'm sixteen, bi and cis. My coming-out story is basically... My mom walked in on me kissing a girl. I tried to talk us out of it, saying we were just experimenting which was actually true - but she still didn't think it was okay. And yeah, now I'm here." She shrugs. "Better than a toxic environment I guess."
"Damn. Alright, if you guys ever need me... I'm not going anywhere." I say. "I've spent a day here and I'm already overly attached to all of you."
"Same goes for you." Caleb smiles. "Sorry for the greeting, I know it wasn't the friendliest, but... You know what I meant."
"No, it's alright, I totally understand it!"

"So... Do you want to talk about your story?" Olive asks interestedly.
"I'm not so sure if she does." Avery's muffled voice comes from Bri's shoulder which they buried their face in. They raise their head. "The wound's still fresh. But you decide, Liv."
"I... No, you guys have the right to know. I'll tell you." I force a smile. "So, I'm fifteen and I have no idea what my sexual orientation is, but I don't really care. I'm a trans girl - as you probably noticed - and yesterday afternoon, I came home from school and found out my parents had been looking through my instagram account. Which was okay, I was closeted on there and if I referred to myself in any post, I used he pronouns and everything. But I also have a secret account on which I posted trans stuff and used 'she' and 'girl'. They sort of stumbled across it, so they talked to me about it and when I said was it was true, they..." Shit. Come on, Liv, don't cry. "Well, they disowned me. So I packed my things and called all my friends after I left, none of them could help me, so... yeah." I feel the tears in my eyes and Olive immediately hugs me.
"Thank you for telling us." Caleb says. "It means a lot."
I nod and smile as Olive pats my head. "Thanks, guys. You make it feel a lot better."