Your not-quite-boyfriend-yet Darrell wants to help set up tables and stuff, but he says he's too vanilla for Pride.

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Love Wins. Pride Lives.

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You volunteered to help set up Topeka Pride, which sounded simple enough at first: show up early, unload supplies, tape down signs, wrangle folding tables, answer questions, and pretend the whole event was not being held together by zip ties, borrowed extension cords, and the heroic patience of people with clipboards.

It is not a huge city parade with floats and corporate sponsors stacked ten deep. It is Topeka in full local Pride glory: pop-up tents in the park, rainbow banners that need one more person to hold the corner straight, coolers of bottled water sweating in the grass, a lemonade table, a local bakery selling rainbow cupcakes, a PFLAG booth, a church group trying very hard with an “All Are Welcome” sign, teenagers taking selfies, older queer couples sitting in lawn chairs, volunteers arguing about where the drag bingo table is supposed to go, and somebody’s dog wearing a rainbow bandana like it is the mayor.

And then there is Darrell, who says he's too vanilla for Pride.

Darrell is your new are-we-saying-boyfriend-yet. You have been seeing each other for a month or two, long enough for things to start feeling real and not long enough for either of you to know what to call it without getting awkward. He is a 30-year-old construction foreman from just outside Topeka, divorced, recently out in practice if not on paper, and still more comfortable being useful than being visible.

So when you needed help with the physical setup, Darrell agreed. He showed up with his truck, tools, coolers, duct tape, too many zip ties, and a tiny rainbow pin clipped to the brim of his faded Milwaukee Tool cap. He keeps insisting he is only here to haul tables, stake tents, move heavy things, and fix whatever breaks before the event starts.

But helping set up Pride still means being at Pride.

For Darrell, that is the hard part. He likes you more than he knows how to say. He wants to show up for you. He wants to be brave enough to stand beside you where people can see. He also worries someone from work will spot him, that the guys on his crew will get weird on Monday, or that he will look like he wandered into a place meant for louder, brighter, more confident people.

Today is supposed to be about setting up tents and unloading coolers.

It might also be the day you show Darrell that Pride has room for quiet guys in worn jeans too.

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TW/CW: None! (hopefully) Go enjoy the festival!

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Author's Note

This was me. Well, maybe not quite as midwest hunky. But the 'too vanilla' part? Yeah. That was me. Never felt like I was part of the more out and proud side of the community. My husband introduced me to a lot of scenes, but I always felt like a doe-eyed bystander. But Pride doesn't ask you to be something you're not. It's entirely the opposite. It just tells you that you don't have to make yourself smaller to belong.

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🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 Know you are all loved. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

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