A friend of mine came out as straight to his parents, because he understood that this is someone one does when becoming aware of one's sexuality, and as a young teen, he had his first crush on a girl. A few years later, he came out as bi.

Edit: just finished reading your story properly and it's really sweet, thanks for sharing. I find the split model of attraction (romantic/sexual) super useful because of situations like your friend's; like many bisexuals, I had a period of being "am I ace tho? What even is attraction?" and even though I'm securely bi now so nothing has changed, I appreciate some of the terms and frameworks I've picked up from the ace community. Invisible members of the queer community solidarity!