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“I already let you talk me into going to this fucking thing, maggot, I’m not letting you put glitter on my fucking face, too.”
Blue rolled her eyes, one hand on her hip and the other holding a tub of glittery red face paint. Ronan snarled in response, emphasizing his point.
“You don’t get to half-ass pride, snake,” she snapped, pushing him down onto couch of the Gansey household living room and dipping a finger into the sparkling paint. “Now calm the fuck down and let me paint this goddamn rainbow on your cheek before I call in reinforcements.”
Ronan cursed under his breath but, allowed Blue to smear a line of red across his left cheek, know exactly what she meant by reinforcements. He figured that giving in to the face paint would be decidedly less embarrassing than letting his friends see how much power a simple “please, Ronan?” from his boyfriend had over him.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Ronan grumbled, grimacing as Blue added another line of paint to his cheek-- this one a bright, glimmering orange.
“Literally, every single one of us is gay. I can’t believe we haven’t done this sooner.”
It was one of the rare summers that the entire game was in one place. Adam was back at the Barns, having finally finished law school and landed a job as a public defender in the city. Blue, Gansey, and Henry had just returned from their year long stay in Mexico working with local activists fighting for environmental justice in the Yucatan for the sake of the forest and the indigenous people suffering under the government’s exploitation of the forest’s resources. And Ronan, of course, was where he always was: working on his beloved farm at the Barns. They only had a few months before Blue, Gansey, and Henry were off to their next destination and they were making the most of it.
Surprisingly, it was Adam who suggested that the gang take part in the D.C. Pride. Ronan had been shocked by the proposal. Adam was normally so private and reserved; pride-- with all its bright colors, hoards of people, and public declarations of all sorts of sexualities and gender identities-- hardly seemed like something a person like Adam would be interested in.
Unsurprisingly, Blue had been on board immediately, and with Blue always came with Gansey and Henry following closely behind. It took her exactly .05 seconds to start screaming about how great an idea it was and start planning everyone’s outfits for them.
“This will be the greatest feat of my entire fashion career,” she had gushed, wrapping them all in a group hug as she squealed with excitement.
If it hadn’t been for the bright smile on Adam’s face, Ronan would have protested adamantly against the idea. He hated crowds, he hated excessive fanfare, and he absolutely despised bright colors. And even more than that, he was a firm believer that his sexuality was his own fucking business. It wasn’t a matter of shame-- he was perfectly fine with being gay. He just didn’t need to declare his attraction to men in the streets of D.C. to feel secure in that.
True to her word, Blue had arrived to the Gansey home (where they would be staying and preparing for the three days of festivities) with vibrantly colored and extremely flamboyant outfits for every single one of them:
Henry wore an oversized tank top tie-dyed blue, yellow, and pink, a bandana in white, yellow, purple, and black tied around his forehead (just under his absurdly tall hair), and cut off shorts featuring an embroidered bee with rainbow stripes.
Gansey sported a magenta polo, purple shorts, and dark blue boat shoes-- all of which had been distressed with bleach and tears and studded with sequins and rhinestones with no rhyme or reason to their placement. His hair was slicked back with glitter hairspray that would have brought Noah the utmost joy.
For Adam, Blue had taken a white v-neck and written “bisexuality isn’t a phase” in neon puffy paint on the back and spray painted a messy bisexual flag on the front. On the sleeve was a patch that said “queer, native, and proud.” For bottoms, she’d taken a pair jeans and torn them to shreds, filling the holes with rainbow tulle and fishnets. Ronan would be lying if he said he hadn’t been a little turned on by the exposed skin and the way the pants hugged Adam’s toned ass.
She’d somehow managed to wrestled Ronan into a black tank top covered in sewn on pride flags, tight, red, leather pants with “gay as fuck” spray painted across his ass (which Adam had grabbed as soon as the others’ attention were elsewhere), and tied a tie-dyed bandana around his bicep.
For herself, Blue wore a skirt that alternated between acid washed denim and tulle in blue, yellow, and pink, torn, purple fishnets underneath, and a white tube top stating “hearts, not parts.” Her hair was work up in its usual spikey glory, held up with bright barrets in all the colors of the rainbow and green tulle around her ponytail. Her eyes were lined with rainbow, winged liner, pink, feathered false lashes, and glitter mascara. Her lips matched the color of the feathers, glossy and brilliant.
She’d been adding the “finishing touches” to her creations for the last hour-- polyamorous flags on hers, Gansey’s, and Henry’s cheeks, rainbows on Adam’s and now Ronan’s, and “Praisin’ the Asian” cloth bracelets tied to both hers and Henry’s wrists.
“Alright, all done!” she sang as she finished the last stripe of paint across Ronan’s face. “We all look dope as hell.”
Gansey showed his agreement by wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, Henry following suit soon after.
“Shall we load up the Pig?” Gansey asked. “The parade starts in an hour or so, and I wanted to check out some of the organizations tabling before hand.”
“Me too-- there are some environmental justice coalitions that are supposed to be present and I would love to get their contact information,” Henry added. “Also, if we don’t hurry up all the good food vendors will be too packed to grab something in time to make it to the parade.”
“Yes, definitely,” Blue agreed, practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. “Aaah! I can’t wait! Let’s gooooo!”
As the other three scurried about, gathering all of their supplies for the day, Adam walked to where Ronan sat on the couch, dropping down onto his knees between Ronan’s legs.
“Excited?” Adam asked, soft smile on his face. Ronan grunted in response, causing the other to chuckle. “I promise it won’t be that bad.”
“You can’t guarantee that,” Ronan huffed. “I’ve got fucking glitter on my face, Adam. Glitter. On my goddamn face.”
“Mmm,” Adam hummed, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck. “Yes, you do. Is it weird that I’m a little turned on by it?”
“Yes, it absolutely is.”
Adam threw his head back laughing and Ronan couldn’t help himself: he snaked his arms around Adam’s middled and drew him in for a kiss, soft and slow.
“Can you guys stop sucking face for like, 5 seconds so we can leave already?” Blue called from the other side of the room, smug grin spread wide.
Ronan raised his middle finger in response, not pulling his lips away until Adam did, groaning loudly as his boyfriend grabbed his hand and dragged him off the couch.
“It’s going to be fun, Ronan. And if it isn’t,” Adam murmured, dropping his hand to cup Ronan over the crotch of his pants. “We’ll find a way to make it fun.”
Ronan leaned forward, fully ready to pick Adam up and take him right then and there but, Adam was too quick, walking out of the room with a sly wink of his shoulder before Ronan could get his hands on him.
After being dragged to all sorts of tables for different LGBTQ+ associated organizations-- Capital Pride Alliance, Diversity Thrift, LGBT Caucus at Virginia Tech, Planned Parenthood, Women’s Equality Coalition, Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project, even a table set up by the 300 Fox Way women offering readings to raise money for the LGBTQ+ youth center about an hour outside of Henrietta--the gang had found their way to where the parade would be held.
Matthew was waiting for them at the front of the crowd right at the barricade, being sure to save space for them all. His shirt said “Proud Brother, Proud Ally” and Ronan found himself blushing when he spotted it. Opal stood beside him, wearing a shirt stating “I have two dads-- get over it.” Needless to say, Adam and Ronan were on the brink of tears from the gesture.
“Hey!” Matthew cried, wrapping them all into one giant bear hug. “You all look fantastic-- Blue’s doing I assume?”
Blue flipped her non-existent hair over her shoulder, smug grin on her face. Matthew laughed, his already impossibly wider smile growing wider. When Ronan handed him and Opal the rainbow colored snow cones he’d snagged for them, Ronan swore that his brother’s face was about to split in half from his upturned mouth.
“It’s starting! It’s starting!” Henry cried, pointing towards the road and bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Look at them-- they’re incredible.”
Ronan turned to the first of the marchers heading up the street, his mouth dropping in shock.
“Are those…?”
Adam grinned up at him, lacing his finger’s through his.
“Yup. Virginia Beach Irish Festival Dancers, here supporting other Irish gays like yourself.”
If Ronan weren’t so awed by the sight he would have punched him in the arm playfully but, he was too caught up watching the dancers. Their rainbow colored costumes, the girls’ bouncing curls and skirts, the flick of their legs and flawless footwork-- it was mesmerizing. Ronan felt a warmth spreading through his chest. It was the last thing he had expected to see at there and he found himself filled with joy and… well, pride. He turned to look at his brother and found the exact same elation in his eyes.
The diversity represented in the parade was astounding: drag performers going hard on floats, women in hijabs, niqabs, and burqas, massive flags with the star of david, polyamorous partners marching proudly hand in hand (eliciting cheers and kisses amongst their own resident triad), Rappahannock and Nottoway tribes dancing and drumming and chanting, even a Catholic allies group that had Ronan choking up despite himself. With each group that passed, Ronan found himself more and more enthralled, more and more of his attention captured, more and more like he belonged.
“I didn’t know it would feel like this,” he said, more to himself than anyone else.
“Like what?” Adam asked, moving closer so that Ronan could hear him.
“Like I’m not alone. Like I’m not the only one.”
Adam squeezed his hand and pressed a kiss into his shoulder. Ronan turned to him, his eyes sparkling and a warm smile on his face. He cupped Adam’s cheek with his hand and drew him closer to place a soft kiss on his lips. Adam wrapped his arms around Ronan’s waist, prolonging the kiss to the point that their friends were wolf whistling and shouting “get a room!” beside them.
Adam pulled away, laughing, though his arms stayed firmly secured around Ronan’s middle.
“I’m proud to call you mine.”
Ronan pulled him in for another kiss, crushing Adam even closer.
“I’m proud to call you the love of my life.”