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Robin went to his first pride when he was 13, shortly after coming out to his mother and sister. Rowen had showed up in his room that morning with a palette of old cream make-up from Halloween, brandishing a brush and declaring that she had read about painting things on your face for Pride and didn’t he want the trans flag on his cheek?
Rowen carefully painted blue, pink, and white stripes on his right cheek that year and every year after that (and when they got older, any time they were able to meet before the parade itself). As they got older, she added a rainbow to his left cheek and he added one to hers.
Their mother acted as a chaperone, transporting the twins to the event and keeping a careful eye on them while they were still young. As they got older she felt more comfortable letting Rowen and Robin wander, instead choosing to sit in the central square where the festival took place. She would keep her nose in a book in between passing out buttons and stickers she made for other LGBT parents at the event. No matter how they spent Pride, they always ended with Robin’s mother taking her two children to get ice cream in the evening.
Those summer days stuck out in his memory; of watching the parade wide-eyed with his twin at his side, of meeting older trans men and feeling that sense of community flood into him, recognizing for the first time what his future could look like. Rowen had come out to him during Pride between their sophomore and junior years of high school. Robin remembered sitting at the same central square their mother used to frequent, sipping lemonade in the hot June sun, listening to Rowen explain herself.
“I’ve always really… admired you since we were little. I know everyone says I’m the outgoing twin and all that but I think that maybe, in this regard, you’ve got one up on me,” she said while swirling the ice in her cup with her straw. “You were able to come to us when we were so young about who you really were and everything, and here I am, refusing to tell anyone but you.”
It was one of her rare moments of introspection that Robin felt grateful he got to see. Rowen always had many, many friends but she still only really confided in a select few. With things she couldn’t tell anyone else, there was Robin. Although, in true Rowen fashion, she overcame her apparent identity shyness by the time they were seniors. She quite literally became Ms. Steal Your Girl.
Robin’s first Pride with Chrom was uneventful for something that felt like it should have been monumental. Perhaps it was due to all the lead-up to getting together in the first place, but the event itself didn’t stand out so much as the feeling of Chrom’s hand in his as they strolled amongst the booths and down the paths of the park. They kissed in front of that same fountain of his childhood. The weather was fair and the sun bright. They stayed out late and watched fireflies come out in the soft grass that covered the park.
They didn’t always go alone, sometimes meeting with Rowen or other friends before getting on-site or after. One year, they went to Pride with the Maribelle, Lissa, and Gaius trifecta. It had been a weird year, with both girls extremely stressed in medical and law school, and Gaius apparently trying to take some semblance of control over his life by taking classes in culinary arts (specifically in cake and candy making). While Lissa eventually relaxed over the day, as it was difficult to keep her down, Maribelle only got more agitated. Chrom insisted that she had been this high-strung since she was a toddler, so Robin took his word for it.
Needless to say, Pride was intrinsically tied to family in Robin’s memories. So when it came time to start bringing their own children to the event, Robin and Chrom were excited to share with them.
---
Morning of the Pride Parade, Morgan and Lucina tumbled into Chrom and Robin’s room to wake their parents up. Honestly the wake up call way earlier than needed, but that was Morgan’s modus operandi for most things he was excited about. Lucina tended to take it upon herself to try and modulate some of Morgan’s more eccentric ideas. Morgan launched his thirty-pound 5-year-old body onto Chrom’s chest, giggling as he did so.
“Daddy, wake up!” he said, shoving his hands into Chrom’s face. Chrom peaked his eye open and wrapped his arms around Morgan before pushing himself up.
“Good morning, Morgan,” Chrom said and yawned. Robin rolled over, having woken up at the noise of the children entering the room (despite their attempts to be stealthy, Robin had attuned himself after one too many night-time “adventures”).
“What time is it?” Robin asked.
Chrom rubbed at his eyes and looked over to their bedside alarm clock, but Lucina answered before he could. “It’s 7 AM, Papa,” she said, putting her chin in her hands and looking the very picture of innocence.
“Mmm, that’s really early, Luci,” Robin said.
“Yeah, but we gotta get ready and drive and meet Aunt Rowen and Ms. Olivia,” Lucina said.
“And we will, it will be ok,” Chrom said. “Why don’t you try to sleep for a little bit longer and we will come and get you when it’s time to get ready.”
The kids considered this. Robin smiled as the two exchanged a furtive glance.
“Can I sleep with you?” Morgan asked finally.
“Of course, baby,” Robin said and given permission, Morgan immediately burrowed himself under the comforter and snuggled up to Robin’s side. Perhaps it wasn’t the best plan to allow their five-year-old to still sleep with them, but if it got Morgan back to sleep, Robin was willing to try anything. “You can stay here too, Luci, or you can go back to your room.”
“I’ll go back to my bed, Papa, I’m a big girl,” Lucina said solemnly. She really was getting so grown up already, Robin thought. Just last year, she would have gladly joined her little brother but he supposed that seven was very different from eight. Robin reached out and tousled her hair for good measure, earning a small giggle.
“Ok, big girl. We’ll wake you up when it’s the right time. Good night,” Robin said.
Lucina nodded and slipped out of the room.
The good thing was that even though Morgan had a tendency to wake up super early and drag everyone else with him, if you were successful at getting him back into a bed then he always fell right back asleep pretty quickly. He tucked his head right up under Robin’s chin and was out within 10 minutes. Robin made eye contact with Chrom across the bed and shared a small, exasperated smile before adjusting slightly to back to sleep himself.
Their alarm proper went off eventually, and Morgan shot up immediately.
“Papa, Daddy, it’s time to get up for real now,” he said.
“So it is,” Chrom said and yawned wide. “I’ll go get Lucina up then we can start getting ready. What do you want for breakfast, kiddo?”
Morgan nearly rolled out of bed and started trailing after Chrom. “Let’s make scrambled eggs for Papa and Luci.”
Chrom chuckled and picked him up, saying something in response that Robin missed as they walked out the door.
The rest of their morning routine went smoothly, with Robin meeting the other three in the kitchen before taking his turn to wrangle the kids into their carefully set-out outfits while Chrom got himself ready. Lucina had picked out her own outfit for the event, taking her natural-born talent for finding the most clashing colors and patterns to new extremes. For today, she added a rainbow skirt her grandmother made her and paired it with a lime green polka-dotted shirt and blue and orange striped leggings. Her sense of color was incredible, even if it was perhaps one of the most wonky things Robin had witnessed. But even when she was dressed crazy, she was still Robin’s child dressed crazy and he could never fault her for that.
And to be fair, sometimes looking at Chrom, Robin could tell that her fashion sense wasn’t completely her fault.
Eventually, the whole family was ready to go and they loaded the kids into the car.
They were meeting Rowen and Olivia in the parking garage before heading to the parade starting point as a group. Rowen insisted, citing their long-running tradition of painting each other’s faces. Although, Robin suspected that she was still somewhat nervous given the relatively new nature of her relationship with Olivia. Rowen’s attitude towards her was something that bemused Robin to no end; his ever outgoing sister was completely flustered over this lovely wallflower of a woman. Robin, of course, agreed to meet her. What were twins for if not for being your eternal wingman?
Approximately thirty minutes before they were scheduled for the parade, the Ylisstol’s car pulled into the parking garage, happening to find a spot near Rowen’s waiting car. Morgan bolted over to his aunt as soon as he was unbuckled and lifted onto the ground.
“AUNT ROWEN!” Morgan screamed at the top of his lungs, charging her.
“Good morning trouble!” she said, gathering the rambunctious child in her arms. “Were you a big bother this morning?”
“I got up SOOOOO early, but Papa and Daddy didn’t want to get up then, so we had to go back to sleep,” Morgan said.
“It was 7 AM, Aunt Rowen,” Lucina said, skipping over to her brother.
“Oh, wow, that was really early,” Rowen said and laughed, calling over to her brother and brother-in-law. “I hope you guys all got enough sleep for today.”
“I think we’re fine, we got back to sleep shortly after,” Chrom said. “Didn’t we, Morgan?”
The child in question nodded happily then started wriggling to get down. Rowen set him down where he then reached out to take her hand.
Robin noticed Olivia making her way around their car, holding her own son who peaked out curiously at them where he was pressed into his mother’s chest.
“Thank you so much for having us along. I know we have met before, but this is my son, Inigo,” Olivia said softly. “Say hi, Inigo.”
Inigo lifted his head a little straighter, giving the other people around him a furtive glance. Morgan, ever the social butterfly, waved happily and made his way over to Olivia, pulling his aunt along with him.
“I’m Morgan, and this is my sister, Lucina,” he said pointing to said girl who was still glued to her father. “Are we gonna be friends?”
Inigo gave Morgan a long stare before looking to his mom for guidance. She smiled encouragingly and set him down on the ground. Inigo seemed to gather that Morgan meant well and nodded.
Robin looked over to his own sister and smirked upon noticing the completely besotted look on her face. He nudged Chrom with his elbow.
“Well it’s about time Rowen actually asked her out, if she’s gonna look at her like that,” Chrom whispered in his ear, taking in the sight.
“And we would know something about dumb pining, wouldn’t we,” Robin joked and leaned over to kiss his husband on the cheek. Lucina made a small gross sound underneath them, but otherwise stayed between her fathers.
Rowen seemed to notice that Chrom and Robin were making fun of her and hurried over to them, pulling out a little cream make-up kit from her backpack. “Well, let’s get this face painting over with so we can get over there.”
As they had done for so many years, Rowen carefully painted a blue, pink, white, pink, and then blue again stripe on Robin’s cheek. He took the make-up and painted a small rainbow on hers then turned to Chrom and painted the pink, purple, and blue of the bi flag on his cheek.
“Papa! Can I get facepaint too?? I wanna facepaint!” Morgan cried out.
“Of course baby, what color do you want,” Robin knelt down and showed him the palette.
“Red like blood!” Morgan announced dramatically.
“Now Morgan, that’s not very nice, we don’t want to scare people walking in the parade. We can do red like blood for halloween. How about a nice red heart instead?” Robin bargained. Morgan made a face like he was deeply considering.
“Okay, but only if Lucina gets one too! Lucina come do face paint with me!!!” Morgan called over to his sister.
“I don’t really want a red heart Morgan,” Lucina answered honestly.
“PLeAAAASEEEEEEEEEEEE?????” Morgan begged loudly. Lucina sighed and shuffled her feet.
“Alright, I’ll do facepaint with you Morgan,” Lucina resigned. “But can I get a butterfly instead? Papa I want a butterfly,” Lucina requested.
After settling on the kids’ face paint requests, Robin got to work on the pair of them. Once Morgan had his nice red heart and Lucina had her new blue butterfly he closed the palette to return to his sister.
“Are we finally ready to go?” he asked.
Morgan then ran over to Chrom, who was holding the bag with the kid’s stuff for the day and reached out for it. He then dug through before pulling out a sheet of stickers that he had bought at the craft store last week.
“Wait one more minute, I wanna give everyone a sticker, come here,” Morgan said as seriously as he could. Not being able to say no to him, Chrom and Robin happily went to their son. Morgan bestowed a small rainbow on their hands, kissing his fingers then tapping the sticker down as he did so. Everyone else (even Olivia, although she did seem to be holding back a bit) followed suite until the entire party was decorated.
“Now we can go,” Morgan declared and took Inigo’s hand. Robin couldn’t help but laugh but started to lead the way to the starting point.
---
They arrived at the parade line-up point with little additional fanfare. Rowen, Olivia, and Inigo parted with them as they were not marching with any particular group and would be watching the parade. However, this wasn’t Chrom and Robin’s first time participating in the actual parade. For a while now, they had been marching with the New Askr LGBT Family Association, an organization that provided aid, resources, and general companionship for LGBT families. Chrom and Robin had joined this group back when they decided to have a child and had been an incredible support through Lucina and Morgan’s birth, infancy, and early childhood. They were a good group and Chrom and Robin were happy to participate. This was, however, the first time that Lucina and Morgan were walking with them.
Morgan waved happily as they walked up to the woman organizing the float, Rebecca. She noticed the Ylisstol family approaching her.
“Hello, guys. It’s good to see you guys,” she said, smiling.
“Good to see you too, Rebecca,” Chrom said.
“We’re marching with Papa and Daddy!” Morgan exclaimed. Lucina nodded excitedly in agreement.
It was not unusual for entire families to walk with this organization, but Robin wanted to wait until the kids were old enough to handle the demands of walking in a fairly large parade and the associated crowds before bringing Lucina and Morgan on board. Lucina had come along as an infant, back when she was only a year old and could still be brought in a baby carrier. After that, when Robin and Chrom marched, some family member would watch the kids.
“And we are so excited for that,” Rebecca said. “Give me a high five.”
She knelt and raised her hand and Morgan enthusiastically smacked it before Lucina followed. Rebecca then stood back up and turned to Robin and Chrom.
“If you want any more beads or anything, they’re in the plastic container that’s in the van. There’s also a whole bunch of cards and these new fan things we got this year to distribute,” she said and gestured toward the mini-van adorned with colorful rainbow streamers and a banner for the organization plastered to its side. A trailer with more bombastic decorations was attached, along with seating for when child (and parent) became too tired to walk.
“Thank you, I’m sure that Lucy and Morgan will be ecstatic to try more things on,” Robin said. Rebecca laughed and waved them off to the float.
In the end, Lucina chose several strands of iridescent plastic beads to string around her neck, and Morgan found a cheap rainbow lei. The kids proudly showed off their new necklaces to their parents, twirling and giggling.
Before long, the parade began and the group began marching. Robin took Morgan’s hand to keep him from running off, while Chrom gave Lucina a small stack of cards with the organization’s contact info and mission statement and went pass them out.
The heat wasn’t very intense in the early June morning, but the sun was shining brightly as they made their way through the parade route. Robin watched with a smile on his face as Lucina passed out cards with all the authority she could muster, taking her job very seriously. Fairly early on, Lucina ran out of her cards and instead of going to get more, she simply returned to her family. She took Morgan’s hand and looked up to her parents, asking if they could step aside from them. Robin nodded, knowing that he could keep an eye on both of them if Lucina was in charge of where they went.
The parade always went quickly once it got started but Robin never got tired of actually marching. There was something about being in the Pride Parade itself that was almost magical and the added bonus of being there with his whole family this time made the entire experience even more special. He watched his two children skip ahead of him and looked over to his husband, cheering loudly to the enthusiastic crowd. Robin reached out and pulled Chrom close, kissing him chastely on the lips just as Lucina and Morgan happened to turn around.
“Papaaaaa!” Lucina whined while Morgan giggled. Robin laughed.
“Oh, it’s not that big a deal, Luci,” Chrom said with a smile.
“It’s just that you’re my dads , Daddy, it’s weird,” she protested, but couldn’t help the smile that was creeping back onto her face.
“Papa and Daddy love, Luci. That’s why they kiss. I saw it on TV, that’s what adults do,” Morgan said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Lucina said and pulled Morgan forward.
As they continued their march, Robin felt joy in the energy from the crowds. He saw Rowen waving along the route, Olivia holding Inigo right next to her. He waved back and she blew a kiss, ever the drama queen.
Watching his family march in the parade with the group that had given them so much, Robin felt his own distinct feeling of pride well up in his chest. Truly, he wouldn’t trade this for the world.
---
After the parade and walking through the many booths set up on the many footpaths in the park, Robin and Chrom suggested heading over to the fountain to allow the kids to play and to stave off any potential meltdowns from sheer overstimulation. After all, this was not their first rodeo in taking children to Pride, and if they had learned anything from Lucina it was to make sure to give the kids break. Besides which, Robin did want to sit down and there was a small cafe near the fountain that the pair made sure to eat at each year.
Chrom and Rowen went to go get lunch while Olivia and Robin kept an eye on the children who were now running directly into the shooting water display that had been installed a few years ago.
As per usual, Lucina trailed behind Morgan, obviously taking her role as big sister very seriously. Robin was also glad to see her still giggle as she held her hand above one of the water jets. Morgan tugged both Lucina and Inigo to some of the larger water jets.
“I’m so happy to see him coming out of his shell,” Olivia said, smiling as she watched the three get sprayed by a particularly wide stream of water.
Robin nodded. “Yes, although if Morgan is too much at any time, just let me know and I can take him myself. I know he can be a bit rambunctious.”
“Oh no!,” Olivia said. “I think it’s good for him. You know, he’s always been so shy but ever since I met Rowen, he’s starting to warm up in general. Rowen has helped a lot with that. She said something about being used to helping wallflowers find their way?” She looked and Robin and quirked up her lips.
“Did she say that? I guess I can handle that drag,” Robin chuckled. “Did you know in high school, she once invited Chrom to our house for “tutoring” but honestly it was just to leverage my stupid crush against me and make me hang out with him?”
Olivia brought her hand up to her mouth and giggled. “That does sound like her.”
They went back to kid-watching for a few moments before Olivia broke the relative silence, as the background noise of the festivities was still strong.
“So, were you and Chrom high school sweethearts then?”
“Oh God, no,” Robin laughed. “I spent most of high school being aggressively in denial about liking Chrom at all then aggressively pining over him once I did admit it. We didn’t get together until we both graduated and I left for college.”
“That’s still so adorable. You guys are really good together,” Olivia said then flushed as if she thought she had said too much. “And Lucina and Morgan are lovely. I’m very glad to meet all of you.”
Robin blushed himself. “Thank you, Olivia. I think I speak for Chrom and both the kids when I say that I hope you stay with this family for a while.”
Olivia simply smiled and looked over to where Rowen and Chrom were making their way back to the group.
Robin watched as his husband struggled with his twin in an obviously playful way over who was carrying the food over, then looked back out to his children splashing each other and the boy who would (maybe?) become their cousin, getting absolutely drenched in the bright, June afternoon. Chrom and Rowen finally arrived, and Chrom dropped a kiss on Robin’s forehead.
He really was extremely lucky, Robin thought to himself.
---
Rowen and Olivia gathered a soaking wet Inigo and bid the Ylisstol family goodbye after everyone ate, going their separate ways to enjoy the festivities as a couple.
Chrom and Robin then took their own kids and went back out to walk amongst the booths and performances scattered throughout the park.
Eventually, Morgan did start to slow down and Lucina was showing her tell-tale signs that the crowds getting to her. Chrom picked Morgan up to his shoulders, where the boy rested his cheek against Chrom’s head. Lucina grabbed Robin’s hand and glued herself to his side. So, when Robin suggested that they head to an ice cream parlor that was a little bit away from the festival location then consider taking the kids home, the decision was unanimous.
Although Morgan was tired, he still got himself up to eat his double chocolate fudge ice cream cone and Lucina already appeared much happier away from the heat and crowds.
“Hey, Robin?” Chrom said eventually, watching the kids from a table a little away from them.
“Hm,” Robin replied.
“I was thinking, you know, while we were out today. And before this, kinda, but it really came to me today,” Chrom said.
Robin raised his eyebrows and gestured for Chrom to continue.
“Do you remember the first Pride we went to together?” Chrom said softly.
“Of course, how could I forget?” Robin placed his hand over Chrom’s.
“You know that was my first Pride, yeah?”
Robin nodded. They had discussed this at the time, pretty extensively. Robin could still picture the bright look in Chrom’s eyes as he spoke quietly on the grass about how he wouldn’t have rather gone to his first Pride with anyone else.
“I was just thinking about how far we’ve come and everything, and I guess being around all those young couples at Pride and stuff had me thinking about the past,” Chrom said, smiling absently. “Robin, would you like to renew our vows? Maybe in that park?”
Robin laughed good-heartedly. “Chrom, of course I would,” he said earnestly.
“Good, great!” Chrom said, breaking out into a huge grin.
“Chrom, I love you. I love you so much, my silly, beautiful, romantic husband of mine,” Robin rubbed his thumb over Chrom’s hand.
“And I love you, Robin. More than I can possibly say,” Chrom said, sincerity burning in his eyes. “But let’s save the truly sappy stuff for the main event. And I think we have some tired kids to take home.”
Sure enough, Morgan looked about two seconds from drifting off at the table and Lucina was giving them a long-suffering look that clearly was meant to say, ‘Why are we still here, let’s go’. Chrom picked up his son, tucking him up against his chest this time. Lucina threw out hers and Morgan’s trash and took her father’s hand out the door. Robin got up and made his way to meet up with them.
He was truly proud of what he and Chrom had created together. Pride, indeed, and a promise to bring his children into a great future. And that was a vow he would always be ready to keep.