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Dominic stretched out on his chaise lounge- the kind with the flimsy strips that ate towels and limbs. He scratched at his chest, running his fingers over the surgery scars like he hadn't had them for over 20 years. They were barely visible now, but he could still feel them; he knew exactly where they were, despite trying to pretend they didn't exist for a majority of the time since he'd gotten them- mainly attempting to keep them hidden from the wrong people.
The direct sun felt good on them. Not really, it was more so the knowledge that they were bare while he was outside that felt good. In an open area, accessible to everyone else! The sun was nice too, though.
He honestly had never expected to make it to this point- where he could feel some semblance of belonging. Of safety. Pursuing transitioning medically under a fake reason was probably the reasoning behind the first, and his experiences undercover were definitely the reasoning behind the second. Looking back on it all though, it was a bit surprising nobody ever saw through his lies; at least not the ones about transitioning. His brother couldn't go undercover- it'd be too obvious.
But, dress me up as a boy, He'd argued, They could even put us in the same room. And Cedric doesn't have a brother, right?
That that reasoning had gotten him so far was astonishing- maybe they just hadn't believed the alternative was possible. He and Cedric were pretty competitive and dedicated- something that evolved (or maybe devolved) into his prank mastery- so maybe all his colleagues and all those doctors thought he was just going the extra mile to one up Cedric in a way he would never be able to top.
He rubbed at his left scar a bit harder. Cedric did have a brother. Always did, always will. The outside belief otherwise had gotten him a long way, he had to admit. But he had gotten himself further. After all, he'd thought of the plan, he'd orchestrated it, and he followed the rest of the job through.
That charade still had its lasting effects on him, though. Only recently had he barely been able to begin to overcome it, and just by sitting outside topless. Sometimes he wanted to watch how a particularly pathetic kind of bigot would shrink away as he thunderously told them off, and they realized they'd picked the wrong person to whine about “nowadays” to.
Other times he wanted to just cut to the chase and use his fists to do the talking instead. Others, he wanted to do both, and occasionally he wanted to just blink and be in the free world he'd constructed in his head. Perhaps his definition of “occasionally” was a bit closer to “often,” though.
But he couldn't (and wouldn't) do any of those things- at least not the way he wanted to- so alas, here he was. On a cheap pool chair, staring at the clear, heavily chlorinated water without a shirt.
“Hey.” There was a light slap to his knee, and he followed the arm up to Elias’ face, “Baby steps, remember?”
He just grunted. He wasn't a baby anymore.
“It's just how learning a new skill goes.” Elias already knew what he was thinking, “If you have no knowledge on how to approach it, I'm afraid you are effectively a baby.”
“Are-” He cut himself off at the sound of the sliding door, turning around expectantly with a giant grin. It fell as he saw it was just Monika, and he dramatically rolled back into his original position.
A pool donut tucked under her arm, Monika looked over to Elias silently, as he asked the only question that was a reasonable follow up,
“What was that about?”
“Mh? Nothing. What were we talking about?”
“Dominic, you can't jus-”
The sliding door opened once again- this time with a slam that drew everyone's attention. Dominic's smile stayed this time, and his face quickly went red with the intensity at which he was holding back his laughs.
Marius stood silently in the doorway, covered in brightly colored feathers that were especially densely packed on his head and shoulders. They looked to gradient down his shirt, blue white and pink caking his hair and thinning below his waist.
“I cannot-” Dominic coughed harshly, trying to maintain his composure, “ believe that worked so well!” He broke into laughter at the end, leaning over the side of his chair. He looked up as Marius approached him, tears beginning to gather in the corners of his eyes from laughing so hard.
A mistake, Marius spit a jet of water onto his face.
Dominic yelled initially, choking what was hopefully just his own spit. The water running down his chest reminded him of how he'd used to wipe the concealer and foundation off his scars before bed. But looking at Marius reminded him of how fucking funny he looked.
“Happy pride.” Marius waved his hands, and Dominic laughed harder as he watched the human piñata attempt to snuggle himself into Elias’ lap.
“I think you-” He gasped for air repeatedly, watching Elias struggle to avoid as much cornstarch paste as he could, “got water in my MOUTH! ”
“I think you got feathers in my EVERYTHING! ” Marius replied just as thunderously, shoving his face into Elias’ chest. From Dominic's perspective, he now looked like a balding bird.
Monika watched in bewilderment as she applied her sunscreen, blinking slowly before putting down the bottle and heading back inside. She'd let them sort this out on their own for a while.
Dominic sighed as he wiped his eyes, laying back into his chair as his laughs faded out.
Elias gave up with his struggle to avoid the mess, pursing his lips as he wasn't sure if he should laugh or grimace, “Couldn't you at least get feathers in his colors?”
“He doesn't even know his colors.”
“My colors are all colors!!!” Marius roared, extremely muffled by Elias’ body.
“Plus,” Dominic added, “My display, my choice.”
“Seems like mine, though.” Elias wrapped his arms around Marius, “Should've done my colors at least.”
“Feathers don't come in yellow, sorry.”
“Mmh, you're right, I didn't think about that,” Elias quipped, before quickly turning his attention down, “Marius, please, stop wiggling. You're smearing feathers and glue all over me even more.”
“Hey don't worry- it's paste, not glue. Non-toxic.” Dominic said.
“How thoughtful.” Marius replied dryly, face still pushed into Elias’ chest as he picked off feathers that were poking into him a bit too harshly.
Monika came back outside with Meghan, whose eyes immediately widened,
“What.” Was all she could manage, brown eyes locked onto Marius’ tricolor shell.
“Dominic,” Monika responded simply.
“I'm going to be honest… I would've expected you to have had a part in this.”
“What? Why?” She put her sunglasses on her chair, draping her towel over the back.
“You said you wanted to celebrate in a special way this year.”
“Yes, by doing something fancy with you. Not by making Marius literally wear my pride for me.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Meghan sat on the side of Monika's chair, spinning the sunscreen in her hand, “So, do you want a picture of him to keep, then?”
“Oh, most definitely.”
“You think Dominic will be jealous if we hang it up?”
“Maybe.” Monika took the sunscreen from her girlfriend, applying stripes to her signature spot under the eyes, “He's so weird about it. Though I guess I got lucky to not have to deal with lacking support while in my most vulnerable stages of transitioning.”
Really lucky. She could even giggle when looking back on when she came out. Her dad had tried to be supportive by saying that so long as she stayed her smart and strong self, he would support her, and then her sister chewed him out for the implication that part of being a woman meant giving up intelligence and strength. He'd laughed lightly and apologized for his vagueness, ruffling both of their hair and saying they were both already so smart that there wasn't anything for him to worry about.
Meghan closed her eyes, leaning into Monika’s fingers as she massaged the sunscreen onto her face, “Your family sounds neat. You should let me meet them sometime soon.”
“Well… eventually. It can get intense, sometimes. It will really only be so bad since you haven't grown up with them…”
Meghan peeked an eye open, glancing over at the three men, “Can't be worse than them, hm?”
“Different kind of intense, but true.” Monika chuckled, “Just don't say I didn't warn you.”
“I'm prepared for anything, see?” She flexed, wearing a slightly dramaticized smirk.
Her head snapped to the side as she heard Elias yell- right in time to see him toss Marius into the pool, but unfortunately for him, Marius managed to decisively grasp his tank top and drag him in as well.
“Anything except for anything they could think of, actually.” Meghan corrected herself.
Monika just sighed, “I'm glad the pool is divided.”