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Everyone knows that Vivid Street has a high population of queer people, so it's no surprise that everyone is talking about the upcoming pride festival, celebrated yearly during the last week of June. It's no surprise that An’s helping out most of the time, so practice will be limited that week.
What's a little surprising, though…
“Please, Akito?” Toya begs as they walk back from practice at the Weekend Garage. “Shiraishi made it sound like a lot of fun.”
Of course Toya wants to check it out. He's too easily influenced by the excited chatter and early decorations being set up. Akito should have seen it coming, really.
“Why should I go? I'm not even gay.” He kicks a rock down the sidewalk. Toya stops.
“Akito.”
“What?”
“We've been dating. For a year.”
Akito tugs them forward, continuing to stroll as the sun begins to set. “Cool. Good for us.”
“Why don't you want to go?” Toya pouts. “It’s opening tomorrow, so we can take a look at the nice things before they sell out. If you don't like it, I'll take you somewhere else.”
“Nah, you don't have to do that. The people there are just so obnoxious, y’know? I've been before, they shove things in your face and try to sell you stuff. It feels forced. And besides, the rainbows everywhere are so…” he waves his free hand in the air. “Mm. Too much.”
Toya sighs. “Alright, then. I'll go by myself.”
“Sure, have fun,” Akito mutters. They stop again, at the corner where they part ways. He leans in for a kiss, but Toya steps back, dodging the advance and making Akito look like an idiot. “Oi,” he furrows his brow, standing on his tip toes to reach the boy better and trying again. The results are the same. “The hell are you doing?”
“You’re going to leave me alone with other gay men?” Toya asks.
“I trust you.”
“I'll be so sad without my partner.” He blinks, making the most pathetic face Akito's ever seen.
“Who taught you to be so manipulative?” Akito asks instead of replying. Toya doesn’t say anything. They stare at each other for a second before he caves. “Fine, I’ll go.”
The way Toya’s face lights up is almost blinding.
“Thank you, Akito!” He beams, pulling Akito into a tight hug. “It opens at six in the evening, right? When shall we meet?”
“Uh- like, eight? These kinda things are more fun when it's late, so…” he has to look away from Toya's adorable grin before he combusts. “I'll find you here.”
Toya nods. “Alright. I'll see you tomorrow.”
This time, Akito gets his parting kiss. “See ya.”
｡•☆✧♡✧☆•｡
At 8:05 pm, Akito is hand-in-hand with his partner, walking to Vivid Street.
He hears the festival before it comes into view. There's music blasting through the streets filled with hordes of people. Rainbows decorate every surface, hanging off buildings and wrapped around people.
“Wow,” Toya breathes as they walk along the path. “It’s very colorful.”
“Mhm,” Akito gives his half-hearted acknowledgement. Toya doesn't seem to mind that Akito would rather be anywhere but here. Instead, his head swivels left and right, taking in the liveliness.
The sun is just about to set, so lights highlight the various stands. Akito hardly recognizes where he is, but Toya suddenly spots something and pulls him aside.
“Toya, wh-”
“Oh my god! Akito! Toya!” An’s voice calls. She's sitting behind a small table just outside the Weekend Garage, holding what looks like a paint palette. Kohane is next to her with her own table, chair, and matching palette in hand. “I didn't know you guys were coming!”
“It took some convincing.” Toya nudges Akito's arm. Akito rolls his eyes.
“Do you guys want face paint?” Kohane asks. “I'm helping out with An-chan, so you could both go at the same time.”
“Yeah! Let's do it!” An exclaims.
“No way in hell,” Akito huffs. “You're gonna do something dumb, I know it.”
“We won't, promise,” An reasons. “C’mon, it's just for fun! And it's totally free! Toya?”
Toya shrugs, glancing at his boyfriend. “I don't see why not.”
“Here, sit down,” Kohane gestures to the chair in front of her. Toya doesn't hesitate to comply. Akito scowls, but there's no getting out of this unless he wants to stand around and wait. An grins when he sits in the chair facing her.
“Okay, whaddya want?” She asks.
“I don't really care. Nothing stupid.”
She thinks for a moment, tapping her nails on the brush in her hand. “Ooh, got it! One sec.”
Akito watches her stand and rush over to whisper something in Kohane's ear. They both giggle, which is not a good sign. Akito makes eye contact with Toya, but the boy just raises his eyebrows and shrugs. Great - they're both lost, at the mercy of two teenage girls.
Eventually An returns, a grin wide on her face. “Alright, close your eyes.”
Akito glares at her, but knows there's no use in resisting. He closes his eyes and surrenders his face.
The feeling of brush strokes on his left cheek are actually oddly therapeutic, lulling him into a peaceful state.
After a couple minutes, she pulls back with a proud, “Ta-da!”
Akito slowly opens his eyes. He pulls out his phone and opens the camera, examining the work.
It's a rectangle with stripes in dark green, light green, white, light blue, and dark blue. The gay ‘MLM’ flag. An painted the gay man’s flag on his face.
That earlier peacefulness dissipates. Akito loosely covers it with his fingers. “Dude, what the fuck?! I can't walk around with this!”
“Do you know where you are right now?” An puts her hands on her hips. “No one’s gonna care.”
Akito uncovers it to look again. The work is pretty neat - the colors aren't smudged at all, and it already feels dry. His main issue is the fact that it covers about 80% of his cheek. Before he can mention it though, Kohane says,
“All done, Aoyagi-kun!”
They both turn to see what she did. Akito’s eyes widen as Toya turns his head to reveal a matching flag on his right ride - big, green, white, and blue. When the bluenette looks in his phone camera, he gasps.
“Oh.”
“Is it okay?” Kohane asks. Toya stares, then reaches up to gently touch it. His eyes drift to Akito, who gestures at his own face.
“We're matching?” Toya asks in disbelief.
“Guess so.” Akito stands, striding over to his boyfriend. “If you don't like it-”
“No, I love it.” He smiles and gets to his feet, turning to the girls. “It's very well done. Thank you.”
“No problem!” An says. Kohane seems relieved. “We'll be here if ya need anything! Happy pride!”
Akito leaves without much more complaint. If Toya doesn’t mind, neither does he. However, he can't help but try to instinctively hide it whenever someone walks past. As the night goes on though, Akito slowly drops his guard. An was right, he realizes. No one really cares.
They pass three girls, all decked out in bisexual bucket hats and crop tops. Someone runs by wearing the trans flag as a cape. A couple non-binary people goof around behind a stand. Akito sees so many color combos that he's not even sure what they all represent, but it gives him confidence nonetheless.
Eventually, he forgets his face paint even exists.
Then, something catches his eye. Instead of cringing and walking past, he nudges Toya.
“Hey, Toya,” he smirks. Toya looks up from a rainbow cup containing some coffee that he bought. “Check it out. Photos.”
Sure enough, a part of the street is sectioned off in a makeshift photo area. Where brick and crude graffiti would usually be, a huge black screen with a rainbow heart in the center has been put up as a background. Toya’s excited expression is worth millions.
“Can we?”
“Hell yeah.” Akito's already pulling Toya along. There's not much of a line, so it doesn't take long for whoever's running the stand to arrive.
“Hey!” A slightly older man greets them.
“Could we get some pictures?” Akito asks with his nice guy facade. The man nods.
“‘Course, come on in!” He holds the camera around his neck, leading them to the colorful backdrop. They decide on only two photos, but Toya seems more than happy with that. Once in position, the man holds up his camera. “Right, three… two… one…”
They do a simple pose with their arms around each other's waists and peace signs with their free hands. The flash goes off, blinding Akito slightly, but he assumes it's good.
Then, while preparing for the next, Toya gives him a look. His eyes dip to Akito's lips and back up, hinting at his intentions. There's barely time to think before the photographer is in position again.
“You ready? Three…”
Akito can't help but grin.
“Two…”
Toya pulls him close, sporting his own lovely smile.
“One…”
Akito has to lift himself slightly, but he presses their lips together in a sweet kiss. The flash of the camera feels like it's in slow motion, centered around Akito and the love of his life.
The kiss lingers a little longer than necessary, but Akito doesn't care. They separate with bubbly giggles, only then remembering that there’s a very amused photographer in the audience. Blush creeps up Akito's face, but they go to review the photos.
As he thought - the first one was good. It was natural. That's all Akito can really say about it. Then, they take a look at the second photo. It's disgustingly cute, the way their smiles are slightly visible. Akito ended up totally forgetting about his face paint, but he's glad An and Kohane coordinated to put it on opposite sides so that both their flags are showing in the picture. It adds something nice to the composition.
After paying, the photographer sends the photos to Akito, and they're in the street again.
“Heh,” Toya chuckles.
“What?” Akito asks, interlocking their fingers.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself. Are you glad you decided to come?”
Akito huffs. “...Maybe.” He distracts himself by looking around. It's well into the evening, but things seem to be getting even more lively.
They end up going to a bunch of stands after that. Most notably, one selling plushies dressed in cute little outfits (Akito had to forcibly drag Toya away), one with multicolor mochi (Toya had to forcibly drag Akito away), and a music-themed one (they bought matching keychains adorned with mics, music notes, and subtly colored in the same green/white/blue as the paint on their faces).
When the night comes to an end, Akito is left with a deep satisfaction in his bones.
Yeah, it was worth it. Maybe the reason he initially hated the festival so much was because he didn't have a special someone to share it with. Though, honestly, he'd probably love anything as long as Toya was involved.