Chapter Text
"Hold still, Surge."
"I am, damn it!"
"If this face paint ends up crooked, don't go whining all day."
The tenrec grumbled, trying to sit still as Hidori was using a makeup brush to paint the lesbian flag on her cheeks. Nearby, Lanolin chuckled while helping Kit tie his straight ally bandana around his neck, her own pansexual flag bandana tied over her head as the fennec was petting Elias while watching TV. The news was covering the Sunset City Pride Festival going on, and to the surprise of everyone, the Restoration was asked to take part in the parade later in the afternoon.
"It's not too tight for you, Kit?"
"It's fine, though I'm a bit nervous about this parade thing. I've never been to one before, let alone joined one."
Surge gave a confident scoff, the one opportune moment to move while Hidori was preparing to paint her other check. "What's there to be nervous about? We're just going to be walking through the streets, sitting on floats, and doing it while looking like the badasses we are!"
"Language."
"English!" Hidori rolled his eyes, chuckling under his breath from his usual back and forth with Surge about her swearing in front of Kit, or any of the kids for that matter. He started painting Surge's left cheek, asexual armbands on both of his arms as he was dressed in his regular attire. It was one of the few days both he 'and' Lanolin voluntarily take the day off from working to spend time with their loved ones, and they intend to not let it go to waste. He pulled away, picking up a compact mirror to show Surge the results.
"Well?"
The Tenrec looked at her reflection, she decided to leave her hair down for today as she wasn't expecting any hero work to do, her gaze focused on the lesbian flag colored lighting bolts on both sides of her face. She gave him and her reflection her trademarked sharp smile, she hopped off the sofa and stretched before grabbing her own pride bandana and tying in on her upper arm. "Hell yeah! All good to show out!"
Hidori gave Surge a sigh with a shake of his head, Lanolin finished up with Kit for the fennec to admire his big sister in her prideful glory. "You look great, Surge."
"I always look great, Drippy. Don't I, Lanny~?" She asked, giving Lanolin a grin that the sheep returned with an affectionate kiss on the cheek that nearly caused the tenrec to short circuit.
"Of course, love. No come on, we don't want to be late." She gestured everyone to follow her to the door, both her boyfriend and girlfriend giving her a fond smile. Even on personal days, she's still serious on keeping schedule. Elias floated up to Hidori, landing on the black cat's shoulder as he grabbed his extreme gear before they all filed out of the apartment. Sunset City was quite a distance for them, but between Surge's speed, Kit's Hydropack, and Hidori's board, an hour walk turned into a twenty minute commute. Lanolin joined Hidori on his gear as he started the propeller engines, the two rising off the ground before riding off down the road, Surge and Kit traveling alongside them.
"We should meet up with Jewel first, get a heads up on the parade to prepare while enjoy the festival itself." Lanolin called out from behind Hidori, Surge pulling ahead a bit while running backwards to converse.
"No big, Lanny. I'm just hankering for the food stalls, you know those vendors go all out for events like this!"
"You should try the funnel cakes, then. They're to die for!" Surge turned around catching Shadow pulling up beside them on his motorcycle, straight ally flag embroidered on his denim jacket with Amy holding onto his waist, her hair tied up in a ponytail with a pansexual flag scrunchie. The pink hedgehog waved and smiled with pansexual colored hearts painted on her cheeks.
"Hey guys! Guess we weren't the only ones head to the festival early." Kit, Elias, and Lanolin waved back, Surge giving a two fingered salute as Hidori and Shadow nodded to each other.
"Yep, wanted to see Jewel ahead of time to figure out the parade situation ahead of time. I'm still surprised the mayor asked us join in, I thought he'd have us on security detail? Then again, that could be my own mercenary experience talking."
"It'll be fun either way! I can't wait to be up on the floats and waving to Vanilla and Cream!" Amy giggled, hugging herself to Shadow's back as Surge slowly sped up.
"Hey, Hot Topic! Last one there buys the funnel cake~!"
"Do I look like the Faker to you? I'm not entertaining your taunts today, maybe tomorrow." That got a pout out of the tenrec, out of everyone she teases and taunts for fun, Shadow was always the hardest to crack.
"Surge, focus on the road. We'll be at Sunset City soon enough, alright?" Lanolin chastised, drawing out a groan from her girlfriend as Kit and Elias flew beside her. "Alright, alright. Let's floor it already!"
"Say no more!"
"Hmph."
With that, both Hidori and Shadow accelerated their respective vehicles, risking going over the speed limit to keep up with Surge as they neared the city and the Pride Festival.