I pat his chest sympathetically. "Just go with it."
"Okay, but,"Gavin stares at himself in our hallway mirror, "all of it?"
He's wearing a pink t-shirt so tight it might be painted on, with "I Rolled a Nat 20 in Charisma" stretched across his chest. Rainbow suspenders frame his pecs obscenely, and the shorts...
Jesus, those shorts should be illegal. The knee-high rainbow socks somehow make his legs look even longer, and he's covered in approximately seventeen temporary tattoos, rainbows on his biceps, unicorns on his forearms, ‘Love Wins’across his knuckles. And glitter. So. Much. Glitter. In his hair, on his skin, probably in places glitter should never go.
"You look like a Pride float gained sentience," I manage while trying so hard not to laugh at him. Gavin tried to put on as much of what Leo and Max thrifted for him as he could, because he didn't want the guys to think he didn't like what they bought for him.
"Is that good?" He turns, checking the back view. The shorts leave nothing to imagination.
My brain short-circuits. His ass is criminal. Now I'm not sure about taking him into a crowd of thirsty gays.
"That's very good," Luca confirms. "Seb.exe has stopped working."
"I wanted to wear it all,” Gavin says earnestly. "Didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings."
Leo clutches his chest. "We've created a monster. A beautiful, rainbow monster."
"The best kind," Max adds, shoving us toward the door. "Now let's go! The parade starts in an hour, and parking's gonna be a nightmare."
JP drives because he's the only one who knows where we're going without GPS. The closer we get to downtown San Clemente, the more rainbow flags appear. Gavin's practically pressed against the window like a kid at Christmas.
"Holy shit, look at all the people!"
The streets are already packed. We end up parking six blocks away and walking, Gavin's head swiveling, trying to see everything at once. Music drifts from the main stage, bass thumping through the ground.
"Overwhelmed yet?" I ask as we merge into the crowd.
"In the best way." His hand finds mine, squeezing tight. "This is..."
"I know," I remember my first Pride. Sensory overload doesn't begin to cover it; music pounding, rainbow everything, people being absolutely themselves. Gavin's eyes are enormous, trying to take it all in.
"They make rainbow everything,” he marvels, stopping dead in his tracks as we pass a booth displaying an impressive array of pride-themed adult toys. His voice carries that same wonder he had when he first discovered they made chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
"Like, I knew there'd be flags and shirts, but this is..." He gestures helplessly at a particularly elaborate rainbow dildo that I'm pretty sure his innocent brain is still processing. "This is… comprehensive merchandising."
"That's not even the weirdest thing you'll see today," I promise.
"Gavin! Babe!”
We turn to see Sylas on stage in full drag regalia, electric blue sequins catching the afternoon sunlight like scattered starsacross his costume. His hair towers toward the sky in a marvel of teasing and hairspray that defies both gravity and common sense. The whole effect is pure goddess of chaos energy, part divine, part disaster, and completely magnetic.
He struts to the edge of the stage with the kind of confidence that makes mere mortals question their life choices, platform heels clicking against the wooden boards in perfect rhythm. The crowd's already eating it up, cheering before he's even grabbed the microphone.
"Come here, you enormous rainbow disaster!"
Gavin bounds over like an excited puppy. Sylas leans down and pulls him into a hug, whispering something that makes Gavin's face serious.
"I will, I promise," Gavin says solemnly.
Sylas's dramatic finger point could kill a man. "You'd better. I have eyes everywhere."
"I will, Auntie Sylas. You can believe me." Gavin's eyes roll so hard, but he gives Sylas a tight hug anyway.
There’s this tight jealousy curling in my stomach. Which is ridiculous. It's Sylas.
Sylas waves at us. "My geek children! Looking gorgeous! Except you, Elliot… oh wait, he's not here. As usual."
