Author's Note: Some creative licence has been employed with this story, as I don't live in Seattle or Washington state. Hope you guys have a great Pride month. :)
"Are you still sulking?"
"No."
"That's definitely a 'yes'." the older voice chuckled. "I want to show my support."
"By embarrassing me in public?"
"If that's how you're going to view it, then I don't think there's anything I can do to change that."
Keith Kogane rolled his eyes, how was he supposed to feel when his brother insisted on wearing such a mortifying piece of clothing? His (adoptive) older brother Shiro was wearing a black sleeveless t-shirt, with bold white letters (with some rainbow highlights) making the statement:
I'm proud
of my gayby
brother
"Don't you have anything more subtle?" Keith's own shirt read:
I can't even
think straight
"We went for subtle last year, and you got in a huff because I got hit on more than you did, remember?"
"That's… That's not the point!" the younger man blustered. "You're supposed to be uncomfortable with this stuff!"
Shiro made a scoffing noise and levelled a bemused look at his younger (adopted) brother. "I'm comfortable enough in my sexuality that I'm fine with getting hit on at Pride. Besides, it's too late to change anything now." they were currently making their way uptown on the Tacoma-Seattle Sounder rail line, waiting for their change at King Street Station, where they'd transfer to the Link. Stood around them were other Seattleites who also happened to be making their way to the 2017 Seattle Pride Parade, or the PrideFest at the Seattle Center.
"I'll buy you something at one of the stalls, and I'll be doing you a favour because black's a bad colour to wear in summer."
"I've seen you wear black in summer plenty of times." Shiro remarked pointedly. "If it bothers you so much, I'll just go shirtless." he shrugged.
That idea was even worse. "Fine, you can wear the stupid thing."
"I love you too." Shiro beamed. Having been circumvented in the argument, Keith turned his attention back to applying the last of the sunscreen to his skin. If he was going to suffer his supportive brother, he might as well take proper precautions in avoiding getting sunburnt.
Keith's mood had improved significantly once they'd gotten off of the Link at Westlake Station, and made their way a few blocks north to get a good vantage point for the parade.
By the time they'd settled at a gap in the crowd by the railing near the corner of 4th Avenue and Pike Street, Shiro might even say his brother looked 'upbeat'.
Despite the drama from earlier in the day, Keith's own past experiences of dealing with working out his sexuality, and coming out had been relatively smooth-sailing; partly from the fact that Washington was a more liberal state compared to some, and also down to the fact that Keith's friends and family were pretty progressive when it came to LGBTQI rights. Shiro always made an effort to keep updated on how things were going both in the state and the country as a whole, and while there had been moments where Keith almost felt his brother was maybe unnaturally supportive… he'd be lying if he said the both of them hadn't cheered like idiots when Washington legalised same-sex marriage back in 2012, and it became legal country-wide in 2015.
After a few celebratory drinks, Shiro had nudged him and unhelpfully joked: "Now we've just got to find you a guy you'd like to marry."
As if a reminder of Keith's bachelor status had been entirely necessary. Although his brother could be a little full-force at times, Keith was genuinely thankful that Shiro was unconditionally accepting.
The pair of them continued to watch the parade as it marched by; a veritable smorgasbord of participants and groups, marching bands, floats, dancers, and naturally the usual cacophony of rainbow flags.
The last element had been tinged with a sad note, as only a few months before, the creator of the rainbow flag, Gilbert Baker, had passed away. The greater number of flags on display this year was definitely a mark of tribute to the man, and the icon he'd created.
When the parade part of the festival began to wind down for the day, Shiro gave the younger man beside him a gentle nudge.
"You want to head on up to the centre now?"
"Sure." Keith nodded, and they drew away from the barrier. With the day sliding into afternoon, a good portion of the crowds stationed along 4th Avenue would end up making their way north to join the festivalgoers who were already partying in the shadow of the Space Needle.
They'd been attending the event each year since Keith had come out, starting with watching the parade, and then following that up by spending most of the evening at the music festival, finishing the night with a worn-out but happy return journey via the Link and Sounder trains.
Although it looked like they might end up spending a bit more time at PrideFest this year, after they'd spotted an announcement for a 'Queer Geeks and Gamers' area that was to be held in one of the centre pavilions. Being gaming fans, and promising console games, cosplay and an arcade, Keith and Shiro had needed little convincing.
As they'd both been expecting, the Seattle Center was jumping with people, many of whom represented the differing parts of the LGBTQI community, and many others being allies; supportive families and accepting friends.
The Space Needle towered above them, an oversized gay pride flag rippled lazily in the steady breeze from the mast atop the observation tower.
The event stages, located at the International Fountain and the Mural Amphitheatre, and the main stage on the South Fountain Lawn, were in full swing (the festival at the centre having officially started around noon), blaring a mixture of music and performance acts. The stages were an intoxicating lure for many of the teenagers and young adults gathered at the arts and entertainment campus, and both brothers had quickly learned that they preferred to watch the performances from some distance, rather than in the thick of the congregated throng.
The event signage had directed them to Fisher Pavilion, a modern structure at the south end of the campus, which was where the gaming convention was being held.
Descending a flight of concrete steps that led down from street level to the pavilion entrance, Keith and Shiro glanced towards the main stage on South Fountain Lawn. They could just make out Deven Green, currently in mid-performance as her alter-ego, Betty Bowers.
The pavilion was packed with stalls, booths, tables with role-play and miniature games, vendors, and demonstrations. Of the assorted entertainments, easily the most impressive (and most interesting) were the displays featuring gamers on Xboxes and PlayStations, and a selection of retro-looking arcade machines.
Cosplayers milled about amongst the other attendees, and there were a few costumed folk that Keith made a note to remember getting a photograph with later.
Shiro smiled openly, impressed with just what could be achieved at festivals these days. "Not bad." he noted with understatement.
"Somewhere there's a game we both know how to play, and I'm going to beat you at it." Keith challenged with a sly smile.
"Is that so?"
"Eat my dust." Keith laughed, and he began to charge off, a laughing Shiro taking off after him into the crowd.
"Pidge, check this out!" Lance McClain called out from one of the vendor booths, and the girl in question darted over with their friend Hunk in tow. Moments after she'd appeared at Lance's side, she spotted what had caught his attention, and reacted appropriately:
"Ohmygosh, it's Killbot Phantasm One!"
"The first journey into the depths of the Demonsphere?" Hunk asked eagerly. "Wooow!"
"And there's a Mercury Gameflux Two!"
The booth was cluttered with vintage arcade games, merchandise and a small selection of vintage gaming consoles, some even with their original accessories.
"And there's a heavy price tag." Lance pointed out sadly; a card beside the console had been scrawled with a bold '$500'.
Pidge's face sank at the asking price, and even though she knew she didn't have the cash she still woefully looked in her wallet for a moment before giving up. "Maybe we could get a loan?"
"Not after what you spent on your gaming PC." Lance remarked.
"It even has the power glove that gives you infinite lives if you touch the index finger to the pinkie!" Pidge moaned as she was gently ushered away by Hunk, who in turn was following Lance.
"If it makes you feel any better, I hear those arcade machines calling our names." Lance joked in consolation.
"Fine." Pidge stated, though she didn't look best pleased at the trade-off.
Their plan for the festival had been to check out Ms. Pak-Man and Dai Burger on the stage near the pavilion, before popping inside to check out the Queer Geeks and Gamers mini-convention. Afterwards they'd grab a bite to eat, watch a few more acts on the South Fountain Lawn stage, before watching the last acts of the day on the Fountain Stage itself.
Beyond that, things were fairly flexible, and they could mingle about with the cosplayers in the pavilion, and the people outside enjoying the music. Lance was confident he'd end up bumping into someone who he'd click with, and the thought of leaving Pride with a prospective girlfriend or boyfriend's number was very appealing.
The bespectacled girl made a beeline for the arcade machines as soon as they came into view, pouncing on a Fix It Felix Jr. machine that had been specially commissioned by Disney, while Lance and Hunk aimed for the currently-vacant Time Crisis 3 machine.
"Oh Man, it's been years since I played this." Hunk remarked in awe, unhooking one of the light guns and looking at it with reverence. Beside him, Lance unhooked the remaining gun, and began to feed some of his quarters into the coin slot.
"C'mon, let's see if we can beat Wild Dog before Pidge gets fed up with Wreck-It Ralph."
"Okay, smile." Shiro encouraged, and a moment later Keith's Samsung emitted a flash and the sound of a camera shutter. "And one more, just in case."
The older man handed the phone back to its owner, and Keith scrolled between the photos to make sure they were okay, whilst the cosplayer dressed as Faith from Mirror's Edge: Catalyst watched on. Satisfied with the images, Keith turned his attention back to 'Faith': "Thanks." he smiled.
"No problem." she smiled back, and gave him a quick wave before making her way back into the changing crowd of costumes and festival-goers.
"I bet you could pull off a pretty good Faith crossplay if you wanted to." Shiro suggested.
The thing was Keith was actually considering it. "Maybe at next year's Emerald City." he mused aloud. "Would be pretty easy, thinking about it."
"And I'd probably be able to do a pretty good Mercury."
Keith stopped and favoured his brother with a look of exaggerated disappointment. "Okay, firstly: Merc's from the original Mirror's Edge... now I'm not opposed to doing the original version of Faith, but the newer version might be easier. And two, who says you're coming with me, or that we'd be cosplaying together?"
"You wouldn't break an old man's heart by banning him from comic con, would you?"
This was one of those few moments where Keith's resolve would crumble, and he hated that he allowed it to happen. "Alright!" he made a show of throwing his hands up in resignation. "By the way, this is what I was talking about embarrassing me in public."
"Sure." Shiro smiled, giving his younger brother a clap on the back which made him stumble a little. Keith glared at him for a moment, before he turned his attention back to where they were walking. The arcade section of the pavilion loomed into view, and Shiro's eyes were immediately drawn to the illuminated marquee.
"No way, Time Crisis Three?" Shiro let out an amused laugh. "The last time I played that, they'd only just launched YouTube."
"Yay, you're old." Keith smirked, earning a half-hearted look of disapproval from the older man.
They made their way over to the large Time Crisis 3 cabinet, but drew to a stop when they found it was currently occupied.
"Figures." Shiro shrugged. "Do you want to wait for them to finish, or check out one of the other games?"
When Keith didn't respond, Shiro gave him a light nudge.
"Huh, what?" he glanced at the other man, but still seemed distracted.
"I asked if you wanted to wait or look at one of the other games."
"Oh. Wait, I guess?"
Shiro glanced toward the arcade game, and then studied the players for a moment, before he looked back at his brother. "Oh."
"No, there's no 'oh'."
A fond smile crossed Shiro's face, and he folded his arms across his chest in unplanned imitation of his brother. "Hey, I'm not judging. He looks handsome enough."
"You're unbelievable." Keith muttered.
"I'm guessing it's the thin guy, right? Though again, I'm not judging you if it was the guy he was playing with, some people prefer a person with more love to give."
Keith was glaring now. "'Here lies Keith Kogane; embarrassed to death by his brother'."
"So are you going to glare at me all evening, or are you going to talk to him?"
"Me? I'm going to go walk in the opposite direction, and maybe I might lose you along the way." Keith began to walk away from the arcade area.
"Keith? Come on, you're just being childish now."
Lance glanced across from one side of the Fix It Felix Jr. cabinet to where Hunk was stood at the other, Pidge was positioned between them, face focussed on the screen, her tongue poking out in frustrated determination. They'd finished their attempt to play Time Crisis when it got to the point that they'd be spending more quarters on the machine than ultimately getting enjoyment out of the experience.
Lance raised three fingers on his right hand and began to mouth a countdown as he folded his fingers back down: 'Three... Two... One...' At the lowering of the final finger, Pidge let out a frustrated growl as Wreck-It Ralph once again beat her.
"Damn it!" she shouted, glaring at the machine. "I will get the kill screen."
"And I hope to be there for that day, but that's not gonna be today."
"Hey, so... I think I saw a GoLion machine somewhere around here." Hunk chimed in, drawing Pidge's attention. Her eyes widened as she took in the information, before narrowing again.
"You better not be lying Hunk Garrett, or I will underclock your laptop and change your Wi-Fi password."
He raised his hands in placation. "I saw it, I swear."
"Good." she nodded resolutely, before casting one final glare at the game she'd been playing. "This isn't over." she added with a jab of a finger.
Shiro had eventually gotten his Time Crisis fix, and after checking out a few more of the machines in the arcade area, they'd moved on to the vendor stalls.
There'd been a lot of cool stuff, including vintage gaming merchandise, and even some framed arcade machine adverts. Keith could appreciate the aesthetic of those classic advertisements, even the pastiches of 1980s advertising design... fog machines and neon grids were in generous supply.
Shiro was now the proud owner of a pair of themed ceramic mugs: one inspired by Tetris, the other by Space Invaders. Keith had been a bit more adventurous, and purchased a t-shirt bearing a distressed, red Atari logo, a copy of Artcade, and a custom wall lamp that'd been made out of the marquee from a Capcom Aliens vs. Predator machine.
The day could already be considered a success, given that they'd managed to keep away the notoriously sour-looking expression that Keith often employed. "I think we've probably got the best out of what we could find amongst the sellers."
His younger brother nodded in agreement. "So much stuff I want to get, but not enough money to get it with."
"I hear that." Shiro chuckled, their route taking them away from the vendors and back towards the arcade machines. "Fancy one more game of something before we grab some dinner?"
"Sure." Keith nodded, and began to glance around at the offerings. "There's a few I wouldn't mind playing, but is there anything you want to try?"
Not bothering to hide his smile, Shiro game him a confident bob of the head. "There's one I caught sight of earlier, it's not a two-player, but it's one I've heard about... mostly because it was a rare import from Japan."
"Lead the way." Keith indicated, and they made their way into the electronic labyrinth.
"'GoLion - an epic set in space, featuring the brave knights of GoLion who fight as five lions who form the mecha Beast King GoLion'." Lance read aloud, mostly to himself, from the Wikipedia page displayed on his cracked iPhone. He then looked over at the cathode ray screen, where Pidge was directing what vaguely looked like the green outline of a robot lion to fight against some purple generic spaceships. "Guess they got lost in their own hype?"
Hunk favoured him with a look. "It was a different era, Lance. Computers were still this exciting new world, but also really limited. You might not believe it, but this used to be top of the line back in its day."
The dark-skinned man made a scoffing sound. "You're right, I don't believe it."
Pidge meanwhile appeared to be having the time of her life on the 1980s machine. Where Fix It Felix Jr. had been frustrating, GoLion was just fun.
"Is there anything else to it, or is it just constantly smashing ships?"
"There's more! Each lion has a unique power; Green can wrap ships in vines... see!" he indicated excitedly as Pidge's Lion encased a purple ship in a green splat-like shape. "Red has fire, blue has ice. Yellow has a chew attack, and black..." Hunk paused, a momentary look of confusion passing across his face. "I can't remember."
"I think it's bladed wings, or something." Pidge interjected.
"Right!" Hunk agreed. "After you've defeated the ships, you then get to form GoLion himself to defeat the Robeasts!"
"They sure like their robots."
"It was made by the Japanese." Pidge answered, matter-of-factly. "They love their robots."
They'd found GoLion pretty quickly, the arcade section in the pavilion wasn't that big.
The holdup wasn't even the fact that somebody else was playing the machine; it was Keith's stubbornness to approach the guy he'd been looking at earlier.
"Would you just talk to him? What's the worst that can happen?"
"I don't even know if he's gay!" Keith protested in a harsh whisper. "He could be a straight ally."
"If he's a straight ally then he'll probably be fine with getting hit on by another guy." Shiro remarked. "You're always whining to me about not being able find anyone."
"I don't whine." his younger brother retorted defensively.
"There's nothing that will make you go over there, is there?"
Keith shook his head, and Shiro let out a tired sigh.
"Okay, you had your chance."
"Shiro?" Keith asked, a little confused. "Shiro!" he shout-whispered when his older brother approached the group with the dark-skinned guy.
On the arcade screen, the ginger-haired girl reduced a purple spaceship to pixelated debris, and the view switched to display an advancing giant monster. The menacing creature held a mace topped with a purple energy ball.
The game paused to play a cutscene, where a knight in white armour with black accents called his team to arms:
"Form Beast King GoLion!"
Keith lingered a good distance away, wary of what his brother was planning. The girl with the ginger hair eventually defeated the Robeast, and turned to the small crowd with a grin.
"Anyone else want a go?"
"I think my brother was keen to give it a try." Shiro said innocently, though Keith could see the slyness behind the older man's smile. Three sets of eyes turned to look at him, and he instantly felt a little self-conscious.
"Hey." Keith greeted. He could get a good look at the dark-skinned guy now (and Keith was happy to admit he was handsome), and he almost let out a laugh at his shirt, which read:
LIVE
AND
LET
BI
The guy was narrowing his eyes at Keith for some reason. Then, suddenly;
"Keith?"
Keith's brows furrowed in confusion.
"You know each other?" Shiro asked, genuinely surprised.
"We were in the same class at Seattle U."
Keith looked blankly at the other young man.
"Dr. Iverson's College Writing class?" when the prompt still didn't seem to stir anything in Keith's memory, he looked genuinely surprised. "Lance? Lance McClain? I was the Film Studies major?"
"That's where we met." the large guy with the friendly face quietly interjected to Shiro, indicating himself, the ginger-haired girl and Lance.
Shiro nodded in understanding and he held out a hand for the two of them to shake. "Takashi Shirogane, but everybody calls me 'Shiro'."
"Hunk Garrett." the friendly-looking guy beamed.
"Pidge Holt." the girl with the glasses greeted. Shiro's eyes briefly lingered on the text on her green t-shirt, which looked like an inside joke:
NON-
01100010
01101001
01101110
01100001
01110010
01111001
"You seriously don't remember me? We were like rivals at times... You know, 'Lance and Keith, neck and neck'."
A memory suddenly struck Keith, of a guy who had at the time struck Keith as rather loud-mouthed and obnoxious. "Oh wait, I remember you." he retorted, his eyes narrowing. "You used to slack off all the time."
Lance's brows dipped into a frown, meanwhile Pidge was beaming. "He does remember you!"
"Well for your information, I wasn't slacking off. I passed the class and got my degree."
"Not that we've been able to really use them for anything." Hunk admitted sheepishly.
"So I'm guessing you're some artist living the high life now?"
There was a part of Keith that now dimly remembered the verbal sparring, and a part of him that really wanted to say 'yes', and throw it in Lance's face.
But the truth was, he probably hadn't been any more successful with his own university degree than they had.
"Not really. I sell some commissions, but it's mostly soulless commercial work" he shrugged.
The honesty of his reply seemed to take the defensive edge out of Lance, and he actually looked sympathetic. "Oh... whatever pays the bills, huh?"
"Yeah."
Sensing the shift in the conversation, Shiro addressed the group. "Keith and I were gonna grab something to eat in a bit, would you guys like to join us?"
"If you're talking food then you're talking my language." Hunk beamed.
"Alright, sounds like a plan... but only after I've proven I'm the best space lion pilot on this thing." Lance remarked, jerking a thumb towards the game cabinet.
"You're the best? Wait 'til you see me fly!" Keith shot back, and the group crowded around the machine again as Lance took the controls.
As it happened, Lance and Keith had been pretty closely matched in skill, but at the end of each player's round, it was Keith with the red lion who'd gotten the higher score, although not by much.
Lance had played up being a bad loser, but by the time they'd made their way out of Fisher pavilion and settled on eating at Mod Pizza in the Seattle Center Armory (after some minor arguing), he'd given up the exaggerated whining in favour of making dinner suggestions, with Hunk eagerly offering his insight.
The group had bonded over their food, and quickly traded phone numbers over discussions of arcade, computer and console games, and a mostly-universal love of pizza (Shiro preferred salads). Fed and satisfied with the meal, the group had returned to PrideFest, checking out the stalls and tents on the roof of Fisher Pavilion, before adjourning to the metal railing at the edge of the roof.
The lawn in front of the main stage was still packed despite it being just after six on a Sunday. On the stage, Thadayus & The Electrofunks were just beginning their performance, a mixture of fun and modern hits.
Shiro, Pidge and Hunk were a short distance away, talking amongst themselves about classic arcade games while giving Keith and Lance some respectful distance.
Keith had learned that while Lance was into modern games, the more retro ones were the engineer and hacker's keen interests, and that when it came to Pride, Lance more often came to watch the music part of the festival (as well as hang out with his BFFs).
While it'd been easy to participate in the group chat over dinner, it was a different matter talking one-to-one with Lance. The revelation of having blanked Lance from his memory had made things more awkward than they could've been, but who would've expected they'd cross paths again?
Fortunately, and in some ways unfortunately, Lance broke the silence with a light chuckle. "All those College Writing classes and you almost forget me completely."
"You weren't interested in the class, and I wouldn't have had any reason to expect to see you again."
"Maybe." Lance conceded, then after a beat he remarked: "I should've asked you out back then."
"I probably would've turned you down, I didn't really like you back then, remember?" Keith added with a smirk.
"What about now?"
"You're tolerable."
"No, I mean, what about now?" the question was more pointed this time.
Keith eventually caught onto Lance's hint. "Ask me."
"Would you like to go out with me some time?"
Keith took his time in answering, looking back out at the concert. Finally a wry smile spread his lips. "Ask me again at the end of the concert."
Lance responded with a challenging grin. "Try and stop me."
The End