"I look stupid," Remus said, frowning at himself in the tall mirror Lily had brought into his room.

"No you don't. You look hot," Lily said, standing beside him with a smile.

Remus frowned at her and grabbed the skirt, shaking it to watch it billow.

"What if Sirius doesn't like it?" Remus said.

"Sirius will love it," Lily said, rubbing Remus's back.

"When are we leaving?" Remus asked.

"Soon," Lily said, turning to head out of the attic.

"Lily?" Remus said and she stopped.

"Yes?"

"Thanks. For getting me this skirt… and… for everything. For convincing me to go this weekend," Remus said.

"No problem," she said and headed out.

Remus sighed. Pride weekend in Portland. He was excited but also terrified. He had always done whatever it took to not stand out and wearing a brightly coloured rainbow tee-shirt and tie dyed skirt to match would definitely make him standout. He had also put on some glittery nail polish but had chickened out before putting any other makeup on.

"Come on, Remus. Time to go downstairs," he whispered to himself.

He grabbed his backpack and exited the attic. When he arrived in the living room Sirius was there, looking handsome as usual as he yelled out at James and Lily from the front door.

"No, I haven't seen him," Sirius said, then turned to look behind him.

"Hi," Remus said and Sirius's eyes went wide then he turned and yelled out, "Never mind, he's here now."

"Wh-what do you think?" Remus asked, fluttering the skirt.

Sirius grinned.

"I like it. You look… cute," he said, and strode over to Remus.

Sirius placed hands on Remus's shoulders and they kissed. Oh, Remus definitely wasn't tiring of that, he thought as their lips brushed together for a heavenly moment before parting.

Sirius held Remus's chin as Remus grinned up at him. They kissed again, briefly, then headed out to James's car, hand in hand. The drive was six hours, not including any stops. But there wouldn't be much going on in Portland until that evening anyway. James and Lily were going to do the Glow Run while Remus and Sirius… did something else. Remus wasn't sure yet.

Saturday was the Trans Pride march and that was definitely the thing Sirius seemed the most excited about. Lily was going to do the Dyke march later Saturday evening and then Sunday would be the Pride parade proper. And then they would come home and start getting ready for the big trip to New Hampshire.

The ride up north featured a lot of sing alongs and ample discussion of the corporatization of Pride and it's near singular focus on cis gays and lesbians.

"I love Pride but it needs to be better," Lily said firmly.

"Yeah," James said, grinning over at her in the passenger seat.

"Oh, you don't care. You're straight!" Lily said.

"Mostly straight, sure. But I mean… I can care about things that don't affect me!" James insisted.

"Fair enough," Lily said, reaching over to rub his shoulder.

Remus and Sirius held hands for almost the entire trip. The most notable time they broke their hands apart was so that Sirius could lay his head in Remus's lap while Remus lightly stroked his beautiful hair. Remus liked this whole romance thing. It was fun. He was surprised how well Sirius was taking to it as well.

They arrived in Portland a couple of hours after noon. James and Lily got their own hotel room and Remus and Sirius got their own. Remus had never considered that he'd be spending a night in a room alone with his boyfriend so soon. But here he was, getting himself settled in while Sirius changed into his Pride clothes, which were brighter and shinier than the normal things he wore.

"You look nice," Remus said as Sirius straightened out the lapels of the shiny silver button-up shirt he was wearing.

"Thanks," Sirius said.

It was odd seeing so much of what Sirius had to go through to get ready. His hair didn't just magically look perfect like that. Remus felt silly for thinking he had overdone it with the nail polish.

Remus was reluctantly persuaded to go watch the glow run on the sidelines. It proved to be far more exciting than Remus expected, though he really couldn't see James and Lily in the dark. There was something immensely satisfying about being able to hold Sirius's hand and give him kisses without fear of judgment.

After the glow run the four of them managed to find some place to eat that was open, not completely full and that had good vegan options for Lily. James and Lily were clearly still pumped from the run. James had taken some persuading from Lily since he didn't identify as being queer but it seemed to have made a difference.

"It's really something isn't it? All of this? Pride. It's… an energy. Something about seeing all this love. It just… Ugh… it's so wonderful!" James shouted.

He seemed to be already enjoying himself more than everyone else combined and Lily was all over him, giving him kisses and cuddles while they all tried to eat.

With their bellies full they all headed back to the hotel. Remus didn't want things to be weird in their hotel room and thankfully they weren't. Sirius was comfortable enough to be around Remus without his binder on, which was probably a great relief to him. And Remus had found that being around Sirius was a great deal better than the alternative. They were in separate beds but even that amount of closeness felt special.

"Big day tomorrow," Remus said.

"Yeah. Trans Pride. Cool," Sirius said and turned off his lamp.

"Do you want to have sex?" Lily asked, falling face first onto their hotel bed, only in her panties.

"I don't think I can. My dick isn't tired but the rest of me is," James said, disappointing himself in turning down sex.

"I could definitely suck your dick, I mean really," Lily said then yawned.

"I'm cool," James said, falling back on the bed next to her.

"Bed good," Lily said.

"Yeah."

"Bed so good," she continued, rolling over and shoving a pillow in her face.

Lily chuckled, muffled by the pillow. James… was thinking about Remus.

"Remus really looked cute today," James said.

"Hmm?" Lily said, clearly not hearing him.

"Nothing," James said and Lily shrugged, shoving her head back under the pillow.

James had certainly always thought Remus was nice enough looking for a guy. Maybe a little better looking than most guys. He could understand why Sirius liked him.

What was different today? What was special? Was it the skirt? No… it was something else. He closed his eyes, picturing Remus at the Glow Run, shouting and laughing. He looked… alive. Happy. Confident. Comfortable. He looked… comfortable and that made him… more attractive.

James gulped.

"Shit," he gasped.

"Hmm?" Lily said, pulling the pillow off her face again.

"Nothing. Let's get some rest," he said and gave her a kiss.

When Sirius awoke Remus was in the bathroom. When he didn't come out for a while, Sirius finally went over and knocked.

"You OK?" Sirius called out.

"Y-yeah… I just… I'll be right out," Remus replied, sounding anxious.

Moments later, Remus was exiting the bathroom. He wore bright red lipstick and blue sparkly eye makeup. He was wearing a different purple skirt and a blouse that matched.

"Woah. You're looking good," Sirius said.

Remus smiled in obvious embarrassment and looked away. Sirius was so glad Remus was here today. He realised that Remus needed this nearly as much as he did. He placed a hand on Remus's cheek then leaned down and kissed the other cheek.

"Let's head to the rally," Sirius said.

This time it was James and Lily's turn to watch them march in the Trans Pride parade. Remus was so delighted. He had never dreamed he would see Remus so animated and alive, amongst so many people.

Sirius felt an intense sense of belonging, surrounded by other trans people of all different types and stripes, coming together for a shared message and experience. Once the parade had ended and they met up with their friends again, Sirius discovered he was crying. Lily squeezed his hand, giving him a smile so bright that it almost made him sob. He hadn't known he had needed this.

Lily had first spotted Marlene McKinnon in the Trans Pride march. The fact that she was trans had barely registered on her radar after they first met, to the point that Lily had forgotten she had briefly mentioned it as Marlene showed her around the shop. She had been so exited to see her there that she called out her name, managing to catch her eye in time for a shared wave.

She texted Marlene and made sure they met up for the Dyke March.

"Hey," Lily said as she found her way to Marlene, everyone assembling for the march.

"Hey," Marlene said.

"If I would've known you were going to be at Pride we could've made plans," Lily said.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. We should make it up when we get back home," Marlene said.

"Yeah. Damn. We're all leaving to New Hampshire for the summer soon. Actually, I'm leaving next weekend. Oh! You could come to our game night. We're having a game night with the Weasleys!"

"Ohhh. That could be fun!" Marlene said.

It wouldn't exactly be a date but it would be close enough to make Lily happy. She hoped James wouldn't be jealous of her new crush. She had only lightly talked about it and so far he didn't seem bothered. She knew that a day would come when she would get a crush and there could be potential awkwardness from James but so far so good.

Lily did wish her girlfriends were with her for the march, even though she knew their feelings about Pride were even more complicated than hers. But still, she had a nice time and had successfully arranged another meeting with Miss. McKinnon.

After the march, Lily dragged James off to a dance party where she danced her feet off and flirted with cute girls. She'd almost forgotten that James was a good dancer. He was good with his body.

"I think we should go back to the hotel. For sex. I want to have sex. Can we have sex?" Lily said, leaning into his ear so that he could hear her over the music.

"Yeah. OK," James said.

"Cool. Let's go," Lily said, taking him by the hand.

Once back in the hotel room they undressed quickly and fell onto the bed in a horny, frantic heap. Lily was quickly had him inside, riding him hard until they both came. She'd had damn good day.

Remus couldn't believe their Pride experience was nearly at an end as they waited for the Portland Pride Parade. The experience that weekend had proved to be exhilarating and transformative. He was understanding things about himself.

He thought he could see a sense of that on the others as well, maybe Lily a little less because she always had a good handle on who she was. But even James seemed changed, though Remus had no idea in what way.

He did have a thought as the parade was going long, nearing two hours:

"Lily's right."

"What am I right about?" she asked.

"Pride. Look at the Parade. It's all for cis gays and lesbians. There's been greater bank representation than for trans or bi people!" Remus complained.

"Yeahhh," Lily said.

"Damn," Sirius said.

"That is pretty fucked up," James acknowledged.

"I'm not saying Pride is terrible but… Well, Lily's right. Our community deserves better. More diversity! Not just relegated to our own thing and kept out of sight. We should be united as one," Remus said, feeling himself shake with emotion.

Sirius put an arm around him, instantly making him feel more calm.

"At least we can be united as one," Sirius said and to Remus's surprise, James and Lily came to either side of them, James putting an arm around Remus and Lily putting an arm around Sirius, standing there, indeed, united as one.

The drive home was the first time James'd had anytime to really think since they arrived in Portland. Since everyone was pretty partied out, the music was kept low and everyone stayed mostly quiet or asleep.

He'd felt something that weekend. It wasn't a complete feeling. It was the beginning of something. At Pride James hadn't just felt glad to see all the love. It was more than that. He felt like he belonged. Not only that, he had experienced for the first time in his life something extraordinary: attraction to someone who wasn't a woman.

Not just in a aesthetically appealing sort of way but in a… I like this person and want to get closer to them sort of way. Godammit, Potter, he thought. You get your first crush on a guy and it's on your best friend's boyfriend? Good job.

Normally, if James got a crush he would just pursue it but this was complicated. Remus and Sirius were new. James couldn't be certain this, whatever it was, he was feeling would stick around. Maybe it was just Pride induced hysteria bringing the bisexual out in him.

Bisexual? James privately gulped. But that was the question he wanted to ask himself, wasn't it? Am I Bisexual? And if so… what did it even matter? Whose business was it but his own?

Oh, but it wasn't that simple. Because to James Potter, it wasn't enough to exist quietly. He never wanted to have to hide who he was. He'd been dealing with that shit his whole goddamn life being black. He would not be quiet about who he was. If he was bi then he swore to himself that he would be the loudest, proudest bi who ever lived.

But he wasn't there yet… James wasn't sure what his next step was. This was just like any other problem in his life: he needed a plan. Once they were back home James was forced to disappoint Lily when he told her he was going to sleep in his own bed.

"I"m sorry, babe. I need a night to myself. Got some things on my mind," he said.

"No worries," she said, giving him a kiss as he rushed into his room and got on his laptop.

James opened a Word document and started writing:

Hypothesis: I am bisexual.

James would treat this like the scientific method. He had already made it as far as the hypothesis and now he needed to test it. He quickly loaded up some porn. James had… never really seen any gay porn before and wasn't sure what to expect. The trouble was he didn't find any of the guys in the videos he kept finding all that attractive.

He finally found a video with two reasonably good looking men who seemed to actually like each other. He was able to get himself hard by touching himself but wasn't sure how into it he was. Mechanically it was sex and sex was appealing.

He gave up the porn and decided to go right to crux of the issue: Remus. He knew he might feel embarrassed later, but for the moment he was hard as a rock and jerking off thinking about his best friend's boyfriend. It wasn't difficult to get himself off like that.

He did feel a little ashamed, having gotten so worked up so quickly. On the other hand, he had came really hard and the idea was… so good.

James typed again.

Conclusion: I am probably bisexual

He sighed and closed his laptop, thinking he had a working theory.

A phone ringing woke Sirius up. He grabbed his cell and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Sirius Black?" the voice on the other end said.

"Yeah."

"This is Michael Creevey. I'm a photographer. We met at Pride. I looked at your work. It's really something."

Sirius remembered bumping into the guy during Pride. The funny thing was that despite having his camera he kept forgetting to take pictures all day. But Creevey had approached him, making small talk after the Pride Parade. Sirius had given him his info, expecting to never hear from him. But two days later and here he was.

"Oh, thanks. Photography is my greatest passion," Sirius replied.

"How'd you like to intern with my website?"

"Oh. I… I…" Sirius stammered.

"I know you said you hadn't gone to school but… well, your work speaks for itself. Just come intern with us this fall in Portland. I'll provide room and board. If everything works out… you could stick around. If you wanted."

Sirius almost dropped his phone. When would he ever get another shot like this? But he thought of the new life he had built here. Portland was six hours away. When would he be able to see Remus? Would Lily rent out his room? He thought he should tell the man he needed time to think but he considered how long he'd had this dream and that if he asked everyone else they would almost certainly tell him to take this shot.

"All right. Let's do it," Sirius said.