Prince Pride
Summary: An ALiP! Short involving Prince Charging going to the city’s first pride event!
Warning: I get a bit serious at the end. Didn’t mean to, sorry. Also Clyde’s shirt has a curse word on it. I’m going to be spoiling something I’ve hinted at in Probable Theorem in this fic. You have been warned.
The poster advertising the city-wide festival was both a surprise and warm welcome to Logan when he saw it at work. He immediately took a photo and sent it to the group chat he had with his roommates. One he usually kept muted due to silly conversations and spam messages in it (usually Roman and Patton). They all answered with enthusiasm and made plans to go after Virgil stated being too nervous to go alone.
When that warm summer day finally approached, they headed to the city park where it was being held and waited on the side for the small parade to start. Patton found a tie-dye shirt with the pan colors on it randomly in a store. Of course, it was not advertised that way, but he didn’t care at all. Virgil had a shirt on but was hiding it under a light breezy sweater, too shy to have it in the open just yet. Patton had asked Virgil to make Logan a tie that fit the ace colors. Logan absolutely loved it. And Roman? Was fully decked out with a pride flag as a cape tied around his shoulders and his cheek had a rainbow painted on the side, courtesy of Virgil.
The parade was rather short since it was the city’s first year, but the crowd quickly formed around it before pouring into the park where a stage with music was set up, surrounded by stalls of food, supportive local businesses, and random merch. The stalls were lacking, the basic pride flags most common people could quickly find were being sold. Patton made comments about making other flags and setting up a booth next year just so that more people could feel accepted.
They were still walking around when they started hearing shouting. It sounded like a debate and a small crowd was gathering around it.
“He is!”
“Where’s your proof? I don’t want you to be wrong, but all I hear are stories! I want evidence!”
“What evidence are you even looking for?”
“I mean, if he were to show up, that would be pretty good!”
“You know he doesn’t show up in the day time!”
“It’s PRIDE! If Prince Charging really stood by us, he’d be here!”
Their group all turned to Roman who watched on with wide eyes and a bit surprised. “Wait…” He mumbled to himself. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Roman…” Virgil started softly. “What are you planning?”
Roman smiled and turned toward him. “Virgil. I need a quick way home as soon as possible. I think I didn’t dress properly for the occasion!”
Virgil stared at Roman before letting out a deep sigh and shaking his head. “Fine. I know I can’t stop you. Here, let’s get out of here and find a quiet place to ourselves.”
Patton and Logan waved them goodbye as they went their separate ways. However, only ten minutes later, Virgil walked back up to the two and let out a large sigh before ducking his head.
“I told him to not let me regret this and I already regret this.”
“Regret what, Virge?”
“Is that Clyde?” They turned to Logan, who was staring off into the crowd. Following his gaze, they turned and spotted Clyde in the crowd. He didn’t stick out much, though he wasn’t wearing his usual scarf and beanie in the hot weather. His hair was slightly pink at the ends, probably temporary color, and he was wearing a big, baggy tank top that said ‘Imagine what you could learn if you weren’t an asshole’ in rainbow letters on the front with a blue bandanna tied around his neck.
“It is!” Patton cried out happily. “Clyde! Hey, over here!” They watched as their neighbor looked over at them and visibly deflated. He seemed to contemplate ignoring them before begrudgingly walking over. “Hey! I didn’t know you were going to be here!”
“Yeah, well…” He tugged at his bandanna and looked around. “Aunt Les has been talking about this for months and I was curious, so…”
“Well, be that as it may, it is nice to see you here, Clyde.” Logan smiled at the younger man as he looked at Logan in shock. “Even coming to these to simply show support, whether you are a part of the community or not, is a brave act. I’m glad to see you here, regardless of the reasons.”
“Oh. Yeah, it’s whatever.” Clyde smiled softly before looking at the group. “Hey, where’s Roman?”
Virgil jabbed a thumb over his shoulder and Clyde leaned over to see what was going on. “He’s probably just over there. You’ll hear him soon enough.”
Clyde watched the crowd before spotting the familiar white suit he had seen dozens of times before. “Are you kidding me, really?!” Clyde scrunched his nose in disdain and looked up at Virgil. “You really let him out of the house like that?”
Virgil shrugged and didn’t bother turning around. “Hey, if seeing him makes others feel safe knowing he supports them, who am I to stop it?”
Roman was walking around and smiling, ignoring the whispers as he made his way through the sea of people. He knew in his outfit he shouldn’t hang out with the others, but it was a golden opportunity to just enjoy things as they happened and stand up for anyone in the rare chance something happened.
“Prince Charging!” He stopped and turned, seeing a group of people smiling and waving at him. He raised a hand and waved back, watching them all laugh and turn to talk to one another before he turned and kept walking through the crowd.
“No way,” He turned and saw the two people who were arguing before, both staring at him. “No way! No way you’re really here!” The person who was demanding proof that Prince Charging was in support of pride. He watched as they smiled, seemingly happy to be proven wrong. “You’re really here!”
“Well, of course I am!” He placed a hand on his chest and smiled, puffing up proudly. “There is no where else I would rather be!”
“Are you really him?” Someone else questioned. The Prince smiled and nodded, causing them to start jumping with excitement. “Ahh, the Prince is here!”
People started taking out their phones and snapping photos, which he was more than happy to pose for. A crowd quickly formed and Prince was having a hard time keeping up with them all.
It was going great for a while. Of course, someone had to speak up.
“No way. I bet you’re a fake!” He stopped and turned to the person who shouted at him. “I don’t believe you!”
“You don’t believe me? The gayest hero in the city? Truly, I have not done my job well enough if you’re still questioning it!”
“Prove it! Prove it you’re really here!”
With a huff, he looked around and noticed a nearby bench, quickly excusing himself as he made his way to it. Jumping up, he turned to the crowd and threw out his arms. “Ladies, lords and non-binary royalty, it is your prince! Here in support of all of you!”
“Are you the real prince? I bet you’re a fake!”
Roman held out his hand like it was a gun and pointed it to the crowd. “This is as real as you are, I assure you!”
“PROVE IT!”
Without hesitation, Prince Charging held his arm up and aimed straight into the sky. He let loose a bolt of lightning that shot up and flared out, almost like a firework. The crowd gasped and grew silent as he put his hand down. “I am Prince Charging, the real deal!”
“PRINCE, I LOVE YOU!”
“I love you too, random citizen!” He said with a smile.
Clyde scoffed and turned away. “How can you date him? He’s so annoying.”
“Say trans rights!”
He cleared his throat and cupped his mouth before turning to the sky. “Prince Charging says TRANS RIGHTS!”
Clyde smiled a bit and turned away. “Well, maybe not always. I could do without the shouting, though.”
Everyone just started cheering and asking him to say other things, which he happily obliged. No one questioned him, no one was afraid of him, and everyone kept chanting his name.
He couldn’t tell you how he made it onto the stage where they were performing. He couldn’t tell you how he even got there! However, he will remember being handed a mic and being asked to give a speech. Performing was in Roman’s blood but he still got pre-show jitters every time.
But not here. Not today. Definitely not this time.
“You’re not broken.” The crowd grew quiet at the Prince’s soft tone. He hadn’t realized how serious he was going to take it, but as soon as he started, he couldn’t stop. He looked down to the crowd at all the unfamiliar faces. He smirked a bit as he saw his roommates with Clyde, looking up at him from the field.
“You are not broken. This isn’t some sort of test or a race. We all spend time trying to figure it out, afraid of what we will learn and what others will say, but we were made this way. And the way that you are? The way that each and everyone of us is? We were made exactly the way you were supposed to be.” He pulled the mic away a little bit as he stared out at the crowd. “The label can feel nice, knowing can feel like… like you make sense for the first time in your life. It doesn’t work like that for everyone. You don’t have to follow the label exactly. You want to be a dashing prince?” He smiled and posed a bit. “Fine. You also want to wear a dress? Go ahead. This is all…” He moved his hands around a bunch, waving them back and forth. “It’s like a color wheel. There are so many slightly different variants to every color and shade. You don’t have to be exactly on the dot. You don’t have to be the same color as everyone else. If you’re a bit more green or purple, than that’s fine! Because that’s…” He pulled the mic away, feeling his voice start to waver.
“That’s who you are, and you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. You are exactly who you need to be.”