Generation X Goes to NYC Pride!
Jun. 28th, 2025 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsRictor, Shatterstar, and Liam get ready for the parade.
Even before they started dating, it was not uncommon for Rictor to barge unannounced into Shatterstar and Liam's suite. Usually it was with a 4k and pizza, and Rictor was fully dressed. But as the boys were preparing for their first ever Pride Parade, Rictor stepped in wearing nothing more than a crossbody bag and white denim shorts with a much shorter inseam than the rest of his wardrobe. This is what he saw on socials that men wore to these parades, and he did not want to stick out at his first one by being unfashionable.
"Star, querido, can you please put sunscreen on my back?" he asked, reaching into his bag to pull out a bottle of SPF 75. The drug store did not have anything stronger, but he hoped this would be enough to prevent Star from burning into a bright red tomato.
Shatterstar had been hesitant to go to one of these parades, but had agreed mostly because Rictor had asked. He was still getting used to dating. To everyone knowing his most private feelings for Rictor. For being anything in public that he hadn't made the conscious decision to allow people to see.
He tried to hide how he was uncomfortable. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black jeans with a black jean jacket that he would probably overheat in. He nodded, coming to help Rictor with his sunscreen. "Of course."
He still got butterflies when Rictor called him querido.
"You are going to be so uncomfortable in layers," Rictor admonished him, fighting back the chills from the sensation of Star's hands on his skin. "Liam! Are you ready?"
"Tada!" Liam bounced out of the room wearing what could only be described as black booty shorts and a mesh crop top. He'd added glitter glue to the seams. And combat boots because sometimes, you just needed to stomp. "....I look like. your love child. Oh. No."
"My kid brother tagging along with us," Shatterstar corrected, lip twitching a little. He turned back to putting sunscreen on Rictor.
"And I will not overheat."
"Fine, you won't overheat," Rictor conceded, knowing how futile it would be to combat this stubbornness, so he changed tactics. "But I can't see your arms if you wear long sleeves, and your biceps are my sixth favorite thing about your body." He turned and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist to pull him close. "Want to know what my real favorite is?" he asked, smirking, before reaching up to kiss him.
"Keep it PG!" Liam complained, tugging on a lock of Rictor's hair, "You might scandalize me!"
~*~
Later, Rictor bumps into Madin counter-protesting corporate Pride.
Madin had met up with a few of the mutant liberationists who hung around the community centre while adamantly not taking part in its offerings, to set up a Pride counter protest.
Their signs were strung to the newly repaired fence around the park that had been destroyed in the battle last year, in full view of the parade. A pair of painted bed sheets read "Boycott Pride. Corporate Pride = Mutant Deaths" and "no queer liberation without mutant liberation."
They were all prepared to fight any and all challengers over this one.
His water bottle already empty, Rictor had stepped away from Star and Liam along the parade route to find a drinks vendor so he could stay cool and hydrated. His choice of wardrobe (or perhaps lack thereof, as the only things that he had added to his outfit of shorts and sneakers was some rainbow face paint and glitter in his hair) was a boon for comfort in the summer weather, but it wasn't enough. He stopped in his tracks when he found himself directly in front of the counter-protesters. He would not have been surprised to see an angry religious group, but several visible mutants, Madin among them, was another thing. And they did not appear to be homophobes, either. Just . . . angry?
"I don't understand, what is 'corporate pride'?" he asked Madin as he approached.
Madin held out a hand to the scaled mutant beside them, who was ready to go on the attack. Just about every other person who'd approached them had had an issue to bring to the table and this was hardly going to be different. "'s alright. I know him, J." They turned to stare at Rictor. "Are you fucken serious, bro?"
Rictor cocked his head to the side in a very confused canine manner. "Yes? This is my first Pride, so I really don't know what's going on."
Madin sighed. "Oh. Okay, fine. See those?" They waved a hand at the bank logos with pride colours and the shops and companies with them. "These are corporate pride. Companies that sponsor it but they don't actually give a fuck about the most vulnerable people. Most of them don't even have diversity hiring requirements or if they do, they're just for humans, not also mutants. They're literally killing mutants."
"I don't think that's what 'literally' . . ." But from the look on their face, Rictor understood that correcting Madin's word choice would not be a helpful maneuver. "Uh, are you getting positive attention doing all this?"
"No! It shows you how much all these people actually hate us because they're not listening at all." Madin sighed.
"Have you tried doing a terrorism? Just a little one." Nothing so dramatic as sabotaging a multi-billion-dollar environmentally disastrous cross-country railroad system, but damaging a Lockheed Martin display seemed like a seasonally appropriate affair that Rictor could get behind.
Madin choked on spit. "I don't know who you've been talking to but I quit that. I'm retired."
"I didn't . . . oh!" Rictor's whole body reddened in embarrassment. What was intended as a joke at his own history was not meant to be a dig at Madin's own. "I am going to go before you think I am a bigger idiot. Good luck with all this. Go mutants!" He booked it out of there before Madin or their compatriots could give him the smackdown he deserved.
Even before they started dating, it was not uncommon for Rictor to barge unannounced into Shatterstar and Liam's suite. Usually it was with a 4k and pizza, and Rictor was fully dressed. But as the boys were preparing for their first ever Pride Parade, Rictor stepped in wearing nothing more than a crossbody bag and white denim shorts with a much shorter inseam than the rest of his wardrobe. This is what he saw on socials that men wore to these parades, and he did not want to stick out at his first one by being unfashionable.
"Star, querido, can you please put sunscreen on my back?" he asked, reaching into his bag to pull out a bottle of SPF 75. The drug store did not have anything stronger, but he hoped this would be enough to prevent Star from burning into a bright red tomato.
Shatterstar had been hesitant to go to one of these parades, but had agreed mostly because Rictor had asked. He was still getting used to dating. To everyone knowing his most private feelings for Rictor. For being anything in public that he hadn't made the conscious decision to allow people to see.
He tried to hide how he was uncomfortable. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black jeans with a black jean jacket that he would probably overheat in. He nodded, coming to help Rictor with his sunscreen. "Of course."
He still got butterflies when Rictor called him querido.
"You are going to be so uncomfortable in layers," Rictor admonished him, fighting back the chills from the sensation of Star's hands on his skin. "Liam! Are you ready?"
"Tada!" Liam bounced out of the room wearing what could only be described as black booty shorts and a mesh crop top. He'd added glitter glue to the seams. And combat boots because sometimes, you just needed to stomp. "....I look like. your love child. Oh. No."
"My kid brother tagging along with us," Shatterstar corrected, lip twitching a little. He turned back to putting sunscreen on Rictor.
"And I will not overheat."
"Fine, you won't overheat," Rictor conceded, knowing how futile it would be to combat this stubbornness, so he changed tactics. "But I can't see your arms if you wear long sleeves, and your biceps are my sixth favorite thing about your body." He turned and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist to pull him close. "Want to know what my real favorite is?" he asked, smirking, before reaching up to kiss him.
"Keep it PG!" Liam complained, tugging on a lock of Rictor's hair, "You might scandalize me!"
~*~
Later, Rictor bumps into Madin counter-protesting corporate Pride.
Madin had met up with a few of the mutant liberationists who hung around the community centre while adamantly not taking part in its offerings, to set up a Pride counter protest.
Their signs were strung to the newly repaired fence around the park that had been destroyed in the battle last year, in full view of the parade. A pair of painted bed sheets read "Boycott Pride. Corporate Pride = Mutant Deaths" and "no queer liberation without mutant liberation."
They were all prepared to fight any and all challengers over this one.
His water bottle already empty, Rictor had stepped away from Star and Liam along the parade route to find a drinks vendor so he could stay cool and hydrated. His choice of wardrobe (or perhaps lack thereof, as the only things that he had added to his outfit of shorts and sneakers was some rainbow face paint and glitter in his hair) was a boon for comfort in the summer weather, but it wasn't enough. He stopped in his tracks when he found himself directly in front of the counter-protesters. He would not have been surprised to see an angry religious group, but several visible mutants, Madin among them, was another thing. And they did not appear to be homophobes, either. Just . . . angry?
"I don't understand, what is 'corporate pride'?" he asked Madin as he approached.
Madin held out a hand to the scaled mutant beside them, who was ready to go on the attack. Just about every other person who'd approached them had had an issue to bring to the table and this was hardly going to be different. "'s alright. I know him, J." They turned to stare at Rictor. "Are you fucken serious, bro?"
Rictor cocked his head to the side in a very confused canine manner. "Yes? This is my first Pride, so I really don't know what's going on."
Madin sighed. "Oh. Okay, fine. See those?" They waved a hand at the bank logos with pride colours and the shops and companies with them. "These are corporate pride. Companies that sponsor it but they don't actually give a fuck about the most vulnerable people. Most of them don't even have diversity hiring requirements or if they do, they're just for humans, not also mutants. They're literally killing mutants."
"I don't think that's what 'literally' . . ." But from the look on their face, Rictor understood that correcting Madin's word choice would not be a helpful maneuver. "Uh, are you getting positive attention doing all this?"
"No! It shows you how much all these people actually hate us because they're not listening at all." Madin sighed.
"Have you tried doing a terrorism? Just a little one." Nothing so dramatic as sabotaging a multi-billion-dollar environmentally disastrous cross-country railroad system, but damaging a Lockheed Martin display seemed like a seasonally appropriate affair that Rictor could get behind.
Madin choked on spit. "I don't know who you've been talking to but I quit that. I'm retired."
"I didn't . . . oh!" Rictor's whole body reddened in embarrassment. What was intended as a joke at his own history was not meant to be a dig at Madin's own. "I am going to go before you think I am a bigger idiot. Good luck with all this. Go mutants!" He booked it out of there before Madin or their compatriots could give him the smackdown he deserved.
