Back at it again with my annual Pride anthology! This time, the theme is the symbolism of the number 4, since this year is 2024. So tell me, readers, are you ready four it?
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"Honey...!" Southlynn muttered nervously, throwing her arm protectively in front of her husband. He said nothing, but he grit his teeth, air hissing between them as he slammed on the brakes. His thin, silver glasses flashed as his head jerked forward.
"Jeez!" Eastla, his eldest daughter, nearly slammed into the back of his seat. "I thought only gays, Asians, women couldn't drive?!" she demanded sarcastically. "That's why you're the Designated Driver, Dad!" Northson was the token cis-het, white male of the Mapp family, after all. Southlynn was Asian, and Eastla and Westford, of course, were half-white and half-Asian.
"No, I just don't trust any of you behind the wheel!" Northson muttered, but too quiet for his unruly offspring to hear.
His wife exhaled softly beside him. I TOLD you that you should've let me drive...
When Northson slammed on the breaks, his second child, his son, was unable to stop himself before colliding with the back of his mother's seat.
"Ow!" Westford peeled his face off the seat, adjusting his square, black glasses. Eastla couldn't help but snicker under her breath.
Gotta be faster, West! she thought smugly, leaning down to pick up what her younger brother dropped when he slammed into the back of Southlynn's seat. It was a map, uncreatively but fittingly named "the Mapp Family Map". Oh, to think! We live in the Golden Age of Technology, but we still can't get our stupid, freaking GPS to work!
The hunk of junk was at home, on the kitchen table, in several parts as all four Mapps raced to figure out what was wrong. But with Pride so soon, they were forced to leave before the matter was resolved. And Pride was so packed that although they arrived early, they still couldn't get any cell service. Traffic was slow, but tensions were as high as if they were on a highway. Eastla distracted herself by studying the map. She noted idly that four colors were used to denote different regions, and never once did any of the same color touch. Four color theorem...
"This happens every year!" Northson complained under his breath, gripping the steering wheel as he scowled and growled.
"Now, dear..." Beside him, his wife was much calmer, cooler. Even though he's angry, as he said, he DOES do this every year.
He cared, even if he didn't care to show it. Southlynn chuckled to herself. He had a Pride hat and ally pins while she had a "Free Mom Hugs" shirt. The patriarch of the family remained silent, but his shoulders slumped. He had a temper, but his respect for the matriarch of the family outweighed it, most of the time. He knew that on a logical level, she was right. Getting angry changed nothing.
It wasn't as if the rest of his family didn't understand, though. "This is homophobic!" Eastla muttered. Bikes, scooters, floats, trucks, stands, booths, people, pets, food, noise ... everywhere! At least they knew they were close... She sighed wistfully as they passed more Pride-goers, dressed to the nines in their flags and glitter. Talk about following the rainbow-block road! "So close and yet so far..."
"If you want to get out and walk, you can," Northson growled testily. Eastla opened her mouth, but Southlynn locked eyes with her.
Don't. Say. A word. She was the nicer parent, but she could be scary too. If anything, her kindness made her rare rages all the scarier.
But—! It wasn't Eastla's fault Northson took his anger out on everyone except himself! What had she done wrong?
Southlynn's dark eyes softened. I know, love, I know... She wouldn't deny that Northson had a temper. It just amused her how unaware her daughter seemed about the fact that she had a similar one. Where does she think she gets it? Though admittedly, their fire manifests differently...
While Northson was stiff, Eastla was a free spirit. She was dressed the most flamboyantly of all, clad in a shiny rainbow suit, dress pants, loafers, bowtie, and bowler hat. By contrast, her younger brother wore his usual blue sweater and brown slacks, but with a bisexual flag for a cape. Westford was the quietest of the quartet, praying they survived the trip, regardless where it took them.
"Oh! We're going to drive to all four corners of world at this rate!" Northson sighed angrily.
"Oh, wait! There! There!" Startling his family with his uncharacteristic excitement, Westford shot between his parents, pointing out the front window, hand on the console between them. Sure enough! Just their luck! Dead ahead, a van was backing out of its parking spot...
Northson gassed it. "Go, go, go!" Eastla joked while Southlynn and Westford sighed in relief, the latter sinking back into his seat.
It took time, but finally, the family of four found the Pride gates. Once there, the Fest seemed to spread out endlessly in all four cardinal directions.
"Well, this is a great place to get lost!" Eastla joked. She readjusted the shiny rainbow bowler hat atop her long, wavy, brown tresses. Her family knew her skin would be almost as dark by the time the day was done because of how quickly and deeply she tanned. "I wonder if Aces is here yet...?" She looked around for her boyfriend. Westford snickered at her as he slipped away from the rest of the family.
After a bit of searching, he found—"Zero! Iris!" He smiled and waved at them, running over with boyish excitement on his face. Zero was his queerplatonic, aro-ace partner while Iris was an old flame of his. She was now married to a woman named Storm. Storm was at Pride too, though she'd left Iris with Zero while she went to take some time to cool off alone.
"You know she has a low social battery!" Iris laughed, reassuring them; there was nothing wrong. Like Westford, Iris wore a bisexual flag for a cape. The name "Bi-ris" painted across her forehead in pink, purple, and blue. Zero, another close friend of hers, smiled and laughed, standing happily between their friend and their partner. They wore aro-ace flags and pins, gleaming in the summer sun.
"Hey West!" they murmured affectionately.
"Hey Zero!" Westford squeezed their hand, beaming from ear to ear. Iris bit her lip and fought the urge to tease the two lovebirds.
The moment she noticed that Westford had taken off, Eastla slipped away as well, eventually finding Aces and a pack of their friends. That left Southlynn and Northson alone near the gates.
"Oh, great! Now what?! Where did the children go?!" Northson spun around angrily. One thing after another! Always! I swear!
"Why don't we let them enjoy themselves alone first?" Southlynn rested a gentle but guiding hand on his arm. At first, he looked irritated at the thought, but when he locked eyes with Southlynn, blue meeting brown, some of the anger melted from his gaze.
All right, fine, but they better not come back in cop cars! It was an exaggeration, but Northson would've stuffily argued that it was a possibility.
Southlynn only sighed and shook her head, resting it affectionately against her husband's shoulder. "I'd like some alone time with you..."
Finally, Northson was jolted out of his stuffy thoughts. Reminded that they were supposed to enjoy the day too, he looked sheepishly at his wife and nodded. All right, she had a point. She wanted to enjoy the Pride Fest, and enjoy it with him, so he would let her take him by the hand and lead him around all four corners of the world.
AN: How I, a gayasian driver, feel driving to Pride every year, LOL! Also this family is based on MY family's dynamics, including them being half Asian and half White, though in my family, it's adoption rather than birth, but family is family.
