《A Birdflash Story》Pride

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"I'm having..girl trouble."

"Oh? Are you now?" Wally raising an eyebrow at his younger cousin, then takes a sip of his Coca Cola. The two of them are sitting by the fountain in the park in Central City, taking a break from running around the place. They had received several waves from the evening joggers passing by. Both of them are wearing their costumes, "I know alllll about girl trouble. Spill the beans."

"I like this girl, but I have absolutely no idea if she feels the same way."

"Is she a super or just a girl from school?" Wally asks, taking a fist of fries and shoving them in his mouth.

"Super. It's uh, Raven."

"Ah. Uh," Wally bits his lip,"Well that is a toughie."

"I think she finds me annoying," he frowns.

"Nightwing finds me annoying."

"Nightwing is a dude," Wally II points out.

"Fair point. But Linda always found me annoying. It's part of my charm. Get her flowers."

"Flowers? Like roses? Those are pretty expensive."

"You don't have to get roses. A florist told me one time, 'don't get the roses. Everyone gets the roses. Get tulips instead.' So I got the tulips for my first date with Linda. Turned out they were her favourite flower."

"I could run to like, Holland and get her tulips there. That would be impressive, right?"

"Yeah. But it could be any flower. Pick whatever one feels right. You know, there's these flowers that smell like chocolate. Those are cool."

"Raven likes chocolate...I could find some of those," Wally says, getting excited, "Thanks man."

"Hey, no problem. Look, I gotta go. I need to get a cool pair of shades. I'm going to pride in Gotham tomorrow and the weather forecasts sunshine in that city for once."

"Pride? Sounds gay," Kid Flash says with a smile. His older cousin snickers, then gives him a two-finger salute.

"See ya, Kid."

--------------------------------

"C'mon, Jaybird," Roy pleads over the phone, "It'll be fun. Bring Artemis. I know you like her."

Jason glances over his shoulder at his teammate, who is on the other side of the room, polishing her ridiculously large battle axe. He turns away again, face flushed pink and says, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Pretty soon you're going to be like your brother with the redhead thing.." Roy jokes and Jason rolls his eyes.

"No. I'm nothing like Dick."

"Whatever...look, just mention it to her. She's met Dick before. I want to meet her too. I've invited Donna, and I'm sure they'll get on like a house on fire."

Jason sighs. Artemis could probably use a female friend to talk to. He knew Donna himself and he knew what Roy was saying was true. They'd be great friends.

"Okay. I'll mention it to her."

"Yes! See you tomorrow, Jaybird. We're meeting at Dick's apartment. We'll have t-shirts ready for you guys. Bring sunglasses," Roy says in triumph, then hangs up. Dear god, what has Jason gotten himself into?

He turns around, sliding his phone back into his pocket, "Hey, Artemis.."

She looks up at him with her emerald green eyes, "We should go to the parade tomorrow."

He wasn't expecting that, "Oh. I was just going to ask about it."

"It could be fun. Let's go."

"Yeah. Dick is going with his boyfriend and Roy is going with another Amazonian. They offered to meet us there."

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She smiles, "Your brother is very funny," Artemis sets down her axe and stands up, "And I shall have to meet your friend Roy and this other Amazonian. From Themyscira, I understand?"

"Yeah. Donna Troy. She's great," Jason says. Donna had always been kind to him when he met her as Robin and as Red Hood.

"We shall go tomorrow," Artemis states, walking out of the room, long red hair swishing in her ponytail behind her. Wow..

"Great. Uh, Roy said to bring sunglasses."

--------------------------------

Dick turns the key in the lock and opens the door of his Gotham apartment. The gang was gathering there before the parade. He was the first to arrive, naturally. He had booked the day off work, saying he was visiting his grandmother in Chicago. Lies.

He's about to put his bag down when a blur runs through his door and zips around the living room, decorating it in bright coloured streamers and bunting. When Wally stops running around, he's standing in front of Dick, holding a party popper and wearing sunglasses with a leather jacket.

"Ta-Da!" Wally exclaims, then pops it over Dick's head. Coloured bits of confetti lands in his hair.

"Hey, Walls. You know, I love the smell of those when they're freshly popped," Dick says with a grin, pointing to the party popper.

"That's weird," Wally says, returning the grin.

"You're weird," Dick chuckles, then kisses his goof of a boyfriend.

There's a sound of a box dropping behind them and they turn to see Roy in a leather jacket and sunglasses also. Donna is standing right behind him, closing the door after them.

"Fucking elevator isn't working. I had to carry the t-shirts up the stairs," Roy complains. He was over-exaggerating, of course. They guy had arms for legs thanks to all his archery - lifting a box up a few flights of stairs was nothing to him.

"I offered to take them and you said no," Donna said.

"I was being courteous," He says, shrugging. Donna scoffs.

"I'm able to pick up you and Wally at the same time. I could probably take Dick on my shoulders too."

"You used to give good piggyback rides."

"That's something to do later," Donna says with a laugh.

One of the strings of bunting falls down and Wally leaves Dick's side to fix it.

"I like what you've done with the place, Dick," Donna remarks at the decorations.

"That was me!" Wally tells her, "I've got loads of party poppers too. Picked them up on the way here."

Roy pulls out a pocket knife and opens the box of t-shirts, "Okay, let's have a looksie."

He pulls out the first t-shirt, blue, purple and pink, the bisexual pride flag. He checks the size and throws it in Wally's general direction, knowing he'd catch it before it hit the ground. He pulls out the second and third, same as the first one and checks the sizes, "Bigger one for me, slightly smaller one for Dick."

Dick huffs, taking the T-shirt, "I'm by no means small. 5'10 is not short. It's the average height for an American male."

"You're shorter then everyone else here and you're kind of slender. Until Artemis arrives at least, I don't know what height she is," Roy shrugs.

"She's taller than me too," Dick sighs. Wally snickers, already changed into his t-shirt. Dick isn't short, no, but he happens to surround himself with people who are taller than him. He pulls off the t-shirt he was previously wearing to change.

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A door randomly appears in the middle of the room, to everyone's surprise. It opens and Jason walks through it with Artemis. She closes it and the door disappears again.

"Jesus Christ," Jason adverts his eyes from his shirtless brother.

"Hey, Jaybird. Hi, Artemis. Nice to meet you. I'm Roy," He greets, holding out his hand for her to shake. She takes it.

"Jason's former partner. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Dick groans across the room, "I needed that reminder, thanks."

"O-kay. That's Donna, you've met Dick and that's his boyfriend, Wally," Roy introduces, gesturing to everyone. She shakes Donna's hand.

"Jason tells me you're an Amazonian," She says. Donna nods.

"You're from Bana-Mighdall, right? I haven't been, but I'd like to visit it sometime in the future."

"It is a beautiful place. Different to your paradise island, but nice in it's own way."

Wally zips over to stand at Dick's side, who had swapped t-shirts, "She's really tall. Like Donna in heels."

"Hey, Roy, I bet you've got plenty of embarrassing stories about Jason to tell Artemis too," Dick says with a chuckle. His younger brother makes a pained expression.

"Ah! Yes. I've got the whole walk down to the parade to tell you."

"Walking? Ugh, so slooooow," Wally groans dramatically. Dick and Donna both roll their eyes.

"Run if you want, but you'll miss embarrassing Jason stories," Roy says, ruffling up his Jason's black and white hair.

"I hate you," Jason mumbles," Why did I agree to this?"

"Because I wanted to go," Artemis reminds him.

"Oh, your t-shirts!" Donna says, pulling out two more. She passes the last men's one to Jason, who gawks at it and a woman's size to Artemis. She admires the colours of it.

"The colours of the bisexual pride flag," Dick explains, pointing to his own t-shirt, "Blue for attraction to the opposite sex, pink for same and purple for both."

"I see. I've never seen a flag for it before."

"I'm not wearing this," Jason says, shaking his head.

"I'm not asking you to dress in drag and do the hula, it's just a t-shirt. Come on, it's just a bit of fun," Dick says.

"Was that a Disney reference?" Wally asks suspiciously. His boyfriend throws him a grin.

Artemis slides off her jacket and reaches for the hem of her tank top. Jason stops her, eyes widened in alarm, "Artemis! We discussed this!"

She sighs and rolls her green eyes, "You people." Donna laughs at this.

Dick points towards the bathroom, which she walks into and closes the door. Jason also leaves the room to change his t-shirt. Roy explains that he's self-conscious about all of his scars.

"Wears a t-shirt to the beach. I see no problem with them, but.." He shrugs, "That's just Jason. Oh, Hey Donna! Your t-shirt!"

"You got me a t-shirt? But-"

Roy reaches down and pulls it out. Black and white stripes with the word 'ally' printed on it. Donna smiles, taking the t-shirt to go change, "Thank you, Roy."

Artemis comes back with the t-shirt on, jacket over it. She pulls sunglasses out of her pocket, "Are we going? Where is Jason?"

He walks back in a second later, sliding on his own sunglasses. Donna also appears. Dick claps his hands together, "Okay, I'll grab my jacket and we'll go."

The six of them spill out the apartment door and Dick locks it again. They make their way down the flights of stairs and Roy starts telling Artemis stories about Jason.

"So, Jason's falling and I think, oh shit, I can't let that happen. So, I shot him with an arrow attached to a rope. He yells at me when he finally climbs up spots the billboard."

"What billboard?"

"The billboard I had made advertising our services - we were business partners too of course - and he was about ready to kill me on the spot."

"The billboard said, 'Rent-a-Bat' with our names shortened to Red-Arse. Of course I was ready to kill you," Jason adds grumpily.

"Red-Arse!" Dick and Wally are practically howling with laughter.

"Well, it's a good thing he didn't kill me, because he needed someone to stitch him up."

"Because you fucking shot me."

"Oh! Oh! I need to tell you about the time I set the shower on fire!" Roy exclaims.

"While I was fucking in it."

"Woah woah, what?" Dick interrupts, and Wally adds, "This is sounding less like embarrassing Jason and more like a list of awful things you've done to Jason."

"Well...oh what about that time Jason disguised himself as a cranky old man! That was weird," He reminisces as they exit the apartment building.

"I remember when Jason stole my identity, flirted with the girl I liked, got kidnapped, turned into a monster, ate a dude and then barfed him out again," Dick adds with a shiver at the thought, causing everyone to go quiet. Then Roy speaks.

"What the fuck? When did that happen?"

"Back when I was sort of a psychopath. I gave back the Nightwing costume and accepted him as family. I didn't even like the fashion designer, by the way," Jason huffs, "We never speak of it again, comprende?"

"Well, I remember when Jason used to run around in Dick's old Robin Costume, with the green leotard and the pixie boots," Donna adds, "Aww, you were such a cute kid. Your freckles have faded a bit."

"You thought you were the bees knees. So did Dick when he wore that costume," Wally laughs.

"I hate all of you," Jason mutters.

"Jason? In a leotard?" Artemis asks, "Not possible."

"Oh, very possible. I'll show you pictures later," Donna promises. Jason gives her a pleading look, "But for now, let's stop embarrassing Jason."

"That's a pity. I like hearing all these stories," Artemis says, "As much as he talks, his past is not a topic he speaks of often."

"Except for the morbid 'I died' jokes?" Roy adds with a laugh. They all dodge their way around a man walking four Pomeranians. He gives them a weird look, taking in their matching t-shirts, various leather jackets and sunglasses.

They change the arrangement of who's walking next to who so Donna and Artemis can talk at the front. Jason and Roy end up at the back, with Wally and Dick walking in the middle. Jason and Dick know the streets best, but they're really just following the other people walking towards the parade - not very hard to spot as they are decked out in rainbow coloured clothing.

Roy nudges Jason, "I see we both like tall women who can throw us like frisbees."

"Donna's way too nice to throw you. Artemis threw me the first day we met. She picked me up and I had to taser her in order to get free."

"What a way to make an impression on a lady. And Donna has thrown me. And Wally. One hand each. We were fighting over her and she had had enough. Anyways. We need to talk about how I'm going to be your wingman."

"Oh god."

"Have some confidence in me! You clearly like her and she must like you if she's so eager to hear all about you. Dick said he and Artemis talked about nothing but you when he visited."

"Roy...you know very well I'm not much of a PDA guy."

He throws his arm around Jason, "The atmosphere of love is sure to spark something. Trust me."

Dick turns to Wally, "You know, blue, purple and pink are not colours that suit you."

"I thought you worked for the BPD, not the fashion police," Wally jokes, "But nah. I think after this I'll stick to Red, Yellow and Green. Looks good on you though."

"Honey, everything looks good on me," Dick says, confetti still residing in his hair.

"Even that awful polka dot shirt? And the mullet? Eugh," Wally makes a gagging noise. He then says, "God, the closer we get to the parade the gayer we become. It's like magic."

"That's the pride effect I guess."

They arrive at the main event. Lady Gaga's 'born this way' is blasting and people are wearing an array of colours. The most colour Gotham has probably seen all year. Some passing drag queens blow them kisses. They all have a good laugh at some of the signs being held up.

A girl with pink hair passes Artemis a slip of paper with a number on it and winks before disappearing into the crowd again. Jason frowns, but Artemis doesn't take much notice of the paper. Dick feels a hand on his ass at some point, but whoever did it is gone when he turns around. He hopes it was just Wally messing around.

They run into Barbara with her friends. Dick chats to them for a while and introduces his friends to hers. Roy could have sworn he saw Dinah carrying a trans flag at some point, but she was quickly gone and he decided it wasn't worth mentioning. Wally takes out party poppers and pops them when everyone least expects him to, making the others jump a few times.

They spot Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy 'in disguise' to everyone's surprise but Dick and Jason.

"You guys didn't know they were a thing? They're both bi as hell too."

"Maybe we should go over, thank Ivy for getting us together," Wally jokes, slipping his hand into Dick's pretty comfortably. They hadn't been able to do that before in public. It makes Dick's cheeks flush pink.

"A hard pass on that."

"Heh, hard," Roy snickers.

"I might be the youngest but you're the fucking child here," Jason tells him.

"We are at pride and I am going to laugh at a dick joke."

They stop to watch a group of dancers performing in the street for a little while before moving on again. They witness three proposals in an hour, all of which were amazing and made Donna say 'aww.'

Donna gathers them all together for a picture, managing to get even Jason smile and strike a pose in front of the camera. He's warming up to the atmosphere and actually having fun.

"Boys!" They turn around to see Selina wearing cat sunglasses and a cat ear hairband. Dick smiles wide. Jason looks sort of embarrassed.

"Hey, Selina! Where's B?" Dick asks as she throws her arms around him.

"He's on a very early patrol with Duke and Damian. Making sure everything goes smoothly. I decided to bring Tim along. I lost him. But I'm sure he's fine," Selina explains, "You guys are all so grown up! It's weird. I remember when you were all kids, now look at you. I feel old."

"Still kids at heart," Wally laughs.

"I'm confused, who is she?" Artemis whispers. Jason leans over to tell her, "It's Catwoman. She's been around almost as long as Batman. They're engaged."

"Oh? So she is to be your stepmother?"

"Uh...something like that."

Selina gives them a bit of a wave and turns around, "Let me know if you see Tim, okay?"

"Will do," Jason nods.

They continue following the route of the parade, spotting Kate and Renée along the way. A couple of guys throw winks at Dick (and Jason), causing Wally to pull him closer. Dick laughs at this, reaching up and ruffling his ginger hair. Eventually they come across Tim, looking a bit well, lost. Jason grins, running up behind him and grabbing him. Tim screams in surprise, which probably doesn't look great to onlookers.

"Timber!" Jason exclaims, messing up his hair and then putting him back on his feet.

Tim looks him up and down and then inspects the rest of the gang, a blush creeping up his face, "W-what are you guys doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? Bi squad," Jason gestures to the t-shirts, "Donna came for support,"

"Oh, right...ugh. They're all matching. I swear, you millennials are so cringy."

"Excuse you, I'm gen Z, Timmers," Jason huffs, "Same as you, just about. Millennials end at age twenty three or something now."

"Another brother of yours?" Artemis inquires and Jason nods, then introduces them, "Yeah. Tim, Artemis. Artemis, Tim."

"Hi," Tim greets. He then raises an eyebrow, "Jason, I didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Jason's mouth drops open, "Uh, no Artemis isn't-"

"He wishes!" Roy says, making sure everyone hears it. Jason is turning his signature scarlet colour, hissing, "Roy!"

"You like me, Jason?" Artemis asks, a mischievous look on her face. He's not really sure how to reply and is caught for words, "I, well..I.."

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