Chapter One
“Is it gonna fit?” Panting and heaving, Pike held up his end of the load until Zack got his into position. He tried not to get too jealous of how damn effortless Zack made the work look.
“Got it.” Zack did some magic maneuver that created the necessary extra millimeters for the cabinet to fit.
“I swear you missed your calling, Zack.” Arms full of snacks, Pike’s mother came into the kitchen, admiring the cabinets he and Zack had wrestled into position. “You can be my muscle any day.”
“She’s just being nice because her to-do list is longer than my arm.” Pike gratefully accepted a bottle of lemonade from her. “That and you’re her new favorite kid.”
“Hey, you go and double the number of sons I’ve got to call on for favors, I’m going to take advantage.” After setting the food down, she leaned against the wall they’d painted the day before. This was her latest house flip project in Berkley, and it was their first visit since they’d eloped to San Francisco with her as their witness. As usual, she had plenty to keep them busy, but Pike didn’t mind. He loved her, and especially loved how easily she’d welcomed Zack into their lives and how much Zack seemed to like her back.
“Anytime. I don’t mind the work. It’s good practice for when we replace the old cabinets at our place.” Zack took a soda from the food on the counter.
“Hey now, I painted those cabinets. And you said you didn’t hate the color,” Pike protested.
“You did an excellent job, but they’re still the original cabinets for the house. Eventually we might want to redo the whole kitchen.” Zack was diplomatic, but Pike knew he wasn’t completely in love with the fuchsia cabinets.
“Dream big.” Pike knew that between his professor’s salary and Zack’s pay from the navy, it might be awhile before they could tackle a project that huge.
“Speaking of dreams…” Pike’s mom got a sly look in her eye. “I’ve got a surprise for you guys.”
“Oh?” Knowing her, a surprise could be anything from his favorite pasta for dinner to a load of tiles needing installing.
“It’s Pride weekend. I was thinking you guys could take BART into the city…”
“Oh…um…” Zack turned almost the same color as their cabinets back home.
“You’ve never been to Pride?” Pike’s mom was a pretty good guesser. “I think you should go. Let Pike show you around today, and then you can do the parade tomorrow. I brought him to Pride long before he ever came out to me. It’ll be fun for you guys.”
“Fun.” Zack swallowed hard, and Pike was about to reassure him that they didn’t have to go, when his mom spoke again.
“And… I’ve got a friend who works for a nice downtown hotel, near where all the businesses will be having Pride specials. Not surprisingly, the hotel is booked solid this weekend, but I told her a few weeks ago how you guys never really got a honeymoon. She called this morning to say there had been a last minute cancellation, and she’s saving a suite for you guys for the night. A treat from her and I.”
“Oh wow.” Pike had been ambivalent about going, but now he kinda wanted to. Not that his mom’s guest room was awful or anything, but it wasn’t exactly a ton of privacy for the rare weekend he got with Zack off duty. If nothing else, they could go lock themselves in the suite and see how many ways Zack could fuck him before checkout. But, he couldn’t say that in front of his mom, so he tried giving Zack a meaningful look. “Hotel room sounds nice.”
“We shouldn’t let you spend your money on us.” Zack chewed the inside of his cheek.
“Already a done deal. Consider it a late wedding present. Now how about we get these cabinets finalized, then you guys can catch the BART and be there in time for check-in at the hotel and all the afternoon festivities for Pride?”
“Sounds good,” Pike answered for both of them, then turned to Zack. “We can always get dinner out downtown then chill with a movie in the hotel room. We don’t have to do the Pride thing if you’re not up for it.”
“Okay. I guess that works.” Zack turned his attention back to the cabinets, but Pike knew him well enough by now to know he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the prospect.
Pike waited until his mother left the room to go fetch another drill to broach the subject again. “I don’t need to do Pride. Sure, it’s a lot of fun, but it’s also a huge crowd. I understand that you might not be up for it.”
“It’s not that I’m not proud of you, of us, of what we have together.” Zack’s cheeks were still pink. “And we haven’t been out together like dancing or to a bar in ages. We could go, I guess, and just look around. I’ve just heard stories about how wild Pride gets…”
“No one’s suggesting public fucking,” Pike dropped his voice in case his mother was close by. “But, yes, dancing with you is always fun, and it’s nice to do it in a supportive environment where we can be ourselves. And I know this scene pretty well—we don’t have to go to any of the leather events or other things like that.”
“I dunno. You might look good in one those harnesses.” Zack was clearly warming to the idea of going to Pride, which made Pike grin at him.
“So we can go?”
“We can go. Let’s get on with these cabinets so that we can make the train.”
A couple of hours later, the cabinets were in place and they were freshly showered and packing a backpack for the night at the hotel.
“What exactly does one wear to Pride?” Zack considered the clothes spread out on Pike’s mom’s guest room bed. “I don’t wanna look like a country hick, but I’m also not wearing leather go-go shorts or something like on TV.”
“You’re in luck. No go-go shorts here.” Pike went to the closet. He had more stuff here than Zack did, holdovers from when he’d lived at home and past visits. “I’m wishing I had a ‘Proud of my Navy Husband’ T-shirt, but I think I can find something here…”
“Would you really wear that?” Zack’s voice was soft.
“Absolutely. Every other day.” Pike gave him a quick kiss before turning back to the closet. “I really am. So proud of you. And proud to be a navy spouse. We’ve got a pretty awesome network of people back in San Diego now.”
“We really do. Oh, wear that one!” Zack pointed at a T-shirt Pike hadn’t seen in forever of Batman kissing Superman. “That’s pretty awesome.”
“You sure? It pretty much leaves little doubt to strangers…”
“Neither do these.” Zack waggled his ring finger at Pike. “Wear it. But what about me? None of your shirts are gonna fit me…”
“Never say never.” Pike found a silky, stretchy black shirt that while cut like a T-shirt was closer to club wear, the way it clung to the body. He grabbed that and a wide, studded leather belt. “This shirt is gonna be tight, but that’s kind of the point. Wear it with your black jeans, boots, and this belt.”
“I think I look like a bouncer at one of the clubs in Hillcrest.” Zack gave an nervous laugh as he pulled on the clothes. He had to roll the sleeves of the shirt to accommodate his impressive biceps. All black was a great look on him, the contrast with his pale eyes and blond hair and tanned skin.
“Entirely the vibe I’m going for for you.” And damn, Zack did wear the hell out of those clothes. Dangerous. Ready for action. And all Pike’s. For himself, he pulled on red skinny jeans that he’d last worn several degrees ago and then added the T-shirt that Zack had liked.
“Fine. I’ll be your bodyguard.” Zack turned his attention to the backpack. “What else do we need?”
“Not pajamas.” Pike deliberately licked his lips. “And plenty of lube.”
“Oh? You got something planned?” Zack’s eyes flashed hot.
“You know it. But before I get tempted to show you, let’s head to the train.” Pike was a little too aware of his mom being awake and puttering around to want to get a little pre-hotel action. But once they were downtown? It was going to be on.
***
Zack still wasn’t sure what he thought about the look Pike had picked out for him. He had talked Zack into putting some product in his hair, which made him look even more like a bouncer at a gay bar. Back in San Diego, they mainly hung out with people who knew they were a couple like his SEAL friends and Pike’s professor circle, and he had become gradually more comfortable with PDA around them. It didn’t hurt that the other guys like Dylan and Apollo were all over each other. But out in public, like grocery shopping or at the home improvement store, Zack usually kept things a little closer to his chest. Sure people probably heard them speaking to each other and noticed the rings, but he didn’t go out of his way to advertise. This, however?
It was hard to get more out than holding hands on the BART with a guy wearing a shirt showing two superheroes making out, but when Pike had grabbed his hand, he’d known better than to pull away. And he did like the shirt on Pike. It was funny and sweet at the same time, just like his guy. They were far from the only same-sex couple on the train headed into downtown. The train reached standing room only pretty quickly, and there were a ton of people in rainbow shirts, socks, suspenders, and other accessories, and even guy in a pair of the leather hot pants he’d joked about to Pike. And as they walked from BART toward the civic center plaza, the city was absolutely jam packed with rainbow revelers of all ages and several different nationalities to boot. Zack liked looking at the families a lot—the two moms with matching babies in backpacks in front of them on the sidewalk. The dads wrangling two little girls in rainbow tutus. The parents wearing “I love my gay kid” PFLAG shirts with gangly teens in tow. The two, apparently on duty, cops in full uniforms, holding hands, badges gleaming in the afternoon sun. Zack gave them a respectful nod, unable to keep back his grin.
When he was out in the field with his SEAL team or talking with his own less-than-supportive family, it was easy to lose sight of how the world was changing, how much good was out there. They made their donations at the entry gates, and their backpack was searched at the checkpoint. Fuck. They really should have dropped it at the hotel first, but the burly guy in leather pants with a volunteer T-shirt merely nodded at the bottle of lube Zack had shoved on top of the clothes.
“Have a great Pride, guys.” The volunteer waved them into the celebration area, which spanned many blocks and included a bunch of different stages, and what felt like hundreds of vendors. And like 50,000 people swarming the streets. Actually, that might have been a low estimate. Somehow, though, the teeming mass of humanity calmed him. They were but two small dots in an endless throng of happy people. It was surprisingly easy to let go of his earlier worries and just enjoy the sights and sounds.
“Oooh! Temporary tattoos!” Pike went over to one of the vendor booths which sported all sorts of Pride inspired body art. “I’m still not sure whether to get actual ink, but I want one of these.”
“Huh. Maybe I’ll get one too.” Zack had been contemplating getting ink the past few years himself too, but couldn’t ever settle on design. Here, in the relative anonymity of the event, getting a rainbow temporary tat hardly seemed like some grand rebellion, and he browsed different designs.
“Get something that shows off your guns,” the young person working the booth advised. They reminded Zack of some of Pike’s nonbinary students with long straight hair and a black tank top showing off a dizzying array of art.
“Totally.” Pike grinned at him, holding up different designs to Zack’s bicep. “If I was the possessive type, I’d make you get my name as a cuff.”
Zack shrugged. “Morrison has Shelia’s name on his chest. If you really want…”
“I’m joking. You’re my husband. Not my property.” Pike held up a variety of different rainbow hearts. “One of these?”
“Hmmm.” His hand landed on a gorgeous rainbow piece of scroll work—similar to the barbed wire bicep tats really popular in the military, but this was more cheerful and upbeat, a subtle rainbow gradient making its way around the circle. “This?”
“Do it.” Pike selected one of the hearts for his own forearm, then watched while the sales clerk applied the tat to Zack’s bicep for him.
“This should last you the weekend. And if you like it enough to want it permanent, I’m slipping in a list of gay friendly tattoo places in the area with your receipt.”
“No way is he wanting it permanent.” Pike laughed as he paid for both of them.
“You don’t want me to get a tat for real?” Zack asked as they walked away from the booth.
“I didn’t say that.” Pike grabbed his hand. “But I know you. You’re not literally wearing a rainbow on your sleeve anywhere back home or on duty.”
Pike wasn’t wrong, but why that made Zack sad, he couldn’t say. But before he could pursue the topic with Pike further, they approached one the stages, this one with high flying acrobats dancing and flipping to a driving beat. The crowd roared its approval as the performers built a complex pyramid. The audience was full of even more families, tons of little kids trying out their own gymnastics while they watched.
“I wish my mom could see this.” He didn’t realize that he’d vocalized that thought until Pike turned toward him.
“For real?”
“I wish she could see all the families. How beautiful it is…” he trailed off not wanting to sound all emo or sappy.
“I know what you mean.” Pike squeezed his hand hard. “All the love here is pretty inspiring. And she sent you a birthday present this year. Maybe someday…”
“Yeah.” Polar ice caps melted faster than Zack’s mother, but he wasn’t completely giving up hope. And if there was one thing in abundance at Pride, it was hope. Hope in the families. Hope in the clumps of teens. Hope the groups of friends—bikers, dancers, hipsters—people of all walks of life. It was rare to see someone alone as almost everyone seemed to have found their tribe here.
Throat tight, he pulled Pike to him, pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I love you.”
“Love you too. But what brought that on?” Pike seemed more than a little surprised at Zack’s kiss, blinking rapidly. Hundreds around them were similarly affectionate, and Zack didn’t feel as uncomfortable as he would have thought, even a few hours earlier.
“Just thinking. How damn lucky I was to meet Ryan and the rest of our friends. And you. So lucky. You guys taught me to not be afraid of any of this. Gave me a place to be me. Not everyone gets that.”
“I’m lucky too.” Pike kissed him back. “Does this gratitude mean you’ll take me dancing tonight? You can say no, but all the music here has me really wanting to go out.”
“We can dance.” He held Pike a little closer, just because he could. Here, in this chaotic splendor of a celebration, he felt a million miles away from the guy he’d been only a few years ago. And here, he was the sort of guy with a rainbow on his arm who absolutely took his husband out dancing.