Jay felt his heart flying. He was surrounded by music, by smiling, by laughter. Pride flags soared in the sky, and the general power of a community coming together lifted everybody's spirits.

The weather was wonderful. The sun was shining down, so hot that Jay had to take off his hoodie.

Pride had got off to a great start.

The parade was in full blast. A bunch of girls dressed in pastel dresses were handing out flowers, and one of them handed one to Jay. He whispered a thanks and spun it in his fingers, slipping it into his hair. He was at Pride, he could at least slightly spruce up his outfit.

Rainbows everywhere. A smile crept onto his face, and he developed a skip in his step.

None of the other ninja knew he was here. He said he was going to go and visit his parents, and instead, took a bus into the town centre and joined the masses of people gathering there. Probably a few thousand.

While he was waiting for the parade to start, he bought a bracelet patterned with the Bi flag. He'd have to hide it once he got back to the Bounty, but it was still worth it.

Jay didn't know many other people, so he was completely surrounded by strangers. Friendly strangers, granted, but it was still a little bit overwhelming. For somebody who was usually social, masses of strangers still scared him a little bit.

Though.. speaking of strangers... there was a familiar silhouette in the crowds ahead of him. Blonde hair, with a... rainbow coloured headband.

No... it couldn't be...

Lloyd?

No way! Jay blinked a few times and hurried forwards. Yeah. It was definitely Lloyd.

Jay was too nervous to go at talk to him, worried that, maybe, for some reason, Lloyd wasn't in the middle of a LGBTQ+ Pride parade to support.

It seems as if he didn't need to, as Lloyd turned his head, massive grin on his face and general joy in his eyes, yet, when his gaze fell on Jay, a surprised expression took over.

It seemed like he was doing the same as Jay did, figuring out if that was actually Jay Walker. Not just some doppelgänger.

Lloyd cocked his head to the side, observing him, and Jay gave him a little wave.

"Jaaaaaay?"

Lloyd ran over to him and broke out in smile again.

"Jay! I didn't expect to see anybody else here!"

"Neither did I! How come you're here?"

Lloyd's cheeks flushed and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, since you're at Pride, I'm assuming you're not homophobic, so... uh..." he started, trying to get his words out, "I don't like... ugh let me start again, I've never done this before. You know girls, right?"

"Right?"

"Well, I don't swing that way..."

Jay nodded, not actually all that surprised.

"You're gay? I mean, cool. Hell yeah."

"I just came out for the first time ever, you gotta be proud of me."

"Haha, sure thing small fry."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, and then returned the question.

"I've told you, now, how come you're here?"

Jay considered telling him about his gender situation, but decided differently as coming out as Trans was a much larger deal than coming out as Bi. In his opinion anyway.

Instead, he just showed Lloyd his Bi bracelet.

"I swing both ways."

They started walking again, as they had began to hold up a few people.

"Nobody else knows you're Bi? Just me? Don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

"Yeah. I've known for quite a while."

"How did you find out? Crushes on guys and girls?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Ohh! Who?"

"Nobody you know, apart from Nya, but as you're aware, we're kinda past the crush stage. What about you?"

"The thought of like, girls, being with girls, kissing girls, never appealed to me. Boobs for example. They're sacks of flesh on somebody's chest. Where's the appeal in that?"

Jay had to hold in a laugh at that.

"I meant if you've liked any guys."

"Well... yeah. I can see a man in the street and think he's gorgeous."

Jay started pulling his 'I'm about to say something risky' face and Lloyd almost knew what was coming.

"Soooo... do you think Kai's gorgeous?"

Lloyd gave him a weird look.

"No? Why'd you think that?"

"Then why do you admire him from across the deck while we're training? Cole's noticed that too."

"Jeez Jay, I can't believe you noticed I was staring but not what I was staring at."

"... what were you staring at then?"

"Kai has a habit of constantly flexing whenever we're all training. He tries to make it look like he isn't but it's so obvious and I think it's hilarious."

"... please remind me to catch a glimpse of this next time we're all on deck."

Jay ruffled his hair and felt a strange bonding. He felt... not as alone. Not as solitary.

"You'd better not tell a soul."

"I won't, I promise."

Lloyd made him do a pinkie swear before he was satisfied.

"The Parade is almost done. The festival is taking place in town square."

"Do you know who's playing?"

"No idea. I just know that there's going to be a Fitz Donegan stall somewhere, and believe me, I'm not just going to ignore that."

As soon as they entered the festive area, Lloyd dragged Jay over to the Fitz Donegan stall and spent a little while piling up on merchandise and excitedly chatting with the stall holder.

After Lloyd had finally finished, they went and sat somewhere to talk some more.

"How come there's a Donegan stall at Pride?" Jay asked.

"It's because the franchise has recently taken a different turn, and it's getting super diverse. There are a bunch of LGBT characters, and people are calling it revolutionary. There isn't much diversity in the popular comic scene."

"Cool."

There was a short silence before Lloyd started talking again.

"About Kai... do you know what his views are... you know... about people being gay?"

"No, not really. I just know that he's kinda iffy about trans people. Which... probably isn't a good sign."

Jay managed to out a smile back on his face.

"I don't get why Kai hates the idea of trans people so much." Lloyd wondered, swinging his legs back and fourth.

"What are your thoughts on them?" Jay asked. Lloyd looked at him.

"I think transphobia is stupid. One of the things I stick by to deal with people is, if they aren't hurting anybody, why the hell should they stop. Trans people don't hurt others by being trans. Hating them for just... existing, makes no sense to me."

"You'll make a great Sensei one day."

"Gee. Thanks."

Jay felt a lot safer now. He still wasn't ready to come out, but at least, now, he knew that when he did, he'd have somebody supporting him.

They stayed at Pride till it started getting dark, then they decided to head back to the Bounty together.

"Did the others know you were going to Pride?" Jay questioned.

"No. I told them I was going to the comic book store."

"I said I was visiting my parents. We can just say we bumped into each other on the way back."

"Sure thing."

"And... mutual agreement to never mention we went to Pride?"

"Agreed."

The Bounty was currently stationed a few minutes walk out of the city, so by the time they got home, it was almost dark.

It was Zane's night to cook, and they could already smell delicious scents coming from the ship.

The day had seemed to get better and better and better.