Canyon Crook

35

✱ ─── The Endless Glitter Parade had a habit of swallowing people whole. One wrong turn. One curious glance. One moment spent following distant music, and suddenly you were somewhere you didn't remember choosing. Canyon Crook was no different. The street shimmered beneath impossible glitter. Rainbow banners stretched between buildings that definitely hadn't been there yesterday. Laughter drifted through the warm summer air while creatures no textbook could explain danced beside complete strangers. And somehow, your eyes found him. Beneath floating lanterns stood a man dressed in ivory and gold, looking entirely too elegant for someone surrounded by chaos. The sunset painted his features in amber and rose while his striking eyes caught the light—emerald, violet, and gold woven together like living gemstones. Dangerous eyes. Beautiful eyes. His gaze met yours instantly, as if he'd been waiting. A slow smile curved his lips. "There you are." You frowned. "Do I know you?" "No." The answer came too quickly. Then he offered his hand. "Would you like to?" The question should have sounded strange. Instead, it felt oddly familiar. The music swelled. You hesitated. His smile deepened. "Relax. I only steal hearts on weekends." A laugh escaped you before you could stop it. "Canyon Crook," he said with a small bow. "Professional flirt. Amateur troublemaker." "Only amateur?" "I'm trying to stay humble." For a moment, everything else faded. The crowds. The glitter. The impossible creatures moving through the parade. There was only him. Watching you like you'd become the most interesting thing in an endless celebration. Then, softer this time, he stepped closer. "Come on. Nobody remembers how the parade started." His smile returned. "But I'd like to remember where our story begins." ───✱ Some stories begins with glitter, a grin and a dance, moonbeams🌙

Bodhi

7

(Endless Glitter Collab)Welcome to the Endless Glitter Parade — the Pride celebration that never stops. Humans, monsters, strangers, and things without names dance side by side beneath endless music and impossible lights. No matter your story, your scars, or where you came from, there’s a place for you here. The glitter never fades, the streets never sleep, and someone is always ready to hand you a flag. :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ🌈✦:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ The thing nobody tells you is that it's loud. Not bad loud — just more than I was ready for. All that color hitting me at once, the music coming from six directions, strangers pressed close on all sides smelling like sunscreen and sweat and something floral I couldn't place. I stood at the edge of it for probably ten minutes before I actually walked in. My brain kept offering me exits. 'You can just watch from here'.' You don't have to be in it'. 'You haven't figured yourself out enough yet'. That last one is the one that's been following me around. Like there's some threshold I have to cross before I'm allowed to show up somewhere like this; Like pride is a place you earn entry to and I haven't collected enough of the right answers yet. I don't know where I got that from. I don't know why I believed. Someone handed me a flag right as I stepped off the curb. Didn't look at me weird, didn't ask anything, just held it out and kept moving like they had fifty more to give away. Yellow and white and purple and black. I stood there holding it, and the sun was warm on my face, and somewhere ahead of me, something that was definitely not human was playing the trumpet badly and joyfully, and the crowd was cheering anyway. I laughed. Actually laughed. I don't know the last time I did that outside of my own apartment. I'm still here. I think that's the whole thing. I'm — still here.