Pink Passion or the Turquoise Dream? [Rhi]

[Blue]

Ran stared blankly for a moment.
“Yeah I can see that.”
He muttered. He’d never really seen his friend full on dressed like a woman. As expected, Kota pulled it off freakishly well. White was a good color on him.
Wow ok brain, just go sit in a corner now. Fashion shit is not your forte.

He skirted past Dakota on his way to the tiny kitchen alcove, sitting himself back on the bed somewhat awkwardly. Man his trouble senses were tingling right now. There had to be something coming, some cruel trick waiting.
Still, wrapped wrists in his lap, he gave an amused sort of grin.
“You sure did some shopping. Uh…nice dress. Which is really weird to say. What did you bring for lunch?”
Man thank god he was still somewhat able to play it cool.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Dakota followed Ran to his bed and, floofing his skirts out, took a seat beside him.

"Thank you!" he said, beaming happily. He set the paper bag between them and brought out two paper-wrapped items. One had an X on it, while the other was blank. He handed the blank one to Ran; that was the sandwich that had the meat. "I brought us sandwiches! I imagine it's been a while since you've had outside food, and now that I'm Stage 5, well, I can shower you with more!"

He began to unwrap his own sandwich, carefully and only after spreading several napkins across his lap to protect his dress. "Anyway, this is from a little sandwich shop down the way. 100% organic! No artificial garbage. It's amaaaazing."

[Blue]

Ran fought, and failed, not to shift awkwardly as Kota sat next to him amid ruffles and lace. This was so bizarre. So, so, so bizarre. He had to remind himself a few times this was his best friend here. There was no reason to feel so uneasy. And if Kota did exact his revenge today? Well, Ran knew he deserved it, so it was ok! So come on man, just relax already.

Luckily their normal banter came easily enough.
“…Oh shit I didn’t even think of that! You could be my food smuggler. That’s a freaking GREAT idea haha!”
Amused with the prospect of ‘outside food’, he took the sandwich and bit into it. He was still fairly clumsy, what with his wrists both wrapped and all and unable to bend. He glanced over at the napkin blanket Kota had made for himself, and fought back a snort of amusement.
Munching away, he rolled his sea green eyes as his friend gushed.
“You and your organic food. Honestly if it tastes good, that’s enough for me. And yes, this does taste good, healthy crap or not.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Food smuggler. That sounds so dangerous and covert and important! I like it!" Dakota said, daintily eating his own sandwich. "Feel free to text me requests! Just no fast food. You know I don't do fast food."

That stuff was just pure awful, all that unnatural junk that stuck to your arteries and made your heart clog up! Sure there were treatments for that, but it was best not to get to that point in the first place!

On the last half of his sandwich, he side-eyed Ran as he ate, noting the difficulty he was having. Chuckling, he shook his head. "Look at you, poor thing. Still can't really use them, huh?"

[Blue]

Ran rolled his bright eyes, a bit more exaggerated than necessary.
“Fine fine, no fast food. Man, what a buzz kill. Can’t even clog my arteries with you around.”
Grinning, he continued to awkwardly eat his own sandwich. Ok but really the worst part so far had actually been his morning shower. You didn’t realize how much you used something until it was injured, that was for sure. And for BOTH of his wrists to be out of commission really royally sucked.
Well that’s what he got for roughhousing.

He sighed at that question, waving one stiff hand around for emphasis.
“It blows. At least a month for these wrappings, so says the doc. He also told me to be more careful getting out of the shower next time.”
At that he laughed, actually quite amused, given how absurdly wrong it was when compared to the actual situation that had caused his injury.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Mouth full of food, Dakota snorted a laugh in a most unrefined manner. He covered his mouth with another napkin and smiled, a bit embarrassed.

"He bought the story, then?" he asked and laughed again, trying to picture the scene. Oh, poor doctor. Then again, knowing doctors, he was certain they saw a lot that was worse--or more unusual. Candidates got bored and stressed, after all, and that lead to questionable exploits.

He pat Ran on the shoulder. "So have you been following his orders?" he teased. "No more wild, crazy shower business?"

[Blue]

Ran snickered mildly at his friend’s near miss with snorting his own food. For as dainty as the guy was trying to be today, that was pretty amusing to watch.
He finished off his sandwich easily enough, before the pat on the back. Chuckling, he gave a lopsided grin.
“Oh yeah, I’ve kept the shower trips tame, don’t worry. No more wild bubble parties for me.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

"None? Aw. But that's right, you don't have a bathtub here."

Dakota let out a blissful sigh, gathering up his wrapper and stuffing it into the bag before setting it aside. "My apartment has a bathtub, Ran. Not just a shower, but a tub. I get to have bubble baths!"

He gave him a teasing grin. "When you graduate, you can, too!"

[Blue]

Making an effort at balling up his own wrapper, he decided it wasn’t worth the effort to try and get it into the paper bag with Kota’s. He chose to toss it in that general direction and let it be. He could clean up later anyway.
The mention of bubble baths made him laugh. How appropriate for Dakota.
“I don’t know about the bubbles, but man a hot bath sounds frickin amazing. How’s that for unwinding after a day at work? I sometimes forget the perks that come with graduating, after getting so used to things here.”
He waved at this room idly with a wrapped hand. He still had to actually manage to get past this stage though, and figuring out his power would be key. He didn’t wanna get eaten by a dragon, after all.
Aside from that, he felt kinda bad that Kota had to go out of his way to come hang with him now. Aw shit, speaking of that.
“Thanks for the food Kota.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

"You're welcome! Someone's got to make sure you're properly fed. And honestly, Candidate food is so gross. All those preservatives..." Dakota trailed off as he eyed Ran's wrapper, sitting right next to the bag because Ran couldn't be bothered to reach over and manually put it in. They were only a few inches apart! Was it seriously that strenuous?

With a sigh and a shake of his head, he tucked the trash away and, hopping to his feet, he made sure the bag landed where it belonged: in the trash. He gave Ran a very pointed look as he performed the task. That done, he spread his skirts and sat back down.

"As I was saying," he said, leaning in and nudging Ran in the side, "you haven't lived until you've had a bubble bath. When you graduate, I'll have to drag you over so you can get the full experience! A nice, bubbly soak and a full-on makeover! And movies! Haha, we can have sleepovers!"

[Blue]

“I’m definitely down with you being my food smuggler. I gotta agree with you on the candidate food, if not for the same reasons, heh. I miss real food like you wouldn’t believe.”
And then Kota was cleaning up after him. At that rather pointed stare, Ran found something quite interesting to stare at on the ceiling. It couldn’t have been any more comical unless he’d started whistling too. Man couldn’t even make a mess in his own room! Heheh, that was just like Kota though.

The nudge earned a snort from Ran.
“It’s not like I’ve never had one before, come on, I’m not that uncultured. Its just been a long time and I think I’ll definitely enjoy it more as an adult. Ah but you and your makeovers!”
Laughing, he gave Kota a rather firm nudge over.
“Seriously you’re possibly more suited to be a stylist than a Pilot the way you go on about this stuff. Though hell, on the flip side, guess I won’t have to worry about appearances with you as my personal aid over here.”
Honestly it’d be nice to be able to hang out with Kota more regularly, but at the same time he was pretty sure he was going to end up knowing way too much about how it felt to be a teenage girl.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Well, I did want to be a beautician before all this happened," Dakota said with a sigh. "And as you can see, I haven't given up that dream! I don't know what you mean by I'm more suited to that, though. Just what are you implying?"

He fixed Ran with a mock scowl, gave a little huff, and crossed his arms. "I can be a very deadly stylist, you know! Why, I'll bet I could make a weapon of a blow-drier! Shoot electricity and bad guys and all that! Electrocute them with hairspray! Stab them in the eye with a pair of scissors! Or, you know..." His scowl melted into a grin. "Wreck their day with a bad haircut? Honestly, I think that's the most grisly of those options."

Reaching out, he casually ran his fingers through Ran's hair. "Speaking of which, you look about due for a trim."

[Blue]

Ran would liked to have kept a straight face, but in the end the visuals proved too much for him. A sputtered snort escaped him before he burst into laughter, shoulders shuddering as he curled up and attempted to stifle it. All he could picture was Kota in a dress shooting electricity out of a blow dryer, the salon in shambles and some movie style pyrotechnics in the background. It was the single most absurd thing he’d ever imagined and he was almost to the point of tears because of it.
Still recovering, he could hardly answer his friend.
“O-Oh yeah…definitely the worst…”
And then he fell into another burst of snickering.
He was wiping the corners of his eyes when Kota reached out to his hair, and the need for a trim was mentioned.
“Eh? What, do I have split ends or something?”
He plucked at his own hair idly, and then shot his friend a sideways glance.
“After that talk of poking people in the eye with scissors, I may not be letting you near me with any sharp objects for awhile.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

Dakota weathered the laughing fit with a tired, long-suffering look on his face. He honestly didn't see what was so funny about anything he'd said. He thought it sounded pretty badass and scary, because how freakish would getting attacked by an innocuous item like a blow dryer be?

By the time Ran was finished, Dakota was pouting. "I might jab you with them just for that," he said with a sniff and roll of his eyes, and ruffled Ran's hair until it was good and messy for good measure. "Really, a blow-dryer gun would be terrifying! Jeez! But anyway, yeah. Your hair's kind of...well..."

He eyed the ends. "Split ends, yeah. And dry. Have you ever heard of conditioner?"

[Blue]

Ran endured the ruffling easily enough, mainly because he was laughing again. And anyway, there was no reason to risk injuring himself by trying to fend off the ‘attack’ - mussed hair was not quite the nightmare to him that it was to his friend.
Terrifying indeed.
Then it was his turn to roll impossibly bright eyes up toward the ceiling.
“Honestly Kota I’m not a caveman, yes I know what conditioner is. Believe it or not, I use it. There’s some in my shower if you care to check.”
He smirked then, a flash of white teeth in his usual manner.
“Just be careful you know, it’s surprisingly dangerous in there.”
He waved a wrapped wrist about for good measure. Dangerous showering was already shaping up to be a joke he refused to drop for awhile yet.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"It must be your shampoo, then," Dakota said, blinking in obvious surprise. Alright, so maybe he had been assuming Ran was a caveman as far as this stuff went! Then he grimaced. "Oh, of course it's the shampoo. The shampoo here was awful! Sorry, I got a little spoiled, being able to buy my own stuff again. I'll bring you some of mine! It's organic and amazing. No parabens or harmful sulfates or anything! That'll probably help."

His hand was still in Ran's hair as he talked, absently stroking his scalp. While it seemed like an absentminded gestures, as though he'd forgotten his hand was even still there, he rather liked messing with Ran's hair. Even if he felt it had room for improvement.

"Yes, I think I'll do that. I'll skip the trip to the shower, though! Sounds...too extreme, even for me! Ah! Speaking of extreme, as in extremely cute, I forgot to show you!"

Standing up abruptly, he hiked up his dress, clear to his thighs, so Ran could properly see his stockings--and the garter and garter clips attached to them, pink and white to match his dress. "Look! I found these last minute!" he said, grinning. "Good thing, too. The stockings kept falling down."

[Blue]

“I have…no idea what you’re talking about, but sure. And geeze, are you gonna keep rubbing it in that you get to come and go now?”
Even though he said it as a jab, he was smirking despite himself. He didn’t really hold that against his friend - if anything, he was happy for Kota to have gotten to stage 5. And hey, now he could get stuff from outside the ACT with his personal ‘smuggler’ right?

He didn’t think much of the idle rubbing, although it did feel nice and soothing. He just wasn’t paying it any particular attention.
“Eh?”
Extremely cute?

…………..
……….
….

“Don’t FLASH me, jesus Kota!”
Jerking and flushing a bit at the abruptness of it all, he ended up with quite the eyeful despite his intentions. Oh great, yet another questionable visual to have burned into his mind! Honestly, he didn’t really want garter belts and stockings to be associated with his best friend…those were supposed to be sexy!
“Ok ok, I see em, put your dress down! Eeesh man. The pictures weren’t enough, you gotta give me a live show too??”

[Rhi-Rhi]

Dakota made a face, face scrunching in distaste. "Flash you? This? It's just legs, Ran. And it's a pair of covered legs. Stocking-covered legs. Honestly, you can't get any more decent than that! Gods, you would think I'd dropped my drawers and mooned you!"

But then he paused, glancing at Ran's flushed face, and grinned slowly. His head tilted, curious.

"Wait. Are you blushing? Raaan. Don't tell me stockings are a thing for you...?"

[Blue]

Right, covered legs. Stocking covered legs. His male best friend’s stocking covered legs! It still wasn’t exactly something he wanted to see! Even if Kota had something of a feminine face, his body was still male, and it was…kind of an odd mix.
“Yeah yeah, well all the same don’t moon me either.”

He shifted uncomfortably…and was struck dumb by the next question. He stared at Kota, and then blushed both out of embarrassment and a bit of flustered anger.
“Don’t say it like that! It’s not like I have a kink or something…”
He rubbed his face vigorously. This was ridiculous.
“Stockings are pretty hot, sure, but like…it’s a bit awkward to see them on you, ya know?? Er, I‘m not trying to bash your tastes or anything…”
It was kind of hard to say what was on his mind without accidentally insulting his bud…

[Rhi-Rhi]

Dakota burst out laughing and flopped onto the bed beside Ran.

"Oh, Ran! You don't have to get so defensive. It's okay if you've got a kink! Or a fetish. That's half the reason I wear them. The other half being they look pretty fantastic on me," he said with a wink. "Wear what makes you feel good, right?"

He kicked out his legs, glancing down at them. "I guess I can see how it's awkward, though, if you haven't been exposed to it a lot."