Pink Passion or the Turquoise Dream? [Rhi]

[Blue]

This was already a regular occurrence…or, well, part of it was anyway. By now he was used to the currently Stage 5 candidate hanging out in his room - the man was his best friend, and had been for quite a while now. They’d even been roomies, at least until one had gone to Stage 5 and moved into the Citadel.
Of course, that hadn’t stopped them from hanging out whenever the opportunity presented itself.
All that being said, today was still…uh…different.

A long time ago Raniero had heard about his friend, Dakota’s, original life plan - that was to be a stylist. Now Ran had always known Dakota wasn’t the most…masculine guy out there.
To be honest, he was basically a chick without boobs at this point.
Still, Ran was chill enough not to really care - not to mention you’d take any friends and allies you could get in this sort of place. That wasn’t to say he was all that eager to be used as a guinea pig for all of Dakota’s style ideas and new products.
After years of being badgered though, it was inevitable he’d eventually cave.

So here he was - sitting in his room, across from his long time friend, and utterly surrounded by things that should really only be seen in a woman’s bathroom. To say he was mortified was an understatement, but he was putting on a brave face - he was a bit paler than usual, but hey he could buck up and deal with it like a…man…oh hell.
At least there was nobody around to see this happening.
“So, uh, Kota…what exactly are you planning on doing again?”

[Rhi-Rhi]

It was the day Dakota had been waiting for for years.

The day he could finally make-over his friend!

What could he say? He was a helper and he wanted his friend to look his best. Plus it was hard enough finding willing [strike:136nfs82]victims[/strike:136nfs82] volunteers in this place where so many folks were just so...so...stiff and full of machismo. What? Like you couldn't kick ass and look fabulous at the same time? Pah! As far as he was concerned, he wanted to hand down Piloty baddassery and look immaculate in the process. You never knew when there would be photographers and interviews so it was nice to be prepared! Same way you always packed away a pair of clean underwear when you went out on the town 'cause you never knew when you'd get lucky.

People were just so silly about this stuff.

"Well!" Dakota said with a smile as he started to unload the tote bag he'd brought, setting various skin and hair products onto Raniero's bedside table. He'd probably brought way more than he needed, and way more than Raniero would be receptive of--but he figured he should come prepared for anything! May as well push his luck while he had his friend a ready and willing captive!

"I was thinking we'd start small. Like, you know, your hands! Now, I don't know about you, but my hands just get so dry, you know? I think it's the electricity. All that static! Or maybe it's the other way around, I get all static-y because of the dryness. Whatev! A good moisturizer helps a lot, though! Now give me your hand."

Dakota didn't wait for Ran to obey. Settling down on the bed, Dakota snatched up his friend's hand and turned it over, examining it this way and that and making disapproving tutting noises.

"Now, I know we're all very physical here but that's no excuse! We're almost Pilots and public image is very important! What are you currently using?"

[Blue]

In retrospect, the whole ‘sitting on the bed’ thing was actually making this whole uncomfortable situation that much worse. He now felt like a girl at a slumber party, preparing to have a make-over. Only…a lot less willing and eager. He was trying incredibly hard to keep it from showing on his face - he didn’t really want to hurt Kota’s feelings, the guy was his best friend.
Even if he did feel like a teenage girl right now.

The waves of enthusiasm were almost visible as they emanated from the excited Stage 5 candidate, and Ran couldn’t stop one of his dark eyebrows from arching slightly in amusement. Hot damn he was seriously into this…Ran would really have to watch him otherwise he’d end up with make-up or something at the end of this.
“Guess I never thought about potentially making my static problem worse.” he chimed in, though as per usual Kota had already snagged his hand before he’d even had a chance to register the request. By now though, the large teen was used to casual touch from his friend - and as per usual, there was a slight arc of electricity that bridged their hands moments before they touched.

By the time Kota had finished inspecting and tutting over his hand, both of Ran’s eyebrows had arched over his bright sea-green eyes. This guy…I’m being chastised over my dry skin. The grin was quick in spreading across his lips, but it was rather more the opportunity for an off color joke that was causing him such amusement.
“Hell Kota, I don’t know, I’ve never really paid attention. I don’t really use lotion for my hands if you know what I mean.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

"I know exactly what you mean. Dry elbows, right? That's the worst. Mine would get so bad sometimes they'd get all cracked and--" Dakota shuddered. "Not good. Knees, too. But you really should give your hands some attention, too. Everyone notices hands and you use them for everything so it's really easy to get them all banged up."

Still holding Ran's hand in one of his, Dakota used his free hand to rummage about in his pack of supplies for what he needed, bringing out a small tube of cream. He squirted some onto Ran's hand and then started to massage it in, working from wrist to finger-tips and paying special attention to his cuticles. If Ran was uncomfortable, Dakota didn't seem at all bothered, like this was the most natural thing in the world. Not only was he comfortable with Ran himself, but he was also just comfortable with casual touch in general and had always been the grabby sort.

"You should also consider a face moisturizer. Dry skin looks older, you know. Oh, and preferably, you should use one with an SPF of at least fifteen. Not that you need it here, but once you get out on missions and stuff--whoo! That sun is fierce. Oh! And before I forget..."

Dakota nodded to his bag, now working on Ran's other hand. "I brought two colors I thought would look fabulous on you. Which speaks to you: Pink Passion or Turquoise Dream?"

[Blue]

Without fail, Kota delivered a beautifully ‘ignorant’ response to Ran’s joke. A bark of bright laughter escaped the dark skinned teen at that, and he had to reign in his chuckling in order to respond.
“Oh yeah, those dry elbows are something else.” There was still a snicker in his voice, a full on smile flashing his white teeth.
The hand massage was actually kind of nice, once Ran got over the dark amusement at the tube of lotion. Kota was good at this, unsurprisingly - briefly Ran wondered if he could somehow convince his friend to give him a back rub later. That would be fucking phenomenal.

“You trying to say I look old Kota?” was his quippy reply, though he was amused rather than actually offended of course. But man, how many places did he need to put lotion on anyway??
“You know Kota, I’m beginning to think it’d just be easier to bathe in lotion at this rate. I’m gonna spend twenty minutes every day just trying to moisturize every inch of my skin.”

And then bombshell number one. Ran blinked bright blue-green eyes once, twice, three times. Then he stared at the bag for a long moment. And then back at Kota’s face.
There was that deep terror of not knowing what exactly Kota was referring to, coupled with some really frilly sounding color names.
Why the hell was he playing along with this again…? What a best friend he had…
“Uh…I guess ‘Turquoise Dream’ sounds slightly less mortifying to me.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

"You will start to look old if you don't take care of yourself," Dakota answered, deadpan, still massaging Ran's hand. "And putting lotion everywhere would just be awkward. Applying it to the places that are normally exposed will suffice and it shouldn't take twenty minutes to do that, either."

Poor, poor Ran. He really was taking this like a champ. For a moment there, Dakota had been afraid that he'd gone too far, that maybe he should have gone for a more neutral color, that he'd just ruined his opportunity to completely spoil his friend and that any second now he'd be bolting out of the room like a spooked hare.

But then Ran picked a color and Dakota visibly relaxed, a bright smile spreading across his face. He dropped Ran's hand so he could clap his own. "Excellent choice! That'll go amazing with your eyes! See?" Reaching into the pack, he pulled out some bright turquoise nail polish and held it up at eye level. "It's a near perfect match!"

[Blue]

“Mmm, full body lotion, something to try next time I have company.” Was his only reply to Kota’s deadpan response, a deviously rogue grin on his face as he sometimes got. With his looks, that sort of dangerous grin tended to just make him that much more attractive - unfortunately he hardly ever got a chance to exploit that with the ladies. The higher in the program he went, the busier he got - getting laid was becoming a hell of a chore.

Ran couldn’t help but to notice the obvious relief that had washed over Kota when he’d picked a color. Man, this guy was really loving it…Ran gave a mental sigh. Backing out now seemed like kicking a puppy or something…then again, Kota’s sad or disappointed face was worse than kicking a puppy. It was down-right crippling, like a woman crying or something. Ridiculous.
Guess there was really nothing to be done about it - he wanted to keep his damn best friend happy.

Oh. Nail polish. Well, could be worse, heh. Blinking those matching eyes, Ran was kind of surprised to see just how uncannily similar the polish was.
“Woah. It really is.”
Then his brain caught up.
“Wait. Did you do that on purpose?? Do you have my exact eye color memorized?”

[Rhi-Rhi]

Dakota let out a bright laugh and shook his head. "Oh, no, silly! I have pictures," he said, as though it were the most obvious thing ever.

"With all the information being crammed into my head, it's hard enough remembering what I look like sometimes. No, I just shopped around and compared until I found a match. I figured I'd pick a 'safe' color and a more 'edgy' color, in case you wanted to be daring. You know, 'real men wear hot pink' and all. It's very in this year."

Dakota fished out a file and, grasping Ran's hand, he went to work evening out his nails. "Manicures in general aren't just a girl thing either, you know. Lots of men get them. They're very relaxing. Pedicures, too. Oh! I could give you a pedicure! They're lovely. There's nothing wrong with spoiling yourself, Ran. Goodness, lots of Pilots do it."

[Blue]

Right, pictures, silly him. The fact Dakota had actually spent the time to compare nail polish colors to his eyes was the truly frightening part. Who did that?? Fuck, he couldn’t even think of any girl who would do that. His brosef was really something else.
He just shook his head with a sigh, his inky black ponytail sliding off his shoulder at the motion.
“Thanks but I think I’ll be keeping pink out of my wardrobe this year. And the year after that. For eternity.”

With troubled sea green eyes, Ran watched as Dakota took a file to his nails. What in the fuck was going on, it was like the twilight zone or something. To think he’d be sitting here, getting a manicure…and that it’d be his best dude friend doing it. Even if he was sitting still and being a ‘good boy’ about it, his brain was still in a constant state of boggling.
“You seriously want to touch my feet now too? You know, fuck it, as long as there’s a massage involved, I can deal.”
Speaking of which, he was still pretty dead set on making sure he got that back rub thrown in too. If he was going to have to be ‘spoiled’, then he was damn well gonna make sure he actually got to do something that was legit fun.

You know, after he got his nails painted. Fuck.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Oh, well, of course. It wouldn't be a proper pedicure without one," Dakota said with a cheery smile that belied the more devious thoughts beneath. A massage, huh? He wondered what else Ran would play guinea pig to with the proper bribing...

He finished filing Ran's nails, cleaned away the leftover nail-dust, and then took a cuticle-pusher to his fingers. Goodness. It was like he'd never paid attention to his nails in his life, and Dakota found himself tutting disdainfully as he worked, shaking his head. It didn't take long to finish, though (he didn't want to torture his friend too much on his first time lest he never agreed to this again!), and finally he got to applying the actual polish.

It was a brilliant shade of turquoise, rich and vibrant with a slight iridescent sheen. Because plain polish was just boring and, alright...so he'd brought some decals and gems with him, too...

"It looks even better on than in the bottle!" Dakota said as he worked. "Oh, I should have brought my peacock decals. Those would look amazing against this color."

[Blue]

Indeed, Ran was a very simple man - if you knew what to offer him, it was pretty likely you could get what you wanted out of him. Well…baring some things, he supposed…
…
…none really came to mind at the moment, but he DID have limits okay!?

“Great…a bit bizarre still, but it’s a massage so I won’t complain.”
As mortifying as this was, it was kind of amusing too. Who had a best friend willing to rub their feet, really now. Not a half bad consolation prize, all things considered.
The tutting over his nails had him biting his lip in an effort not to laugh. Really huh? That bad? So bad you have to keep making noises about how bad it is? Without actually saying anything? Cuz you know, not like your face isn’t showing your disappointment or anything there Kota. Not at all. Nope.

…wait, what?
“You…have peacock decals? What, painting the nails in a shimmering shade of turquoise or pink isn’t enough? You gotta stick things on them too? How distracting do nails need to be?”
Seriously, at a certain point you could just flash somebody your nails and they would be so stunned you could probably rob them blind.
….
…..peacock decals. What the hell.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Oh, it's not that bizarre," Dakota said with a smile. "Don't worry, it's perfectly normal and not at all homoerotic, I promise. Many men give men massages, just like women give women massages. Some people prefer same-sex massages because it makes it less uncomfortable. You know, if you're a man that fancies women, things could get a little...awkward... when you have a lovely lady rubbing all over you."

At Ran's question, Dakota nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes! I just picked them up the other day! I just hadn't unpacked them yet so I forgot them...but I still have those!"

He nodded toward his bag of miscellaneous wonders and flashed Ran a happy grin. "You can look through it! I have a lot of other decals and gems. Ah! I could do an ocean theme! Or maybe a constellation..."

[Blue]

Ran just stared at Dakota for a long moment, a look of…well, it was kind of hard to really describe it. Part confusion, part horror, part disbelief.
“…Way to make that really awkward Kota. Seriously, you should have just stopped…preferably before the word ‘homoerotic’. Thanks for that, bro.”
Shaking his head, he tried to remove that really bizarre set of visuals from his head. Now that foot massage was going to be a lesson in awkward, seriously…

His bright sea green eyes flickered over to the bag, and one dark eyebrow simply rose. Seriously man, seriously? Finally he just snorted and then laughed a bit, shaking his head again.
“Uh, seriously, I think I’ll pass. I have no idea how I’m gonna explain any of those if somebody notices. Just be happy with the nail painting, okay?”
Although, the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if a constellation would actually be cool…really, it was just a bunch of dots, right? Might make for an interesting conversation piece…

…wait, fuck. Augh Kota-logic was invading his head!!

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Oh, sorry! I forgot. If you're bi, it could potentially be awkward whatever you do. Better just hope it's not someone you're attracted to!" Laughing, he nudged Ran lightly. "So, see? You should be fine. Now! We're done with this hand--just gotta do the topcoat after I finish your other hand--but it'll take a while to dry. So don't. Touch. Anything."

Dakota flashed Ran his best evil warning look--which wasn't very effective, coming from a guy with cutesy cupcake, doughnut, and cake clips in his curly red hair. Dakota was well aware of that, however, so he accentuated it with a light poke in the shoulder that made static pop between them.

"I mean it. Now then, next hand," he said, holding out his hand and wiggling his fingers impatiently.

[Blue]

“Wai-bwuh?? How did we get onto bisexuals??”
This guy, how did he keep moving the conversation onto rather awkward topics??? And why did he say…what exactly was he trying to say right there!? Eeergh, freaking Dakota, seriously!
“You know what, I don’t want to talk about massages at all anymore. Done, end of subject, please move on.”

…well, they moved onto his painted nails. Great. At least he could be baffled about that, rather than trying to get the visual of some dude rubbing on him out of his head. Ugh.
A dark brow arched at Kota’s ‘srs bsns’ face, fail as it was with all the cutesy clips and overall baby face - but then he was rewarded with a sharp shock that made him flinch slightly and laugh.
“Oy asshole, watch it will ya? If I jump thanks to that shocking touch of yours, I could smear the nail polish I must be oh-so-careful not to mess up.”

Kota demanded his hand next, and generally they’d have been fine to touch - Kota’s mischievousness earlier had dispersed their natural charges.
Of course, Ran wasn’t one to pass up an opportunity.
Playing along and shaking his head, he placed his un-painted hand into his friend’s more delicate one - and gave him a deliberate shock that would likely make all that curly red hair take on its inner afro.
Somehow he managed to maintain a perfectly innocent smile through the whole thing, too.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Ow! Hey!" Dakota yelped in surprise as the shock traveled up his arm and set all the hair on his body standing on end...

...Including the ones on his head, his immaculately styled hair frizzing out and puffing up into a mess of curly fly-aways and fluff.

With a groan, Dakota dropped Ran's hand so he could rub at his arms and smooth down the pale hairs before he even attempted to tackle the mess he knew was his hair, because he was afraid of what he'd find. Wincing, he reached up and felt at it--and groaned again, staring at Ran in wide-eyed horror. "Raaan! Why? Do you have any idea how hard it is to style curly hair?!"

Especially his, which was beastly! It was thick and had a natural tendency toward fluff and it took a good deal of hair care products, straighteners, hair thinning, and curling irons before he got it to do what he wanted it to do.

[Blue]

Like he could possibly keep a straight face after THAT reaction. Oh holy fuck look at his head!
“Pfffft!” And then he doubled over in laughter, just barely remembering to keep his painted hand away from everything so as not to smear it all to hell (hey, see, he listened!).
As his friend lamented and whined, Ran was too busy trying to get his belly-aching laughter under control, roughly wiping at a few tears in his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Oh fuck Kota, you should see your hair right now…frizzy-fro is a go!”
Quelling another burst of chuckling, he threw his hands up in a mild ‘please don’t retaliate’ gesture.

“Well considering my hair is not curly, I’d have to say no, no I don’t. But come on, nothing a little spit can’t fix!” with that, he held his hands in front of his face and made to lick both his palms before rapidly rubbing them down Dakota’s mangled mane of frizz. Of course he hadn’t actually been so cruel as to wipe his spit on his buddy’s hair, but he just couldn’t contain his mischievous nature.
“C’mon, quit your bitching, and let’s get you to the bathroom you big diva.”
Still grinning a bit like the Chesire cat, he hooked a hand under Kota’s elbow, and half lifted half dragged him into the nearby bathroom. It was tiny, but surprisingly clean, considering how much of a dude Raniero usually was. Crammed in front of the sink, he turned the faucet on and wetted his one good hand down, this time actually making a concerted effort to smooth some of the curly mess - though he was biting his lip the entire time, in an obvious anti-laughter precaution.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Ahhh! RAN!" Dakota let out an undignified squeal of horror when the man pretended to lick his palms and wipe down his hair, because he wasn't sure that Ran wouldn't really do it. His hands shot up to his hair but, finding it was still dry, he let out a sigh of relief. He didn't have much time to truly enjoy said relief, however, because the next thing he knew, Ran had grabbed him by the arm and was hauling him into the bathroom.

Ran was having way too much fun with this. It should be illegal, the amount of fun he was having.

Before he could do anything to stop it, Ran was running his wet hand through his hair and Dakota stared at his reflection in the mirror--then up at Ran, who seemed to find this all just so funny. Crossing his arms over his chest, Dakota poked his bottom lip out in a pout.

"I'm glad this is all so funny for you," he said, but alright, the guy was making an effort. He supposed he probably shouldn't point out that, in the end, water would just make things worse once it dried. If there was such a thing as worse in this situation. "You just don't understand. Your hair's perfect. You can just let it dry and put it up and it stays like that!"

He slumped forward against the sink. "Not all of us are so lucky. Some of us have to actually try."

[Blue]

It was hard to maneuver in this little cube of a bathroom, especially with two grown young men in it, but he was managing pretty well. Even if they were basically crowded against each other - though the constant touch stopped them from accidentally shocking one another. All the same, during Kota’s extensive belly-aching, Ran had managed to retrieve some mousse from the cabinet under the sink.
Straightening and setting the can down with a metallic clink, he snorted at his friend.
“Perfect is it?”

He finished wetting down the frizz, so that Dakota’s hair returned to something resembling curls. Then his bud, in his lamentation, slumped against the sink. What a freaking drama queen! Rolling his eyes, Ran tucked the mousse under his arm and then moved behind his friend before forcing him to stand up straight again. Luckily he had a few inches on the Stage 5 Candidate’s 5’7” frame.
“Yeah yeah, quit your bitching already.”
Emptying out some of the fluffy white foam onto his hands, he dove in with both sets of long fingers. With a surprisingly amount of dexterity he wrestled Kota’s damp hair back into something resembling it’s original state. Even though he was fixing it, he couldn’t help the mild smirk on his lips the entire time.
“Sorry princess, but I don’t have a blowdryer, so you’re just gonna have to make do with an air dry.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

Pulled upright and pressed against the bathroom counter, Dakota tried not to think about how they were currently positioned, or what this would look like to anyone looking in from the outside. He bit his lip to keep from laughing, but it was hard!

...Heh. Hard.

Oh gods, where was his mind going? Anyway! It was just funny. For someone as...well, he didn't want to say Ran was homophobic, but for someone as uncomfortable as Ran was at the idea of love between men, he was certainly oblivious! It was difficult not to say anything but he behaved, because he was playing with his hair and he liked it when his hair was played with--even if he couldn't yet tell if Ran was doing more harm than good.

He was at least making an effort.

A pretty good effort. His hair no longer looked like a giant wad of cotton.

He stared in shock when it was done and brought a hand up to feel his hair. "Wow..." he said, head tilting. "For someone so beauty-inept, you didn't do half bad." Hair was a little stiff, but it was bearable for now. "With a little more practice, you could be pretty decent at this."