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When Megumi drove over to Yuuji's apartment, she wasn't expecting to see a beauty salon upon entering the pink-haired girl's room.
"Makeup time!" Yuuji playfully announces, showing off all the different colors of eyeshadow as if she were displaying a brand new car.
Uh oh.
Megumi tilts her head, eyebrows pinching together. "We're.. doing our makeup?"
"Nope!" Yuuji says, grabbing Megumi's hands. She leads the other girl to sit down at the vanity in the room, and looks at Megumi through the mirror across from them. "I, will be doing your makeup." Yuuji squeezes Megumi's shoulders affectionately, reaching over to pick up an eyeshadow palette and a makeup brush.
Megumi huffs, a small smile forming at the corners of her mouth as she watches the other girl. "Why?" she asks, green eyes staring at excited brown ones with curiosity.
Yuuji shrugs. "Why not? I feel like it'll be a fun girls night with just the two of us. We can get takeout, talk gossip, try different makeup looks—all that stuff."
Megumi hums, looking at herself in the mirror. She wasn't wearing much makeup right now as per Yuuji's request when she called her earlier, choosing to wear concealer and foundation as a base. It's been a while since the black-haired girl did something a little more out there with her makeup, so maybe it could be fun for a little while.
"Okay. As long as you don't use a crazy color like neon green or something it'll be fine." Megumi murmurs jokingly.
"What? You don't want to look like you're about to go a rave? I think you would rock it." Yuuji teases with a playful wink, opening the eyeshadow palette and showing the different assortment of colors towards Megumi. "So? Which colors do you wanna try?"
Megumi looks at each color on the makeup palette, landing on a dark purple and she points to it. "I think that purple one would look cute."
Yuuji smiles. "I think every color would look cute on you, but purple it is." The pink haired-girl presses the brush against the purple eyeshadow, swirling it gently before tapping it on the side of the palette.
Megumi feels her face grow a little warm when the other girl leans close to her face, makeup brush in one hand, eyeshadow palette in the other. Yuuji looks so excited to give Megumi a makeover that Megumi almost doesn't catch the glittery coat of color across Yuuji's eyelids.
Did she do her own makeup before Megumi got here?
"Okay close your eyes for a sec."
For now, Megumi doesn't question it and quietly follows Yuuji's gentle instructions. She can smell the sweet scent of oranges on the other girl while she feels the brush sweep over her left eyelid. She can hear Yuuji humming to herself gently and when she taps the palette on its side to not add too much purple eyeshadow onto Megumi's other eye. She's careful—not rough or harsh, but much more tender.
It feels intimate in a way Megumi can't describe. She feels like a canvas and Yuuji's the painter, making her look beautiful.
"So.." Yuuji murmurs. "Anything you wanna talk about? Gossip? How your day was?"
Megumi hums, trying to recall what she did earlier that day. She didn't do too much, simply going out for a walk with her dogs and having lunch with Tsumiki a bit after that.
"I really didn't do much today, to be honest. Walked Shiro and Kuro, then had lunch with Tsumiki when I was done."
"Aw that's sweet," Yuuji comments. "Those dogs are so cute."
"Yeah, they love you." Megumi admits and Yuuji gasps.
"Wait, really?"
"Are you kidding? They get all giddy when you come over. That's why they wouldn't leave you alone when we were trying to watch a movie at my apartment last week." Megumi says with an amused smile. It hadn't even been five minutes that Yuuji had set foot in the apartment before Shiro and Kuro were all over her, licking her face like no tomorrow.
"I just thought they were being friendly!" Yuuji giggles, and Megumi huffs quietly.
"You call them licking your face 'friendly'?"
"They could've been overly friendly.." Yuuji murmurs with a pout, and the sound of her dejected tone makes Megumi giggle in her seat.
"That made you laugh?" Yuuji asks with raised eyebrows and a confused smile. "My obliviousness made you laugh like that?"
Megumi tries to school her expression back to a more neutral look but not before she mutters, "A little.."
"Telling you stupid jokes don't make you laugh, but the second something goes over my head you're a giggling mess. Unbelievable." The pink haired girl huffs dramatically, but Megumi knows she's not serious.
Megumi continues to let Yuuji fix up her makeup, and she adds a little more to details to her eyes. Every now and then, Megumi can feel the soft touch of Yuuji's fingers by her jawline, nudging her head to tilt a certain way and it makes her heart flutter. "Just a few more details, and.. voila!" Yuuji says, and Megumi slowly opens her eyes to look at the mirror.
Whoa.
The black-haired girl stares at herself in the mirror with awe. The purple eyeshadow was gorgeous, making Megumi's green eyes stand out against the darker color. She moves her head to get better angles of the entire look, spotting the specks of glitter around the corners of her eyes. "Wow, I look.." She hesitates, not knowing how to put her thoughts into words.
"You look amazing, Megumi." Yuuji says, expression softening as she looks at the other girl through the mirror. She looks proud of the look, but there's something almost melancholic about the way she says it that catches Megumi's attention.
It wasn't jealousy. Yuuji isn't the type of girl to become envious of other people. That wasn't in her nature. She's quite the opposite actually, complimenting a person's outfit or their jewelry at any opportunity. This new, quieter side of Yuuji was odd, but Megumi wasn't dumb. She knows what that tone meant.
It was longing.
Megumi turns around in her seat at the vanity to look at Yuuji more directly. Yuuji blinks, the earlier look gone, replaced by a puzzled one. She tilts her head, and her eyebrows slowly press together. "What?" She asks, voice suddenly low and timid.
"Why did you do your makeup if you wanted to have a girls night? Normally, girls do each other's makeup on nights like this, but yours was done by the time I got here." Megumi explains quietly, and feels a squeeze in her chest when she sees Yuuji's face fall into one of embarrassment.
"I just.." Yuuji sighs, setting the makeup brush and palette onto the table. She doesn't look at Megumi, but the black-haired girl can figure out that this is a more touchy subject for the other girl. Yuuji shakes her head, leaning her hands against the table of the vanity. "It's stupid."
Megumi makes a face in her seat. "If it's bothering you, it isn't stupid."
She watches Yuuji through the mirror, waiting for their eyes to meet. When Yuuji eventually looks at her, there's a moment of silence. Megumi doesn't push right away, but instead gives a slow nod of reassurance.
I won't judge you.
Yuuji's eyes soften, and smiles with a small sigh. "Why do you always do that?"
"..Do what?" Megumi asks gently.
"You give me this look," Yuuji responds. "and it feels like you're staring right into my soul. In a good way. It's like you already know what's in my head before I think it."
Megumi makes Yuuji feel like that?
"Staring into your soul.." Megumi echoes quietly, looking down at her fingers and Yuuji nods. "I guess I just.. have a feeling when someone wants to say more but isn't sure if they should."
"You're not wrong about that."
The green-eyed girl looks up at the brown-eyed girl in front of her, and she waits. She's curious. What could Yuuji be struggling with that she's not even sure if she wants to talk about it?
Yuuji's kind, always greeting people with a smile even if she might be having a bad day. She isn't mean to anyone, not even to those who are rude or snappy. If she sees someone struggling with something, Yuuji helps them without a second thought. That's just the kind of person she is with others.
To Megumi, she's perfect.
"Ever since I was little, I had these.. birthmarks." Yuuji says, slowly walking to the edge of her bed to sit across from Megumi at her vanity. She messes with a pink strand of hair as she continues to talk, nervousness peeking through.
Megumi hums, listening intently.
Yuuji points to her cheekbone on the right side of her face, and then the left side. "They're right above my cheekbone, on both sides of my face." Megumi frowns, realization setting in.
"You cover them up with makeup..?"
Yuuji's shoulders slump, guilt etched into her expression. "I told you it was stupid."
Quietly, Megumi stands up from her seat near the bedroom mirror and joins Yuuji's side by her bed. "Well, I told you earlier it isn't stupid if this is bothering you so much." It hurts Megumi to think that Yuuji could ever feel this way about herself, when all she sees is a girl who brings light into the room as if she were the sun.
She's radiant.
"Is there a reason why?" Megumi asks delicately, not wanting to overstep on something that's personal to Yuuji. She isn't disappointed, but she isn't exactly too thrilled at the other girl's confession.
Yuuji frowns, wringing her hands in her lap. "I think.. I've always had this small insecurity about it. Girls weren't always the nicest back in middle school. If you weren't pretty, then they would pick on you. If you were too pretty, they would get jealous and tear you down until you weren't pretty anymore."
Middle school. A time where boys and girls would go through puberty and start figuring out who they were. It was a time where bullying became more frequent if you weren't a part of an established friend group.
Megumi remembers her experience in middle school, how some girls would side-eye her when she would wear smokey eyeshadow to class. She had been experimenting with a more alternative style of makeup and clothing, while other girls were adding extra layers of bright pink lip gloss. Megumi didn't care for those girls when she saw how fake and envious they could be.
"Who says you aren't pretty?" She asks, and Megumi sees the way Yuuji's face changes. The pink-haired girl stares at Megumi with wide eyes, almost like she's surprised at what she just heard. Yuuji's face is dusted with pink and Megumi thinks it's the prettiest she's ever looked.
"You think I'm pretty?" Yuuji asks, voice just above a whisper.
"I think you should see yourself how I see you." Megumi responds, reaching over to grab one of Yuuji's hands as idea pops into her head. "Let's order takeout. We can order whatever you want, and while we wait you can wash your face. I want to do your makeup."
Yuuji's expression slowly brightens up, and she squeezes Megumi's hand back. "Yeah. Okay."
…
About 15 minutes later, the food arrives. The room is full of giggling and gossip as Megumi does Yuuji's makeup. The pink-haired girl sits at her vanity and cracks one eye open to look at Megumi incredulously. "You seriously told her that to her face?"
Megumi shrugs, applying more eyeshadow to the inside of Yuuji's eyelids. "She made a rude comment towards someone who was clearly having a bad day. I wasn't going to let her think everyone would be okay with that."
"Jeez. Remind me to never piss you off." Yuuji says with a small laugh.
Megumi adds a little more color to Yuuji's eyes and pauses to let her take a look. "Okay. What do you think?"
Yuuji looks at her eyes and gasps quietly, processing her new look. She was wearing a darker shade of blue, with a thin layer of glitter near the inside of her eyes.
However, this time, her birthmarks were visible. Megumi didn't make them stand out against the rest of Yuuji's face, but they weren't covered with makeup. She looked natural.
"I love it."
Megumi smiles, and then grabs a small tube of eyeliner. She motions for Yuuji to lean in a little before giving her quiet instructions. "Look up for me."
"How did you have the confidence..?" Yuuji asks suddenly as she looks up to the ceiling.
Megumi sighs, pondering for a moment. "I mean I wasn't always like this. Being a girl who was more into an alternative style when most of the girls at school wanted to look preppy was a little hard sometimes."
Yuuji falls silent as Megumi goes on. "But Tsumiki would always remind me that confidence isn't just about knowing who you are. It's about being able to walk into a room, and holding your head up high no matter what anyone else thinks."
"I'm not sure if I'm at that level of confidence yet." Yuuji mumbles softly, lips turning to a small shy smile.
"You don't have to be." Megumi says. "Confidence can be.. wearing a style of clothing you haven't explored yet. Sure, you might be nervous to try it out, but to a stranger it shows that you're not afraid to step outside of your comfort zone."
"So like that top I bought the other day," Yuuji says slowly. "I tried it on and I loved it, so I bought it. Then when I wore it to class one day, the girl sitting next to me complimented me on it."
Megumi nods. "Exactly. You had enough confidence to wear the top because you knew it looked good and wanted to wear it. Which worked, because a girl took the time to say something nice about it."
"I'm learning a lot about you tonight." Yuuji says fondly, looking at Megumi with a tender expression.
Megumi meets her eyes, and she feels her heart beat faster. She looks away, embarrassed. "Shut up." She grumbles.
Yuuji laughs.
It doesn't take long for Megumi to finish doing Yuuji's makeup. "Alright. I think I'm done. Open your eyes."
She watches as Yuuji opens her eyes to look at herself, and her heart melts when Yuuji looks completely stunned. Her mouth falls open as she stares at herself in the mirror, and lifts a hand to brush over her birthmarks.
"I don't know how you did it, but you made them look.. normal. On my face." She murmurs.
Megumi walks behind Yuuji, playing with a few strands of her pink hair to adjust it around her face. "They've always been normal. You just needed to see them with your makeup on to realize it."
Yuuji's eyes flicker with something resembling relief and blinks a little rapidly, trying to avoid the other girl's gaze.
Megumi notices immediately and slowly, she moves her hands to squeeze Yuuji's shoulders and looks at her through the mirror.
"You look beautiful, Yuuji."
Yuuji smiles, reaching back to intertwine her hand with one of Megumi's.
"Thank you." She says, leaning into Megumi's touch.
The room feels lighter, and Megumi smiles back just as tenderly. She rubs Yuuji's hand with her thumb, letting the warmth of their hands linger as much as possible.
"Come on. Let's eat the rest of our takeout."
Yuuji looks over at their boxes of sushi sitting at her desk, half-eaten and giggles. "Oh my god, I forgot about that."
They spend the rest of the night eating the rest of their food, watching some rom-com Yuuji picked out with a blanket draped over both of them on her bed.
During a quieter scene of the movie, Yuuji leans her head on Megumi's shoulder.
Megumi freezes.
Did Yuuji fall asleep? Or is she just trying to get comfortable? Either way it has Megumi's heart stuttering in her chest. What does she do??
"I'm really glad you came tonight." Yuuji murmurs against her shoulder. Her voice is appreciative and sweet bu Megumi's ear.
"Yeah," Megumi says, leaning her head above Yuuji's, moving slightly so the pink-haired girl is more comfortable. "I'm glad I did too."