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She was careful outlining her eyeliner. Usually she doesn’t care but she was going out to a concert tonight with Asriel so she wanted to look at least a little good. She was halfway through applying the eyeliner pencil to her right eye. Getting it even is a bitch. The hand holding the mirror was a little shaky and the bed she was sitting on was also a little creaky.
“What’s this for?” Kris interrupted as they held and stared at another cosmetic pencil.
“It’s an eyebrow pencil.” Dess grumbled realizing she messed up her application. For some reason Kris wanted to come along with Asriel. Asriel himself was downstairs waiting. “Shouldn’t you be with your brother? Does he know you’re up here?”
“I told him I was going to see Noelle in her room,” Kris shifted through Dess’s makeup bag. Which really wasn’t a makeup bag but just a pencil case she used as a makeup bag. “What’s the difference between the two?”
“The two what?” Dess looked at them. “The eyebrow pencil and the one you have right now.” Kris pointed to her hand before peeking around in the bag again. “Well…” To be honest Dess didn’t really know. When she was getting makeup for the first time the lady at the store just convinced her to buy everything. She still remembered the lady thinking she was buying it for some girlfriend. Dess is still bitter about that.
“Well they have different uses,” Dess took the eyebrow pencil from Kris and used it on herself “This one makes my brows look fuller and the one I’m using right now makes my eyes look dark and stuff.” Now one eyebrow is all full and expressive and the other pales in comparison Dess went back to applying the eyeliner before finishing her eyebrows.
“I know this one! It's lipstick!” Kris presented it to Dess. It was the most expensive makeup product she bought. However she only used it once because she hated how it looked on her. It was pitch black with a slight sheen. “Right on” Dess didn’t even look to see if Kris was actually right. She just wanted to get the grueling process of looking at her face over with. “Can you hand me my eyeshadow?” She held her hand outward. Kris looked at her confused. She didn’t know why she asked knowing they have no experience with makeup.
“The blue thingy.” Dess sighed and Kris found what she asked for. As she put on the black shiny pigment she made sure to focus. She focused so hard she didn’t notice that the kid pestering her a minute ago went silent and was fidgeting with the tube of lipstick. Until they spoke up. “Do you think I’d look good in makeup?”
Dess paused, she didn’t think Kris would be interested in that kind of thing. Kris isn’t really a boy or a girl, but makeup didn’t seem like their thing. Kris’s face starts to look a little disappointed.
“I mean…!” Dess stampered, “You have to try it out to see so.”
Kris looked at the lipstick. “Can I try?” Dess didn’t know why she was a little apprehensive at first. Considering her own experience with her identity she should be open. Maybe it was the way Kris was behaving about it, they looked unsure. They're afraid of getting a negative reaction. It reminded her of the first time she wore a skirt, or makeup, or even came out to Noelle, Asriel, and her parents. They remind her of herself.
“Knock yourself out kid.” Dess responded with a smile and Kris smiled right back.
Shortly Dess regretted that as Kris piled on more questions. Basic questions like ‘What’s this?’ or ‘How do I open it?’ The annoying nature of the questions became almost cute. Kris was eager to try everything, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Some products they liked and some they hated. She wiped off some stuff for them and put on things they didn’t have motor control to apply it on themselves. Dess was already finished with her look, she just wanted to entertain Kris. Kris asked for Dess to make them look like her. She tried remembering her steps and soon she was finished. It’s a lot harder doing it herself than others, strangely.
“Wanna see?” Dess held the mirror to her chest, Kris nodded wide eyed. She turned it for Kris to see their reflection. Kris’s face lit up as they observed themselves. “Do I look good?” They asked quickly.
“Hell yeah.” Dess answered as she got up to put her jacket on. She almost forgot the monster waiting downstairs for her. She took a couple of makeup wipes and gave it to Kris. They held them confused, before Kris could ask, Dess answered, “It’s so you can wipe it off, thought I told you before?”
“But I wanna keep it on,” Kris begged.
“Well… you know your mom, I don't want her to get mad.” Dess explained. “Oh.” Kris seemed disappointed as they began wiping off their makeup.
She didn’t want Kris to get a bad reaction from others. She knows how judgey people are. But she questioned that reasoning. Wouldn’t she seem like those types of judgey people to Kris. She didn’t like the idea of them having no one to go to for things like this. “How about this,” Dess rummaged through her bag and pulled out her eye pencil and lipstick. “Here you can wear it even when I’m not around. You can wash it off with soap.”
“Really?” They smiled. “Yep, I can just use my eyebrow pencil, it's basically the same thing and I don’t even use lipstick.” Dess played her cool girl act to make Kris feel like they’re equals. It wasn’t really a huge sacrifice but she knew it meant a lot to Kris.
“Thanks Dess!” Kris grinned wide with little ghosts of makeup on their face. “No problem, now let’s go downstairs Asriel’s down there probably twiddling his thumbs like a loser” Dess joked. Kris nodded with a laugh.
At first she mayhaps typecasted Kris as the same snot nose kid that terrorized her little sister and ate moss. But now she realizes Kris might have layers, shocker. It’s just that makeup or “looking good” didn’t seem like something Kris would care for given their personality in the past. Dess felt good after this. She felt like she opened a new form of expression for Kris. She wished she had someone like this at the start. Someone who’d teach her things like and not pass judgement. She couldn’t bear to let the same things that happen to her happen to them.