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They were both bright red in the face. They were both sitting on the floor of Brenda’s bedroom floor, Ken sitting against the side of the bed frame with his bag acting as a cushion.
They were supposed to be having a slumber party with the others (read: David, Pamela, Ron) but Ron had to help out Timothy with Jolie’s sewing, since hers was being wonky all week, so she needed multiple people. And David, being the traitor he was, joined Exer at Cup O’ Cat to keep him company during a late shift while Pamela canceled to visit Jackson, who was sick. Flu season always strikes at the worst times!
Well- Ken wouldn’t say this was the worst, actually. It was fun, actually! He just… had no idea how to act.
And did it quite help that they just very recently started to date?
“What color?” Brenda asked with a polite but shaky smile as she held up a box of a lot of nail polish. Ken hadn’t seen this much since he visited Jolie’s house for D&D and the three had gotten carried away with dressing Ken up like a doll!
(He looked amazing, by the way. Layered dresses were really his style.)
“Oh- orange!” Yes, he chose orange. And you’d think he’d choose a color like green or bright pink or something- but the orange kinda reminded him of her hair. And she was choosing green anyways for his green streaks so they might as well match.
“Okay.” Brenda handed him the small glass container, laying out several paper towels as to not get nail polish onto the carpet floor.
And Ken was a bit confused. “Are we not painting each other’s nails?” He asked, picking up the orange.
“We are?” Brenda fumbled with the green nail polish after she nearly dropped it, her eyes widening as her face went bright red. Ken wanted to melt at the sight cuz- how was she just so pretty no matter what she did?!
“I thought we were- but we don’t have to!” He smiled sheepishly, opening the orange paint. “I can paint my own nails, don’t worry!” No he can’t.
“No, no we can!” She snatched the item from his hands and replaced it with the green.
“Brenda-“
“No- I insist!” She huffed.
“No, you just got a bunch of orange nail polish onto my hand.” He was really trying not to laugh- but a snicker spluttered out at Brenda’s reddened face, fumbling to shut the orange container.
“Oh sugar- sorry!” She seemed to find this amusing too, grabbing a paper towel to wipe off the orange off his fingers.
“You’re okay!” He laughed out as quietly as he could, letting her clean up the orange mess on his hand. “Gee, I thought I’d get nail polish everywhere once we actually started painting the nails.” He teased lightly, a grin growing on his lips. He just adored the way Brenda tried to hold back her laughter but a snort escaped.
“You’ve painted nails before, I assume?” She asked.
“Yup! Jolie doesn’t let me near the nail polish at her house anymore.” He sighed solemnly. Although he still felt really bad for getting that black nail polish on that experimental ball gown she was trying to make…
“Should I also be careful?” She asks, putting away the paper towel for now.
“Only if I’m the one holding the nail polish.” Ken smiled.
“Okay, so that decides it! I’ll paint your nails first!” She said, picking up the orange paint once again.
“Okay!” He just went along, because why wouldn’t he? Besides, maybe his hands won’t shake so bad when he held her hand to paint her nails.
Miraculously, when she placed his hand in her own, it barely trembled. Despite how twitchy Ken was feeling. He felt like jumping up and throwing himself at the wall dramatically to express how flustered he felt.
Brenda’s hand was steady and calculated with each stroke against his nail. It looked nice on him. It clashed violently, but it was nice.
“And I have nail polish remover in case you want a different color, ‘kay?” She added before she blew onto his fingers to dry the paint. Ken wanted to snatch his hand back. Was his face red? Did it burst into flames? It felt like it was burning.
“O-Okay.” He smiled wide, looking at his own nails once Brenda let his hand go to grab his second hand. This time, it only shook faintly, but Brenda noticed. She had looked up at him (not that he noticed. He was too busy admiring how glamorous he looked with painted nails. Maybe he’ll buy his own nail polish) and her eyes landed on the way his cheeks flushed and his smile wavered and how he was bubbling with energy where he sat. She couldn’t help but giggle, deciding to spare him the embarrassment and just paint his second hand’s nails.
“You looked nice with fancy hands. What about a fancy face?” She suggested with a smile. Ken glanced at her curiously.
“Fancy face?”
“Well- we have a bunch of time before we have to go to bed- why not do makeup too? I think you’d look great with a smoky eye.” She beamed at him, and even though Ken had not the slightest idea what a smoky eye was, he smiled back brightly and nodded.
“Okay! Sounds fun! What’s a smoky eye?” Hey, he had to ask.
“Just eyeliner you smudge around your eye to make it look like smoke! I think you’d fit the look!” Well… she sounded right…
“Okay!” He repeated for the umpteenth time.
“Great!” She blew onto his nails again, and Ken flexed his fingers, glancing down on them next.
“Oooh, fun.” He commented, a pleased expression on his face.
“Alright, my turn!” Brenda announced, shutting the orange nail polish container and handing him the green one.
‘Okay, Ken. This is the ONE THING you do not wanna mess up. You do NOT want another Jolie situation. Think… uhm….. Perfect, steady hands!’
He didn’t think it hard enough.
“Oops- I got it on your finger again.” He frowned disapprovingly, but Brenda just grabbed the same paper towel she had grabbed for this and wiped it off again before it dried. She was getting less and less room on the paper towel to wipe the nail polish off!
“It’s okay! You should’ve seen what my brother accidentally did to my mom’s hand when we were kids.” She snickered as Ken painted another layer onto the same nail. Luckily the last nail of her first hand.
“Hm?” He perked up, coaxing a story time.
“Well, my mom fell asleep during our monthly spa days, right? Just as we were painting our nails. David was painting her nails, and he got bored, so he started drawing all over the back of her hands! She couldn’t get it off, so she walked around with stars and scribbles all over her hands for a while. It was so funny!” She snickered uncontrollably, her hand placed on his beginning to shake from her laughter. Ken couldn’t help but join in, tittering along with her.
“You’d better not do that to my hand when I fall asleep, y’know?” He told her, holding her hand a bit more firmly to paint the rest of her nail.
“Well the idea didn’t enter my mind until you mentioned it.” Brenda shrugged. “So if you have drawings all over your arms tonight, you only have yourself to blame.” Ken only laughed.
He blew on her nails as she did before, noticing Brenda fanning her hand slightly as if to help.
“Alright, next hand!” He held out his hand, and she placed her other hand onto his. He smiled. Her hands were soft and a bit calloused on the palm side. Ken’s were just calloused everywhere. He was very… accident-prone. Especially with his arts projects. Not to mention the amount of climbing he did… you need rough hands for a good grip!
He spent the next few minutes coloring her nails, blowing on it, and letting her fan her hands to help it dry faster.
Once she was sure they were dry enough not to get smudged, she didn’t waste a moment to get her makeup kit.
“Oh- we’re actually doing it?” Ken definitely didn’t mind. He knows the world was just unprepared for him with makeup, seeing as he would be unstoppable. “Isn’t makeup expensive though?? Why are we just putting it on if we’re gonna wash it off for bed?”
“For fun!” Brenda grinned. “I have some one-time jobs around town, y’know, gardening, mowing the lawn, raking, all that, so I got enough money for another kit, okay? Don’t worry!” She grinned. “Of course it took me a while to find some people who would actually let me do that, seeing as it was usually a boy’s job.” She huffed in slight agitation. “But I did better than any boy in my neighborhood! So that showed them!” Ken just nodded and agreed.
“Hell yeah!” He grinned. “I bet their front yard looked better than if a professional spruced it up.” He assured, to which Brenda brightened.
“It totally did! And I watered the plants and everything! Y’know how lively they look when they’re wet and under the sun? It’s- heavenly!” She told him, getting out her eyeliner. She spent a while on that part. Whenever he asked, she said she had to make sure it was symmetrical. He didn’t really know why it had to be symmetrical for a smoky eye, since she’s gonna smudge it up anyways.
It was mostly quiet as Brenda worked on Ken’s face. She even gave him some lip gloss. To which Ken desperately tried not to think about how that had probably touched her lips before his. An indirect kiss, if you will- wait- NO! No you won’t! He’s trying not to think about it!
Unfortunately that gets increasingly harder when Brenda gets all up in his face to really concentrate, squinting at him as she applied blush. Ken didn’t even know girls had fake blush. He thought they all just had rosacea or something. He can’t believe Jolie hadn’t told him about any of this yet! He knew some stuff but shouldn’t he know it all? How dastardly. He oughta lecture her about the bonds of true friendship when he sees her again.
But anyways right now his main concern is that the only comprehensible thought in his head is simply Brenda Brenda Brenda-
He nearly breathed out a massive relief when she leaned back, instead slowly exhaling a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in for all 5 minutes she was that close. He didn’t know he could hold his breath that long…
“Okay, let me see the final result!” She beamed, hands on the very side of his face, as to not smudge the makeup, and Ken thinks oh, so this is what kills me. A romance-induced heart attack.
It’s an embarrassing way to go out, but since it was Brenda he was metaphorically or hypothetically dying for, he didn’t quite mind.
“Okay, so how do I look?” He smiled for her, striking a pose without shifting his face out of her hold. She laughed in response, making his heart swell.
“You look dashing, really.” She told him. Ken just beamed.
The rest of their date HANGOUT SPENDING TIME TOGETHER THING was spent watching all the rom-coms they had in their house and laughing at each questionable choice each character did.
When they started getting ready for bed, Brenda strangely didn’t get a sleeping bag for him.
“C’mon, lie down!” She told him, tugging him to the bed.
“Really? You’re okay with that?” Ken wanted to make sure, sitting down on the mattress as Brenda lifted the covers up.
“Yeah! Besides, it’ll definitely be easier sleeping beside you.” Brenda said, like she had slept beside him before. Ken glanced at her in confusion. “Just lie down.” She said in response to his expression. Ken shrugged and plopped down, back against the mattress and head propped up against one side of the pillow, a space on the other side for Brenda.
But of course, she didn’t lie beside him.
She lied down smack dab on top of him.
Ken had to blink a couple of times for it to hit him. When it did, he was sure Brenda could feel his heart beating out of his chest.
“Uhm??” He glanced down at her, waiting for her to change her mind. But instead she just wrapped her arms around him and shut her eyes.
“I just- kinda noticed you were comfortable to lie on during the movies.” She admitted, and Ken recalled the memory of Brenda leaning against him.
“Ooohhhhh…” Ken nodded in understanding. “Okay.” He still saved some space for her in case she changed her mind at some point, but other than that, he pulled the covers up and got comfortable.
“Wait-“ Brenda lifted her head up to look at him. “My lips are chapped.” She huffed.
“Oh- I can get you your lip gloss if you want.” He offered, but she shook her head.
“Nah- is the gloss on your lips dry yet?” She asked. Ken pressed his mouth into a thin line experimentally. Then he shook his head. Brenda lit up. “Great!”
Then she kissed him.
Not just a peck- like a full on tilting-your-head kinda kiss! Ken wasn’t experienced in kissing- at all- so this was a big thing for him! He kinda tilted his head the opposite direction, accepting the kiss and trying not to grin before the kiss broke.
Brenda pulled back, smiling at him. “Thanks!” She said oh-so-casually as if he had handed her the lip gloss instead of what actually happened, then laid her head back down on his chest and went right onto snoring.
Ken just kinda… stared at the ceiling.
The little tiny Ken inside his head was ringing all the bells and just screaming, ‘YES! YES, FINALLY!’
But the actual Ken was staring at the ceiling and smiling as wide as possible, his cheeks beginning to ache. He pulled Brenda a bit closer and shut his eyes, beginning to snore with her.
The door creaked open, and David peeked inside.
“Wha- he-“ He spluttered as quietly as he could as his sister and that traitor Ken cuddled up in bed, their snores mixing in like harmonies. He huffed. Fine. David would chew him out tomorrow.
And if he pulled the blanket up a little higher cuz he noticed Ken was cold, no one ever knew.
“So how’d you two sleep?”
“Great!”
“Me too. Except Ken karate-kicked me in his sleep.”
“WHAT?? YOU WERE THE ZOMBIE CYBORG?!”