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After getting on his usual skincare products and concealer, Way brought out his makeup kit. It hadn’t seen much use the past year, as Way hadn’t gone out much to anywhere that he would want to get made up for. It’d been too difficult to apply when his arm was in a sling while his shoulder healed, and he’d just wanted to stay home most days while he adjusted to life no longer under his foster father’s control. His mate also enjoyed staying home more than going out, and any dates they’d gone on had generally been a surprise.
Today was different. He and Pete were going out for dinner to celebrate the anniversary of their mating, and Way wanted to put in the extra effort so he’d look as beautiful as Pete seemed to think he was. He’d given himself plenty of time to prepare since he was out of practice and he wanted everything to look perfect.
Time he apparently didn’t need, since it seemed he hadn’t gotten rusty at all. Way hummed to himself as he applied some lipstick.
Focused on the mirror as he made sure it was even, he startled a bit when there was a knock on the bathroom doorway and a loud, “Mama!”
Martin was hovering in the doorway, beaming at him. It seemed Pete had already finished getting him ready for his overnight stay at Babe and Charlie’s, Martin all dressed and in his sneakers, holding onto one of his plushies that he would be bringing along.
“Mama, what are you doing?”
Way set down the lipstick and replied, “I’m putting on some makeup.”
Martin stared at him with wide eyes, his mouth forming a little ‘o’ shape.
Seeing that, Way was immediately self-conscious. Martin had never seen him in full makeup before. He’d thought it was going well, that he was doing a good job with it, but maybe it actually wasn’t as nice as he’d thought. Children were very blunt, and Martin was always honest, so he braced himself for the pup to say something negative and placed a hand near the makeup remover.
To his surprise, Martin lit up with excitement and dropped his toy so he could rush at him, reaching up and bouncing. “Mama is even prettier now!”
Not expecting that, Way felt a little flustered. He still wasn’t used to his pup saying nice things so earnestly to him. Martin tugged on his shirt and made grabby hands when Way froze up, so Way snapped out of it and lifted him up, sitting him on the counter.
“This is all makeup?” Martin asked, grabbing some items from the kit so he could look at them. “Can Martin try? I wanna look pretty like Mama too.”
Way had to stop Martin from opening the tube of foundation and trying to squeeze it on himself. He really should have expected that when he put Martin within reach of everything, he thought. Martin loved to copy him and Pete. He already had asked if he could try too when he’d seen Way doing his skincare routine in the morning a couple of weeks earlier, and Way had found a children’s moisturizer-sunscreen lotion online to add as part of Martin’s morning routine. Martin seemed to really enjoy having his parents put it on him every morning after he brushed his teeth, and had even started to do it himself most days.
So of course the pup would also want to try on makeup.
But Way was pretty sure most of the things in the makeup kit would either cause a reaction on Martin’s skin, seeing as how he wasn’t even five yet and was sensitive, or that they would look weird and Martin would hate it. Martin had inherited Pete’s darker skin tone, so there wasn’t much in it that would really suit him.
“This one looks like candy, Mama,” Martin said as Way scrutinized the makeup kit, having grabbed the lipstick and turned it so that it was all the way out. He stuck out his tongue and brought the tube to his mouth.
“It’s not tasty. It’s lipstick.” Way snatched that from him as well before it could be licked by the child, quickly rolling it down and recapping it. He needed to pick something fast before Martin could get something irritating on his skin or eat something he shouldn’t.
He was too late. “How about this? It has a lot of colors!” Martin reached for an eyeshadow palette and struggled to open it. A cloud of powder came out as he got it to pop open but then dropped it. “Whoa!”
Way lifted Martin so he couldn’t grab anything else. “Okay. How about you go get your face cream from your room and I’ll pick something that you can use before you get back?”
Martin nodded eagerly. “Okay!” He ran off.
After calling after Martin to be careful running, Way sighed and looked through the kit. He decided that blush would be the safest option to let Martin try. It was just a powder and would be easy enough for Charlie to wipe off if Martin started feeling itchy or just didn’t want it anymore. He quickly finished up his own makeup so he could put away everything else before Martin could come back and start grabbing things again.
When Martin returned with his face cream, Way put him back up on the counter. The pup giggled through the whole process of having his lotion put on. When Way handed him the fluffy blush brush and started to explain how to use it, Martin shook his head and pressed the brush back into his hand.
“I want Mama to do it,” Martin insisted.
“Alright. I’ll do my best. Close your eyes so you don’t get any powder in them.”
Partway through applying the blush on the pup’s cheeks, Way was once again startled as hands slipped around his waist. “Ah!”
Pete chuckled, nuzzling him. “Sorry, baby. You were so focused I couldn’t help it.”
Martin opened his eyes. “Papa!”
Way gave Pete an unimpressed glare, but Pete just smiled. “Don’t tease me.”
“I won’t anymore. Letting Martin try makeup? Are you having fun with Mama, little one?”
Martin nodded. “Yeah!”
“I’m almost done. Close your eyes again, pup.” Martin obediently shut his eyes, and Way got the finishing touches done. “There. You can look at the mirror now.”
Pete picked up Martin and turned him so he’d be able to see the mirror clearly. Martin beamed, kicking his legs. “Wow! I like it, Mama!” The pup giggled happily. “Papa, is it pretty?” Martin asked.
“You look very cute.” Pete ruffled Martin’s hair.
The pup frowned at him, disappointed.
Pete backtracked. “I meant pretty. You look like Mama.”
Martin cheered back up.
With the pup soothed, Pete turned his attention to Way, leaning in to give him a kiss. “You look beautiful, darling.”
Way was glad his makeup was hiding his blush as he felt his cheeks heat up. He turned away, looking at himself in the mirror. “I haven’t even done my hair yet.”
“I’m sure-” Pete was cut off by Martin laughing, and Way looked back at them to see the pup had his hands on Pete’s cheeks.
Some of his lipstick had smudged off onto Pete.
“My lipstick wasn’t set yet.” Thankfully it didn’t look like he’d need a touch-up.
“That’s what I get for teasing you, I suppose. Does Papa look funny, little one?”
“Yes!”
“Maybe it will go onto you too so you’ll look just as funny as Papa.” Pete leaned to kiss Martin on the forehead, making the pup shriek and start wriggling, laughing as he tried to push away from his father. Pete let Martin ‘escape’ by setting him down, and the boy ran off. Way handed Pete a makeup wipe. “Thanks. I’ll keep him busy while you finish up.”
-
Sonic dragged Way along to one of his local fashion shoots one day, telling Pete that he needed to borrow his mate so he could deal with an overly pushy manager. Sonic rambled on to Way as they went that he would have dealt with it himself but didn’t want to risk losing the project, and that he would have brought North or Kenta or Babe with him, but North was just too silly to protect him, while Kenta and Babe were too scary. Way was the perfect middle ground. He knew how to deal with horrible clients.
Way pointedly did not mention that the way he’d dealt with bad clients at his showroom was with his ability. If anyone did bother Sonic, though, he’d be fine with using his power to make them back off. Sonic promised to buy him dinner as thanks.
At the photo shoot, he did have to use his power to convince a manager to stop being overbearing and disrespectful, and after that, Sonic was able to do his job. Sonic was even able to finish early and dragged Way to try on some of the clothes.
“Man, I really can’t save you from your black shirts…!” Sonic lamented as he looked through different shirts to try to make an outfit for him.
“What? I don’t always wear black shirts.”
“Way. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve always worn a black button-up or a black jacket. It suits you, but it’s making it hard to style you!” Sonic grumbled for a moment but then lit up as he found something. “Ah-ha! This should work, even with your jacket. They were going to have me wear this but it’s a little too long for me. It’ll be perfect for you.”
Sonic forced an outfit into his arms and made him change. Way came out with the clothes on, and Sonic immediately pulled out his phone to take pictures.
“That skirt looks great on you! I’m sending this to K’Pete. He can thank me by transferring money, by the way.” The high-waisted black skirt went just below his knees and was in a similar style to the more colorful one that Sonic had worn for his photoshoot.
“You’re making Pete pay you for pictures of me?”
“It’s a tip, Phi, god. I already sent them for free. Hey, spin around a bit. I’ll send a video. The last time I did that, North got to race with Kim in that non-championship endurance race at the Hallows.”
“Pete did not tell Alan to let North race instead of Charlie because you sent him a video of me.”
“Uncle never said why he suddenly made the switch. Spin.”
Way spun around. Once Sonic had gotten enough pictures of him, they packed up and headed out to eat. On their way to a restaurant, they both received texts close together. Sonic laughed and held out his phone, where Pete had sent that he would pay for their food. On Way’s phone, Pete had texted saying that when he’d shown Martin the pictures, Martin had demanded to match with Mama and was now pouting that he didn’t have a skirt at home.
“Sonic, can we stop at a store somewhere after we eat and try to find skirts for Martin and I?” He remembered how Martin had also enjoyed copying his makeup. “And some kind of kid’s lip gloss or something.”
Way wasn’t prepared for Sonic to scream and start shaking him. “Like a matching mommy & baby kind of thing?!”
“Martin is almost five. He’s not a baby.”
“He’s a baby. I’m going to pick the perfect matching skirts for you both. And you have to let me go to your house to let me dress you both and take pictures to send to everyone.”