Chapter Text
Chase approached the bench, now fully decked out in DiamondDiva merch, with a bright smile and a spring in his step. “These are awesome. I’m really liking the fit. Nice and soft, too.” He ran a hand over the stylized ‘Yes, really’ text on his chest. “Like a night shirt. Feels quality.”
A kernel of pride settled within Buddy. “Of course. I made a point to make sure all of my merch would be comfortable enough for me to wear. If I like it, then everyone else will too.”
Chase pinched at the color block jacket he wore, admiring the material and simple color scheme. “You ever think about doing different colors for the sleeves?”
Buddy tilted his head, a bit confused. “The body of the jacket is black and the sleeves and hood are both lavender. I’m not sure what you mean.”
“No, I mean, like, do a yellow sleeve and a purple sleeve, y’know?” Chase lifted each arm as he discussed it.
Buddy’s nose scrunched in distaste at the thought. “I prefer the symmetry of the same color on each arm.”
Chase shrugged off the thought. “Ah, well. It’s all really cool anyway.” He reached up and rubbed a finger over the one inch by one inch DiamondDiva logo patch on the jacket’s chest. “You gonna glam me up now?” He met Buddy’s gaze with a surge of excitement.
Buddy’s lips tugged into an amused smile. “‘Glam you up’?”
“Yeah. Put some makeup on me and do a cut crease and stuff.”
“Do you know what a cut crease is?”
Chase’s nodding grew less confident over the seconds before he stopped nodding entirely. “I mean. It’s an eye shadow thing, right?”
Buddy chuckled. “Yes, but it’s unnecessary to go that far for this photoshoot. In fact….” Buddy stood and closed the distance between them. He inspected Chase’s face and tilted his head. “You really don’t need any.”
“Okay, but what if I want some anyway?” Chase’s expression fell into a pout. “You didn’t bring any?” Realization flashed in his eyes, and his pout was swiftly forgotten. “Oh! Gimme a light DiamondDiva look. The eyeliner and gloss and shine and stuff.”
Buddy nodded softly as he mulled through the products he thought he’d use. “Alright.” He turned to his suitcase and pulled out a large zipper bag. He muttered the products to himself as he removed them from the makeup abyss. A coal-dark makeup brush flicked between his fingers, and he stood up and looked back at Chase. He snapped open the gold compact he held in his left hand and then flicked his makeup brush at the ready in his right hand. “We’ll start with highlighter.”
“Is that…usually the first step?”
“Absolutely not, but I only intend to use highlighter, eyeliner, and lip gloss on you, and I feel that beginning with the highlighter in that list makes the most sense. Close your eyes.” Buddy rubbed the fluffy head of the makeup brush against the highlighter compact. “Since you’re not wearing a primer or foundation, it’s likely this won’t stick all day, but we only need it to hold until after the photoshoot.”
“Okay. Is it celiac-safe?”
Buddy paused and then snapped the compact closed. “Why?”
“I have celiac. I can’t have a lot of stuff.”
Buddy set the compact and brush aside and pulled out his phone to swipe through some research. “The makeup I buy is vegan, gluten free, cruelty free, and all that…,” he muttered. After a few more swipes, he sighed in relief. “It says it’s celiac safe.” He held his phone up for Chase to see.
“Oh. This brand.” Chase lifted the phone from Buddy’s grasp and swiped down the page to check ingredients. Upon not seeing anything alarming, he passed Buddy’s phone back to him. “Looks good.”
Buddy accepted his phone and swiped through it again, looking up the other couple products he intended to use and showing Chase the ingredient lists for those as well. When he got the okay from Chase, Buddy pocketed his phone. He then snapped open the compact and picked up the makeup brush again. “Ready?”
“Mhm.”
“Close your eyes.”
Chase’s eyes fell closed, and he stood absolutely still. “M’kay.” The soft bristles of the makeup brush patted against his cheekbones. The temptation to mutter ‘bap, bap, bap, bapbapbapbapbap’ was proving to be difficult to resist. Chase chewed on his tongue, struggling to stay still and upright. The bristles left his cheek, gathered more product from the compact, and then descended on Chase’s other cheek. Bap, bap, bap, bapbapbapbapbap— . Chase’s posture slackened ever so slightly.
“Alright.” The compact snapped closed. Buddy slipped the makeup brush and compact back into the zipper makeup bag.
Chase’s eyelids lifted languidly. He attempted to shrug off the brief lull into a sleepier state. “What’s next?”
Buddy lifted an eyeliner pen. “Eyeliner. I usually use a black one for my looks, but for you, I bought a brown one. Less harsh.”
“‘Less harsh’ how?”
“The color contrast between the eyeliner, your skin, and your hair will be less abrupt.” Buddy uncapped the eyeliner pen. “See?” He cradled Chase’s hand, lifted it up, and then hovered the pen above Chase’s skin. “Less severe than the black casing.”
“Oh, okay.” Chase nodded. “Are you gonna give me big wings?”
Buddy shook his head. “Just proportional. This is a light makeup look. Close your eyes.”
Chase closed his eyes again and waited. And waited. And waited. He frowned. “Buddy?”
“I’m trying to figure out how to do it without purchase.” Buddy huffed. “No. It’s going to be shaky if I try to do it like this.” He glanced around before settling his attention on the bench. “Go ahead and lie down on the park bench, and I can go from there.”
Chase opened his eyes. “Alright.” He grabbed his backpack and set it down on the ground beside Deacon’s legs. “Thanks, Deacon.”
“Sure,” Deacon murmured as he did everything he could to focus on his book and not whatever the hell was going on six feet away from him.
Buddy stared at his suitcase for a long moment before capping the eyeliner closed and pocketing the lip gloss. He then flipped the flap closed and turned it around so the wheels hovered just over the edge of the bench. “Okay, lie supine. Use my suitcase as a pillow to prop your head and shoulders up.”
Chase hummed a sound of acknowledgement and proceeded to lie down on the long bench, propping his shoulders and head up on Buddy’s suitcase as he went. He paused and met Buddy’s gaze. “‘Supine’?”
Buddy nodded. “You’re doing it right. Lying on your back.”
“Oh! Like on my spine!”
“Mhm.” Buddy fished the eyeliner out of his pocket. “I’ll need to get close to you and rest the heel of my hand against your head to keep myself from shaking.”
Chase gave Buddy a confused look. “You didn’t need to do that on your videos.”
Buddy bit the inside of his cheek to stave off a smile; it was nice to know that Chase had seen videos other than the one he had previously complained about. “I do. I have to press my elbows against my desk when I put my eyeliner on.”
“Oh, okay. Cool, cool. So, uh, how’s me lying down gonna help?”
“Well, since this bench doesn’t have a back to it, I was going to just…sit and lean over you to get as close as I can.” Buddy hovered a hand above Chase’s hips. “Here, pretty much.”
“You’re gonna…sit on my hips.”
Buddy nodded. “And lean down. I think that’d be the easiest thing to do. If that’s alright.”
Chase breathed in a slow breath and then released it. “Yup. M’kay.” He looked straight up at the sky through the net of leaves above them, and his eyes fell closed. “Go.” Chase hoped that Buddy didn’t notice how his jaw clenched when a warm weight settled on his hips and when Buddy’s knees pressed against his sides. The eyeliner was uncapped, and another warmth hovered above Chase’s chest.
“You alright?” Buddy asked, his voice in a low whisper.
“Mhm,” Chase hummed as briefly as his throat would let him.
“Okay. Let me know if it feels uncomfortable.”
“Mhm.” Chase went silent.
The pads of Buddy’s fingers gently cradled Chase’s cheek, and Buddy’s arm rested against Chase’s chest. “I’m going to start drawing now. It might feel a little weird if you’re not used to it.” A concentrated stripe of cold dragged over Chase’s upper eyelid from the outer corner down to the inner corner. The snap of the eyeliner cap juxtaposed the next sensation: a cool breath blowing against where Buddy had drawn. “Keep your eyes closed. It’ll take a second to dry.”
“Mhm.”
Buddy’s whisper returned, “I’m doing the next eye now.” The cold stripe dragged over Chase’s other eyelid, followed by Buddy blowing a gentle breath to dry the second eyelid. “...Alright. You should be fine.” The warmth against Chase’s chest retreated, and the eyeliner snapped closed.
Chase’s eyes flew open to see Buddy above him. “Thanks.”
“Sure.” Buddy then climbed off Chase and stood beside him. “You can sit up for the lip gloss.”
Chase followed as Buddy recommended, giving space for Buddy to sit on the bench and face him. “Is it less finicky?”
Buddy pulled out the lip gloss, sat down on the bench, and crossed his legs to face Chase. “It’s more of a hydrating lip tint, and the color is very close to your natural lip color, so it’ll be a little more forgiving. It’ll be easiest to do this if you do an open-mouth smile. It might feel a little weird, but it’ll be the most efficient way to do it.”
Chase leaned forward towards Buddy. “Like this?” He smiled and opened his mouth, pulling his lips relatively taut.
“Perfect.” Buddy unscrewed the lip gloss and zeroed in on his task as he dragged the applicator over Chase’s bottom lip, corner to corner. He then dipped the applicator in the lip gloss container before paying attention to Chase’s upper lip. The applicator slowly traced Chase’s cupid’s bow before being slipped back into the lip gloss container. Buddy screwed the lip gloss closed. “Go like this.” He rubbed his lips together.
Chase, freshly snapped out of his focus on Buddy’s snakebite piercings, followed his example and rubbed his lips together, evenly spreading the lip gloss. “How’s it look?”
Buddy stared at the glossy, spread-apart sparkles. “Looks good. It’ll just show up subtly on the photos, but other than that, your lip color is very close to your normal one.”
Chase sat up straight and released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Buddy stood and walked around Chase to get to his suitcase. He flicked open the flap and returned the eyeliner and the lip gloss to the makeup bag. “Are you ready to take some photos?”
“Yup!” Chase all but jumped off the bench, nearly flopping to the ground on his way. “Let’s do those poses.”
After taking the final shot of Chase exhibiting his best soulless, empty stare from behind the curtain of water, Chase and Buddy dubbed the day a success and packed up their things.
Chase stuffed his new jacket into his backpack before zipping his backpack up and hooking it over his shoulder. “We’re done, Deacon. We’re gonna get food now.”
Deacon pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Good timing. Schools should let out soon.” He then secured his bookmark and slid his book into his messenger bag.
Buddy pulled off his cat ear hoodie and slipped on a soft shirt from his suitcase. He folded up the hoodie and wedged it between hastily-folded articles of clothing before zipping up his suitcase and setting it on the ground.
After crossing the minor obstacle of waiting for their turn to walk across the crosswalk, the trio headed into the Pixley Mill mall and to the food court inside. Within fifteen minutes, they found themselves sitting at one of the tables with their food in tow. Chase placed his ice cream sundae on a napkin as Buddy slipped a sturdy straw into his triple chocolate milkshake. Deacon held his book open with one hand while keeping a steady pace of dipping a fry in ketchup and eating it as he read.
Chase ripped the plastic off his spoon and prodded at his ice cream sundae. Realization filled his eyes, and he watched Buddy with sparkling determination. “We should do a cover together.”
“No.”
Chase’s excitement stalled. “Why not?”
“I’m tone deaf.”
Chase chuckled. “Pshaw. Sure, you are.”
“No,” Buddy huffed. “My voice will bring yours down.” He rested his straw between his lips and sipped again.
“Hm…,” Chase hummed in thought before grinning. “What if you rapped?”
Buddy’s eyes widened, and he leaned away from Chase, coughing and attempting to gather himself. Once gathered, he sat up and met Chase’s gaze. “‘Rapped’?”
“Yeah!”
Buddy’s head shook ever so slightly as he attempted to picture such an alternate universe. “I….”
“Our fans would think it’d be really cool,” Chase chimed, intent on winning Buddy over to the musical side.
Buddy frowned as he gave the suggestion considerable thought. “...What’s the song?”
Chase fished his phone out of his pocket. “It’s an anime opening about an idol. A singing, dancing type.”
“What’re the lyrics?”
Chase swiped a thumb over his phone, pulled up the song on Youtube, and sent the link to the video to Buddy. “Someone wrote the lyrics in the comments.”
“Very helpful,” Buddy muttered and scrolled through the top comments. His thumb tapped against the ‘read more’ section of a comment, and his eyes darted down the lines of the song before slowly widening. “...Chase, what the hell?”
“What?”
“If you sing this, you’re cooked.”
“No,” Chase argued, “it’s a great song!”
“I don’t doubt that, but….” Buddy scrolled through the lyrics, his eyebrows gradually pulling together with real worry. “Did you even read these lyrics?”
“Yeah, they’re great!” Chase nodded, his enthusiasm knowing no bounds. “I think a lot of people will relate to them. Plus, it sounds great. I can get some acting to come across when I sing ‘Lying is the only way to really love’ and, like, get a lil moan or something on ‘love’. Something human sounding. Oh, and I can mess with the audio settings when I edit it to make my voice take center stage on ‘love’, too, so it’s like I’m actually talking to the listener.”
Buddy watched Chase, absolutely flabbergasted. “Chase.” His eyes fell closed. “Chase, oh, my god. You can’t. You.” He bit his tongue and tried his damndest to grit through his warning. “You can’t sing a song from the perspective of someone whose goal it is to get really popular and have the world in the palm of her hand while she also expresses that all the ‘I love you’s she says are complete and utter lies.”
Chase spooned a bite of his ice cream into his mouth and rested the spoon on his lower lip as he thought through Buddy’s reasoning. “Mhm.” He dipped his spoon in his ice cream again. “Okay, I hear you, but I think a lot of people will feel like their ‘I love you’s are hollow, so they feel like they have to get people to like them so that they’ll be accepted into friend groups and society and all that, right?”
“Okay, yes, but our ‘I love you’s actually are hollow. You can’t tell your fans that.”
Chase huffed and jabbed his spoon at the confetti vanilla scoops. “Mine aren’t hollow.”
“Chase. I’m.” Buddy heaved a sigh. “Okay. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to sing a cover of this.”
“But plenty of people already did a cover!” Chase lifted his phone and searched the song and ‘English cover’ together. He turned his phone to Buddy and scrolled. “Look, their fans love it! And I wanna sing it. It’s really fun!”
Buddy’s gaze snapped over to Deacon, who had been quiet in his own little world and reading intently for the duration of the conversation. “Why haven’t you talked him out of this yet?”
Deacon flinched at the sudden attention and then met Buddy’s eyes. “What?”
Buddy huffed. “What do I have to do to get you to pay attention to me? Do a series on—,” Buddy leaned over to catch sight of Deacon’s book’s title, “— The Sultry Adventures of Captain Mordeaux?” He paused. “Wait. Is it gay?”
A blush spread across Deacon’s cheeks. “N-no. It’s straight.”
“Hm. We’ll see, then,” Buddy muttered before sitting up and raising his voice to a regular speaking level again, “In any case, why haven’t you talked Chase out of singing this yet?”
“Singing what?”
Buddy scoffed lightly and brightened his phone before turning it to show Deacon. “Look. Look at this.” He scrolled. “Look at these lyrics. He’d be blabbing all about his true feelings.”
Chase groaned and pocketed his phone. “Dude, I told you that my appreciation for my fans is real. This song is really cool. A ton of people really like it right now. It’ll be fun. You can rap the part where the scary lyrics are. Where the music goes: dun. Dun. DUN.”
Buddy watched Chase with the most unimpressed expression he’d ever wielded. He then snapped his gaze back to Deacon. “Well?”
Deacon leaned closer to Buddy’s phone and dragged an index finger up to scroll. “Oh, Chase, is this the one where the character has purple hair and wears a rabbit costume?”
“Yeah.”
Buddy’s voice dropped into disbelief. “She wears what?”
“A rabbit costume,” Chase answered easily, unaware of the immediate image a rabbit costume conjured.
Buddy locked stares with Chase. “A bunny suit?”
“Rabbit costume,” Chase clarified.
“...A….” Buddy shook his head and leaned back in his seat, darkening his phone screen as he went. “Describe it. Please.”
“Like the Easter Bunny.” Chase popped another spoonful of ice cream and sprinkles into his mouth.
“...Okay.” Buddy murmured, still not understanding.
Deacon ate another fry and then shrugged. “I’d say the song’s fine. Chase Hollow Like and Follow is pretty obvious about his feelings and who he is. His fans won’t think that he’s confessing to them or pulling a fast one on them. Like Chase said, they’ll probably relate to the feeling of having to fake familiarity and sincerity in everyday life.”
“Thank you very much.” Chase nodded with a prideful smile.
Frustrated blush dusted Buddy’s cheeks. He brightened his phone screen, scrolled, and tapped away. “Did you do any other research on the song, Chase? Is she a villain? Is she someone we’re supposed to root for?”
“Looks like it.” Chase ate another spoonful of ice cream.
Buddy’s thumb froze. “...Do you know how the first episode ends?”
“Nope.”
Buddy bit his tongue, breathed in a slow, deep breath, and then sighed it out again. “Please. Please do some more research. I’ll—,” Buddy rolled his eyes, “—...consider rapping the dark thoughts part.”
Chase grinned. “Great!”
Wednesday, March 5th 8:21 PM
Chase Hollow
What’s your fave song?
Buddy
I don’t have one.
Chase Hollow
Pff. Everyone’s got a fave song. Fave band.
Fave fast food jingle.
Buddy
Not me. I don’t really listen to music.
Chase Hollow
You don’t like music?
Buddy
I’m not a music person.
Chase Hollow
Everyone’s a music person.
Buddy
Not me.
Chase Hollow
Okay, then I’m not a reading person.
Buddy
Everyone’s a reading person.
Chase Hollow
Rules say that I don’t have to be. ;)c
Buddy
I don’t like music because it’s loud and sudden and grating.
Chase Hollow
You’re missing out on so many Eastham.
Buddy
What?
Chase Hollow
Eastham.
Eastham
Eagan
Easthampton
Buddy
Take your time.
Chase Hollow
E a r g a s m s
Buddy
Hm.
Chase Hollow
Missing out on so many great tunes.
Buddy
Well, what about you? You’re missing out on so many great stories by not reading books.
Chase Hollow
Nah, I scroll through fic sites sometimes.
Buddy
Fic sites.
Chase Hollow
Yeah, fanfiction websites. Where ppl post stories they write about shows and books and stuff. There’s some stuff of our streaming group on there. Not much, but it’s pretty cool.
Buddy
…Send me those links. What’s stopping you from reading real books?
Chase Hollow
Idk.
Too boring.
Takes forever.
Too hard to focus.
Buddy
Have you tried comics?
Chase Hollow
Yeah, they’re fun, but it gets kinda hard to read them sometimes.
Buddy
Have you heard of manga?
Chase Hollow
What’s manga.
Buddy?
Bud?
Your royal DiamondDiva-ness?
Buddy
(image attached)
Chase Hollow
Holy Star Brigade, that’s a big book wall.
Buddy
You send me your preferences, and I’ll send you my recommendations. I can even bring a few volumes to AveCon for you to borrow and read. It’ll feel more substantial than your usual comics, but it’ll still be easy to read the text.
Chase Hollow
Thanks! And you can listen to some albums I’ll pick out for you.
Buddy
Very well. And read those fic links.
Chase Hollow
And read those fic links, yeah.
G2g, ttyl
Buddy
abcdefghi
Chase Hollow
lol?
Buddy
Talk to you later.
:1
Chase Hollow
Is that an emoji?
Buddy
The regular smile emoji is too intense.
Chase Hollow
LOL alright, cool. Night!
Buddy
Night
Many thanks to iwikpines on Tumblr for making this lovely fan art for this chapter!!