Like an Animal

She rummaged through her makeup box, and I could hear the clinking of glass tapping against each other. A moment later, she pulled out a few bottles of nail polish. One was navy blue, one was clear with silver sparkles, and the other seemed to be a glossy top coat.

I wish I could have made an argument about not getting my nails done because my nails were all chewed up. Unfortunately, nail-biting was not a habit I had. So I relented and presented my hand. At least I didn’t have to think about it. I just would leave it to Darcy to do.

As she began painting my nails, she decided now was the best time to quiz me on my night, as I could no longer run.

“How was last night with Marco?” She signed after painting one of my nails. I could not move my hands to sign back while they dried, so she looked up to read my lips.

“Wonderful.” I put extra emphasis on each syllable before following up. “So what’s all that with Jet? I didn’t know you had a thing for him.”

She looked down and painted a few more nails before looking back up and signing. “What can I say? I like a bad boy. They are more fun to tame.”

“But Jet?” I didn’t even have to try to put extra emphasis on that response. The words themselves ushered in a particular degree of emotion that was clear to understand.

Before she could get back to painting my nails, she signed back. “Honestly, I thought we shared similar tastes in men. Marco is quite the bad boy himself.”

My face turned bright red, and my thoughts began to spiral as I tried my best to protest. I had completely given up on worrying about whether she could understand me or not.

“N-no, he isn’t like that. We aren’t like that.” I fumbled my speech

“Oh really?” She verbally stated sarcastically, raising her eyebrow as she did so. It was clear she understood every word I had said.

“S-shut up.” I fumbled my speech once again. “Ok, we may have made songs for several hours last night. But that’s not like that big a deal.”

“So you finally took the plunge and did it.” She verbally commented once again. Before I could respond in protest, she added, “Done!”

I looked down at my nails. They had been completed and looked stunning. Most importantly, they matched my dress perfectly. A little too perfect. I was now one hundred percent convinced that she had planned this well in advance.

After a moment of appreciation for her work, I returned to our discussion, and now I could sign back to her.

“Well, as you know, I had fantasised about the moment I would write a song with Marco.”

“Was your first time any good?”

“Well, since I was so inexperienced, it didn’t go quite to plan. But Marco was quite a strong writer.” I told her honestly.

“I think you are selling yourself short. You did write a song that got us here in the first place. You are a great writer.”

“Yeah, but that’s very different than writing a song together.”

“I’ll take your word for it. But I’m certain Marco would have enjoyed his time as well.”

I couldn’t disagree with her about that. He did seem to have a good time, but perhaps he would have had a better time with someone more experienced. I shifted that aside to worry about later and returned to the most important thing I needed to know.

“Anyway, let’s stop discussing me and focus back on you. Jet?” I signed to her.

“Oh my God,” she said this out loud, which showed how exasperated she was.

“Jet?” I had to confirm one final time.

“Yes, why is it so hard to get?” she signed back.

“Ok, well, I will support you, but if Jet mistreats you, let me know, and I will kill him.” Darcy was my best friend. I was obviously going to support her, but that didn’t extend to Jet. In fact, it only further cemented my commitment to kill him should he hurt her.

“Don’t worry, I can train a disobedient dog.” She signed back. Given the cheeky look on her face, I almost felt sorry for Jet.

Now, it’s just time for the wig. She pulled out one of the many wigs we had for my costume. It was black, like my hair, but it was long and straight. We hadn’t styled this particular wig yet, so it was basically brand new.

She put it on, and I thought I would finally be free from this Darcy feminisation. However, she also wanted to style my wig. She had me sit on the chair while she pulled out hair brushes, bobby pins, and hair ties.

She braided my wig back along the back and gave it a waterfall braid. Her willingness to go this far simply for a wig that she really didn’t even need to do only further proved why I had made the right decision to keep my hair medium-length instead of growing it out.

She finished braiding and turned to face me. She took a few steps back and looked at it from several angles before nodding in approval.

Good, I could finally…

“Just one more thing to go before I let you go.” She signed with a kinder smile than before.

“Haven’t you done enough?”

“Well, my princess…” She paused before I could once again correct her. “Sorry, prince, that looks like a princess wouldn’t be complete without an appropriate tiara to go on top.”

She pulled out a lavish tiara from her costume collection. At first, I thought it was simply a plastic one you could buy from a two-dollar shop, but as she began to put it on my head, I could feel its real weight.

“What is this tiara made of?”

“It’s silver with actual diamonds, so don’t lose it.”

“Where did you get this? Why did you get this? Why am I wearing something so expensive? How did our budget permit this?” I asked all these things, but she ignored me.

Once Darcy had finished with my outfit, I looked like a princess, which was every girl’s dream. Only I was a guy, so even though I was glad the outfit looked good, I was also worried about what Marco would think. 

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

End of Chapter 9