closed post for the lads: makeover montage

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan is standing in his room in the Mansion in nothing but boxers, absolutely surrounded by clothes. There are stacks of discarded robes in every color of the rainbow (except, notably, red; the Mansion had given him one of those and he'd yelped and hid it under the bed); intricate and wildly expensive guans piled in teetering towers; he's knee-deep in jeans, and boots, and button-up shirts, and dress pants. There's a tuxedo, still on its hanger, swinging from the closet door. Behind it, the closet has helpfully refilled with more options, including a few very pretty dresses that Shen Yuan did not, actually, ask for, but he can't blame it for getting confused. He's fucking confused. He's completely at a loss, in fact.

He groans and grabs an outer robe at random, pulling it around his shoulders, and then falls over backward and starfishes on the clothes-covered floor. He doesn't know what the fuck to wear on a date. Especially not a date with Binghe, a dinner date with Binghe, and of course it's going to be world-class food, because Binghe is incapable of cooking anything else. And Binghe's going to be looking at him. The whole time. And it's not for—for an apology, or even for a seduction; he's just there to talk, and to listen, and to eat, and to—to flirt!! Intentionally!! Like gay people do!!

He has to look good, but not so good that it's painful for Binghe not to ravish him, and like himself—Shen Yuan, the self he's trying to be with Binghe—but not so different from Shen Qingqiu that Binghe doesn't like him anymore because he just looks like some fucking guy. He can't wear what he would have worn on a hypothetical date with a girl, because that's way too cringe and straight. Also, he doesn't know what that would have been, either.

It would be easier to do this somewhere else, anywhere his wardrobe is limited by what he already owns or could readily buy, and not made up of anything he can possibly imagine.

He rubs his hands over his face, and then pulls two slips of talisman paper and a brush from the robe's sleeve. Writing above his head like he's texting in bed, the paper held steady by an invisible force, he finishes two different but equally urgent messages. They fold themselves up, and he paints a last few qi-imbued characters on the outside before they both zoom out of the room in opposite directions.

[Magnus and Galahad will each receive a note that only opens for them and will lead them back to his room once they read it. However, Shen Qingqiu has mixed up which message was for who, so Galahad's reads "SOS!!! date emergency!!!" and then has two little drawings of the prayer hands emoji, and Magnus' reads "I need a favor, if you have the time - your friend Shen Qingqiu."]

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[summerdude]

"Hell yeah, my dude," Magnus says, immediately, and then he purses his lips. "Do I need to be beautiful for it, too?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad nods emphatically at Shen Yuan behind Magnus' back.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan winks at Galahad. He would have said yes anyway, probably, but now they're in this together. "Absolutely," he says. "You can pick something out for it now if you want, or take some time to plan."

[summerdude]

"Fine," Magnus says. He's putting on a huffy tone, but he's clearly pleased. "Lemme see what you've got, I guess."

He gets up and starts nudging through the piles of clothes, making his way toward the closet.

Once he get there, he pauses. There are a lot of dresses? For a second, he remembers when Shen Yuan was stoned and talking about how it would be easier to be a girl, and he glances at the guy for a quick little moment, before flipping through those, too.

Then he stops. There's a dress that screams Alex at him: it's fluffy and floaty and frankly an eye-searing shade of green, with little pink flowers embroidered all over it. He doesn't know much about skirts... is a skirt that looks like it would hit just above the knees a mini-skirt? A maxi skirt? Looks like it would give a person a good range of motion in a fight, though. It would also, he thinks, look great on Shen Yuan.

He reaches out and touches it. It's softer than it looks. Hmmmmm.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad fingerspells Alex against his thigh as he watches. Magnus talks about Alex all the time. This is an Alex dress. He's pleased that he knows.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan notices Magnus pausing on a frankly hideous dress, but it's not about being beautiful, it's about feeling beautiful, and it would give him a lot practice painting ruffles. Also, he remembers their conversation in the while he was stoned, and how Magnus had brought up turning into a girl for Binghe¹ and said, a little shifty, there are ways, you know, without magic.

"You want to try it on?" he asks. "Go for it, dude." He winces at himself. Probably no need to reinforce, the, like, masculine, right now. Come on. We're being supportive bros!!! Oh, god, is all his friendship language masculine??

¹ Nope.

[summerdude]

The dress really is an assault on his senses. "Sure, why not," Magnus says. Unlike Galahad, he has no compunctions about trying on clothes during someone else's date prep sesh, so he yanks off his shirt and pulls the dress on. It's a little puckered over the button of his jeans -- for a ruffled monstrosity, it really hugs tight to the skin.

Then he peers at himself in the mirror, trying to decide how Alex would react. Horrified delight? Double checking that he's doing this in earnest and not being a dick? That slow, feral grin he gets sometimes when Magnus does something he really likes? Magnus hopes it would be the first or the last, not the middle one. He's really not trying to be a dick. Like, he'd take it, if it meant she was here to judge him for it, but it's not his preference.

Really, he'd prefer the dress on Alex, but... it feels kind of like she's hugging him?

"Alright," he says, turning around to show it to his friends. "What's the verdict?"

[onthewillowsthere]

The sight of Magnus in the Alex dress-- is perfect. It's perfect. For the first time since he came here and left Percival behind, Galahad feels uncomplicatedly happy. He has friends. They've taught him new things and made him better. They like him, and they like each other, and he knows them, and he knows what they love, and he's here with them -- Shen Yuan told them his name, and asked them for help. Magnus is wearing a dress that reminds him of Alex. There's the taste of root beer on his tongue. He's so happy.

He signs friend, not at either of them but just to himself, and says, "It's good."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan had been very prepared to supportively lie his ass off about how Magnus looked in this dress. He'd been certain it wouldn't look good on him, not because he's a boy, but because the dress itself is so neon and terrible. But—"It's actually kind of great," he says, surprised enough to fail to hide his surprise.

Part of it is that Magnus looks so happy in it—quietly and a little embarrassedly happy, but happy nonetheless. But it also kind of works, on him, with his blond hair and coloring. He remembers Galahad describing Magnus as the summer, and maybe that's why. He looks like a cloud of summer flowers, a sunburst of warmth and light and growing things. "You definitely need flowers in your hair," he says. "To match with Galahad's, for the portrait series, but also, like, generally." He looks at Galahad. "What do you think? Cactus flower? Saffron crocus?"

[summerdude]

Magnus lets himself flop backward onto a pile of clothes that may or may not cover Shen Yuan's bed. Turns out he's actually a little overwhelmed in this dress? Not in a bad/too overstimulated way, or even in a sad/missing Alex way. It's kind of fun, he thinks. He can get painted in it and if Alex ever sees the painting, somehow, they can laugh about it together. He wonders what the skirt would feel like if he wasn't wearing jeans.

"I don't know what those flowers are!" he admits. "Are cactus flowers spiky?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"They're bright." He tilts his head at Shen Yuan, as if for confirmation. "And soft, but sturdy. There's one called kingcup that has red flowers," making the shape of the flower with his hands, a trumpet that flares wide.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan nods. "Cactus flowers are the same pink as in the dress," he says, "and they sort of—rise out of the green the same. Not spiky, just with lots of layers, like the skirt. Saffron crocus are more purple, but I think it would work to emphasize the pink, and draw a color story with your eyes, maybe, pick up some purplish highlights there." He's already thinking about how he would stage Magnus, where his light source would be. "Do you want me to return the favor and braid your hair? It wouldn't be as elaborate as this, since you don't have as much as I do, but still."

[summerdude]

"Um," Magnus says, hesitating. His hair is mostly Alex's domain, but he has learned that he likes when people are touching it, so... "As long as you don't cut it, sure."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I can show you the flowers later."

[peaklordshen]

"Got it, no cutting," says Shen Yuan. He joins Magnus on the bed and nudges him so he'll sit up and let Shen Yuan get behind him.

[summerdude]

Magnus hauls himself up. "I'd like that," he tells Galahad, as he leans back toward Shen Yuan.

[onthewillowsthere]

He has a pile of sweaters that he wants, and he sets it, folded neatly, to the side, and then settles in to watch Shen Yuan braid Magnus' hair.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan combs Magnus' hair out, running it through his fingers a little, then divides it in half. He can't get as fancy with it as Magnus had, but he does know how to do french braids on someone else's head--he is resisting, as hard as he can, thinking any harder about his meimei--so he gives him two, like pigtails. It doesn't take long, but the silence while he does it is comfortable. "There," he says, when he's finished. "How's that?"

[summerdude]

"This is great," Magnus says, reaching up to touch it and liking the feeling. "Galahad, do you want your hair played with, too?"

[onthewillowsthere]

His throat closes up. Yes.

For a moment he sits dumbly, staring at them. Yes, he wants this -- he's been sitting on the floor because that's where he ended up, and it felt too much like an interruption to get on the bed with them, even if he hadn't consciously thought it until now. He wants the warmth of Magnus' body draped against his, wants Shen Yuan to touch him with this casual intimacy. But he doesn't know how to ask--

He does know how to ask.

Yes, he signs. Please.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan doesn't know please, and the sign for yes is a little different in ASL, but Galahad's meaning is clear anyway. "Get up here, already," he commands, but he's smiling. He nudges Magnus with a shoulder. "Can you teach me sign? I know a little, but it's all pinyin finger-spelling, which isn't helpful when I can't even say a word in Mandarin without the Mansion translating it." He remembers Magnus' sign out front. "I'll trade something for it. Just, uh, give me a bit to remember any skills I have worth sharing."

[summerdude]

"Yeah man, no worries, no rush," Magnus says. He extends a hand to help Galahad up off the floor and onto the bed. "I think first we should probably pick out a name-sign for you. Galahad, any ideas?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He settles beside Magnus, leaning against him, and signs spring, but uses an S for the growing part.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan slips his hands into Galahad's cloud of hair, more gently messing with it and scritching his nails over his scalp a little than planning anything yet—he's distracted by the signing. "What's that?"

[summerdude]

"Spring?" Magnus asks Galahad, fascinated. It's not necessarily the sign he would have picked, but he likes it. It feels fitting, in a way. Then, looking looking between Shen Yuan's hands in Galahad's hair and Galahad's hands signing, something occurs to him. "Wait, what if I did Galahad's hair? I mean, obviously you can, too, but Galahad can teach you the basics -- if you want, Galahad, obviously -- and it's probably better if you can practice right back instead of having your hands busy."