Anderperry Oneshots Collection

Lipstick

In the weeks after winter break, Chris Noel joined the group quite nicely. Very quickly, the boys started treating her like one of their own, and just as quickly, her house became the perfect weekend hangout spot.

Chris sat on her bed, playing a complicated game of chess layed out in front of her. Knox sat behind her, brushing and plaiting her hair sweetly. 

Todd kneeled nearby on the floor, losing to Chris at chess. He and Chris had become fast friends, bonding over their shared experiences as the outsider in the group. 

Neil wandered around, flipping through Chris's extensive vinyl collection and fiddling with her record player. 

The rest of the boys were downstairs in the kitchen, making sandwiches.

The bedroom group kept a loose but enjoyable conversation, and were just about to go check on the rest of the boys when Chris's door opened with a slam.

"You'll never guess--Hi boys, I didn't know you were here--you'll never guess what my mother gave me!" Ginny said, plopping a cardboard box on Chris's lap.

Chris opened the box. "Mrs. Danburry's old evening gowns?!" she squealed. 

"Three of them! And you can pick one for yourself, if you want."

"Oh, Gin. You're so generous!" Chris said, rifling through them. "We must try them on. I'm sure the boys wouldn't be opposed to a fashion show?"

Neil and Todd weren't opposed. Knox agreed as if there was nothing better in the world.

"Then it's decided," Ginny grabbed Chris by the arm, yanking her away. "We'll be right back!"

And the boys were left alone. 

"Psst...Todd..." Chris called from the door. Todd had just settled into another chess game, this time against Knox, when she called him away.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Come here," she said.

Todd went into the hall and found Chris, wearing a pink gown underneath a bathrobe stolen from some hotel. 

"What's up?" he tried again.

"We have three dresses, but only two models."

Todd understood what she was implying. His eyes widened. "No, no, I'm not modeling a dress..."

"Please, Toddy!" Chris begged. "No one else would. You're our last hope."

Todd exhaled. He rolled his eyes. He tilted his head back, then forward again. "Fine," he said at last, and his smile was somewhat brought back by Chris's delighted laugh. Somewhat.

Before he knew it, he was dragged into a rich and roomy bathroom, where Ginny sat on the closed toilet, smoking a cigarette out the window. 

"You actually agreed to it?" Ginny said with a look of surprise. 

Todd nodded. "Unfortunately."

Ginny laughed. "Where to begin? Chris, you don't happen to have one of those corsets..."

"Good idea," Chris smirked, and rushed off. 

"Where's she going?" Todd asked, the reality of the situation starting to set in. He was really going to squeeze into a dress. 

"Don't worry about it," Ginny smiled slyly. 

Todd did, in fact, worry about it.

Minutes later, Chris showed up with a boxy-looking piece of clothing. "Shirt off," she demanded to Todd's surprise, and next thing he knew she was slipping the corset over his head.

The girls went to work lacing up the lacy bits and typing up the ties. Finally, Ginny took a step back. "You might want to hold onto something."

"Why? What are you- OW THAT HURTS." Todd realized the pain of the corset too late to escape it. He managed to grab hold of the towel rack, but that did little to ease the pinching tightness of the torture chamber Chris was currently tying into a bow.

"Alright," Chris said, dusting off her hands. "How does it feel?"

Todd was looking ready to transfer back to Balincrest. "It hurts to breathe," he complained.

"That means it's working."

Ginny fished around the box until they had his dress all unfolded. They slipped it onto him, Todd squirming through the unfamiliar material all the way.

"That's not so bad, I guess..." Todd said, before Chris did up the zipper. "Oh, that's worse."

"He doesn't have enough tit. It's not filled out enough," Ginny noted. 

Chris thought for a second, then grabbed two hand towels and began stuffing them down Todd's front. 

"There," she said, taking a step back to admire her work. "A true young lady."

"Makeup time!" Ginny declared. Makeup was her favourite part. 

Chris got out her makeup kit, and Ginny began putting the pieces together. Patting mysterious powder under Todd's eyes, expertly layering on different values of eyeshadow, painting rouge onto Todd's lips. 

"Hold still..." she commanded.

"What is that?"

"It's mascara. It makes your eyelashes pop."

"I found a wig!" Chris declared, and Todd turned his head just at the wrong time, accidentally painting a streak of mascara across his cheek. 

 "Oops..." he said, looking ready to die. 

"Don't worry about it," Ginny wiped off the line. "We'll try again."

"Gentlemen," Knox said, calling the attention of the Dead Poets. They had, at Chris's request, gathered in the living room.

"May I present our lovely models." Neil started up the runway music as Knox read off a sheet of paper. 

"Christina Noel!"

Chris waltzed down the stairs in her pink gown. The straps hung off her shoulders, and the bottom flared out with volume like a giant tulip. She was as gorgeous as ever, hair falling down around her gold locket.

She waved at the boys, planted a pink kiss on Knox's cheek, then took her seat in the audience.

"Virginia Danburry!"

Ginny sauntered down in her form-fitting, off-white dress. The dress itself was modest, with full, sparkly sleeves and a high necklace. But she carried it with such confidence that it made her look much more mature, refined, and certainly beautiful. 

She winked at Charlie, who cheered the loudest out of all of them, and took her seat beside Chris. She wouldn't miss their next model for the world.

"Todd Anderson!"

A murmur rose through the boys. Todd? No way, they must've misheard.

But there he was, walking down the stairs poised and elegant. 

He was suited in a soft blue gown, with a puffy, layered skirt. The wig he was wearing matched his hair colour almost exactly, a nice dark blond that went well with his bold, red lipstick. He blinked in uncertainty, his previously light eyelashes turned dark and noticeable.

The boys blew up. Yawping, cheering, whistling, and roaring. 

He, of course, got the biggest cheer out of all the models.

Ginny and Chris went to join him on "stage", and, hand in hand, bowed at their fans. 

After the clapping died down a bit, Neil rushed over. "Blue is your colour," Neil smiled, eyes wide and bemused.

"Get me out of this thing," Todd said, tugging at his neckline. 

"Gladly. My bed or yours?" Neil joked.

Todd's complexion matched his lipstick.