the art of faking a smile. (under-construction)

25. Encounters and Meetups

HIDEKI POV

"Today is the day!" My brother hoorays whilst dancing around the room like an idiot.

"You're that excited huh?" I smile.

"Of course! It's gonna be the first time our group will meet in person!"

"But you guys already video call each other, isn't that enough?"

"Well that's different, appearances can be different when you meet them in person."

"True."

I stare at myself in the mirror then glance at Akio then stare at myself again.

"....ew."

I look so shabby you can even see a great comparison between Akio and I.  A cute fluff ball in a striped t-shirt tucked into jeans and a dark jacket that goes down to the knees. Compared to a shabby looking coward in jeans and a worn-out jumper that's supposed to look vintage and cool but instead makes me look like a hobo.

My face looks like someone sucked the living daylights out of me. It's slightly paler than usual, making the bags under my eyes more prominent. Overall I look straight up miserable. I think I even lost a few kilos because my cheekbones have become slightly more visible and my faded abs are long gone, sadly.

"Ha, looks like I'm definitely gonna make a good first impression." I laugh like a maniac, seems like I'm going insane too.

"Don't worry, you look fine." Akio turns to me, patting my face lightly. I can see his tongue poking out of his cheek and his thumb tucked tightly in his fist...

"I know you're fucking lying."

"You still look good I promise, it's just you look really worn out and unapproachable..." Akio admits. I roll my eyes.

"Too late to turn back now, anyway to fix me up?" I grumble.

Akio's face lights up. "You're really gonna let me do a makeover on you?"

"Only this once." Akio claps his hands and jumps around in joy.

"Okay, your clothes are fine because it'll make you look like a norm-core, but I think you need a good face wash..."

"Good idea." I say, going to the bathroom.

"And then, I'm gonna put some concealer to cover up those blemishes and some lip balm because your lips are really chapped and unpleasant to look at."

I feel slightly offended and afraid of what he is going to do to my face, but I guess I'll leave it to the expert...

"Since when did you have makeup? And what's concealer?" I ask.

"Summer gave some makeup to me, and don't bother knowing what concealer is because it's gonna be hard to explain to someone like you and you're not even gonna wear makeup in the future anyway." He replies, putting on some light makeup himself.

"Well then, you better make me look like a fucking God okay?"

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Turns out Akio's not bad at makeup. I actually look less of a zombie and more of a healthy-looking person with a healthy life. Ironic.

"...I look okay right?"

"Oh my god stop asking, you look perfectly fine! Why won't you trust my makeup skills." Akio grumbles as we walk together on the sidewalk.

We are on our way to our destination until we're met with a small gang of 4 that makes Akio frantic.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap. Hideki how do I look? Do I look cute? Do I look normal? Is my makeup too visible? Oh no, do I look too girly?" Akio panics, swiftly hiding behind me. As if that's going to help dumbass.