Pigment (Millard Nullings X Reader)

Heather's Birthday

I snuck up on Heather, and quickly plopped down onto her family's couch alongside her. Her golden curls were tied up in a loose ponytail, and she had a paper crown sitting neatly on her head. The rest of our family was chatting happily to each other about weather/politics/news that no one could ever care about except adults. However, despite the adults being cheerful, Heather still seemed to look lonely on her own birthday. 

The couch the two of us were sitting on was freezing, just proving my theory on her mood. It had been a few months since we came out to each other as "Mutants", and it had made us closer than ever.

"Happy birthday, Heather!" I said cheerfully. I pulled out a small box from my purse, and put it on Heather's lap.  "I know that you will be opening presents soon, but I want this present to be a bit more private."

A small smile creeped on her face, and I watched Heather open the box, smiling at the contents. Inside was a small silver necklace, with a heart shaped charm connected to it. In fancy cursive writing, the little heart was engraved with the word 'Loser'. It was a little joke of ours to have nicknames to offend one another. I pulled out a matching necklace that I wore on my neck, which said 'Idiot'.

"These are amazing, (Y/). I mean, I'm still mad that it took you two weeks to come up with such a boring-ass nickname for me, but it's still sweet of you to do this." 

The act definitely lifted her mood, and the normal light in her eyes was back.

Supposedly, someone must have scored a goal in the football game everyone began watching, since they all began cheering wildly. One of our younger uncles almost seemed to jump over my head as he landed on the couch, white and red face paint decorating his cheeks. I gave Heather an awkward look as the room suddenly became very loud.

"Do you wanna go to my room?" Heather asked.

I nodded, and we both got off of the couch. Awkwardly, we squeezed past a group of clustered cousins, until we got to a room near the end of the small flat. The whole place was crowded, so walking into a room without anyone in it was relaxing. Heather put a record on, and we both sat on top of her messy bed. 

"Mind helping me put this necklace on?" 

Heather gave her new necklace to me, and I carefully hooked it around her freckled neck. 

We just sat and talked through the whole vinyl. Heather's obsession with music was ridiculous, but it apparently helped her relax. We listened to a lot of The Rolling Stones and The Who. I kept fiddling with the bed sheets, turning them different colors, until Heather shoved me off of her bed entirely. 

The door to the bedroom opened after half an hour, and Heather's mom popped her head in, saying, "It's time for you to open presents, darling."

* * *

After half an hour of Heather opening presents and pretending to like the ugly wool jumpers people got her, everyone had sat around the family's small television to watch football once again. (Honestly, what was up with this family and sports? All I ever needed to have a funky good time was a good book and some snacks.) Even Heather seemed to be enjoying herself, and the room would become hotter the more intense the game became.

I just sat across from everyone else, with an Archie's Mad House comic in hand. Unfortunately for me, the least insane part of the flat was a small corner of the kitchen, where I currently sat. The room soon became unbearably hot, but no one seemed to notice, since the whole family was invested in the game. Everyone except for the younger cousins, of course.

As I was finishing my book, one of my little cousins came up to me, with her twin brother beside her. They were about ten, and found football almost as boring as I did. Then again, they found everything boring. There were times that even I  wasn't sure they had working emotions. Perhaps they were secretly robots....

"Tommy and I were thinking of playing Truth or Dare," young Emily said, nodding towards her brother.

"And we were wondering if you and Heather wanted to play," Tommy finished for his sister.

Due to the fact that I had already read the comic I brought and it was becoming unacceptably hot in the room, I agreed. The three of us grabbed Heather, and we sat in her room. Tommy and Emily explained the rules, as if they invented the game themselves, and seemed quite proud of it as well.

"I'll go first," Tommy stated. He turned to Heather, and asked the infamous question of truth or dare.

Heather thought about it for a bit, then answered, "Um... dare?"

Tommy then forced Heather to recreate the whole football game by herself, which made the two ten year-olds laugh. We played on, with all four of us (yes, that even included me) reluctantly asking for a dare. However, after a couple rounds, I decided to answer a truthful question, which Emily gladly asked.

"I'll give you an easy question since you're my favorite cousin." Emily tapped her chin innocently, and her eyes lit up, and she giggled. "Oh, I've got one! (Y/N), name your ideal boyfriend."

"That's not an easy one!" I said jokingly. "Well, for starters, he'd probably have to be clever, and know what he is doing. He would have a witty sense of humor, and would love to read as much as I do."

"Okay, yeah, but what would he look like? You've got to set at least some sort of standards!"

I just shrugged. "I dunno. What he looks like won't matter, as long as he's able to sweep me off my feet."

"Well, that's lame," Emily said bluntly. "So what I'm hearing from you, is that you'd date an invisible guy if he's able to read books. Have fun with that."

Tommy wrinkled his nose, as if he was smelling something foul. Most likely his personality. "I don't think I'll ever understand girls."

We continued on with the game, but Emily's statement rang in my ears. Would anyone ever want to date me, despite me being a freak? Imagine going on a blind date with someone and saying 'I'm a magical human crayon who can change my hair color to be whatever the hell you find attractive. Like purple eyes that rapidly change hues? I'm your girl, so date me!'

At this point, the only person who would even want to date me would be invisible. Or someone with dreadfully low standards....

After a while, the twins and their immediate family left. Slowly, people began to leave, until it was just Heather, her mother, her father, and me. I decided to just spend the night at her house, so Heather began to clear some room on her bedroom floor, and layed a sleeping bag out.

As I began to snuggle in, Heather turned her room lights off.

"Goodnight, (Y/N)."

"Goodnight, Heather."