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“Hey Daaani?” Fiona called in a sing-song voice, drawing out her girlfriend’s name as she closed their front door behind her.
“What?” Came the reply from their lounge where Dani was knee deep in a Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough. Fi kicked off her shoes and rounded the corner to see her girlfriend hunched over the game.
“I may have picked up a little something extra from the shops…” Fi grinned and dangled the tub of pink hair dye in front of Dani’s eyes.
“Oh my god rat you did not.”
“I diiiiiddd” Fi replied, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. Dani turned to look at her, controller forgotten, matching the mischievous glint in her blue eyes and cackled. “Oh we are so doing this.”
Fiona scavenged for some plastic gloves deep in one of their kitchen drawers, leaving the room looking like a warzone with every cupboard and drawer wide open, and threw a pair at Dani.
“What??” She screeched, “You want me to do it????”
“I think we both should!” Fi smiled gleefully, her tongue poking out between her teeth. “Matching hair dye! They’re gonna go crazy.”
“Twitter’s gonna be in shambles. Are you thinking the whole head or like what’s the plan here buddy?”
“Who needs a plan when you have creativity and lesbianism!”
Dani drew her hand across her face dramatically, failing to hide the fond smile behind it. “This is going to go so wrong”
They dragged their lanky bodies over to their bathroom and stood facing each other on either side of the mirror, automatically assuming the sides they sat on in a gaming video without even realising it.
“Ok. So.” Dani started slowly, only to be interrupted by the wet dollop of hair dye being dumped into a plastic bowl. “Oh right you’re just going straight in- oh! Ok! Eugh that sound reminds me of a certain pontoon”
“Don’t even” Fi kicked her jokingly from where she perched on the edge of the bath. She looked up at the pair of them in the mirror, two tall girls dressed in each other's old t-shirts squeezed into the bathroom they designed themselves. Memories of the countless leaks that had sprung since the builders haphazardly constructed it surrounded them and mingled with the sweet smell of her girlfriend’s perfume. Dani met her eyes in the mirror questioningly and Fi just pulled her face towards her and kissed her. “Can’t do that when we’re covered in hair dye! Gotta get the last one out the way.”
“Gayyyy.” Dani teased, but in the tone of voice that screamed ‘you are my favourite person in the whole world and there’s no one else I’d rather be impulsively dyeing my hair with on a random Tuesday’. Fi turned back to the task at hand, and having emptied the entire tub into the bowl, made no hesitation to dip her gloved hand in and start smearing it onto the bleached ends of her wavy hair.
Dani leant back against the wall and smiled smugly at her, “Let the second gay crisis commence”
“You’re doing it too bitch don’t back out on me!”
“Will it even show up on my hair without bleaching it????”
“Won’t know if you don’t try!”
Dani sighed sufferingly and put her gloved hand into the bowl. “Ugh it even feels like shit”
“Whose shit have you been fondling??” Fiona shot back. Brown eyes turned to blue in mock horror, “Don’t you ever use the word fondling again.”
“What’s so wrong with a little fondling???” Fi joked, reaching out to touch Dani’s chest.
“Fi!” She screamed and jumped back, making Fiona momentarily glad they didn’t live in an apartment anymore, “You’re covered in dye you twat!! Don’t come near me with hands that look like you’ve been fingering yourself on day two”
“What????” Fi spluttered out through tears of laughter. Dani tried and failed to hold a serious expression before dissolving into fits of giggles, almost doubled over. They may be in their 30s but they absolutley still laughed like the flirty kids meeting up for the first time back in 2009.
Getting a hold of themselves, the two of them went back to lathering hair dye all over, breaking into grins whenever they locked eyes in the mirror and saw the mess they were creating. Fiona was done much sooner than Dani considering she had less hair to cover and was rewarded by sitting back and watching the intense facial expressions Dani pulled trying to get it just right. In the end she gave up and asked Fi to get the underside of the back of her hair which she obliged, though not without jokingly jabbing at Dani’s sensitive neck.
“Remind me why I agreed to do this again?” The question came out more serious than Dani intended it to, as the reality of what she was- had already- committed to sunk in. Danielle Howell: the famous hater of commitment, dyeing her hair without a second thought. Fi looked at her reassuringly as a soft smile spread across her features, “Because it’s fun. Because sometimes it’s ok to just do things and not ruminate on them for hours. Remember my wholeee slogan thing, ‘Try new things’? Well here we are; trying new things, together, like we always have.”
Dani fake gagged, “Has pink hair turned you into a sap?” Fi just rolled her eyes and waited for the disgusted persona to fall. “You’re right tho I guess. It is definitely progress to think I’d just do this for the shits and giggles. Besides you’re gonna look so hot so it’s worth it even if mine turns out crap”
“Exactly. Oookay we’re done I think? Now just to let it sit for half an hour.”
Dani reached out for a stray strand of her partner’s hair, “Missed a bit.” She carefully rubbed the last of the dye into it and moved to sit next to Fi on the rim of the bathtub.
“So like. What do we do while we wait ‘cus I don’t trust you walking about the phouse like that, you’re gonna stain everything.”
“Welllll,” Fi smiled sheepishly, “Quiz me on Buffy?”
An hour later the pair had showered together, washing off the dye and leaving pink stains everywhere. That was tomorrow-them’s problem to clean off. Their hair had come out shockingly good; Dani’s showing up as a rich magenta on the underside of her hair which complimented the brown of her long curls beautifully. Fi looked like a perfect mix of those chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice lollies. Neither of them could keep their eyes off each other.
“So you agree I’m the best and make incredible decisions and should become a hairstylist?” Fi batted her too-long, faulty eyelashes up at Dani as they laid on the sofa together.
“If you became a hair stylist, who would be the passenger princess in DanAndPhilGames?”
Fi hummed sleepily, Dani’s warm legs under her made the perfect pillow, “The Pheal.”
“Ah yes of course.” Dani smiled down at her, resting her head on top of her shoulder. They’d take pictures and show the phans tomorrow, but for now this was just for them and she loved that. Her fingers threaded through the freshly dyed mess of hair spread across her lap, rubbing small circles into Fi’s head.
“I’m proud of you.” Fi mumbled, sleep threatening to pull her under.
“For what?”
“Committing.”
“Oh. Thanks. I love you.” Dani leaned down to press a kiss to Fi’s forehead before resting back across her body.
“Oh yayy” Came the muffled reply. It didn’t take long for Fi’s breathing to even out into deep, calm inhales and exhales, her chest rising and falling utterly at peace. Dani joined her only moments later, and while their necks would hate them for it tomorrow, for now she had never been cosier.