WHO: Allison & Dan WHEN: December 27th WHERE: Allison’s new salon WHAT: Painting and other shenanigans WARNINGS: High key nonsense
When Christmas came with a present that seemed painfully more big and important than all her less grand presents, Allison felt both touched and ridiculous. She still wasn’t sorry for crying. They were happy tears! She’d been wanting to look into getting a salon for so long that now that she had it, she felt elated. The only things left to do was...well...just about everything else. Today’s goal was painting. So she’d dragged Dan with her to help. It should have been no surprise that she gravitated towards yellow when it came to choosing the paint. She’d tried to guesstimate how much they’d need while also overshooting a little in case she was underestimating. They could always buy more, but why?
She set the last of the paint cans down, eyeing the rest of the room. There was going to be a lot of painting to do and they still had to tape everything around the windows. “I never figured how much work went into actually putting things together,” she said after a moment. “When I showed up in the 60s, everything in the salon was already finished. I just had to sweep hair and make sure things went as smoothly as I could.” And then over time she learned how to cut and style hair as well. It was one of the happier times in her life considering it had mostly been her own.
“The idea of having my own never occurred to me.” She gave Dan a look both sad and happy. “You two are still far too cute for me. I can’t believe you did this.”
It really was a lot of work, Dan thought, but entirely worth it - here in Vallo, he wanted Allison to be able to do what she felt called to do, what she felt strongly about. And if that was styling hair and making people feel all dolled up and beautiful then, well, so be it - after he brought up the idea to Sabrina and she’d readily agreed to help, it was relatively smooth sailing from there when it came to picking out the space. They’d toured a lot of buildings but ultimately settled on one that was attractive on the outside, and safe and well-lit. It was also around a bunch of other businesses in the city (as opposed to next to a park or something), making it easier for customers to pass through the salon’s doors once it opened.
He also didn’t weigh the value of a gift in how grand it may be - he loved what Allison had gotten him for Christmas, because she picked it out for him. That was what was important.
“We love you,” he said, leaning in to plant a kiss on her. Turn that frown upside down, wifey. She could give her husband coffee for every holiday and birthday, like he’d complain about that given how into caffeine he actually was. “It’s going to be perfect once it’s all set up. I’ll tape the corners if you want to mix the paint? It won’t take me long.” Corners and windows, and he’d make sure to get a good seal so paint didn’t get underneath the tape. That was just sloppy.
Allison couldn’t help but smile at the kiss and the affirmation of love. She knew that they loved her and that was the best part of it all. Growing up as she did, things weren’t always...the best. Her and her siblings did their best, but it took growing up and being alone to really get them to the point where they looked out for and loved one another and even still, they sometimes had a complicated time figuring it all out. But she did her best. She had weekly sister dates with Vanya and she was glad to see Diego and Klaus seeming so well.
She would be glad when it was done, but she knew she’d prefer to do it herself to make it seem more like her own place. And there would be other expenses, she was sure, so if she could manage to cut down on labor costs, she’d deal with it. Plus, she was almost certain Dan would look even more adorable with paint splotches on him. It was unlikely they wouldn’t end up with some paint on them, which was why she was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a shirt she wasn’t overly fond of. “Thank you, husband. I would appreciate that.”
She started to open one of the buckets of paint and stir it with a stick. They’d have to prime the walls first, but she was told that should only take one coat before they could paint everything. It was definitely something that would take a while, but she was going to do what she could. “It’s a shame we don’t have an army of children to help us with the task of painting, but I guess it’s not the largest place I’ll ever paint. Maybe our adopted teenager collection will be up by the next time we need to paint something.” It was a jest. She wasn’t sure they needed more adopted teenagers to go with the one they had and the five year old.
Adopted teenager collection. Dan snorted a laugh, starting a system where he ran a dustrag over the moldings to clean up a little, then applied tape with an applicator - that was easier than having to cut off pieces, when you just rolled it along. It would get him to the corners faster, anyway. He was a busy bee (quick, but efficient). The main room that would be the salon where all the chairs would be, and all the excitement, was large but not overly so - he felt confident about this.
“Are you suggesting child labor, Allison Torrance-Hargreeves?” he asked, feigning shock. “Terrible. But it’s alright, we’ll get it done with the two of us - maybe wrangle Sabrina to help if it gets too overwhelming.” There was probably some magic trick for speeding up the prep of a salon, considering she was a girl who spun into her outfits everyday.
Steadily, he made his way around the room while Allison mixed the paint. “You come up with any names for the place yet, by the way?”
“Well, you could clearly pay them in sugary snacks.” She attempted not to laugh, but found it rather difficult. “Works most of the time with children.” She watched for a moment as he continued to tape around the molding. “I think we can manage this time, yeah.” Sabrina did probably know some spell to make this faster, however. There might come a day where a new spell for something she hadn’t seen yet wouldn’t surprise her, but it hadn’t happened so far. Most of the usual things seemed fairly normal.
At the question of the name of the salon, Allison paused. There had been a lot of various thoughts regarding it. She hadn’t quite settled on anything. “Claire seems to be of the mind that there needs to be a unicorn in the name, but we’re divided on that.” It was nice to have her daughter around to comment on various different things and that she was happy to be there. She knew she missed her dad, but if he’d shown up, she probably wouldn’t be allowed to see her and that was better to avoid thinking about. “I want something that will make people feel like they’re going to feel amazing when they leave. I haven’t fully settled, though.”
A unicorn in the name, of course, that didn’t surprise Dan at all. He was endeared as well, because Claire’s love for those glorious horned creatures was pretty damn cute. “Well, I don’t know - putting that in the name might be kinda uni-corny, huh?” he quipped, and he was just full of great puns at the drop of a hat.
Allison probably disagreed but she knew what she’d gotten into when she married him. “No doubt you’ll make people feel amazing either way though.” He ditched the painter’s tape now that everything looked all set there, opening up the primer to get started with that - it didn’t take too long to dry, not in this day and age. Science. Maybe about twenty minutes per wall?
“Okay, how about we prime a wall, then by the time we finish priming the next the first one should be dry and ready for paint?” he suggested. “Maybe we can work out a system. Efficiency.” Or just use a huge industrial-sized hair dryer to speed things along, but he doubted that’d be necessary.
Allison couldn’t help the knee jerk reaction to roll her eyes at the pun. “Maybe I should have let Diego marry you after all.” But then she’d have to fight Diego, which would be tiring because they were pretty evenly matched for fighting and she preferred fighting with her brother as opposed to against him.
She nodded at his assertion that she’d make people feel good. She was pretty sure that she would because she’d be sure to listen to what people wanted and do her best to make everyone look amazing as they left. She drew herself from her thoughts to glance at him. “I think we can manage that pretty well.” If she had to, she’d come back tomorrow for a second coat of paint. Or they could eat and come back. Either way.
“So do you want to do the roller or cut in with the paint brush? Or should we both do the roller and then cut in after?”
“Cut in with the paint brush first, I’ll handle that,” Dan replied. “Then I’ll leave the roller in your capable hands.” He wasn’t an expert handyman or painter but he knew some things - they might have to eat and come back for the second coat of paint, but that was perfectly fine. No other plans were on the agenda besides getting the salon painted today - he was eager to situate everything so Allison could get that opening date here and ready that much faster.
Into the paint tray the primer went, and he got started with the edges and corners - a busy, busy bee. “Mostly I just think it’s hot, watching you with a roller,” he teased, getting up on the ladder to attend to the higher corners of the wall he’d started on. “Paint splatters are sexy.”
Maybe it was the idea of getting dirty that did it for him, because Allison usually looked so put together. Even when she was just lounging around the house.
She smiled again as she watched him just jump right in. As far as she was concerned, he was an amazing person and she was glad that she’d found him. Even with all of the madness that happened with the memory updates. He was her favorite person. Getting this all together and started was important, though. She knew there were hair salons around because she’d been to a few of them. She’d had plans of finding somewhere before this happened.
Allison arched an eyebrow and laughed softly. “I wasn’t aware of this idea that paint splatters were sexy or that you had such a strong opinion on them.” She casually got the roller, extending the pole it was on a little before pouring some paint into one of the roller pans and getting primer on them. She started painting where he’d already cut in. “I’ll let you know if I get a similar feeling.”
But Dan was attractive for varying reasons and sometimes it was just because he’d done something particularly thoughtful and she couldn’t help herself or sometimes he’d laugh and she wasn’t sorry for staring. Other times just the way he’d look at her was the reason.
She paused briefly before “accidentally” getting paint on the left side of his ass. “Oops.”
That was no accident, Allison Torrance-Hargreeves, and Dan craned his neck to get a glimpse of his now-painted ass, stepping down off the ladder so he didn’t fall and crack his skull open. He laughed about it though, and it wasn’t like he was particularly attached to these jeans - he’d worn clothing that he’d probably have to either clean thoroughly or get rid of after painting adventures, but that was okay. Because getting rid of it would definitely be a thing, especially if his wifey kept ‘missing’ with the roller.
“Oh, you know, accidents happen,” he said casually, taking the paint brush and giving it a little flick - which meant splatters got on the front of Allison. Not her face, of course, more like the area of chest puppies - asses were nice, but breasts were pretty great and he was a guy who definitely appreciated them. Not on everyone, he was just fine with appreciating Allison’s rack.
By flinging paint on her. “Like that, that was just a wrist spasm. But you look good. It completes the outfit, so you’re welcome.”
Allison affected her most innocent expression as Dan turned around to survey the paint damage. It was clearly just a slip of the hand. Such a terrible happening. However did it occur?
That didn’t stop the initial surprise reaction when he flicked paint at her. She looked down at the paint speckled over her chest and looked up at him, laughing a little. “Oh, really? A wrist spasm. Maybe we need to get you in to see a doctor for that.” She attempted to make it seem like an accident when she lowered the roller to paint his shoulder and upper chest. “Woops. Temporarily lost control of my hand. Maybe we both need to see the doctor.”
Now Dan was just coated in primer, looking like an all-white ghost - his shoulder, his chest, his ass; if he sat he’d make a half butt print anywhere, and the thought amused him for some reason. “I’m not gonna stoop to your level,” he stated but also decided that a mere paintbrush was like bringing a hammer to a gunfight - this just wouldn’t do.
So he dropped the brush and grabbed the other roller, dipping it in paint, but went around to the wall because he was mature and totally not going to go after Allison with primer. No, absolutely not. He’d just prime the wall as normal. “See? This how you properly prime a wall - “
Okay, fuck that. The next second he lunged for Allison with the roller, getting the back of her and painting a nice wide stripe of white so they matched.
Allison rolled her eyes. “Too adult now. I see.” She was perfectly ready to stop the paint attacks and paint the wall when he attacked back and she made a surprised noise, doing her best to assess how much paint was on her at that moment. “Oh, you are dead.” Which was about all the warning that came before she painted the front of his leg with her roller. They would definitely probably have to go home to eat if they were going to get some food between coats of paint. They definitely had to get started on the walls soon, but for now, she was very entertained by attacking her husband with paint.
“Not going to stoop to my level my ass.”
Dan attempted to twist away when Allison went at his leg with the roller, but obviously he didn’t make it because his jeans were now splattered. The front and the back. “You are the worst - “ he laughed, that gravelly sound, stone against stone and like it was rusty from disuse. But admittedly, these days he laughed a lot more now that he had Allison - and Claire too, just family in general and all the others who were important to him. That was why he was here.
Oh, and also to have a paint war with his spouse. That too.
“See, now that’s not fair. I gotta play a dirty hand,” he added, dropping the roller entirely. Then he just went for Allison and tackled her to the plastic tarp, what they’d put down to protect the floor from dripping - though they were getting paint all over it anyway, rolling around and wrestling on it while wearing fresh splatters on their clothes.
He was sure they were both sufficiently smeared, and he straddled her, with a knee on either side of her ribcage. But was also sweet enough to drop a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I love you though.”
“I think you meant to say the best.” She stuck her tongue out for good measure. Once he dropped the roller, she prepared herself for whatever dirty tactic it was that he had coming. Because something was definitely about to happen. Considering who he was, she wasn’t exactly expecting the tackle approach, which gave him the benefit of surprise. She made a small noise as she hit the ground, eyes somewhat narrowed. It was actually surprisingly attractive, but he would only be the one on top for so long because while he may have been taller and weighed more, she had a life of training on her side.
“You’re just trying to get on my good side,” she replied, giving him a quick grin before she wrapped her arms around his back and pulling him close to her, her right leg coming to place itself over his left leg. Then she moved her right arm around his arm and quickly flipped them over. She grinned again, taking his hand in hers, fingers twining together as she pressed them against the floor. Leaning down, she kissed him quickly. “Pinned you.”
He was expecting that, honestly, somewhat - Allison’s training as a ninja meant that she was lithe and spry and Dan was just all muscle without the spryness and, well, he wasn’t trained how to fight. Mostly he just knew how to break a pool cue over someone’s head but nothing that required much technique - he fought dirty though, when he had to. That hadn’t been the case for awhile, since he was kind of too old to go picking fights and there were plenty of other people who could go handle things when bad shit popped up. Monsters or just general localized crime.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t extremely turned on when Allison flipped them, however. Because he definitely was.
“You got me,” he acquiesced with this pleased glint in his eye, squeezing her hands in his, leaning up a little to steal another kiss because he couldn’t quite get enough of them. “Maybe we should finish up here and take a break before the second coat of paint. Conserve water, take a shower at the same time...”
He’d have to see if the dried paint from their clothes was fixable or a lost cause. But as long as nudity happened at some point, he was perfectly okay with pretty much any outcome.
She was almost sorry they hadn’t had more of the place painted, but she happily kissed him back before letting go of his hands and pushing herself off the ground. She held out a hand to help him up. “I guess we’d better get finished painting the primer and first coat of paint, then, so that we can help save the Earth by conserving water in our shared shower.”
She was sure a good soak would help with the clothes and if not, it could have been worse. Still, there would absolutely be some form of nudity.
Taking Allison’s hand, Dan stood up and assessed the situation - they’d gotten most of the walls done with the primer? Maybe? They’d be here a little longer slapping on the first coat of paint as well, but since he had an Earth-saving shower to look forward to, that might light a fire under his ass.
“That’s us, complete superheroes,” he chuckled, leaning in to curve his lips around Allison’s for another kiss or two. He didn’t linger, however, since he didn’t want to get distracted - but she tasted like sweetness and like spice simultaneously, and he was certain he wouldn’t ever get tired of kissing his wife. “Alright, back to work. But I’m keeping an eye on you,” he added, picking up the roller and brandishing it with a squint of cornflower eyes.
You just never could tell. Best he watch this one carefully.