The two boys went into the bathroom and began looking at the tattoos, Andrew absentmindedly grabbed a washcloth and dampened it for when they were ready to apply the tattoos.
Andrew grabbed the sheet with the stubble tattoo and held it up to the mirror so he could peer though the clear film and imagine the appearance. He held it close to his face, far from his face, off to one side and the other. Finally Dani said, "Dude, apply it, and then you will see what you look like with it. If you don't like it you can rub it off."
Andrew didn't look convinced, so Dani grabbed the other facial hair tattoos and said, "I'll do it with you, which do you think would look best on me?"
Andrew, who was laughing the tattoos off only moments ago, was oddly serious about facial hair and its styling. This actually didn't come as a surprise to Dani. Last year when he and Andrew turned 15, Andrew confessed that he couldn't wait till he could grow facial hair and expected it soon. Kids can be tall and muscular, but to Andrew, needing to shave equated to manhood. Andrew was very disappointed when Dani explained that beards don't usually appear overnight, they start around age 17 and can take years before they come in fully.
Andrew began cycling through the available sheets imagining how Dani looked with each of the different stylings. Finally he decided who got what and they continued browsing.
Dani made the mistake of asking what Andrew's thought process was as deciding seemed to take forever. Andrew blushed, being too mindful of one's appearance tended to be considered an effeminate quality at his school and could get him labeled as homosexual, which he wasn't. So Andrew went into detail with his friend about how Dani's face was smaller and less masculine, therefore, he concluded the stubble would help him define his jawline and look more manly. On the other hand, Andrew continued, I'm big and the goatee makes my face look, um, slimmer.
"Oh, I never thought of it that way, but I see what you are saying." looking in the mirror, Dani was quick to respond so his friend wouldn't feel judged. Dani knew Andrew was occasionally called the tank at school, but never realized he was this self conscious of his appearance.
Turning back to the other tattoos Dani asked, "Alright. What would go with my, soon to be, new manly face?" as he broke into a grin. Andrew began forgetting his reservations and self consciousness and joined in Dani's fun.
"Aw, well you ain't any kind of man without this!", Andrew grabbed the barbed wire arm tattoo.
"And I will definitely need this!" Dani put the muscle torso picture up to his bicep and flexed making a tiny ball.
Andrew smiled along with his friend, "Oh and you love this!", grabbing the glass of beer and handing it to Dani.
"I sure do!", although in reality whenever he tasted his dads beer, he found it disgusting. He hopes his tastes change by the time he's 21 because he doesn't want to be the only man drinking spiked koolaid or cocktails.
At that point Andrew's mom came home and Andrew called out to her. "Hey mom."
"Hi honey, how was your day?" as she shuffled into the kitchen setting stuff down.
"Its going good, Dani is over, do you mind if he crashes here tonight? I wanted to play my new video game with him."
"What day is it? Oh my goodness, it's Friday isn't it! Yeah that's fine I guess, but I haven't gone shopping so you two will have to scrounge for food."
"That's fine, I just got paid so we'll probably go out to eat."
"Ok, but consider filling the tank back up one of these times!"
"Ok mom, I'll consider it." Andrew was rolling his eyes.
Dani had been reviewing the numerous sheets considering what to recommend for Andrew.