Dave just turned up one day with mascara on. Made him a bit intense-looking. It was at a café, where it was a thing between us that we'd meet there on a Tuesday afternoon. There was no reason I could see why he'd be wearing makeup, but then I was never one to pass comment on another dude's getup.

I could see that it was troubling Giles. He was doing his nervous scratch of the cardboard coaster. I got us some beers and we spoke of such things as is normal between us, and soon the shadow and sparkle that had been lent to Dave's eyes was forgotten.

The following Friday saw Dave and I in each other's company again, at a party we had been invited to by a mutual acquaintance. I wasn't troubled by the appearance of his thinner eyebrows and shapely cheekbones. I took this in as new information about Dave and logged it amongst the other things I knew about him.

Lipstick shortly followed. The next Tuesday at the café. It was not my place to say, and nobody bothered him. He drank his beer as per the usual and we spoke and laughed of things. He wasn't doing it to challenge anyone or trying to start a fight. He was just doing it, turning it into fact. Dave spent fifteen minutes every morning pasting on some makeup. That was just a thing Dave did now. No reason to question a guy about the things he did.