[CLOSED] It's quick. It's clean. It's pure.

[chronomancer]

Characters: The waffailsprits, Jade!Eridan Ampora and Yellow!Equius Zahhak.
Setting: Floor 8, the forest.
Format: Action.
Summary: In which marksmanship and shooting lessons are interrupted because Equius hair is a crime against humanity and Eridan has run out of spare sunglasses at long last.
Warnings: Awkward, awkward teens in love. Also brushes and hairbands and long-winded bitching about the cold.

[Eridan is a few minutes late to his appointment with Equius - it's not a date, none of them are dates, can his brain please stop making this weird - for the first time since they began. He walks down the staircase and into the snowed floor of the forest, rifle already in hand.]

Sorry.

[He's trying really hard not to make this weird and hoping Equius won't say anything about it, but it's kind of hard not to considering he feels so goddamn naked as it is.]

Ready for this?

Comments

[chronomancer]

[Eridan goes sit behind Equius on the bed, absently patting his back as he studied the tangled mass carefully.]

Trust me on this, hon.

[Have an absent-minded but very much affectionate scratch of those claws on your back. All nice and soothing. then those claws start fiddling with the tips of Equius' hair, slowly working on the most obvious, larger tangles at a slow, leisure pace.]

I know what I'm doing, for once.

[geometry]

I know you do.

[Casually going to pull his coat even closer around him, staring at the blanket on the bed in front of him (at least its original owner, or the drones, had the decency to make the bed before leaving). Maybe the cold was finally getting to him, growing up in much warmer weather like he did... but at least he's not squirming and complaining about Eridan pulling too hard or something.]

[...Jesus Christ. He really hasn't brushed his hair in a long time. This hurts.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan is working as slow as he can, holding the hair above the tangles with one hand, while the other tries to work on it, so as to avoid tugging or pulling on Equius' scalp, but seriously. He keeps wincing every now and then, trying to coax that poor hair to lie flat where it should. Every so often he pauses, particularly after a really big or mean tangle, and just scratches on Equius back with his claws, slowly and lightly enough not to hurt. Like a quiet apology if he hurt him.]

[geometry]

[Every so often there's a sharp intake from breath from the creature that lives under the bushes, either from a particularly bad yank or whenever Eridan gives one of those little mini-massages. Still, the gasps mean different things depending on the situation; he doesn't appreciate head pain at all, but he does appreciate the scratching. He appreciates it a lot. Yes he does. If he weren't feeling quite so horrible right now, he might be smiling to himself.]

...You know...

...Nepeta used to do this quite a lot...

[chronomancer]

[There's a momentary pause, there, like a breath or two, and then Eridan goes on, fingers slowly crawling their way up, leaving behind strands of hair that actually fall properly.]

Really?

[It's inquisitive enough an answer, he supposes, without being pushy. If Equius wants to talk about it, well, they'll talk about it.]

[geometry]

Really.

[Which is, in hindsight, probably why he hasn't touched his hair with a brush for so long...]

Whenever she could get ahold of me, she would just. Brush my hair.

No real reason. She just did.

[Yeah, it definitely wasn't the cold.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan is going to politely sidestep those implications and think about them later on in private.]

You have nice hair, you know, when you brush it properly. So there's probably that.

[Have another of those scratches right at the base of your neck, Equius.]

But then brushing hair is pretty relaxing, for everyone involved. I mean, once you're done with the tangles.

[He's still not done with those, but thanks to this little line of conversation, he's taking twice as much care to not tug if he doesn't have to.]

[geometry]

I do? [He certainly never noticed.] Uh. Thanks, I guess.

[He casually fiddles with the hem of his-- OH GOD. NO. STOPPING THAT RIGHT NOW.]

...You're pretty good at this.

[chronomancer]

[Do not go down the road of fiddling with shirts, Equius, it ends with bloody arms and other unfortunate acts of self-harm. Trust me, I know how that works. Also don't ask when Eridan noticed, Eridan notices the weirdest things and you don't want to know about them because they're almost all stalkery somehow.]

Ah. Well. I didn't know I was good at it until Feferi put me to task with her hair. Not that she ever let me finish, anyway, she didn't have the patience to sit still for long. But I guess my habit to be fiddling with something all the time has an upside after all.

[One that doesn't involve unfortunate acts of self-harm that is.]

[geometry]

So does that mean you'll just keep going and not know when to stop?

[Another pitiful attempt at Equius humor. Also, he'd be honored to know that you creep so much on him, Eridan. Really. He'd be touched.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan smiles wryly.]

I never know when to stop anyway, so that's not a big difference from my usual.

[I don't know that's sad or facepalm-worthy so I'm just going to shake my head and go Equius under my breath.]

[geometry]

Yes, but now you're doing something more productive than watching and rewatching terrible movies. This is an improvement.

[That is the most appropriate reaction to Equius at, literally, any point in time.]

[chronomancer]

[Ow, Equius, don't hit under the belt, man.]

Dunno, I usually keep out of people's hair. Pun wholly intended.

[geometry]

And yet, somehow, you get tangled up with me anyway.

[Oh god.]

[chronomancer]

[Very, very quietly.]

Yeah, but I like you.

[Suddenly staring very intently at the hair in his hands, ducking his hair and totally not blushing, yup.]

[geometry]

[Oh. Well.]

...Uh. Thank you.

I.

Like you too.

[And this is the closest they will ever, ever get to vocally expressing their love.]

[chronomancer]

[He's just going to hum a little in agreement and continue with his task, slowly climbing up Equius hair.]

So it's okay if I don't want to get out of your hair, then?

[geometry]

I guess. If you don't want to.

[...Eridan was right, this is relaxing.]

[chronomancer]

Well, I'm glad we're on the same page about that.

[You're never gonna get rid of him, kid.]