Chapter Text
The lights were dim. A crystal lamp sat on the bedside table. The door to the bedroom was cracked open, letting a beam of light cut into the somewhat dark bedroom. The light illuminated Cyan's right side as they laid on their bed. They traced one of Black's hands. Black was curled around Cyan's head, playing with their fur. Both of the crewmates were basically half-asleep. Their visors reflected this by being half-open.
"Hey, Cyan, how'd you get your fur to be this silky?" Cyan shrugged. "I just used amethyst and opal to bless it, along with mint and rosemary..." Their voice trailed off. Black snickered. "I'll just take that as you saying your fur is natural." Black swirled a lock of Cyan's fur and then one of theirs. "I wish I had fur like yours," they muttered. Cyan turned their head slightly. "What did you say?" Black stiffened up. "Nothing," they said a little too quickly. Cyan let go of Black's hand. "If you want, I could do your fur like I do mine." Black froze. "Wait, really?" Cyan nodded. "It's fine if you don't want to, it's just a suggestion." "No no no no no!" Their hands flew out. "I, I mean, sure, you could do my fur." Black sweated profusely. Cyan smiled warmly. "Alright! Wait here, let me get my supplies." They stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the door open so the small stream of light grew into a column.
Black stared out the door. They combed through their fur. Their fingers got stuck in a knot almost immediately. They sighed. It was early in the morning, around eight. Black hadn't tamed their fur yet like they do every morning. Having thicker and longer fur of course means that it's going to be more complicated, but Black struggled a lot. Their temper was shorter than most crewmates', and having to go through such a long process just to have smooth fur didn't help. They had tried cutting some of it, but it always felt wrong and it would grow back really fast anyway. A slam erased Black's train of thought. They perked up to see Cyan with a box in their hands. "I'm back!" They sat down beside Black. Opening the wooden box adorned with stickers had sections pop out of the main frame.
Cyan hummed a tune while they sorted through the various gems and things. "Here it is!" They pulled out a fur brush. "Come here, love." Black sat up and scooted over to Cyan. "Take your choker off." They obliged and put it near Cyan's box. Cyan started brushing near the back of Black's head. "Tell me if it hurts." Black nodded. They winced at the first knot Cyan caught. "Oh, I'm sorry." They fished out a small spray bottle. "What's that?" Black had grabbed their choker and started to fidget with it. "It's cleansing water, it was charged with amethyst." Cyan sprayed the cleansing water around the area of fur that they were working on. The brush went through much easier. "Huh."
Cyan continued working their magic on Black, making their fur so much more manageable. Somewhere in the process of combing their fur, Black had started purring. Cyan accidentally dropped the brush out of surprise. Black stopped and looked extremely confused. "What's wrong?" "Oh, nothing, you just started purring!" Black stared at Cyan like they had just punched them, then gripped their face in their hands and felt it turn red and warm. Depending on where a crewmate was born and who they were raised by, purring could mean very different things. To Cyan, purring was just showing that you felt comfortable. That meant that they purred quite a lot. For Black, though, purring was a sign of extreme trust. Black had never purred in front of Cyan before. When they were conscious and waking, at least. In fact, the only times they had purred was in front of their parents. Cyan giggled at how flustered their partner was. "You know I don't mind! I'm just really surprised!"
After a lot of convincing, Black let Cyan continue brushing their fur. A few moments later, Cyan stopped brushing and asked, "Do you mind if I braid your fur?" Black shook their head. Cyan's hands started to take some of their dark fur and weave it together. They crafted two braids, both about as long as shoulder-length. (ignore that they have FUR and not hair) Cyan held up a hand mirror to let Black see what they looked like. "Do you like it?" Black felt their face warm up again. "It's cool." Cyan giggled again, amused at how cute Black could be when they were embarrassed. "Don't laugh at me!"
"Black?" Cyan's voice was just as bright as their personality. "Yeah?" They picked at the strands in their braids. "How about you do my fur?" Black froze yet again. Are they Yellow or something? Anyway, they said, "Huh?" Cyan repeated, "How about you do my fur? You could braid it!" "But I don't know how to braid." That was a lie. They knew how to braid fur, since they had to braid their little sibling's fur quite a lot when they were in school. "It's okay, just try it out. I'll help you if you need it!" Black hesitated before nodding. Cyan moved to be in front of Black. They took their flower crown off and handed Black their box of assorted things.
The brush went through Cyan's fur pretty easily. After getting the minimal amount of knots out, Black started to braid. Some strands of fur stuck out from the crowd, but otherwise it was going well. Cyan started purring. "I thought you said you couldn't braid!" Black started blushing. "I lied," they said honestly. A bit later, Cyan had two braids, both slightly shorter than shoulder-length. When they saw it, they almost shrieked. "Oh my god, it looks so cute!" They pawed at the braids. They were a little messy, but that was part of the charm. Black's visor slowly curved upwards (ignore again that that would make them frown it just sounds better). Cyan took Black's hands in theirs.
They stayed like that, talking with each other until they needed to eat breakfast.