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Sara couldn’t help but stare at Ava furiously stabbing herself in the eye with the eyeliner pencil. Her girlfriend really was trying to look as punk as possible and she looked so good already. Sara tried to distract herself by braiding a section of her hair, a look that Charlie had been begging her to try for a while.
“Ok, is this enough?” Ava finally turned to her, with a thin line of eyeliner scrawled up above her eyes.
“Ava, your makeup always looks great. You look great.’”
“I appreciate that babe, but is it punk enough?” Ava turned back around to look at herself in the mirror, nervously. Dear God, it was adorable.
“Let me help you.” Sara came over and tipped her girlfriend’s head towards her until they were staring in each other’s eyes. Ever since she got her sight back, Sara vowed to never take the sight of her beautiful girlfriend for granted ever again. She was going to take in every eye roll, every stray hair, every smile, as much as she could. She ran the eyeliner over Ava’s eyelids again, creating a thicker look. When she was satisfied with that, she swiped a bit of eyeshadow and mascara over the eyes. “Ok, what do you think now?”
“Holy shit.” Ava stared at herself in the mirror. “Damn I’m hot. I should do this more often.” Sara laughed and quickly leaned down to kiss her. Ava wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. Man, she was grateful to be alive and wrapped in this hug. She was so emotionally drained from the goodbyes, and the dying. When Charlie suggested a night with The Smell, Sara didn’t even put it up to a vote. The crew was going and they were going to have a good time, she was going to guarantee it.
“I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to it.”
“Hmm, oh yeah?” Ava raised her eyebrow teasingly, kissing Sara again. Sara lifted a hand to Ava’s face, deepening the kiss. They heard a knock at the door. Ava sighed and pulled away, kissing Sara’s hand briefly as though saying “to be continued...”
“Yeah?” Ava called out. Sara stood up a bit more as Nate poked his head in.
“Hey Caps, can I borrow your black nail polish?’ Nate’s makeup looked flawless, and he looked surprisingly upbeat for having just said goodbye to another love. Sara remembered how hard it was after Amaya. He spent weeks alternating between hibernating in the library and stealing the jumpship to go to parties.
“Yeah, of course,” Sara said, as she walked over to her shelves to grab the nail polish. “You doing ok?”
Nate scoffed. “Oh yeah of course! I’ve been through this before. Nothing some alcohol and a vacation in Ray’s new place can’t fix.”
“I miss her too. It’s ok to not be ok right now.”
“Thanks, Cap. I know.” They fell into quiet, as neither of them knew what to say, how to vocalize everything they were feeling.
“Holy crap, Nate, did you go with a nose ring?” Ava broke the silence, staring at the gleaming ring in his nose.
“Oh yeah, you like? Charlie said that lots of guys at this place were into it so I figured why not?” Nate said, proudly.
“That’s sick,” Sara responded, grinning. “I had a nose piercing for a bit when I was younger before my dad found it and made me take it out.”
“Really?” Ava turned to her, intrigued. “I think that’d be so hot.”
“It was. It is.” Sara winked at her. “Guess I’ll have to try it tonight too. Now first, Nate, come sit. I can paint your nails for you. It’ll be easier.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, why not. I’m really good at it.”
“Ok!” Ava ushered Nate to the chair, turned it first towards the bed so Sara could sit while working. Sara uncapped the nail polish, slowly brushing it over each of Nate’s nails. It was strangely relaxing. When she and Laurel were young, they used to paint each other’s nails late at night after their parents went to bed. Her parents hated the smell of the polish but Sara loved it. She had a whole collection of different polishes so that she could experiment with different combinations and show off her skills to her older sister. They’d add little polka dots, or birds, depending on how fancy they were feeling and vent about their teachers or classmates.
After the League of Assassins, Sara couldn’t bear to paint her nails. It was too impractical considering the amount of hand to hand combat she participated in, and it was a connection to her old self. It wasn’t until she joined the Waverider that she felt comfortable having anything on her nails. She had a small collection now tucked in her closet that she pulled out when she was missing her sister. Amaya found it one night while looking for a jacket to borrow, and it soon became a tradition for the two of them to destress and paint each other’s nails when they had to get away from the rest of the crew. They even got Zari to join in once, which was a miracle. God, Sara missed them. It seemed fitting to help Nate in the same way. They’d want that.
“Do I smell nail polish?” Zari poked her head in the open doorway and Sara could see John behind her. This Zari needed no convincing to have a nail polish night, Sara had quickly learned. She had straightened her hair and fully embraced the punk look too. “John and I were just telling Astra that some polish would go perfect with her new hairstyle!”
“I believe you were the one saying that, love.”
“Yeah, but you agreed with me, right?”
“I guess it would compliment the streaks in her hair?” John offered, trying his best.
“You can borrow this one when I’m done if you want,” Sara offered, pausing for a moment to let Nate air out his first coat.
“Perfect, thank you! Hey Astra, we found some black nail polish.” Zari called down the hall. They could hear a groan back. Zari shrugged and stepped inside the room.
“Hey, look at that. We’re all gonna be matching,” Charlie said, walking by. “Brilliant.”
“Isn’t black a pretty common thing? I mean we’re going punk. I feel like we’ll see a lot of it there.” Ava raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, but we’ve never all matched before. It’ll be cute.” Sara nudged her gently. “I can do yours too if you want. John, Zari, you in?”
“Definitely,” Zari responded, with John agreeing quickly behind. “Nate, is that a nose ring?”
Sara could tell that Zari was trying to keep her distance from Nate, probably still feeling bad that he lost the other version of her, but also kept him busy in small light conversation. Soon the rest of the team made their way to the bedroom, called over by Charlie who was adamant about the team matching. Behrad was extremely enthusiastic about the idea. Mick put up a bit of a fight but Lita quickly convinced him to do it for her. He insisted that he’d still wear his gloves but at least the thought was there. They each took turns on the desk chair, sitting for their captain. Ava began teasing Lita’s hair after only one round of begging. That teenager had Ava wrapped around her finger and Sara could watch it over and over again. As Sara was finishing up John’s nails, the team began bickering about vacation spots.
“I want to go to Aruba.”
“Mick, we already went to Aruba. Why don’t we try somewhere else for a vacation?” Behrad suggested, not wanting to give up on his choice of New Zealand.
“Lita hasn’t been.”
“Dad, I appreciate it but I have school. You and I can go another time.”
“Well, I still want to go to Aruba.” Mick was not going to back down.
Sara rolled her eyes. “Fine, after the concert we’ll pull out Ray’s vacation wheel and we can spin for it. Everyone will have a shot at suggesting a place, alright?”
“Can we invite Ray and Nora to come with us?” Nate perked up at the thought.
“I don’t see why not. But you have to be the one to call him. Last time I called, he went into a long rant about the invention he’s working on and I don’t have the patience to hear about it over the phone.” Sara did one final swipe of John’s nails. “Alright is that everyone?”
“Captain, can I do yours?” Charlie asked.
“Oh, yeah, ok.” Sara was a bit surprised, but she got up and changed seats. She was somewhat nervous. It still felt like such a vulnerable position to be in, especially around the whole team. But Charlie looked so excited about it. Sara took a deep breath and stuck out her hands. She flinched for a moment as Charlie gently held her right hand up, and started painting a nail. After a few minutes, Sara began to relax and feel the comforting smell from her childhood.
She looked around at her team bickering and laughing, at her girlfriend working on her self appointed goddaughter’s hair, and at her shape-shifting friend, who had gone from measuring out lifelines to painting nails and singing in punk bands. She took in every smile, every new dyed streak in their punk hairstyle, every detail. She was so damn proud of them. Maybe it was time to share the ritual with the whole team, her whole family.