Work Text:
"NERRIS, LOOK OUT!"
Something hot landed on the teen's head, and within seconds the smell of burnt hair filled the air. Nerris screamed, dropping the racket in their hand as the top of their head became engulfed in flames.
"PUT IT OUT, PUT IT OUT!" Xe screamed, sending everyone else into a panic- well, everyone besides Nikki, who contently held a marshmallow on a stick over xir head. David tried patting the fire out, but it only resulted in his hand becoming burnt itself.
The next thing Nerris knew, elf was being doused in water, and the heat surrounding elf's head was instantly cooled. ("Aw, I wasn't done with my marshmallow!" came from beside elf.) Elf sighed in relief, then coughed and sputtered out the water that had fallen into elf's mouth. Elf looked around for elf's savior, and there was Harrison, panting and holding out his top hat, which was still dripping water from inside. Nerris shook a little, the adrenaline starting to leave their body, and threw their arms around his neck.
"Thank you thank you thank you!"
"A-are you ok, N-Nerris?" He stuttered a bit, holding them close.
"Yeah, thanks to you!" Nerris sighed, almost collapsing against him, ignoring Gwen scolding David in the background for the stupid decision of smacking the fire on their head . The other campers gathered around, making sure they were ok.
After a minute, xe reached up to feel xir hair, whimpering. It felt burnt, and large pieces broke off in xir hand. Xe would rather have xir life than xir hair, but it was still upsetting. Xe loved xir hair!
"Maybe fire badminton wasn't the best idea," Harrison said nervously. The others mumbled in agreement, and Nikki pouted, not completely convinced it was a bad idea.
Gwen ended up having to shave off the burnt hair on Nerris's head, effectively giving them a very short buzzcut.
It wasn't the worst haircut, elf thought, looking over elf's new hair in the mirror. But elf definitely missed elf's old haircut. Elf had had it for years; it was familiar, and comfortable, and now it was gone. It kinda sucked.
"...miss your hair?" Harrison asked timidly. Nerris turned away from the mirror and moved to sit next to him at the mess hall table.
Elf nodded, pulling elf's cape up and over elf's head. "It feels so wrong! It's not awful, but… Aw, I really liked my style!"
Harrison shifted, picking at the lint on his gloves. "I… I think it's kinda cute… Th-the buzzcut."
Nerris felt xir face grow warm, glancing up at xir boyfriend from under the cape. Xir grinned a little, kicking xir feet under the table. "You think so?"
"Of course! You're Nerris the Cute." He blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "Anything you do is cute. And you pull it off really well…"
Nerris hummed a little, pulling their cape down and leaning against Harrison's side. "I did a buzzcut at the beginning of quarantine… I didn't hate it, but I didn't wanna do it again…"
"I remember." Harrison chuckled. "I thought it was cute then, too."
"...thanks." Nerris grinned a little, blush spreading across their face.
"Of course, turtledove."