Work Text:
Wes observes his face in the mirror, focusing in specific regions, under his chin and above his lips. How long has he been here? Time in the Constant moves differently, but it's definitely enough time for his face hair to start to grow.
He thanks lady luck that his beard doesn’t grow as fast as a certain scientist. Wilson's beard is already covering his face, and it's been four days since he last shaved. It might be a product of genetics. In any case, Wes is thankful his own grows slowly, it looks good on Wilson, but not on him, he thinks as he looks at the pathetic excuse for a mustache starting to form above his lips.
Wes is a man who likes to take care of his appearance, meaning, as soon as he noticed the short strands of hair starting to appear, he removed his makeup, grabbed his pocket mirror and started to prepare to work.
He sets his mirror in a place where it can stand on, and brings the razor to his face. He stops, insecure, he never used a hand-made razor before, there's also the guilt about using Wilson's razor, even though his friend made it clear that he can use it. Reluctant, he moves his mirror once again, in an attempt to position it better.
His heart skips a bit and he jumps after spotting a tall figure standing behind him in the reflection. Wes looks back frantically to face him.
"I see you are alert, good." Maxwell responds, not apologizing for scaring him.
Wes lets out a sigh of relief. It's just one of his fellow survivors, and not some horrible creature.
Maxwell keeps looking at him, both of them stare at each other in silence. Wes doesn't go back to his shaving process, he is waiting. Maxwell is not the type of man who would just seek company, in fact, he usually isolates himself from the others. If he is standing here, he probably wants to say something, and Wes is waiting to hear it.
"The mirror you brought here is really useful." Maxwell finally starts speaking. "Though it's too small. It would be best if you had another set of eyes to help you with that, right, pal?" He points to his own chin, where his beard grows.
Now this is unexpected, Wes thought he was going to ask to borrow his mirror, or any other kind of favor, and not to offer a favor. He has never seen Maxwell doing a favor to anyone else. A guilty feeling rose in the mime's chest, he judged him badly.
And helping him shave. It is such a… thing people do together when they are close. Wes starts to hope this will bring him and Maxwell closer together. He doesn't like how lonely Maxwell is, they should all get along. But he is always unsure how to approach him.
After thinking for a while, Wes offers the razor to his companion, and Maxwell only looks at the razor. Wes is confused, maybe he misunderstood what he said.
"I will show you something. It's a secret." Reaching for his pocket, Maxwell pulls out something, wrapped in a small piece of cloth. He unwraps it carefully and shows it to Wes.
Wes couldn't make out what it was at first glance, but upon better observation… it's a razor, a completely black, and somewhat transparent one. His eyes widen when he realizes what it's made of, he didn't know such a thing was possible to make.
"What do you think? It's made from the same material as those Dark Swords. And as you might guess, it's also as sharp as one." Maxwell reveals, while showing the razor to his companion. It does have the shape of a regular razor, though the fact it's made from nightmare essence makes Wes feel nervous and uneasy. Everything made from that thing gave Wes a weird feeling, but Maxwell seems to handle them like it was nothing.
"I never showed this to the scientist, maybe if he was a little more… polite." He smiles, Wes gives a shy smile back.
"Sit down." Maxwell commands, pointing to one of their hand-made chairs.
Wes does as he's told. He sits down on the chair and Maxwell gets in front of him, bending down to see his face better. The taller man gently moves Wes's head, to a position that he can work better, and Wes figures he will start shaving.
He starts with the younger man's left cheek. Holding the razor up against his soft skin, he starts running the blade in the direction the strands of hair grow. His movements are careful and precise.
Their faces are so close to each other. Wes thinks it would be strange if he kept staring, so he closes his eyes and lets his companion do the work.
The razor is extremely sharp, he can feel it, how it runs smoothly on his delicate skin, taking down all strands of hair with ease.
Maxwell moves from Wes's cheek, to above his lips, getting rid of the ugly mustache Wes seems to hate, and then he moves to his neck. That man definitely knows what he's doing, so Wes allows himself to relax, and trusts his companion to do the work.
"Finished." After a few minutes, Maxwell announces. It seems like the work is done. Wes was so relaxed he lost track of time.
After he finishes, Wes runs his own hands along to his face, smooth and nice again, Maxwell hands over his mirror, so he could see his well-done work. He smiles sincerely at Maxwell, he doesn't know how he could thank him more.
"Well, the job is done." Maxwell then hands the razor to Wes. "My turn now."
Wes gives him a confused look.
"You scratch my back, I scratch yours, right?"
Well, it makes sense, Maxwell did him a favor, so it would only be right if he helped him too.
Wes stares at the razor before reluctantly picking it, just holding at this thing makes him feel uneasy. It's just a razor, but it gives off a bizarre feeling, like it's made of pure evil, because it is made of pure evil.
Maxwell sits on the chair that Wes was previously on, waiting.
The mime wonders if he could use the other razor. He picks Wilson's razor up and-
"No. Use the razor I gave you. Who knows what else Higgsbury has been shaving with that thing."
He is assertive, and somewhat authoritarian. Wes doesn't want to question it, he sets the other razor aside and does what he is told.
Gulp.
He approaches the man who is waiting patiently, and nervously raises the razor over to his face.
"It's gonna be quick, I just want to get rid of these sideburns."
Wes nods. Yes, if he gets it done fast, he can get rid of this God damned razor.
He slowly runs it over the man's cheek carefully. He can now feel how that thing is sharp, any error and he could cut Maxwell's skin, ruining their bonding time. Thankfully, Wes has skilled hands, steady and precise. Learning arts and crafts surely helped him a lot in these moments.
"What do you think? Sharp, innit?" Maxwell asks, breaking the silence of the moment, but thankfully not breaking Wes's concentration, he simply smiles and nods, and continues his work.
"Just a small movement and you could slice my throat with that."
Where did that come from? Was it supposed to be a joke?
He has heard of Maxwell's morbid sense of humor. He simply gives a shaky smile, and continues, he is almost done, he really wants to get this over with. Holding this razor is starting to make his head spin and his ears ring.
"I really did something terrible, didn't I?" He starts again. "I imprisoned you."
Why is he saying this? All of a sudden…
"If the others hadn't rescued you, who knows what could have happened. Maybe you still would be there…"
Please, stop talking.
"I wouldn't blame you if you wanted revenge on me. If you cut my throat with that razor, wouldn't that make you feel a little better?"
Kill him?
"I bet the others would even mind, they also hate me... Besides, I can revive with a heart later. It is impossible to die here."
No!
"So, what do you think? It's gonna be quick."
Yes.
"Kill me."
Kill him!
And then there's blood.
Maxwell has grabbed Wes's wrist, forcing the razor to be pressed hard on his neck, making a scratch below his chin. Thankfully, it's not a deep cut, it just scratched the skin.
Wes pulls away, he forcefully breaks free of Maxwell's grasp and lets the razor fall on the floor in a sound that sounded louder in his head. The weird voices have disappeared, but his head is still spinning.
He runs away to somewhere else, leaving Maxwell behind.
—---------------
Far away, in a pig village, Wes continues filling a basket full of berries.
He has been doing this kind of task since that day. He prefers to stay away from the base. He's been too embarassed to look at Maxwell and stay around him for too long. What happened 2 days ago… It scared him.
And for sure, Maxwell probably hates him now.
He sighs deeply, even if he wasn't really the one at fault, he felt like he owed Maxwell an apology. Has he found the note he left?
Even with what happened, he wants to give Maxwell another chance at friendship. That event has convinced him that it's the best thing to do. What Maxwell said… and what he has done... Tried to do. That man could really use a friend in a time like this.
Too lost in his own thoughts, Wes didn't notice when the pigs from the village started to scatter around. "STAY BACK. YOU NOT PIG." Like they always say when a stranger comes close, usually one of them, humans.
"There you are." It turns out to be the very person he was thinking about.
Wes gives him a nervous smile, so they are finally alone together again, a chance to fix up everything.
"The other day…" Maxwell starts. "You forgot this."
He reaches for his pocket, and pulls out a shiny thing from it. It's Wes's mirror. He left in such a hurry the other day, he had totally forgotten about it.
He gets the mirror from Maxwell's hand, and thanks him with a bow and a smile.
And there they stay again, in silence, with eventual "oinks" in the background.
"I believe I should apologize to you… for what happened the other day." Maxwell finally breaks the silence, and it's a relief. An apology. "I wasn't having a very good day."
Wes smiles, sincerely.
"Well, I've found your note… You really are an odd man, Wes."
The note. Wes is not sure if this means yes or no. In any case, he is glad Maxwell came to apologize, it's a good start, even if he refuses his offer.
"Anyways, we should get back to our camp, it's about to be dusk."
That's all he says, Wes smiles and takes his hand. And they start heading back.
—---------------
"Cher Maxwell,
I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly,
What you said scared me
You got it all wrong, you're not hated
If you let the others know you better, I'm sure you will understand that
And above all, I don't hate you
If ever need someone to talk to, to listen, I'm here
I sincerely wish we can be friends.
-W"