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“Raine! Raine, get your ass in here!”
Raine jumped up from where they’d been laying half asleep in the nest since Eda had woken up to get ready. It was a potions delivery day, so they wouldn’t be needed until a bit later on for replenishing some of the simpler potions. Eda had been teaching them, but it definitely didn’t come to them as easily as bard magic did, so it was slow going. But they could help with things like a treatment for the common mold or the fire flu.
Thus they’d let themself begin to doze back off after giving a sleepy kiss to their girlfriend and wishing her a good day. But this scream had them running to the bathroom where Eda was… perfectly fine? Just staring at her reflection in the mirror.
“What? What’s wrong?” they asked, not seeing anything off.
“Look at my hair!” she practically screeched.
Raine looked at her blearily (they didn’t have their glasses, as in their rush they’d left them on the side of the nest) and blinked a few times, not seeing anything. It was big, bushy, and red as always.
“I don’t see anything…” they said, confused.
“Look at my roots! Right here!” She pointed to the left side of her head, and finally, Raine saw it.
A little bit of gray.
Raine blinked, confused.
“And this has you screaming because…?” they asked, running a hand through their own hair.
“I’m too young to go gray! We’re only 19!”
“Hey, some people start going bald at this age, so you should consider yourself lucky,” Raine pointed out, not feeling sympathetic after having been startled awake.
“Who cares about other people, this is about me!” Eda yelled, leaning close to the mirror to get a better look at her graying roots.
“What a kind and considerate witch you are, my dear,” Raine joked, moving to take a closer look. “It’s really not that big a deal, though. We can always just dye it.”
“Dye it? You want to try and find a dye that matches my hair exactly ? Because if you can’t - and I know we won’t - we’ll just have to dye my whole head of hair and do you know how many potions that’ll take?” she groaned and leaned her head against the sink. “I’m doomed to look old and lame forever now!”
“I don’t think you look old and lame,” Raine said, rubbing her head gently. “I think you still look like the foxy, sexy witch I fell in love with.”
Eda tried to hide her blush with her hair, but Raine still saw it and chuckled. Sometimes it was really easy to make Eda blush, and they always took pride in the fact that they could.
“This is all easy for you to say, you’re not going prematurely gray!” Eda complained.
“Maybe not, but I’m sure I will one day,” Raine said with a shrug. “We’ll just grow old together, okay?”
“You’re such a sap,” she said, standing up to slap Raine on the shoulder, who only laughed. Suddenly, Eda hyper focused on the back of their head and gasped.
“What? What’s wrong?” Raine asked, turning towards Eda, but she pushed their head back.
“You! You’re going gray, too!” she exclaimed, suddenly pulling out one of Raine’s hair, causing a sharp intake of breath.
“A little warning would be nice!” they said, finally able to turn towards Eda. She was no longer paying attention to them, though. Instead, she was focused on a strand of mint hair.
Well, it was mostly mint. The base of it was fairly white.
“Big deal,” Raine shrugged. “I told you, I’m not going to worry about it.”
Okay, so they were worried a bit. Going gray at 19 was never fun. They liked their hair, they weren’t sure they could pull off a head of full gray.
“Haha! It’s not just me! It must be the curse,” Eda proclaimed, still looking at the strand of hair. Raine rolled their eyes and swatted it out of her hands. “Hey!” she shouted, as it fell to the floor.
“Of all the problems the curse has given us, this is probably one of the lesser ones,” Raine said with an eye roll. “If all we had to worry about was going gray, I’d say we had pretty good lives.”
“But it’s not all we have to worry about! This is like the feather on the mugwop’s back! Just one thing too many to handle.” With a groan, she leaned her head against Raine’s shoulder. Hair immediately filled Raine’s vision as her hair covered their face. They sputtered for a moment as they moved hair out of their mouth, and sighed.
They had to admit, they’d miss her fire-y hair when it went fully gray.
“It’s just one thing,” Raine repeated, stroking her hair. It had the added benefit of pulling it out of their face, as well as soothing their girlfriend - win win. “We’ll get through it together.”
“You say that a lot,” Eda complained.
“Because I mean it a lot. We will.”
It was silent for a bit as Eda continued to rest her head against her partner. Raine just continued to soothe her, humming a soft song they’d been working on lately. Eda listened to the tune and sighed, calmer now.
“I just want all this shit to stop,” she complained.
“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Raine said, honestly. “So we’ll just have to work out how to manage it. And if that means making 10 bottles of hair dye to fix your hair, we’ll do that.”
“I’m not sure I have the patience to let you do that,” Eda admitted with a laugh. “I can only sit on my scroll for so long while you work your way through.”
“Well, I’d do it for you if you wanted.”
“And that’s just too sweet,” she pulled back and pressed her hands against Raine’s cheeks, causing them to make a fish face. She laughed and they just rolled their eyes. “You’re just the sweetest, you know that.”
“Yesh,” they said before slapping her hands away. “I know I am. Someone has to balance out your sour attitude.”
“Rude! I won’t stand for this!” she swung her head to the side, causing her hair to smack Raine in the face. They sputtered, again. “This is blasphemy!”
“Your hair isn’t a weapon,” they said, removing the last few strands from their face. “Stop using it as one.”
“Gray or not, my hair will always be a weapon,” Eda corrected. Raine laughed.
“See? Some things will never change, even if your hair color does.”
“I guess you’re right. Still, I’m not going to be happy about it,” she huffed, crossing her arms. Raine wrapped their arms around her from behind, resting their chin on her shoulder.
“I’m not asking you to be. Just to accept it, and move on.”
Eda took a deep breath before nodding her head. “Fine. I can move on. But I’m going to complain the whole time.”
“I’d expect no less.”
“What about your hair?” Eda asked, turning her head to see the back of Raine’s again. “We could dye yours much easier than mine. You want to?”
“No,” Raine said, shaking their head. “I’ll age gracefully, thank you very much. If that means a full head of gray by 21, I guess that’s what it means.”
“Are you saying I’m not graceful?” Eda accused.
“You’re not dying yours, either!” they argued. Eda shrugged.
“Yeah, but I wanted to.”
“You’re impossible.”
“You must be a glutton for punishment to stay with me, then,” she joked, but Raine could hear the bit of apprehension in her voice.
“No, I get plenty of benefits from staying with such a troublesome witch,” Raine began. “For one, the view isn’t that bad.” Eda felt their eyes roving her body and rolled her own, though she could feel the tips of her ears heating.
“You’re ridiculous!” Eda said.
“I’d just say I’m honest,” Raine shrugged.
“Honestly ridiculous,” Eda countered.
“What do you say you go run the potions out, and I cook us a nice brunch?” Raine said, pulling her out of the bathroom.
“Ew, work. I guess I have to do that.” She sighed. “Brunch better be amazing to make up for all this footwork.”
“You know, it’d probably be easier if you didn’t wear high heels,” Raine pointed out.
“Blasphemy! Why ever do I put up with you?”
“Because I make good slaycon and eggs?” Raine joked.
“Nah, I think it’s because you taste better.”
Now it was Raine’s turn to blush.
Eda had no more problems as she went through her morning, getting her deliveries done quickly. And if she had other plans for when she got home, and brunch got a bit cold? Well, it was worth it.