Work Text:
Natalie has let her hair grow out over the last few months since their wedding, allowing the loose, dark waves to go just past her shoulders now. Even as it grows, Lottie still likes to run her fingers through it, absentmindedly playing with the strands as she talks to Nat. She knows Natalie enjoys it, enjoys the light feeling of Lottie’s fingers against her scalp brushing her hair back.
Today is no different. It’s a late Sunday morning and the two women have returned to bed after eating breakfast, deciding to have a lazy day together. Nat’s head rests on Lottie’s chest, listening to the woman’s heartbeat as they chat about their upcoming date night plans.
Since the beginning of their relationship, Lottie and Nat have made an effort to spend at least one night a week together away from the compound, away from the busyness of their lives and the responsibilities they hold. It gives Lottie a much-needed opportunity to step away and not worry about the community, putting Lisa in charge for the night instead. It also allows Nat to have Lottie all to herself at least once a week, which she’s grateful for. She loves Lottie and loves the passion she has for her work, but she knows the community is always on Lottie’s mind when she’s present.
“I want to take you to the new restaurant that opened up, the one I was telling you about last week,” Lottie mutters as her hand reaches up to bury itself in Natalie’s hair.
Nat nods her head, relaxing when she feels Lottie’s fingers lightly scraping against her scalp. It’s one of her favorite feelings, the soothing scratch of Lottie’s nails. The first time Lottie ran her fingers through her hair, Natalie was uncomfortable with the sweet, sincere intimacy, but she was very quick to change her tune when she realized how easily it relaxed her. Besides, Lottie was happy to do it, sometimes just asking if she could play with Nat’s hair to calm herself down.
Lottie looks down at Natalie’s hair, and she narrows her eyes as she tries to determine its true length based on its appearance when it’s splayed across her chest. It’s long enough for a decent braid now, she realizes, not just one that barely sticks out of her head. Without thinking, her hands start to test that thought.
“What are you doing, Lot?” Nat asks with a chuckle, turning her head to look up at Lottie as she feels the unusual tug on her hair.
Lottie’s hands freeze as she mutters out an apology, “I’m sorry, baby. I just realized it was long enough to braid and I instinctively started trying.”
Natalie shakes her head, “It’s okay. I’ll sit up for you.”
She sits up quickly, waiting for Lottie to move her legs so she can sit in front of her. They share a warm smile and Lottie presses a kiss to the side of Nat’s head as she moves.
When Natalie settles in front of Lottie, the woman immediately reaches for her hair and she starts to run her fingers through it to make sure there aren’t any knots before she begins. Natalie is immediately reminded of her high school soccer days, the times she spent in the locker room while everyone on the team braided each other’s hair before games.
She voices her thoughts to Lottie, who grows quiet as she starts the braid. Natalie furrows her brows, but doesn’t turn around because she doesn’t want to mess up Lottie’s work already. Their past is often a rough subject to talk about, so Nat is typically more cautious about mentioning it, but she had assumed the pre-game rituals were a safe topic to discuss.
After a minute of silence, Lottie finally speaks, “I used to ask you to braid my hair before games just so I could spend more time with you.”
Her voice is timid, just as it always gets when Lottie discusses the crush she had on Natalie as a teenager. No matter how many times they’ve talked about it or how much Lottie knows Nat loves her, she still gets nervous when discussing her younger self’s feelings for Nat. The two are married and Lottie still gets shy talking about how much she liked Natalie in high school.
“I know,” Natalie smiles. “I was shit at braiding and you still asked me every time. I literally watched you braid your hair before practice multiple times, so I knew you could do it.”
Lottie laughs, her nimble fingers still intricately braiding Natalie’s hair, “It was an easy way to spend some time with you. Can you blame me?”
“Wait,” Lottie says before Nat can reply and her hands pause while still in her hair. “You knew and still did it?”
It’s Natalie’s turn to be shy, and she’s grateful her back is to Lottie so the woman can’t see the blush painting her cheeks. As much as she tries to still maintain her tough exterior, she’s grown soft with Lottie. She allows herself to relax, to be comfortable with her, unafraid of expressing her emotions. It’s been a journey getting to a place where she’s comfortable enough to do it, but Lottie has been with her every step of the way, guiding her, yet not pushing her into anything she isn’t ready for.
She gives a slight nod, “I wanted to spend time with you too, Lottie. It was a good excuse even if you ended up with the worst braids the entire state of New Jersey has ever seen.”
Lottie returns to braiding Nat’s hair as she speaks, “I never fixed them after you did them. I liked being able to see them and remember that you did them.”
“God, your crush on me was so cute,” Natalie chuckles.
A light blush grows on Lottie’s cheeks and the smile doesn’t leave her lips as she continues to braid Nat’s hair. It’s a beautiful braid, each section perfectly even as it falls down Natalie’s back. Lottie is proud of her handiwork, and she smugly smiles to herself as she pulls the hair tie off her wrist to secure the braid.
When Lottie ties off the end of the braid, Nat turns around and grins at her, “You know, I’ve gotten better at braiding.”
“Oh yeah?” Lottie asks with a laugh.
“Yeah,” Natalie nods, “Want me to show you?”
Lottie raises an eyebrow at her wife, “I have a lot more hair now.”
“Even better for me to show off my skills with,” Nat teases with a smile, gesturing for Lottie to switch places with her so she can try.
Lottie’s height puts Natalie at a disadvantage, so she decides to sit up on her knees as she settles behind Lottie, making sure to perfectly part her hair so she can do pigtail braids, just as she always did for Lottie. When they were teenagers, she thought the girl had been cute with them, imagined herself pulling on them to kiss her, amongst other things. Now, anytime she sees Lottie with a braid, she has similar thoughts.
Except, this time, she doesn’t have to just imagine it. Lottie is hers, just as much as she’s Lottie’s, and she can tug on Lottie’s braid to make the woman tilt her head back as her lips leave Lottie’s to journey down her neck.
A comfortable silence falls on them as Natalie’s fingers attempt to organize Lottie’s long tresses into a braid. If Lottie turned her head, she would be able to see the focused expression on Nat’s face and the way her eyebrows furrow cutely as she tries to remember which way her fingers are supposed to go. If she did, she would make a joke about how Nat is already good enough with her hands, that she doesn’t have to prove herself, but she doesn’t.
Lottie wasn’t kidding when she said she has a lot of hair. Natalie has seen it, has buried her hands in it, has washed it for Lottie in the shower, but she never realized just how much hair Lottie really has until this moment, when she’s nervously trying to style it. Natalie realizes she has gotten herself into more than she had anticipated, but she’s determined to at least finish the braids.
She might have been lying when she told Lottie she’s gotten better at braiding. Maybe. It definitely wasn’t just an excuse to play with Lottie’s hair again, wanting to revert back to her teenage self for a moment. And it also definitely wasn’t an excuse to make Lottie laugh when she sees the results. Because Lottie’s laugh definitely isn’t the prettiest sound Nat has ever heard.
Natalie finally gets to the end of the first braid and plucks the hair tie Lottie is holding out from between her fingers, wrapping it around the bottom with ease. It isn’t the worst braid she’s ever seen, but she can’t deny that it’s pretty fucking bad. Unlike Lottie, Nat didn’t make sure she had even sections before she started, so about halfway through the braid, some strands of Lottie’s hair have started to poke out. She also definitely got lost and mixed up the sections at one point, because there’s a weird lump where the braid should sit smoothly. She keeps these thoughts to herself and turns to the other side of Lottie’s head, determined to do better on this side.
“I think Lisa’s driving lessons with you are going well,” Lottie murmurs, looking at Natalie through the mirror in front of her.
Nat smiles, “Yeah?”
Lottie doesn’t want to mess up Natalie’s work, so she simply returns the smile before replying, “I let her drive yesterday and she was so much more confident. She was telling me how patient you’ve been with her and how comfortable she feels practicing with you.”
It feels like they’re having a conversation about their child, Natalie realizes, and she takes a moment to wonder what life would have been like for them if they had found each other sooner, or if their plane hadn’t crashed. Would they have kids? Would they even have each other?
She quickly shakes away the thoughts, not wanting to dwell on the what-ifs any longer. She has Lottie now, they’ve been happily married for six months, and she’s satisfied with the life they share. They didn’t need to reunite younger, or to potentially raise children together. Natalie’s sure she would have messed it up somehow, so it’s for the best that their life has turned out the way it has. Besides, Lisa has embraced being their basically adopted daughter, and Lottie and Nat have been happy to treat her as such.
“She’s easy to be patient with,” Natalie hums, meeting Lottie’s eyes in the mirror. “She also told me she’s been thinking about giving a girl at the farmer’s market her number.”
Lottie gasps dramatically, “She didn’t tell me that! I’ve been asking her if she’s ready to put herself out there again.”
“She probably didn’t say anything because you’ve been asking, babe,” Nat chuckles and looks back down at her hands to make sure she doesn’t mess up this braid.
A pout forms on Lottie’s lips and she stews in silence as Nat sits back down on the bed to finish the end of the braid. It’s not that she’s upset that Lisa went to Natalie about it, because she’s happy that Lisa is open to speaking about it with someone, but she wishes Lisa felt comfortable enough to come to her. She’s happy Lisa is comfortable enough with Nat to talk about her personal life, but she’s also sometimes jealous of the relationship the two have. Lottie wants Lisa to like her, to be comfortable with her, but she thinks she might be trying too hard to get it.
Nat realizes how quiet Lottie gets and quickly works to finish the braid so she can give Lottie her undivided attention. She ties off the end before tapping Lottie’s shoulder and lifting her head with a firm grip on her chin.
“Are you upset that Lisa came to me about it?” Nat asks softly, knowing how sensitive her wife can be sometimes.
Lottie stares up at her with soft eyes before slowly shaking her head, “I’m happy that she did. I just wish she was also comfortable enough to tell me.”
“Charlotte,” Natalie sighs. “She loves you and she’s completely comfortable with you, you know that. I was kidding when I said she didn’t tell you because you’ve been asking. She just told me last night, she’s probably waiting to tell you until she sees you again.”
Lottie nods, “You’re right.”
When Nat’s gaze meets Lottie’s again, she can tell that the woman is still slightly off, so she moves to sit in front of her instead as she speaks, “Lottie, baby. I promise you, she tells you so much more than she tells me. And you know she adores you. She jokingly calls you mom, Lot.”
Lottie relaxes. She realizes Natalie is correct, that she’s just overthinking things and she has nothing to stress about. This is what Nat is best at, calming Lottie down or soothing her when she’s upset about something. Throughout their relationship, Natalie has learned the best ways to help Lottie, and she’s been so attentive every time she has to put those techniques into practice.
“Say it,” Nat smiles. “Say that you know Lisa loves you.”
Lottie rolls her eyes teasingly, “I know Lisa loves me.”
“Good,” Natalie chuckles as she moves to allow Lottie to stand up and look in the mirror at the braids her hair is in.
They’re awful and Nat knows it, but she knows Lottie is going to have a good laugh at the sight. The braids are lopsided and the second braid is significantly worse than the first, especially after she realized Lottie was upset and that became her main focus. She rushed to finish it, wanting to talk to Lottie more than she wanted to prove her braiding skills.
“Oh,” Lottie laughs. “You did so well.”
Nat rolls her eyes and elbows Lottie in the side, “Don’t lie to me, Charlotte. They’re terrible.”
Lottie breaks and nods her head as she lets out her genuine laughter, Natalie’s favorite sound, as she agrees, “They’re so bad, Nat. Like, somehow worse than in high school.”
Lottie’s laughing again, and that’s what Nat is happy about. She doesn’t even care about the braids, she just wants to see Lottie so happy and full of life. She doesn’t care that her original intention was to show Lottie that her skills allegedly improved over the last twenty-seven years. None of that matters when Lottie is smiling at her.
“Yeah, yeah,” Natalie shrugs, stepping behind Lottie and wrapping her arms around her waist as her hands come to settle on Lottie’s stomach. “Not all of us are professionals.”
“You can keep practicing on my hair if you want,” Lottie smiles, covering Nat’s hands with her own.
Nat nods and pulls Lottie’s body closer to her own as she speaks, “Maybe. But, right now I wanna get you back in bed.”
Lottie turns around in Natalie’s arms with a giggle, “Oh yeah?”
“Yep,” Nat smirks. “Now come on, I have plans for you, Matthews.”