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“Hold still.” She said while Skye shifted in his seat, the harsh scent of peppermint filling his nostrils as Trixx sprayed his tousled black hair.
“I feel like we’ve been here forever—“ he readjusted the navy blue towel draped around his neck—“how long is this going to take?”
“With your fuzzy, frizzled-haired self? As long as I need,” Trixx replied as she parted his hair and dragged a wide-toothed comb through it. “Now, what would you like? I can cut it, do twists, pleats, braids—ooh! Do you want a twist-out?”
“A what now?” Trixx let out a sigh of amusement.
“Mm, don’t worry about it, cariño. I’ll take it from here!”
“You worry me when you say that,” Skye commented while rubbing his eye.
“Are you saying you don’t trust me?” Trixx gasped dramatically. “I’m just taking all the hair at the top and two-strand twisting it, then you might need a shape up on the sides..”
“Mmh, and how long will that be?”
“Fifteen. Years.” She snickered.
~
Besides her exaggerated joke, it took around two and a half hours for Trixx to fully detangle Skye's hair. The morning had bled into the afternoon, and while she was tired, she felt it was all worth it. One full detangler spray bottle, two hair ties, and four vinyl changes later, her partner's now coily hair shone. Trixx let out a yawn and grabbed another hair tie before two-strand twisting.
Skye, on the other hand, found it difficult to not fall asleep. He was never a morning person. Trixx knew that; so why were they up so early? He always insinuated hair days were a hassle, especially with all his duties underground, but this was different. With the light scent of each hair care remedy and the soft humming of Trixx's jukebox, he would gradually drift off to sleep.
"Lift your head," Trixx would say, and the readjustment would bring him out of unconsciousness every time.
Now Skye wasn't tender-headed—compliments to DIY-ing your hair for years—but the tight feeling from the twists in his hair felt... odd. It reminded him of long ago, back when he was a young child sitting patiently in front of someone while they brushed his hair. The memory felt so distant, forcing him to blame it on his tiredness and push it out of his mind.
"Ah, we got the twists done," About an hour later, Trixx stretched out her arms and shook her hands. "Wanna take a break while I go get the clippers n' stuff?" Skye nodded drowsily, and Trixx skipped out of the living room with a smile, but not before impulsively spinning the swivel chair Skye sat in.
Dizzy, dizzy . Skye yawned and habitually went to push his hair out of his face until the peppermint scent reminded him of the new style. Scoffing to himself, he slowly rose from the chair and left the room with another tired yawn. His feet lead him into the washroom, the dimmest area in the treehouse since it lacked many windows. After flicking the light on, he found himself staring at his reflection in the mirror.
"Everything feels so new," he murmured to himself. A soft smile crept across his face as he touched the sides of his untwisted hair, lightly fluffing it up with his fingers. It's not itchy like how it was back in the caves...
.
.
.
Deep in the caves, Skye was often scratching at his hair. Even with the shiny iron ores that Trixx found, it didn't distract her from noticing the noirett.
"Hey, I haven't seen you scratch at your hair this much, you're even worse than me!" She joked.
"Yeah, yeah, it's just the usual soot and stuff." He explained. After setting down his pickaxe, he looked at his hands. Both had cracks and blisters, but his left one was visibly worse. Dusting his hands off, he went to itch at his hair again-
"Hey! You're gonna get your hair all dirty if you keep that up!”
“More than it already is? I live in a giant cave, Trixx, remember?” He remarked, waiting for the banterous reply which never came.
“How long have you gone without washing your hair? Or trimming it for that matter..?”
“Uhhhh… I don’t know!” Skye answered with a light shrug. “I never counted, I am not really a math guy.” He turned around to face Trixx, whose mouth was agape in confusion.
“Hah, funny joke!… Except I lied, you’re not funny, I can see this is a cry for help, and you’re stopping by my treehouse tomorrow to get the proper hair care you- it deserves.”
.
.
.
The noirett studied his reflection in the mirror, fascinated by the twists he had adopted. He couldn't remember why he went to the treehouse, or if it was an impulsive decision or not. Would you look at that? Things are turning around. The boy grinned to himself as he shook his head, but it wasn't long until he heard a large gasp behind him.
"Hey, are you looking at your hair?!" Skye flinched at Trixx's voice. "It's supposed to be a surprise, you cheater!" He turned around to see her with her arms crossed and a twinge of annoyance on her face.
"Oh, s-sorry. It's been a while, I just thought I'd see what you did," Skye said as he brushed his hair back with his hand, "plus it's fluffy now!" Trixx's gaze lightened as she smiled wholeheartedly and took Skye's hand, leading him back to the living room with a flick of her tail.
“By my mother’s rules, nobody is allowed to view their hair until the final reveal!”
“Hm, which one made that rule?”
“Mama 'Lynx. Now come on, sit down!”
~
Trixx changed the disc on her jukebox yet again and walked back over to Skye with a small box containing her hair trimmer kit. While she adjusted the taper guards, she noticed Skye shuffling nervously in his seat.
"What's wrong? You nervous?" She asked.
"No, it's just that I don't think I trust you with those." He answered coyly. Trixx rolled her eyes and tied Skye's twists back.
"Oh, come on! I'm not going to kill you, I swear. I'm just gonna shape up the sides for you and make you look all pretty!" She purred while draping a cutter's cape around his neck. "Do you trust me?"
"...You're lucky I wore the eye pad today instead of the patch."
Small chunks of dark hair covered the wooden floor beneath him as Trixx worked. To Skye, the feeling of nostalgia felt freeing. The ender wolf started by shaping the sides up, lining around his ears, and slowly trimming up into a fade before lightly combing down to even everything out. Every now and then she would pop a joke with the knowledge that Skye couldn't respond the way he wanted to, and a few middle fingers were snuck from under the cape.
Time seemed to fly in the treehouse, and before Skye knew it, they were done. He felt discomfort with the left side of his face being much more visible, but Trixx had assured him that he would be able to cover it as soon as he took out his twists. But what would be the perfect time to do that? While the refreshing cut was nice, it wouldn't stay long-term, it couldn't!
"So... when exactly am I supposed to take the twists out?"
"You can leave them in for about three to five days, but I know our Highness is always in a rush, so you could take them out in a day if you get impatient!"
"I'm not impatient, I've been here for several hours!" A murder of crows flew overhead as he spoke. He looked out the window and towards one of his tunnels, noticing how the torchlight had dimmed. Shoot, I'm going to be late!
"Aww and you skipped lunch for me? How romantic!" Trixx laughed. "I do have some cheesecake if you'd like to share though-... oh, you're already packing?"
"Sorry Trixx, I lost track of time and I promised to be back around noon." The ender wolf frowned until an idea popped into her head. She raced up into her room to grab one last thing before her partner left. A few minutes later, she returned with a cyan patterned pik comb.
"Here, for when you want to fluff up your mohawk!"
"But Trixx, this is your pik?"
"Think of it as my gift to you! Ignore that it isn't a good gift, but still!" She beamed. Skye grinned as he shoved the pik into his hoodie pocket and made his way down the vine ladder.
"Thank you!... See you soon?"
"How about tomorrow? If you can? I'd love to see the final product, and I got food! We could make breakfast together- er, if you don't mind, of course." Skye only had what, a few missions planned tomorrow? He could totally appoint a regent for the morning and play it off if he tried hard enough. He definitely wouldn't be questioned. Definitely.
"...That sounds great. See you tomorrow, then!"