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The sound of rain drops hitting the glass pane of the window filled the air, serving as white background noise as you and your wife relaxed in bed. Your upper half was propped up against the headboard of your bed as your wife Sevika laid in between your legs, her head using your stomach as her personal pillow.
You’d been sitting in silence with her, just taking the time to enjoy each other’s presence as you casually ran your hands through her growing hair. It’d been a few years since she had her shaved, short bob and as much as she liked the ease and convenience of such a style, the maintenance of the cut was wearing on her so she decided to grow her hair back out. At least long enough to pull the hair out of her face on days she didn’t want to deal with it.
Sevika wouldn’t admit for the longest time that she liked when you played with her hair. She knew it was one of her weaknesses. All you had to do was ask her a favor while brushing her hair behind her ear or running your nails along the nape of her neck and she was a puddle at your feet doing whatever you asked of her. At the beginning of your relationship it was fun to tease her about it, but now it’d become one of your favorite pastimes on rainy days.
A hot tea, a warm body, and the love of your life resting in your arms.
You watched Sevika’s face as your nails slowly dragged one way across her scalp and smiled at the way she sighed contently as you dragged your nails the other way. You brought both your hands up and ran your fingers through her hair, pushing it all back and out of her face. You leaned down and placed a soft kiss in the middle of her forehead, keeping her hair pushed out of the way.
A calloused hand met yours, guiding it through the rest of Sevika’s hair before Sevika used her hand to mess her hair before laying her head back onto your tummy.
“I wanna see your face.” You whispered in the quiet room, running a hand through her hair again to pull it back.
“Mmm,” Sevika hummed, not fighting your actions but not approving of them either. “Look at my face, not my grays.” She mumbled, turning her face more towards you while keeping her eyes closed.
“I like your gray hairs.” You raked your fingers through the front middle of her hair, where a lot of the gray hairs were. “My mom used to call them wisdom stripes.”
Sevika brought a hand up to smooth her hair out from your fingers and messy the part again so that it wasn’t as obvious how much of her hair was graying.
“Yeah?” Sevika said as she wrapped her arms back around your waist, pressing herself closer to you. “Well, Ran called me a skunk the other day so I don’t think mine are wise.”
You paused as you processed this information, then glanced down at your wife. She had salt and pepper all through most of her hair, but a congregation of white hairs claimed their presence right at the front of her hair line and where she usually parted her hair. Now that her hair was growing longer and she was pulling it up more, it did resemble the white stripe along a skunk's back.
“They—“ You quickly covered your mouth in an attempt to hide the laughter rising in your throat. Sevika’s eyes snapped open as her head bounced with your giggles.
“Don’t laugh!” She lifted her head, narrowing her silver eyes at you. “And don’t you dare start calling me skunk either.”
“Okay, but I think that’s kinda cute.” You said as your giggles died down.
“It’s not cute, skunks stink! And I don’t need a nickname like that floating around for people to hear.” Sevika grumbled.
“Aww,” you pouted out your lip playfully. “Does Sevi not like her skunk stripe?” You ran your hands through her hair again, intentionally going slower through the heavier gray parts of her hair. Sevika let out a deep sigh as her eyes closed.
“Fuck. Off.” Sevika said with no malice in her voice at all. That caused you to let go of her hair and let out a boisterous laugh. Sevika tried to keep her grumpy expression on her face, but as you lost yourself in your joy she couldn’t fight the smile that crept onto her face.
Sevika rolled off you, laying next to you on the bed as your laughter only grew. “You are ridiculous, you know that?”
“I— Haha! I’m gonna call you Triple S!” You managed to say between your belly laughs. Sevika looked at you, utterly confused in that moment which made what you said next all the better.
“Skunk Stripe Sevi!” You howled with laughter again, unable to be still as your cheeks ached with how hard you were smiling.
“Nope. That’s it.” Sevika immediately got up from the bed and turned to face you. Your laughter lessened seeing her standing over you, but a few small giggles still left you.
“What? Something wrong, Triple S?” You grinned, very much testing your limits here. Sevika glared down at you for a moment before grabbing your ankles and yanking you closer to her. Then suddenly, her finger danced across your waist as she trapped you into a tickle fight.
“AH— NO!!” You quickly flipped, trying to crawl away, but she was too fast. Your whole body jerked as you shrieked, half-laughing at the whole situation, half-screaming and trying to get away.
“Oh no!” Sevika climbed onto the bed to keep you trapped underneath her as you were forced to take her onslaught of tickling. “You wanna laugh, let’s laugh!” Sevika smirked as she watched you squirm. You were laughing so hard at this point tears of joy were forming in your eyes.
“N— hahahah! Stop! Sevika, no!” You kicked your legs, failing to get any type of advantage over your wife. She knew her strength and always made sure to never actually hurt you, but also knew you couldn’t escape if she wanted to mess with you.
“What do you say?” You momentarily stopped tickling, giving you a second to respond. You panted heavily, taking a moment to catch your breath.
“I’m— I’m sorry…” you finally evened out your breath before you glanced up at her, the last spark of mischief gleaming in your eye. “I’m sorry you are now known as Skunk Stripe Se- AAHHAHAHA!”
At your rebellious reply, she immediately started to tickle you once again. You shrieked, squirming and laughing as you tried not very hard to get away from Sevika. After another minute of her tortuous tickling, you finally caved.
“Okay! I’m sorry! I’m sorry I won’t do it again!!” You shouted out, flailing your arms up as best you could as a sign of a truce.
“You sure?” Sevika asked, pausing her onslaught as she leaned in closer to your face. “‘Cause I can keep going.”
“No!!” You quickly took the opportunity of her looser grip and scramble out of her arms. She let you, watching as you sat up on the bed catching your breath. “I’m sure. I’m sorry.” You gave her a sincere smile that told her you were done messing around.
“You’re fine.” She chuckled and leaned over to kiss your temple. “But if you tell this to Ran I cannot guarantee your safety from my tickles.”
You hummed, playfully tapping your finger on your chin. Sevika gave you a warning glare, knowing that Ran is not one to let things go.
“I’m kidding, I won’t.” You smiled and crawled back under the covers in your shared bed. Sevika followed you, climbing into her side of the bed and wrapping her arm around you, pulling you into her.
“But I am serious, Sevika.” You snuggled in, getting comfortable as a yawn escaped your lips. “Call it whatever you want, I love your gray hair.”