Work Text:
Owen leant against the cold stone wall, watching as Scott finished off Shelby’s hair. He did it with practiced ease, teasing her hair into two flawless french braids. Owen wondered where Scott had learnt the skill, as it was clearly not his first time.
He ran his fingers through her hair over and over again, making sure not one single strand escaped the braid. His brow was furrowed in concentration. It was a good look on him, no manipulative facade or cruel anger painting his features.
After a couple more minutes, Scott declared that he was finished, pulling one of the pristine white braids to the front to allow Shelby to see. She squealed in delight, running her fingers over the delicate knots.
“I’d try to show you better, but obviously mirrors don’t work. Maybe you could try to get a half decent view if you looked in the river, but I doubt it.” Scott mused, fiddling with the ends of her hair.
“I don’t care! It feels amazing!” Shelby declared excitedly, practically leaping out of Scott’s lap. Scott smiled, clearly enjoying his covenmates excitement.
“Don’t ruin it right away!” Scott called after her as she turned into a tiny reddish-brown bat and flew off to who knows where. Owen chuckled to himself, at the fledgling's almost childlike enthusiasm, drawing Scott’s attention. He tilted his head, studying Owen in a way that made the hairs on his arms prickle.
“What are you staring at?” Owen asked defensively. He immediately thought of something he might have done to piss Scott off, even if his gaze didn’t seem particularly angry. Not that Owen cared what Scott thought about him of course, he just wanted to avoid a fight.
“I’m trying to figure out how I can convince you to let me do your hair.” Scott stated. Owen almost laughed at that. It was such a silly, meaningless request.
“Can’t you do Pyro’s hair or something?” Owen suggested, finding himself legitimately considering letting Scott do his hair. He had never had someone do his hair, but Owen happened to be in a good mood that day. It seemed like it could be nice.
“Pyro barely has any hair, and it’s perfectly straight. There’s nothing fun I can do with it.” Scott complained. Owen thought it was a very silly thing to complain about, but didn’t mention it.
“Why do you know how to do hair anyway?” Owen asked. It seemed like a random thing for a nobleperson to have learnt, especially a man. There would usually be servants to do that for him, if he was even allowed to have long hair at all.
“I had a couple sisters back in the day. Long dead of course, but I kept some of the skills I learnt from them.” Scott explained. He seemed to have no particular emotions regarding his dead siblings, which made sense given they must have died centuries ago.
“Alright.” Owen said, no particular emotion in his voice.
“Alright to me doing your hair or…” Scott asked. There was a glint in his eye that said he knew that wasn’t what Owen had intended to say. Owen smiled at the roundabout way Scott was going about this.
“Sure.” Owen said. There was a brief moment of shock in Scott’s expression, before he quickly recovered and moved to sit in the closest armchair. Owen looked at him quizzically, and he explained.
“You’re too tall for us to both sit on the ground, so I’ll sit here and you can grab a cushion or something.” Scott said, gesturing to where he wanted him to sit.
Owen considered complaining about being on the floor, but decided it didn’t really matter. Instead, he followed Scott’s instructions, sitting down with his head between the elder vampire’s legs.
As Scott took out his brush and started working, Owen considered how dangerous a position he was in. None of the people from town would dare to get this close to the elder vampire, the big scary leader of the coven. It was almost comical how gentle and domestic he could act around the coven.
Scott started humming, a gentle tune that sounded like it could have come from a music box. Owen relaxed into the noise, letting himself hone in on the sensations of the brush on his scalp. It was surprisingly nice, lulling Owen into a half asleep trance.
At some point Scott started braiding, hiding micro-braids in amongst Owen’s tight silver ringlet curls. The feeling of his delicate fingers against Owen’s scalp made a purr of contentment build in his throat. He attempted to hold it down, but it fought to be free.
Owen finally let it out, a rumble in his chest that he would be embarrassed about if he was even half awake. He felt more relaxed than he had in forever, the human-vampire conflict far away in his mind.
Scott mumbled something that Owen’s fuzzy mind didn’t quite pick up, his intentional movements turning into more general petting. Owen didn’t mind, just enjoying the sensation of Scott’s fingers in his hair, regardless of their purpose.
Owen couldn’t have told you when exactly he fell asleep, but he did, surrounded by peace, comfort and safety.
—
Scott braided Shelby’s hair, carefully weaving together the white strands. She clearly took good care of it, especially given how long it was. Scott wished he could have longer hair, but he hated how impractical it was for hunting and fighting. At least he could live vicariously through his fledglings.
He finished, pulling one of the braids around so that Shelby could see it. He wished she could see the full look, as he was quite proud of his work. Shelby squealed in delight, running her fingers over the delicate knots.
“I’d try to show you better, but obviously mirrors don’t work. Maybe you could try to get a half decent view if you looked in the river, but I doubt it.” Scott mused, fiddling with the ends of her hair. The river was far too murky to see properly, but it was better than nothing.
“I don’t care! It feels amazing!” Shelby declared excitedly, practically leaping out of Scott’s lap. Scott smiled, enjoying his covenmate’s excitement. He should do this with her more often, given it only took an hour or so. Finding new bonding activities to do with his fledglings was always fun.
“Don’t ruin it right away!” Scott called after her as she turned into a tiny reddish-brown bat and flew off, probably to show Pyro and Drift. She was honestly so cute.
Owen chuckled, reminding Scott that he was there. It was easy for him to fade into the background when he so rarely talked. He looked at him, wondering if he could convince the man to let Scott do his hair. It was so beautiful, it’s such a shame it was given to someone with no knowledge of how to style it.
“What are you staring at?” Owen asked defensively. Scott hadn’t even realised he had been staring, but he had to admit he was. It wasn’t his fault he was pretty.
“I’m trying to figure out how I can convince you to let me do your hair.” Scott said, deciding to just say the truth. Owen’s eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Can’t you do Pyro’s hair or something?” Owen suggested, but he didn’t seem to be upset. Maybe Scott could still convince him.
“Pyro barely has any hair, and it’s perfectly straight. There’s nothing fun I can do with it.” Scott complained. He was sure Pyro would agree in a heartbeat, but it would be boring.
“Why do you know how to do hair anyway?” Owen asked. That was a fair question.
“I had a couple sisters back in the day. Long dead of course, but I kept some of the skills I learnt from them.” Scott explained. He barely remembered any of them. Honestly, he couldn’t even tell you if he had five or six, maybe more. Luckily, the muscle memory stayed through all the years despite the voices and images fading into nothing.
“Alright.” Owen said, no particular emotion in his voice.
“Alright to me doing your hair or…” Scott asked. He was fully aware this was not what Owen intended, but he felt like he could use this to convince him.
“Sure.” Owen said. Oh, okay. Scott hadn’t expected that, but hey, he wasn’t going to complain about getting what he wanted.
He clocked that Owen was far taller than him, and that the position he had used with Shelby wouldn’t work. He moved to an armchair, explaining when Owen looked confused.
“You’re too tall for us to both sit on the ground, so I’ll sit here and you can grab a cushion or something.” Scott said, gesturing to where he wanted him to sit.
Owen immediately followed his instructions, making Scott hesitate for a second. He felt like this was too easy, but at the same time couldn’t think of any possible ulterior motives Owen might have.
Scott started working, brushing through Owen’s matted curls. It wasn’t that badly tangled, but he was still in need of some proper care. He made sure to be careful of his claws, making sure the black tips didn’t sink into his skin.
The careful actions brought back a faint memory. Someone played on a grand piano while he braided another person’s light blonde hair. He thought he cared about this person, even if he couldn’t remember a face or a name.
Scott started humming the tune, letting the notes come to him. He could feel Owen relax into the song, his blood red eyes becoming half lidded. When Scott ran out of what he remembered, he started to make it up, enjoying the effect he had on Owen.
He started braiding. He didn’t want to hide his gorgeous silver curls, so he placed a couple little braids throughout. Scott was spending more time admiring the way his hair shone in the afternoon light than doing anything actually productive with it.
Scott was shocked when Owen started purring. His head lolled to one side and his eyes closed, leaving him fully vulnerable. He wasn’t quite asleep, but he must have been close for his inhibitions to be lowered this much. It was quite strange to see him in a state he had only observed from his fledglings.
“You are really out of it, aren’t you?” He murmured, starting to pet Owen’s head, almost like a cat. He didn’t seem to mind, still steadily purring.
Eventually he actually fell asleep, the contented sound puttering out and being replaced by silence. Scott was astounded by how he could sleep sitting up like that, his head barely resting on Scott’s leg.
“Scott! Look I found-” Shelby barreled in, holding a book or something. Scott wasn’t paying attention to that, more focused on quickly gesturing for her to be quiet, not wanting to wake Owen. Luckily, she stopped in her tracks before he even stirred. Her jaw dropped as she spotted Owen.
“He fell asleep.” Scott said, smiling at Shelby’s shocked expression.
“How did you convince him to get this close to you, let alone fall asleep?!” Shelby whisper-shouted, astounded.
“I don’t know. I offered to do his hair.” Scott shrugged, not quite sure how this had transpired himself. It was so out of character for him, it made sense how confused Shelby was.
“He literally refuses to sleep at all normally! Like, I know he doesn’t need to technically, but still!” Shelby exclaimed, clearly restraining herself from properly shouting. “This is the most romantic thing I have ever seen!” She giggled, putting her hand in front of her mouth to stop herself from being too loud.
“What.” Scott said flatly, staring at Shelby with a flat expression. How in the world was this romantic?
“Well, you know, look at this!” Shelby exclaimed, gesturing wildly. Now that Scott was thinking about it… nope. Just nope. He was not going to think about that.
Owen stirred, opening his eyes slightly. When he saw Shelby and Scott, he groaned.
“Shit.” He muttered as Scott and Shelby both burst into laughter.