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Poppy sighed as they opened their room door, they seriously got messed up during that challenge. Did they not check that the scavenger hunt in the woods would cause them to tumble into a ditch? Well whatever. They won the challenge so poppy didn't care that they had to go to their room with patched up cuts and bruises.
Light filled the dark room, metag was there, sitting on their bed and looking through one of the books they'd borrowed from the library.
Metag looked up when the door opened, greeted by a poppy who looked like just went through a jungle adventure with their dyed green hair riddled with small twigs and leaves. Metag closed the book and walked up to them, lifting a leaf out of their hair, this simply wouldn't do.
Poppy sighed. “Hey,dont worry! I'll take care of it-” poppy assured with a smile, going to walk into the shared bathroom, before metag stopped them, quickly Shutting them down. Poppy didn't really have a good track record for taking good care of their hair, especially whenever they had to straighten it. Too many burnt strands to count until metag found out and help them.
So metag led poppy to the bathroom, sat them down on the carpet in front of their bath, and went to go get the needed supplies to clean their hair.
Poppy sighed, metag always knew what to do when poppy was in trouble, it felt like without metag they would be stumbling around on their feet, something as simple as hair would prove difficult to poppy. Metag insisted hair was important despite not having any. And that poppy should take care of themselves.
Well it wouldn't be the first time they hadn't taken their body as their own, the first time would be when they caved to the pressure and changed themself for others.
Poppy had to keep up the green and straight hair, even if it was proved difficult to keep asking for a straightener every week. No matter how much poppy wanted to ditch their straightened hair and go back to their curls. They had noticed some split ends popping up in their hair.
Poppy refocused when metag came back into the bathroom, holding a spare brush and a comb with a pair of scissors, obviously some of the twigs were too tangled and would have to be cut out.
Metag dumped the items next to poppy, and knelt down next to poppy on the rim of the tub.
The process mostly consistented of metag cutting out and removing and twigs or leaves they found in Poppy's hair, and combing it until they were sure they could properly brush it. Poppy didn't understand why metag knew about hair. Maybe it was that book they were reading when poppy got home. They were sure metag didn't have any hair to learn from unless their head was actually just a helmet hiding full and luscious locks underneath. Poppy doubted that.
Metag tapped them on the shoulder, the other hand holding a shampoo bottle, they signed to poppy. [ “Can I wash your hair? It's dirty. “] “Oh! I mean yeah oh course-” their voice turned quieter. “- it's probably pretty dirty and dusty, huh? “ metag nodded, before grabbing the showerhead, rinsing poppies hair and starting to lather their hair with the soap. Metag's hands running through Poppy's head gently felt really nice. Their back might've hurt from sitting on the carpet in the tiled bathroom, and oh how their neck killed them. They had been sitting so their neck leaned on the rim. Felt like it was going to crack their head off any second.
But.. The feeling of metag cleaning their head was worth it. Poppy usually always cleaned their hair themselves, and they never lingered on the feeling of their hands running through their scalp, so why was it so different with someone else's hands? Metag's hands were very different from poppies. The joints were separated like a dolls, and metal, which was very hard and firm, but they never felt harsh or hit them too hard.
Poppy heard the knob of the shower turn, and the water shut off, glad that they didn't have to lean on the hard shower anymore,but missed the feeling of metag's hands. Poppy shambled up, stretching and cracking their neck and was given a towel to dry their head off. (Surprisingly metag let them dry their hair for once.)
“... Thanks metag, wouldn't know what to do without ya. “ they said, quietly but sincere. They walked over to the dressing table, picking up the blowdryer,drying their hair and as they were about to grab the straighter, metag snatched it.
They looked at poppy, crossing their arms. Poppy jokingly rolled their eyes, “oh I KNOW I put the heat too high, I wasn't gonna burn my hair this time! “
Metag shook their head, and began to heat and straighten poppies hair themselves, they were already better at it.
The heat from the straightener felt nice, and metag made sure to not accidentally burn their scalp, something poppies done almost a million times. Their eyes lingered in the mirror. Metag was definitely one of the shorter contestants, being almost to poppies shoulders in height, but they were built Bulkier than poppy indeed, probably because they were a guard in the past. Poppy watched as metag kept separating their hair, straighting each chunk carefully. Metag was always careful when taking care of poppy. They wished they could return all of the times metag went out of their way to help poppy.
Metag stopped straightening, putting the appliance down and fluffing out poppies newly soft hair, that might be a little rough and spiky from all of the times it burnt.
Poppy blinked before getting up once more and patting metag on the shoulder, giving them a small smile.
“.. Thanks again. My hair probably would have been burnt off at this point if it wasn't for you. “ they smirked, before getting into their pajamas and sitting on their bed.
They looked over at metag, who was seemingly staring at that book again, contemplating maybe?
“Hey,what book is that? “ poppy asked out of curiosity.
Metag turned the cover at poppy, the cover was a mix of pinks and blues, the art on it illustrated a woman's hair being blow dried, washed and braided all in one. The cover wrote: ‘ The secret to amazing hair! ‘
Poppy stared at the book, and at metag again.
“..you read an entire book just to help me?. “ poppys eyes had a shine in them, metag tapped the book and chuckled, but the only noise that came from this motion was mechanical whirrs mimicking a giggle.
They sat up, walking over to poppies bed, having a band in their hand before signing [“Can I braid your hair?”] poppy nodded without a word,shufflng so their back faced metag without a second thought, trusting them completely. Poppy had long hair, it was even longer when it was straightened out, so metag had a lot of hair to work with.
Poppy felt soft tugs at their head as metag worked, threading the hairs together, poppy felt like this was almost.. Strangely intimate? It looks like poppies wish for metag to touch their hair again was granted.
Metag had finished poppies braid, and tied it at the end.
They looked back, gently grabbing the braid and marveling at it, “Thanks.. “ they quietly said with a clear smile in their voice, putting a hand on metag's.
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