Work Text:
Most people would be asleep by now. 3 AM on a Sunday night. Only a few hours left and people would wake up to go to work. But not Jinx. The night has barely started for her.
Blasting music in her room, she just finished doing her nails, pink and blue alternating. Just a touch-up on the previously scratched colours.
Boredom got the best of her, so she sat down in front of her wall mirror with a pair of scissors in her hand, wondering. Should she?
Meh… hair grows back after all.
With no further doubt, SNAP!
One cut. Her bangs are cut in half.
A second cut. To even them out a bit.
Before the third was a pause. She leaned back a bit to get the full picture.
Shit…
… what did she do…?
Like any other normal human being, he was long asleep. Face buried in his pillow, snoring, sprawled on the bed with the blanket thrown over him.
His phone rang. Without moving his face from the pillow he felt around for the phone, closing it.
What felt like 4 seconds of sleep were interrupted again by the vibrations of the phone. With a groan, he just closed it again.
Just a few more minutes! Basketball practice really wore him out yesterday.
This time when the phone rang he just sat up and rubbed his face with rage. He was about to throw his phone out the window when he picked it up, only to be faced by the bright screen with Jinx’s caller ID and the silly photo of them in the background.
He sighed, not angered anymore, but worried. 3 in the morning. This could be no good…
‘Hey, Blue-‘
‘Why didn’t you pick up?!’
‘I- I was sleeping, Jinx…’ he blinked repeatedly to not fall back asleep.
‘Come over!’ Her voice cracked slightly in the end.
‘Is everything alright?’ He raised a brow.
‘Just- come over. Now!’ She muttered and hung up.
He didn’t even bother changing from his pyjama pants, got up just as he was. At least he had the decency to throw on a shirt, and also grab a jacket as he left his room.
It only took him a couple of minutes to reach her house on his skateboard. Then he climbed through her open window, landing in the middle of her disheveled room. He was used to the pile of clothes, makeup, and art supplies covering the floor.
Ekko looks around the room, only to find her sitting in the middle of her bed, wrapped in one of his hoodies, with her knees tucked at her chest and her back turned to him. His gaze softened as he sat on the edge, making the mattress dip under his weight.
Her head was covered by the hood and her face was buried in her knees. Her shoulders were moving like she was sobbing underneath there.
‘Hey… what’s wrong?’ He patted her head, trying to remove the hood. She stopped him by grabbing his wrist.
‘Don’t- look at me…’
He smiled softly and moved to hug her, pulling her small frame into his chest, wrapping an arm over her shoulder while the other stroked her covered head.
Ekko hummed understandingly. ‘Did… you do something to your face?’ He rested his chin on top of hers.
‘Kinda…’ She sobbed, snuggling closer to his chest.
‘Did you cut your hair again?’
And the silence spoke for itself. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself a bit as he pulled back. ‘Come on let me see..’ He kissed her head and tugged at the hood.
‘I'm ugly!’
But he pulled the hood off, despite her cries. He cupped her jaw, softly stroking her cheek with his thumb. Her bangs were short and copped, he could barely hold back a smile.
‘Could’ve been worse.’
Her face was red, refusing to meet his gaze, nervously gripping her pants. Her mascara smudged on her puffy cheeks, which she had from crying.
He kissed away her tears, wiping her makeup off. He let out a sigh of pity. They went over this a while back - do not cut your hair intrusively.
‘Can you fix it…?’ She mumbled looking down at her nails.
‘I'm not a hairdresser, but I can try.’ He tried to uplift her spirit. ‘Come on’ He tugged at her arm to pull her up.
She sat on her chair, zoning out on a wall as he paced around her, trying to fix her mess once again.
‘Okaaay…’ He began nervously. ‘I warned you before I am not a professional, so spare my life.’ Ekko turned her chair to face the mirror.
It took her a few seconds to take it in. Her eyes, cheeks, and nose were red from crying. Her blue bangs were half clipped to the sides, more evenly cut now. He stood behind her anxiously waiting for a reaction. She laughed, turning her head away. ‘Janna, I look stupid.’
He evened the bangs, making the layers fall nicely to frame her face, and with some bobby pins he tucked the shorter hair back to cover the mess. A few loose strands still fell on her forehead due to how short they were and couldn’t be clipped back, but it didn’t look bad at all. She could wear it like this, at least for a while, until her hair grows back.
He smiled too after her, moving to crouch in front of her. He took her hands in his, caressing them. ‘What made you do it?’
‘I got bored…’
‘Oh, yeah, understandable. You know, next time you get bored at 3 in the morning you can just go to sleep.’ She scoffed at that, rolling her eyes, still pouting.
‘I did my nails.’ She added on a lighter note, showing off her colourful nails to him.
‘Oh yeah, and they’re pretty.’ He took her hand back gently and kissed her nuckles.
Jinx’s heart skipped a beat at the softness. Even after all this time she still hasn’t gotten used to his gentleness. They weren’t dating, against popular beliefs, they never talked about what was going on between them. She guessed it was normal for very very close best friends to kiss and cuddle sometimes… It’s not like it meant anything… It happened once as an experiment and continued to happen from time to time in private until it became a habit.
‘Are you sleepy now?’ He leaned his face over her hands.
‘A bit…’ She moved her fingers to caress his cheek.
‘Good. Cuz I feel like a zombie.’ As he stood up, he wrapped an arm under her knees and one behind her back, carrying her bridal style to her bed.
She snuggled under the covers and watched as Ekko turned off the lights, then patted the spot beside her for him to lie in. He just smiled and got into bed next to her.
He wrapped his arms around her, as she snuggled her face into his neck, breathing in his scent.
‘Thanks…’
He just pressed his lips to her head, slowly stroking her back. ‘You’re very pretty anyhow… you’ll never be ugly to me…’
She pulled back a bit to look at his face. She met his sincere big brown eyes that were staring right back into her blue ones.
They both leaned in and gently kissed, their lips touching so softly grounding and calming her. Everything was calm now… her thoughts silent and her body still, relaxed in his warm embrace.
He prepped a few more kisses up her cheek, to her nose, and forehead where he rested them. He took in a deep breath, allowing his body to rest, and brought a hand to her head to massage her scalp. ‘Good night, Blue… I love you…’ He whispered, squeezing her tighter into his embrace.
She was already half asleep, but she managed to mumble against his chest ‘Love you…’ back.