Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hasil was confident, and comfortable, with taking care of his four year old daughter Lila and his infant son Keir in Sally-Ann's absence. While he was better cooking on a grill, he was competent in the kitchen as well, though the foods they ate were generally fast, quick things. Which he did balance with fruit and vegetables. Keir was on formula and whipping that up was even easier.

Keir wore onsies or footed pajamas most of the time, but Sally-Ann usually bought their children clothes in sets that made the guesswork on matching outfits together pretty easy. His own fashion sense was pretty basic, but even he could make sure to match pink shoes to a pink outfit when needed.

Keir's little dark curls responded well to a little coconut oil and a gentle brushing with one of those ultra soft baby brushes. Lila's hair was a different story. Her reddish brown hair sprung from her head in a riotous halo of springy kinky curly coils. Which Hasil loved because, outside of the color, they were exactly like her mother's. Only thing was, Hasil wished, now, that he'd paid more attention when his wife did their daughter's hair. In his defense, he really hadn't had to do so in the past because Sally-Ann usually did Lila's hair in a way that didn't require him to do much to it while she had one of her weekends away with her friends.

Sally-Ann and Lila usually took a day to do their wash and styling thing, which he'd casually observed. This would culminate in some kind of intricate braided or twisted hairstyle on his wife and something cute and decorated with colorful barrettes on his daughter.

He'd thought that a walk with his kids through the wooded area behind their house would be a good idea. It was something that would get them out of the house and be a break from all of the episodes of Spongebob that he'd have been watching with Lila instead.

At first it had been a good time. The weather was nice and there had been a breeze that brought the scent of growing things and rich earth with it. He'd pointed out a few bird nests to Lila, picking her up to see them closer and cautioning her against touching them. Keir had agreeably went right to sleep in his stroller as they made their way down the short, wooded trail.

Lila had skipped a bit further ahead, which Hasil hadn't minded since she was still well within sight, and had been singing a song when the tune stopped abruptly and she screamed.

Hasil rushed forward, the faster motion causing Keir to wake up and begin crying also, and came to a stop beside his crying daughter.

There was a huge dollop of bird shit in Lila's hair and she was sobbing as if her heart was breaking, a smear of the crap on her hand where she'd reached up to touch it when she'd felt it hit her.

The walk back to their house was filled with the sound of his unhappy children, and once he'd settled Keir down into his crib, Hasil had the job of getting Lila's hair back into order.

He removed the little plastic barrettes and unraveled the braids in her hair before hustling her to the kitchen. He laid her on the countertop next to the sink just like Sally-Ann did when she started wash day, and gently washed, conditioned, detangled Lila's hair. He then smoothed coconut oil in her damp strands and that was where he was stumped. He knew better than to just let Lila's hair dry as it was.

Hasil frowned. There was no way he was going to be able to replicate the style Sally-Ann had made. Well, when in doubt, check YouTube.He scrolled through the video offerings, finally settling on a style that seemed simple. He figured that even he could handle four braids.

He sprayed Lila's hair with a helluva lot of detangler, thanking God that his daughter didn't seem to be “tenderheaded” like the woman in the video said her daughter was, and parted her hair into four thick parts.

He picked through the curls carefully, then began braiding the first part. It looked terrible and he figured out pretty quickly that it was important to divide each piece of hair into equal parts before braiding.

After that it went relatively smoothly. Maybe the braids were a little crooked (okay, a lot crooked), and really not all that accomplished, but it was styled and Lila was happy.

Chapter Text

The carved animals that Hasil gave Sally-Ann as gifts were always something he did more as a hobby than anything else. He never thought it would actually be something that people would value; items that people would pay good money for.

He'd been working construction the first year after he and Sally-Ann married (she'd been going to school for nursing). It was a good job; he was outside everyday and he got to see the fruits of his labor at the end of every shift.

He'd been working on a bit of wood one day during his break when the lady they were building the house for came to the site. She'd immediately liked the carving work he'd done on the little bird in his hand and asked him if he'd be interested in carving a design in her fireplace mantle. She'd footed the bill for tools that allowed for even more intricate and detailed designs and once the word about the quality of his work was out the orders came piling in.

Eventually he'd been able to support his family with his wood working and the wooden sculptures he sold from various art galleries.

Since he considered himself an artist, and definitely creatively inclined, it kind of bothered him that he hadn't been able to do more with his daughter's hair. At first he'd been happy enough with the four braids he'd accomplished but, later on, as he'd been scrolling through pinterest he'd seen some of the styles other dads had been able to accomplish on their daughter's hair.

Then and there he started to make his plans. He was going to style his daughter's hair and it would be cute, not just contained dammit.

Over the next couple of weeks he watched Sally-Ann styling Lila's hair on the low. He pretended to do something or other in the room as his wife gently detangled Lila's hair and watched hair tutorials online on the sly. Not that he couldn't just ask for lessons from his wife if he wanted. Sally-Ann had been too grateful that Lila's hair hadn't been standing all over her head in a tangled mess to comment too much on the simplicity (and blahness, really) of the hairstyle he'd fixed. If he really wanted to learn from her he needed only to ask but something, his stubbornness he knew, kept him from asking her for help outright. He wanted to learn on his own. It had become something very important; a point of pride for him.

He was so steadfast on his goal that he ignored the few side-eyes he got when he walked into the beauty supply store with Lila's hand clasped in his. One of the sales ladies was only too happy to help him find whatever he wanted and her face only dropped a little when he made sure that his wedding ring showed as he reached for a four pack of purple bows. By the time he exited the store he had three new packs of barrettes and a gallon of milk (his excuse for running an errand) in the backseat next to Lila's car seat.

He didn't dare mention his plan to his friends (one of which happened to be the husband of Sally-Ann's best friend), for fear that it would get back to his wife. He wasn't ashamed of the fact that he had an interest in learning to do Lila's hair, despite the ribbing he'd be sure to get, he just wanted it to be a surprise to everyone.

By the time Sally-Ann went away for a spa weekend, mentioning that she planned to wash and style Lila's hair when she got back, he was ready. He laid Keir down for his nap then ushered Lila to the living room where he proceeded to unravel the braids on her head. They had loosed, having been braided earlier in the week, and were easier to unravel than the fresh braids he'd dealt with last time.

“Mama said she was doin' hair stuff when she got home,” Lila complained as she wriggled around on the pillow he'd sat on the floor, “why we doin' it now?”

“I just wanna help out your mom,” Hasil replied, “I thought it would be a nice surprise to see it already done when she came back. Won't that be fun? Surprisin' your mom?”

“I guess,” Lila replied with a very put upon sigh. She perked up a bit when he pretended she was a plane and “flew” her into the kitchen to get her hair washed.

Lila obligingly stayed mostly still as she enjoyed his bribe (a small bowl of grapes that she devoured after she'd finished an orange push up and their trusty copy of Frozen) while he detangled, moisturized and parted her hair into three sections.

Hasil had decided to go for a style that seemed pretty simple but that would definitely look better than his previous offering. He secured her the back of her hair into two side by side ponytails, and then pulled the rest of her hair into a ponytail at her crown. He carefully braided each part and then placed a purple bow at the base of each ponytail. He used his fingers to smooth a little gel to lay down her edges and to keep her hairstyle tidy and then he was finished.

Hasil then took Lila to the bathroom and stood her up on the countertop so she could see the finished style in the mirror there.

“How does it look sweetie?” He asked.

“It's pretty daddy!” Lila said, and the big smile on her face warmed his heart.

When Sally-Ann came back from her trip and saw Lila's hair the look on her face had been just as priceless.