Chapter Text
It had happened just a few days after Lalna had moved back into his and Xephos’ YogLabs suite.
He nearly screamed as he saw Lalnable staring back at him from only a few feet away. Sunken eyes on a pale, emaciated face stared blankly back at Lalna, chilling him to the core. Lalna’s eyes immediately darted around for a nearby weapon. He needed to run, he needed to fight, he needed to get rid of Him.
It was only when he noticed the only thing nearby was his toothbrush that he remembered that he was in the bathroom.
And He was just in the mirror.
Lalna felt a chill run down his spine as he inched closer to the mirror to inspect himself. It was true that he had lost weight over the past few years. Being in a flux-induced psychosis for over three years would do that to you. Even with Lomadia’s strict diet, returning to his healthy average was still quite slow going.
But that weight loss, coupled with the scraggly strands of uncut, unkempt hair and the dark rings under his eyes made him realize just how much he looked like Him.
Opening the cabinet drawer, Lalna spotted a pair of metal scissors, the ones he knew Xephos used to cut his hair. The alien had very recently done so, the downy darkness having grown out nearly shoulder length during their separation, longer than Lalna had ever seen it. Only a few days after being reunited had Xephos trimmed it back to its normal, cropped length.
Lalna’s hand hovered over the scissors, trembling. He swallowed nervously.
He needed to cut his hair.
But he couldn’t get his hand to grab the scissors. His fingers hovered above the tool, shaking harder. Why couldn’t he do this? It wasn’t as if he hadn’t cut his hair before, he must’ve done it hundreds of times by now. He was being silly, it was just a haircut.
But his hands continued to shake nonetheless.
Lalna looked up, and immediately closed his eyes as the sight in the mirror startled him again.
Eyes closed until he had fully leaned out of the doorway, he called back into his shared living space.
“Xeph’?”
Xephos, who until now had been slowly working his way through a stack of paperwork, looked up at Lalna. Both of them had hated the idea of being separated during Xephos’ long hours of being tasked to dismantle YogLabs, so Xephos had made the decision to bring a desk to their room so he could work there instead, rather than huddled alone in a cold, far-off sterile office. Being the boss (or at least one of them) wasn’t fun by any means, but at least he had the perk of being able to choose where his office was.
Xephos’ eyebrows pinched together as soon as he saw Lalna’s expression. He tilted his head in concern. “Lalna?” He probed with confusion.
“Can you cut my hair?” Lalna blurted, his throat tight. He clenched his fists by his side to hide the tremors.
Xephos blinked. “Cut your hair?” He repeated.
Lalna nodded. “It’s too long, I need to- but I can’t do it myself,” he stumbled over his explanation. He swallowed thickly as the mirror’s images flashed in his mind.
“Well, I suppose it is about time,” Xephos teased. His smile wavered when Lalna didn’t smile back.
Xephos pressed his lips together for a moment of thought and tapped his fingers against the wood of the desk. After a short second, he nodded and stood up, following Lalna back into the cramped suite bathroom. Lalna avoided looking in the mirror as he sat down on the edge of the tub. He briefly considered secretly breaking or removing it sometime Xephos wasn’t around just to get rid of the blasted thing.
Xephos grabbed a hairbrush and the scissors from the drawer and sat next to Lalna on the porcelain rim of the tub. He touched Lalna’s jaw, fingers ever so slightly colder to the touch than a humans’ indicating a distinct alienness one would only recognize with prior knowledge. He turned Lalna’s head and reached around to undo the hair tie previously holding the unkempt mop together in a knot at the back of Lalna’s head. Lalna winced as a knot snagged and Xephos mumbled a quiet apology.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have Zoeya cut it? She’s much better at styling,” Xephos asked unsurely as he began to gently tug the hairbrush through the tangles.
Lalna shook his head. “No, can you just do it, please?” He fidgeted nervously, not really sure why he felt so anxious about having someone else deal with his hair. It wasn’t as if other people hadn’t cut it before, Lalna had been dragged to Zoeya to cut his hair many times before when his friends got fed up with him complaining about the length.
Xephos hesitated mid brushstroke. His trepidation was palpable.
“I want you to do it. I trust you,” Lalna replied to the open air.
Xephos nodded and pressed his cheek to the side of his head, not dissimilar to a cheek rub of a cat. Lalna felt his shoulders relax at the touch. “Of course, friend,” he murmured.
Lalna didn’t question why Xephos still called him friend, even at this point in their relationship. Their romance didn’t stop the word from being embedded into the other’s vocabulary, and it didn’t bother Lalna either. ‘Friend’ meant more than just a denotative platonic relationship, but represented trust. It meant someone important and loved.
Lalna liked that feeling of love.
Xephos continued brushing his hair until it was fully distangled, albeit now frizzy from being brushed through. At its full length it just reached his shoulder blades, dead ends making the bottom uneven.
“How long do you want it?” Xephos asked, holding up a strand for reference, twisting it absentmindedly in his fingers.
Lalna chewed his cheek as he considered. He’d never liked it short, even as a kid he’d dreaded his parents forcing shorter haircuts on him. But now he couldn’t bear the idea of it being long, either.
He finally decided, “Just as long as it was when you used to braid it? But not… too long.” It was unspoken between them what Lalna meant when he said this.
Xephos nodded silently. “Let me know if you need me to stop,” he said.
Lalna nodded and closed his eyes.
He would proceed to keep his eyes closed the entire time, not wanting to face the mirror again. He only listened to the metallic snip, snip, snip, of the scissors. He focused on the sound and the feeling of Xephos’ hands in his hair instead of the reflection that kept creeping into his mind’s eye.
After several minutes, Xephos cleared his throat. “What do you think?”
Lalna peeked open an eye. Xephos was holding a hand mirror up to his face so he could see up close. Lalna averted his gaze from his scarred face to his hair. He ran a hand through the shortened locks; it was clearly cut by an amateur, being slightly uneven and choppy, but he always sort of liked it that way.
And just long enough to be plaited into a short braid at the nape of his neck.
Before he lost his courage, he said. “Could you braid it? Like you used to do before bed?” Lalna felt nervous as he asked, even if he had no reason to be.
Xephos, who had gotten up to put the brush and scissors back into the drawer, turned and blinked at him again, seeming surprised at the request. But a soft smile spread across his lips.
“I would love to,” Xephos replied. He paused and glanced in the drawer. “I don’t have any of those little barrettes you like,” he admitted with a frown.
Lalna shrugged. “That’s fine. I just want you to braid it,” he rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing with warmth.
A hand reached out and pulled his own away from his neck. Xephos’ slim hand slipped into his clammy one. He tugged him up from his spot on the tub.
“Shall we?” Xephos said with a smile that made Lalna feel like he was melting.
They walked back into the main room. The suite was more like a hotel room rather than a full-fledged apartment, only meant for short term sleep in between shifts at the lab. For this reason, it was only one room with a queen bed, bathroom, and closet (and the desk Xephos had later brought in).
Even if it wasn’t fully furnished, it was still much more comfortable than the medical wing where he’d been staying during his flux treatment the weeks prior. While Lalna would much prefer to not be in the lab at all, considering his and Nanosounds’ previous residence was currently Quarantine Zone Ground Zero, he didn’t have much of a choice.
So, between the suite and the medical wing, he’d take the suite any day.
Like clockwork, even after three years, Xephos perched on the edge of the bed, the mattress only just dipping under his light figure, and Lalna sat down on the floor in front of him. The floor was a dark wood, as opposed to the cold linoleum of the rest of the facility, and Lalna wondered if Xephos had requested that change himself. He had never considered it before.
He held the hair tie in his mouth as he used the comb to gently separate the newly trimmed strands. After a few moments of careful parting, Xephos began the delicate motions of weaving. The feeling of nimble fingers threading his hair brought Lalna back to the first time Xephos had ever braided his hair.
A quiet grumble of discontent escaped Lalna’s lips as he turned over in bed for the umpteenth time.
His hair was at a point now where it was long enough to tickle the back of his neck. And while he liked the way it looked, it was super itchy against his neck when he laid down to try and sleep. Which meant he spent a lot of time tossing and turning trying to find a position where he didn’t feel it.
…Which also meant he spent a lot of time making a ruckus when he was meant to be sleeping.
Lalna groaned to himself again as he flopped face down into his pillow. In this position he didn’t feel the hair, but now he was face down and couldn’t breathe.
He heard Xephos grumble quietly from across the work shed. “Lalna, if you’re going to keep making noise like that, I might as well just go back to work.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “It’s just my hair. It’s gotten too long and it keeps rubbing on my neck and bothering me.”
“Can you tie it up?”
“Well, I could, but then I’d have a knot on the back of my head where the hair tie is and I can’t sleep with that there either-“
Xephos sighed impatiently. “Yes, yes, alright. Nevermind, don’t worry about it.”
“I’ll be more still,” Lalna promised.
That lasted about five minutes as he laid back down and his curls immediately began scratching at his neck again. He flipped his hair up but had to shuffle in bed again. The bed frame creaked as he tossed around and he heard another quiet huff come from Xephos’ direction. He frowned as he heard blankets shuffle and the lightest padding of feet.
Lalna squeaked in alarm as the lights suddenly turned on. Honeydew, asleep like the dead, didn’t stir from his extra large bed across the room. In front of him, Xephos was standing over his bed, looking tired but determined.
Lalna squinted up at him. “Erm-“
“Sit up,” Xephos ordered gently. It was then Lalna noticed the comb and hair tie in his hand.
Confused, Lalna obeyed and pulled himself up into a sitting position, shimmying to the front of the bed. Xephos kneeled behind him.
He looked over his shoulder. “What are you-“
“For the sake of us both being able to sleep tonight, I’m going to fix your hair,” Xephos said. His voice was low with sleepiness. Lalna felt slightly frozen and only nodded in response.
He felt the comb begin to tug through his hair, gently and meticulously as to not pull too hard. He could only imagine the number of tangles back there, he didn’t brush his hair very often. It was easier just to hold it back with his goggles than attempt to style it properly every morning.
It took a little while, but eventually the brush was able to comb through his hair with ease. Xephos fingers then began nimbly weaving the strands of hair together. He felt himself nodding off a few times, the rhythmic feeling of Xephos’ hands running through his hair very calming. Xephos gently tilted his head back up whenever he did.
“All done,” Lalna heard suddenly. He blinked back into reality.
He reached behind and felt the braid. Perfectly smooth, with no loose strands.
“Wow,” he said, surprised. “You’re good at this.”
“Honeydew taught me,” Xephos admitted. “He said braiding was important to dwarves. That their families must be able to braid each other’s hair. It’s a battle tradition, if I recall correctly.”
Lalna nodded. “Well, um, thanks,” he said inelegantly, distracted by a warmth in his chest as he fiddled with the braid.
Xephos got up off of the bed and smiled at him. “Of course, friend.” His face turned a bit more stern, tone still lighthearted. “Now, go to sleep!”
Lalna snickered. “Fine, but only because you asked so nicely,” he teased.
“All done,” Xephos said, pulling his hands away. Lalna returned to the present, already regretting the loss of contact between the two. He leaned his head back into Xephos’ lap. Even upside down, he could see the small smile Xephos always got with the satisfaction of finishing a project.
“...Keep playing with my hair?” Lalna asked, jutting out his bottom lip.
Xephos quirked an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t that ruin the point of just having braided it?”
“Please?” Lalna whined, all but having forgotten about the moment that had brought them here. All he cared about now was them being together. The feeling of Xephos’ hands in his hair and the quiet peace that surrounded him when they were together.
As far as Lalna was aware, or cared, He didn’t exist anymore.
Xephos rolled his eyes, but gently put his hand back down and massaged his scalp. Lalna’s eyelids fluttered, just barely catching a glimpse of that soft smile again before they closed.
“Fine, but only because you asked so nicely.”