Evening was on its way out, as Velma leaned back in her desk chair and gave a stretch.
"Hgnnnnn!"
Giving her head a rub, she moved the towel she left draped there about on her drying hair. She had just gotten out of a nice shower a bit ago. And while she was in her pajama's, she had still kept the towel about her head to let it dry naturally.
While Daphne was all for hair driers, Velma liked letting hers air dry some times, if she could afford the time to let it do that. And since there wasn't any mystery coming up that she knew of, she was able to relax that night and enjoy feeling of being freshly clean, and comfortably warm from her shower.
Lazing across the back of her chair from the stretch, Velma almost missed the tiny knocks coming from her bedroom door. Tilting her head to listen, she caught the second string of knocks and pushed to get up to check who had been trying to get her attention. Opening her door, she found a shy Shaggy peering down at her from her door frame.
"I hope I didn't wake you up." He had whispered, looking her over to check that he had not interrupted her sleep to then feel bad for doing.
"Nah, I was just relaxing. I forgot to open my door once I got dressed. What's up Shaggy?" Looking up from her towel hood, she pulled it back to be able not have it fall in the way for talking with him.
"Can I Like' come in?"
"Sure! Come on in."
Offering for him to come in, the tall man nodded and wandered into her bedroom. Velma checked the hallway for a Scooby, but the Dane didn't seem with him. But it was possible that the dog had already passed out, and Shaggy had left his room to come talk to her.
When she turned around, she found Shaggy perched on the edge of her bed, with one of her pillows in his tucked it to himself, and plopped his head at the top to look at her expectantly, though also hesitating. Looking about a bit skittishly from her to the rest of her room.
Velma moved to a nearby edge of the bed to be able to talk to him without either of them having to shift to have a conversation. Scrambling up a bit to get onto her mattress. Tucking herself into a cross legged pose before continuing.
"So, how can I help you? What did you want to talk to me about?" Velma asked, waiting for him to respond.
Normally Shaggy wasn't so reserved, unless he was about to ask her her for some type of favor. Default being laid back and chill about most things. But this was Shaggy after all, Velma had yet to find one of his requests to be bad for her. It was probably just something he was over worrying about that he wanted to talk to her about and either need her advice about, or wanted to have her help him with something.
"Well... I just... well... hmmm... Like' I just wanted to..." Shaggy rambled, unable to get himself to the point. But Velma just let him get around to it when he was ready. Giving him a soft look, and lightly using the edge of her towel to dry her hair as she waited for him to be comfortable to talk to her about what was bothering him.
"... Can I play with your hair?"
His voice cracked at the end of his question, surprising Velma with his request. She really wasn't used to any of the gang playing with her hair, with the exception of Daphne wanting to fiddle with it here and there. But none of the guys really did much other then the occasional head pat overall. But as Velma thought about it, sure it was an strange request, but not a bad one.
And, at least Shaggy was asking soon after she had taken a shower. She felt less worried that he would be end up dealing with it being greasy, or overly sprayed in hair spray that she normally wore to keep it just how she liked it. Right now, while a bit frizzy, it was sort of ideal to be played with. As odd as the overall idea was.
"Uh... I guess so. Sure." Velma ran a hand through her bangs, and gave the tip a rub to check how wet it still was. Mildly damp, but overall it was dry. Pulling the towel from her neck, she then paused.
"Do you want to play with the back of my head, or sides? The front?"
"... What do you think the longest bit is?" Shaggy asked, having put aside the pillow now that his question had been asked, and she had agreed. He didn't need it to fiddle nervously with.
"I would think the back of my head." Thinking about it, she wasn't sure where he would like to play with her hair. He was taller then her, so sitting with her back to him should be low enough with their height differences, but the bed was a bit squishy.
"Do you want to do it on the bed, or should we move to the floor?" Velma offered for him to pick which worked for him.
Pulling at the tips of his goatee, he considered her proposition. "Maybe on the floor?"
"Ok, then let's move to the floor. Maybe you can lean against the edge of the bed for your back, and I'll face away from you?" She suggested, casting a hand towards the carpet.
"Ok." Getting up, Shaggy offered to help her get off of her bed, and looked down at where Velma had suggested for him to sit against. Placing his back against the bed frame and waited for her to sit down in front of him.
Velma had shifted across the bed to slid off one side and get to her feet. She was about to sit down, when she moved around the bed to grab something first. With brush in hand, she moved to take a seat in front of Shaggy, holding the brush over her shoulder for him to take. Closing her eyes, she tried to center herself and push aside her normal reaction to being touched. Calming herself mentally for what was going to happen. Nothing wrong, but she still wasn't used to someone being as intimate to be touching her hair for the guys. Her best friend was an exception, and maybe her mom. So, this was a first for her and Shaggy.
There was a difference between a slight reach over to get a bang out of the way, after a pile up during the adrenaline filled moments of a mystery, in the moment. Compared to siting one on one, and playing with her hair. Both not a bad thing to have happen, but one needed more mental preparation then the other.
Taking the brush, Shaggy looked at it a bit lost, before realizing that with playing with hair, a brush was something that could be useful to comb through the hair as well. He gave a small 'oh' before considering the brush and tested it out by running it through her hair a few times. Lightly touching the edge of one side for a bit.
"So soft..." He murmured, playing with a few clumps of strands. Velma could feel him lightly tugging and messing with her hair, but with her facing away she wasn't exactly sure what he was doing. Well, besides the occasional brushing. But it seemed that he was mainly fixating on a few handfuls that he had in his fingertips. And messing with them in some fashion.
"May I ask, why you wanted to play with my hair?" Velma didn't move, but voiced her curiosity. It wasn't every day Shaggy made such a request, and also his earlier fidgeting felt like there was more to it, then a random urge to play with her hair. Feeling a bit out of left field.
"Hm...?" Making some twisting movement that Velma could feel, he focused on her hair as he told her his reasoning. "Well, Sugie called earlier. She is apparently going to be visiting Ma and Dad for a month, since her husband Wilfred is going to be busy with a business trip and away for a while. So, Sugie though that is was a good time to have a small vacation. And she wanted to talk about visiting me."
"Oh, how is your sister?" It had been a while since Shaggy had talked about his sister. Velma knew that they kept in touch, but with her moving further away, it was hard for Shaggy to sometimes keep in touch between her schedule ad when mysteries would keep them gone for a while. Not like she lived in Coolsville anymore.
"She is doing well, but she wanted to talk about maybe having Lily hang out some time while they were visiting..."
"Lily... Lily..." Velma knew the name, but it wasn't coming to her at first. But once her brain locked on the information, everything made sense!
"Oh my! Lily, your sisters' little daughter Lily?" Velma bounced excited for Shaggy. "This is the first time you will get to see her, won't it?"
Turning around, Velma gave Shaggy an encouraging hug, the best she could from how they were sitting. It all made sense with him wanting to play with her hair, if he was going to get to finally see his niece. Having to make up for lost time, and nice way to bond with the young girl.
"Yeah, well Like' I was there for her birth. But she was so teeny then. I was so scared I was going to hurt her, trying to hold her. She was so small and fragile." Shaggy admitted, happy for the hug and grinning like the proud uncle he was. "The few times Ma and Dad we able to go visit to see her before, we were on a mystery or something so I couldn't join them. And because of Wilfred's job, they haven't really been able to visit too much down here either."
"Wow, so we finally get to meet her! How old is she now?" Velma was happy for Shaggy, and it would be nice to see Maggie again. She was only a few years younger then Shaggy. She was only a bit younger then Velma was. Though Velma didn't hang out with her by herself as they were growing up, Velma had attended many meals at the Rogers household with the rest of the gang. And practically lived out of their backyard in her youth.
"I think Lily is three now. I feel bad for not seeing her, but Sugie wants to have her come over some time while they are visiting to hang out with us. To hang out with her 'uncles, aunts and Scooby' as she puts it, making sure to tell Lily stories about us to her."
Gone was his timid demeanor and back to the normal bouncy Shaggy, Velma was used too. Which was a lot better in her book. But she understood that he was just being mindful of her comfort zone as he was pressing the boundary with asking to play with her hair. But he had a good reason. And something if she could help make Shaggy have a better time with his niece, she was more then willing to help the best she could.
"I just wish I could get this braiding down..." Shaggy tugged lightly on some strands of Velma's hair, trying to weave it on itself and failing. Not knowing how to braid in the first place, but trying to learn on Velma's shorter hair before him.
"Oh, if that is the case... I think we need to seek out the master." Velma proposed to Shaggy, lightly tugging the hair he was playing with out of his hands and she turned to look at him.