Summary: Zak has an odd habit. Character exploration drabble.
Notes: This is probably OOC, it was based on the fact that in the Omniverse crossover, Zak has gloves, while in the series, he's rarely seen with gloves.
Polish
Zak wasn't any stranger to secrets. He's got tons of them. But, there's a secret that he keeps, not really out of fear, but out of habit. He likes this secret. Really.
Zak likes to paint his nails. He found out about it one afternoon, when his fingernail cracked during training and he had to cut it down. When he did that, he had to cut down the others, too. That started a reaction.
First, he paid attention to his hands. What they did, how they worked, how many little scars he's gotten in the day. Not that he's vain or anything, but he really likes them. How they used to light up, as if from the inside. How they could be soft when handling the Bunyips, or rough when he was practicing his boxing.
He started with clear, but stole his mothers orange one the first chance he got, eventually branching out into the more outrageous colors - navy blue, sparkly yellow and white, a pale green that reminded him a little too much of Rani Naga…he might have a problem, but at least it wasn't something dangerous.
He didn't really see it as a female thing, honestly. Doc and Drew were constantly pushing him to explore what he liked. He remembers a lot of pictures when he was younger and had his favorite sundress on. It was surprising if he hadn't been mistaken for a young girl at some point. Later he would stop, but he still had big T-shirts that 'swished' like it.
There was even an urge, in the few formal dinners he's been invited to, to grab one of his mother's old dresses, but he would always shrug and grab his tuxedo instead. She's too tall for him, and bow ties are cool now, so it wasn't a loss, not really.
After a while, he realized he liked feeling pretty. When he peeled his gloves off, all sweaty and dirty from work, his fingernails were there, all shiny and nice, winking at him, making him feel better. His parents were fine, too…if they noticed, they didn't comment. Even before Kur, nothing really did faze them. So he kept on, silently thankful for his family's love of matching jumpsuits and gloves.
Notes:
Pictures of Komodo dragons actually note their nails as matte black, but Komodo's always been weird anyway, and he also has some Fisk in him to offset it as well.
Well, how do you like it? Please tell me!
Ill