Purple Bobbles

"Hello!" David almost shouted as he came up being his girlfriend. He wasn't expecting Robyn's reaction, as she jumped and turned around harshly - pushing David back.

She covered her mouth suddenly, "oh, David. I'm so sorry. You startled me!"

"I should have learnt from past experience," he brushed off. "At least I wasn't holding an ice-cream this time!"

Unexpectedly, that made Robyn look even more ashamed. "Should I have not said that? I've said something wrong, haven't I?"

To his surprise, she smiled and started to laugh, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his lips briefly. She pulled away and stroked a thumb over his cheek. "Don't ever change."

"Why would I do that?" he asked confusedly.

She smiled again and withdrew, holding his hand. "I love you, you know that? I really, really love you."

"Me too," he responded, smiling just as broadly as Robyn. He was so lucky to have her as a girlfriend, and was glad Robyn sometimes let things slipped. He remembered the day he found out Robyn liked him. It was a fond memory and he didn't think he'd ever forget. Of course, he had to thank Louise for it. Robyn had talked to her about David, and Louise had taken it upon herself to inform David of Robyn's attraction. It was one of the few times David appreciated Louise's gossip.

"David, you're with me," Dylan called, and David pecked Robyn on her cheek before hurrying off.

"She'll be okay, won't she?" Greg asked, obviously worried about his daughter.

David nodded, "it looks worse than it is, I can assure you. It's only a small cut and it should heal quite soon. You're lucky she fell on grass… and onto your hand!"

Greg smiled at the reference to his own injured wrist.

"Daddy," Luna called. "Can you tie my hair up now?"

Greg smiled but shook his head. "I can't, Luna. Look – my wrist is hurt. It's got a bandage on." He showed his daughter his sprained wrist, and David knew what was coming. "You wouldn't be able to do it, would you?" he said, directing his question towards David.

"Erm…"

"Maybe Mummy can do it when she comes, Luna. It shouldn't be too long now," he told his daughter.

"No, it's alright. I can do it," David said, though he was extremely unsure if he could. It had been a long time since he'd ever done a child's hair, and even when he did, his daughter alw – his daughter…, that was something he didn't want to think about. "Have you got a hairband?"

Luna nodded and held out her purple bobbled elastic and David took it gently. It looked adorable.

"How do you want it?"

"I like the way Daddy does it."

David looked questioningly towards Greg, who answered his gaze almost instantly. "She likes it low but quite tight."

She liked her hair like that too…

He went behind Luna and brought her hair to the back of her head. He stretched the hairband around her ponytail with more force than he'd intended, and in a second, it snapped. David jumped back with shock, his hand stinging from where the elastic pinned back, and he accidentally brought his hand back with such force it collided with his right eye – right beside the bridge of his nose.

He gasped more with the shock rather than anything else. Luna started to giggle as she turned around to see what was happening. Just the joy on her face made David smile too.

"Last time I checked, you're supposed to treat the patients. Not hit yourself in the eye."

Even Dylan's comment couldn't stop David from smiling.

"I'm just going to…" David trailed off, rushing out of the cubicle but not missing Dylan offering to tie Luna's hair up with her spare elastic.

He found Robyn in the staffroom, looking through one of her magazines. He stomped loudly to her side and she turned around with a confused expression on her face.

He shrugged. "I didn't want you to be startled."

"Ah, I love yo – what happened to your face?" She dumped her magazine on the table-top and stood up, pressing her fingers around his eye. "It looks like it's starting to bruise."

"Yes, about that. I might be starting to get a bit of a black eye."

"How?" she asked, and David didn't fail to miss the concern in her voice.

"I managed to… somehow hit myself."

Robyn bit her lip, "you gave yourself a black eye?" Then she started laughing so hard, David could see tears of happiness form in her eyes. He stood patiently, watching her with a certain fondness. "That is the best thing I've heard all week!" she said once she'd calmed down enough to get out a full sentence. "Apart from you saying you loved me. Of course."

He grinned.

"Okay, let me see."

He leaned into her touch, wincing as she pressed particularly hard. "That's going to be bruised by tomorrow, but it shouldn't be too bad. How did you do it, anyway?"

David sighed, "I was trying to tie my patient's hair up but I must've stretched the elastic too much and it pinged back and snapped. Then I accidentally whacked myself…" he smiled. "That sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but that's what I love about you."

She brought his head towards her and they shared a soft kiss.

Written in August 2016 for casual-laurie on Tumblr.