please.. PLEASE do some "Bataar trying to braid Kuvira's hair and failing at it"
As requested by afuckingsummersnowflake.
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"How are you doing?" Kuvira asks, turning her head away from the book in her lap.
"No, don't move!" Baatar bites his lip and presses his knees against her arms, watching as a strand of hair fell from his grip. He catches it before the entire braid can fall apart and sighs in relief. "Never mind."
Kuvira smiles, returning to her novel.
"I don't understand how you do this every day. It's so hard."
"What, braiding?"
"Yes! You do it without even looking! And with hair that's longer than my arm." He grimaces, forgetting what strand he had in his hand after he pulls a section from the side of her head.
"Practice makes perfect."
"I'm surprised you've never cut it before."
Kuvira purses her lips, deciding not to answer.
"I think I know why."
She looks over her shoulder at him and Baatar gasps as the braid slips from his hands and completely falls apart.
Shit. She cringes. "Sorry."
"All my hard work…"
Kuvira chuckles, nudging him in the knee. "Just try again."
He tries again, adding it as his sixth attempt on the list. Left over the middle, right over the middle, left over the middle, right over the middle,…, middle over the left. Wait, no.
He drops the braid.
Kuvira hears him growl and can sense his stiffness. She smiles.
The next time he tries, Baatar manages to reach the very end of her hair and cheers. "Yes! I got it! Look!" He tugs the finished braid over her shoulder, still holding the end with his fingers. It has yet to be tied all together.
"Good job." Kuvira praises, even though the strands are uneven in thickness and parts of her hair are sticking out where it shouldn't.
Baatar's smile widens and he brings it back over to add the final touch. He's looking around the carpet for the elastic before he realizes its resting on the wrist of his free hand. Dammit.
How was he supposed to the remove the tie when his other hand was occupied?
Baatar contemplates his options before deciding to remove it with his pinkie.
That backfires.
He growls again, grip loosening around the end of Kuvira's hair as he struggles to remove the elastic.
Eventually, it slips from his fingers and starts to unravel all over again.
"I give up." Baatar throws his hands into the air, inclining back into the edge of the bed. "I can understand integrated multivariable calculus, advanced chemistry and physics, and am able to create anything that I want, but I can't braid your hair. What's wrong with that?"
Kuvira smiles and leans back against his chest. "Nothing."