Title: haircuts
Prompt: when they looked so much alike
Summary: Natalia sighed as she carded through Luke's long locks. It was such a waste that he wanted them cut short.
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"Such a waste," Natalia sighed, carding her hand through Luke's long locks. They were silken, akin to a river of fire flowing of her fingers, and she twisted a strand around her finger. When they were children, she used to braid his hair—but no, that hadn't been Luke. That was a memory she didn't want to linger on, not now. The wound still felt too raw. Letting go, she picked up a comb. "Are you sure you want to cut it?"
Luke leaned back against the chair and shrugged. It was such a Luke move and if she had any doubts before about who'd returned, they were gone now. "I'm used to short hair now. Besides, it's less of a hassle to keep it short. Brushing takes forever."
"You know most people would kill for a chance like yours?" Natalia grumbled, carefully combing Luke's hair. His hair felt nice than hers and she wanted to chalk that up to resurrection magic. "To get a bad haircut and then have their hair regrow? And the hairstyles you can do with it."
"It'd regrow eventuall—wait." Luke scowled as he registered her words. Leaning further back, he raised his jaw and squinted up at her. "Are you saying my haircut was bad?"
"That wasn't the point." Rolling her eyes, Natalia firmly pushed his head back down until he staring straight ahead again. At least he had a good view. It was a warm spring day and the servants had set up an entire hair-cutting station in the garden, including a blanket to collect falling hair. A blanket that pooled around her ankles as she shifted positions, the wind blowing the edges until they curled up at their feet. "And yes, it wasn't great."
"You know I didn't cut it myself, right? Tear did." Luke crossed his arms, his jaw set. Was he pouting again? Natalia marveled at how predictable he was, even after all they'd gone through. This wasn't the first time she'd trimmed her hair and for a second, it felt like they were kids again, bickering as she snipped away the split hairs. "And Guy said it looked good."
Still, she preferred this Luke over the sad Luke after Akzeriuth, the Luke who blamed himself for anything and everything, who thought of himself as nothing but a mistake. The Luke that she had pushed away erroneously, even if it was just for a short while. Gods, she'd been a terrible friend. "And Guy has a terrible sense of fashion."
"Then how come all the girls fawn over him?" Luke pointed out petulantly.
"Because I make sure he's dressed correctly for his station. He's a noble, after all, I can't have him dressed improperly when he visits." Natalia stared at the silver scissors on the table and steeled herself as she picked them up. Well. So long, long-haired Luke. The first snip sounded like a scream and she bemoaned the beautiful red as it fell to the ground. "Also, Guy's…well, he's charming. So he has that at least."
"At least?" Luke's brow knitted as he searched for the insult. "So I'm not charming?"
"Again, not the point." Quieter, she mumbled, "Your charms are different."
"What?" Luke asked, almost turning his head before she stopped him with a forceful hand. "You're going to leave a bruise on my jaw."
"Better than you losing an ear." Natalia clicked her tongue. The red curls at her feet looked like a smouldering fire. "Your hair's…darker than I remembered." She raised a long lock, admiring it in the sunlight. Not quite a brightly burning flame, nor the ashen remains. "It's more like Ashe's—"
"Don't."
She dropped the hair at quiet command. Luke's shoulders were hunched defensively. So it wasn't her imagination then. Luke wasn't quite himself, physically at least. Something had happened in the collapsing tower, happened in the past two years before he'd appeared in that flower field. "Luke."
"Please, Natalia. Don't." His voice sounded brittle, glass about to shatter. A warning not to touch. A plea not to ask. She wondered what his face looked like, if his expression was more like Ashe's jagged edges or Luke's cracked one.
It seemed she wasn't the only one who still felt raw from it all. Biting down the question at the tip of her tongue, Natalia returned to cutting his hair. "I still think this is a waste. You look so much cuter with long hair."
Luke didn't say anything as she prattled on, bemoaning the loss of his hair. Still, by the end of the session, his shoulders were relaxed, and she took that as a victory.