I can't remember how long this chapter has been in progress. Oops.

Chapter Eight.

"Peace and quiet."

ooo

The sky was streaked with orange and purple as the sun began to dip below the horizon. This quiet Saturday evening was, as far as Chell could tell, not particularly eventful. She lay on the living room floor for no apparent reason, staring at the ceiling and thinking about dinner. She could simply get up and make it, but where was the fun in that?

In the next room over, she could hear GLaDOS humming a cheery little tune. It was all too familiar a song to Chell; she'd heard plenty of versions of it over the past year. She grinned as she heard GLaDOS sing the words to the next line—"But there's no sense crying over every mistake"—and then fall silent for a brief moment.

Chell giggled to herself and responded before her girlfriend had a chance to finish it herself. "You just keep on trying till you run out of cake!"

Hidden from Chell's view behind the closed door, GLaDOS beamed. She's singing my song with me! She cracked the door open and poked her head out to look at Chell. "I hear you singing my song, and I feel obligated to remind you that it is a solo," she teased.

"I love you too~!" Chell singsonged, knowing with total certainty that what GLaDOS meant was that she was genuinely ecstatic that Chell was not only singing for her, but singing with her, a song that she wrote. Chell's singing voice was something she had never heard until recently, and she fell faster in love with it every second she heard it.

But right now, something else had grabbed Chell's attention. She sat up to get a better, less-upside-down view of the AI standing in the doorway. "...Your hair looks different."

"I'm trying something new with it. Did you know that I can change its length at will?" Indeed, she had exchanged her usual chin-length, half-clipped-back hairstyle with a longer, wavier one, reaching a little past her shoulders. On each side she had braided a small section and tied them together at the back, and to top it all off she had placed, on the right side of her head, her signature Aperture hairclip—excuse me, I meant her Aperture Brand Aperture Logo Dual-Clip Hair Accessory. :)

"I thought it would be a pointless feature," she continued. "What would it matter? Physical appearance is entirely unimportant to the furthering of science. But I thought I'd experiment with it anyway, out of curiosity. What do you think?"

Chell couldn't stop staring. Her expression unreadable, her voice (predictably) silent, she took in every detail. The tiny, symmetrical braids; the loose, swooping curls; the smooth snow-white shine. Chell was amazed—she hadn't thought she could be more in love, but now she stood corrected. "...I love it." A smile spread across her face as she scramble to her feet, to embrace her love, and kiss her on her beautiful face.

"Careful," GLaDOS protested gently, "you wouldn't believe how long those braids took me. I've... never had to do something like that before." But she returned Chell's embrace with an immediate eagerness, knowing no matter what happened she wouldn't trade Chell's kiss for anything.

"Do you... want to practice on me?" Chell murmured, gently taking GLaDOS's hands in her own.

"You'd let me?"

"Of course. Sit there, and I'll go in front of you and you can do my hair." Chell grinned and sat on the floor as GLaDOS situated herself behind her.

"Say something if I'm pulling too hard. I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Chell reassured her gently. She took a deep, relaxed breath, and as GLaDOS's small, slender fingers gently divided Chell's hair into sections, they both felt a deep sense of calm.

"Yesterday I was looking at how to French braid," GLaDOS mumbled as she worked. "This is my first time trying it." She let out an expressive, simulated sigh. "I'd never admit this to anyone else, but... I'm so used to only needing to do things I can control through my chassis, that things like this are hard to get used to. Human things, like hand-writing things out on paper? I can visualize how to do it perfectly. But in practice, it's not so easy."

"Well, for being so new at things like that, you're really good at it," Chell commented. "Not anyone could pick up a pen for the first time in their life and make it look that pretty."

A little energy wave rushed to GLaDOS's face. She likes my handwriting.

"Your hair is so soft," GLaDOS hummed. "I could run my fingers through it forever..." Hmm. Maybe 'forever' wasn't the right word to say. She'd once thought she was going to run Chell through tests forever. Maybe she should stop saying the word 'forever', forever.

"You can go as long as you like," Chell assured her, unaware of her silent panic. "It feels nice."

Relief flooded through GLaDOS as she began intertwining sections of hair—gently, but tightly enough to be tidy—and Chell closed her eyes and smiled, focusing on the slow, relaxing motions. Listening to the soft rustle of her hair in her lover's careful fingers, she took in the peacefulness of the moment. Quietness this close to silence used to unsettle her, but now it was soothing.

And now it was over.

A sharp knock at the door shattered the silence. GLaDOS rolled her eyes. "I'll give you three guesses who that is."

Chell sighed as she reoriented herself and shuffled to her feet to answer the door. "I know you don't get along with Wheatley, but firstly you don't know it's him—"

"Who else would it be?" GLaDOS interjected.

"—and secondly you don't have to act like his mere existence inconveniences you."

"But it does! I'm busy doing science, and the moment that little moron takes one step into the room, something goes wrong."

"You know he doesn't mean any of it," Chell argued as she opened the door. "Hi."

Wheatley started talking just about the moment he saw Chell through the doorway. "Oh, brilliant! You are here! How's your day been? I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"Yes," GLaDOS called from the living room.

"It's fine," Chell insisted before anyone could voice any more concerns. She turned back to meet Wheatley's eyes. "What happened to your glasses?"

Wheatley winced for a moment at the pointing of Chell's index finger, but relaxed once he realized she was simply gesturing toward one lens of his glasses, which appeared to have been cracked in half in its frame. "Oh, uhh, there may have been a... small incident in the gel labs," he responded hesitantly. "It's nothing major! Nothing major, nothing at all. It's all under control now—"

"Please tell me it's all been cleaned up by now and the lab is not in total chaos," GLaDOS pleaded.

"Everything's fine! Everything's under control," Wheatley repeated. "The only issue now is there's a part of my field of vision that's perpetually smudged. Minor inconvenience, you know, somewhat annoying, just one obscured part of my sight that you can't exactly just blink it away. But, you know. It's fine."

"Did you need something, or can we go back to what we were doing?" GLaDOS demanded.

"Oh! Right, right. I did come here for a reason." He held up a flyer printed on bright yellow paper depicting a paintbrush and palette. "They're having an art contest, and I thought you might like to sign up!"

"...Art contest?" Chell glanced at GLaDOS, the subject of her most recent piece. Her expression said everything.

"I'm sure you could do it." GLaDOS would've been blushing, if she had that ability. "Your murals are so beautiful. I didn't know you could paint like that."

"I... didn't either, actually." Chell couldn't remember what had guided her hand when she had created those murals. Instinct? Guesswork? Luck? Could she do it again? "No harm in trying, though, I guess."

"You'll do great." GLaDOS assured her.

"And we'll be by your side supporting you the whole time!" Wheatley chimed in. "You can do anything, Chell!"

Chell grinned. "Then I'll do it!"

ooo

finally i finished it! it's probably really scattered so i apologize, i just sort of wanted to incorporate these concepts like the thing with glados's hair, and build up to an upcoming chapter, so i just sort of tossed it all together.

also! i took a couple of chapter requests on tumblr and would like to assure those people that those are in the works! I havent forgotten ahaha

till next chapter,

~melancholy starlight