"It's not that bad…" Yang muttered to herself, eyeing the reflection in the mirror as she ran her fingers through her silky smooth hair, still finding it strange when the sensation of her golden strands ended far sooner than she was used to.
"Yeah… not as bad as I thought." She shook her head, letting the now shoulder-length locks fluff up. It's so weird not feeling it on my back anymore, but it's kinda nice too, I feel lighter.
It's been a week since we went to the salon, I really thought I'd hate this. Garnet seems happy with his haircut too, so I guess all is well that ends well. Her lilac eyes dulled with uncertainty while her arms fell to her sides. I say that, but still…
"Yang?" A soft, tentative voice, barely more than a whisper, stole her from her thoughts.
"Hmm? oh, Garnet, what's up?" Yang looked quickly away from her big mirror and felt strangely like she needed to hide something from him, but she wasn't sure what.
A small boy in a red hoodie shyly steps into her room, the door creaking open gently before he shuts it behind him. He's small, thin, pale, and his bright silver eyes are dull and tired. Even so… his hood wasn't up like it usually was, instead, his styled hair was on full display.
"I need help, my hair is starting to go back to normal." He looked away shyly and tilted his head down. Garnet's dark, red tipped hair had been trimmed slightly in the front to shorten his bangs, but the rest had been styled into beautiful short curls, it suited him.
"Yeah, it'll do that, I was lucky, my hair just naturally curled a little when it was long." With a smile and a shrug she dove into her drawers looking for her old curling iron.
"I- I'm sorry." Garnet muttered with downcast look, his fists gripping the lower hem of his hoodie and his eyes turned guiltily away.
"What's wrong? Did ya do something?" She knew what he was referring to… I just don't want him to know.
"I know you cut your hair for me… I- I just… I don't know! I'm sorry, I should have just let Qrow cut my hair, it would have been fine! I don't know why I didn't just-"
"Whoa, calm down, look, it's no big deal." Yang smiled, sauvely brushing her fingers through her hair before bringing her hand down to her hip. "I like it, it's badass looking, don't you think?"
"I- I mean… it's really pretty, but-"
"No buts, it's pretty and I like it, so it's all good." The closing of a drawer punctuated the finality of her statement before she held up her curling iron. "So, why don't we fix your hair up?"
"Thanks… Sis." Garnet's small hands kneaded his hoodie while the tiniest smile brightened his face.
"Any time, now get your scrawny butt over here, we've got work to do!" Yang plugged it in and made a twisting motion with her device, all with a devious grin on her face fit for a mad scientist.
"Just don't make it look too weird!" He growled in protest but nonetheless planted his butt down on the floor facing his big sister.
"Alright, just a little weird then." Yang snickered, tussling his hair with her hand until it was a wavy mess.
"No weirdness at all!" He tried getting up but a strong grip pulled him back down.
"Relax, I'm just teasing, I'll pretty you right up!" Instantly, Yang felt Garnet's shoulder tense, and her brain took a minute to catch up. Maybe that wasn't the best choice of w-
"Thanks…" With a soft word barely more than a whisper, his shoulder relaxed under her grasp and a gentle sigh released from his lungs. He held still as he felt the warmth of the curler doing its thing, and his sister's fingers working through his soft hair. Both sat silently together, Garnet staring off at nothing while behind him he felt his hair retaking the shape it had after the salon.
"No problem…" Yang expected her minutes late reply to feel awkward, but instead, she felt him relax even more, and somehow, she felt like it was okay.
We've been so distant lately. I barely get to talk to him, he's been avoiding dad and uncle Qrow entirely. I don't even know if he's left his room aside from school. She angled his head left and right, up and down, but couldn't get a good look at his expression. I stopped Qrow from cutting his hair, I thought he would open up to me more, but he's been avoiding me. I- I want to ask why it bothered him so much, but it seems like a stressful topic.
"Hey…" Her voice hit her ears before her brain even registered that she spoke.
"What's up?" Garnet's nervous tone was unmistakable, and she could feel him tense up again.
"I…" Her mouth and her hands stopped moving and the hot metal moved away from his hair. What do I want to say? What can I say? Would he tell me the truth? How can I help him? Should I be firm and push him to open up, or should I be gentle?
"I…" She mumbled again, her hands falling into her lap. That's not really a choice is it? He's my little brother.
"I want to know how school is going?" She turned up the love and calmness in her voice and went back to work, knowing he at the very least couldn't run away if she were still fixing his hair.
"It's going okay."
"Any trouble with anything? I can help you study." He's not opening up to me.
"Not really…"
"Any clubs you're interested in joining?" He's lying to me.
"I don't really feel like doing any clubs."
"What about new friends?" He's being evasive.
"Well… there was a boy I met, when you took me for practice after you got your weapons. His name is Alan." Garnet shifted a little, just barely, and his head tilted down, only for a moment.
"Oh, wait, Alan Skye? He's a fox Faunus?" Her chest felt like a she had just thrown an Ursa off of it.
"Um, yeah?"
"That's Crystal's little brother! She's a classmate of mine!" Yang was smiling and worry had been replaced with burning optimism in her tone.
"Really?" Garnet nearly lost a patch of hair to the curling iron with how fast she turned. "Ouch!"
"Hold still! You don't want me to burn your ear off." With one hand she turned his head back to facing the door. "And yeah, really. Why don't we all hang out this weekend? Don't worry, you and Alan can go off and do your own thing after we meet up."
"I- I'd like that. Thanks, Sis." He muttered shyly, but she could hear the life in his voice again.
"No problem, now hold still and let me finish this." She grinned, already at the final touches.
"Yes Ma'am!" He giggled, becoming perfectly rigid and still.
"Pff, You goof." Yang polished up her little brother's hair, but even from behind, she could tell it really did look pretty on him.
He's making friends. Maybe I'm overthinking things. Still…
"How's it look?" Yang finished up and turned off the curler, letting her tingly legs stretched as she stood up.
"I… I really like it." His voice sounded like nothing Yang had heard from him before, a mix of deep sorrow and profound contentment. She watched as he looked himself over in her mirror.
He looks… kinda girly.
"Hmm…" Garnet's annoyed hum broought Yang back to reality to see her little brother fidgeting with one stubborn lock of hair that would not get out of his face.
"Uh-oh, cowlick." Forcing her worries as far back in her mind as she could, she tended to the little bundle of black hair tinged with red. "Looks like a pain in the butt, want me to cut it?"
Garnet stood still, staring into the mirror, giving the slightest nod to his big sister. His eyes drifted down to the dresser the mirror was attached to. Yang watched, following his dull silver eyes… until they lit up at a small trinket on her dresser. She could immediately tell it caught her brother's attention and she also saw how he tensed up once he realized he went silent for just a little too long.
"Do you want it?" Yang offered as gently as could, neither pushing or sounding judgmental.
"I-," He hesitated, his shoulders raising and his eyes looking anywhere but to the object in question or his big sister. "Is it… okay?"
"I've got plenty and that one is cute. It'll suit you." She smiled and grabbed it off her dresser.
"Do you think it's bad if I want it?" He shrunk back and his hands instinctively reached up towards his hoodie.
"See for yourself." Sensing he was about to withdraw and shut down, Yang acted immediately and placed it on her brother.
Immediately, the boy's hands fell back down, away from his hoodie. Light returned to his visage as he looked himself up and down in the mirror and every so slightly, a fragile, ephemeral smile graced his face. After a long moment he reached up to his head, but not for his hoodie, instead, his fingers tenderly touched a small hair clip… with a pretty yellow flower on it.
"What do you think? Does it feel bad?" She prompted, listening intently for his answer and watching even more intently for his reaction.
"No. It- it doesn't feel bad. Could you show me how you put it on?" He turned to her with a hopeful look in his eyes and the elder sister for the first time in so long felt like her little brother was coming back from the brink of despair.
"Of course." She smiled, unable to contain her relief hearing the life back in his voice.
Over the next twenty minutes, Yang would show him how to use hair clips and let him try on as many as he wanted. She gave her honest opinion, some just did not suit him and he didn't seem to mind, taking every bit of advice she gave seriously.
In the end, he settled for the first one he tried; the sunflower clip that rested proudly on the side of his head, adorning his dark hair with a vibrant splash of yellow.
It looks so… cute. Garnet looked at himself in his mirror. In the recent past he tried to avoid his reflection but he found himself happily looking at his image ever since his hair had been styled and now, as he stared at his changed appearance, he felt a spark of warmth in his chest.
His thin fingers tentatively reached up to the hair clip, feeling the smooth metal and plastic as it held his hair in place and the smallest smile pulled at his lips. However, the scene behind him in the mirror dragged his smile back down.
His room was a mess.
A few toys were strewn about, clothes thrown haphazardly, he even hid a couple water bottles full of pee under his bed when he didn't have enough energy to use the bathroom. The juxtaposition of the warmth in his appearance and the disheveled state of his space left the young boy feeling unease. With a steadying breath he turned around and set to work.
Cleaning was hard. The clothes went first, he still didn't have the energy to fold his clothes but he stuffed them into his drawers and closet. Cleaning the toys and games took a lot more energy, some were scattered in little pieces he could barely bring himself to pick up off the floor. He opted to leave several toys and game pieces and cards still on the floor, changing the focus of his dwindling willpower to cleaning up the trash that he shoved into a few bags, including the bottles.
By the end, he felt completely exhausted, not physically but mentally. He looked at his room and it didn't look that much better and he felt his mood being dragged back into a low. Needing a hit of dopamine, he went back to his mirror, bringing his face up close to it, blocking the reflection of his room and instead focusing on his hair and most of all, the hair clip.
Why am I like this? His hand reached up, touching the cool surface of the mirror as his thumb stroked the reflection of his face. Why does it hurt so much just getting out of bed? Why did this pin and my hair make me feel better?
He remembered the drawing he did in the dirt the day he met Alan. He thought about what it meant to him. Ruby… that's what I named the drawing. Why can't I be like I imagined her? Happy, strong… pretty. It's stupid, I'm a boy. When I imagine what I want to be when I grow up, I only think about Mom or Yang, never Dad or Uncle Qrow. I wanted my hair like this because it looked pretty and reminded me of Yang's hair. I wish my hair was as long as hers was.
His depression and frustration roiled up inside his chest, his heart feeling torn and conflicted by the powerful competing emotions. In the end, as it always did, he walked over to his bed and collapsed, the depression won out. Still, he laid on his side that allowed his clip to stay comfortably on his head where he felt it again just to make sure it was still there.
"I want to be a huntress like them. It's not fair." With those words, Garnet curled up into a little ball and pulled the covers over him. It was mid day but he just couldn't bear being awake any longer.
"I want to be a huntress like them. It's not fair." Garnet's words were so soft and heartbroken… Yang almost didn't hear them from her place just outside his door. Now, she was frozen there, those words replaying over and over in her mind.
The noise of his cleaning had brought her from her own room to make sure he was okay. She heard the sounds of drawers opening and clutter being removed. However, now the room was silent after she heard the springs on his bed groan and creak. She could only imagine he had crawled back into bed and fallen asleep in the middle of the day again.
Frustration, confusion, helplessness and impotent anger burned inside her chest as the words she heard him say were mouthed silently from her lips. She tried to put herself in his place, to imagine what he was going through. Still, her directionless anger found no outlet and all the young girl could do was squeeze her fists tight at her sides.
Oh Garnet… I don't know how to help you.