Why doesn't Ezra put a padawan braid in his hair? Well, I think it's because of the Empire potentially recognizing it. That won't stop Ezra from being a massive sweetie to Kanan, though. Pure fluff scenes, hopefully, but I haven't written fluff before. Disclaimer goes here. Twoshot, but I don't do separate chapters so that I don't post the fanfic until it's complete because incomplete fanfic is one of my pet peeves.
The Braid…
Ezra was bored on the first day of the flight. Why did the Ghost have to take a 4 day route to avoid the Empire for one single mission? He decided to talk to Kanan. "Hey." "What do you want? This was supposed to be my break time, Ezra." "Stories. I figure since we're going to be on the ship for a few days, we've got nothing better to do. I want to know more about the Old Republic, I guess." Kanan sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be left alone until he'd told at least a few stories.
By the time Kanan had finished talking about what the jedi were like before the Empire came, Ezra could actually feel the nostalgia from Kanan. He'd felt a bit guilty for bringing up bad memories, but at least it had passed some time. Still, he needed a way to help Kanan have a little bit of comfort. Something familiar maybe?
"Hey, Hera! Do you know how to braid hair?" Hera looked at him for a moment before saying "I don't have hair. It's not exactly a practical skill. Why don't you ask if Sabine can do it? I've seen her put her short hair in a shocking amount of styles. Why?" Ezra really wanted to surprise Kanan and Hera may tell him, so he said "No reason." That backfired. "You're planning on pranking Zeb, aren't you?" "No!" Well, there goes secrecy. "It's for me. I thought it would be a good idea to surprise Kanan if I had a padawan braid. Please don't tell him." "Okay. I think Sabine said she's going to be painting in her room for a few hours, so you may not want to dist-" "Thanks, Hera!"
Okay, so maybe disturbing Sabine while she was painting wasn't the best idea. Maybe the only reason Ezra was alive was his reflexes, because she may have startled her. He really should have remembered that it's a terrible idea to startle a Mandalorian. "Oh crap! Sorry," and then he added for good measure, "Please don't murder me, I just wanted to know if you could braid hair." "Why? Oh, I get it. You want to prank Zeb during his next nap, don't you?" Ezra could hardly contain his exasperation.
"Why does everyone think that if I want to know something, it's for a prank?" "Maybe because of the whole incident with the-" "Okay, barring the time with the fruit salad, that was during a prank war." "And of course when you decided it was a good idea to use stormtrooper armor to-" "Okay, so maybe the Ghost has at least one minor prank war at all times." "Oh, and let's not forget when you asked Hera how to use a recording device just to make it seem like Kanan had farted at the table." "There has got to be an easier way to get that sound, but no. Not a prank." "This just got more boring, but go ahead."
"Aww, you are just so sweet sometimes!" Ezra almost blushed. "I am not!" "Oh, what are you talking about? You're as cute as a teen gets." Ezra was not sure if he should be flattered or offended. "Will you do it or not?" "Sure. Let me get a hair tie. Want to learn how or should I just do it?" "How about learning how? I want to be able to do this again sometime if it works." "Okay. So, you start by dividing the hair you want in the braid into three sections."
After about an hour or two of struggle, Sabine had just accepted that Ezra simply couldn't braid hair. It had almost ended with scissors, but thankfully, she was good at detangling knots. Now all Ezra had to do was wait for dinner. Maybe Zeb had some free time.
Ezra and Zeb tried to get some bonding time that didn't involve anyone running for their life, from each other or the Empire and it involved shockingly creative questions from Zeb. He said "So, say you're surrounded by 50 loth cats and you need to figure out which is meant to be yours. How do you figure it out?" "Easy. I take my 50 loth cats home and beg Hera to let me keep them." "That's not how this works!" "I'm the animal guy! It's kind of my job! Hey! Do you think I can lift you on my own now?" "Do it and nobody can save you." "Point taken."
Ezra climbed onto his bunk as Zeb began stifling laughter and said "By the way, I think Sabine pranked you. You've got a tiny braid on the back of your head and it looks ridiculous!" "Hey! It's a padawan braid and it is very…" He couldn't think of a good word for it. "Silly looking?" "Zeb! I like it!" "Me too! Who doesn't like a good laugh?" Ezra couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he settled for flopping onto his bunk and telling Zeb, "You know, I bet if I really wanted to, I could lift you a few feet off the ground now." Zeb chuckled. "You don't know how to threaten people at all, kid."
Zeb was about to sit down on the bed when Hera yelled "DINNER'S READY! GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE BEFORE IT GETS COLD! YES, KANAN, I'M TALKING TO YOU." Ezra jumped from his bunk. Just as Zeb had gotten up and stepped about one foot from the bed. This caused Ezra to land directly on top of Zeb. "WHY YOU LITTLE-" Ezra took off, not waiting for Zeb to finish.
It's amazing what happens to one's speed when running for their life. Ezra made it to dinner first except for Hera, who was already there. Zeb came crashing in seconds later. "Woah. What's happening with you two?" "The kid jumped on top of me trying to get to dinner first!" "Well, it's not my fault! I was just excited for some good food!" They probably would have argued more, but Kanan came in next.
"Hey, guys. What's going on?" Ezra was a bit hurt that Kanan didn't notice his hair yet, but he honestly wanted to see how long it would take. Before he or Zeb could argue again, Hera said "When they came for dinner, Ezra accidentally landed on Zeb." Kanan said "Why am I not surprised?" Zeb replied "Maybe it's your mystical jedi powers," in a joking tone. Kanan shot back "Maybe it is." Ezra replied "Now you've done it! He's going to be up all night trying to figure out if you're serious." Sabine and Chopper came last. Sure Chopper didn't need to eat, but he liked watching the chaos.
Hera broke the ice. "So, guess what happened today. I found Chopper trying to steal some of Sabine's paint." "HE DID WHAT!? CHOPPER!" Chopper rolled out of the room as fast as he could go and Sabine said "Oh, you'd better run."
Ezra was more and more annoyed the longer it took for Kanan to notice. Eventually, he began to finger the small braid Sabine put in his hair. His fidgeting drew Kanan's attention. "Why are you acting so-" a wide grin spread across Kanan's face. Kanan set down his food to go around the table and give Ezra a hug. So worth it. He returned the hug gladly. "I can't believe you remembered that from one story." Ezra shrugged, "Maybe I pay more attention than you thought. Or maybe I just wondered what I'd look like in the Old Republic the moment I heard it." "I still think it's not a good idea to wear a padawan braid near any Imperials, but I'm touched that you decided to do this." "That's kind of the point." Sabine said "Well, technically, I did it. Ezra cannot braid hair to save his life." Zeb said "Why am I not surprised. Still a little confused on what a padawan braid is, though. It looks ridiculous." Ezra grumbled "I still like it," under his breath.
Kanan's mood improved significantly by the next day. Ezra decided that he wouldn't take out the braid until he had to. By the end of the second day Zeb had gotten used to it too. "I guess it just looked different on you." Sabine said "Offer to mess with Zeb's hair still stands." "No. You can do it, though. A prank war would be pretty good entertainment." Sabine grinned. "Yeah it would," before running to the cockpit. Next thing that Ezra knew, a message was on the speakers. "Attention Ghost crew, a prank war is now in action. You all know the rules, no touching essential supplies, weapons, or anything that looks too important. Or my art. That would not end well for you. All who surrender are no longer allowed to be pranked, but get extra chores. All pranks must be unlikely to cause any permanent damage or major injury and easily reversible if not found before the mission. Yes, Chopper, I'm talking to you." At least the ride to their mission wouldn't be boring.
… May Not Have Been The Best Idea, In Hindsight.
"SPECTER 6, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Ezra responded to Hera over the comms, "No idea, but there's a lot of bucketheads on my tail! I may need a pickup!" He rounded a corner as fast as he could go. One shouted "GET THAT JEDI!" Not good. "Okay, they seem to know I'm a jedi too! Not good!" "How do they know that? You didn't use your lightsaber, did you? You know that's a dead giveaway." Hera said. Sabine added "Emphasis on dead. Why not try convincing them otherwise?" "I'm running for my life! If I stop,they might kill me, and you want me to stop and talk this over with them?" "Good point."
Ezra was exhausted by the time he lost them in the crowd. He was looking for his friends, but couldn't find the rendezvous point. Eventually he decided to ask someone as subtly as possible. "Excuse me miss. Have you seen my sister? She's a bit taller than me, has bright dyed hair, and wears Mandalorian style armor that's been covered in drawings." She looked at him for a second. "Are you a jedi?" "What?" "Your hair is in a padawan braid. Are you a jedi?" she repeated. Oh crap.
He panicked and may have spoken a bit too fast to be convincing. "No? I mean, no. I'm too young, right? And my siblings are huge pranksters. Is there a braid? Because I was wondering why there were stormtroopers chasing me. I mean, thanks for telling me." "You are an absolutely horrible liar," she said, "And not very observant. You really need to hide that lightsaber if you're going to sell that. And I'm supposed to be one of the refugees you're picking up anyways. Where are we going?" "Crap. I can't find it. I remember it was near a large tree." "You're new to this aren't you?" "A year ago I wouldn't have even thought of risking my life like this." "Okay, let's just find your crew before the Empire finds us."
Okay, so maybe during that time he still forgot to take out the braid. Bad idea. "They found us!" "Crud! I forgot to remove the braid!" "Why the heck did you even put that thing in!? I thought you rebels wanted to blend in!" "If you must know, I was trying to make someone feel better! It's not as long a story as you'd expect, but still a little long to explain now!" Ezra raised his hands, trying to unravel the braid. "Not now! They're already chasing us!" "Right. So maybe it's not the best time to tell you, but I forgot my blaster and a lightsaber will attract way too much attention!" Hera's voice came through the comms. "You forgot to turn off your comm! You've been giving specteres 3-5 free entertainment for at least 10 minutes now!" Zeb piped up "It's true, kid!" The woman said "You're doing this now!?" "Well, yeah! We always act like this." "I'm going to die today. I'm actually going to die today, aren't I?"
The mission was a success. Barely. Hera had made Kanan and Ezra promise not to "do anything like that again. I mean it." "Fine." "Okay." Ezra was tempted to try to braid Hera's lekku just to see what it would look like, but that would be a really lame prank. Especially after the stunt he just pulled. Hera made an announcement to the ship. "Alright, Ghost crew! You know the drill. No pranking the refugees, just each other. We do not want a repeat of the lightsaber-paint incident, do we? Or Chopper's electric meiloorun trick." Ezra began trying to get his hair out of Sabine's tie while thinking about getting the rest of the crew to change Zeb's callsign to Commander Meiloorun for a week. That would be fun.