day 18 - doing something together (prompt choice: haircut)
"Mary, you've got to do something about your hair," Seto said, exasperated. So far today it had caught on three doorknobs and two drawers, pulled a pot off the stove (which thankfully hadn't been on at the time) and he had also lost his hair clip until he found it, tangled in the mass of curls.
She pouted. "My hair is fine, it's just that stuff keeps getting in my way."
"That might be the case," he said with a sigh, "but it's dangerous. What if it gets caught on something and it pulls?"
Mary frowned. Her scalp was sensitive, and the thought of her hair pulling on something was not a fun one. "What'm I supposed to?" she asked.
"You could get a haircut," he urged. He'd been begging her to cut her hair for years.
She shook her head, stubborn. "Mom never cut her hair."
He failed to see how that meant that she couldn't, but he knew she was sensitive on the subject of her mother, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings. But it was getting out of hand.
"You can ask Kido to do it," he suggested, "she always cuts mine and Kano's hair." He didn't mention that it was mostly due to Kano preferring that if someone had to have scissors an inch from his neck, he'd rather it be Kido.
Mary was still shaking her head however, and her hands were squeezed into fists in her lap, and he realized something was wrong. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and he hesitated, and then put a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" he asked, and she looked down.
"If I cut it…" she whispered, and he had to bend down to hear, "what if it hurts?"
It took him a moment to realize what she meant, but then all the times that he'd seen her hair wriggle and move on it's own came back to him, and he felt terrible. Mary's hair was obviously different than a humans, far more of a living thing. Of course she was right to worry.
"I'll braid it," he said quickly, offering another explanation. "I'll learn how. I'll braid it every day, okay?"
She looked up at him, startled and still shaky-looking from worry. "Really?"
"Yeah!" he said, determined, "I'll braid it right now, if you want!"
Mary nodded, a tiny smile appearing on her face, and they went off to find a hairtie and to google braiding.
