Alexis slowly unbraided her hair as she watched Kisuke fidget restlessly, his gaze never staying on anything for very long; she didn’t quite understand what had made him uncomfortable this time — though Erich undressing in front of them seemed to be a part of it — but she needed to find a way to nip this in the bud before he got it in his head that he was unwanted.

“Kisuke,” she called softly, dragging his attention to her. “Would you like to help me with my hair?”

Kisuke stared at her, an edge of shock-surprise-uncertainty in his gaze, then glanced towards the screened off section of the room where Erich was bathing.

“Erich won’t mind,” Alexis said with a small smile, then raised her voice a bit and asked, “Will you, love?”

“Will I what?” Erich called back, the sound of sloshing water tapering off as he turned his attention to them.

“Mind if Kisuke helps with my hair,” Alexis answered.

Erich chuckled a bit and said, “By all means, go ahead. It’s Alexis’ choice to offer, after all, and if you’re both comfortable with it, I have no problem.”

“R-right,” Kisuke said, then took a breath and moved towards Alexis, one hand lifting hesitantly as he came closer. “Ah, what exactly do you want me to do?” he asked awkwardly.

Alexis hummed and shifted on the bed to present her back to him, then offered him a hairbrush over her shoulder. “Even braided, my hair tends to pick up tangles if I’ve been fighting for a while,” she said, using her free hand to lift her mostly-unbraided hair and wiggle it in demonstration; she already knew the base of her braid was snarled together, but there were probably other tangles in it as well. Usually she would ask Erich since he was here, but… offering the chance to Kisuke felt like a good choice.

Kisuke tugged the brush from her hand almost delicately, then immediately set it down on the bed instead of trying to use it. His hands settled light-uncertain-gentle on her hair, the tips of his fingers running through the strands as he shooed her hand away from her hair and examined her braid. “Your hair’s thicker than I expected,” he murmured in surprise, even as he started to undo the last of her braid, being more gentle than she’d anticipated.

“Not even half as thick as Erich’s is,” Alexis said in amusement, letting her chin tip down towards her chest and her eyes close. “It can certainly get annoying.”

Kisuke made an agreeing noise, clearly having at least some experience with Erich’s hair, and switched to carefully picking apart the larger knots in her hair, making sure not to tug too hard as he did.

“You’re good at this,” Alexis murmured as she let herself relax further.

“Ah, well… I grew up with Yoruichi,” Kisuke said a touch sheepishly, though there was clear fondness in his words as well. “She insisted I help with her hair all the time.”

Alexis snorted, thinking back to the handful of times she’d seen Yoruichi, and said, “I can see why. I’m glad Quincy hair can’t grow that long. Seems like more of a hassle than it’s worth.”

“She complains about it sometimes, but she never gets more than a trim,” Kisuke said with an exaggerated sigh, even as he carefully slid his fingers through her hair, searching for any knots that he’d missed. “May I ask…?”

“Hair length?” Alexis prompted, suspecting that was the topic he was curious about, since she’d just mentioned it. At his soft murmur of agreement, she shrugged and explained, “Comes with the territory of being, well… whatever we are. Not quite human. Result living in a high density aer location for generations, until just recently.” She hissed slightly as a stubborn knot caught on Kisuke’s fingers and pulled, then reached up to pat his arm when he hastily apologized. “It’s fine, Kisuke,” she said, pushing as much reassurance into her voice as she could. “I’ve done worse to myself.”

“Maa, still…” Kisuke trailed off, as if uncertain what else to say, then gave a soft huff and apologetically said, “Yoruichi’s hair is a lot finer, and perfectly straight. It doesn’t tend to tangle quite like this.”

“Curse of my people, unfortunately,” Alexis said with a touch of amusement. “Our hair is thicker and more like animal fur, complete with the ability to felt it, especially in lineages like Erich’s. Erich’s father may play the look up at times, but his hair is much more akin to a mane than to hair like yours, just like Erich’s is.”

“I at least take care of mine,” Erich said haughtily, as he stepped around the screen and meandered towards the bed, a towel around his waist and another over his head as he carefully pressed the water from his hair.

Alexis was close enough to hear Kisuke’s short, sharp intake of breath, and swallowed back the laughter that wanted to rise.

(Who were these two fooling anyway?)

(It was almost painful how clearly they wanted each other!)

“Your father’s hair looked well kept,” Kisuke said as soon as he’d regained his composure.

Erich snorted and shifted the towel on his head enough to glower at Kisuke, the tiny smile pulling at the corners of his lips making it more playful than anything. “My father likes looking like a sleepy lion whenever he has to do something official, something about people underestimating or ignoring him because of it. He looked put together this morning because mother probably took a brush to his hair in exasperation.”

Alexis snickered at Erich’s words, then turned her head a bit when Kisuke made a confused noise and smiled up at him as she explained, “Lucia’s exasperation isn’t precisely aimed at Seigmar not brushing his hair, but rather at how active Seigmar insists on being. It’s a… hmm, how to say…”

“Father’s always been frustrated with his hair, so he doesn’t like dealing with it, even though he likes the look,” Erich cut in as he dropped to sit on the bed, jostling Alexis as he did. “Eri-ma’s told me that, when they were younger, Mother and Father used to spend time just… brushing each other’s hair. She called it their ‘bonding time’, and said that Father becoming guildmaster was one of the worst things that ever happened to him.”

“Which absolutely had nothing to do with you wanting a way out,” Alexis couldn’t resist poking fun.

Kisuke coughed a bit, clearly trying to disguise his laughter, then pointedly picked up the brush from the bed and started to run it carefully through Alexis’ hair. “Maa, if Erich wants to be a romantic, surely we shouldn’t limit his opportunities.”

“Erich initially had no real opinion on becoming guildmaster, and then later realized he wanted absolutely nothing to do with the absolute mess that the Quincy guild is,” Erich growled as he balled up the towel he’d used on his hair and tossed it at Kisuke. “That is definitely not Eri-ma’s fault, however.”

Kisuke ducked under the thrown towel, laughter spilling from him as he tucked himself down in a futile attempt to hide behind Alexis. “Erich’s being mean,” he teased, making Erich scoff and cross his arms over his chest. “Whatever shall I do?”

“Tch. Give me back my towel, for one,” Erich said as he finger-combed his damp hair. “Before I drip all over the bed.”

“Shouldn’t have thrown it then!” Still, Kisuke knelt to retrieve the towel and tossed it over Alexis’ head, snickering when it landed on Erich’s head. “There you go, one damp towel!”

Erich pulled the towel off his head, folded it in half, and then set it on the bed behind him almost primly. “Thank you.”

Alexis rolled her eyes in amusement and then turned her head to glance at Kisuke as she asked, “So, which of us gets to wash up next?”

“Ah… you can,” Kisuke said, a touch of color spreading across his cheeks. “Your hair should be brushed out now, so… go ahead. I can wait a bit longer.”

She hummed, debating if she wanted to argue with him about it, then shrugged and said, “If you’re sure.”

“I am.”

“Then I suppose I will.” Alexis twisted around a bit and caught Kisuke’s wrist in her hand, pulling his empty hand towards her to press a soft kiss to his palm. “Thank you for helping with my hair, Kisuke,” she murmured against his skin, watching the way Kisuke ducked his head and looked away, his blush becoming a vivid splash of color against his pale skin.

He looked pretty like that, Alexis decided as she stroked his wrist with her thumb, on the alert for any sign of discomfort.

Kisuke swallowed, fingers twitching as if he wanted to curl them inward to touch her cheek, and said, “O-of course. It was no problem.”

“Still, thank you, Kisuke,” Alexis repeated, then tilted her head enough to nuzzle his palm for a moment, watching the way Kisuke’s blush kept spreading. The sidelong look he gave her, though, was almost heartbreaking: wonder edged in disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe she would do this, couldn’t believe she would show him kindness or care or affection—

Alexis cut her thoughts off before they could sour her mood; she’d think on it later, when she could let her emotions loose safely and wasn’t in danger of making Kisuke misinterpret her reactions. The very last thing she wanted to do was give him the wrong impression, after all.

That in mind, she pressed a second kiss to his palm and then let go. “Right them, I’m going to get clean,” she announced as she slid off the bed and stood up. “You two play nice,” she said with a teasing smirk at Erich and Kisuke, before walking towards the screened off corner of the room to undress.

No need to give Kisuke that heart attack just yet.

She’d wait at least another few days.

At least.