Holland "Holly" Sharpe (ilicin) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-08-18 20:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 19, derek miller, holland sharpe, | derek and holly |
Week nineteen - Thursday
Characters: Derek and Holly.
Location: The Farm, kitchen and living room.
Summary: Holly notices the state of Derek’s hair and offers to help him out.
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Derek was lingering over lunch. He probably should be getting back to work but this was the first meal of the day and well, if he wanted more soup than he was going to sit in the warmth and enjoy it. Or enjoy it as much as it was possible to enjoy soup. Fresh bread was nice, though, Derek thought, getting up for another slice. The project at the fence was wrapping up and since nothing else had fallen apart in the last ten minutes there wasn’t much to do today. Derek settled back at the table, considering going back upstairs to grab his book.
Before Derek could decide on a course of action, Holly turned into the kitchen to look for a knife or pair of scissors he could use to cut off a tag on a shirt he had draped over his arm. It had been sitting unused since the last raid he’d gone on and because his clothing was starting to wear out he wanted to replace another shirt in his wardrobe with it. However, before he even got to the kitchen cabinets Holly paused and gazed critically at the back of Derek’s head.
“Are you gonna tame that thing on your head or what?” Holly’s own hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail; no reason to look messy, even after the end of civilization.
Without even bothering to turn around, Derek raised his middle finger in Holly’s direction. “I swear to God, if the word ‘nappy’ comes out of your mouth, I will personally kick your ass.”
“No, the word ‘scissor’ comes to mind,” Holly retorted, sounding amused.
Derek popped a piece of bread into his mouth. “Well, too bad for you but there’s not electricity for clippers and I can’t braid my own hair so you’re going to have to suck it up.”
“You want it braided?” Holly returned to his mission of finding something to cut his tag and began to root around in a drawer. “How much are you gonna pay me to do it?”
Derek turned around to look over at Holly. “You know how to cornrow?” he asked skeptically.
“I’ve done it once, and since it takes for-fucking-ever to do, I think that’s more than enough experience.” When he found a pair of scissors, he snipped the plastic holding the tag to his shirt.
Derek pursed his lips. “If I let you, you better not fuck my shit up. And you better not hit on me, either.”
“You really know how to treat someone doing you a favor.” Holly rolled his eyes, having half a mind to tell Derek he could forget the offer, but then he realized all he had else to do were chores. “When do you want to do this?”
Derek shrugged. “I don’t have too much going on today. Can probably blow off stuff for the afternoon if it means losing the ‘fro.”
Holly felt a sudden rush of excitement, offering Derek possibly the first grin he’d ever shot the man’s way. “Let’s do it by the fire. I’ll meet you in there, I want to get some clips to section your hair with.”
Derek didn’t understand what Holly was so excited about since hair braiding was a tedious process but if that got his hair under control, okay. He finished his slice of bread and then moved by the fire. Hopefully they could get this done as quick and painlessly as possible.
When Holly resurfaced after going upstairs, he returned with more than just clips. In his left hand he was also holding a tint brush and a small baggy of clear hair bands.
“I just have one rule,” Holly said, as he tossed the bands down to start planning the way the braids would go against Derek’s scalp, “you can’t complain. Unless it’s to say I’m hurting you,” he amended, “but I’ve been told I have a gentle touch.”
“Gross,” Derek commented. “I’ll try not to bitch but I haven’t had this done since high school so it’s been awhile.”
“Your hair isn’t that long, I don’t think we’ll have to spend the whole day together, thank God.” As he spoke, Holly scraped the handle end of the tint brush a little harder against Derek’s head than needed, then clipped most of his hair to the side.
Derek jumped a little. “Fuck. Let’s just get this over with as fast possible.”
“Sit tight,” Holly lilted, “because we’ve only ju~st begun!”
The whole affair didn’t take too long, as far as weaving tiny braids on top of someone’s head went, but Holly’s fingers were still aching by the time he tied off the last one. To remedy that somewhat, he flexed the fingers on both of his hands, but after he stopped moving them they felt even worse. It all was kinda worth it, though, because Holly thought Derek’s head looked pretty good.
“You better take good care of these,” he warned, shoving what was left of his hair ties into his pocket, “I don’t want to have to re-braid your hair in a week. Then you’ll really owe me.”
Derek’s scalp was throbbing lightly by the time they were done. “I think I’ve got a little bit more experience with taking care of them than you do.” Sure, it had been years since he’d worn cornrows but he still had to more about it than Holly did. He gave the braids a ginger pat. “They feel tight.”
“Yep,” Holly boasted, walking around to stand in front of Derek so he could admire them from another angle. “I guess you’re excused, but I’m gonna blame you if everyone around here starts coming to me for braids.” He couldn’t help but smirk at the image that conjured up in his head.
Derek didn’t answer so much as scoff sarcastically. “Well, thanks then, I guess.”
“You’re welcome.” A softer smile graced his face for only a moment before he turned away to gather the rest of his supplies. “Got chores to do now,” he murmured by way of parting, then headed toward his room.