Work Text:
“…Should I really?”
Noah stares at his reflection in the mirror, a blade in his hands. No one’s in the tent with him right now, but if there were someone, they’d easily be able to see the clear frustration in his expression.
He sighs, placing the blade away. He probably shouldn’t; it wouldn’t end up looking good anyway... So, after what seemed like an eternity, he finally gets out of bed and prepares to leave.
“Oi, Noah.”
“Waugh?!” Noah jumps at the sudden call of his name. He turns around to see one of his best friends. “E-Eunie?”
“Pfft,” the High Entia stifles a laugh, “what’s got you all flinchy?”
“Ahaha… Nothing, you just surprised me is all.”
“Right, well, what are you even doing here anyway? We’re supposed to be training right now, you know!“
“Um. Well…” Noah glances back at the mirror.
“Well…?” Eunie repeats, encouraging him to continue.
“Could you… help me cut,” Noah makes a gesture along his hair with his hand, “this… maybe?”
A few beats of silence.
“…What?”
“What?”
“You want to cut it off?!” Eunie asks in disbelief. “I just got used to you with long hair! And it looks good on you too!”
“I appreciate it, really, but it’s so hard to concentrate in battle when it’s all over the place!” Noah pouts.
“It’s not that big of a deal, is it?” Eunie starts snickering to herself. “‘Sides, couldn’t you have cut it off yourself if you wanted it gone so bad?”
“It is, though! It gets in my eyes too often! And, uh, I was worried it’d look bad if I did it myself…”
“For spark’s sake, Noah…” Eunie wipes a tear from her eye. Yes, a tear. Noah cannot believe his situation is amusing her so much.
“Whatever. Don’t come running to me if you really want to cut ‘em off; my answer’s a no.”
Noah swears he’s going to sob. “Eunie…!“
“Listen, if it’s bothering you so much, can’t you just do this?”
He was about to ask what exactly she was even talking about, but Eunie somehow got behind him faster than he could blink. Within a few seconds, she’s managed to get ahold of his hair, seemingly doing something with it.
“What are you…?”
“Hush.”
“O…Okay?”
A few moments pass and Eunie hums, a good one, Noah hopes, and turns him to face the mirror.
Noah stares hard at the mirror. Eunie waits expectantly.
“This is a bun, yes?”
“Yep! And a good one, if I do say so myself!”
“I’m glad you’re happy, Eunie, but won’t this come off easily? Especially if I’m the one who does it?”
“Can’t you just learn how to make it stay on?”
They stare at each other in silence. Eunie sighs. “Okay. That’s a no, then. Here, what about this?”
Undoing Noah’s hair, she quickly gives him a new one. And it looks really good at that. How Eunie can do this is beyond him.
“You can do this, can’t you?” She beams, incredibly proud of her masterpiece.
Noah blinks. And he blinks again.
“What? Don’t like it?
“No, no! It’s pretty, but… How am I supposed to do this myself…?”
“Oh, come on! It’s a simple sparkin’ braid!” Eunie frowns.
“A… braid?”
“Boooo. You don’t know what that is? Fine, what about—”
“Uh. Eunie?” Noah interrupts.
“Yeah?”
“How about we go with something simpler? Or just cut it off, maybe?”
“Hmm…” He watches as his friend looks off to the side, tapping her chin. “Beg for it, and I’ll think about it.”
“Eunieeeeee…” Noah whines.
At the sound of this, she bursts into laughter. “Alright, alright! Aah… Haha. Okay. You want it cut that badly, huh?”
Noah nods.
“Well, I want it to stay as is!” Eunie crosses her arms. “Suppose a simple hairstyle’s gonna have to do if I want my way.”
Finally, Noah makes a sound of a relief. He turns around again, signaling it’s alright to continue.
“Alright, I’ve had my fun. Make sure you watch, Noah! I’m only doing it once this time.”
“Just once, when you spent all that time playing around with my hair?” Noah teases.
Eunie deadpans. “Want your hair out of the way, or what?”
Noah shuts up. Eunie continues.
It was rather quick, but thankfully, that’s because of how simple it is. Noah turns his head, scanning himself in the mirror. A single ponytail, huh?
“It looks good.” Noah comments. Even better than when it was down, honestly. He quite enjoyed how he looked with his hair up. It seemed like Eunie agreed, considering the look on her face. “Thanks. Really.”
“No problem.” She pats his shoulder. “You owe me now, though.”
“Roger, heard you loud and clear…”
For what seemed like the umpteenth time today, Eunie laughs at Noah’s reaction. “Okaaay, here. You can keep this tie and a spare.”
“Thanks again.” Noah says, bringing something out of his pocket. “Here, as a sign of my gratitude.”
Eunie gasps, grabbing the damn thing out of his hands. “A fortune clover?! Now, why didn’t you tell me you had this earlier? I would’ve chopped your hair off in a second!”
“Oh? So you’ll actually cut it off if I let you have it?”
“Not a chance,” she sticks out her tongue, blowing a raspberry, “I already took it from ya, love.”
Noah chuckles. “Heh. I was kidding anyways.”
“Well, thanks for the reward! Now, come on, let’s check if you’re good with this for real.” Eunie stands up, summoning her weapon. “You finally wanna go for a spar?”
Noah nods, a smile on his face. “Yeah. Let’s go.”