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Tango could not fathom how his teammates could cope with having such long hair.
Ren’s hair was constantly hanging low down in such gorgeous, perfect waves which rested so softly against his back which made him look ever-so-stunning and handsome, especially in the gentle sunlight outside of their base and whenever his face is caught in the glow of the torches in their base and- focus, Tango. Yet, it would constantly be getting tangled from all the wind and fighting and moving around. The only times Tango’s seen it tied up at all was when Ren would be working on their pyramid, needing his hair away from risks which having a base covered in lava would provide. Even then, his hair would still get constantly tangled and matted every day, not even mentioning how dirty it got from all the grime that was basically everywhere on this server.
Then there was Impulse’s hair. Tango was familiar with his hair from all the years they’d spent together: it was straighter than anyone in the world and was always tied up unless he was sleeping. He always had it thrown up into a bun or a ponytail to keep it out of his face for building and mining and whatever other things they do within this server. More recently, Tango had noticed, he wore his hair in a braid more days than not, with a few pieces framing his face and his incredible jawline with that small amount of stubble which he would feel when they- damn it. To put it simply, Impulse had his hair braided a lot more this season, and he would be lying if it didn’t look rather attractive.
Tango’s point was he didn’t understand how their hair looked so perfect despite being hell to maintain, and he didn’t understand how it worked. Like, a ponytail or leaving it down was simple enough, and he kind of had a grasp on how buns worked, but braids? How the hell did braids work? How did it not just get tangled? It made no sense.
But, he couldn’t just ask . They’d probably laugh at him or something for not getting it. Yeah! He couldn’t ask his teammates, no way. He’d just have to.. Figure it out. Somehow.
His mission started small: taking longer to get up out of bed, trying to get glimpses of how it worked by integrating himself into his teammates’ morning routines by making them breakfast, snooping around the other teams with people who had braided hair, taking breaks to just stare at Impulse’s hair to figure out how it was braided just by staring.
His mastermind plan was in action and it seemed to be slowly working! Ish. Sort of! Yeah, no. It sucked. He was in the same position as when he started and he was just utterly clueless on how it all worked. Great. This was just wonderful!
Well, at least he hadn’t been detected in his plans.
Not yet , at least.
“Earth to Tango? You alive and awake and thriving in there, my dude?”
..Fuck.
“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” Tango smiled, looking over at Ren who was giving him the most adorable stare with those round, gentle eyes of his which were (for once) not covered by his sunglasses - not that Ren looked bad with his sunglasses, not at all actually and- come on, Tango, focus!
“You sure, dude? You’ve been staring at me braiding Impulse’s hair for like, 20 minutes now. And this isn’t the first time.” Ren was looking at Tango with such sympathy, and his gaze was so gentle and so worried and not at all angry or upset. Tango could totally ask the question, yeah!
“Ugh, well. I just.. I don’t- I just.. Holy fuck. I don’t get it.”
“Don’t get what?”
“How the hair works. Like, how does it just, like, stay there and, like, not get tangled and stuck when you do the braiding stuff?”
“Ooooooooh.” Tango would be lying if he said that he didn’t let out a small giggle as both Ren and Impulse said that in unison.
“So you want to learn how to braid hair?” Ren’s voice was ever so gentle, maybe because he wanted to spare Tango from embarrassment, maybe because it was like 6:30am at this point and he didn’t want to wake up their neighbours. Either option was valid here.
Tango simply responded with a nod, hands fidgeting with the edge of his t-shirt. Ren simply shifted over on the bed and patted the spot beside him, looking up at Tango. God, how could he say no to Ren? Besides, he wouldn’t say no, especially if it meant learning the hair tactics.
Impulse was simply sitting there, almost perfectly still like a porcelain doll (it was often where the thought of him being one crossed Tango’s mind due to how gorgeous and perfect he was, though he was far from fragile). This was common for him at this point, or at least it seemed like it to Tango with how long Ren spent braiding his hair perfectly and adding a bunch of accessories like yellow strands of ribbon and beads and hair clips. Maybe Tango would get to do that for him someday. Yeah. That’d be nice, for his calloused hands which were so used to the violence and bloodshed of this hell to create something so fragile and so beautiful for someone he held with such delicacy and such warmth. Maybe, for once, his hands would embrace love on this server rather than rage.
“Right, okay!” Ren snapped Tango out of his thoughts once again (really Tango, you gotta stop zoning out buddy). “You start with three sections, they should be roughly even, but it doesn’t have to be exact.” He provided a demonstration as he spoke, taking Impulse’s hair and splitting it into three sections, before passing them to Tango. Tango just stared at Ren as he held the hair, waiting.
“Then, you take the right hand strand and cross it on top of the middle one so it’s now in the middle.” Ren’s hands rested on top of Tango’s, gently guiding the first few movements. “Then, you take the left strand and cross it over the middle one. And then you repeat those two steps until you run out of hair.”
That seemed.. Easy enough? Right, then left, then repeat. Tango took his time gently guiding the strands into the braided pattern which Impulse constantly wore. Sure, the braid was loose and messy and there were strands everywhere, but Tango had created something soft without ruining it, and that was good enough for him.
“See, you’re a natural!” Ren’s voice was so encouraging, so gentle. “And then you just tie it off. I’m assuming you know how to do that?”
Tango nodded, a smile creeping onto his face without him knowing. “Yeah, I do.”
Soon enough, the braid was held in place and was the trophy of Tango’s efforts, illuminated by the gentle light within the pyramid. It was his. All his work. He did that. He made it. He made it, and now he would accessorise it. A few clips of bread and cake and Impulse’s iconic symbol weaved their way into the hair, leaving something that was raw and personal, unlike the hard and practised personas they put up within this world.
And if Tango’s efforts didn’t make him feel fulfilled, Impulse’s smile definitely did. The way he ran his hands over the braid and stared at it with such bliss and satisfaction made Tango feel so warm inside (not that he wasn’t already warm, but you know) and he felt like maybe this wouldn’t be the end of the world.
~
After their room was left frozen and without the beacon of light within their team, Impulse refused to take his hair down from the messy braid that fire had once given him. He wouldn’t lose it all. Not now, not ever.
Ren didn’t dare try to stop him.