their favorite parts of the braiding process
summary: lmfao itâs just the title
genre | includes: headcanons, sfw, black reader, gn reader, established relationship
characters: eren jaeger, mikasa ackerman, armin arlert, sasha braus, jean kirschtein, connie springer, levi ackerman, hange zoe, erwin smith, historia reiss, ymir (not fritz), reiner braun, annie leonhardt, bertholdt hoover, marco bodt, miche zacharius, nanaba, zeke jaeger, yelena, onyankopon, pieck finger, porco galliard
authorâs note: got my hair done a few days ago and iâve been experiencing insane aot brainrot so here we are. ignore the way these got progressively longer lol. this was fun and i have some other ideas, maybe college wonât kill me before i post them. enjoy and lemme know what you think :)
the take down â you canât really place them. they never want you to take your old hair out, but are all giggly with the scissors when you assert that itâs time. they canât help it. even with all the build-up on your scalp, they think the return of your natural hair is something out of a fairy tale. they love the curl pattern left in your hair after weeks of being in braids and they love separating the braiding hair from your own. the scene stays the same: youâre on a pillow on the floor between their knees while a shitty hallmark romcom plays on the tv in front of you. both of you are armed with rattail and wide tooth combs, mentally preparing for all the shedding and breakage youâll be brushing off the couch for the next few weeks. itâs routine at this point for them to jokingly hover the open scissors over the part of your braid where you know damn well your hair is and ask if they can cut from there. itâs also routine for the scissors to get snatched right out of their hands as you proceed to cut way below where your hair could logically be because âafter all the time i spent fighting people in walmart for the mielle oil, i better have a natural 40 inch buss down under all this xpressionsâ.Â
EREN, ymir, PIECK, zeke (cut your hair like an inch from the scalp while removing butterfly locs one time and, to this day, youâve never seen someone more terrified), nanaba, YELENA, onyankopon
the wash â theyâre probably more excited about your hair getting washed than you are. they miss giving you scalp massages without having 6 weeks worth of gel and leave in conditioner left under their nails. what they didnât get was why it took so long. it probably sparked an argument because they never spend that much time washing their hair, so why do you? it wasnât until you made them watch as you and your detangling brush fought with your curls under the stream of water and nearly blacked out from the heat that they realized why the water bill was so high. to save your aching arms (and hopefully some extra cash) they offered to wash your hair for you. they nearly waterboarded you the first time, but with practice, they got better. now, nothing relaxes them more than lathering shampoo through your hair and occasionally spraying water in your face when you look too at peace. they buy you a salon wash basin for christmas so you both can stop crouching over the tub which is great, but where the fuck are you supposed to install it?
MIKASA, erwin, sasha, REINER (has the cutest smile when you sigh in response to him scratching that one spot on your scalp), hange, jean, annie, porco
the blowout â they donât realize, especially if your hair is type 4, that detangling during the wash is only half the battle. it doesnât matter how silky smooth it got in the shower, the second the blow dryer is out, it all goes to hell. i hope youâre not tenderheaded because the fight between them and your curls is long and painful. but it's a battle they refuse to let you fight. god forbid you try to blow out your own hairâ they get sooo upset. which confuses you because the way they grumble under their breath while passing the comb attachment through your hair has you convinced theyâre only doing it to work out some unresolved stress. the truth is, they just know youâll forget to use heat protectant and wind up frying your hair. and they know how upset you get when you realize some of your roots didnât get stretched. so theyâll (gently) muscle their way through the most stubborn tangles any day if it means getting to see you smile at how healthy your hair looks and how much it has grown since the last time you saw it like this. they love how your hair now floats around you. they donât love how sore their arms are. âdamn, no wonder youâre so strong.â
connie, PORCO, BERTHOLDT, armin, miche, MARCO (probably cries when the comb extension breaks in your hair)
the beauty supply runs â the simultaneously dull and fluorescent lighting casts an otherworldly glow over the aisles of gel, deep conditioner, kankelon hair, and wig glue. for some reason, thereâs always a childlike gleam in their eye as they scan the wigs along the wall. you have to hold their hand every time so they donât wander off. itâs not like the store is bigâyou could probably read each otherâs lips while standing on opposite sidesâbut if given the freedom to roam, youâd be leaving $250 poorer than you planned for with bags full of stuff you absolutely donât need. âbabe we have matching bonnets, we donât need them in zebra stripes too.â if you can convince them to stick with you, theyâre snatching every bottle you pick up out of your hand. before you can even begin questioning them, theyâve already started reciting information about the ingredients of the products and why it isnât good for your hairâs porosity. you can only stare dumbly as they hand you a better option to try because you have no idea when they would have had time to do any of this research. the favorite part of the trip for both of you is picking the color youâre doing next. the average passerby would think youâre trying to decide which wire to cut so you donât detonate a bomb with how hard you both scrutinize the packs of color 30 and 350 in front of you (ginger is always your color)
HANGE, marco, mikasa, ONYANKOPON (will give you the dirtiest look if you so much as glance at a cantu product), pieck
the parting â this is the first step of the actual installation process that you involve them in. before they used to sit next to you on the couch as you did it all yourself, committing every movement your fingers made to memory and keeping you company. they would frown as you cursed your lack of ability to see perfectly behind your head and parted the same section over and over again. they wanted to offer help, they really did, they just didnât trust themselves enough. so when you both started working from home and you didnât care what your parts looked like, you let them try. it wasnât perfect the first time, or the second. for about a month, you rock faux locs with a scalp that looks like the drawing on your fridge gifted to you by your 5 year old nephew, but thatâs what beanies are for. rough start aside, they pick up on it quickly. they figure out how much gel you really need for your braids to look neat and donât overdo it. wielding the comb with confidence, they cut through your hair like butter. soon theyâre parting your hair into boxes, hearts, arches, diamonds, and whatever else you could imagine like moses did the red sea. âbabe do you think it would look good if i make one of them look like my initials?â
ARMIN, eren, levi, ERWIN, ZEKE, historia (got really good really fast⌠hisu who do you fuck in the city when iâm not there?), bertholdt
the braid down â theyâre in awe of the dexterity of your stylist's fingers as she adds pieces of braiding hair to your own and hardly looks down while nimbly braiding all the way to the ends. they sit through all your appointmentsâlocs, press and curls, protein treatments, wig installsâbut nothing fascinates them as much as the art of a simple braid. they ask all sorts of questions about what your stylist is doing and even start putting hair on the rack to make the process go smoother. they pay even more attention when you do it yourself because they arenât worried about distracting anyone from doing their job. before long, they know almost everything there is to know about your braids except for how to do them. and they want to know so badly. the opportunity arises when you both relocate to a new city and all the âstylistsâ are charging $300+ for smedium mid-back knotless braids. youâd do it yourself, but you broke two fingers during the move-in process and arenât skilled enough to work around it. you think you need to coach them through the process, but are pleasantly surprised when they get the grip right the first time and are halfway down by the time youâve picked what movie trilogy you want to watch. turns out theyâd been watching youtube videos and taking lessons from your old stylist so they could do it for you one day. at least thatâs what they tell you, they really just like popping your head with the comb when you move from where they positioned it. âow! stop pushing my head aroundâ âkeep your head still and iâll think about itâ
LEVI, yelena, YMIR (does the thing where she talks on the phone with it tucked in between her shoulder and her ear while braiding at top speed, like just put it on speaker), onyankopon, mikasa, armin, ANNIE
the finished product â they are NOT here for delayed gratification. they want to see your hair done and they want to see it now. they get more restless than you do and theyâre not the one getting their thoughts and dreams braided for 5 hours. like why are they more upset about the infamous last braid that gets split into 4 more than you are? âman what the fuck are you so upset about? this is not your scalp??â itâs nice having them around regardless. whether or not theyâre helping with the actual braiding, theyâre your biggest supporter. theyâll grab you (and the stylist if you arenât doing it yourself) mcdonalds, boil the water to seal your ends, oil your scalp, mousse your hair, trim the flyaways, sweep up the stray hair, etc. knowing how tired you are, all the time consuming clean up is their self-allotted duty. but once all of that is done, they get to do what theyâve been waiting for: admire you. without fail, the second you stand up theyâre taking pictures from every angle, showering you with compliments (ginger really is your color), peppering your head with kisses, but most importantly, just looking at how beautiful you are. you outdo yourself every time and they tell you as much, even if it embarrasses you.Â
HISTORIA, connie, pieck, hange, SASHA, reiner, JEAN (the heart eyes this man has for youâŚand donât get me started on the sketches he makes of you with every new style you get. he is SO whipped)
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