Made for Ribbons and Pearls

"Your hair is very pretty, Silver."

The girl in question was trying her hardest to remain awake. The gentle way the bristles brushed through her hair was more than enough to tempt Silver into a familiar, pastel dream land. Silver looked into the vanity mirror to see the tender expression on Charlotte's face. It was cute how fondly Charlotte looked at Silver when she thought no one was watching. How quickly she was to lower her guard and allow her heart to beat on her sleeve once she believed everyone's eyes had turned away.

"Thank you."

Truth be told, Silver never really did much to take care of her hair before. Not until she enrolled at Night Raven Collage and was encouraged by Lilia to experiment with her femininity a bit during her high school days. Silver never considered herself very feminine, finding what constitutes as 'girly' to be stuffy and trifling. Makeup was too complex for it's own good, and you can forget about any heels three inches or higher. Her position as Malleus' guard left skirts and similar loose clothing out of commission unless absolutely necessary. Her ears weren't even pierced and she wore minimal jewelry out of worry they'd snag on something in the middle of a fight.

So what Silver considered experimenting began and ended with growing her hair out and occasionally getting her nails done. Sure, she did own a few dresses that caught her eye when shopping in town, but they rarely saw the light of day. Her once shoulder length hair had grown down to her mid back, and was starting to become more of a hassle than it was worth.

That was when Charlotte stepped in. Offering to style Silver's hair when she couldn't be damned to do it herself. Eventually those days began to increase until a routine habit had been formed: Charlotte would stop by Diasomnia every morning to brush and style Silver's hair for the day. It was a win-win situation, Charlotte got to test out and play around with new hairstyles and Silver didn't have to worry about making a fool of herself with a bad hair day.

Silver hummed as she felt deft and nimble fingers part her hair into three's. Charlotte had been on a braiding streak lately. Yesterday Silver proudly wore a set of Dutch Braids. Her scalp still ached from the French Braid she was forced to endure the day before. She pondered over what style she would wear today.

The calming feeling of her hair being braided was short lived. Before she knew it, Charlotte was removing the gray hair tie from her wrist and tying up her handiwork.

"Can you hand me the green ribbon?"

"No scrunchie this time?" Silver asked as she handed Charlotte the green and black ribbon that was sitting on the vanity. Charlotte adored scrunchies, and she never wasted an opportunity to use one in either her or Silver's hair. According to the brunette, she had a massive collection of scrunchies back home and missed them dearly.

"Not this time!"

Charlotte hummed as she wrapped the ribbon around the hair tie, tying it up in a pretty bow. She stepped back and examined her work, a smile blooming on her face when she found herself pleased with the result. Grabbing her cellphone, Charlotte snapped a picture of Silver's hair.

"What do you think?" Charlotte showed Silver her handiwork. The hair closest to the back of her head had been placed into a loose braid and tied off a fourth of the way down, leaving the rest to fall like a normal low ponytail. The green ribbon stood as a proud contrast to her silver locks and was just the right shade as to not clash with her school uniform.

"It looks nice."

"You really think so?" Silver nodded "I'm glad!" Charlotte beamed, proud and pleased with Silver's acceptance. Silver knew she wasn't exactly the easiest girl in the world to read, so she never minded the additional steps Charlotte needed to understand her approval. If she was going to be honest, Silver thought it was cute to watch Charlotte's facial expressions change from uncertainty to a beaming smile.

The two began getting ready to head to class. Silver packed her bag and Charlotte cleaned up her hair care stuff. At some point a section of Silver's vanity had been taken up by all the hairbrushes, hair ties, ribbons and scrunchies that Charlotte bought for the girl. There wasn't much, and it was a slow change, but at some point Silver considered the vanity empty without all of the brushes and ties. She planned on cutting her hair again after graduation, but she was sure she'd be taking all of them with her. To keep as mementos, at the very least. Maybe one day she'll grow her hair out long enough to use them again, or perhaps use them to style other people's hair.

"You almost ready to go?"

Silver slung her bag over her shoulder and nodded. "Let's get going."

Charlotte grabbed Silver by the hand, intertwining their fingers. It was a mindless action, one done out of repetition, yet it always managed to take Silver's breath away whenever she did it.

Charlotte truly was a special person in Silver's life, and she was starting to reach a point where she couldn't imagine it without her. Just like how the night always gives way to the dawn, Silver knows Charlotte will always be there for her with that bright, infectious smile on her face.

And hopefully, Silver will be able to meet her in kind one day and let her know just how much she means to her.

---

Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie has been playing a lot on the radio station we listen to at work, and every time it comes on I want to write some SilLot Yuri. So have some SilLot Yuri. It's MY Bisexuality and I get to do whatever I want with it!

If we're talking strictly within the binaries of a cis-to-cis conversion here, I don't think Silver would be all that girly as a woman, but I also don't think she'd be a tomboy either??? Silver already within canon isn't a very image conscious person (about himself, at least. Different story when Malleus is brought into the equation), so I can hardly imagine a female version of him not being the same way, and not really caring about whether or not she's dressed in a girly or non-girly manner as long as she can do her job and watch over Malleus. Silver is Silver. They like what they like and you can't really fit them into those sorts of boxes