Work Text:
Water was okay with being alone, truly she was. She spent years alone in a cave talking to no one, the only people she saw being those who came to steal her treasures. She had been perfectly fine with her solitude. Even when her true dragon form left her, she was fine with being a lone soul despite finding herself with dwarfs. They would be tasty when she had her real body back. They were not friends, merely her future dinner. Arriving at the realm with them made no difference. She could play as if she was on their side for now. Gain their trust but make no attachments.
She was working on the dwarf hole they would all reside in when someone came to her with kindness. She had never been shown kindness before. That man or at least the immortal being that doesn’t even try at pretending to be a man, BadBoyHalo, offered her help and resources and asked for nothing in return. That was the start of a friendship. Her first and potentially only friend. It felt as if they naturally knew how to talk to each other. The dark immortal was a known liar but almost any lie told, Water could hear through it.
The two became close, almost attached at the hip. Bad made her laugh and cared for her safety. Water cared for him like no one on the realm seemed to. While Bad was immortal and permanent death posed no threat, mental pain could still harm him. He became her treasure and was now hers. She would do her best to protect him from pain and threats. That posed to be difficult as his closest ally Pangi was corrupted and had lost his memory of his time on the realm, someone he cared for, Ros, had been killed by him in hopes of helping her deal with her own pain thus making her lose all memory of him. The king of yellow faction, a fellow immortal he knew for Water couldn’t even begin to think of how long, had been assassinated and upon his return had been pretending to have lost his memory of Bad as well.
To say Bad hadn’t been doing well would be an understatement. The smell of alcohol that followed him and the bottles he carried everywhere showed his mental state. Water did her best to keep her treasure in better spirits and it was fine until Lukey. Lukey had stolen her treasure from her. Bad was her one and only, she gave 100 percent to him and he went off with Lukey and told her Lukey was his favorite. She was heartbroken but Bad remained her treasure. The otherworldly entity had explained his perspective that while he did have other friends that did not make her any less important to him and apologized for hurting her. Water did not understand having others to care for, Bad was all she ever had, but she understood he had not meant to seriously hurt her. She returned an apology as it was clear he did care for her and cutting him off had seriously hurt him as well.
While their friendship was now better, Water still needed to help her treasure’s mental state. Bad was clearly suffering and Water had an idea that would be sure to help him for at least a bit, a sleepover! Water herself has never had a real sleepover; it could be a new fun experience for both of them. Water giddily flew over to the green faction castle and found Bad in a room attempting to organize the storage.
“Hellooo Bad, whatcha doing?” Water asked brightly.
“Hey Water!” Bad exclaimed as he heard her and turned around. Organizing has never been his favorite thing to do and he was welcome for a friend to hang out with. “I was just organizing some of the chest trying to be productive, what brings you here?”
“Just wanted to see how you were doing and what you were up to,” she responded. Bad still didn’t look great despite his best attempts at an upbeat voice and attitude. The stench of alcohol still radiated off of him and the bags under his glowing eyes showed that the sleep he was getting couldn’t have been great even if he slept a decent amount of time. A sleepover would be great to help get his mind off things and maybe the company will improve his quality of rest. “Are you gonna be busy later today?” She asked. She knew Bad wouldn’t be busy with anything that had to be done soon and would most likely drink until he fell asleep. Asking him was more to get a foot in the door to hanging out and staying over for the sleepover.
“No I should be free, what did you wanna do?” He asked.
“I was wondering if you’d wanna come over to the dwarf hole while I did some alchemy,” Water casually conversed.
“Pesto is usually there to keep me company and just being in a call isn’t the same.” She hoped getting him there would make it easy for him to stay and sleepover. It would be great for both of them to relax, have fun, talk and hopefully get some good sleep.
“Yea sure I can sit while you do alchemy, did you need anything or need any help?” He asked turning to organize his items and look for anything that might be useful. Water smiled, this is why she liked him. Not because he gave her things but because of his kindness. She is perfectly fine gathering her own things and pulling her own weight, that’s what she was used to after all. But Bad kindly offers his assistance even to people he shouldn’t. The others constantly ask and expect him to just get and do things for them. Just the thought of that made Water want to scowl but she kept her nice face and politely declined as they headed toward the dwarven hole.
They casually chatted for a couple of hours as Water did alchemy and then moved onto enchanting. Eventually Water grew tired of the grinding and sat with Bad.
“You hungry? You sat with me for hours and ate nothing and who knows when you last ate before I came over” Water questioned the being on his self care.
“Huh oh I snacked throughout the day I didn’t seem to bring any food with me here though, I figured I’d be back when I got hungry” Bad lightly answered. He seemed a bit more tired as it got later and the preppy voice had lowered into a more relaxed gravel.
Water hmm’s as she searches around and grabs Bad some cooked chicken and apples.
“Here you go” she says as she hands him the food keeping a little for herself. “We can eat together and yap about things.”
“Do you have hair under that hood?” Water asked. She believes she question him before but was unsure of what the answer was or if it was even the truth.
“Hmm let me just show you,” Bad relented. He calmly reached his hands to his red rimmed hood and slid it off his head. Underneath was pitch black thick long hair and what appeared to be horns on top of this head. Water starred with her mouth slightly agape. She hadn’t been expecting that. She thought she might get a snarky response but instead got vulnerability. Water had only known him for a short time but Bad’s hood had never been off of his head. She didn’t even know he had hair let alone it being that long. It was beautiful a different side she hadn’t seen. Looking into the nightly hair she could see that it was tangled and definitely needed a wash. She wouldn’t wash the man’s hair for him but she could at least brush it and maybe braid it for the meantime.
“Can I brush your hair while you’re here it definitely got tangled being under that hood all the time.”
“Yea sure go for it,” Bad consented.
Water got up, rummaged around and found her brush and sat behind Bad as she began to gently run the brush through his hair. She talked anout random things like how she was dreading leveling martial arts again and what silly things pesto did as Bad sat there giggling and listening to her stories. Eventually Bad’s hair was thoroughly brushed and it flowed beautifully down his back.
“When are you gonna wash it?” the water dragon asked trying to determine if she should spend time braiding his hair.
“Eh, I don't know maybe when I’m finished here,” he vaguely answered. It seems like he doesn’t spend too much time worrying about his hair as it’s always under that hood. Water wasn’t sure if he’d allow her to braid it but she also didn’t expect him to take off his hood and allow her to brush his hair, she might as well ask and take her chances.
“Hey Bad would you let me braid your hair, it might help it from getting too tangled up and might be easier to manage. No one even has to see it if you just keep your hood on,” Water said casual but convincingly. While what she said was true she also just wanted to braid his hair and keep her treasure in a good condition. After his hair is secured she could just offer for him to sleep there where she could check on him and make sure the heavenly creature sleeps well without alcohol.
“Hmm,” Bad took time to think. He had let people touch his hair before even let them dye it. That however, was long ago in happier time and with people his heart misses greatly. “Sure,” he said. Bad trusted Water and despite the little time he’s spent with her she has already made a space in his heart. While not everyone is allowed to see and especially touch his hair she was not everyone.
Water did her best to hold in her excitement about his answer and calmly went to work. She did want to add flowers and accessories but those would have to wait for another time and day. Right now she just wanted it to be tight and secure but not too much to be uncomfortable. Bad hummed as her fingers went through his hair in an almost purr like noise. He was truly content and comfortable. A moment of peace and care in a time of constant despair and worry. As if on cue Bad yawned as Water finished his braids which had been neatly styled into a half up half down look connecting the two braids into a ponytail.
“Oh are you tired, why don’t you just sleep here? There’s a spare bed where I sleep and you can go in the morning after you wake up.”
Bad didn’t often if ever sleep in a comfortable area and definitely not close to many people but he was tired and trusted Water so hesitantly he shook his head and let her lead him to the spare bed in her space. He lazily plopped down on the mattress and sighed as he heard the other mattress creek as Water laid down on her own bed.
“Goodnight Bad,” Water softly said to him.
“Goodnight Water,” Bad returned as he drifted off into a dreamless restfull slumber.
Water smiled and she closed her eyes. Bad may not be completely better right now but she’s sure this sleepover was good for him. She’ll try to get him to do this more often but for now she too went off to slumber happy that her treasure will be well rested in the morning.