RP: More Than a Simple Haircut

[shh_andromeda]

Date: 4 June, 2005
Characters: Andromeda and Ted Tonks
Location: 111 Albus Ave
Status: Private
Summary: Andy and Ted perform a small ritual.
Completion: Complete

She didn't know why, after so many years of immersion in the Wizarding world, Ted would still insist his hair be cut with scissors. Andy used to cut his hair all the time when they were first

Comments

[shh_ted]

It was time. Even if Andy lamented over losing his long hair, it was just too much for him. Shaggy he could deal with; shoulder length was just annoying as hell. It fell into his eyes when he was reading or woodcarving; blew into his mouth when he took walks outside; got tangled at night while he wrestled with both nightmares and the bedsheets

[shh_andromeda]

It was so good to see that smile again. It lifted Andy's spirits like nothing else could and gave her hope like nothing else as well. "And you're sure you want to get rid of this?" she murmured, pressing her breasts against his back, bringing her arms forward over her shoulders to run her fingers from his fringe to the back of his head. "You look absolutely handsome with it, you know."

She reluctantly slid her fingers from his hair, her thumbs caressing the nape of his neck ever so lightly in such a way that could've been a tease or a deliberate caress. "I've always loved your hair long."

[shh_ted]

"I...uhmm...yes, I'm sure," he said. She wasn't doing anything overt. And yet the non-overt things she was doing were suddenly making it unreasonably difficult to think straight. A welcome change from the usual round of mental problems, sure, but he hoped she would stop asking him questions that required answers if she were going to do things like that. "Just cut it like you used to. Do you remember?"

Her fingers on his neck set up a jangling of nerves all along his shoulders. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, having her do this. "I mean, if you don't, we can try to find a barber."

[shh_andromeda]

"No, I remember," she murmured softly before sighing regretfully and stepping away. She cast a mild charm on his hair, making it instantly damp, and lifted the scissors. "Here we go."

The first cut was the loudest, a heavy snick that filled the room with possibilities. "How does that feel?" she asked softly, combing his hair, then cutting a hank, then repeating the action. It had taken her a while to learn how to do this, but after watching the beauticians (and some truly horrid mess-ups that were thankfully taken care of with magic), she'd slowly gotten the hang of it. And now she liked it just as much as he did. It was soothing, calming and refreshing.

[shh_ted]

It had been years since she'd cut his hair, so the memories that came flooding back to him of similar times like this were of a much younger man. Which was...good. Forgotten scenes of laughter, of quiet peace, of family times with Tonks sitting on his lap and watching her mother perform this same task (life had never been the same after that girl discovered scissors). And of love. More than once this exact setting had led to romps in the kitchen.

Ah. Perhaps not quite the memories he wanted to stir right now. The air around him was filled with little teasing pockets of fragrance, taking the pictures in his mind and enhancing them, adding layers of recall, and what had been the tiniest stirring of desire in his belly slowly grew, spread lower the longer she quietly moved around behind him.

He began to fidget in his chair, trying to distract himself from the temptation to spin around and take hold of her. Not ready for that yet.

[shh_andromeda]

"Ted," Andy finally spoke up with exasperation. She laid her hands on his shoulders to still his fidgeting and leaned down to speak softly in his ear, her fingers making small circles on his skin. "If you keep moving you'll get an uneven hair cut, and I'd rather not have to fix it by magic only to have to cut it again, ok?"

Slowly, she shifted and pressed a soft, tender kiss to his temple. "You'll be fine," she went on in her low murmur, deliberately misinterpreting his restlessness. Oh, she knew he was being turned on, she could recognize all the signs of a successful seduction in his reactions. "They're just scissors."

[shh_ted]

"Not really what I'm worried about," he muttered under his breath. What was a little thing like sharp scissors when he had weapons like lips, fingers and the sound of her voice attacking him from all sides?

Andy pulled away from him, but not before leaving behind another little whisper of spice; it stole into his senses, hijacked his train of thought away from mundane things and planted them squarely in the realm of Want. Only thing was, he couldn't let himself Want her right now. Oh, he held her at night, let himself kiss her sometimes, but it was still so difficult to let himself go, and most of the time he didn't want to, even when he could. Nothing worked out well when he gave his emotions free rein these days.

Which meant that now, Andy's little unintentional caresses and that damnable perfume were slowly driving him mad.

He had to distract himself somehow. "So...how's the...the garden coming along, love?" Maybe talking about something else would help.

[shh_andromeda]

Andy smirked and resumed cutting his hair. Her movements were still a bit rusty but the sense-memory in her hands was coming back to her with every snip. "It's going well. I've begun planting some herbs and vegetables so hopefully we'll have fresh carrots, cucumbers and squash soon. I also planted some lovely tulips and a couple of roses out front." As she spoke, she brushed her fingers against the nape of his neck, gathering up hair and cutting it, but also just to touch him. She didn't think he had any idea how much he affected her nor how much this seduction was testing her control.

"Would you like to help me plant some seeds in my garden?" she asked, unable to help the grin behind Ted's back at the stupid little double entendre.

[shh_ted]

Ted bit back a hiss. Damn it, his neck was sensitive. She knew that. Though, how could she not touch that spot if she was cutting his hair?

A simple haircut shouldn't be this...complicated.

And the woman was teasing him now, he knew it. If she wasn't back there quietly laughing at her own (bad) joke, then he was a niffler.

When had he gotten into such a bad mood? Hadn't this started out as an enjoyable occasion? There was nothing wrong with teasing, after all...he seemed to deny her almost everything else, he didn't have to go stomping her sense of humour as well. He pinched the bridge of his nose, willing his temper to die down, and answered in a passably light voice, "Well, you know, maybe not. Bad back and all. Wouldn't want to get halfway through sowing and be forced to call it off."

There. He'd flirted a little. Maybe they could both blow off a little steam this way, as long as he could deal with her hands all over him. His chest rose and fell in a deep sigh. He could do this.

Really.

[shh_andromeda]

The Blacks weren't brought up to be dummies. Andy could sense a new tension in Ted and it wasn't a good one. His voice was light, but it had a forced quality to it that stung and made her stomach wrench. She'd pushed him too much perhaps, so she backed away, even if a little part of her was withering a bit. One of the things she missed most was flirting with her husband, and this new Ted didn't seem very receptive to that.

So she stepped away just a bit, more of an easing back on her heels and gradually stopped touching him unnecessarily. "Then I'd have to say you're getting too old to garden. Pity," she replied in an offhand semi-distracted way that hid her true emotions, but still kept the game going if he wanted it to. She moved around to stand between his knees to work on his fringe. "I guess I'll just have to find someone younger to plant in my garden."

[shh_ted]

Like hell you will, he bristled, glaring at her through the long gold strands she combed down over his eyes. She seemed to be deliberately ignoring him, focusing instead on his hair. She wouldn't do that, would she? This was just more teasing. He was...ninety-seven percent sure that she was teasing.

That other three percent was driving him crazy, though. He wanted to see her face clearly, but wet hair obstructed his vision until slowly, snip by snip, she cut away the curtain. snick Her right shoulder came into view. snick Right eye, cheek, neck, breast, hip. snick Same for the left side. Unobstructed view of her face now, the column of her throat. How had he not noticed before the way her shirt clung? snick There she stood, all of her, jaw set, shoulders tense, still not looking at him

[shh_andromeda]

"Sometimes," she replied, brutally honest despite the ache in her chest at the tone of his voice. "Sometimes I feel like I'm standing here and you're standing there, and yet I'm the only person in the room. I'm not blaming you, but that's how I feel. And then you reel me back in with a look or a touch, and I feel whole again instead of just half a person."

She paused in her cutting and stepped back, tilting his chin up with a couple of her fingers. "Why do you ask?"

[shh_ted]

He reached up, wrapped his hand around hers and brought it up to his cheek. "You deserve to be whole." Her wrist was directly under his nose, and the mingled scent of her skin and the spicy sweet perfume became too much, especially when combined with the look now shining in her eyes, hope and sadness and need chasing each other through the grey clouds of her irises. He held her hand still and slid his face down, turning to move his lips softly against the pulse point on her wrist. "I wish I could make you whole, love," he whispered against the delicate skin there, "but I don't know how any more."

Her hand still anchored against his face, he turned to look up at her. "You shouldn't have to be lonely."

[shh_andromeda]

The breath caught in Andy's throat and she almost missed what he said, so distracted was she by his touch. Desire and need thrummed through her body with a suddenness that was startling in its intensity. With the way he was nuzzling her wrist - the seducer was now suddenly the seduced. There was a quick way he could make her whole, even though he wasn't ready for that.

She tucked the scissors in her pocket and reached up to cup his other cheek with her other hand. "I love you, Teddy. If it makes you feel any better, I feel lonely less often now that Orla has been helping you."

[shh_ted]

Her eyes held him as softly as her hands did. It soothed him immeasurably. "I love you too. And that does help, a little. Although..." God, she had no idea what she was doing to him. She was using a deadly combination of tone of voice and facial expression and soft words, and she smelled so good... One of those things, maybe even two, he could have withstood, but all of them together?

Not a chance.

Before he could stop it, his other hand had reached out to lay itself across on her hip. Okay. Okay, it could stay there, he decided. Didn't have to panic because his limbs weren't obeying him, but he didn't have to sit back and let them have their way altogether. His hand could stay there, but that was itTalking. He'd been talking to her, and she was still waiting for him to finish. He hurriedly cobbled together his thoughts, trying to remember what he'd last said. "Although...you know, it's hard for me to see any difference. The...the nightmares have gotten a little better. Maybe. I don't panic as often. Have you..." he

[shh_andromeda]

She could feel his eyes roaming over her almost as if it was a physical caress and oh, how she wanted it to be a real caress. "I have. And I'm very proud of you," she murmured, running her free hand through his mostly cut hair. The feel of his hair sifting through her fingers, smooth and soft and light, grounded her in reality a bit, but it also made her remember the feel of that hair against her skin as she arched beneath him.

Of course, his hand where it was wasn't helping. At all. She eased a bit closer to him, her knees brushing the seat of the chair and the juncture of his jeans. "And I'm very glad the nightmares are getting better. Orla's help seems to be working," she murmured, trailing the tips of her fingers down his neck.