🐝 * ― 𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺. ➽ [ scars ] sender gently tracing receiver's scars + reverse | @divinityshackled
The comb glided through his hair in gentle, deliberate strokes from crown to tip. One rebellious lock refused to be tamed, curling stubbornly with each pass of the comb, such was Xie Lian’s persistent bedhead. Xiao Hua gathered his hair at his back, wanting to ensure every last tangle was smoothed out before letting him take over to style it as he preferred. She found quiet contentment in these early morning rituals; sleepy-eyed, yawning, pulling on robes, and taming unruly hair, though her own was rarely ever truly tamed, no matter how much it was brushed.
But there was always something that caught her attention in these moments. She’d noticed it before, from the front, once or twice when she glanced at him before. And now, as she combed through his hair, the light revealed the same strange pattern on his back. For a brief moment, she wondered what it was, though deep down, she already knew. But seeing it like this, etched into his skin and illuminated by the morning light, gave it a new clarity.
Scars were expected, common even, especially for someone like Xie Lian. But these... these were different. They crisscrossed his skin in a complex web, more intricate and numerous than she had realized, seemingly more concentrated towards the center of his chest. The fact that they were similar on his back. He had told her before about battles he had participated in in his past, but could such fighting really leave one's skin so marred? So deliberate?
She quickly realized she had stopped brushing his hair, the tips of her fingers having been tracing back and forth between his shoulder blades.