Work Text:
You notice the paint on Isabeau’s nails is chipping. You point at them.
“Hey Isa.”
He glances at you, a smile already on his face. “Hey Sif!” He looks down at where you’re pointing. “Oh, my nails? I haven’t had a chance to paint them in a while.” He shrugs. “Dormont doesn’t really have nail polish either.”
Wait, you remember this! You dig around in your souvenirs and present a small glass bottle to Isabeau.
“Nail polish for you.”
“Woah!” Isabeau’s eyes light up. “Where did you find that?”
You shrug. You got it from one of the residents while wandering around. Actually, you only accepted the polish because it’s the exact same shade as Isabeau’s nails. Looking at them again, you can see the chipping is worse than you initially thought. Some of his nails don’t even have any polish anymore. It makes sense that he hasn’t had time to maintain them, what with your traveling around Vaugarde. But you have some time to spare now.
“Sif?” Oh no, he caught you zoning out. “Something on your mind?”
Why not ask? If you do get a bad reaction, you can always loop back and never bring it up again.
“Can I try painting your nails?”
Isabeau stares at you, face flushing. You think you’re blushing too. That’s such a weird thing to ask!! Why did you ask that!? You’re starting to consider running off to find that plantain peel!!!
“If- if you want to! My nails have been like this for a while so, uh, you really don’t have to!!” Isabeau sputters. “But if you do want to do that I really wouldn’t mind-” he practically throws these words out, then hides his face in his hands.
Oh stars. In truth, you’ve never painted your own nails before — no point when you wear gloves — much less someone else’s nails.
“I’ve never painted nails before,” you admit. At least give Isa an idea of what he’s agreeing to.
“That’s fine!!! It’s just nail polish!!!”
“This would be a good opportunity to...” you trail off, a catlike grin spreading across your features.
Isabeau catches on immediately, grinning in response. “Uh huh?”
“...polish up.”
It’s too easy, but Isa laughs anyway. “HAHAHA!! Yes!! Yeah!!!!!!”
His uproarious, barking laughter as he lifts his hand and brings it towards your shoulder. Then he freezes for a split second and quickly retracts it. But you know that part. Before it can completely return to Isabeau’s side, you reach out to take it. You get the sense that without your gloves on, his hand would be much warmer.
Your gazes collide. Isa’s face is somehow an even deeper shade. His eyes are wide, almost puppylike in their openness.
“I guess you are serious....” Shock melds into embarrassment which mellows into flustered happiness. “Do you want to take your gloves off first, Sif?”
Oh! Yeah, you don’t want to get those dirty. You tug your gloves off and set them aside. After a moment, you wriggle out of your cloak too. Definitely don't want to get that dirty.
You open the nail polish, gazing at the dark liquid for a moment. Then you focus on Isabeau.
“Ready...?”
He nods. “Y-Yeah! Let’s go!!”
There isn’t really anywhere to go, but you enjoy his enthusiasm.
...
........
Stars, you are so blinding bad at this. Isabeau, to his credit, stays very still as you paint his nails. You, to your discredit, have managed to get polish on both Isa’s nails and cuticles. And fingertips. And your fingertips....
You sit back to frown at your work.
“Um. I can go look for nail polish remover-”
“No!!” Isabeau reaches out for your hand — hesitates for a split second — and takes it before you can leave. “I mean. You. Don’t need to do that. I really appreciate you doing this, Sif.”
But you didn’t do a good job. At all.
“But it looks terrible?”
Isabeau makes a face. “...yes, but that doesn’t matter to me. And. Uh. I’m not just talking about the nail polish.”
Oh.
Oh.
“...........thanks Isa.”
Maybe you’ll try this again in another loop.