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casperrscapes · 11 months ago

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So, this is a sort of word vomit piece where I just wrote stuff out to cope during a bad brain day and apply it to Friede. Nothing like a bit of self projection onto your favs, right? It turned out more cuter(?) than expected but I suppose when you add the kids in it, it's almost always going to be lighter than intended. Essentially it involves painting nails haha.

Anyway, hope this is still an enjoyable read!

Series: Pokemon Horizons

Characters: Friede, Liko

Occasionally, Friede had days where his mind became too cluttered. There was no rhyme nor reason for it to happen. He'd wake up in the morning and just knew. Focusing on one line of thought proved difficult, as did staying put long enough to be productive. He felt the need to do one thing or another yet found himself stuck with indecisiveness that it left him doing nothing at the end.

Over time, Friede found a way that helped him silence the buzzing thoughts. He came across it by accident during his college years and had since applied it whenever one of those days struck.

Today was one of them.

Sitting at the edge of his bed, Friede inspected one of the small bottles laid out on the desk next to it. He resisted the urge to tug at his hair and instead picked one up. With the rest of his supplies at hand, he spread out a small towel on the surface.

Friede began by swiping some nail polish remover over his nails. He stared at each one, forcing his thoughts to focus on how it removes excess polish even if he hadn’t worn some it still removes the natural oils on the nail it’ll make applying the layers smoother and it’ll last longer.

After that, he used a cuticle stick to push the soft skin of each cuticle back to the edge of his nail. He wrangled his brain to think on how pushed back cuticles makes it look even when he paints he didn’t want it to look messy.

Once he did that, he began to apply a base coat of clear nail polish on his left thumb. One stripe down the middle, left and then right. Rinse and repeat. While he waited for them to dry, he funneled his thoughts into deciding clear or color clear or color he’ll go with clear it’s not noticeable so less questions ask the better.

With his decision made, Friede dipped the brush into the clear polish again before placing a drop of it directly in the center, just above the cuticle. Then he brushed upwards all the way to the tip. Repeat on the left, following the curve to the tip. Repeat on the right, also curve to tip.

He paused to inspect the first applied layer. It looked neat, which started to dislodge some of the thoughts in his ever busy mind. Friede repeated the process one by one. Each time he stopped to inspect, and once satisfied, he found it easier to fall into a rhythm. He just focused on the act, on each stripe and bask in the soft glow of pride when he saw how neat it looked.

Doing this for half an hour calmed him in a way that was hard to describe. Perhaps it was the repetitive nature of applying each layer of polish. Maybe it was the sense of focus he got to ensure that he didn’t mess things up. He certainly liked the way he felt more at ease in his own skin now that his brain wasn’t questioning every single thing he did.

With the entirety of his attention laid on applying the final coat to his pinky, Friede didn’t notice the light knocks on his door. Once done, he inspected his work, feeling himself smile at how neat the clear polish looked on his nails. Was it actually visible or was he simply envisioning it in his mind? Who knows but it made him happy so that was all that mattered.

Friede placed his hand back down atop the towel to let it dry. Then he looked up–only to find a pair of eyes peeking at him from the slightly ajar door. He nearly jerked his hand back in shock, barely avoiding knocking off the small bottles on the table.

“Liko,” he breathed out, wrestling back his slipped control. Friede released a slow, steadying breath before plastering on a light smile. “I didn’t hear you, sorry. Were you looking for me?”

“N-No, I’m sorry for surprising you,” she apologized, eyes flickering to her shuffling feet before going back at him. “I wanted to ask if you could help me with this bit I’m stuck on but you looked so focused that I didn’t want to disturb… I didn’t know you painted nails.”

“I’m not exactly advertising it. I usually just wear clear nail polish so you wouldn’t really be able to see it anyway,” Friede replied easily. He was in a better headspace than before that he didn’t feel the need to deflect.

“I see. I thought using nail polish would paint your nails in colors,” Liko stated, pushing the door to properly enter after Friede gestured for her to do so with his free hand.

“Well I do have colored nail polish if I’m in the mood but I usually use the clear one. Harder to spot if I mess up.” Which he didn’t so don’t start second guessing himself now. He had no reason to work his thoughts up into a frenzy and undoing all the progress he did.

“Oh, is it difficult to clean up if you mess it up?”

“Nah, you’d use nail polish remover if you get some on your skin but it can be drying and harsh. Plus it’s just a pain to go through the steps to have it properly removed so–” A faint shrug. “–I just do my best to keep it neat.”

“I see. Is it… is it hard to paint nails?”

Here, Friede paused to take in the girl before him. It didn’t take long for him to make the connection for all these leading questions. Knowing Liko, she was probably too shy to outright ask. He briefly considered it, then decided that ignoring the tells would make him feel bad.

“Well, it takes a lot of practice to make it look neat. I can paint your nails if you want.” Friede threw out the offer so the choice was up to Liko.

“E-Eh? Realy? I wouldn’t be disturbing you…?” Liko fiddled with the hem of her shirt, looking nervous but hopeful.

“I wouldn’t have offered if it did,” he kindly replied. “Go ahead and take a seat on the chair, then.”

Liko did as instructed, her eyes immediately drawn to the small line of nail polish that Friede laid out in his indecisiveness earlier.

“I don’t have much colors on hand but if you’re not sure on what to choose, I think this would suit you.” Friede reached over to pick up a bottle of teal nail polish. It wasn’t a color he personally wore but it had been a part of the set he bought. He gave it to Liko so she could inspect the bottle herself.

“Um, then I’d like this color.” She handed back the bottle to him. Friede then gently grabbed hold of her hand to check her nails. Unlike his, it looked like she kept them clean and nicely trimmed. He could probably go straight to applying the base coat but he decided to swipe her nails with the polish remover first.

“You’d use this to remove excess polish if you had some but it’s also used to remove natural oils on your nails if there’s any,” Friede explained, eyes never once straying from how carefully he swiped it. He didn’t want to accidentally get some on Liko’s skin.

She nodded, keeping herself still throughout the process. After that, Friede carefully took out the brush from the clear polish bottle to apply the base coat on her thumb.

“Usually you’d want to put a base clear coat like this. This is to protect the colored polish from staining your nail,” he spoke up, sensing that she likely had a lot of questions but felt hesitant to ask.

Once he applied it to all the fingers on her left hand, they waited for it to dry. Friede began to paint on the first layer of teal polish using the same three swipe method from before. One down the center, curve from the left to the tip and repeat the same on the right. He just wanted to apply a thin first layer so it’d dry quicker.

Friede focused on making sure each and every nail were painted on neatly. He found the act of painting another person’s nail calming in its own right. He had both hands to work with, giving him a higher degree of control. While his thoughts didn’t wander, it did allow him the opportunity to observe.

The biggest takeaway he got was Liko’s hand being smaller than his. Objectively he knew that but it put things into perspective when he actually held it. Kids her age would usually be in school or out on their journeys (if they had the capability to do so) but she was in a unique position of doing both. It was a little sad that it came from a place of danger but Friede had promised Lucca that he and the rest of his crew will look after Liko.

Friede imagined had she stayed in school, Liko might have done this with her school friends. He learnt it in college as a means to focus when his mind became his own worse enemy but ordinarily, he pictured this to be a bonding activity between friends. Then again, he didn’t exactly have a normal school life himself so it was a lot of speculation on his part. It kept him focused though that by the time he ran out of things to observe, Friede was done with painting the nails on her left hand.

“There. Just keep your hand like that until the polish dries,” he stated, placing the brush back into the bottle for the time being. “After that I’ll apply a top coat to seal it and then we’re done. What do you think?”

Liko leaned closed to get a proper look without moving her hand. A smile easily came after she took in her painted nails. “It looks really good! Thank you Friede!”

“Heh, nothing to it. Gives me good practice too,” he replied easily, stamping down the mild embarrassment that rose from her genuine gratitude. “If you want, I can paint the nails on the other hand too if you don’t mind sitting around for awhile longer.”

“I’d like that!” Liko inspected them once more. “I’ve never had my nails painted before so seeing them done like this… I think I want to try it myself next time.”

“It’ll take lots of practice but I’m sure you can do it. You already have steady hands from drawing. Just have to get them used with the smaller brush,” he encouraged, flashing her a kind smile. “You can have this bottle and a few others if you’re interested in the color to start off with.”

“Really? You don’t mind it?”

“Nah. Like I said before, I usually use clear polish. Feel free to grab the colors you’re interested in.”

“Um, what would you recommend?”

Friede blinked a couple of times, then smiled. He spent the next hour giving Liko tips to start out while he painted the rest of her nails. By the time she left his room, she sported a beaming smile, marveling at the pretty teal color.

That was the first time he painted someone else’s nails in a long while. It pleased him to find the process calming as well. Compared to when he woke up this morning, Friede felt at ease with himself, able to think without his thoughts buzzing around to the point of distraction.

Before he could put away his kit, Friede once again almost knocked the bottles over when the door abruptly opened.

“Friede! Liko showed me the nails you painted for her and please please please can you do that for me too?” Roy asked excitedly.

Staring at the boy for a moment, Friede heaved out a soft sigh, resigned yet not displeased at all by the situation. This was probably going to be a regular occurrence, huh?

Well, he didn't mind the extra practice.

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