FicWad

Grateful for an excuse to leave, Vex stood and followed Chaos. When Chaos had seated Vex as he had Blight, a towel wrapped around his brother's neck, he picked a few strands of hair gently up and tried to decide whether or not to make it the same length. Shaking his head a little, he decided to just do it the same.

"You're not hurt?" He asked quietly as he made the first cut.

Vex winced at the sound. "My hands are a little sore. But other than that, I'm fine."

Chaos was silent for a few more snips. "I'm sorry. I should've warned you. I should've taken time to think things through."

It caught Vex off guard. "You don't . . ." He shook his head a little, then realized it was probably a bad idea with scissors hovering so close. "Did Blight say something to you? He shouldn't have hit you. It was uncalled for and he -"

"It's okay." Chaos said gently, making another cut. "He was upset. Now he'll feel better."

Vex started to reply, then closed his mouth again. In all his life, he had never known Chaos to be selfish. He was always focused on what was better, what was helpful, for his brothers, not himself. And this time, he took a hit that had surely hurt, if the loud sound was any indicator. He took it without a word, without any kind of retaliation.

Vex sighed silently and let his eyes fall closed. Chaos was always taking care of them.

A little over an hour later, everyone except Natalie had gone through a haircut and dye. Chaos had even managed to cut his hair on his own. Blight thought it was probably better that way. No of them knew how to cut hair. Chaos just had a sharp eye and steady hands.

When Chaos came back out of the bathroom after cutting and dying his own hair, he stopped short. He almost couldn't resist the urge to ask what in the world was going on.

Blight and Natalie were sitting at the table, watching with expressions of both amusement and confusion. Solace, Havoc, and Vex were on the bed. And Havoc was sitting on Vex's back. They were facing the headboard of the bed and didn't notice when Chaos walked back in.

"Get off of me, you lummox!" Vex snapped, thrashing beneath Havoc.

Havoc kept Vex's wrists pinned to the bed. "Well, that's no way to ask. Come on, say 'please.' Or better yet," He grinned devilishly, "Beg for mercy."

Vex scoffed. "As if."

"Really?" Havoc tightened his grip, making Vex wince. "And you expect to be getting free at some point? Come on, you can be nicer than that."

"Nice? Hah. How's this for nice?"

Havoc looked as if he was about to start to ask what Vex meant, but Vex brought his legs up, managed to hook his feet under Havoc's arms, and sent the fanged boy flying. Havoc barely glanced off the edge of the bed and landed on his shoulders on the ground, feet nearly touching the floor behind his head. His eyes swam dizzily for a few seconds before he blinked and looked up at Chaos.

"Oh, hey," Havoc said simply, as if he weren't in such an awkward position, "I was wondering how long you were gonna be in there."

Chaos shook his head a little and walked past Havoc to sit on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. Vex had already picked himself up and sat between Chaos and Solace, arms crossed. Blight sighed and shook his head, leaning his chin on a hand as Havoc picked himself up off the ground.

"Seriously," Blight said, "I can't believe you guys were just fighting over that."

"What was it this time?" Chaos asked idly.

Blight shrugged. "It's all a blur. Havoc said something about Vex's hair, Vex got mad, they fought, and Havoc got thrown off the bed. End of story."

"What'd he say?"

"He said I looked like a Chia pet." Vex growled.

Chaos reached over without looking and lightly tapped Vex's forehead with the back of his left hand, making the other boy flinch. "Your hair looks fine."

"If anything, Havoc's the one that looks scruffy," Blight cut in, obviously grinning behind his mask.

Havoc stood up angrily, fists clenched at his sides. "What'd you say!?"

"Scruffy, shaggy, poofy," Blight shrugged, "Does it matter?"

Havoc bristled and started to say something back, but Chaos cut him off. "Stop arguing. The next person to fight sleeps in the car."

They all fell silent.

After a while of cooling down, Havoc finally sat down next to his brothers. Vex scooted closer to Chaos, giving Havoc more room. Solace leaned his head on Havoc's shoulder, eyes half closed. For a while, they simply sat and watched TV. Natalie eventually moved into the other room to make a few calls. Not wanting to take any chances, Chaos let her go out and bring lunch back. They spent the rest of the day in the hotel, curtains drawn and a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door.

When night fell, the quintuplets decided to give Natalie the second room and the bed to herself. Vex, Havoc, Solace and Chaos shared the King sized bed in the main room and Blight laid out on the couch with an extra blanket they had sent to their room. Vex fell asleep on the very edge of the bed, nearly far enough to fall off. Solace ended up sprawled on his stomach, an arm resting over Havoc's shoulders. Chaos was still and in control, as always.

Some time during the night, Solace felt something brush against his arm. It was just a light touch and he probably wouldn't have felt it if he had had the sense of touch of a normal person. The little brush of motion stirred him awake. Sleepily, he turned onto his side and looked over his shoulder at Chaos. Chaos was sitting up, leaning back against the headboard with his head angled up, eyes on the ceiling.

"What are you looking at?" He asked quietly, words slurred a little by sleep.

Chaos looked down at him in surprise. He was silent for a moment, then gave the smallest of smiles. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

Solace nodded a little. "Why are you still awake? Can't sleep?"

"Go back to sleep, Sol. I'm all right."

Solace frowned a little. "But you can't sleep."

Chaos reached down and gently ruffled Solace's hair. "I can sleep. I just need to . . . think for a while. Now, go back to sleep."

Solace blinked up at him sleepily, then gave a small nod and rolled back over, using Havoc's arm as a pillow. The fanged boy stirred slightly in his sleep, but didn't wake. Chaos was grateful. Solace was easy to reassure. Havoc would ask questions. Chaos really needed time to himself. He needed time to "think."

His gaze returned to the ceiling, but he didn't see it.