Crowned with Rubies and Sapphires

by RelilaRamblr

Summary:

A side story/ squeal to "all your hair, a crown", that centers around Corin trying something new with his hair, and how it brings opportunities for him to bond with Derek and Ishyeal.

Chapter 1

Corin studied himself in the mirror intently. He never thought he looked particularly like his brother, but now it seemed he couldn't go out without someone saying how much he looked like Tristan. He was pretty sure they were meant to be compliments but they just made him upset. The last few times had actually made him angry. The fact that he could see where they were coming from now that he was looking for it made him angry too.

Tristan had never even had long hair. It might have been a bit shaggier than Corin's have been before he'd grown it out, but it had never been anywhere near the length Corin's currently was. So, the fact that people were taking notice, and comparing them now was stupid. It almost made him want to cut his hair back to the length it had been before. That wouldn't help though. It wasn't his hair's fault. He was just finally old enough for that comparison to be made. Besides, he liked his hair how it was. It was still pretty short when compared to Keras', Derek's or especially Ishyeal's but it was long enough to do things with, without being in his way when he was fighting or enchanting. He liked how it felt when he dragged a comb or a brush through it, assuming there weren't any tangles. Having his sister or his friends do it was nice too, and while he got angsty if they took too long, it was definitely a more tolerable form of touch.

He sighed and leaned more of his weight into his hands, pressing them deeper into the cabinet. He could feel the edge start to cut into the skin. He ignored it. He scanned his face once more, intent on finding every similarity between him and his brother and a way to change it. He couldn't really change his eye color, and changing the shape of his nose and cheeks would involve putting on makeup every single day. He wasn't entirely opposed to that idea but he wasn't thrilled at it either. He could try trimming his hair, getting a different style of bangs maybe? He was jolted out of his thoughts by a chiming from the large clock in the hall. The others would be getting up and ready for school now and he didn't want to hog the bathroom. Never mind that there were probably a dozen in the house.

He quietly and quickly slipped out and back to his room. He was quiet as they ate and walked to school. The others shot him concerned looks, but they didn't ask. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten stuck in his own thoughts and needed time to process them before he could interact with other people, so they let him be. He was grateful. He didn't often cry, Magnus had beaten that out of him, but today? Today he felt like he would start sobbing if he had to articulate what was going on in his head. There just was no good way to say I hate how I look because I look like my brother whom I used to adore but I've started to realize wasn't actually all that great and I don't know how to reconcile that without feeling like I'm betraying him and if one more person tries to tell me I look just like him or he'd be so proud of me I'm going to scream my head off.

He frowned to himself and started a little when Patrick gently bumped his arm. "You okay?"

"Fine." He muttered. Then he blinked. "Where are the girls going?"

Sera and Mara had split off from the boys, even though it was much too early for that. They were still on the outskirts of campus, where there were a few shops. Patrick shrugged. "Sera said something about wanting to show Mara something, and we have time so . . ." He trailed off and shrugged again.

Corin hummed and started after his sister. Patrick easily fell into step with him and soon they had caught up with the girls. The shop seemed to be a general store of some kind, with basic school supplies, socks and coats, personal hygiene, and hair care stuff. Corin raised an eyebrow at the brightly colored bottles near the hair stuff and walked over to pluck one up. Patrick ducked around him to join the girls, who were talking with the person behind the counter. Extra Strength Hair Dye the bottle declared.  Last twice as long with twice the color. Corin's eyebrow climbed higher at that. Was this even within the dress code? He couldn't recall anything saying dyed hair was against the rules in the papers he'd been given, but he had also managed to miss a lot of things when skimming those. He set the bottle down with a thoughtful hum and watched as his friends haggled with the cashier. Several minutes later both parties looked satisfied, and the others made their way out, waving at Corin to join them. He put the bottles of dye out of his mind and tried to force the thoughts about Tristan out as well.

Several hours later Corin found that his day had not improved, and it just seemed to be getting worse. "Resh." He muttered to himself as his hair fell into his eyes. The small elastic that had been holding his bangs braided and out of the way had broken. He blew the hair out of his face and sighed. He didn't have any more with him, and he didn't want to go the rest of the day with his bangs down. He had an enchanting assignment he would need his hair back for. He glanced at the clock. He still had a bit of time before his next class, but not enough to get to the house and back. Maybe the store the others had stopped off earlier would have some. He slung his bag over one shoulder and started to speed walk towards the edge of campus. Most of the other students were in the mess hall at the moment so he didn't have to worry about running to anyone, which was good.

The bell above the door chimed as he entered and the same worker from that morning glanced up. "Hello!"

"Hi." Corin greeted, moving to scan the store. He spotted what he needed and grabbed them, letting out a sigh of relief. His eyes linger on the dye bottles again as he passes them. He'd meant to look and see if it was allowed, but his list of Things to Look Up was so long, he'd forgotten. It didn't really matter though. He dropped the hair ties on the counter and the worker glanced at a list of prices. "That all?"

"Yeah."

They let out a short hum, and Corin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Oh sorry, I just kind of thought you'd get some dye. You seemed pretty interested in it this morning."

"Ah. No." Corin said, blushing a little. "I was just curious. And I wasn't sure if it was in dress code."

"It is", They said easily. "I dyed my hair all the time when I went here, they don't care."

Corin nodded but didn't say anything. He adverted his gaze and noticed the small board on the wall with what seemed to be pictures of different employees. He frowned at it. If there were other employees why was this one working the whole day? He nodded to it. "Are those other employees?"

The cashier laughed. "No actually. I put it up there so that people think there are more but they're actually just pictures of me. Most people assume they're different people because of the differences in hair and age but they're actually all just me from a few years ago."

Corn blinked and squinted at the pictures. "That's insane" He muttered "You look completely different."

"The age and glasses help with that. But most people focus on the hair, and they don't notice the similarities without a second look. Anyway, if it's just these it'll be a sigil.

Corin hesitated as he started to hand the coin over. "Does... How effective would you say hair dye is at keeping people from drawing comparisons between family members? Like, to an older brother."

The cashier - and Corin should probably get their name and pronouns - raised an eyebrow but smoothed their expression to neutral half a second later. "Decently. It might not be enough to stop all of it, or if the people they're comparing are side by side, a change of hair color and style can do a good amount. The color and style of your hair can change the shape of your face and even how your skin looks, to some extent."

Corin bit his lip. "How much are the dyes?"

"Three sigils each, but I'll give you one for free if you get one. I can explain how to use it if you want, or you can just be super great and take my buy one get one free offer so that my manager keeps buying them and I can keep getting them half price." That last part was said with a wink and in a playful tone.

Corin hesitated again, turning the thought over in his mind. It wasn't a guaranteed solution, and it was probably a smarter idea to just ask Derek to take him to get his hair done. But Corin still didn't want to admit what was bothering him and he had a feeling that if he did tell Derek he'd probably get a lecture about not changing his appearance for other people and the Soulblade would probably tell Keras, who would give Corin another lecture on the same topic, though it would be shorter and just an annoying. "I think I'd like to know a little bit more about trying to dye it solo first."

The cashier smiled, extending a hand. "I'm Annabelle, I've been dying my hair at home since I was younger than you, and I do it mostly solo, so I think I can probably give you a pretty good rundown about how it works."

Chapter 2

Notes:

Heeeeyyyyy.

It's been a while. Long story short and in no particular order, life got crazy, I got on anxiety meds and a new computer, messed up my foot, lost the thing where I had my update schedule and just now found a bunch of finished/mostly finished stuff and decided to post them all at once, rather than risk forgetting them again.

Corin dug the bottles of dye out of his bag, biting his lip. The purple and red stickers seemed significantly more intimidating now that he was home than they had in the shop. What if he screwed this up? Would he have to cut his hair? Or would Derek be willing to help him try to fix it? Could Derek even fix it? Maybe Ishyeal would be a better choice, but there was no guarantee of when he was going to be around. 

Corin took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain steady and to think clearly. Was there a chance he messed this up? Yes, there was. But he was just trying to do one color which Annabelle had assured him was significantly easier than trying to do multiple. And his hair was so dark that it wasn't like he was going to end up with bright neon hair. With a deep inhale, corn dug out the other supplies he got on at the store. The disposable bowl and a pair of gloves so it wouldn't stain his hands. He pulled the gloves on and opened up the bottles, squirting what looked like equal amounts of both colors into the bowl. He mixed it with two fingers and then wiped all the excess on his figure off on the side as a thought accorded to him. Slipping the gloves off he tugged off his shirt. He wasn't sure how washable dye was when it got on clothes, but he had a feeling it wasn't very.

He pulled the clothes back on with an exhale, then dipped his figures into the thick, sticky, and bright goop. Then he brought his hand up to his hair and started smearing it in. 

Nothing tremendous happened.  He just now had what looked like a demented red-purple glue in his hair. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. He knew logically that nothing would happen immediately but the fact that nothing seemed a little anti-climactic. With another deep inhale and exhale, he dipped his other hand into the dye and kept working. 

He wasn't sure how long it took him to cover his whole head, it seemed far too fast and far too slow at the same time. But it was done now. He told his head this way and that and turned around, until it was headed back trying to see. You wanted to make sure he's got in everything. It seems he had so he carefully took off the gloves and set them in a bowl of dye. Now he just had to wait. Annabelle had recommended letting the dye sit on for a bit longer than the bottles had recommended just because of how dark his hair was. A knock on the door started him. 

"Corin?" Derek called. "Are you okay? Your sister said you locked yourself in here basically as soon as you got home."

"I'm fine," Corin said, a little bit of nervousness seeping into his voice. 

There was a pause. "Are you decent?" 

"I'm fine Derek."

"Uh-huh," said Derek and the door rattled. Corin was glad he had remembered to lock it. Then he heard the familiar sound of a sword being drawn. 

"Derek," Corin said, unsure if he was willing to believe that Derek would actually break down the door.

Then there was a flaming blade sticking through the door. 

Corin took a step towards the sink. "I didn't think you would actually do that." The door swung open, and Derek stepped inside. Corin shifted slightly so that the bottles of dye and the bowl with the remnants of the dye, as well as his gloves, were behind him.

Derek blink blinked at him. "What is in your hair?"

"Uhhhhh" Corin shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Hair dye?"

"Hair dye," Derek repeated as if they were completely foreign words. "Why do you have... If you wanted... What?" Derek seemed completely lost and Corin took a brief moment to appreciate that because he didn't often render the man speechless. Before he could say anything though Derek covered his eyes with his hands took a deeper breath and let it out "Okay." he said letting his hand fall "Okay. You're not hurt. That's good. But is there any particular reason that you decided to try to dye your hair alone rather than asking me to arrange an appointment to get it done professionally?"

"I didn't want to have to explain why I wanted it."

Derek said out another breath "Oh resh is this a new coping thing." he muttered under his breath. 

"What? Corin asked.

"Nothing," Derek said waving a hand "Okay so you don't want to tell me why you want it done. That's odd, but it wouldn't have stopped me from helping you."

Corin twisted his hands together, not making eye contact. "That's good to know but I still probably wouldn't have asked. This just felt like something that I needed to handle by myself."

There was a long pause after that. "This might just be related to why you want it done in the first place," Derek said slowly "but is there a reason why it needed to be a 'you thing'?"

Corin bit his lip and let out a sigh. He'd already been caught, there wasn't much reason to keep anything else a secret. "Lately a lot of people have been comparing me to what Tristan looked like. I think if I hear someone else say that if I just trim my hair a little, I'd look just like him, I might actually go insane. But that's my problem, not anyone else's so I didn't want to ask for hope because it seems like it was something I needed to handle."

Derek nodded though he didn't seem to understand completely. Corin wondered if he even could, Derek was an only child and while Corian was pretty sure he had cousins there probably wasn’t as much drama between them as there was between the Cadence family members "So, you decide to dye your hair to look less like him." 

"Yes."

"Okay." Derek nodded again looking surer. "Okay, that makes sense. Can I at least check to make sure you've gotten all of your hair?" 

"I've already checked in the mirror but sure." Corin shrugged and turned his back to the older man. Derek hummed as he studied Corin's hair.

"You did a good job, I think. Everything is covered. How long have you had it in?"

"I'd only just finished putting it in when you came in." Corin pushed his thumbs together, watching the remains of dye on his gloves ooze and mix as he did so. "I want to leave it on for at least an hour, if not more, because of how dark my hair is." 

"And where are you just planning on chilling in here the whole time?" Derek sounded amused. 

"I've got my books and homework in my bag." Corin shrugged again. "And this is one of the lesser-used restrooms so it's not like I'm inconveniencing the others." 

"Fair," Derek answered. "Want me to stay with you or not?"

"Don't care." 

"Alright, well, can I help you wash it out when you do?"

---

"It's cold!" Corin shivered and Derek winced.

"Sorry! I'll try to be quick about it." The soulbalde started running his fingers through Corin's hair, griming a little at the texture of the wet dye. He spared a glance at the water and raised an eye at the deep wine color of the water. He made a mental note to get some bleach because he was pretty sure that was going to stain. "It's a pretty color. At least the water is. I have no clue how it'll look on your hair, but I'm sure it's fine." 

Corin let out a snort of laughter. "You should become a motivational speaker" He snarked. 

"Oh, I already am," Derek told him, raising his hands under the faucet before continuing to scrub the boy's hair. 

"Really?" Corin started to lift his head, eyes wide and Derek pushed his head down.

"We're not done yet. And yes. Not super often, but sometimes I go to schools or clubs and give speeches."

"That sounds horrible. Why?"

"Just part of being a Hartigan." Derek shrugged and tilted Corin's head to get a better angle of the side of his lead. Corin hummed but didn't say anything else and Derek didn't push him. It took a while to get the dye out, and Corin had to shift positions a few times when bending his neck one way became painful. The clock had just struck six when they had gotten enough out that the water was only a light pink color, and they called it good. "Okay kiddo, try to keep that towel on your hair until it's dry, so you don't stain anything. In a few days, you can use shampoo, which will make the water pretty dark again, but after that being damp won't be a problem. Obviously, if it's soaking it can still stain things, but that will slow down the longer you have in it."

"Thanks, Derek." Corin grinned and the older man lightly punched his shoulder. 

"Any time Corin."

"Derek? Did you find Corin?" Patrick's voice came from down the hallway. "Is everything okay?"

"Yep!"

"Everything is fine Patrick," Corin called as he stepped out of the bathroom to meet his retainer. "I was just -"

"Why is your neck and face pink- Selys Corin please tell me that isn't the reminds of blood."

"No! No! It's just some staining from the dye."

Derek sniggered as he gathered the gloves and bowl from the sink. He could see the taller boy's dumbstruck expression in the mirror. 

"Why do you mean dye?" 

"Corin is in his bad boy, cheap coping mechanism phrase" Derek dumped the armful of things into the trash. "Anyway, it's later than I thought it would be, so I think we'll do takeout or delivery of some kind for dinner tonight. What do you guys want?"

Chapter 3

Summary:

Small time skip, to some time later, after Corin has been dying his hair for a few months.

"Keras tells me that you have started dyeing your hair," Ishyeal said conversationally and Corin paused. 

"Uhh, yeah." Corin gestured to his hair. "It's not naturally blue." 

"Hmmm." Ishyeal hummed. "But you haven't ever bleached it?"

"I have, but just once. Everyone I've talked to tells me it's more damaging than the dye, and while I could bleach it as often as I dye it, It would require more care to keep my hair healthy and I'm not that committed to it.... yet. Maybe one day." 

"I see. What kinds of things are required?"

"Can I be really blunt real quick?" Corin asked, and Ishyeal raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Are you trying to find out if you want to bleach and dye your hair, and if you want me to be the one to do it?"

"I wasn't as sublet as I could have been was I?" 

"No. You were not." 

With a sigh, Ishyeal ran a hand through his hair. "Dawn and Reika got their hair done when I told them what Keras had told me. Akari wanted to as well, but apparently she doesn't have as good of control over her aura as Dawn does. Or maybe hers is just more... fiesty shall we say."

"She keeps setting it on fire." Corin guessed and Ishyeal nodded. 

"She doesn't want it done badly enough that she wants to keep trying, but she is upset about being left out of the matching hair thing. I've been debating if I should dye mine red like her's to make her feel better."

Corin hummed. "If it's really not matching that makes her upset then it's not a bad idea, assuming she just wants someone to match with and not match her sister specifically."

"It's just to match with someone. They tried to convince me to do it with her at first but after I declined they tried to get the three of them to match." 

"Makes sense," Corin said, turning back to his enchanting. "Derek could probably help you figure out how to care for me better than I could, though if you decide you want to, I'm willing to help." 

"Noted," the giant of a man said. 

---

"A part of me still feels like we should have waited for Derek," Corin said as he foiled another section of Ishyeal's hair. "But this isn't actually that hard. Not going to try it on me anytime soon, but on another person, it’s pretty easy,"

"Easy after you read the bottle a dozen times, ask several people who do bleach their hair, and watch someone else do it." Ishyeal corrected from the chair, which might have been a questionable decision given how completely he was at Corin's mercy at the moment. 

"And dyed my own by myself several times." Corin picked up another section of hair. "You have so much hair, we might need more foils. Maybe I could convince Sera to send Vanniv to get some." he mused to himself. Ishyeal hummed but gave no other acknowledgment. They fell back into the silence that often filled the space between them. Eventually, Corin frowned, and Ishyeal, spotting it in the mirror raised an eyebrow "Where's Akari?" 

"With young Dalen." Ishyeal said. "I believe your retainer is with them as well."

"I'm glad you and Jin get along. I was really worried after you two met. But between sword lessons and hair lessons, it seems any hard feelings have been put aside."

"Indeed, they have been. I see a lot of myself in the boy. More than I ever thought possible." Ishyeal tilted his head, getting lost in his thoughts and Corin made an affront sound. The older man straightened his head, "Apologizes. I was distracted. But yes, there are no hard feelings between us. He makes jokes about my cornering him, and in return, I make jokes about his cornering me for lessons. Akari is fond of him too, and while I have no desire to ever part from her, I know that if something happened to me, Dalen would fight tooth and nail to get to her and keep her save."

"We all would," Corin said. "Not trying to make that seem like less of a big thing, but you know that all of us would help him if anything happened. Keep him from doing anything rash, so that he would be able to protect her."

""I am glad to hear it. Though I do wonder, is he often rash?" Ishyeal asked, genuinely curious. "He doesn't seem like it to me."

"Well, he hunted you down and demanded sword lessons so what do you think?" 

Ishyeal snorted at that, and Corin cocked an eyebrow. Ishyeal merely smiled. "What does Jin think of your hair?"

"He thinks it’s nice," Corin said with a shrug. "At least I think so. He told me it looked nice, and he still does it for me when I ask, so I'm assuming so. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering." Ishyeal airily, and Corin just knew he was lying. But he did not know why. Before he could demand to know the truth Ishyeal spoke again. "I think the others will be home in time for dinner though, so we might need to hurry on the actual dying part. You said you wait an hour or an hour and a half at minimum?"

"Yeah, but I've also never bleached it. That will make it brighter with a shorter amount of time." Corin turned his attention back to the bleach. "It's sweet of you to do this for her, by the way." 

"Hair has always been a way to show we care for my family, and I'm glad I get to learn about more ways to do so," Ishyeal said, voice turning soft. "My mother used to tell me that her hair was more beautiful than any crown. it's part of why I was so hesitant to bleach it."

"What changed your mind?"

"In part, the fact that I care so much for Akari. But also, because I thought about how silly my mother would have found it to not dye it. Why not have a crown of any colored jewel if you can have it." 

"That's a nice way to look at it," Corin said as he flipped a foiled lock over his shoulder. "Can't help wondering what me dyeing my hair to look less like my brother means in that context though."

"It means," Ishyeal started, turning around in his chair, despite the enchanter huffing out a protest, "that you stopped worrying about the expectations and duty to a family that didn't care. You took a crown that they had broken and bound to you, saying you would never be free of it, and fixed it. You took the most beautiful gems you could and welded them into it, to make something new, that represented your new family and who you really are." He paused then added, "Not that there was anything wrong with your hair when it's its natural color. But you weren't happy with it, and it made you feel tied to them."

Corin smiled, a little shakey from the passionate declaration Ishyeal had given. "Yeah, it did." He waited for a beat. "Thank you Ishyeal. For the kind words and for teaching Keras, and just. For everything." 

"You welcome." He shifted back so he was sitting in the chair properly. "Now, I believe we're on a time crunch." 

Chapter 4: OUTTAKE

Summary:

A part I wrote, but couldn't really make it fit, so I took it out. But I figured I would share it

"Uhh, Corin I love you, but I think might be becoming a problem," Sera said, studying the small collection of hair dyes her brother had bought over the last several months. The bottles were lined up neatly and had little stickers on the top of the caps to show what they were. Sera wasn't sure how Corin had grouped them together, though she thought it might have been by which ones he used together if the fact that original bottles of red and purple were together, as was the concerning bright blue and green he liked to mix together.

"What do you mean?" Corin asked as he diligently ran a comb through his hair.

"Corin, you've been dying your hair every six weeks for the past six months. That's almost once per month." 

"And... that bad?" Corin titled his head. 

"It's.... unexpected," Sera said slowly, taking note of how her brother's eyes narrowed. "I really would have thought you would want to be saving your money." 

"I do." Corin set the comb down. "Derek insists on paying for half of the cost, and the fact that we do it here makes it a lot cheaper than if we did it at a solan." 

"There's also that," Sera added. "You've never been okay with people helping you with those kinds of things. What changed?"

"Derek told me I either let him pay half of it, or he was going to just start sneaking the full amount back into my bags. Said I was his responsibility, and that meant helping me get the things I needed to cope."

"And how exactly does dying your hair help you cope?" Sera asked, praying he would answer the question that had been burning in her mind since she'd seen her brother with his freshly colored hair.

Corin was silent for a long time. "It makes me feel like me." He finally said, refusing to meet her eyes. "Like, when I look in the mirror I see me, not Magnus' failure of a second son, not Tristan's little brother who could never measure up, not Katashi's Arbiter. I see me, who made it out of so many horrible situations and who finally has control over his life, including what to do with his body. And... other people see it too. Almost no one has compared me to Tristan or Father since I started dyeing it. It... It just makes it easier to like who I am."

Sera stared at her brother, mouth agape. 

"Sera?"

"Can I give you a hug?" She asked. 

Corin blinked at her and nodded slowly. "A brief one."

She matched over to him and threw her arms around him. "You have always been you first and foremost and I am so sorry you ever felt otherwise," She said as she pulled away. "And I'm sorry for any part I might have played in you feeling that way."

"It's.... It's alright Sera."

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of The Intimacy of Hair Care (be it romantic, platonic, familial or other)