Nishiki nodded. "I trust your navigation skills."
As Nishiki went to step down from the upward slope he was standing on, he tripped on a stray root and fell. I lurched forward to catch him, but combined gravity and our weight toppled me over. An almost comical dust cloud exploded as we hit the ground and Nishiki landed on top of me with a high-pitched yelp.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
I was secretly enjoying the fact that he hadn't clambered off of me yet. Nishiki's body was warm, his muscles toned and firm without disrupting his delicate model’s physique, and his long golden hair spilled around us like rays of sunlight.
Nishiki let out a whimper as he got up. His face was bright red again, though I didn't know if it was from the embarrassment of tripping or from landing on me. "I'm sorry! I'm so clumsy."
As I got to my feet, Nishiki let out a cry.
"What happened?” I asked.
He held out the lower half of his hair in his palms and was staring at it in horror. It took me a second to notice what he was so upset about. There were clods of dirt and stray twigs in his hair now, tangling up the ends of it.
"Oh, this is the worst," Nishiki mumbled.
He meticulously began to pick out debris from his locks. But I noticed that he hid his face as he did so, as if he was ashamed.
I kneeled in front of him, frowning in sympathy. I couldn't relate to his struggle, considering I kept my hair cropped close to my head, but I could tell this was a big deal to him. I'd seen the way he stroked and threaded his fingers through his hair, as if combing through it was a source of comfort to him.
"You must think I'm stupid for getting so upset about this," Nishiki mumbled, not meeting my eyes.
"Not at all. Would you like some help?"
His voice trembled slightly. "Sure. If you don't mind."
I reached down to pluck a twig carefully out of a knot of hair. With the twig gone, it only took a little touch from my fingers to unravel it back to its original silky form. Nishiki's hair was incredibly soft, flowing like water through my hands. It was obvious why he was so proud and protective of it.
His cheeks were turning red again. "I, um... usually don't let people touch my hair."
I paused, quickly retracting my hands in case he had changed his mind about me touching it.
But Nishiki smiled shyly. "No, you don't have to do that. I just meant that I trust you with it. Sorry if that's a weird thing to say."
"No," I said, smiling in return. "I'm glad you told me."
We finished up after a few minutes of combing through Nishiki's hair until it was clean and perfect again. I relished those moments kneeling close to him and helping him with such a strangely intimate task.
Nishiki blew out a breath. "Sorry about that. I'm a little temperamental about my hair."
For some reason, I couldn't stop smiling. Unlike when Alexei puffed and preened his feathers, Nishiki wasn't trying to show off. There was no arrogance in the act, and the fact that he trusted me to help him with his most prized body part made my heart flutter.
Nishiki truly was one of the most interesting alphas I'd ever met.
