Work Text:
Currently the infamous Grim Reaper of Heaven’s Arena was sitting on a chair in his room within the Arena, with an old towel around his bare shoulders as the pink haired woman carefully put on the reddish purple hair dye onto his fading locks.
The man rather enjoyed changing his hair colour every so often, and with hsi hair starting to fade at the end of the Hunter Exam, it was the perfect time to invite Machi round to help him to not only dye his hair, but for them to have a pamper session together.
It was a bonus for him, he got to have her company and have her do his hair; he did enjoy how skillfully she would do it.
She ensured that his locks were completely coated with the dye, and she never left the bottle half empty. Though Hisoka’s hair was shorter than what was the ideal length for the amount of dye in the bottle, in her mind his hair was rather thick, and she had seen first hand what would occur if he didn’t use all of the dye; patches of his real hair colour would peek through, or it wouldn’t be as vibrant as it was supposed to be.
That was what happened when he had dyed his hair blue, she had seen his natural colour popping through, though it seemed that no one else had as keen eyes as she did. Certainly no one in the Troupe commented about it, and they would have been the first to tease anyone about a bad dye job, but none of them had noticed.
Of course Machi was many things, but she wasn’t here out of the goodness of her heart, wanting to help out a friend . Those who hailed from Meteor City never had such a luxury of caring for others in that fashion, but working for Hisoka had its perks.
He paid more than others would; or indeed should ; but she knew it was because of her nen ability, he always commented about how he enjoyed seeing her work with her stitches, how adaptable it was. Secretly Machi enjoyed that he liked it so much, around him she never felt like she needed to prove her worth to him, her skills were enough to him, he accepted her for who she was, flaws and all.
But that wasn’t the reason she was here either.
Hisoka easily could afford luxury skin and body care, lotions, face masks, nail polish, the man was happy to throw his money away at such things while she was more careful, keeping a close eye on her spending, and while some would accuse her of hoarding it, she was just afraid that one day she wouldn’t have anything to keep her going, or to use to help those back in Meteor City as she had been doing with the Troupe.
They were going to get old eventually after all, Machi just wanted to ensure there was enough money that she could live in comfort, to finally settle down when the time came to it.
The magician was aware of her reasons for being here, he didn’t mind because the money he earned was far greater than what the Troupe earned in their thievery. He could earn the money by going on a few missions as a Hunter, or even just doing an asassination job for the mob.
In his mind the money there was meant to be spent, so long as he had enough to survive on, he would be fine.
“All done. Now we just need to wait thirty minutes.” she finally said, stepping away from him, looking over his hair with a critical eye as though to ensure it was perfectly saturated.
Golden eyes watched her remove the stained gloves and dropped them into the bin, he smiled at her as she picked up her wine glass and took a swig. Though it wasn’t as chilled as it had been when it had been poured out, it didn’t matter to her, she didn’t have such refined tastes to know that certain wines tasted better when chilled.
“How about I do your nails while we wait?” he suggested as she moved to sit across from him.
“Sure.”
He leaned over to grab a large bag and placed it onto the table, before bringing out the nail clippers, nail files, nail polish remover, and other things that Machi didn’t know much about. This was his hobby after all.
“Colour?” he asked as he brought out the base coat and top coat.
He knew Machi well, even if to most it didn’t seem like it. The pink haired woman couldn’t sit still for too long, she had to do something with her hands, hence why he had brought out the quick drying top coat instead of the regular one. He really didn't need to ask her the colour, he knew what she would go for.
“Black.”
He wasn’t disappointed. It was the colour she always chose though he never bothered to ask her why , he wasn’t interested in the reasoning behind it. And really, he could take a wild stab in the dark that it was due to the colour being able to work with any outfit.
Taking her hand into his own, he began to file her nails, making them neat and more rounded than they had been before, removing any hangnails that she would have ripped off later, and pushed back her cuticles carefully.
Once that part was done, he carefully wiped down her fingers, getting rid of the dust and grime on her fingers before starting to put on the base coat.
“You never told me where you learned how to do this.” Machi finally caved, she didn’t mind long silences, but with him ? There needed to be a flow of conversation, otherwise she would tense up, wondering when he would strike out. Even though he had proven that he had no interest in fighting her, she still couldn’t shake off the feeling that he would .
Of course there were many within the Troupe who were weary of him, for good reason too, he never tried to fit in with them, he was an outsider among outsiders. Yet for Machi? Hisoka had been good to her, he paid her well for healing his wounds, he appreciated her skill and application of her abilities, he was always courteous and polite, if a little bit of a tease and flirt.
“You never asked.” he replied smoothly, with a slight smile on his lips as he used his sharp nails to take away some excess polish from the side of her finger before continuing with his work.
“Well I’m asking now.”
She knew well enough that Hisoka never delved into his past, to him the past wasn’t interesting enough to look back into, and perhaps he felt like once he had learned from it there was no need to remember it any more.
However she was certain that the magician’s past would be interesting to learn about, after all he too had come from Meteor City, though a suburb of it, but he was still one of them, still an outcast and not ever belonging anywhere, though for Hisoka? He didn’t even belong in his home city.
Which was why, or at least so she assumed, that he joined the Spiders. He came across as a bit of a loner, she quickly caught on that he saw himself as being strong and powerful on his own, not needing any help outside of himself, but she felt that he wanted to belong somewhere .
She felt there was a change in the air, what was a more relaxed and calm air, suddenly became more tense and she braced herself, ready to use her nen stitches against him.
“Work.”
It was blunt, he wasn’t even trying to elaborate, but Machi was aware that she should even try to get more information about it from him. Hisoka wasn’t wanting to discuss it, so she would leave it be.
“When?” she asked, and she cursed herself mentally for asking such a question, he wanted the matter dropped and yet she was still asking him questions? If he did attack her, it would be her own fault.
Though sometimes Hisoka liked to talk about his past, things that were more frivolous compared to the more important things that moulded the man into who he was today, she knew she was walking on thin ice.
Golden eyes locked onto blue, they just stared at each other like it was a competition of wills that had been set up, though Machi wasn’t sure why . Hisoka could tell her the truth, or he would just lie.
Or he would simply change the topic.
“As a child.”
That caught her attention, children being used for cheap labour was common, but it was usually for physical labour rather than for something like doing people’s nails .
“For who?”
It shouldn’t have surprised her, that was what the people of Meteor City were used for after all, but for someone like Hisoka? She would have expected him to have been used for physical labour too.
“The rich and powerful.”
It was something of a breakthrough with him, to gain this amount of detail from his past, from his childhood , and Machi knew she was in a very privileged position to gain this information too. Though there was a risk that this was a lie on his part, but she felt like it wasn’t, it didn’t have the flavour of a Hisoka Morow lie after all.
“From where?” although she knew the ice may be breaking beneath her feet, and she knew that she wouldn’t realise it until it was too late, she needed to know.
But she wanted to know more about these rich and powerful people, they typically never stepped foot into the city, though with Hisoka being on the outskirts, perhaps when they were simply passing through and it was easier to stay inconspicuous on the outside that it was in the epicentre of the city.
“Everywhere.” he put the nail brush back into the bottle and reached to take a delicate sip of his wine, all the while looking over at her, daring her to ask more questions, to see how his mood would change.
To see how long she would have left to live.
At least that was how Machi took that look in those golden eyes. She was many things, but she would continue on with this game until she was certain he was going to snap.
“Did you learn anything about them?” she was certain he would, Hisoka had a way with getting people to talk, usually by accident.
“No.”
She couldn’t help but scoff at that answer, until she reminded herself that Hisoka had been doing this work as a child , he likely was developing his skills to question people tactfully as he worked, the rich and powerful were the perfect people to learn from after all.
And if he had questioned them, even if he had been discrete? If they realised what he was doing there would be another dead body in the gutter.
Anything could cause the death of a resident in Meteor City, no matter how minor it may seem, you could be killed for it.
Looking over at the clock on the bedside table she gazed over at him. “You can finish this later, your time is up.” she nodded to his hair, and although it was supposed to be thirty minutes, they were distracted and his hair was beginning to dry with the dye.
“All right.” he picked up the polish however and put the final coat of the quick drying top coat onto the last nail, completing one had.
Not that she minded, he would finish the job once he was done with his hair.
The magician walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind himself but never bothered to lock it, knowing that Machi wouldn’t come in unless she had to.
He turned the shower and and undressed completely, throwing the rest of his clothes into the laundry basket before stepping into the shower, leaning back to allow his hair to get completely soaked before he even attempted to wash the excess dye out.
As Machi had put on so much dye - as was her custom - and they had left it in for longer than they should have, he knew that it would take longer to wash out. He had been tempted to tell her that his hair didn’t need so much dye, it was thick but it certainly didn’t need the whole bottle of dye layered onto it.
He wouldn’t chastise her for that, he knew why she did it.
Like many people in Meteor City, Machi hated waste, she rarely liked to use her own money on things; though she had plenty of it; but if you were going to use something, you had to use all of it . Regardless of what it was, even if it tasted bad, you would use it all up.
Of course Hisoka wasn’t oblivious to how Machi behaved around him, he knew she tended to be around him because he paid extremely well. He did notice however that he was one of the few that she wasn’t weary about within the Troupe.
Except for Chrollo of course, and the boss was someone that Machi was always comfortable around, whereas with himself?
She would be weary one moment, and comfortable the next.
It was annoying to know that fact, to know that she would be around him just because of how well he would pay her, but he did enjoy her company regardless. He liked spending time with her, particularly like this.
Moments like this, there was never any tension between them. Machi right now as more at ease with his presence, her guard lowered, she was like having a friend round to keep him company.
At least that was what he assumed it would be like.
In the main room, Machi was looking over her neatly painted nails. Her hand looked as though it should belong to someone who was rich and refined , not someone like her .
With that thought lingering in her mind she frowned, lifting her hand to marvel at the shimmer that was in the polish, knowing Hisoka gave her this kind of polish instead of just plain black because he knew what she was like.
Looking at her hand again, she wanted the polish off, of course she already was aware that Hisoka knew she took off the polish when she went back to her place.
But she would hold herself back and simply marvel in his skill, a skill that had been carefully curated when he was only a child, and yet it was also a skill that he was proud of, since he kept up with it as he did seem to enjoy it, after all he took the time and effort to do his own nails. If he didn’t enjoy the work, he wouldn’t bother doing it at all, at least that was what she figured, and likely was the reason why he wouldn’t appear for a heist.
Sitting down and slowly sipping the rest of her wine, she found that forty minutes had passed until he finally came out of the bathroom, wearing a towel that was wrapped around his waist and a towel that was wrapped around his hair.
Without a word, he walked over to his dressing table and picked up a bottle of lotion before starting to moisturize his skin.
“I thought something had happened.” she commented somewhat teasingly, as she picked up a magazine off the magazine rack by the window as she moved to lie back on the bed instead, feeling like she was a rich and wealthy woman, one who always knew where her next meal was coming from, who didn’t have to do a days work in her life.
“Oh it just took longer for the water to clear.”
He was quick at moisturising his skin, before moving back to the table, gesturing for her to sit across from him again so he could do her other hand.
This time he was more careful, no mistakes were made this time round, no need for him to use his nails to remove any excess polish, he was ensuring that this hand looked perfect.
Once he put on the quick drying top coat, Machi admired the work that he had done, while he moved away from the table to return to the dresser and began to put some hair product on to his freshly dyed hair.
Blue eyes gazed over at his broad, muscular back, knowing that he was putting some heat protector on, although Hisoka did like to let his hair dry naturally even though it would be rather flat, but when he slicked it back into his regular style? No one would know.
After he had washed his hands, he returned to her with another bag, this time with facial products, and he had her go onto the bed, only this time she leaned against him as he gave her a facial massage, which as something else that she learned that he did as a child for the rich and powerful.
He didn’t say it, and Machi wasn’t going to ask either, but she was certain that he had done more than just give them basic treatments like this.
Of course there was no way that someone could ask such a question. She had gotten an idea as to how rough his childhood had been, her own had been rather rough too, it was how she managed to master nen, but for someone like Hisoka?
It was something else.
In the whole four years that she has known him for, she had never seen him be angry, never saw him lose his temper, he always seemed laid back, calm and collected, she couldn’t even tell if there was a storm brewing inside him as she could with the other’s in the Troupe. He was just that good at keeping his emotions tightly close to his chest, though it did annoy her that she couldn’t see through his mask like she could with everyone else.
“You should take more time to pamper yourself.” Hisoka finally spoke up, as he began to do a second cleanse of her face.
Machi scoffed, they both knew that she wouldn’t allow anyone to touch her like this… aside from Hisoka.
She knew that in this moment he wasn't going to harm her, he was just wanting to have some personal time with someone that didn’t involve a killing at the end. It was rather different to what she was used to when it came to him.
Closing her eyes, she began to relax feeling her breath begin to even out, the light pressure of Hisoka’s fingers against her skin was comforting, soothing in fact, and once he placed a sheet mask onto her face, she had drifted off, to his amusement.
Carefully he began to cleanse his own skin, although nowhere near as intricate as he had done for Machi; in his eyes it was always nicer to have someone else massage your skin in such a way; before he put on his own sheet mask.
He began to stroke her luscious pink locks, wild and untamed just like the woman they belonged to, though he knew she could style her hair to make her hair appear more smooth, but he actually liked her hair when it was like this.
Hisoka was many things, a killer, a thief, a magician, but he certainly wasn’t stupid.
He knew all too well that Machi was here because she wanted him to feel like he belonged to the Troupe, that he wasn’t the odd man out. She didn’t trust others easily and yet she was here, she let her guard down, she fell asleep against him.
Having her here like this, it meant so much more than anything else.
To have her fall asleep against him, even though she was normally so weary with him? It meant that she did actually trust him. It was touching to know that she indeed cared for him in her own way.
It was just a shame that he would end up shattering that trust when he killed the most important person in her life.