Author's Note: For the yalit100 community on lj's PJO table, prompt 32: Hair. And also because Silena and Clarisse were bros and I love that. No plot to be found, but since when is that important.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.

It was as Silena pulled the hairbrush through a particularly nasty tangle that Clarisse realized how far gone she was.

"Sorry," Silena said in a sweetly apologetic tone. "I'm trying to not make it hurt too much, but I'm afraid this is what happens when one goes on a quest unprepared," Silena finished, voice far too chipper.

"It wasn't me who went unprepared," Clarisse grunted, reminding Silena of Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson's stowing away behavior (as if anyone at camp could ever forget, even if they never spoke of it).

"Still," Silena said. "Looks like you weren't taking care of your personal grooming as one should." And with that she continued brushing through Clarisse's tangled brown hair.

They're quiet for a while, Silena taking care to go through the tangles as softly as possible, holding the strands with one hand and brushing with the other so as not to pull on Clarisse's scalp too much. Clarisse coudn't really think of how she felt about that, the fact that a girl like Silena was the one being gentle and careful with a girl like herself. Gentleness and care definitely weren't traits Clarisse had to spare, nor were they things she was particularly comfortable with when it came to others. And yet, she never rejected it with Silena.

"The quest went well, though, didn't it?" Silena said, always on the bright side. "You stalled Luke and them? I mean I know it wasn't ideal for you, Percy and Annabeth stealing the show, but it ended up okay..." she trailed off, a trace of something in her voice that Clarisse couldn't place.

Clarisse could only shrug, regretting the movement when it caused Silena to pull the brush through a tangle too roughly, both of them cringing at the action. Silena apologized again and they went back to their routine.

Silena was one of the only ones who knew the whole story with what happened on the quest for the Golden Fleece, for the simple fact that Clarisse told it to her. She didn't speak a word of it, of course, because Silena (despite being a daughter of Aphrodite, Clarisse often thought) was a loyal friend and didn't want to hurt anyone.

It was just them, sitting behind one of the cabins in the grass, none of the other campers in sight, and Clarisse liked it best like this, if only because it was in those moments that she got to be such a different person than she normally was. The kind of person who would actually accept her friend's offers to brush her hair for her (and probably braid it elaborately after). A friend who was, to Clarisse's surprising lack of horror, the type of girl who color-coordinated and wore her perfumes according to season (or wore perfume at all). And then, scariest of all, was the fact that Clarisse caught herself enjoying these moments.

No, Clarisse thought. No, the scariest part wasn't that. The scariest part was that Clarisse didn't know what she would do without Silena. That was terrifying.

Silena ripped the brush through another tangle, Clarisse gritting her teeth, Silena apologizing once again.

Silena sighed from behind Clarisse, plopping the hairbrush down on the grass. "I'm gonna go get some leave in conditioner from my cabin; it'll help, trust me. Just wait here!"

"Okay?" Clarisse said, watching after Silena as she glided over to the Aphrodite cabin, and it was with that that she truly realized how far gone she was.

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