As Chell sat there on the porch swing, reflectively staring at the colorful sunset, she felt her companion shift beside her, his arm draped across her shoulders. She felt his hand move from resting on her shoulder to entangling itself in the dark strands of her hair, being careful not to pull too hard at them, and stroking through them fondly. She glanced over at him questioningly, meeting his own interested and curious eyes.

"Hm? Oh! Uh, s-sorry," Wheatley stammered, obviously embarrassed, disentangling his hand as quickly yet also as gently as he could. "Sorry, don't know what came over me there. Just- just felt the need to touch your hair for some reason. Should've asked for permission first though I suppose. A bit awkward that. Sorry."

Chell just responded with an amused and inquisitive smile and a raised eyebrow. It wasn't that awkward really, just a bit unexpected.

"I mean, you know," Wheatley continued, after noting Chell's questioning look, "You-you really do have lovely hair. Nice color, and very…er, soft. A bit long too. Long enough that you could put it up in all sorts of styles I'm sure. Not to say that your usual ponytail isn't nice luv! No no, perfectly fine! Just-just thought it would be neat if you changed things up a bit, like added a braid or some clips or something. But it's ok if you don't want to. Ponytails are more convenient anyway I suppose. Practical. A lot like you I suppose. Very you in fact. Definitely a signature look for you-"

With a small shake of her head, Chell reached back and pulled the hair elastic out of her hair, her ponytail becoming a chocolate-colored cascade that fell down around her shoulders and along her upper back. She held the elastic out to Wheatley, interrupting him.

"Hm? S-sorry, what's this for?" he asked confused.

Chell held it out further, glancing down at it and back up to Wheatley, who stared at it for another second before realization entered his expression.

"…Oh-Oh! Oh, do you want me to try something with your hair?"

Chell nodded with another smile.

"Oh, well, ok" Wheatley began, taking the hair elastic from her hand. "But I'm not, uh, particularly experienced at this, just so you know. Obviously never had to do it with mine. So, uh, not sure how this'll turn out, not sure if I can hack it, but first time for everything I suppose. Ok, here we go…"

Chell turned so that her back was facing toward him, and she felt Wheatley gently pull her hair back and begin combing his fingers through it, getting out any knots and tangles that there may have been. As she felt him trying to go about combing and weaving and braiding her hair together in whatever style he had in mind, she couldn't help but notice how nice it felt. Sure, he tugged a bit too hard by accident a couple times (of course he would, he was Wheatley), but Chell didn't really mind. It was nice to feel his fingers run along her scalp, and feel how careful he really was trying to be with her, and feel her hair periodically brush against her back and shoulders and he handled it.

And she could hear him mutter to himself a little bit, obviously frustrated with his lack of hairstyling skills. But instead of worrying herself about how it was going to turn out, Chell was actually rather delightfully curious about how it would turn out. Most likely as an uneven and lopsided braid knowing Wheatley, but whatevs.

After a while, Wheatley finally said, "Ok, I think that's alright. All done! Oh, wait a sec, argh, I guess you can't really see it though can you, it being behind you and all. Should have thought of that before now really. Maybe you could still see it if I got a mirror, or you'd probably have to have at least two I guess for that to work, two mirrors that is, or a perhaps a cam-"

Chell then turned to look at him over her shoulder…

And Wheatley's voice immediately came to a halt as his breath was suddenly taken away. For at that moment he was suddenly looking at one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen in his life.

Granted he hadn't even come close to braiding Chell's hair perfectly - some may have even said it looked a bit messy - but perhaps something about how rough it looked complimented Chell's own rather rugged yet beautiful character. Of course this was by accident on Wheatley's part, but perhaps this time it turned out to be a happy accident. And now that hairstyle, matched with her sharp slate-gray eyes, with her pose being so natural and inquisitive as she looked over her shoulder, and with the colorful sky as the backdrop behind her, and with the light of the setting sun highlighting her face and shoulders and the shining strands of her hair…

Well, for once it left Wheatley at a loss for words, and all he could do was stare at her in awe.

He finally snapped out of it as Chell's eyes glanced away and back, as if to say, "Ok…now you are being a bit awkward."

Wheatley blinked a couple times, shaking himself out of his astonished trance. "O-oh, erm, s-sorry luv," said Wheatley, still sounding slightly dazed, and his face showing a touch of scarlet. "I…I don't know what came over me there."