****
Chad was waiting inthe kitchen when Romeo came back down.He quickly looked away from Romeo’s shirtless body, but his blush built, glowing up his cheekbones.
“Here,” he said, pushing out a chair with a bit too much force.
Romeo caught it before it tipped and hit the floor.
“Sorry,” Chad said, still not meeting his eye.
Romeo positioned the chair and sat down.It felt like minutes before Chad came up behind him.
“I’ll just...”
He touched Romeo’s hair, tentatively at first.
“Get on with it, Chad.”
Romeo closed his eyes, zoning out to the buzzing of the clippers, and Chad’s fingers brushing through his hair.He relaxed, his head dropped forward only for Chad to chuckle and encourage it up again.
“Sure you don’t need those sleeping pills?”
Romeo frowned.
“Almost done,” Chad said, putting the clippers on the kitchen table.He grabbed a pot of hair wax he had ready and unscrewed the top.
“A little of this,” Chad scooped out a small amount and rubbed it between his palms.He paused and slowly brought his hands up to his face.He took a deep breath in through his nose, then stiffened.
“Problem?”Romeo asked.
Chad lowered his hands.He widened his eyes and quickly reddened under Romeo’s scrutiny.“I...”
“Sniffed the hair wax?”
Chad frowned at his tacky hands.“I liked the smell.It smells like...”
“Me,” Romeo supplied.“Get it in my hair.”
“Yeah.Sure,” Chad blurted, before brushing it through with his fingers.
His cheeks didn’t lose their red glow.He kept darting looks to the door, like he contemplated running.
Romeo expected Chad to cut his hair short, but he didn’t.Once it was done, it was still long enough for Romeo to tuck it behind his ears.The loss of the ends gave his hair more volume, and matched with the short stubble, Romeo felt at home in his skin again.
He looked good, and Chad tripping over nothing, and struggling to speak, only confirmed it.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.Can ...can I ask you something?”Chad asked.
He had his back to Romeo while putting the clippers back into their box.
Romeo brushed hair from his shoulder.“What is it?”
“Did I ...did we ever...”Chad cleared his throat, building up to the question.“Did we ever mess around with drugs?”
Of all the questions Romeo thought Chad might ask, that hadn’t been one of them.
“No.”
