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“Honey or sugar?”
Atsushi’s voice from the kitchen pulled Sigma from his thoughts. Sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, he’d been combing through his shower-damp hair, spaced out as he gazed through the open window at the sky.
“It’s chamomile tea tonight, we’re out of jasmine,” Atsushi added.
“Honey then please,” Sigma called back.
“You’ve got it.”
Sigma set the comb down and looped a hair tie around his wrist, before beginning to section his hair into three equal parts. After a moment, Atsushi finally came back around the corner with two steaming cups of tea. His own hair was still wet and tangled, a towel draped over his shoulders, catching the water as it dripped from the ends. He smiled, setting a cup down in front of Sigma.
“Here, I hope I didn’t add too much honey.”
Sigma smiled back. “I’m sure it’s great, you know my sweet tooth.”
Atsushi set his own cup down, but hesitated before sitting beside him. He took a moment to survey the living room.
The work week had been long and exhausting, leaving their apartment in disarray. Clothes were draped over the back of furniture, and lately their futons weren’t getting rolled up in the morning, leaving the same messy bedding spread over the floor. The environment wasn’t unwelcoming though; between the fresh air filtering through the open window and warm string lights taking the place of a harsh overhead light, the apartment had a cozy atmosphere regardless of its untidiness.
“We’ll clean up tomorrow,” Sigma commented.
Atsushi nudged a pillow aside to finally sit down next to him. “It’s not that bad, right?”
“It could be worse,” Sigma agreed. “At least we have the weekend off to get things in order.”
Blowing across the surface of his tea, Atsushi nodded. “I think we could both really use the break too.”
Sigma continued to work through his hair, beginning to twist the strands about each other in one long, simple braid. He’d taken a liking to wearing his wet hair braided when he slept, waking up with wavy hair in the morning that often landed him a compliment or two. When he reached the end of his hair, he untwisted the elastic from his wrist. When he did, however, it suddenly snapped, the broken hair tie going flying across the room.
Atsushi couldn’t help but crack a smile at Sigma’s dumbfounded expression, watching the elastic ricochet off the wall.
Sigma cleared his throat. “Um… could you…”
“On it!” Atsushi stood up, already making his way to the bathroom to retrieve a replacement hair tie. He returned a moment later, where Sigma still sat and waited, awkwardly pinching the end of his hair. Atsushi tossed the fresh elastic to him, before sitting back down.
“Thanks,” said Sigma. “I don’t even… how does that…?”
Still smiling, Atsushi shook his head. “I bet that happens all the time.”
Being careful not to overstretch the elastic this time, Sigma finally secured the end of his braid, then tossed the hair back over his shoulder.
“Looks good,” said Atsushi.
“Thanks.” Sigma paused to take his first sip of tea. It tasted of gentle, herbal chamomile, with the sweet and rich note of honey exactly how he liked it.
“Good?” Atsushi asked.
“Perfect,” Sigma confirmed as he set the cup back down. “Come here though. Do you want me to comb your hair out for you?”
Atsushi’s expression lit up. “Really?”
“Of course,” said Sigma. “I do mine all the time, and I’ve been meaning to offer.” He patted the spot in front of him, and picked up his comb.
Atsushi moved closer to Sigma, tentatively sitting cross-legged and facing away from him. “Does this work?”
“Yes, that works fine.” Sigma shifted, sitting up on his knees as he lifted the comb to Atsushi’s hair.
“I uh–” Atsushi cleared his throat. I’m sorry if it's tangled. I’ve been meaning to get it cut, it’s getting kind of long,” He lowered his head slightly, a hand reaching up to idly twist the end of the long strand hanging down by his chin.
“No, don’t worry about it,” Sigma insisted. “You’ve seen how long I keep mine. It’s all just a matter of personal preference.” Starting with the ends of his hair, he began to work through, detangling from the bottom up in short, gentle strokes of the comb.
“I guess it’s just a matter of convenience for me,” Atsushi admitted. “I haven’t bothered to change the style or maintain the length, even with the terrible haircut from back at the orphanage.” He closed his eyes, tilting his head back slightly as Sigma continued to work patiently through his ends. “I guess I’m not used to the luxury of choosing my own style, and I figured if I were to go get my hair done, I would have to know how I want it to look.”
“Have you given it any thought?” Sigma asked. “If you’re having trouble with style, how about comfort? Do you like it as long as it is now, or was it more practical when it was short?”
Atsushi hummed thoughtfully. “More practical when it was short. It didn’t get tangled as easily,” he replied, reaching to retrieve his tea. He took a sip of it before just holding it in his lap.
Sigma moved on from the back, shifting around to the sides of Atsushi’s head where the hair began to get longer. “The back is the shortest right now. What do you think of that length?”
“I could go shorter. I think I like the front kind of long though. I don’t know, I mean, I used to get insults about my hair when I first joined the agency, but I really never minded it how it was.”
“I see.” As Sigma made his way around the sides of Atsushi’s hair, he eventually came towards the front, where he repositioned himself to face him. He touched the frontmost strand, admiring it with a tenderness that made Atsushi blush.
“You know,” Sigma continued, as he resumed combing. “Like I said before, it really is all about personal preference, which can - like in your case - come from familiarity. You could go back to how you had it before, and if you’re self conscious, maybe just clean it up a little.”
“Huh…” Atsushi glanced down at his cup, watching the steam billow up from the warm liquid.
“Take time to think about it,” Sigma said. He leaned in a little closer as he combed through Atsushi’s bangs, pausing in his close proximity to press a kiss to his forehead. “No need to make a decision right away.” With that, he moved back around to finish up.
Atsushi twirled his long strand between his thumb and forefinger, noticing how long it seemed when it was wet and combed out. “Yeah.. I think I will.”
A few minutes passed before Sigma announced that he was finished. “Want me to go get the mirror? It looks good, I promise.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” said Atsushi. “But it’s fine, I need to go get rid of my towel before bed anyways.” He finished the rest of the tea from his cup, before standing up. He then slung his wet towel off his shoulders, shook his hair out, and leaned down to press a chaste kiss to Sigma’s lips. “Thank you.”
Sigma smiled, nodding slightly as Atsushi then left the room. He finished his own tea, before bringing their empty cups to the kitchen. The sink wasn’t in better shape than the rest of the apartment, and he made a mental note to add dishes to their chores for the weekend.
“Need the lights?” Atsushi asked as he re-entered the room.
“No, I’m good,” Sigma replied. He switched the kitchen lights out, as Atsushi unplugged the string lights, leaving only the remaining glow from the open window.
“It’s like I can’t even find my futon in here,” Atsushi said as he began to pick his way through the living room. “What were we even doing this week?”
“Well let’s see… last night we stayed late to finish a case report in the office. The night before, we traveled rather far for a mission and that kept us out late too…” Sigma followed after Atsushi, sitting down on his futon beside him.
“Dazai also took us out drinking earlier this week,” Atsushi recalled.
Sigma shuddered as he lay down. “And I’ll never do that again.”
“I told you you shouldn’t have agreed. It’s almost as if he gets himself into more trouble when he has company.” With a sigh, Atsushi shuffled under the covers, resting his head on the pillow to lie facing Sigma. “I’m glad we have the weekend off.”
Reaching over to take Atsushi’s hand, Sigma just smiled. “Me too.”
Atsushi yawned as he ran his thumb over the back of his partner’s hand. “Good night, Sigma. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The two of them were still hand in hand when they finally fell asleep.