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Lan Zhan stood outside the entrance and took a deep breath. He didn’t have to do this. He could just walk away…maybe they could come back another day when he was feeling braver…when everything was…
A little hand squeezed his fingers. “Adie, it’s okay. A-Yuan is big now, I’m ready for a big boy haircut.”
A-Yuan was ready…but was Lan Zhan? He looked down at his beautiful son who beamed back at him. Okay. It was time. Just an inch off. Nothing drastic. And he could keep a lock. That would help. Lan Zhan pushed open the door.
The shop was new, A-Yuan had noticed it a month ago as they walked past on their way to school. He had giggled at the cute bunnies drawn in the window all with different fancy hairstyles. Ever since A-Yuan had been begging to be allowed to visit the shop for his first ever haircut. Lan Zhan had finally relented. A-Yuan’s hair was past his shoulders now, they could lose an inch without Lan Zhan going into a spiral about his baby boy growing up too soon…or so he hoped.
“Hello! Welcome! I’ll be right with you!” A very cheerful voice from the back room said as they entered the store. The rabbit drawings ran all around the room, Lan Zhan was mesmerised for a few moments until A-Yuan tugged on his arm and Lan Zhan took his son’s coat and hung it with his own on the red coat stand. They sat down on the leather sofa seating that ran along the back of the store. The cheerful voice started to hum and Lan Zhan recognised the song as one of his own favourites.
“You like that song too Adie!” A-Yuan said. Lan Zhan smiled and nodded. “I do.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting! But I do love to make an entrance!” Suddenly there was a man in front of them. A man dressed all in black with long shiny black hair tied back with a red scrunchie. He wore a belt around his waist with various combs and hair products popping out of the pockets but the thing Lan Zhan noticed the most was his devastating smile. He liked the man’s smile so much. He forgot to respond to the man’s greeting.
A-Yuan elbowed him in the side. “Adie!” he whispered.
The man in-front of them let out a little laugh. “I’m Wei Ying, and this is my shop! Now…who out of the two handsome men in front of me is here for a haircut today?”
“Me!” A-Yuan said, sticking his hand up into the air. Lan Zhan guiltily realised he felt a little jealous of his sweet baby boy.
“This is A-Yuan,” Lan Zhan said. “I am Lan Zhan, his father.”
Wei Ying smiled again. Lan Zhan was glad he was sitting down. His knees might not have stood up to the test. “It is nice to meet you both! Shall we get you in the chair, A-Yuan?” Wei Ying asked. A-Yuan looked a little worried. Wei Ying noticed. “You okay little buddy?” he asked.
“I think he is a little apprehensive, this is his first haircut,” Lan Zhan explained.
Wei Ying’s eyebrows shot up. “Your first haircut! Surely not! Surely a big boy like you has had many haircuts in his lifetime! What are you twenty? Thirty?”
A-Yuan laughed. “No!”
Wei Ying frowned as he put a gown on A-Yuan. “Nineteen then?” he said.
“No!” A-Yuan giggled.
Wei Ying picked A-Yuan up and put him in the chair. “Well you have to be eighteen then! You almost have a beard!” He pretended to stroke A-Yuan chin bristles which made the little boy laugh even harder.
“How much are we taking off?” Wei Ying whispered to Lan Zhan.
“An inch,” Lan Zhan whispered back. Wei Ying nodded and winked at Lan Zhan as he started combing A-Yuan’s hair. “Okay, so you’re seventeen then? Have you got your first car yet? Bought your first house?”
The easy back and forth between A-Yuan and Wei Ying continued until his hair had been cut to perfection and Lan Zhan had managed not to cry even once thanks mainly to the distraction of Wei Ying’s hips.
“Look at you!” Wei Ying said as he showed A-Yuan the back of his head with a hand held mirror. “What gorgeous hair you have, A-Yuan, just like your Adie!”
“I’m adopted,” A-Yuan said. “My Adie looks after me all by himself but he’s a very good daddy so it’s okay that there's only us two.”
“Oh,” Wei Ying said, then recovered and smiled. “Well I’m very pleased that you have such a good daddy, A-Yuan. You’ve been a perfect customer! Now the most important question…what flavour lollipop do you want?”
A-Yuan and Wei Ying debated over the best choice of lollipop while Lan Zhan collected their coats and pulled out his wallet.
“Strawberry, a classic,” Wei Ying told A-Yuan once the little boy had made his selection. “That will be one million pounds please Mr A-Yuan.”
“Daddy will pay,” A-Yuan said with the ease of a child who had never had to pay for a thing in his life and didn’t know how much one million pounds was.
Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan in amusement. “Well then that will be ten pounds please. I’ll give you a sizeable discount.”
Lan Zhan felt his ears blush. He pulled out a twenty pound note and handed it to Wei Ying. “Keep the change,” he insisted.
“No! That’s too much! Take your change!” Wei Ying tried to insist but Lan Zhan shook his head. He suddenly realised with a sad pang that they had no reason to continue interacting and he would have to leave the store. “Goodbye,” he told Wei Ying as A-Yuan pulled him to the exit.
“Goodbye, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying replied with a small wave. Then they were out on the street and Lan Zhan felt bereft. “Adie! Open please!” A-Yuan said, thrusting his lollipop towards Lan Zhan’s chest. Lan Zhan took it and peeled off the wrapper for A-Yuan and handed it back. They started to walk along the pavement. Maybe it was time that Lan Zhan got a haircut. Yes, maybe he could go back when A-Yuan was in school. Maybe this time he could try to talk more and maybe afterwards Wei Ying would agree to…
“Adie, isn’t it sad that all my little hairs will get thrown away now! They aren’t part of me anymore!”
A-Yuan’s little voice interrupted Lan Zhan’s thoughts. Lan Zhan smiled down at A-Yuan. “That is true…but…”
Wait. A-Yuan’s hair. He didn’t get a lock of A-Yuan’s hair! It was going to be thrown away and he wouldn’t have a memento of the grand occasion!
“We must go back,” Lan Zhan said abruptly and started to briskly jog back to the shop with A-Yuan’s little hand grasped in his own. “Adie, why are we going back? Are we going to rescue my hair? We could keep it for Grand-Uncle! He could put it on his bald spot!”
Lan Zhan turned to tell A-Yuan never to mention Uncle’s bald spot while in Uncle’s presence when he ran into something warm and sweet smelling. “Oof!” Wei Ying took a few steps back and rubbed his chest. “Ow.”
“Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan said, horrified. “I apologise. I should have been looking where I was going…if you’re hurt…”
Wei Ying laughed. “Don’t be silly! I’m fine! But that chest of yours is very firm! Ha ha. Anyway it was probably my fault, I’m clumsy!”
“It was most definitely my fault,” Lan Zhan insisted.
Wei Ying shrugged. “Doesn't matter anyway, I’m just glad I caught you, I wanted to give you this.” Wei Ying handed a small black packet to Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan looked at it and then at Wei Ying.
“It's a few locks of A-Yuan’s hair, for you to keep.”
Lan Zhan’s mouth fell open slightly. How thoughtful of Wei Ying. He grasped the packet in his hand. “Thank you. I was returning to ask for this very thing but you have anticipated my requirements. Thank you so much.”
Wei Ying scrunched up his nose and scratched the back of his head. “It’s no big deal. I meant to give it to you as you were leaving but I was distracted by…well…you.”
Lan Zhan blinked. “By me?”
Wei Ying winced and danced around a bit. “Well this isn’t embarrassing at all but yeah by you and all your…you-ness.”
“My you-ness?” Lan Zhan repeated.
Wei Ying made a little noise. “Wow. I’m really winning you over with my sparkling vocab skills! I swear I’m usually very loquacious! See I know big words! I’m totally dateable!”
“Dateable?” Lan Zhan parroted.
“Oh my god! What? Did I say that? Out loud? That was meant to be in my head. Wow. This is the last time I agree to a ten hour shift in the shop alone! Anyway, you have your hair now, in a non-creepy way, and I’m going to go back to the shop and smack myself in the head with a hairdryer.”
“No! Don’t do that!” A-Yuan said and the two men jumped and suddenly remembered they had a little boy in their presence.
“I was just joking, A-Yuan! I would never do that!” Wei Ying insisted. A-Yuan still looked upset. “Oh god, don’t cry! Come back to the shop! You can have one of every lollipop!”
A-Yuan smiled suddenly. “Okay, we can go, Adie?”
“Yes we can go,” Lan Zhan replied. “But I will pay for the lollipops,” he told Wei Ying.
“No. You won’t,” Wei Ying said as he led the way back into the shop. “You already overpaid me and my sister owns a sweetshop so I get them for free anyway.”
“Your sister owns a sweetshop?” A-Yuan said with wide eyes as he followed Wei Ying back to the counter and the jar of infamous lollipops.
Wei Ying grinned. “Oh yes. She lives in another town but I can show you pictures.” Wei Ying pulled out his phone and showed A-Yuan the beautiful picturesque sweetshop his sister owned by the sea and then he showed A-Yuan the other barbershop his brother owned. While Wei Ying talked, Lan Zhan tried to think of a way to interrupt and invite Wei Ying on a date. But he couldn’t think of a way that didn’t make him look desperate or inappropriate. He still hadn’t thought of a way when all the lollipops had been dished out and Wei Ying had stopped telling stories about his family.
“Well I think it’s time I closed for the night,” Wei Ying said.
“I’m sorry we should leave,” Lan Zhan said.
“It’s okay! It's been nice talking to you both. I don’t know a lot of people around here. I’ve been a bit lonely,” Wei Ying confessed.
There was a pause when Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan and Lan Zhan looked back at his beautiful face and tried to remember how people communicated with one another.
“If you ever feel lonely you can come visit us!” A-Yuan piped up.
Wei Ying laughed. “Well thank you very much for the invite, A-Yuan but I think your dad…”
“Would also very much like to extend an invitation to you,” Lan Zhan interjected. “Please come for dinner tomorrow night.”
Wei Ying bit his lip and then grinned. “I’d love to. Thank you. Shall we swap numbers so you can send me your address?”
They exchanged mobile numbers and Lan Zhan immediately sent a text with his address and checked that Wei Ying had received it. Then he took A-Yuan’s hand and they left the store.
“Uncle will be so pleased you made a friend, Adie. I think he will really like Wei Ying,” A-Yuan said.
“Mn,” Lan Zhan replied with a small pleased smile.
**********
One year later…
“Ta-da! What do you think, young Sir?” Wei Ying asked as he whipped the gown off A-Yuan and picked up the mirror. A-Yuan frowned at his own reflection. “It will do,” he said with a sigh.
“What?” Wei Ying shrieked. “What a naughty customer you are! I’m throwing you out! Security! Come get this little hooligan and throw him out of my shop!”
A-Yuan broke into fits of giggles as Wei Ying tickled him mercilessly.
“Is this the hooligan we are disposing of?” Lan Zhan said as he walked out of the back room and put down a box of supplies.
“Yes, that’s the trouble maker!” Wei Ying said.
“I want to stay! I’ll be good!” A-Yuan begged between giggles as Wei Ying started to pretend to try and heave him out of the chair as though he were an immovable object rather than a small, wriggling boy.
“Very well, if you promise to behave you can stay,” Lan Zhan said.
“Yey!” A-Yuan said and bounced down from the seat.
“Traitor,” Wei Ying hissed at Lan Zhan. “Where’s the loyalty to your own husband eh?”
Lan Zhan kissed his cheek. “I apologise, my sweet. I have a peace offering.” Lan Zhan sat down in the barber chair. “You may cut my hair.”
A-Yuan and Wei Ying gasped in unison. “Are you serious?” Wei Ying asked. “But you never cut it. Ever.”
Lan Zhan nodded. “I am serious. It is time and there is no other professional I would trust.”
Wei Ying rubbed his hands together. “You won’t regret it! I’ll not mess this up, I swear! I’m going to keep a lock and wear it on a pendant around my neck to go with the little bit of A-Yuan’s hair I wear there.”
“Gross,” A-Yuan said as he gave away his position across the room, sneaking his hand into the lollipop jar.
“It’s not gross! It’s sentimental! And get your hand out of there!” Wei Ying shouted.
A-Yuan pulled his hand out with a lollipop firmly in his grasp. “You said you’d put a lock on the jar but you never did!” He sang as he ran into the back room with his spoils.
“You did say you would do that and you never did,” Lan Zhan offered.
Wei Ying glared at him in the mirror. “Nothing but trouble you two, nothing but trouble since the day I met you both! Eeeeep!”
Wei Ying was thrown off balance as Lan Zhan swung the chair around and grabbed Wei Ying around the waist, pulling him down across his lap. Lan Zhan kissed Wei Ying roughly then pulled back to nuzzle at his nose while Wei Ying gazed up at him with glassy eyes.
“I am eternally grateful to whichever higher power led me to you that day, Wei Ying. Every single day of my life since then has been a wondrous gift.”
Wei Ying blushed furiously. “Okay! You win! I love you both and you aren’t any trouble at all! Now let me up, I have hair to cut!”
Lan Zhan let go of Wei Ying and he straightened himself up. “Now, get ready for the best experience of your life!” he announced.
“Impossible, Wei Ying in bed with me is the best experience of my life,” Lan Zhan said in a low voice, aware that A-Yuan was in the next room.
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying hissed. “That’s it. I’m giving you a perm.”
“As you wish, my love,” Lan Zhan said, leaning to kiss Wei Ying on the hand. Wei Ying bit his lip and they shared a look in the mirror.
“There’s a box with my name on!” A-Yuan shouted, making them both jump.
Wei Ying’s eyes widened. “Oh no, it’s from my sister she sent a supply of the store’s best selling…”
“Sweeties!” A-Yuan screamed from the other room as the sound of a ripped up box filled their ears.
“Oh god, grab him, he'll never sleep again!” Wei Ying wailed.
The two fathers darted for the back room and Lan Zhan smiled at the familiar chaos. “I stand corrected, we do bring you a lot of trouble,” he admitted as they both reached for A-Yuan’s treat filled little hands.
Wei Ying grinned at Lan Zhan over A-Yuan’s head. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he laughed fondly.
The End. :-)