Chapter Text
Sirius stepped into his apartment with a slight shudder and closed the door absentmindedly.
“Oh, hey Reg.” It wasn’t unusual for Regulus to crash his apartment, as it was a bit nicer-or at least bigger-than his dorm. He slept there sometimes too, especially when his nightmares were worse than usual, and Sirius had given him a key pretty much as soon as he and James had moved in.
“SIRIUS, your brother is horrible at public speaking,” James called from the floor. He and Regulus were sitting in the middle of the living room surrounded by papers and snacks with Regulus’s laptop sitting in front of them.
“That’s not all that surprising,” Sirius called as he stepped around the mess to set his things down on the counter. James offered him some of the food they had spread around them, but Sirius declined, still sipping the last of his coffee. He stood at the counter for a little while, thinking about the man at the coffee shop, until his phone buzzing in his pocket snapped him out of his daydream.
Tonks: what time do you want me over? I’m free after this last class
Sirius thought for a second, then texted back;
Sirius: just head over after your lecture
Sirius: I also want your thoughts on something once you’re here
Putting his phone back in his pocket, Sirius made his way to the couch, stepping over James to get there. He and Reg didn’t have anything playing on the TV, so he put some music on and planned his new haircut. He gathered a few photos of what he was going for, then headed to the bathroom to set everything up.
“Oh, by the way, Tonks is gonna stop by after her lecture and help me with my hair in case I mess it up. Are you staying over Reg?”
“Yeah, my roommate’s visiting their family this weekend, so I’ll stay with y’all tonight”
“Cool! But we are NOT working on your homework all weekend,” James told him.
Sirius smiled to himself and went to work grabbing his supplies. He kept all his hair-cutting stuff in the bottom drawer by the sink, laid a towel across the counter, and cleared the floor off so it’d be easier to clean when he was done. Then he went to the hallway closet, grabbing the dye that he’d been agonizing over for days, along with the brush and dye bowl Tonks had left there when he helped her with her split-dye a little while ago. Once he had everything he hopped in the shower, and by the time he dried off and got dressed, Tonks was standing in his living room.
“Hey” he called from the hallway
“Oh nice, it’s so much easier to cut when it’s wet, thank God”
She followed Sirius into the bathroom and whistled at his setup.
“Alright, what are we doing?” She asked, rubbing her hands together eagerly
“Uh, I want to do one of those shaggy wolf cuts? With the curtain bangs maybe?”
He’d been letting it grow long for years, partially because it drove his mum mad, but also because he really did like it longer. But he’d decided he wanted something new, something a bit more intentional, since he didn’t have to deal with his parents and their stupid rules anymore.
“That should be doable. But what about this?” she asked, pointing at the dyes.
“Oh, ah, I haven’t decided about that yet.”
“Alright,” she said, “how bout you give it a go and i’ll step in if you’re about to absolutely fuck it up”
“Greaat,” Sirius dragged, but he picked up his scissors.
“Don’t pull it when you cut, it’ll be too short ‘cuz of your curls” Tonks called from her perch on the toilet.
After a minute of Sirius trimming tiny bits of his hair at a time as to not cut it shorter than he wanted, Tonks asked, “ You mentioned you had something you wanted my thoughts on? What is it?”
“Oh,” he hesitated, not sure exactly how to start. “Well, uh, I… I may have met someone today that I might be interested in”
“Oh my god, Sirius!! Who??”
“Well, that’s kinda the problem. I never asked their name,” he said with a sigh. Tonks gave him a look of disappointment but kept her mouth shut, motioning for him to continue.
“You know how it’s freezing out today?” She nodded, and he continued: “Well, I didn’t check the weather and my leather jacket’s freezing, so I stopped to grab a coffee on the way home. And God, Tonks, the barista was SO CUTE.”
“Sirius, you fumbled! Did they at least seem the right age?”
“Yeah, he seems around my age. I think I’m gonna go back. Maybe on Monday- oh! And I got his favourite drink- hot chocolate! It’s amazing, Tonks, you’ve got to try it. He puts a bit of brown sugar in it.”
“Sounds pretty good” she said, then: “Are you gonna keep cutting your hair, or do you want me to leave you to dream of your barista in peace?”
Sirius realised that his scissors were still in his hand, but that he hadn’t cut any hair since he started talking about the boy he’d met. He started trimming bits again (With some help from Tonks, ‘cause she was getting a bit impatient) and continued telling her about the brown-haired barista and the amazing hot chocolate he’d made until she stepped back to admire their work, nodding approvingly.
“Lookin’ good! ...now what about these?” She asked, pointing to the boxes of dye in his towel-covered sink.
He thought for a moment, staring at the boxes and picturing how it might look with Tonks’ help.
“Let’s do it.”