Work Text:
You had been trying to figure out something for lunch one afternoon. Muriel wasn’t expecting your company that day, so unfortunately he didn’t have too much food stored at the moment. You figured the hens may have laid a few eggs, so you decided to check them first.
When you walked outside, you saw an alarming sight-- Muriel was sat on a tree stump, holding a knife up to his hair. You gasped. “Ah- what’re you doing?!” You exclaimed, surprising Muriel. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t a good idea to surprise a man holding a knife that close to his face, though thankfully for you both, he didn’t flinch much, so no harm came from it.
You rushed over, confiscating the knife from Muriel. “Were you going to just lop your hair off with this?! One, that’s dangerous, two, that’s a good way to get really bad split ends, and three, you can’t cut it evenly like that!” You weren’t exactly shouting- but your volume was a bit louder than normal. You were also waving your arms dramatically as you spoke- which was your second bad idea, considering you were holding a knife.
Muriel just stared at you as you scolded him, though you could see him glance at the knife every now and then as you waved it around. You realized you were probably getting a bit too worked up over a man trying to cut his hair, so you took a breath. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be that upset over this.” You apologized.
“Uh… It’s… Okay?” Muriel still seemed dumbstruck by you scolding him over how he cut his hair . “It’s just getting a bit too long, gets in my eyes too much, and I’ve always cut it this way.” You huffed. You weren’t so much mad at him, you were more upset that no one ever took the time to teach him how to properly cut his hair.
“Well, now that I’m here, I’ll cut it for you.” You told him. “But we aren’t using this knife- it seems too dull to make a clean sheer anyways. Stay here.” On that note, you scurried back into the hut, completely forgetting about lunch.
You rummaged around in some drawers, trying to find a sharper knife to use, since you were fairly sure you didn’t have any good scissors on hand. “Too dull, ugh, covered in rust…” You shifted the knives around in the drawer. “Ah-hah!” You held up a sharp knife triumphantly, examining it to be sure it’d be sufficient. The blade gleamed in the light, freshly sharpened. Maybe it wasn’t sharpened for this purpose, but it would definitely be better than the knife Muriel was going to use. Thinking ahead, you also went ahead and grabbed a small mirror that was kept leaned against a wall in a corner of the hut.
You hurried back out, and Muriel was still sitting on that stump, awaiting your return. “Okay, so I’m gonna use this since I’m pretty sure we don’t have good scissors.” You said, showing him the knife. Muriel frowned.
“We have a pair in the wooden chest, where we keep scraps of fabric… You could use those.” Muriel pointed out.
“Those are rusty, I’m not using that on your hair. That’d probably be worse than the knife you were going to use.” You sighed, setting the mirror down, leaning it against the stump Muriel was sat on. “Now, do you trust me? I’m gonna be holding this pretty close to your face, so you can’t be moving around. I’d rather not cut your ear off.” Muriel knit his brows, but gave a brief nod.
“Just… don’t wave that around like you were with the other one earlier.” Muriel said in a more deadpan way, making you unsure if he was joking or not.
You felt an embarrassed blush warm your face, and you shook your head. “Yeah yeah, I won’t…” You reassured, before getting to work.
Muriel had seemingly already combed his hair out, so that wasn’t an issue. You were easily able to run your fingers through it, and you tried to section off a chunk to start with. “Alright, so do you want it about the same length as you usually keep it?” You asked. Muriel responded with a simple ‘yes’, so you continue on, pulling the hair away from his face, so you could begin.
You tried as best you could to not cut it at a straight edge, trying to feather out the ends, but it was incredibly hard to do with a knife. It took an incredibly long time to do his all of his hair, but he sat patiently as you worked. You’d section off parts of his hair as you went along, trying to make sure you gave each section the same attention.
When you made it around to the hair closest to his face, you were even more careful. He didn’t exactly have prominent bangs, but you still wanted to trim them up properly.
Once you thought you were finished, you pulled back, observing your work. After setting the knife down, you circled him, humming to yourself in content. “Well, I think I’m done.” You said, once you circled back to his front. “And, well, not to toot my own horn-” you grinned, picking the mirror back up. “-I think I did a pretty good job.” You held up the mirror in front of Muriel, letting him see.
Muriel hummed, tilting his head this way and that, before giving you a small smile. “... You did a good job.” Muriel complimented. “Thank you.” You smiled with pride, carefully setting the mirror down again, so that you could take Muriel’s face in your hands.
“Well, I’m glad you think so.” You grinned. “I think this haircut makes you look very handsome. Well, not that you aren’t always handsome, but you get what I mean.” Then you leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Muriel’s lips.
Muriel let out a huff, and the blush on his cheeks was apparent. You chuckled, pulling your hands away. “Now… What was I doing before…” You tried to think back. “... Oh, I was collecting stuff for dinner!... Could you put the mirror and knife away for me?” You asked. Muriel nodded, picking them both up.
“When I’m finished, I’ll meet you back at the coop and help you gather stuff.” Muriel said. You smiled.
“Sounds like a plan.”