Work Text:
Pink. Bright pink. Pink so neon it burned your eyes to look at it.
That was the color Tendou was determined to dye their hair.
Tendou grinned, looking at themself in the mirror. Their hair was still red – they hadn’t started the dyeing process yet, but they were quite excited that it was actually happening.
They’d been talking about it for a while and while it had started out as a joke between their friends, Tendou had soon realized that they actually wanted to go through with it. Not many people at their school had dyed hair, but that just made it more fun. Tendou was used to standing out with their various oddities as others called them, so they figured it wouldn’t make that much of a difference anyway. Wakatoshi had been supportive, telling them to not worry what others thought and just do it if they wanted to.
So here Tendou was, standing in the bathroom of theirs and Wakatoshi’s dorm, ready to get started.
It was a learning experience and as Tendou quickly realized, they definitely wouldn’t get it perfectly the first time, but that was all part of the fun.
Fumbling with the instructions, they accidentally messed up the ratios for the bleach and toner, having to add some more bleach to even it out and still ending up with a little too much. Oh well, hopefully that wouldn’t make too much of a difference.
The chemical smell was what really caught them off guard – a thick and cloying scent that swirled throughout the room and made Tendou a bit lightheaded before they had the good sense to open the window, per Wakatoshi’s suggestion from the other room.
Taking large lungfuls of fresh hair, they began to feel better and returned to mixing, sifting through the concoction until it was thoroughly blended. Donning a pair of disposable gloves, Tendou smiled and grabbed the brush, scooping up a scoop and smearing it onto their hair.
They blinked their eyes.
Wow. It was… even more intense when it was close to their face.
Tendou snorted. Oh well, it was all part of the process.
Working in sections, they slowly made their way around their head, saturating their once-crimson locks with the substance, remaining focused and careful to not get it in their eyes.
Tendou paused, peering in the mirror once they had finally finished coating their hair. It had probably taken about fifteen minutes to work their way through all of their hair, but already, certain sections were paling and inching closer to a light blondish white.
Tendou grinned. They knew it was supposed to lighten their hair – obviously – but actually seeing it in action was exciting. After talking about dyeing it for so long, they were reasonably exhilarated to actually be doing it and for it to be working.
“Wakatoshi!” Tendou called, opening the bathroom door to allow their voice to carry to their bedroom. “It’s working! Come see!”
Several shuffling sounds later, Wakatoshi appeared in the doorway, a bemused smile playing on his lips. “You’re right, it is working.” He commented quietly. “How are you feeling about your decision now?”
Tendou grinned once more. “I couldn’t be happier!” They cried animatedly. “It’s already working and turning my hair so light and I think the pink will really show up.”
Wakatoshi smiled one of his Tendou-initiated smiles. “I’m glad you’re happy, Satori… I’m going to go back to reading in the room because the bleach smells quite strong, but call for me if anything else exciting happens.”
Tendou nodded, still smiling. If anything else exciting happened? The whole process was exciting! It was a new experience and entertaining in that if they wanted it done well, they probably should have gone to an actual hair salon, but the fun was in doing it themself – it wouldn’t have been so fulfilling if they hadn’t. Tendou decided there and then that assuming it turned out well, they would always dye their hair at home just because of how strange and exciting it was. They always did enjoy chemistry.
Several minutes of fiddling with the brush and empty bowl later and Tendou decided that their hair was light enough to remove it.
This would be the hard part.
The dorm bathrooms were small and because of that, everything in them was small as well. Unfortunately, this meant that rising their hair under the faucet of the sink would be quite difficult, just from how close it was to the basin. Sticking their head under it proved to be a challenge and after a bit of maneuvering and trying to get the water to trickle over their hair and wash out the bleach without getting it in their eyes. Tendou was frustrated.
They sighed in defeat. “Wakatoshi!” They called. “Could you please come in here and help me?”
“One moment, Satori,” came Wakatoshi’s quick reply.
He appeared in the doorway a couple seconds later and snorted as he took in Tendou’s strange positioning.
“Satori,” Wakatoshi murmured. “Are you stuck?”
“What? No!” Tendou exclaimed indignantly. “I’m just trying to wash the bleach out of my hair and this dang sink is too shallow for me to fit my head under the faucet.”
“Okay,” Wakatoshi replied, relenting. “That seems frustrating. Do you need my help to wash it out then?”
“Yes, that would be wonderful,” Tendou replied. “There’s another pair of gloves in that box and if you could grab that cup to get some water in it and pour it on my hair, it should work.”
Wakatoshi nodded and gathered supplies, looking quite odd from the angle that Tendou’s sideways-tilted head rested at as he snapped on the gloves.
“Close your eyes,” Wakatoshi directed softly. “You don’t want to get this near it.”
Tendou tried to nod and failed, just serving to knock their head on the faucet, loosing a sharp curse much to Wakatoshi’s chagrin.
“It’s not funny!” They cried dramatically. “The angle is hurting my neck, so please hurry up, Wakatoshi, or I may perish from discomfort.”
“That would be terrible, Satori,” Wakatoshi agreed. “Let’s get this over then, close your eyes,” he repeated and this time Tendou listened.
Tendou shut their eyes tightly and perked their ears up to try and discern what Wakatoshi was doing. They could hear shuffling behind them, so maybe he was walking over? A moment later, they felt his legs press against their side as he stood next to them and there was a splash of water as Wakatoshi turned the faucet back on and began to rinse. With gentle, careful movements Wakatoshi carded his fingers through Tendou’s hair, gently rinsing out the bleach with his gloved hands.
Tendou began to relax, the repetitive massaging of their hair calming them, especially knowing that it was Wakatoshi who was the one touching them. ‘Toshi began pouring cups of water over Tendou’s scalp, attempting to wash off the areas that he had missed, before both of them snorted as Tendou mentioned that they were actually supposed to use shampoo as well, just not water to get it out.
Wakatoshi dutifully sudsed up their hair, massaging in the shampoo until Tendou’s locks were covered in a puffy layer of bubbles, then rinsing once again, cautious as not to get it anywhere near Tendou’s mouth or eyes. Wakatoshi’s hands may have been rough and callused from volleyball, and he may not have been the best at enacting movements with precision, but when he truly cared about a task, he demonstrated that he could be careful and execute it properly. This was one of those times.
Finally, all of the bleach and shampoo had been removed. Wakatoshi crossed the room, quietly murmuring for Tendou to stay put and they waited patiently while he grabbed a towel, grinning as they felt the cloth wrap around their head. They rubbed the fluffy material over their face, removing any water that had dropped onto it and turned around to beam at Wakatoshi. He was looking over bemusedly at them, apparently entertained by their excitement and his role in the whole affair.
“Now I just have to put the dye in!” Tendou exclaimed and Wakatoshi smiled.
“Call me when you need to wash it out,” he said, exiting the room.
Tendou smiled and grabbed the box of dye, in no time at all, depositing a couple squirts into the bowl they’d been using for the bleach (Wakatoshi had rinsed it first) and mixing it around, grinning ear to ear as they took in the aggressively fluorescent shade. It was perfect.
At the very last moment, they remembered to rub Vaseline along their hairline to prevent it from dyeing their skin as well, and then they finally were free to jump right in.
They bounced on the balls of their feet and dove in immediately, working quickly and mostly carefully – they only got a bit on the floor, okay – coating the damp strands of hair with the paste. The box said to wait for half an hour to an hour before washing it out, so with the extra time they had, Tendou removed their gloves and went out to the main room to sit by Wakatoshi, careful to keep their hair from brushing against the bed frame that they were propped up against.
Wakatoshi looked over at them and smiled, slowly taking their hand in his and bringing it up to his mouth to press a gentle kiss to the back.
“It’s going to look wonderful, Satori,” Wakatoshi murmured and Tendou beamed.
They spent the next hour consciously preventing their head from leaning on ‘Toshi’s shoulder, instead, keeping their fingers intertwined as they hummed quietly and watched their miracle boy work his way through his biology homework.
It felt like no time at all had passed with Wakatoshi’s warm palm pressed against theirs, but the clock said it had been an hour, so they pressed a quick peck to his cheek and disentangled their fingers, returning to the bathroom. Grabbing a hair dryer, they began to point the heat towards their hair, recalling reading somewhere that it was supposed to seal the dye in better. Once they finished, Tendou wandered around the bathroom for several minutes until their hair had cooled down again and they called for Wakatoshi once more.
“‘Toshi,” Tendou sang.
“I’ll be right there,” Wakatoshi replied and appeared in the doorway once more.
The two of them repeated the process in much of a similar fashion as before, Wakatoshi gently rinsing Tendou’s hair in an oddly comforting manner while Tendou rested their head at an extremely awkward angle. Still, it was nice to have Wakatoshi be the one doing it, helping them along as he quietly encouraged them.
This time, no shampoo was needed, since the directions said to wait until a few days after to properly wash the dye out and Tendou grinned as they thought about how badly it was going to stain their sheets and their clothes for the first few days. It was unfortunate, but still, a sacrifice that they were willing to make.
Wrapping the towel around their head once more, Wakatoshi rubbed their hair down, trying to dry it as much as possible before stepping back and snorting at the telling pink stain on the towel as well as the rumpled look of Tendou’s hair.
Evidently, their hair certainly needed to be styled, so Tendou cheerily thanked Wakatoshi and whipped out a comb, the hair dryer and some gel, getting to work untangling the mess of curls and drying it, beginning to style it with the gel as it became less damp.
Wakatoshi watched quietly from where he leaned against the bathroom wall and Tendou caught his eyes more than once in the mirror, smiling each time.
When it was finally done, Tendou stepped back and grinned.
It was perfect.
Well – not perfect, they’d missed a spot in the back and some sections ended up taking the color on better than others, but it was unique and Tendou loved it.
They beamed at themself in the mirror and then turned around, throwing their arms around Wakatoshi and hugging him closely.
“Thank you for helping, ‘Toshi, I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Of course, Satori,” he murmured into their neck. “I’m glad it turned out so well.”
Tendou stepped back and grinned, while still keeping their hands on Wakatoshi’s waist. “So,” they began, “would you let me do yours?”
Wakatoshi snorted. “Absolutely not.”
Tendou laughed merrily. “Okay, okay. I may convince you one day, miracle boy, but I’ll accept it for now. By the way, can we go eat? I was so excited that today was the day I was dyeing my hair that I forgot to eat lunch!”
Wakatoshi smiled. “You’re so fascinating, Satori. I could never forget lunch just because I was excited.”
“That’s because you eat enough for ten people, ‘Toshi,” Tendou said with a chuckle. “C’mon, let’s go, I need food after all my hard work of lying there and letting you do the difficult part. Besides, I want to show off my new look to everyone!”
Wakatoshi pressed a soft kiss to Tendou’s forehead and smiled. “Okay, then let’s go.”
Hand in hand the two of them left the bathroom – Tendou resolving to clean up the mess later – and Tendou dragged Wakatoshi along willingly as they practically skipped to the dining hall. The teammates of theirs who happened to be there at the time were amused but also impressed at how they’d managed to get it such a bright shade of pink. After their compliments and exclamations, they all laughed as Tendou retold the story about how awkward and uncomfortable it was to try and fit their head into the sink basin.
Tendou bantered with their teammates for a while as they ate, Wakatoshi quiet beside them, but seeming relaxed and calm, loosely holding Tendou’s hand in his and sneakily petting their hair after they mentioned how they’d been extra careful to style it well. Tendou gasped and swatted his hand away and Wakatoshi simply smiled and kissed their knuckles in an apology that he didn’t really mean.
Pink hair, a volleyball team, and a companion like Wakatoshi… in that moment, there was nothing else in the world that Tendou could have asked for.