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“Shit...” Anne cursed, running fingers through their much-too-long bangs. A familiar sense of dread fell upon their chest.
It was a bit of a given that having fringed bangs required routine upkeep, and it certainly didn’t help that Anne’s hair had a habit of growing rapidly. Still, it was the part that Anne absolutely despised for reasons far beyond it being an inconvenience. Their bangs were at the length where hair would start poking near their eyes, which was an absolute pain in the ass. Usually they’d just go to a hairdresser to get the job done, but with all of BAE currently studying for finals and simultaneously prepping for the upcoming paradox live, scheduling an appointment had been on the backburner of their mind for clearly longer than usual.
Another strand poked right below their eyelashes, and the frustration began taking over any and all rational thinking Anne had on the matter. They stood up from their desk, grabbed a pair of rarely-used fabric scissors (Anne very much preferred using a rotary cutter when making stage outfits for personal reasons), and made a beeline to the bathroom sink.
Anne situated themself in front of the mirror, examining just how much they’d have to take off. Roughly five centimeters, give or take. Pinching their bangs together and twisting them to get an even cut, they held the scissors in front of their face.
And then Anne froze.
Right now, looking into the mirror felt like gazing into a portal of their past. The last time they saw scissors alongside them in their own reflection was...
A sharp inhale.
A choked sob.
Distant, blurry vision. Trembling hands. Hot, stinging tears bubbling over.
And a haunting voice piercing into their soul, calling out, “My perfect Anjin.”
Anne couldn’t breathe. God, they thought, how could they be this stupid, this weak, this pathetic enough to lose it from something as mundane as trimming their own damn bangs. Their hands trembled, eyes locked on the image of silver shears threatening to slice their identity into pieces all over again. Knees buckling, they collapsed to the floor, attempting to curl up and make themself as small as possible. Anything to escape this pitiful feeling.
The sound of quick footsteps approached, Anne’s ears just barely registered, followed by a frantic, familiar young voice. “Anne? What—holy shit, are you okay!?” A hand reached down and snatched the scissors right out of their grasp. “Hey, Hajun, get out here now!”
The door to Hajun’s room creaked open as the bespectacled man poked his head out. “Yes, Allen?” He cocked an eyebrow in confusion, but one glance around the corner into the bathroom left few questions need asked as his heart tightened from the sight. Hajun made zero hesitation in walking toward his distressed partners to further assess the situation. “Anne,” he began with a gentle tone, “what is it we have here?”
Anne took a shaky breath and forced words out of their mouth. “M—my bangs...they—it’s—they got too long, and...and I—I wanted t-to cut them, but...”
“Why would you do something like that?” Allen questioned, his voice raised slightly in alarm. He knelt down beside Anne and set the shears on the floor out of arms reach. “You know...how you react when it comes to this sort of thing. I don’t...I don’t want to see you hurt like this.”
“No,” Anne shook their head, “I thought I could do it, I...I really thought I could handle it, I don’t know, it’s so stupid, I just...” another sharp inhale. “I thought maybe I could be strong enough.”
With those last words, Allen took them into a tight embrace. “No Anne, you’re so strong, I swear! You’re so so strong and brave, trauma just really sucks, god.” Anne’s arms clenched around him even tighter in return, which just made Allen hug them back stronger. “I promise you that you’re always strong enough.”
Anne sniffled at that. Allen always seemed to know exactly what they needed to hear when it came to times like this. There was a brief moment of quiet air as they continued to sniffle into Allen’s arms, feeling the comfort of his embrace warm and protect their entire body.
It was Hajun’s turn to join the two on the floor as he knelt down, reaching over to pick up the discarded scissors. “If you still wish, you do need your bangs trimmed, yes?”
A small groan was stifled into Allen’s shoulder. Anne lifted their head and gave a tired glare. “If you’re thinking about cutting them for me, fat chance. You’ll probably give me some choppy shit on purpose.” If anyone were to get the job done then Hajun was definitely the lesser of the two evils, considering how clumsy Allen could be, but Anne could easily imagine Hajun giving them a damn moehawk as some kind of joke.
Hajun’s face paled. He put a hand on Anne’s shoulder and looked into their eyes with a serious, genuine expression that truly was a rare sight to behold. “No, Anne. Not now. Not with this.”
Anne sniffled again, feeling such a rush of emotion from witnessing their usually-sarcastic partner displaying true honesty and compassion. Sure, Hajun loved to tease and be a bit of a prick, but Anne knew that he never truly did want to hurt them. It was a trait that they had both come to equally roll their eyes at and adore with all their heart.
“Okay...” Anne mumbled, “yeah. Yeah. Okay.”
Hajun smiled yet another oh-so-gentle smile, and reached forward to grasp their bangs. “Just above the eyebrows, yes?”
“Yeah, I—that’s fine. Yeah. It’s fine if we don’t stand up either, I...I’m not ready to see it done in the mirror right now.”
“Perfectly understandable,” Hajun lifted the shears a bit closer to Anne, letting them get acquainted with the tool again. “Allen, would you please catch the hair for me as I trim?”
“Got it,” Allen nodded, shifting his position so that a hand was prepared to assist in Hajun’s request, and his other arm wrapped around Anne’s shoulder to continue embracing them for comfort. “Let us know whenever you’re ready, Anne.”
“Mm,” Anne nodded, “I’m ready.”
Hajun brought the scissors roughly to Anne’s eye level, took a piece of hair, and carefully began to cut. Anne watched directly in front of their eyes as one small section of length fell away, dropped into Allen’s hand. A small gasp escaped their mouth.
“You okay?” Allen whispered, rubbing their shoulder with his other hand.
“Yeah, I’m good.” They smiled softly. “Keep going.”
With the sign to continue, Hajun took the next adjacent piece and trimmed once again. Bit by bit, their vision ceased from being obstructed by their bangs, and Anne could see the faces of their partners looking at them with such adoration, such concern and warmth. God, they really did find the perfect people to share their life with.
After the last section was cut, Hajun began point-cutting the ends to feather them out. “Close your eyes,” he said after setting down the scissors, and Anne complied, feeling fingers ruffle the fringe to remove any excess bits of hair. “Alright, it’s all done.”
Anne blinked their eyes open, feeling a couple stray hairs stuck in their lashes and quickly brushing them away with their hand. Allen and Hajun both helped them to stand back up, and turning around to look in the mirror revealed such a pleasant surprise. Their bangs were completely even all the way across, and the layering made by the point-cutting allowed the fringe to fluff outwards ever so slightly. Behind them in the reflection stood their two partners smiling, and Anne just couldn’t resist smiling with them as well.
“It’s perfect,” Anne beamed, “thank you so much.”
Hajun cradled an arm across their shoulder with a delicate embrace. “Of course. I’m glad that I was able to be of help here.”
Allen added onto the hug on the opposite side, wrapping his arms around Anne’s waist and reaching over to hold Hajun’s free hand. “We’re here for you, okay? All of us, we always take care of each other before anyone else. That’s our promise.”
Tears began to bubble up again, but this time Anne knew it was for all the right reasons. They put each of their arms around Allen and Hajun’s waists, and pulled the both into a close, loving embrace. “Yeah,” their voice cracked, “yeah. Always and forever. Thank you.”