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This was never how he saw his life going. In all reality after the four years of high school babysitting, swim teams and chasing girls, Steve truly thought he would be working at his fathers law firm with a wife and four kids. The perfect white picket fence life. But instead he was here, at the local beauty salon prepping his station for for next client. Jameson Munson.
The name made Steve cringe. Everyone knew the Munsons were a gaggle of trailer trash jailbirds. Fuck, Steve used to bully the youngest one, Eddie. That little freak with his waves of brown hair and gorgeous eyes. Truly he wasn’t sure why he picked on him so much, labeled him the freak. The kids he babysat loved all the same things as Eddie did, that math rock game and dressing up in cute costumes for Live action roleplay. Maybe he was jealous.
Steve had realized over the years most people he bullied, teased or berated he was just jealous of. He was jealous of Tommy H’s deep blue eyes and those freckles that looked way too kissable. He was jealous of Billy Hargrove with those strong tan arms and beautiful smile. It had to be jealousy. The only other thing would be him being labeled as a fairy, and he didn’t want that, he got enough of it after his choice of career paths.
Beauty school was no walk in the park. He’d love to see those jock bitches try and wax a forty year old man’s back. Or handle a flailing child who was convinced their haircut would hurt. Or see how they would deal with what he was doing now. Talking to James Munson who was holding Eddie by the elbow like a disobedient child.
He set down the thinning shears he had been cleaning as they marched over to the reception desk. His doe eyes landed in Eddie’s face and he looked… well he looked like he had been punched. His eyes were puffy and his cheek was a stinging red and god damn if that didn’t make his poor heart break. The mighty dm with a killer smile was now gone, and Eddie face looked well, vacant. Empty.
“Hello there, welcome to Hair way or the highway.” The name made him cringe every time he said it. “My name is Steve, how can I help?” He tries to act like everything is fine, train his eyes on the angry looking man holding his son like a bad dog.
“I have an appointment.” He shoves Eddie against the desk. “Shave his fucking head. I told him what would happen if I got out of the pen and his hair was longer than an inch. Fucking ungrateful shit stain.” Eddie flinches as he just the desk with his side, wincing like it hurt something there.
Steve set his mouth hard, fingers teasing under the desk with one hand and the other flipping through files on the computer. “Mhm, I see.” He looks at Eddie, the guy won’t even meet his eyes. “How old are you, hon?”
“Seventeen.” James answers at the same time as Eddie speaks.
“Nineteen.”
That earns him a smack in the back of the head. “Don’t fucking lie to her. You’re a fuckin kid.”
“I’m not a her. And for that I’m going to ask you to leave. I’m not going to cut this man’s hair against his will.”
”You may as well be a her. Only sissy’s and bitches cut hair.” James snaps. “I paid in fucking advance! You can’t just kick me out and keep my money!” He slams his hand on the desk. “Where’s the manager!”
Steve notes Eddie trembling, then puffs his chest out a bit more, hand wrapping around the handle of the bat. “I’m the owners son.” Not a total lie, Miss Hendrix did call him son. “And I suggest you leave. Now.”
“Fucking make me!”
CRACK!
Every head in the place turns and Eddie seems to cower behind a plant as Steve slams the baseball bat down onto the counter, nearly an inch away from James’s hand. “I said. Leave.”
The man turns pale and tries to grab Eddie’s arm, lead him away.
“Not him. Just you. Out.” Steve raises the bat again and he bolts, shoving Eddie over in favor of moving quicker. Steve sighs, pushing a hand through his hair and setting the bat down under the register. He creeps over to Eddie, crouching down and folding his arms over his bent knees. “You okay honey?”
”You didn’t have to do that Harrington. I don’t need your pity.” Eddie spits back, moving to pull his knees to his chest in order to collect himself.
“Good. Because I don’t have any pity to give you. That was for your hair.” He jokes, reaching a hand out as if to brush his fingers through it, only for them to get stuck after a second and make Eddie whine. “Munson. The fuck did you do to this.”
“Hair gel. You’re ruining it cmon!” Eddie whines as Steve yanked his hand free with a tsk.
“Oh no you don’t. You are not ruining these gorgeous ass curls with hair gel.” Steve stands, legs popping and cracking as he offers a hand out to Eddie. “Let me show you the real way to take care of it.”
“Color me curious as to see what The King of Hawkins wants to do to my hair.” With that, a heavily ringed and tatted hand slid into Steves.
Five minutes later, Eddie has his head in a sink, wet curls spilling in all directions as Steve works to wash out all of the gel and whatever gunk Eddie has in there. Eddie let out a soft groan as Steve’s talented fingers roll through the loose curls, much to Steve’s amusement.
“What do you wash this with?”
”Four in one.”
”Don’t think I’ve heard of that brand..” Steve mumbles, grabbing some shampoo as he sets the shower head down.
“Oh no. It’s shampoo, body wash, conditioner and shaving cream.” Eddie answers truthfully, grinning a little.
“Expardon me the fuck did you just say?” Steve stops, horror on his face as he looks down at that cocky ass smile, hands lathered and ready to touch the live wire that was Eddie’s hair. “Dude. Oh my god. How do you smell so good that shit must smell like a medical waste dump.”
“Awh you think I smell good Stevie?” Eddie coos, purposefully ignoring any questions. Steve’s hands dip into those curls and start to scrub at his scalp, making the metalheads toes curl and body tense.
“Damn, that touch starved Munson? I’ll be sure to drag it out.” Steve teases, adding a bit more pressure to the scrubbing, making Eddie moan.
“A little hard to get affection with an old man like mine and a nickname like the freak.” He snaps, a bit bitterly as his eyes fall closed. Steve flinches, pausing his movements for a moment before slowly moving down the curls, silent.
it wasn’t until he rinsed it all out and moved to the conditioner did he speak again. “I’m sorry for that. I was a piece of shit growing up and in now way should have bullied you for your interests. I mean look at me now, Assistant manager to a hair salon of all things. I could blame a shit load of stuff but that doesn’t matter. I was a dick and I’m sorry Eddie.” He was going to leave it there, quiet apology and a free ish hair cut. But Eddie spoke up.
“Wow. Henderson said you went soft but I didn’t expect you to be that mushy. It’s fine dude, we’ve all changed since high school. You just so happened to be in touch with your feminine side now.” He ribs, lifting his head as Steve wraps his hair up in a towel.
He rolls his eyes with a huff. “It’s not soft to want to look good Munson. Come on, to the chair.”
They spend the next hour in mostly silence as Steve trims and thins out Eddie’s hair just a tiny smidge. In the end Steve can’t keep his paws off of those darling curls now that they’re properly tended to, so he braids it. Very slow and very careful using his high quality bands to keep everything nice and tight. He weaves in a few fake flowers as well, while Eddie is distracted looking through a magazine.
“This.” Steve says as he spins Eddie around, grinning as he holds up a mirror to show the back. “Is how your hair should look. Fuck what your dad thinks.”
Eddie gasps. He looked… beautiful. Two loose curls framed his face, the rest was pulled back into a tight complex braid with a few fake sunflowers braided down the back in a seemingly nonsense pattern. “Shit…”
“I’m good I know.”
”How much do I owe?” He reaches for his wallet, Steve shaking his head.
“Your dad paid for it. This was free. Just promise me no more four in one or hair gel. And that.. that you’ll be careful.” He looks away, drying his hands on his apron with a grunt.
Eddie stands, pulling something out of his wallet instead and pressing it into the pocket of Steve’s apron. “Call me some time then. Let me repay the favor.”
With a wink and nod, Eddie was gone. Leaving Steve way more confused than he was this morning.
“Fuck.”