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"I have a weird question." Chris rubs the back of his neck, avoiding making eye contact with Ted.
"Yeah?"
Chris hesitates. "You said you were gonna dye your hair tonight. And uh, I thought I'd help you?"
Ted swallows. The idea of Chris basically playing with his hair like that while running the bleach and then the dye through it makes his face grow hot. He plays it nonchalant. "Sure. If you wanna."
"I wanna, man."
"Cool." Ted reaches out for Chris' hand. Holding hands is easy. They've been doing it since they were kids. Physical touch comes easy to them. The rest of their relationship has been harder to get used to.
Chris grins almost nervously at him and holds his hand back. "So, uh, do you have a spare shirt or something? I don't wanna get dye all over yours."
Ted looks down at his clothes. He wears pretty much the same thing every day. Long sleeves, red t-shirt, his soft vest. "Oh. I'll just wear my undershirt."
He has to unlink their hands to unzip his vest, throwing it on the couch. His shirt joins it.
Chris coughs. "O-Okay."
"What?" Ted looks at him. Chris' face is red. He messes with his gloves.
"It's nothing. Let's dye your hair, yeah?"
Ted shrugs it off. He retrieves his hair dye from his backpack (he was gonna do it at Chris' house anyways, because he spends so much time there) and links his hand with Chris' again.
"Lead the way."
Chris laughs a little, but he leads them to the bathroom.
It's big enough for both of them to share right now. Chris' black nail polish is still on the countertop next to the sink. Foofy’s litter box has just been cleaned, but the bag of litter is still out.
"Do you want a chair?" Chris asks.
"We can just sit on the ground. That's what I was gonna do." Ted holds the box of dye close to his chest.
"Cool." Chris grins at Ted, then plops directly onto the ground without hesitation. He opens the vanity cupboard to start rooting through the contents.
Ted sits down slower than Chris. Of the two of them, he's the less energetic one.
"Here we go!" Chris pulls out a fresh pair of plastic gloves, petroleum jelly, and a small plastic bowl. "I have stuff here for when I bleach my hair."
"I usually just use the bag from the store."
Chris gives Ted another smile. He's always so expressive. It's cute. "Creative. I like it."
Ted gives Chris a small smile back, without teeth. "I guess."
"I'm not used to seeing you without all the layers." Chris takes the box from Ted and opens it. "It's weird, man!" He removes the bottle of color.
"Weird, huh?" Ted teases.
Chris flushes again. "Not, like, bad-weird! It's just… different-weird. Like when I let my roots grow in too much."
"I know what you mean." Ted removes one earring, then the other, then tucks them in his jeans pocket. He likes it when Chris' roots grow in just as much as he likes Chris' hair when it's freshly bleached. To be fair, he just likes Chris. Everything about him. "I like making you nervous."
"Oh." Chris looks at the floor, letting his hair fall in front of his face. "Yeah…"
Ted watches Chris empty the bottle of green dye into the bowl. It doesn't smell as bad as Chris' bleach, which fills the air with a sharp, burning smell.
"Do you ever think about doing a different color?" Chris removes the plastic brush from the box.
"Not really." Ted pulls at the hems of his sleeves so they're down to his knuckles. "I like green. A lot. And it's kinda become my thing. I've had green hair since… twelve?"
"Longer than I've dyed mine." Chris hands Ted the petroleum jelly. "Here, put this—"
"I know where to put this." Ted uncaps the jar and dips his fingers into it. It's become routine to slather the pointy tips of his ears and his forehead with Vaseline. He's good enough at it that he can accurately cover the nape of his neck.
Chris huffs a little. "Just in case."
Ted recaps the Vaseline. "Right. Yeah."
"Shut up, man!" Chris dips the brush into the dye. "Front first, or back?"
The idea of their faces being so close right now makes Ted's stomach flutter too much. He'll put it off for as long as he can.
"Back," he says. Ted rubs his fingers on the back of his hand.
"Okay." Chris crawls over to Ted on his knees. His knees poke into Ted’s back as he adjusts and finds a comfortable way to sit.
The most comfortable way involves one of his legs on either of Ted’s sides, like brackets. Chris is still on his knees. His chest presses into Ted’s back.
“Sorry I kneed you.”
Ted shrugs. “It’s okay.”
“It’s gonna be cold.”
“I know.” Ted rubs his thumb over his knuckles. “Just… chill.”
“I am chill!” Chris protests. The plastic brush clatters against the plastic bowl. “... I don’t wanna mess up.”
“You won’t.”
Chris sighs. “Yeah. Okay. Yeah.”
Ted is the one with the steady hands of the two of them. Chris consumes too much sugar, on top of being a naturally hyper person. His hands always have a slight tremble to them. Normally, it doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t really matter right now, honestly. Careful application is more important with bleach. Normal hair dye like this only stains.
The dye is cold against Ted’s scalp. Which he expected. He barely minds the chill now; it’s almost a nostalgic feeling.
Chris moves slowly. Probably so he doesn’t mess up his boyfriend’s hair. The thought makes Ted’s heart jump a little. If he focuses hard enough, he can feel Chris’ heartbeat against his back.
Ted pulls out his phone so he doesn’t freak out about how close he and Chris are right now. They’re used to physical contact, but this is… different. It’s normally Ted bleaching Chris’ hair for him, with Chris sitting in a chair. He and Chris are only tucked this close when they’re on the couch together, or if they’re using a rare opportunity of an empty house to cuddle in Chris’ bed (or Ted’s, if they really want the privacy).
“What are you thinking about?”
“Hm.” Ted scrolls aimlessly through his social media. “Nothing. I can feel your heartbeat.”
“You can? Is it weird?”
“I guess.” Ted fights the urge to shrug. He shouldn’t move unless he wants green stains all over his shirt. “I listen to your heartbeat a lot. When we’re holding each other. It’s pretty fast.”
Chris laughs softly. “Yeah?”
Ted smiles to himself. “Yeah.”
“Well, your heartbeat is slow.” Chris continues covering Ted’s hair with dye. “Like you’re always ready to sleep or something.”
“I’m always tired.” Ted rubs at his eye. He’s probably smearing his eyeliner, but he doesn’t particularly care right now.
“That’s why you nap all the time.”
“So do you.”
Chris laughs again. Louder this time. “Yeah, but everyone should nap all the time. Like cats. They have life figured out.”
Ted isn’t so sure about that, but it makes Chris happy, so he’ll allow it. He keeps scrolling through social media.
“Okay, we’re done!” Chris chirps.
“Is it even?”
“Hold on, let me see.” Chris pauses to check his work. He’s scrutinizing Ted’s appearance. Maybe for the first time. “Looks good, man.”
Ted reaches up to touch his hair before he remembers he’ll get dye all over his hands. He drops his hand and looks down to hold Chris’ hand loosely. “You didn’t have to do this. I could’ve done it.”
“I like to help.” Chris leans in to kiss Ted’s cheek. Quick enough Ted doesn’t see it coming until he feels it. “And y’know. It’s hard to get the back on your own.”
“I guess.” Ted shuffles around to face Chris now. He looks into Chris’ dark eyes and soft face, then moves his gaze to Chris’ piercings. They did them behind their moms’ back with studs they bought from Claire’s when they were about thirteen. And they agreed to hide them behind their hair, but Chris forgot one day, and they both got grounded for it.
Chris leans in to kiss Ted’s nose. He likes kissing him all the time. Even before they were dating, Chris would just pepper Ted with kisses when he wanted to annoy him. It’s endearing of him.
“Hey,” Ted says, and wraps his hand around the back of Chris’ neck to kiss him for real. He knows his lips are dry and chapped because he alternates between chewing on them and sucking them in to hide his teeth. But Chris doesn’t seem to mind, because he does back in for another kiss, and another.
“Hey,” Chris breathes against Ted’s mouth before kissing him again.
Ted tangles his hands in Chris’ hair. When he brushes against Chris’ helix hoops, they’re strangely cold.
“Did you lock the door?” Chris asks quietly.
Ted nods, almost desperate to get back to kissing Chris.
“We could… move this. If you want.”
“I gotta wash the dye out. We can’t get dye over your sheets.”
Chris’ eyes widen and his face flushes. Then he beams at Ted and almost bowls him over for another kiss. Ted’s flat on his back on the ground with Chris on top of him, trying not to rest his head on the floor and get green on the tiles.
When Chris pulls back for air, his face is red and his hair is ruffled. Ted’s proud. He did that to Chris. Not that Chris is normally composed. If anything, Chris should be proud, because Ted probably looks the same way. And Ted is the composed one.
The tile isn’t too cold against Ted’s back. They’ve been sitting there for a while.
“Take off your gloves,” Ted breathes.
Chris pulls his hands from Ted. Ted whines at the lack of contact. He asked for it, but he hates it regardless.
“They’re gone,” Chris announces.
He doesn’t have to, because he touches Ted’s face as soon as they’re gone. His hands are cold and a little clammy. They’re perfect.
Ted’s hands are around Chris’ small waist. “Good.” He slips one into Chris’ hair again and pulls a little.
“I don’t wanna do this in the bathroom,” Chris whines. “Foofy’s litter box is in here.”
“It’s probably time to wash out the dye.” Ted touches his fringe.
“But do I gotta get off?”
Ted sighs deeply. He doesn’t want this to end any more than Chris. But he wants to get onto better things so he can hold his boyfriend. “We can go to your bedroom after.”
Chris’ eyes light up. “Uh. Sure!” He slips off Ted’s waist and sits with his knees to his chest, crossing his arms on them and resting his chin on them.
“You wanna watch?” Ted teases.
“Dude!” Chris hides his face completely, but he blushes up to his grown-out roots.
Ted laughs. Sometimes he’s the asshole Aiden likes to portray him as in his drawings. “I’m just gonna turn on the tub.” He turns the water on. Cold. Because he doesn’t mind cold showers (or baths, really), and just rolls up his sleeves.
It’s nice that Chris isn’t looking. Ted doesn’t like showing off his scars often. He doesn’t like how Chris looks at them sometimes. Like he feels guilty.
Cold water hits Ted’s scalp and he tries to stop thinking about that stuff. He rubs his fingers into his scalp. The water turns green with the dye. It’s mesmerizing to watch it swirl into the drain. His fingers will be tinged green for a couple days.
When the water runs clear, Ted shuts it off.
Chris hands him a towel.
“You’re the best.” Ted smiles at him before his face disappears behind the towel. He dries off his hair. There are some words he wants to say, but he doesn’t think it’s the right time. “Is it dry?”
For a moment, Chris is quiet.
“Watermelon boy,” he says, after a moment. He takes the towel from Ted and kisses him.
Ted’s heart jumps. “Cat boy.”
Chris laughs, then wraps his arms around Ted. “You got your shirt wet.”
“Hm.” Ted holds Chris close anyways, and Chris doesn’t whine about his wet shirt.
Aiden pounds at the door. “Hey! Freaks! What are you doing in there?!” he demands.
“Shut up!” Chris yells back.
“There’s one bathroom,” Ted says. Then he smiles sharply. “I’m in the mood for a long shower. What about you?”
Chris shares Ted’s smile. He can look evil when he wants. It makes Ted melt. “Sounds nice.”
“Hey!” Aiden yells, still muffled by the door.
Ted reaches around to turn on the water.
“You freaks better not be doing anything, or I’ll tell mom!”
Chris laughs. He kisses Ted’s cheek. “Shut up,” he repeats to his brother. “We have time,” he tells Ted.
“I think we do.”