Work Text:
When Tang Rou shows her the box, Chen Guo can’t help her surprise. “Here?” she asks. “You could easily go to a salon.”
Tang Rou gives her an exasperated look. “I don’t want a salon.” She takes Chen Guo’s hand. “You said you’ll help me with anything, Guoguo.”
Chen Guo curls her fingers around Tang Rou’s. “The last time I dyed my hair I was twelve, and my father helped me.”
“So you can do it.”
“Yes,” Chen Guo says, steadied by Tang Rou’s certainty. “But—”
“I won’t regret this.” Tang Rou grins, fox-sharp and spear-swift. “Besides, hair grows back. This isn’t any more permanent than I want it to be.”
Chen Guo nods. Tang Rou’s mind is made up, so Chen Guo won’t doubt her. It’d be even less effective about hair dye than when Tang Rou first asked to kiss her. “Then let’s begin.”
Tang Rou’s hair is familiar beneath her hands, even through the gloves Chen Guo wears to protect her skin from the bleach. She carefully wraps chunks of hair, wreathing Tang Rou’s head with tin foil, and then they wait, watching the newest remake of Legend of the Condor Heroes while Tang Rou’s hair turns bright and brittle.
Then they rinse it out and pack in the dye, red like blood and roses and Happy’s logo. “Overnight,” Tang Rou says when Chen Guo hesitates with a timer. “I’ll wash it out in the morning.”
“Then you’re sleeping in your own bed tonight.” As much as Chen Guo will miss Tang Rou’s warmth at her side, she’d rather not have stains all over her sheets.
Tang Rou kisses her, soft lips on her cheek, and bids her goodnight.
The next morning, she’s a sunrise, a flame, and Chen Guo’s heart lifts to match Tang Rou’s smile.