Chapter Text
Dan collapsed on the sofa, the last box of his valuables nearly slipping out of his arms. He was very glad that Jessica had agreed to have this week be her week with Adam, even though she was swamped at work. As he looked around at the barely furnished apartment with boxes piled high, he let out a deep sigh - it was hard being an adult sometimes.
He and Jess had tried cohabiting for a while after they broke up, a combination of inertia, the pandemic, and their chaotic toddler keeping them tied together for longer than they perhaps should have been, but it was time for a change for the both of them. Adam would be starting school soon and as Dan had wandered through the colourful corridors on one of the many open days, he knew that he also needed a fresh start.
~
Once he had gotten most of the essentials unpacked, he went on a walk around his new neighbourhood. Despite the fact that he had lived in this borough for almost a decade, he had never ventured too far in to the surrounding areas.
Clapham, where he had lived with Jess, was stuffy; the middle-class respectability providing a strict box for him to endlessly scrutinise himself within. Brixton, on the other hand, was like a breath of fresh air. The colourful streets felt freeing, as if he could finally stop living the lie that had been breathing down his neck all of his life.
As he walked past endless cafés, charity shops, and discount nicknack store-fronts, one particular place stood out to him.
It was a barber shop, the vibrant yellow paint on the outside instantly separating it from the typical dull tones that often adorned shops trying to appeal to men.
The inside was full of plants, some of which looked a little worse-for-wear.
The two barbers and their one customer were chatting jovially, but Dan couldn’t make out the specifics.
He was about to continue walking when one of the barber’s suddenly looked out of the window and caught his eye, giving him a cheerful smile.
Oh, shit.
Does this–
Should I–
Would it be weird if I walked away?
Well now it would because I’ve been staring
Fucking… God dammit
Welp, I would have needed a haircut soon anyway
“Hiya! What can I do you for?” the barber that had smiled at him through the window asked.
“Um, just a shave on the sides and a little off the top, please.”
“No problem, if you want you can wait for Marcus to free-up, he’s normally better at curly hair.”
“I’m, um, sure you’ll do fine,” Dan said, trying to be reassuring, but coming off nervous.
“Well, let’s hope so,” the man said with a smile. There was a small pause before he started up again. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before, what’s your name?”
“Dan.”
“Hi Dan, I’m Phil.”
~
After their slightly bumpy start, they got talking pretty quickly. Dan telling him about his life as a lawyer, and Phil providing anecdotes of the wild characters that tended to come in to the shop.
“So, what brings you to Brixton?”
“Needed a fresh start after I broke up with my ex.” Usually he said ex-wife, but this time something stopped him.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Dan waved a hand dismissively, time had long since faded that sting. “But, this place is great for getting away from it all.”
They settled in to a comfortable silence, and Dan did his best to ignore the way his skin zinged as Phil gently brushed his hands over his head.
It was the best haircut he had ever had.
~
His last day of being free from most of his adult responsibilities arrived sooner than expected, and there was only one box of stuff that was still yet to be unpacked.
He had promised himself that all of it would be done by the time that Jess arrived to drop Adam off that evening, but he couldn’t bring himself to peel off the final bit of tape.
It was just sat there, taunting him, keeping the real reason for his separation from Jessica safe in its depths.
He sighed. It’s just a stupid box.
But it contained a piece of fabric that he had only just convinced himself to stop running from.
Dan took out the small rainbow flag, smushed at the very bottom of the box where he left it. The plasticy fabric had crinkled from where his other, mostly monochrome, decorations had sat on top of it. He cringed as he stared down at it in his hands.
Aw, hell, the kitchen needed a splash of colour anyway.
~
“Daddy, daddy, look what I made with mummy!” Adam shrieked as he ran, full force, past Dan in to the new apartment.
“Well, I can’t see it if you’re all the way over there, can I, gooseberry?”
He shouted something unintelligible back from deep inside the flat. Dan lightly rolled his eyes at Jess.
She stood at the entrance, a tired smile gracing her features. “Can I come in for a coffee?”
“ ‘course. Come on, let’s go find Adam.”
“So, how’re you liking it so far?”
“Yeah, yeah, it seems nice enough, and the neighbourhood is good. How was work?”
“Eh, it was fine, the meeting wasn’t as bad as I thought… God, we’re such adults.”
He chuckled, “Oi!”
She laughed, "Sorry, sorry! It's true, though."
He walked to the kitchen and flicked the kettle on, retrieving two mugs and the instant coffee powder. He noticed Jess standing in the doorway, her eyes trained on the rainbow flag sat in a jar on the counter. There was a crash from somewhere else in the apartment.
“Adam?!” he shouted.
“I’ll get him,” she said, and walked off quickly to find him.
By the time the coffee was made, neither of them had returned, so he walked through the halls with the two mugs. He found them in Adam’s new room, Jess was unpacking his stuff and he was sat colouring.
He put Jess’s coffee mug down near her. “C’mon, you don’t have to do that.”
“It’s fine, you need an early night anyway, remember? You’ve got court tomorrow.”
“God, how do you still remember my schedule better than I do?” She smiled knowingly. Dan rolled his eyes at her. “C’mon, mister, it’s time for your bath.”
Adam gasped, “With bubbles?”
Dan smiled, “Sure, kiddo, with bubbles.”
~
“Your hair’s getting long,” Dan commented as he scrubbed shampoo into his kid’s messy curls, “Didn’t mummy take you to the hairdressers?”
“Nope… she gave me a band cause it kept getting in my eyes at play time.”
“That’s good, you might need to wear that tomorrow, cause I’ll be too busy to get your hair cut tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“I got my hair cut recently too, I’ll take you to see the nice man that did it.”
Adam reached his hand up to pat Dan’s head, “It feels nice. Do you like the man?”
Dan paused, not knowing how to answer that. “Uh, yeah, I guess.”
“I like Rosie, she’s going to be in my class at school.”
“Uh huh.”
Dan tuned out Adam’s babbling, still somewhat reeling from his question.
~
Phil cocked his head to the side when he noticed Dan approach the door. “Back so soon?” His face lit with a smile as he noticed Adam. “And who’s this little guy.”
“I’m Adam, and he’s my daddy.”
“Well, hello Adam! What are we doing today?”
“He just needs a bit of a trim, his hair keeps getting it in his eyes.”
“Well, we can’t have that! C’mon Adam, which chair do you want to sit in?”
~
Months went by and Dan kept going back to the barber shop, maybe more than was strictly necessary - so he liked the feeling of a cute guy playing with his hair, sue him. Phil commented on his frequent visits, but Dan brushed him off by mildly lying that he needed to look fresh for court.
The more he learnt about him, the more he liked him, and they could now chat easily about pretty much anything. He heard about Phil’s love of but ineptitude for caring for house plants, the time his uni friends burned a plushie robot after he broke up with his first boyfriend, and his childhood love of metallic green envelopes. When Dan told him about figuring out that he was gay, they bonded over their shared crush on Evan Peters, and when Dan mentioned playing Apex, Phil offered to add him so they could play together.
As he clicked on the button to accept Phil’s friend request, his phone buzzed with a message from Jess.
Do you wanna talk sometime? Catch up? I kind of miss having you around the house x
yeah that would be good :)
You free on sunday?
in the evening yep
we can talk when I bring Adam over
I’ve got the red wine waiting in the cupboard x
~
“I don’t know what to do, Jess! I feel like I really like him, but I don’t know if he even notices I exist!”
“He would give pretty shit haircuts if that were true.”
“Fuck off,” he quipped back, snickering.
“I’m just saying… it seems like he likes you too.”
“Well of course it would cause you’ve only heard me talk about him, so you’re just getting my biased opinions”
“God, stop being such a lawyer, Daniel.”
“I thought that was the whole reason we started dating.”
“Fuck off,” she said with a smile on her face.
The room was suspended in comfortable silence for a moment.
“I should really get back home, the last tube’s leaving soon.”
“Sure, sure, just, he makes you really happy, Dan, you should go for it.”
“I’ll… think about it.”
Jessica smacked him lightly on the arm, “If you don’t, I will.”
“God! Fine, you weirdo!”
“I want photographic evidence of your cute date.”
He smiled, “Why must you torment me?”
“Because, shockingly, I want my friend to be happy.”
“How very dare you.”