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“Yuji… what are you doing?” Megumi’s eyes followed Yuji, as the boy walked past his room to the communal bathroom with a plastic bag clutched in his hand and a pair of plastic gloves in the other hand.
Yuji stopped in his tracks, backpedalling to lean against Megumi’s doorframe and beam at his boyfriend. "Re-dying my hair!" He waved the plastic bag and Megumi could very faintly make out the shape of a box inside.
“You mean it’s not actually naturally pink?” Megumi widened his eyes, lips quirking up.
“You’re ridiculous,” Yuji snorted. “No, of course it’s not naturally pink. But I’ve been dying it for years so I can’t imagine myself going back to my natural colour?”
“Which is…?”
“Like… a dirty blond-ish colour?” Yuji replied, cocking his head to the side as he tried to recall it. “It’s blonde or light brown depending on the lighting.”
“You’re right, I can’t see you with hair that colour. Stick with the pink.”
“Aye, aye!” Yuji saluted with the hand he was holding his gloves with. “See you later?”
“Can I – can I help?” Megumi asked, his tone clearly hesitant.
“Of course you can!” Yuji’s eyes brightened. “Come on, I’ll teach you everything there is to know about dying one’s hair pink!”
“Okay, Yuji,” Megumi shook his head fondly as he put down his book and stood, reaching his arms above his head, and stretching in a way that reminded Yuji a lot of a black cat he’d seen a few days ago, doing the exact same thing. “What?”
“Nothing, nothing.” Yuji waved him off, sticking the gloves into his hoodie pocket and reaching a hand out to Megumi, who gladly took it and linked their fingers together, relishing in the warmth of his hand in comparison to his own cold ones.
“Don’t say anything about how cold they are,” Megumi grumbled. “We don’t all run warm like you.”
“I wasn’t gonna.” Yuji grinned, tugging Megumi behind him down the corridor and towards the bathroom. Once they were there, Yuji hesitantly untangled his fingers from Megumi’s and put the plastic bag down beside the sink, reaching down to the hem of his hoodie and pulling it off, leaving him in an old white shirt that had pink stains.
“You dye your hair in this shirt often I see.” Megumi murmured, running a finger over the stains on his shoulder curiously.
“Yeah, ‘s old so I don’t mind ruining it.” Yuji shrugged, running his fingers through his hair.
“What’s first?”
“Gotta wet my hair,” Yuji spun around where he was standing until his eyes landed on the shower stalls. “I don’t really feel like going into the stall, what if I just wet my hair under the sink?”
“In the sink?” Megumi huffed out an amused laugh. “I don’t think that’s the wisest idea, Yuji. It’s not big enough to fit a head, it won’t be comfortable.”
“I hate when you counter my arguments with logic.” the pink haired boy grumbled.
“Oh, sorry, I won’t do it again.”
“No, cause then we’re really fucked if you don’t use logic. I’d probably end up in deep shit without you.” Yuji shook his head, eyes wide.
“I’m glad you’re aware,” Megumi shook his head fondly. “Come on, I’ll wash your hair. What did you do when you had to wet it before?”
“I’ve only dyed it once before since I came here, and I just showered so it was wet already, but when I dyed it beforehand it was easier because we had a bath where I lived, not a shower.” Yuji leaned against the wall as he watched Megumi unhook the shower hose.
“You did it yourself?” Megumi questioned.
“Yeah, it was just me and my grandfather, and he was in hospital a lot so…” Yuji shrugged. “Okay, how do I –”
“Just sit.” Megumi shook his head, a faint smile growing on his lips.
Yuji dropped down to his knees and bowed his head so his eyes were on the floor and his hair was hanging into his face. He heard Megumi turn the shower on and then he felt the water on his head. Thankfully, it wasn’t cold, rather bordering on hot, which felt really pleasant and coupled with the feeling of his boyfriends fingers dragging through the locks and scratching at his scalp, he was in bliss.
“’M gonna fall asleep at this rate.”
“Don’t.” Megumi warned.
“I won’t, I won’t. But, I’m just saying…” Yuji murmured. “Feels nice.”
“The water?”
“Well… yeah, but I meant your fingers in my hair. Feels nice.” Yuji felt Megumi’s fingers still for a second before continuing what they were doing before.
“You should have said, I’d do it more often if you like it so much.”
“Well, now you know.”
“I’m done by the way.” Megumi turned the shower hose off and patted Yuji’s shoulder before stepping out of the stall to let Yuji up. He lifted his hands to his wet hair and wrung it out a little before shaking his head and splattering water drops around him before lifting his head, hair sticking to his skin in a way Megumi had never seen before.
“Looks different, doesn’t it?”
“It does. You want a towel?”
“Nah, it’s fine. Shirt’s gonna be fucked either way. Okay… let’s do this.”
A few minutes later saw them crowded around the sink, Yuji mixing something pink in a bowl and Megumi just watching because he had no idea what it was or what was going on. This was a foreign experience for him.
“So you just… put that on your hair?” Megumi raised an eyebrow and Yuji hummed his affirmation in response, nodding his head distractedly. “I see.”
“You’ve really never seen someone dye their hair before? I feel like that would be something Gojo-sensei would do for fun,” Yuji cocked his head to the side.
“Gojo loves his hair too much to even think about bringing dye near it.” Megumi deadpanned, rolling his eyes.
“That makes sense. Okay, I’m done!” Yuji wiggled the little bowl in his hands.
“Is this where I come in?”
“This is where you come in, Megumi!” Yuji beamed brightly. “Okay, look, there’s a brush in the bowl. You get it all nice and covered with the dye and then put it on my hair. Everywhere. Even the parts that are already pink, make ‘em pinker!”
“Okay, seems simple enough.”
“Do you want gloves?” Yuji offered him the pair that he dug out of his hoodie pocket. “Dye stains and all.”
“It’s fine.” Megumi dismissed it, picking the bowl up as Yuji tugged a stool from under the sink and sat down on top of it, pulling his phone out of his sweatpants pocket to scroll through his messages and social media as Megumi got to work. The dark haired boy was a lot more gentle and meticulous than Yuji ever was when dying his own hair because honestly, he didn’t even use the brush. He just pulled some gloves on and did it with his hands.
But Megumi was so careful when separating his hair and painting the pink onto his dark roots and on his other already pink strands of hair, taking moments to pause and plant a kiss on Yuji’s cheek whenever he felt like it because he could do that now. That was his boyfriend and he could kiss him if he wanted, who was going to stop him? Yuji certainly wouldn’t, given how eagerly he accepted the kisses, even chasing after Megumi when he pulled away because he wanted more.
It didn’t take long before Yuji’s hair was coated in pink and he had to just sit there and wait for a few minutes until he could wash it off, so Megumi put the bowl down and sat on the floor, leaning his back against Yuji’s legs, and just let his head rest on his boyfriends knees, eyes closed. He felt a hand land on his head and ruffle his hair before a kiss was planted on his head.
“You’re like a cat,” Yuji muttered, an amused tone clear in his words. “You remind me of this black cat I saw the other day.”
“I’m not a cat.”
“I said you were like one. it’s not a bad thing, Megumi.” Yuji continued in that soft tone of his that he used often when talking to his boyfriend.
“Nobara called you a golden retriever boyfriend the other day.” Megumi grumbled and Yuji burst into laughter.
“Dog and cat, look at us,” Yuji snickered, planting another kiss on Megumi’s head. “Oh, Megumi… your hands…”
Megumi cracked his eyes open and looked down at his hands, seeing pink on them. “Oh.”
“That’s going to stain them. I told you to wear gloves.”
“It’s fine,” Megumi shrugged. “I don’t really mind.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
A comfortable silence fell between them, interrupted only by sounds from Yuji’s phone and his little huffs of laughter from something he saw or read. Megumi was content to stay there, a hand occasionally messing with his hair and a warmth emanating from Yuji behind him. It felt nice. But soon enough, he had to get up to help Yuji rinse the dye out of his hair.
The floor of the stall was covered in pink as the dye slowly drained out of Yuji’s hair, leaving it pinker than before. Megumi’s fingers were more stained as he washed out the dye before adding some conditioner, following Yuji’s instructions, and rinsing it out again. Soon enough, the water ran clear and Megumi dropped a dark towel onto his boyfriends head, because dark wouldn’t get as stained as a white one.
Yuji rubbed his hair with the towel, head bowed as he vigorously rubbed while Megumi cleared away the mess they had made before, dropping the empty bowl into the plastic bowl along with the brush after washing them both. Then, he rinsed his own hands under the lukewarm water, scrubbing at them with Nobara’s nice smelling soap that she’d lent the boys bathroom because she was sick of the bland ones they had to use.
The stains on Megumi’s hands wouldn’t budge, but he found he didn’t really mind it too much as he examined the pink marks peppering his fingertips and palms and associated them with Yuji. He found he didn’t mind it too much because it was a reminder of one of the most important people in his life.