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"Akaashi !" exclaimed Bokuto one day at lunch, while hitting the table with his fists.
Said Akaashi, sat on the opposite side of the table, shifted his attention — which was previously on his lunch — on the captain of the volleyball team.
"Want to help me redo my hair colour ?" said Bokuto.
Akaashi raised an eyebrow.
"Your hair colour ?" he repeated.
"Yup !"
"Why would you need my help ?"
Bokuto ran a hand through his hair.
"Well, it is a bit long to do, and I kinda have some trouble putting the product at the back of my head."
"Oh."
"Akaaashii !" exclaimed the elder. "You could be more enthusiastic !"
He got no reaction, apart from Akaashi going back to eating lunch. Bokuto sighed, without getting discouraged.
"So, would you mind helping me ? Please !"
Akaashi rested his head on his hand.
"What do I gain ?"
"I’ll owe you a service !"
The setter’s face split into a little smile that was enough to give new hope to Bokuto.
"I’m joking, you don’t owe me anything."
"So it’s a yes ?"
"Yeah, why not ? That could be interesting to know how hair dyes work ."
"Heyyy, great ! Thanks, Akaashi !"
This way, both students had agreed earlier in the week to meet at Bokuto’s place on Saturday to take care of the task of dyeing the captain’s hair.
Without being conscious about it, Akaashi had started to wait for this day. His curiosity had been piqued ; he wanted to know how his friend’s hair had such a particular colour.
The setter arrived slightly in advance at Bokuto’s place. He didn’t worry about it, knowing the captain wouldn’t mind at all.
Akaashi rang the doorbell, and soon Bokuto was there to open the door.
"Heyy !" he exclaimed at the sight of his friend standing outside. "You’re early !"
"Yeah, sorry," Akaashi apologised.
"So much better, we can get started now !" the captain cut him off, confirming the black-haired man’s intuition. "Come in !"
Bokuto stepped aside to let Akaashi pass. He closed the door behind them and invited him to walk to the bathroom, where all the equipment needed for colouring of bleaching awaited them.
"Settle in !" Bokuto happily said, pointing at two stools in front of the sink.
The raven-haired man did so, while his friend organised the furnitures displayed on the sink. He then sat down, smiling.
"Hem, you sure you wanna keep this shirt on ?" Bokuto asked. "Because the products stain. Like, a lot."
To justify himself, he pointed to his own shirt, a tank one. Indeed, the fabric was covered with white and pink stains — Akaashi didn’t try to find out how he got the pink ones.
"And even then, it’s only white, it’s not as if I dyed it in green or red. I can lend you something that won’t suck, to avoid a drama."
Akaashi gladly accepted the offer ; he wanted his black T-shirt to remain intact, and he didn’t have a clue how to save it if he damaged it. Better safe than sorry, as they said.
Bokuto slipped away to his room, to find him a top that he could stain without it being a problem.
"Here," he said, handing him an ample Bly T-shirt that, from the large, light stains that it had, had suffered from the captain’s hair dye sessions.
"Well…" commented Akaashi, grabbing the cloth.
"I’m telling you, it really stains."
"I believe you…"
The setter placed the T-shirt on his knees.
"Akaashi, put it on !"
"Right now ?" Akaashi asked.
"Well, yeah !" exclaimed Bokuto, not understanding the setter’s surprise.
Actually, Akaashi had well understood that he was supposed to change now. But, for a gay teenager on the making, putting on your friend’s clothes was kind of embarrassing. Especially when said friend was particularly attractive. The sporty type, with sparkling eyes and a pretty smile. Someone cheerful, who could lift the mood in a room just by being there. And who had an atypical hairstyle, why not.
Yes, Akaashi had a soft spot for Bokuto. And until now, he'd been hiding it rather well.
While keeping the most unfazed expression, and ignoring Bokuto’s gaze on him, he quickly took off his shirt, replacing it with the one Bokuto had given him.
He then shifted his attention on his friend, who wasn’t taking his eyes off him.
"So, how do you usually process ?" Akaashi asked, barely focused on Bokuto’s answer ; he was too well distracted by the sensation of the fabric falling on his shoulders — the captain’s clothes were comfortable to wear.
Overall, he understood that the process was divided in two steps : bleaching and colouring, both necessitating a laying time.
"Okay, let’s get started !" exclaimed Bokuto, grabbing a product next to the sink.
"I’ll need some explanations," intervened Akaashi to avoid being left behind along the way. After all, he didn’t knew anything about hair dye.
"Yup ! So, today I’m gonna do the bleaching part. You need to apply the product to the roots, with the brush… this one," Bokuto said while showing him the utensil. "It’s a bit long to do because you have to apply it on every strand, but I only do the roots, because the rest of my hair is already dyed."
"And then you let it rest," continued Akaashi.
"Half an hour. And I rinse it all."
"And for the colouration ?"
"I don’t do both at the same time because it really damages my hair. I use special masks to fortify it, and only then do the colo ! I'll probably take care of it tomorrow."
As he gave his explanations, Bokuto could prepare the bleach, which turned out to be a mixture of different products that Akaashi couldn't identify, but which were definitely not natural. No wonder why he needed to fortify it…
The captain sat down in front of the bathroom mirror, the bowl of bleach at the sink. He armed himself with the coloring brush and dipped it into the mixture.
"I’m starting so you can see how I do it !" Bokuto said, grabbing a first strand of hair.
He applied the product on one side, and then the other one, so the roots would be covered by the product. Il reiterated the process with a second strand, and a few more, to show how you should do it.
"You do this each time your hair grows back ?" Akaashi said, astonished.
"Well, I don’t have the choice if I want it to look good…"
"I see… I wouldn't have the courage to do that, especially if I had to do it all over again."
"Yeah, but I look so cool afterwards ! It is enough to motivate you, isn’t it ?"
Akaashi shrugged his shoulders. Still, it needed a lot of maintenance. He would rather keep his natural heir colour.
Bokuto continued his work, while the setter observed him, daydreaming. The captain was amazingly quiet, and Akaashi surprised himself by thinking he liked seeing him focused in his task ; it was a change from the overexcited Bokuto he was used to deal with.
Plus, he could contemplate him without fear of getting caught.
Not that his friend’s physical appearance attracted his eyes.
But he should admit that he was pretty cute, in his stained shirt and with his expression of absolute concentration.
Akaashi quickly pushed these thoughts from his mind and looked away. He couldn't leer, for that was the word, at his friend, as tempting as that might be. He shook his head, embarrassed by his own audacity.
Meanwhile, Bokuto finished applying the bleach on the front side of his head. He suddenly turned to Akaashi.
"Let’s see if you have retained my teachings" he said in a mischievous tone, handing the brush to the setter.
"I can’t, I don’t know how to do this," Akaashi immediately defended himself.
"Yes you can, it is really simple ! Give it a try ! I can’t see what I’m doing for the back, I need your help," continued Bokuto while reaching for his friend’s hand, placing the brush in it. "I’m sure you’ll make it !"
He turned so that his back was to the setter. Akaashi sighed. All he could do now was carry out his request ; at least he wouldn't start to sulk.
He got down to work, starting to apply the bleach on the “top” of the strands before doing it on the uncovered part. He found himself holding his hair in one hand while applying the preparation with the other, and the brush handle came in handy for separating the dyed strands from those devoid of the product.
"So, how is it going ?" Bokuto asked, ten minutes later.
"Not too bad, I guess…" muttered Akaashi, applying the bleach on another strand, in the nape of his neck.
"May I see ?"
Bokuto handed him a small mirror that Akaashi used to show him the results so far.
"It looks good !" he exclaimed, looking at his friend’s work on the reflection. "Do you want to keep going or I do the rest ?"
"Didn’t you tell me that you couldn’t do it in the back ?" Akaashi asked.
"I said I had some trouble, not that I couldn’t !" the captain retorted.
He laughed at the setter’s incredulous expression. He'd got him on that one.
"Bokuto-san, you traitor," Akaashi grumbled, still going back to his work.
Bokuto only laughed louder.
Anyway, it didn’t bothered him that much. He liked taking care of Bokuto — in a platonic way, of course. In this instance, helping him to redo his colouration entertained him a lot, and he got to play with his hair. Not that it was soft against his fingers. Or that he liked the warmth that spread through his hands each time he touched it. Nothing to do with it.
So he finished applying the bleach to his friend's hair. Then he handed him the brush, expecting him to place it in the bowl.
But an idea idea blossomed in the captain's mind. Bokuto began to smile, and his gaze drifted between Akaashi and the brush. The setter’s eyes widened as he grasped what he had in mind.
"Bokuto-san, no way in hell."
"Akaashi-"
"No."
"Let me dye your hair!"
"I refuse."
Akaashi shook his head as a sign of refusal. Just imagining his parents' reaction if he came home with his hair dyed sent shivers down his spine.
"Please ! Just a strand, we won’t see anything !" insista Bokuto.
He stood up from his stool and put the brush down before getting closer to the setter. Akaashi leaned away from the captain, but the latter pulled him by the shoulders to sit him back down.
Bokuto rested his hands on Akaashi’s head and gently tilted it to the side. He planted his index finger on the back of his skull.
"Look, if we dye a strand there, it will be hidden between the other ones ! We won’t notice it, especially on curls like yours !"
Akaashi didn’t say a word. He was too focused on keeping a stoic expression despite the sudden proximity between Bokuto and him.
To his great relief, the captain, who had not received an answer, let go of his head.
But he wasn't out of the woods yet.
Akaashi suppressed an exclamation of surprise as Bokuto slipped his arms around his neck.
"Akaaashiiiiii, say yes ! I'll be careful, I promise!" he cried, shaking the poor setter from side to side.
He obviously hadn't said his last word...
✼
The timer set on Bokuto’s smartphone rang in the room, signifying that the thirty-minute exposure was over, and that they could rinse the bleach out of their hair.
They.
Yes, Akaashi had given up. Bokuto had been so insistent that he had agreed to let him dye his hair. After all, who wouldn’t have fallen for the captain's adorable spirit ?
No him, at least.
So yeah, Akaashi had been waiting for half an hour for the bleach to take effect... some plastic film around his hair ; a detail Bokuto had forgotten to mention. — the setter didn’t even hide his astonishment when he saw his friend cover his head with cellophane.
"Right, time to wash it !" exclaimed Bokuto, taking off the plastic wrap. "Akaashi, do you want to rinse your hair first or should I do it first ?"
"Go on, you had the product in your hair before."
"Ok !"
Bokuto crouched down in front of the bathtub. He grabbed a bottle of shampoo, along with the shower head.
"I don’t like this never, I can’t wash my hair in this position…" he muttered while he put his head above the bathtub.
"Do you want me to do it for you ?" offered Akaashi.
Bokuto lifted his head.
"It doesn’t bother you ?" he asked.
"I wouldn’t have asked if it bothered me…"
"That’s very true," the captain laughed. "Alright, then. Thank you, Akaashi !"
Akaashi left his stool to sit on the edge of the bathtub. Bokuto handed him the shampoo and the shower head.
The setter turned on the tap and waited for the water to heat up. Once it was warm, he started to wet his friend’s hair.
"Temperature ?"
"Perfect !" the captain reassured him.
Akaashi then began to rinse Bokuto’s hair. He turned off the tap when it was soaked to spare water. He grabbed the bottle of shampoo and dripped some of the product into his hands.
Akaashi slipped his hands into Bokuto's hair and began to shampoo it, making sure to take off the bleach from the roots. He rinsed his head, letting the foam, which had taken on a dark hue from the bleach, run off.
He then did a second shampoo to finish off any remaining product.
While he was busy rubbing his scalp just behind his ears, he heard Bokuto sigh.
"Did I hurt you ?" Akaashi worried.
"No, not at all !" Bokuto reassured him. "That’s quite the opposite, I like it…"
"Really ?"
"That must sound weird… But it feels good, it’s relaxing."
The feeling was shared, even though Akaashi didn’t say anything about it. The softness of Bokuto’s hair in which his hands were lost, the warmth he gave off that spread through his fingers, the feeling of well-being he felt taking care of him, felt incredibly relaxing, and he wouldn’t have traded his place there for anything in the world.
He truly loved taking care of Bokuto.
So obviously this moment ended way too soon for Akaashi’s liking.
He finished rinsing Bokuto’s hair in silence. The setter then took a towel and wrapped it around his friend’s head.
"You can stand up," he said to the captain.
The latter went back sitting on his stool. He took off the towel to dry his freshly bleached hair himself. The task completed, he wanted to put the soaked fabric on the heater to let it dry.
"Wait…"
Akaashi took the towel from his hands and gently rubbed the back of his ears, where a few droplets of water were still dripping. Then, the setter put the towel on the heater, just where his friend was going to put it a few seconds earlier.
"Thanks, Akaashi."
Akaashi turned his head to Bokuto, who stared at him, with a oh-so-soft gaze that that made a strange warmth rise in the pit of his stomach.
"Why are looking at me like that ?" he asked, chuckling nervously.
"Like what ?" Bokuto said mischievously without taking his eyes off him. Akaashi swallowed.
"Well, huh… you, um…" the setter stuttered as his cheeks were getting slightly red. He shouldn’t have made that remark, it was backfiring on him. He couldn’t just explain that he felt his stomach turned over and the sight of his beaming face…
Bokuto laughed.
"Well, you seem embarrassed… I didn’t do anything for you to act this way, though" he mocked, worsening the redness of his cheeks. "Ohh, I’m just teasing you," he said, seeing that his friend wasn’t amused by his joke. "Come on, it's your turn to rinse your hair! This way!" he pointed to the bathtub.
"Bokuto-san, I can wash my hair myself."
"Nah, let me do it ! You did it for me, this way I won’t owe you anything !" the captain exclaimed.
"You really don’t need to…" Akaashi insisted.
"I’m telling you it’s okay! Come on, settle down, head down !"
Akaashi held back a sigh and complied. Soon, he was sitting on his knees, head tilted over the bathtub. The captain settled down where he had been sat a few minutes ago while he was taking care of his friend’s hair. Bokuto took the shower head and let the water run in the tub. Then, he directed the water jet on Akaashi’s raven hair.
The setter didn't make the slightest move, despite the coolness of the water running over his head. He placed his hands in his thighs, absent-mindedly fidgeting his fingers, and waited. The sound of the water stopping running told him he had finished using the shower head.
Bokuto had told him that having your hair being washed felt good, and until now, Akaashi hadn’t really cared wether it was true or not.
Whether he had wanted to know or not, he had his answer.
Bokuto ran his hands through Akaashi’s raven hair, and the simple touch of the tip of his fingers against his scalp got him shivering. Oh, to be pleasant, it was.
While Bokuto quietly shampooed his friend’s hair, the setter was restraining himself from melting on the spot. His heart rate was racing, every cell in his body on alert. He who usually had absolute control over his body, couldn’t even manage to suppress the tremors that ran through him.
"It seems that you like it even more than I do," Bokuto teased.
If he only knew the state it put him in…
"Oh, shut up," Akaashi mumbled. Just controlling the tone of his voice required considerable efforts.
"I never thought I'd discover a weakness in Akaashi Keiji," the captain said, gently rubbing the nape of his neck. Shivers ran down his spine.
"Is it almost over ?" Akaashi asked, lifting his hea. At this point, he didn't mind having his head tilted ; that way, he could justify the state of his face, which had turned a peony color.
"Yes, yes, I’m rinsing. Since you didn't have a lot of bleach, I won't need to do a second shampoo. Sorry, I guess you wouldn't have minded…"
"Bokuto-san, I don't know where you got your sense of humour from, but I'd rather you didn't use it against me," grumbled Akaashi. The setter glared at Bokuto. The captain stuck out his tongue
"Such an opportunity is too rare ! I must take advantage of it !" he defended himself while starting to rinse the shampoo from Akaashi’s hair.
The latter muttered an answer, no really convinced. Without further ado, Bokuto finished washing his friend's dark hair. He wrung it out with a dry towel, then Akaashi stood up, cheeks still flushed; it must have been due to his uncomfortable position, no doubt...
Bokuto immediately grabbed the small mirror near the sink and placed it so that Akaashi could observe his reflection in the wall-mounted mirror. As the captain had said, it was well concealed behind his curls, though without disappearing completely. The bleached lock of hair had taken on more of a grayish hue than white, but it wasn't damaged.
"Your verdict ?" Bokuto asked, a smile on his face.
"It’s not bad…" Akaashi commented, running a hand through his hair to inspect his friend's work.
"Hey ! Told you, I’m a professional," he exclaimed, ruffling his hair. "I'm good at it, aren't I ?" he said, leaning against Akaashi’s back.
"Yeah…"
"Your face says the opposite…"
"… I have to admit, you were brilliant on this one."
"Aww, Akaashi, you’re gonna make me blush !" Bokuto said in a dramatic tone. Akaashi smiled.
"And you, are you satisfied with your bleaching ?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, you did a great job, as usual !"
"It's probably not as good as when you take care of it…"
"It is ! Stop putting down your work, Akaashi. It’s great !"
Bokuto gave him a broad smile before turning his attention back to her reflection, to observe his lightened roots. Akaashi looked down, and his heart beat faster at the compliment.
If he was so happy with the result, he wouldn’t mind helping him redo his colouration more often…