Chapter Text
The day Koujaku finally let Aoba cut his hair quickly came and went, though, in the end, Aoba didn’t do anything fancy or complicated, he only trimmed off the ends (the younger male won’t admit it, but Koujaku knows it’s because Aoba was too nervous to do anything else). Before that though, Koujaku taught him a few things about handling hair, and it seems playing with Koujaku’s hair has become a habit. Koujaku always finds himself inwardly laughing when Aoba absentmindedly starts gliding his fingers through his hair.
And tonight is no different.
Once Koujaku returns from a quick shower, Aoba’s fingers seek out his hair and comb through it as soon as the older male seats himself next to him on the bed, and Koujaku does nothing to prevent it from happening. With a soft chuckle, he even moves to seat himself on the floor instead to allow the smaller male better access to it, and Aoba shifts to sit cross-legged at the edge of the bed to continue his affections. A content sigh escapes through Koujaku’s nose, his full focus going to the feeling of Aoba’s fingers sliding through his hair with ease. It doesn’t seem like he has any sort of set plan of what he’s going to do, really he’s only touching and playing with the freshly washed and dried dark strands. Koujaku’s eyelids suddenly become heavy and he allows them to close, beginning to doze off before he even realizes it.
The sound of snickering a few moments later is enough to wake him back up.
“Oi, what are you doing back there…?” he can’t help but notice the thick grogginess in his own voice. He also notices the absence of the younger male’s hands in his hair and he misses their careful touches immediately, but he has no recollection of them actually leaving it - how long was he asleep?
“I’m not doing anything~”
“Really? Then why are you giggling like that?”
“Because you fell asleep again, you old man.”
“I’m not old yet, idiot— Besides, you really are good with your hands - it’s relaxing… so I can’t help it.”
“Kyaaah, Koujaku-san complimented me - I’m so happy!”
That high-pitched voice and mock excitement bring out a scoff. He’s about to tell Aoba he’s a little shit, but something in the nearby mirror catches his attention. It distracts him from Aoba’s teasing, causing him to shift just enough to look into it, finding that Aoba has put a big braid in his black hair. It’s definitely nowhere near perfect and it’s a bit sloppy, there are stray hairs sticking out here and there, but it was definitely put together with a lot of care and that brings a smile to his face.
“I think I did a good job,” Aoba is definitely feeling proud of himself, portraying that with a singsong tone of voice and it widens the smile on Koujaku’s face, coaxes out a soft chuckle.
“You did,” he sort of feels like a parent praising a child and the younger male seems to think so too and lets out a scoff. Koujaku already knows Aoba is rolling his eyes even without being able to see them, but the annoyance is quickly lost and Aoba speaks again with a sense of excitement in his words.
“Mn… Next time, I think I’ll mess with some rollers— I wonder how a curly-haired Koujaku would look? Or maybe— E-eh? Why are you laughing?!”
It was nothing but a hushed chuckle at first, but with every word Aoba spoke Koujaku’s laugh gained more energy and forced itself from his mouth. “Because shouldn’t I be saying those kinds of things?”
“W-well… that’s— Um…”
“But, if you like playing with my hair, I’m happy - it’s nice to be on the receiving end for once.”
“It’s… probably just your dumb habits rubbing off on me—”
“If you really meant what you said before – about wanting to try other things with it… I’ll help you.”
There’s a soft gasp from Aoba, and it takes a moment for him to respond, his voice coming out small when he finally does, “R-really…?”
“Of course. You’re my pupil now, right? So I better teach you everything I know—” he lets out a laugh and a light sound of mock pain when Aoba lightly smacks the side of his head as soon as those words leave his mouth, knowing the blue-haired male is likely rolling his eyes again. He pivots his body enough to see Aoba and flashes him a smile, “Besides, you liking to play with my hair is really cute~” and there’s that scowl he’s grown so familiar with, the one that reeks of “Shut up, you hippo!”
“T-tonight you’re really—”
But Koujaku doesn’t allow him to finish, raising himself to seal his mouth over Aoba’s irritated frown, traps his words between their lips. His scarred fingers tangle within Aoba’s hair, laying light caresses across his scalp. He still worries about hurting Aoba when he does this regardless of the younger male’s constant assurances that all sensation in his hair has nearly faded completely - he’s careful out of habit, careful out of fear that he could do something to have this privilege taken away. Their mouths continue to brush against each other, and he tries to gather up at least a little of the affections he’s built up through the years he forced himself to hide them away and pass them on to Aoba through these gentle movements. He almost feels like he succeeded at least little bit when a content sigh is pressed to his mouth, and he finds himself feeling giddy.
When he finally pulls away, a light blush has joined the lessened scowl on Aoba’s face, and Koujaku can’t help placing a few kisses to his forehead, only pretending to ignore the light mutters of “hippo”.
“You really did do a great job with my hair.”
“Ah… Well… I just did what you showed me a while ago… you don’t need to flatter me…”
“It’s not flattery, you really did well. And I’ve decided something…” he moves to sit next to Aoba, watches his face glow an even brighter shade of red, watching as he begins to fidget and avoid eye contact. Koujaku gives him another smile and twirls a few strands of blue hair around his index finger.
“I definitely can’t let you make anyone else feel this way.”
The short-haired male allows him to kiss him again, slips his arms around his neck and clumsily falls backward, pulling Koujaku down with him. It was definitely an accident but the younger male does nothing about it, seems to play it off as something he intended to happen by nipping at Koujaku’s bottom lip with his teeth.
All Koujaku can do is smile one more time.
When Aoba said he wanted Koujaku to let him cut his hair, he never expected it to lead to Aoba spontaneously playing with his hair, never expected it to form into a habit either. He can say with full certainty that it’s a habit he’s going to find impossible to dislike.