Thank you to speadee for beta-ing this for me!
Note: The idea came from a fellow review of Only Just a Game and she allowed me to write it out. Thanks to Selyn Tong!
Fuji Syuusuke never knew that such a short boy could be so rude…
…and strangely fascinating.
Telling
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
It all started one fine Sunday afternoon. Fuji was just finishing drying his most frequent customer, Tezuka Kunimitsu's, hair when the chime above the door rang, signaling an incoming customer.
"There you are Tezuka," Fuji said, lightly tussling Tezuka's hair and stepping back to see his finalized work.
"Ah, thanks Fuji," he answered, having caught a glance of his hair in the mirror. He allowed Fuji to swipe the cloth off him and got up.
With another sound of the chime, Fuji turned to the new customer.
The customer was a short boy of about fourteen. Untidy black hair spilled out under his white cap. He closed the magazine he was flipping through and looked up at Fuji with a sullen expression.
"Finally decided to notice me?"
Fuji smirked in reply. "Yep," he gestured to the seat Tezuka had just occupied, "how would you like your hair?"
The boy got up and moved over to the seat. "Just a trim," he answered.
Fuji raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" The boy did have nice hair…
"'M sure," he answered, grabbing another magazine.
Fuji shrugged and got to work. He ran his fingers through the boy's hair, combed it, and started to cut. Combed and cut… combed and cut…
The boy was still scowling.
Fuji frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked. He'd always been good with reading people's expressions.
The boy glanced at him before going back to his magazine once more. "None of your business."
Fuji only smiled. "My, so sullen."
There was a silence – only the snipping sound until Fuji spoke.
"My day was pretty exciting! I had several customers including my regular – Tezuka! The first customer was this girl – my, she was pretty but she's not my type. She had these long braids… such a pity she wanted to have it cut short!" Fuji rambled as he cut, pleased to see that the boy's face turned into a bright red hue.
"But she ended up with this…"
"Would you shut up?" the boy growled.
Fuji smiled pleasantly. "No," and continued, "well, she ended up with this cute bob. My second customer was this balding old man. Now, I wonder why he'd even come to get a haircut if he's balding. Strange, huh?"
He paused and waited for an answer.
"You're going to keep talking until I talk, huh?" the boy finally said.
"Yep."
Fuji finished cutting and started to slowly bend the boy's head back to drench with water. He let the cool water run through the boy's silky strands.
"It's my dad."
Fuji blinked but recovered immediately, and murmured a quick acknowledgement.
"He just doesn't understand me. He keeps trying to send me on dates. He's my father - he's not supposed to do that."
The boy hesitated. "Besides, I don't even like girls…"
At this, Fuji made no comment. "Is that all?"
"Yeah…"
Fuji lathered the boy's hair, fingering the strands with shampoo.
"What does your mother think? Does she know?"
The boy hesitated once more. Finally, "I think so."
"You think so?" he started rinsing his hair, drenching his head and washing away the shampoo.
"Yeah…"
The boy fell quiet, allowing Fuji to work in silence.
"Hey," the boy called as Fuji was almost finished drying his hair.
Fuji absentmindedly answered, "Yeah?"
"You don't mind, do you?"
Fuji smiled, switched the hair dryer off, and gently pulled the boy's head back. His smile seemed to widen as he stared at the pair of wide golden eyes.
"Not one bit," and with that, he leaned down and kissed him.