Hairs
By: SukiNora
A.N. The plot of this one is a tad weird... Long story of how it came into being : ) But, enjoy the sunday and happy reading!
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"Stop looking at my face."
Those five words were enough to make me let out the longest and saddest sigh I think I've ever sighed. To put a hand against my chin and avert my gaze from Heero's straggly beard.
"I was just looking," I muttered, my tone a bit testy.
"I'm sure," Heero replied, flipping the page of the morning newspaper, no doubt looking for another story to read so he could ignore me better.
It was the normal morning routine. He'd wake up about ten minutes before me, giving my head a slight pat before getting out of bed and starting breakfast for the two of us. I never really understood why he woke up so early when he had it in his power to sleep in. He started his own computer business after the wars so he made his own hours, not constrained to the hellish ones of the Preventers like myself.
I stayed in bed until the last possible minute Heero would allow it. He'd usually come in somewhere between putting the coffee on and frying the bacon, flipping the mattress just enough to roll me onto the cold hardwood floor of misery.
He'd finish breakfast while I got dressed and showered, and he'd be reading the paper by the time I finally made it to the breakfast table, which was good, because I am not good conversation in the morning. Even if I was, I never had time to do more than choke down my half my breakfast and shove the rest of it into my pockets to eat when I got to work.
Sundays were a different story. Sure, they always started the same way, but there was one very important detail that made Sundays better than all the other days. I didn't have to work.
Now you may wonder why, if I don't have to work, why would things start the same way? I'll tell you why. Heero is evil. He has always had this notion that the sooner we wake up the sooner we can go enjoy the day together. He never seems to get that the less I get to sleep in the more cranky, and delirious I get. That's how it all started. One delirious Sunday morning.
It was a few months ago when I noticed it for the first time. Heero was greeting me good morning as I lumbered into the kitchen to get my cup of coffee, probably scratching my balls or doing something else that Heero deemed inappropriate since I distinctly remember the snorting noise he made as he turned the page of his paper. I remember because when that page got turned, I saw his face for the first time that morning.
"What's on your face?" I asked, my eyes going wide as I made a complete U- turn from the kitchen.
Heero lowered his paper a bit when I started to poke one of his cheeks with my index finger.
"What do you mean what's on my face," he kinda smiled as he said it, pushing my hand away as he set his paper down.
I'm pretty sure I still had that dumbfounded look on my face because he only smiles in the morning when I look stupid. I pushed his hand away from the paper, my eyes still fixated on the anomaly on his face as I slinked my way in between him and the table. He scooted his chair out a bit and placed both hands on my sides, squeezing me as he lifted me to sit on the table right in front of him.
"That stuff," I replied, wagging a finger towards his chin. "What is that stuff?"
He ran his hand over a cheek and trailed it down his chin. "My beard?"
"Beard?" I'm sorry to say my voice cracked as I tried to wrap my mind around that one. Heero with a beard? No, he couldn't grow facial hair. Neither of us could.
"Yeah," he said. "I decided to grow a beard."
"You cannot grow a beard," I said matter of factly. "Are you wearing fake facial hair?"
He snorted, running a hand up my side. "I can grow a beard, I just always shave it because I don't want you to feel insecure because you can't."
My face went red and my eyes got so wide that I'm still kind of surprised they didn't pop out of my skull.
"I can too grow a beard!" I cried, slapping Heero's hand away from me. Now this was a bold faced lie. We both knew I couldn't grow anything besides peach fuzz but that was not the point. I've always been able to do everything that Heero can, and I was not about to be bested due to a lack of testosterone.
Heero gave me a crooked smile, the kind he got when he was going to make fun of me. "Of course you can," he said, patting my head a bit.
Now I'm usually not a jealous person, but I just didn't like the idea of Heero doing something without me. "No, Heero, no," I started running my hands through my already messy bed head. "I just, no I don't like this."
"What's wrong with it?" He asked, running a hand over the little hairs.
My face curled in disgust. "They are," I tried to find the right words to describe the little intrusions. "Scratchy," I decided on, running one finger across his chin.
"It wont be for long, just give it a couple of days."
"I don't care, I do not like it."
"Well, you're stuck with it until at least tomorrow," he said, trying to pull the newspaper out from under my butt.
"What for?" I asked, pressing my left butt cheek down harder on the table so he wouldn't be able to get the paper easily.
He snorted, giving up on his attempt at getting it and deciding to stare at me. "The same reason you have it today. Im out of shaving cream."
"Well can't you just use soap?"
His eyes got wide and his mouth closed into a firm line. "Absolutely not," he stated firmly.
"Why not?"
"No, Duo."
"Are we speaking from experience?"
"I just don't want to, okay?!" He screeched at me, bringing a smirk to my face. This would be great teasing material later.
"Okay," I said softly, my smile growing larger by the second. "Okay, but I still don't like it."
"Well it'll be gone tomorrow"
I crossed my arms against my chest. "Can't you just get some today?"
"It's Sunday," he said shortly.
I snorted, forgetting about Heero's strict feelings about the day of rest.
"Right," I muttered, jumping off the table and heading towards the kitchen.
I walked over to the corner cupboard where we kept our coffee mugs. That was a great corner. It had all the coffee stuff right there, no moving necessary after we got that dehydrated, powdered cream stuff.
"You know this doesn't have to be so dramatic," Heero said from behind me.
I turned to see him leaning against the doorframe, still wearing a scowl. "You don't have to be so afraid of change."
I let out a sigh as I poured my coffee. "It's not about change, Heero. I don't like beards. I never have. Why do you think I don't have one?"
He raised his eye brow at me, a little smile appearing on his face.
"Oh shut up," I muttered, now drowning sugar in my coffee.
"Just give it a chance," he said, wearing his puppy dog face.
I turned so I could lean my body in the little triangle made by the counters. I stared at him for a while. He just didn't look like himself, and I hated that. While I didn't like to admit it, I really did have a problem with change. But was it so wrong to like the familiar? Apparently so.
"Fine," I said, setting my cup down and waving my hand towards myself. "Come here."
He gave me a skeptical look, not leaving his place at the entrance way. "What for?"
"Would you just do it?" I asked, walking towards him and gripping his t shirt in my fist, pulling him towards me. He pulled back a bit but in the end came to stand in front of me.
My eye level was perfect to examine the so called beard.
I couldn't help the look of distaste that I'm sure was all over my face. It was such a nasty beard. All patchy and scratchy. And then, I came across something that I never expected to find.
"Is that a red hair?!" I cried reaching out and yanking the little bugger straight out of his face.
His eyes went wide and he pushed himself away from me, letting out a yelp and rubbing his face furiously. "What are you talking about?!" He whimpered, rubbing his face so fast that I was kind of surprised he didn't catch fire from all the friction.
"Look at this!" I said, not being able to help the smile that came over me. "You had a red hair!" I held it out for him to see but he took another step back from me.
"So?!" He yelled.
"So," I started dropping the hair onto the floor. "That's weird! You're asian! Do you have any more?" I asked, my eyes wide with excitement as I took a step towards him.
"No!" He screamed, backing away and holding his arm out.
"Oh come on, just let me look," I said, taking another step closer to him only to find his palm flat against my chest.
"I said no," he growled.
I couldn't help the laughter that followed. "Oh my god, I can't believe you have red hair!"
"I can't believe you pulled it out," he growled, rubbing his face slower now but still careful to keep his distance. "I can't even believe you," he mumbled as he turned to exit the kitchen.
"Hey wait!" I laughed out, getting a running start before I jumped onto his back. Now if we were still teenagers and in the war, he probably would have flipped me straight over his shoulder. But ever since he'd been out of his soldier garb, he'd gotten a lot more mellow.
Heero let out a strangled gasp as he fell to his knees, not expecting all that weight on his back. I pushed his back down with my forearm so I was straddling his upper back and half his face was mushed into our carpet.
"What are you doing?!" He yelled, trying to buck me off his back.
"Oh my God, Heero you have lots of red hairs!" I cried excitedly, reaching down and pulling out another one.
"Ah!! Would you stop!" Heero cried out, his voice cracking as he bucked more furiously against the carpet.
"Don't be such a baby!" I said, leaning closer to his face to search for more red hairs. "You're asian you can't have a red beard!" I yanked another out and Heero let out another yelp.
"If you let me up right now I won't kill you!"
I snorted and continued searching for hairs. "Please if you were going to kill me you would have done it a long time ago," I said, ripping another out, this time getting the whole follicle.
"Oh my God," I laughed. "That is so awesome."
"Not awesome," Heero whimpered, now trying to switch what side of his face I had access to.
"There are even more on this side!" I exclaimed, grabbing his face before he could move and barely listening to his cried as I proceeded to rip out as many of the hairs as possible.
Heero didn't talk to me for almost three days after that, and when he finally came around to my apologies, he only let out a sigh and glared at me, only saying two words. "You're weird."
And so what if I was? I didn't care. To me, on that Sunday morning there was absolutely nothing more fascinating than finding red hair in Heero's sweet ass beard. And that's why I look forward to Heero running out of shaving cream.
I started stalking his shaving habits, shaking his can each morning to see how much he had left. When it started to get really low, I'd just throw it out, and in turn get another chance to pull out those red hairs.
But then he started getting wise to my jive, and would buy another can as soon as the old one started to run low, and for weeks I was left with only smooth soft skin on my Heero. I was devastated.
That's why today is so special. It's Sunday, and Heero's forgotten to pick up shaving cream.
"I really was just looking," I muttered, running my finger over the table.
Heero snorted. "You're never just looking," he stated, lowering the paper a bit to glare at me. "You're plotting," he growled.
I let out a sigh. "I don't plot, Heero."
"Yeah I'm sure," he muttered, once again engaging himself in a story and ignoring me.
I let out another sigh, this time a bit louder so I was sure he could hear me. "Do you want any more coffee?" I asked, grabbing my own glass and standing.
"If you're getting some," he replied, not even looking up from the paper.
"Yeah, sure," I muttered, and beginning to reach for his cup across the table. I paused as my hand grasped around the cup, and I smiled. Letting go of his cup, I walked quietly behind him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
Heero smiled under my lips and began setting his paper down. "What was that for?" He asked, angling his head so he could get a better look at me.
"Just wanted to say I'm sorry," I said with a smile.
"For what?" He asked, his eyes furrowed.
I reached down before he could realize what I was doing and yanked hard on one of the more patchy areas of his face.
"Oh my God!" He screamed, throwing his body so hard away from me that he went toppling off his chair as I ran as fast as I could to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me and locking it.
Just as expected not more than a second later Heero was pounding on the door and screaming about all the ways he was going to kill me when I finally came out.
I just laughed and leaned against the door, looking down at my hand and the five little black hairs in it, all laying next to a lone red one.