All rights and credit go to Berlanti, blah, blah, blah...
Chapter One
"The last time I remember getting a haircut was a few days before my mom told us…" Bright said as he sat down on a stool in front of his bathroom mirror. It was still damp from the shower he had taken just a earlier before he started pacing around his room. Hannah nodded, slightly to herself, as she began to access Bright's head full of unruly curls.
"It's okay, it's really not as bad as you think," Hannah said as she began to pick up clumps of his hair, carefully and precisely snipping the tips off the disobedient ends. They sat in silence for a little bit longer, the steady snipping of the scissors in Hannah's hand the only noise in the room.
Bright's bathroom was big and spotless, just as his room and the rest of the Abbott house. The home had rarely been used ever since Rose started her chemotherapy. She'd end up spending days and sometimes weeks at a time in the hospital, so that numerous treatments and test could be done and taken. Harold was at her side 24/7, as were Irv and Edna; Bright and Amy were there while not in school. When the Abbots was home, the Harpers were most likely near by, ready to spring into action. The activity centered around the master bedroom, where Harold had set up an official triage for Rose. If one was making a meal for Rose, somebody else was cleaning up the house, another would be sitting with her, while the others would be usually catching up on sleep. Everybody did their part to make life as normal as possible, even though it was far from that.
More than once a day Hannah would stop by and help out. She had almost officially moved in, helping out here and there by running errands or making meals. When she came, she let herself in through the side of the house, hanging her coat on the hook by the door. It wasn't a unusual sight to see her at the kitchen counter chopping up vegetables or straightening out the couch pillows. So this time, when Bright asked her to cut his hair, even though it was late for her to be out, her presence wasn't awkward.
"You know, I used to do this for my dad before he got really sick. My mom would get him into a chair with a towel around his neck, and I'd carefully trim at his hair. He'd watch me with this weird, transfixed stare, which would have normally freaked me out, but it was the only thing he could do, so I was okay with it…" Hannah rambled on. She kept a steady hand as she automatically picked up another locket of hair and snipped away, trying not to blush as she noticed that
"My mom was my personal haircutter until I got into middle school. I had to fire her after a while though when I discovered that it wasn't cool to let your mom cut your hair - you had to go to the barber shop on Main Street and shovel out the five dollars every week, before church Sunday, if you wanted to be cool." Bright said.
Oddly enough, just after Hannah finished evening out the last bits of his hair, beads of moisture formed at the corners of his eyes. He hadn't cried when he was told of his mother's diagnosis. He wanted to stay strong for Amy, and she did the same for him. But now, before Hannah, with clumps of his hair on the floor, he felt saddened to be talking about it in the open. It meant that his mother's illness was real, and couldn't be pushed aside and gotten over like the flu or a cold.
"It's okay," Hannah said, sound apologetic, and kissing the top of Bright's now semi-dry hair.
"Thanks," Bright said, still attempting to hide the fact that he was crying silently.
"So, I guess I'll be going now, I'll come back later on…" Hannah said, suddenly shy, standing in the bathroom doorway. The funny little feeling came back to her, the same one she had when she first met Bright. The one that she got whenever she was around him.
"Can you stay?" Bright said suddenly, looking up with tear brimmed eyes. In Hannah's mind, something subconsciously flashed 'Warning, member of the opposite sex, what do I do? What do I do!' but she blocked it out. Bright's presence was more normal now, and she didn't feel like running every time his arm brushed against hers.
With a silent reply, Hannah accepted the fact that Bright needed her as oddly as it seemed.
Hopefully you liked it. It's my first update in a looong time. So yeah. More to come as soon as I type it up from my notebook. Please read and review!
