I watched as Carlos flipped his hair out of his face for about the tenth time today, his expression growing more and more irritated as he did so. Leaning against the counter, I watched as he seemed to think about something, and then blew his hair out of his face when it flopped in his eyes again. I snickered in laughter, hiding it with my hand.

He looks at me, beyond exasperated. Though he was clearly also trying not to laugh as I kept laughing, snorting when he rolled his eyes at me.

"Need help Carlos?" I ask, still calming down from my laughing fit. Pagan comes into the room to see what was going on as well, an eyebrow raised in amusement when he sees the smile on my face.

"Dear god, please. Help." Carlos answers, turning to me and ignoring Pagan's snicker. I turn and search in the kitchen drawer for the scissors that I know are there. Once I find them, I turn to Carlos.

"Grab a chair and meet me on the porch. I'll be down in a second." I turn and run up the stairs. I need a comb if I'm going to do this right. As I come back down the stairs, I hear Pagan move to meet me at the base of the steps.

"Will you trim me up too, after Carlos?" I smile, and nod.

"Of course!" He smiles back in agreement, before running a hand through my long hair.

"You need a trim too. I'll do it for you." He is very serious as he says this. I nod, and walk out to the porch where Carlos is waiting, his bandanna loose around his neck instead of over his face. His eyes are half closed in the sunlight, as he was sitting in a warm beam of light.

"Hey!" I say, slipping the scissors and comb into my pocket, walking behind him to untie his bandanna. He is sitting in the chair he brought out, his posture loose and relaxed, a soft expression on his face. I tuck his bandanna in my back pocket, and ponder my next problem.

"Er… Carlos?" I say, not quite sure how to delicately bring this one up.

"Yeah?" He asks, turning his head to raise a brow at me. His dark eyes are almost amused, and glinting happily out in the sunlight. He looks almost like he knows what I'm going to ask.

"You're going to need to take your shirt off unless you want hair in it."

Without a word, he shucks his shirt off, laying the red tank top over his left thigh. I sigh, and try not to drool at the tanned shoulders and back revealed, before running a comb through his clean, and still slightly damp from a recent shower, hair. He sighs at the gentle sensation and sits up straighter, allowing me easier access.

I section the top off from the sides, and start trimming off the excess shag. I begin with the back, having him tip his head forward to reach the base of his neck. After trimming the hair there to a neat length that won't let him overheat in the tropical weather, I work my way up, combing it smooth and trimming each section to the length set before it. He doesn't move throughout the entire process of shearing off nearly three inches of excess hair, and only shifts his head to one side or the other to make it easier to reach around his ears.

I come to stand in front of him, and he looks up at me, watching my expression with a soft smile. I haven't done the top yet, but still, he looks considerably less like a shaggy beast now.

"Almost done." I smile, and move to his side, absently brushing hair off of his shoulder as I do so. I watch his dark eyes flick to where I had touched him, and a soft blush spread across his cheeks. Interesting.

I comb through the shaggy hair on top of his head, and, after brushing my shaggy locks out of my face for the umpteenth time, begin cutting off the excess length. He's back to what he looked like when I first met him; relatively short hair, slight stubble on the face, but his eyes are different. They are significantly warmer and less worried now, more peaceful.

I finish the last section on the left side and move to the right, checking to make sure that they are even. After I trim up his slight sideburns by his ears, as he is clean shaven normally, I then come in front of him to finish the hair that was in his face.

"Close your eyes." He does so, and, after combing the hair through, I carefully shear off the shaggy mass of black that had been in his face. I run my fingers through it, and smile when I see that it's back to its usual shaggy mess, not obscenely shaggy mess. His eyes open and he looks up at me, and he gives me a smile.

"Done?"

"Yes! Hang on…" I brush the hair off of his back and shoulders as he stands up, and then step back, surveying my work. The sides are neat and trim, cut shorter than the slightly longer length on top, creating a sort of faux hawk. It looks good on him, especially given that his hair has a bit of a wave and is a deep black.

"Okay, now you can put your shirt back on." I say, blushing and scratching the back of my head awkwardly. He smiles at me and pats my head, then puts his shirt back on.

"Thanks Gwen. That was driving me crazy."

I smile up at him, and follow him inside, going upstairs to find a hair tie, as my hair was in my face again. He follows me up, hand rubbing the back of his head. I watch as he enters the bathroom and flicks on the light, blinking at his reflection in the mirror.

"Holy hell. How did you do that?" He asks, turning his head this way and that, seemingly unable to believe it. I pop my head into the bathroom, making sure that my pony tail looks decent.

"Magic! I'm going to go trim Pagan's hair now. Be back!" I say, giving him a cheesy smile to his fake glare at my magic comment. He shakes his head, smiling, and pats my shoulder.

"Get out of here, silly."

As I walk down the hallway, nearly silently on bare feet, I hear his last comment.

"I can't remember the last time someone was that gentle with me."