Another other-people's-art-inspired short fic. Indulging Khamsin in some gen fluff between Otoya and Syo.

Inspired by this fanart piece: [ elfgrove DOT tumblr DOT com / post / 48796288433 ]

STARISH exited the practice room in high spirits, no words exchanged, but plenty of grins and high fives despite the sheen of sweat each of them wore. They bustled happily to the changing room, past the appreciative gazes of several women (and a few men) who worked in the building.

Otoya laughed and flopped back in a free chair, too exhausted to make his way to the showers right away. Tokiya patted his shoulder as he passed and smiled. It was nice seeing Tokiya happy most of the time now. It had been such a fight to get him to so much as crack a smile back in the Academy days, the days before Haruka at any rate. STARISH had changed all of their lives for the better, and it was all because of her.

He grinned foolishly at the thought of their composer, she was cooped up in her studio today and had been since late last night. That usually meant a new song was nearly ready, and he couldn't help but grin even harder knowing he'd be writing new lyrics soon. This was everything he wanted.

He ran his hands through his hair, trying to push the messy, sweaty red tendrils out of his face. Their next set of concerts wasn't for a month, and they'd spent most of the waking hours the last two weeks in either dance practices or singing rehearsals. It was fun, but tiring. Also, there was no time to go out and get a trim. His hair was starting to get too long. He twirled a lock around one finger, debating the merits of cutting it himself when there was a thump against his chair.

A glance down showed Syo in the floor, using the side of his chair as a back rest. He held two bottled waters and passed one over to Otoya with a mischievous grin. "Don't even think about it, the stylists will murder you in your sleep."

"Too true," Otoya chuckled. One downside to show business, you had little to no control over several aspects of your personal appearance anymore. "But if they think I'm growing mine out like Ren, they've got another thing coming."

Syo looked at him skeptically, clearly trying to picture it as he sipped his water. "They threaten that?"

"Hey, you wish your hair was a great as mine!" Ren lobbed the towel he'd been using to dry his hair at the pair of them.

Otoya laughed, batting the towel away, "I just know my limitations, Ren!"

Syo rolled away from the projectile, coming to his feet gracefully, only to realize his water bottle had still been open. His dismayed face as he looked down at his now soaked clothes set both Otoya and Ren to laughing until they could hardly breathe.

"Come on you two, hit the showers," Masato interrupted as he came out of the showers and headed to his own locker. "I'm not sharing a cab back with stinky or the walking pool." He looked at Ren seriously for a second before losing his composure and snorting a single laugh too before his nose was in his own locker. His back shook, betraying that he was trying hard not to laugh just as much as the other two.

Syo threw his hands up, splashing more water around in the process but no longer caring, and stomped off to the showers. Otoya stifled his laughter and followed.

Coming out, the rest of the boys had already moved on to one of the break rooms, and kindly enough, wiped up the spilled water. Probably Ren had done it himself as an apology for the joke gone awry, but he'd never admit to it. They were dressed and Otoya was trying to do something about his unruly hair before exiting, when he stopped to watch Syo's hair process with new-found curiosity. A rainbow colored collection of bobby pins was sitting in a plastic bag in the dry sink, while Syo fished around for several of the same color. His hair stuck out at odd angles, an unruly mess of blonde with pink highlights.

Syo raised an eyebrow as he caught Otoya staring in the mirror. "You really can't get away with cutting your hair, but you could always start pinning it back at practice so it's not in your face. Natsuki pulls his hair up for practice when it starts getting long too."

Otoya smiled lopsidedly, "I don't think a Piyo-chan elastic would really suit me."

Syo made a face, "Please don't! There's enough Piyo-chan gear around here to last a lifetime. I'm pretty sure Ren just uses regular elastics."

"Hair's not long enough for that."

"Use pins like me then. I'll loan you some to try it out."

"I… don't know how to use those." The strange wave on the bobby pins had to have a purpose, and he didn't really want to look like a fool by using them the wrong way.

Syo turned and examined Otoya critically, "Okay, go sit down."

Otoya complied, the nearest chair put his back to the line of mirrors, and he heard Syo rustling around in his bag of bobby pins. "How worried do I need to be about vengeance for laughing at you earlier?"

"Not really." Syo came around to his field of vision, a series of yellow bobby pins attached to his sleeve cuff, and a brush in one hand. His other hand rested on his hip for a minute as he seemed to decide how to attack Otoya's unruly mop.

It was hard not to laugh at Syo's serious expression. Fixing hair didn't seem like something "manly" enough for Syo to pay serious attention to, but his face was an open book, and there was no sign of incoming mischief.

"Your hair's thicker than I'm used to. Sorry this is taking a bit." Syo pulled a yellow bobby pin and carefully set it to one side of Otoya's face, his expression wavering between serious concentration and an indulgent smile.

"Must be weird doing it on someone else too."

"Nah." The smile returned as Syo placed the brush down, adding another bobby pin. "I used to do this for Kaoru all the time. It's kind of nice."

Otoya blinked curiously, "'Kaoru'?"

Syo's eyes didn't leave Otoya's hair, "My brother. Doing this kind of feels like having my brother around. Though I guess STARISH is already family in a way. It's feels different, y'know?"

Otoya let his eyes slide down to focus on his knees in embarrassment, "Not really."

Syo backed up, looking concerned. "Oh. Right. — Well, check in the mirror. Let me know what you think."

Otoya found his hair styled in a reversal of Syo's own, his thicker red hair creating a fluffier mane around his face, but the similarity was there. "It's good. Thanks Syo."

"Let me fix mine, and we'll go join the others then."

They were walking out into the hallway when Syo turned to him smiling. "You know, I never use the yellow ones in these packs because they just blend into my hair. It's a waste. I can do this for you anytime you want 'em if you don't mind the color."

"That'd be great!" Otoya felt awkward about mentioning his lack of a family to Syo now. He wished he did understand the difference in the bond with STARISH and and with having a real brother. It had felt nice though, being told he felt like a brother. "I mean, the color's great. Thank you."

"Good. It'll be nice getting be a big brother more often."

Otoya found himself grinning widely. "I'm taller than you; doesn't that make me the big brother?"

"So's Kaoru, seems normal to me — little brother."