Roman sighed. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this."
Neo removed her hands from Roman's scalp. No matter how well you disguise yourself, people will take one look at your hair and know exactly who you are.
Roman grunted in agreement. "Show me the box again."
Neo wiped her hands with a towel and handed the empty box of hair dye to Roman. She crossed her arms loosely and waited for Roman's inevitable response.
After examining the shade of the hair for the tenth time in the past five minutes, Roman frowns. "This is way too light."
No, it's not. This brand in particular displays a shade lighter than it actually is, so the trick is to buy something three or four shades lighter.
"How would you know about this? Isn't your hair naturally like that?"
Yeah, but I didn't like how puberty was treating me.
"When did you start dyeing your hair?"
Around four years ago.
"So when we met—"
Shut up.
"You hadn't been through puberty yet?"
Neo paused, putting her hands on her hips. To be fair—
Roman burst with laughter, hearing his chair creak under him.
Asshole.Neo swatted him on the head and pushed his head back down to the sink quite forcefully.
"I always thought you were one of those flat-chested sixteen-year-olds with a resting bitch face."
Neo squinted her eyes. Watch it.
"Okay, okay," he resigned.
Neo squirted more hair dye out of the bottle onto her hands and slathered it onto his hair until she deemed it sufficient. She rinsed her hands in Roman's sink and proceeded to rinse the rest of the formula down the drain.
Roman touched a strand of his hair and held his fingers up in front of his face. "How long does this need to be in?"
Give it about 20 minutes.
"What do the directions say?"
30 minutes, but screw that. I'm a professional. Neo turned around to wag a finger at him. Plus, that's including the time it takes to put it in, and you kept asking a mute person to see the box.
Roman threw his hands up and snickered when Neo rolled her eyes.
"Then what should we do for 20 minutes?" Roman asked.
Neo cocked her head to the side, drying her hands on a towel. Talk about your obvious devotion to Cinder?
Roman knitted his brows. "Devotion? Neo, the only thing about her I'm devoted to is her money."
You're staying in the city. Why didn't you run?
"Neo, let's be honest—I can kill people, but I can't kill monsters, which means I can't live outside the kingdoms. Not safely, at least. That means the only feasible option I have is to hide inside within the kindgoms' reach, which is better and worse in terms of safety."
Neo frowned. Either way, you decided to stay inside the kingdom that's charged you with several felonies, not the least of which including several armed robberies that caused Vale's economy to crash, and yet you decide to stay within Vale's borders. You could have easily sought asylum in Vacuo or something.
"Neo, let's be honest: General fucking Ironwood wants me dead. Vacuo wouldn't cover my ass if he personally demanded my release, and he's made it very clear that he would."
In that case, I feel like you're sitting in plain sight.
Roman looked up at her face. "You trust me, right?"
Neo nodded slowly.
Roman closed the distance between them and ruffled her hair. "I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me."
Okay.Neo smoothed her hands over her head.
"Anything else you need to accuse me of tonight?"
Neo's face lit up. Oh! That reminds me...Neo ran out of his bathroom, running back in ten seconds later with a carton of milk. Put this on your back in the shower. It'll help with the burns.
"What's up with your hair?" Junior raised an eyebrow quizzically.
Neo put a hand over her mouth to hide her smirk.
Roman pointed to Neo. "Ask her."
As Junior sat down at the booth, Neo shrugged. Junior chuckled and set his drink on the table.
"You doin' alright?"
Roman slouched. "I haven't been out in public for three weeks. This is uncomfortable."
Junior swirled his wine glass on the table as he thought. "Roman, I'm not happy with how things have turned out."
"What do you mean?" Roman quirked an eyebrow and touched a strand of his hair. "You don't like the color?"
Junior shook his head and kept his eyes fixed on his drink. "No, not that. That you're staying here under something as trivial as Cinder's orders is worrying me."
"Not you, too," sighed Roman.
"Roman, I want you to rethink the whole situation. Please."
"I have everything under control."
"You might be able to pull that bullshit on Neo, but I know better. Cinder is unpredictable as fuck."
Neo made a face at Junior, crossing her arms across her chest.
Roman started, "I get how you're thinking, but—"
"—clearly, you're not."
"I'm necessary. Cinder broke me out of prison."
"Oh please. That could mean several bad things."
"She cares—"
"What? Since when does Cinder care about you? If you weren't working for her, would she be around? Would you think of her differently?"
"No, our relationship is purely professional…" Roman suddenly realized what the both of them were trying to hint at. His head shot up. "Do you two think I'm in love with Cinder?"
Youdidsay once that you had a wet dream about her.
Roman's eyes widened. "I only told Junior about that!"
Neo clapped both of her hands over her mouth in realization of her mistake. She removed one and signed, sorry.
Roman set his elbows on the table and clenched fistfuls of his hair. "You two are unbelievable," he muttered.
"So at the very least, you find her attractive?" asked Junior.
Roman felt heat in his cheeks. This was unbelievably uncomfortable. "I don't know what to tell you—she has legs up to here and boobs out to there.How else do you expect me to react?" Wait, what did he just say? Was that how he was justifying his actions?
Junior pressed his palm to his forehead.
Roman tried to correct himself, "But I would in no case risk my life for Cinder's agenda."
"I think," Junior realized, "that you already are."
Roman raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"From what Neo's told me, you're staying in one of your old apartments, right?"
"Yes."
"And the lease hadn't been updated in two years?"
"Yes. Red flag, I get it."
"I don't think you do. The Roman I know would cut and run the second—" Junior slapped his hand on the table for effect "—the cost outweighed the benefit. So unless you hit your head in prison, I have to assume that there's a decent payoff."
Roman opened his to mention the details, but when he thought about what he was supposed to get from Cinder, no words came out. "Cinder isn't giving me any figures right now, but she's been promising me quite a few figures since I agreed to keep working with her two years ago."
Junior's eyes shot up. "Two years?" He turned to Neo, who nodded in affirmation. "This operation has been going on for two years?"
"Yes."
"Shouldn't she have an estimate by now?"
"She's never been specific about it. Though, I didn't expect her to have a dollar amount when her plan was just a brainchild."
"But she should now, right?"
"I don't know. I'm told I'll get a lot, but I guess my cut depends on how these events play out. And like usual…" Roman gestured to Junior.
"…she isn't telling you anything." Junior's brows drew together. "You can't trust her, Roman."
"And she can't trust me."
"Apparently, she can because you seem to be ready to be strung along to the very end. What makes you think she won't double-cross you?"
Roman raked a hand through his hair. He never really considered she would do something like that. "Fuck." Roman wanted to be able to say something in defense, but he had nothing. "Oh shit."
"Are you finally starting to see my logic?"
Roman shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Oh yeah."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I need to think about it. But for now…" Roman raised his hand and waved it in the air until a waitress in a short, black dress sauntered over.
Hardly skimming the menu in the middle of the table, he decided: "I'll have whatever your most expensive scotch is."
Junior smirked.
Roman watched her as she took the order down on a notepad with shaky hands. When she finished, his waitress quickly walked away.
Roman waited for her to move out of earshot. "Junior, your girls know that this place is underground territory, right?"
"Every single one. Why?"
Roman turned around and looked over the edge of the booth. She had disappeared from sight. "Never mind," he muttered.
