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The sun hung low above ground, a cloudless sky painted with fiery reds, oranges and yellows melting into chilling navy blues and purples. As the burning star of morning slowly moved upwards, constellations of stars blinking themselves out at a snail’s pace, the arctic fox hybrid walked on a straight gravel path leading towards a bunch of stairs.
The walkway seemed tiring, how many individual stairs were there? Five hundred? It started off quite boring but by the end of it, colorful, glowing buildings stood beside it, neon signs and billboards lighting up the path.
Early mornings such as this one seemed to be really calm in the mountainous city. As he walked up to it, the cold wind that blew at him and messed with his hair turned into a warm air smelling of freshly cooked street food and restocked materials.
A couple of carts pushed by the locals contained mass amounts of fruit and vegetables sourced from the quality farms the man could see while climbing into the modern scenery.
Faint rumbling in his stomach started interrupting his trail of thought as he finally reached the main street. More people seemed to be appearing out of their tall apartment buildings, getting ready for either work or a peaceful day outside.
Looking around, he spotted a bunch of cats scurrying into shadows, thin tails swiftly consumed by the dark of a random corner. His ears twitched at the thought. He wasn’t really fond of cats. They were either really clingy or extremely aggressive most of the time, especially for him.
What was he doing here again? He most certainly forgot because of all the distractions coming his way. Maybe he would just go explore some of his friend’s base, he didn’t have much to do anyway.
Unfortunately for him, after a few minutes of wandering around, he bumped into a familiar face. The force of something hard and sturdy against his face sent him down to the stone street with a yelp, falling on his back. “Snap-!” he managed to creak out before the ground hit his collarbone, sending a shiver down his spine.
“Oh geez, Eefo!” That voice sure was one he recognized, the wooden crates that had been blocking the upper body of the person in front of him lowered down. Once settled on the ground, the friendly expression of a known tanuki hybrid revealed itself. “Are you alright?” a chuckle came out of his smiley expression.
Etho groaned, sitting up while he leaned his body against his hand which was firmly set on the ground. The little stones of a scraped path painfully stabbed his palms, leaving him red handed.
“Yeah, yeah, Joel” he panted, the shock on his half-masked face wearing off at a slow pace.
“What ‘ya doing here, Eefo?” the curious yet sweet like cherry voice of the tanuki spoke up.
“Uh- I was just-” Why was he stuttering? “visiting?” tilting his head, he brushed a hair out of his face, staring into the spruce brown irises of the person facing him.
“Sure you were,” smiled the man before stretching out a hand. “Goodness, you really need a freakin’ haircut, Eef.” he mumbled to which the arctic fox’s eyebrows raised.
“I don’t need a haircut, what are you talking about?” he brushed it off with a chuckle, still sitting on the uncomfortable road. It was so solid and unbearable yet his body didn’t seem to want to move.
“But you do” Joel walked closer to the man, inspecting his hair. It was tangled, long and had a tad bit too many knots in them. Aside from that he spotted a bit of debris building up, it made him gulp.
“Are you not taking care of yourself? What’s wrong?” He went in to touch the locks but his hand was swatted away in an instant, he flinched. “Etho?”
The confused gaze of his got to Etho, looking away in an instant. “Don’t touch.” he hissed. Was he some sort of a furious animal? This animalistic behaviour made him sick and he did not like that at all.
With a sigh, Joel crouched down to be on the same level as the fox. “How about we go into the baths and I brush and cut your hair? I promise I’m not bad, I've done it a couple of times.” a soft grin stretched to his cheeks, his hand still out for Etho to take.
He accepted his offer, quickly grabbing the hold of the tanuki’s hand and standing up. Nodding, he wondered why Joel would commit to such a thing. Cutting another person’s hair? He has his to deal with.
They started walking towards the wooden bathhouse. Etho didn’t say a single word on the way, letting the shorter hybrid tell stories of him cutting Gem and some guy named Fwhip’s hair ‘back in the old days’.
When they reached the bathhouse, the crimson wood of the small entrance stood right in their sight, Joel approached it and out of some kind of crate the fox didn’t even realize was placed right beside the gate, pulled out a pink piece of plank and set in in a little frame by the gate.
“I’d assume you don’t want visitors during a bath, yeah?” Joel asked while inking some words into the wood with a spike-ended stick.
“Uh-huh” Nodded back Etho, smiling from under his mask. Either Joel was reading his mind or he had knowledge in the topics of how private places work. Or was it common sense?
“Right then, it’s all written down n’ pretty on the sign” said the tanuki as he stepped through the gate, keeping it open for his guest. “Come in, lad”
“Of course” his tail swished anxiously as he followed Joel into the building. What was he getting himself into? He hated when anyone touched him, how would Joel be any different? The earlier perked up ears were now flattened against his scalp.
The garden’s purpose was clearly to soothe his mind but it only made his thoughts run faster. Would he have a shutdown from the other man simply touching his hair? Unbelievably childish of him that was.
“Eefo? Earth to Eefo?” A hand waved in front of his eyes, snapping him back to reality. They were now by the actual baths, the slight breeze in the air was way too heated for him.
“Oh, uhm, sorry” he apologized, clearly out of his mind.
“Change your clothes, go into the bath” ordered Joel, handing him a white piece of clothing, some kind of baggy bodysuit.
Etho didn’t want to argue, what had to be done had to be done. A moment of awkward silence behind, he grabbed the gown-like suit and looked down at the man.
“Behind ya, changing room” announced, pointing over to the small cabins protected by a deep red curtain with a swirly pattern made of a golden material.
“mhm” the fox’s tail swooped behind him as he walked over to the cabin in a couple of hurried steps. The curtain wooshed when he entered and the room fell to silence aside from a quiet bubbling of the water.
He came back with the white cloth on, it covered all of his body aside from his collarbone and up. Joel snickered at how red his face was but softened when he saw how uncomfortable Etho looked.
“Is anything bothering you?” his voice, sweet like honey all of a sudden, questioned the other.
The suit was really comfortable, he felt like he was surrounded by a cloud, hugging him. Everything seemed fine but the pure thought of getting his hair wet and agreeing to it being touched simply made him want to sob.
Joel saw right through him, approaching the fox hybrid with calculated steps. “I’m not forcing you to do it but it would be highly appreciated if you’d agree to my proposition, Etho.” The soft spoken tone brought warmth to the white haired man’s heart.
“It’s just that-” what was he saying? doesn’t matter because it got broken up by a sob, blocking his throat. He cleared his throat, continuing. “I don’t like my hair and ears touched a-and I might get a meltdown over it and i don’t want you to be weirded out i promise it’s not your fault-” The blabbering of his got interrupted once again by a hand gently hovering over his, he gave in, letting it slightly touch his.
“Would you be comfortable if before I put any product on, I would describe what it’s made of, what texture it is and what not?” The shorter hybrid tilted his head before the fox nodded.
“That would be..alright” How did this man know so much? Was he some kind of wizard that knew what Etho liked or what he didn’t? Maybe he was safe in the care of Joel. A hard maybe.
“I suggest you go into the water, sit on the stair underwater and I’ll get my things” explained the host, turning on his heel to a small stone faucet, ready to collect what he needed.
The fox stared at the water with an expression of bitterness yet Joel’s words made him believe it was all safe and sound. He stepped closer to the bubbling pool, it looked calm yet in Etho’s head, waves crashed him down, bubbles pulled to the bottom, drowning him.
Another step taken, he started scratching his thumb with his index finger. Third, he was doing it harder. Fourth, he was right on the edge. The fifth step wasn’t even fully a step. His legs touched the water. Turns out it wasn’t actually hot at all. It was the perfect temperature.
He sank lower, his other leg following as he reached the first step. There, he sat down on the step, letting his legs touch the one lower. From his torso up, it planned to never touch the water.
Until Joel came up.
With a sharp dagger and a weird smooth stone in one hand and a whole oak tray filled with products in the other. The tanuki looked so professional, carefully stabilizing all the items while carefully walking towards the sitting fox hybrid.
After placing down the tray next to him the stone and dagger quickly followed, it turns out he had a whole bowl filled with water on his tail. How has it managed to stay upright? There wasn’t a single spill on the floor behind. Etho was starting to worry Joel had some evil witch powers in him.
The tail placed the bowl with ease on the ground on the other side of the shorter’s body as he crouched down with a soft sigh.
“Could you dunk your hair into the water for just a second?”
Etho hesitated for a split second. Thinking it through. Was it worth it? Screw it.
He dunked his head, wetting his hair in an instant before going back up, a small gasp coming out of his lungs, almost sounding like a squeak.
“Amazing, now I’m gonna comb through your hair- the teeth aren’t sharp but if it hurts, tell me right away, yeah?” reassured Joel, earning a nod from Etho.
The bamboo comb gently touched the top of his hair. At first, it was hell. He had goosebumps on his arms. Suddenly everything was cold. He pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping arms around them and squeezing tightly.
He felt the comb leave his hair but his shoulders kept their tense, not calming down.
“Shall I continue?” The only thing he got back was a slight nod. Joel knew it was incredibly unbearable and painful for the taller man but Joel wasn’t a man of giving up. He started gently brushing through the knots of the, now gray, strands of silky hair.
Once finished, he put the comb down on the tray, opening a glass jar of plant-based shampoo. “I’m going to wash your scalp with a shampoo, no particular texture..” applying the liquid on his hands, he continued. “Then I’m gonna rinse it off and start applying conditioners and other stuff, alright?”
“Okay, yeah” simply answered Etho, trying not to let his legs shake out of stress in the water.
Gentle hands massaged the fox’s scalp, avoiding his ears which slowly but surely regained their steady position at the top of his head instead of stuck to the sides of it. They both stayed quiet, the soothing touch of the tanuki’s hands slowly falling into a routine.
___
”This is going on your roots for just a few seconds, it’s kind of a paste with crystal’s in it, has a nice weigh to it”
”I’m gonna put this one on your ends, just so they don’t get more damaged after I cut them”
”Did I mention I want to cut your hair? Pretty sure I did”
“This product is quite oily so- oh yeah, that’s fine i can use a different one”
___
Ethos hair was on cloud nine by the time Joel washed it off with a soft cloth for the final time. The arctic fox himself was slowly starting to doze off, shoulders loose, hands by his sides awkwardly.
“Can I cut your hair?” Etho was sure he’d heard that question before, but didn’t hesitate to nod. The ends have been bothering his neck for quite a while, making him more frustrated than ever.
“Yes, please” answered the man quite at peace as the sun of a lovely noon managed to slip through the windows of the bathhouse.
“On it” Joel grinned behind him as he grabbed the dagger and the dark stone. “Just gonna sharpen it, don’t worry” he turned to the side and with the knife on a slight angle, swished it on the stone which already had a hefty amount of gray lines across it.
After he’d done it on both sides, the tanuki hybrid turned to face Etho’s back again. He shuffled back, tapping his guest’s shoulder. “Sit up on the edge, please, we don’t want your hair getting into the water” he exclaimed softly, moving all his stuff away so the fox had a lot of space. Etho listened, getting up from the water to sit on the wooden floor (way more comfortable from the path he sat on earlier). The hairdresser straightened his back and went in to tilt the fox’s head back a tad bit. He expected Etho to push his hand away, duck away but he didn’t, letting Joel take care of his damp hair.
The soft yet advanced slashes the iron weapon- or tool let the damaged hair fall gracefully down as he worked on making Etho the perfect haircut. It had to be both sensory safe and not look like a child’s work at the same time which obviously wasn’t a challenge for Joel at all.
Once he was done, the tanuki delicately rumbled the freshly cut hair so all the little hairs stuck in the whole piece would fall off.
With a proud expression on his face, he tapped on the arm of the man in front of him again. “I’m done, Eefo” the hair had managed to regain its snowy colour and soft touch, making Etho let out a breathy sigh.
“I can’t…thank you enough, Joel” his throat felt like it was blocking up again, it was hard to talk right now, he felt his throat dry up and his eyes water.
Aside from all those, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, the tanuki’s whole body leaning against his as he hugged him rightly from behind. When his big fluffy tail joined it, taking up half of Etho’s lap as it wrapped around him from the side, the fox felt utter bliss, surrounded by the softness of such a caring soul.
“No need to thank me, goofball” his face nuzzled into Etho’s neck as he chuckled.
They stayed in the hug for a moment while the taller’s breath stabilized. Joel pulled away, patting the other’s arm. “Go change, you can stay at mine tonight, if you want”
Etho, after what felt like hours, turned over to face Joel. It was refreshing to see his eyes, his lips, his curly hair, the green streak in it. He giggled at the sight, his cheeks reddening.
“Got it” he wiped his eyes and got his legs out of the water before standing up, letting Joel a hand to help. The other gladly took it, nodding him a thank you.
“And of course I’m staying over” he locked his eyes with Joel’s, full of happiness and pride.
“Yeah, yeah go now, change !” the old, annoying Joel was back, but Etho didn’t mind.
Didn’t mind at all.