Showering with someone else was weird. Like middle school, only inherently more uncomfortable; Claude's apartment shower was scarcely larger than a telephone booth.
Under normal circumstances, this was something that Claude would've outright forbidden. But the city was having a water shortage--they were showering in recycled greywater, as it was--and their daily water use had been rationed. So it was shower together, or don't shower at all.
Kei looked ridiculous with wet hair. Waterlogged as it was, his dusty blond locks stuck to his head and neck. He looked like some kind of drowned animal, albeit some kind of six-foot-tall, very attractive animal.
"Your roots are showing," Claude said over the hiss of the shower. Kei's fingers searched along his scalp for the hints of black, as though he could feel where the dye ended and where his natural hair peeked through.
"Shit, I'm not gonna be able to get to the salon until maybe Thursday..." It was Sunday, their day off (although Roma would probably call with a job before the day was out). The next three days, as far as he could tell, would be packed full of their normal kind of good, respectable work.
"I've never seen you with black hair," Claude half-protested.
Kei grimaced. "I haven't seen myself with black hair in ten years!"
..
Kei sat on Claude's rumpled bedding, swathed in a towel and smoking a cigarette. He hadn't bothered to dry his hair, or even comb it--his roots were showing, it was all going to hell, anyway!--and it was dripping on the comforter.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" the younger man admonished, already half-dressed. He plopped down on the bed beside him and deposited his own used towel on Kei's head. Kei remained unphased.
"You're such a jackass," Claude complained, massaging Kei's scalp with the towel because the imbecile couldn't do it by his-god-damn-self. "You're dripping all over my sheets, you ass. Your hair won't grow that much in four days, stop moping. Besides, black roots are kind of sexy---"
That was a mistake and Claude knew it.
A pair of cerulean blue eyes slid upward to meet his. "What?"
"I-it's not all that bad," he rephrased.
"Nonononono, you just said you think I'm sexy!" Claude didn't like that look in his eyes.
"Hear what you want," he said with a shrug, continuing to dry his partner's hair.
..
On Thursday night, while Kei was out, a black-haired stranger let himself into Claude's apartment. Claude nearly shot the poor bastard before he realized that it was Kei.
"You changed your hair color!" he exclaimed, lowering his gun and resetting the safety lock.
Kei tugged at his black locks nervously. "Do you like it?"
"It's... weird," Claude replied after a moment of appraisal. "Good, but weird."
"Weird!?"
"I'm just used to you being blond, is all."
"D-do you like that better?"
Claude shrugged. "Why?"
"Well," Kei murmured, scuffing his shoe on the carpet. "I changed it for you."
Claude was instantly flustered.
"Don't do stupid things for me," he sputtered, turning red. "Something as trivial as this---I mean, what do I care if your hair is blond or black or neon green? Don't do something just because I suggest it, think for yourself! Change it back!" Realizing that he'd made no sense, Claude turned away and muttered to himself frantically.
Kei shook his head, a knowing smile playing on his lips. He slipped his arms around Claude, effectively trapping the younger man.
"You're so cute when you get like this," he whispered, breath hot on Claude's neck. Taking advantage of his position and his partner's condition, he stole a quick kiss underneath Claude's ear. "To tell you the truth, I like it better blond. I'm glad you agree."
"I didn't say anything like that," Claude muttered, cheeks burning. It was hard to tell whether Kei was nodding in agreement or nuzzling him. Probably the latter.
"I'll go back to the salon and change it," Kei whispered, mouth on Claude's ear, stealing another kiss. "Tomorrow. Come to bed with me..."
Claude said nothing but allowed the older man to guide him to the bedroom. It would be odd to sleep with this new, raven-haired Kei. He wondered if he would have a heart attack when he woke up, mistaking him for a one-night-stand that he couldn't remember.
He considered demanding that he change it now, but refrained. The color probably wouldn't come out right if they tried to bleach it in greywater.