By Zephyria 
Drip… Drip…. Ha-jin swallowed, feeling the water droplets falling from his chin. He stared at the glass door Eden had pushed open for a while, then stiffly turned his head to look at his face in the mirror.
His soaking wet, limp long hair, his pitifully thin cheeks, and the red flush on his neck as if he had been drinking all caught his eye in turn.
While he desperately pressed down on his erect lower body, Pie was busy splashing and playing in the water, carefree.
“Pie, stop playing and come here. Hyung will wash you.”
He didn’t have the confidence to show Eden his already heated body, nor did he have the confidence to properly face his face, which was scratched because of him, so Ha-jin eventually used Pie as an excuse to buy himself some more time.
‘Were you perhaps into being hit?’
Eden’s warning to come out echoed in his ears.
Even while lathering Pie’s body, which smelled of brackish water, his gaze remained fixed on the glass door. When he saw a dark silhouette passing beyond the door, his throat inexplicably burned. Ha-jin desperately suppressed his burning thirst, swallowing the spray of water.
“Why are you so late?”
Eden, with a towel on his wet hair, was sitting on the flat bench in front of the locker room, wearing only shorts. Ha-jin tried to avoid his gaze and took out clothes from his locker and put them on.
“Didn’t you hear what I said earlier?”
Eden continued to speak, but he pretended not to know.
“What are you talking about?”
“I said I’d beat you to your liking. Take your clothes off again.”
Ha-jin, who momentarily lost his composure at the fiery command, staggered as he tried to put his legs into his shorts. If Pie, who was wagging his tail next to him, soaking wet, hadn’t supported his lower body, he would have fallen over long ago.
He barely regained his balance and raised his reddened face, retorting.
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“So, are you really going to take a hit?”
“Yes. If you just hit me once like a man….”
“That’s even more perverted.”
Eden looked disgusted, treating Ha-jin like a pervert. He rolled his tongue around, puffing out his cheeks, then narrowed his eyes sharply.
“Well, anyway, I’ll do it my way. No matter how I think about it, I can’t forgive you, so I have to punish you properly.”
He spoke in a harsh tone, but his words contained an unmistakable smile.
Ha-jin pretended not to hear and smoothed out his clothes, kneeling in front of Pie. While quickly drying the dog’s fur with a towel, he felt a hot gaze on the back of his head.
“I’ll give you options.”
Unable to resist his curiosity at the offer he couldn’t decipher, he glanced sideways at Eden.
“1. Cut your hair first.”
For a moment, he wondered if he had misheard, and his head tilted to the side.
“2. Have sex first.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Personally, I’d recommend number 1. Do Ha-jin might be very tired today since we’re planning on penetration.”
The sudden mention of cutting his hair and his nonchalant attitude about foretelling penetrative sex all felt unreal.
“W-Why are you suddenly cutting my hair?”
“We’re going to see Do Ha-jin’s younger brother, so you have to look pretty.”
With that, Eden stood up from his toned body and strode towards the vanity mirror. He picked up the silver scissors he had found in advance while Ha-jin was stalling.
“Even though it doesn’t look like it, I’m an unofficial Barber soldier, so you can trust me.”
The way he hung the handle of the sharp scissors on his index finger and twirled them around, smiling handsomely, was very suspicious. Ha-jin blankly stared at his smooth face, which had been cleanly shaved, and then snapped back to his senses at Pie’s affectionate act of licking his cheek.
Eden tapped the edge of the rusty iron chair in front of the mirror and gestured for him to come over. Ha-jin wiped the saliva from his cheek with the back of his hand and slowly stood up.
“Sit here.”
Ha-jin sat awkwardly on the chair he had brought. Their eyes met in the mirror. Eden pressed his index finger to his narrowed brow, as if he had been giving him a dubious look without realizing it.
“Ah.”
“Relax your expression. Even if my skills are terrible, it’ll be much better than your current hair.”
“…Are you really a Barber soldier? Does Delta Force have that?”
“It’s not an official title, but when I was rolling around outside for a few months, even the officers entrusted their hair to me.”
That cold-blooded Eden had personally cut someone else’s hair. Ha-jin looked as surprised as when he had heard that he liked comedy. When he didn’t easily withdraw his distrustful gaze, he shrugged his shoulders as if to show him directly.
Long fingers lightly stroked his hot neck.
“Do Ha-jin has a pretty neckline, so it would be better to cut the back of his hair short.”
The way he held the scissors in his hand was unusual, as if the words “unofficial Barber soldier” weren’t empty words. Eden gave Ha-jin a quick kiss on the crown of his head and began to move his hands in earnest.
Snip, snip…. As the steady sound continued, his shoulders, which had been raised high, gradually fell down. Only after confirming that his hair was being trimmed much more neatly than expected, Ha-jin was able to relax a little.
The way he gently untangled his hair with a thin comb and thinned it out was surprisingly delicate. He couldn’t take his eyes off Eden’s focused face in the old mirror. As he watched his lover seriously engaged in beauty care, his nose tingled for no reason.
His gaze, which had been wandering over his face for a long time, soon moved to his toned arms. Although he had clearly lost more weight than when he first saw him, Eden’s body still boasted a formidable frame and muscularity.
It was a body that could only be admired in a situation where he couldn’t even get enough protein.
‘This isn’t really a dream, is it?’
Ha-jin raised his gaze back to Eden’s scratched lips. He had been looking for an opportunity little by little, and he decided to tell him a hot confession as an apology before it was too late.
“Jeong Tae-geon. I missed you too.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Eden tilted his head up.
“Suddenly?”
Their eyes met in the old, stained mirror. Ha-jin awkwardly raised the corners of his lips, feeling embarrassed by the more indifferent reaction than he had expected.
“Jeong Tae-geon was upset earlier. He said you couldn’t even say you missed him, even if it was just lip service.”
“Ah.”
Eden shrugged his shoulders once, as if he thought he was getting a bow after prostrating himself. Ha-jin, feeling spiteful at his nonchalant response, shouted again at him, who had averted his gaze.
“I really missed you, okay?”
“I understand.”
“I really do.”
“Don’t move. You’ll get hurt.”
“…I really do.”
“Okay. I missed you too.”
Watching him smile kindly as if coaxing a child, Ha-jin let out a hot breath. Only after he repeatedly confessed like a spoiled child several times did Eden accept his sincere apology.
Snip, snip…. Every time his hair fell down, Pie put his nose to the floor and sniffed. Ha-jin, who had been staring at the sight, carefully asked, savoring the moment when his neat fingers brushed against his scalp and gently stroked his hair.
“But was Byeol okay? He must have been very anxious because he couldn’t go with Jeong Tae-geon.”
“He didn’t seem anxious at all. Rather, he kept nagging me to let you follow Do Ha-jin.”
“No way.”
“I know him well because he’s my blood. Jeong Byeol is a bit crazy too.”
Eden put the hand holding the comb near his temple and spun it around. Ha-jin frowned at the mischievous sight.
‘How could he be crazier than you, who followed me all the way to this hellfire?’
He barely swallowed the unspoken words and sternly rebuked Eden.
“It’s a bit much to call Baby crazy.”
“That’s a euphemism.”
Eden retorted without smiling. No matter how many times he said it, Do Ha-jin wouldn’t be able to imagine it. When he watched Jeong Byeol, he was sometimes reminded of his own childhood self, which gave him goosebumps.
Eden, who had been drawing his nephew’s eyes, which seemed slightly crazy even while shining brightly, resumed his scissors. He asked lightly, like a skilled barber dealing with a regular customer.
“Is this length okay?”
Ha-jin nodded vigorously, looking at his face in the mirror, which had become even neater. Eden picked up a dry towel that had been thrown on the vanity and gently wiped the hair off his neck and face.
“If I had clippers, I could have shaved the back of your head more neatly, but I just trimmed the length as a compromise.”
“Thank you.”
While Ha-jin was drying Pie’s body again with a towel, Eden stood in front of the mirror and trimmed his own hair. Every time the scissors snipped, Ha-jin’s gaze naturally lingered on his handsome face, which was clearly revealed.
Eden, who had finished tidying up, picked up a bottle of lotion. He scrutinized the ingredients with meticulous care and moved towards the lounge, saying.
“Then number 1 is over, let’s move on to number 2.”