jewelledhours | [eunhyuk; bandfic] when haircuts turn bad

when haircuts turn bad by

catskilt
eunhyuk-centric
gen; 941 words
eunhyuk gets a haircut. mostly everybody laughs.
because eunhyuk should not have gotten this haircut. i have been temporarily traumatized and clearly so has eunhyuk.

The hour that Eunhyuk gets his hair trimmed is the hour he's pretty sure he never wants to go back to the dorm again (or, come to think of it, the world outside the salon). When he decides that, he's staring in the mirror looking at himself and thinking what a difference a day makes except, in this instance, it's half an hour.

"Excuse me," he says nicely, because he is, after all, a very polite person, "I asked for a trim."

The barber gives him a look. "This is a trim."

"No," says Donghae, standing beside him peering into the mirror with a look of intense horror that Eunhyuk is sure is reflected on his own face, "this is a chop."

Eunhyuk would like to stay and argue the definition of 'trim' with the barber, but he's running out of time and anyway no amount of argument is going to bring his hair back. He pays up and moves out of the backdoor to the company van, where his manager drops his head into his hands the moment he sees him. Eunhyuk feels that he'd better start getting used to this reaction.

"It's not that bad," he says, trying to sound cheerful because he is, after all, a very optimistic person.

Donghae tries to smile. That's what best friends do, they pretend along with you that you're not in denial. The manager just moans, "How am I going to explain this to the boss?"

Eunhyuk can't help but feel slightly wronged. He feels bad for causing the manager such troubles, but he is the innocent party who has to go through life for the next couple of months with hair that looks like it was cut by an army barber. He's the one who has to appear on television. He's the one who has been bereft of his sloping-fringed, fluffy, red hair of sex. He's the one who should be moaning all the way home, not the manager.

When they arrive at the dorm, Donghae presses the 12th floor button and Eunhyuk grabs at him desperately. "You can't go up there. You have to go to the 11th floor with me."

"Why?" Donghae looks puzzled.

"I need moral support! And you are to provide that moral support!"

"I'm sure everyone will be fine with your hair," says Donghae comfortingly, albeit unconvincingly because he's never been a very good liar.

"Oh yeah," says Eunhyuk heatedly, "like they would be fine with..."

As though to prove his point, the lift doors slide open to reveal Heechul. Eunhyuk gloomily wonders if his quota of bad luck is just about to run out yet, or if there's been a very large extra amount added on for today because bad hair and Heechul is enough bad luck for a lifetime.

"Hi, hyung," he says feebly.

Heechul stares at him for a moment. Eunhyuk's just about to edge past him and leave him to Donghae when Heechul laughs, loud uncontrollable guffaws that makes Eunhyuk long to whimper. It doesn't help that Heechul reaches out, tweaks his ears (sticking out very conspicuously now) and starts laughing again. "At least your ears are getting some air," he says.

"That's all I ever wanted for my ears," Eunhyuk sighs, making his escape while Donghae acts as the distractor by launching into a list of the benefits of extremely short hair.

He'd hoped that some (all would be preferable but overly hopeful) of the members would be out, but he walks straight into Ryeowook, Shindong, Eeteuk and Kyuhyun having lunch at the dining table. He can do this. He's learned enough body control to be able to slink past them soundlessly. He forgets that he's always failed at this slinking thing.

"Hyung," says Kyuhyun at the apex of his slinking would-be success. Eunhyuk freezes. "Hyung, turn around."

"Nothing to see," he pleads.

"There's something different about you," Eeteuk says wonderingly. "What did you do to oh my god your hair."

Eunhyuk sighs as Eeteuk and Kyuhyun collapse all over each other in fits of breathless laughter.

"You look like an elementary school kid," Eeteuk gasps.

"You look like you got your hair cut by your dad," Kyuhyun snorts.

"You look like someone hates you."

"You look like shit."

Eunhyuk sighs patiently (because he is, after all, a very patient person) and looks appealingly at Shindong and Ryeowook, who appear more understanding of his problems.

Ryeowook catches the signal of distress. "Oh hyung, just when you were looking cool," he says very, very sympathetically. "I'll boil you some herbal soup for faster hair growth!"

"Actually," Shindong remarks, "I don't see much of a difference between this and the last one."

It's very nice, and he should be feeling good because they have good intentions. But somehow he doesn't feel very comforted, especially since eight years of friendship tells him that Shindong's actually telling the truth.

Just then, Yesung comes out of his room to investigate all the laughter. He catches sight of Eunhyuk and doesn't laugh, which Eunhyuk is surprised and grateful for (maybe there's some sensitivity in Yesung that he'd never had the opportunity to uncover before). There is no reaction whatsoever on Yesung's face, and Eunhyuk is beginning to warm to him in a way he's never done when Yesung circles him, looking closely at his hair, then reaches out and fondles the ends. His cold fingers brush against the skin of Eunhyuk's cheeks because the hair is just that short.

"Okay," says Eunhyuk, breathing in deeply, "this is it."

"Isn't it nice that beanies were invented?" Eeteuk says musingly.

For the first time today, Eunhyuk agrees with someone.

end

At least he seemingly has an abundant supply of headgear? alskdjh;lakhj the video I linked is the first video I've seen of his uncovered hair.

eta: YES, DONGHAE IS GORGEOUS IN THAT VIDEO. VERY. IS ANYONE WILLING TO PORN HIM FOR ME ;LAKSDL;JK