#so neil is gonna see him but not remember the tie clip until later on

[samsspambox]

wait hello i just realized i can use artem's fucking tie clip as angst fodder (this has nothing to do with the realization but have something im still in the middle of writing)

[lukesunbornn]

SOMEBODY SAID LONG HAIRED KEVIN AND BRAIN WENT BRRR SO HERE WE ARE

this is 1.6k of daysten, no nsfw beyond undetailed kissing, this is my first fic so pls be nice to me ❤️

It all starts when Kevin doesn’t feel like going for a haircut. Exy season is busy with games and interviews and appearances and everything else, and he just doesn’t have time to get to a salon. Plus, Kevin has to admit that he kinda likes how it feels when his bangs brush against his cheekbones.

There are some downsides to growing his hair out, though. For one thing, hair in the eyes in the middle of a game is not helpful for winning. He keeps having to pause to brush hair out of his eyes, and it’s getting in the way of his playing. Renee notices him eyeing her neatly pinned hair after a game one day, and the next morning Kevin finds some clips in his game bag.

The clips have some minor setbacks, though. Renee has a certain aesthetic, which her style mirrors. When Kevin walks into practice with sparkly butterflies in his hair, Nicky wolf-whistles and Seth bursts out laughing. Not the reaction Kevin was hoping for, but exactly what he was expecting. He realizes a second too late that he tenses up at their reaction, because for once he is actually happy with his appearance, but Neil, ever the observer, must notice his discomfort. Kevin walks to put down his bag and doesn’t miss the sound of Neil leisurely standing up, and the sudden thud of Seth and Nicky sitting back on the bench. There are no more comments about the state of Kevin’s hair.

All through practice, Kevin notices Neil’s eyes trailing him. Apparently, not even Neil likes his hair, no matter what he did in the locker room. Kevin doesn’t let it bother him, just keeps going through drills with Dan like he always does.

As his hair gets even longer, Kevin starts needing new ways to tie it back. Renee is still loaning him clips, but one morning she knocks on their door and Kevin answers.

“Oh hey Renee! Lemme go grab Andrew, I think he’s still in the shower.”

“Oh, actually, I wasn’t looking for Andrew! Can I braid your hair?”

Kevin feels a bit uneasy, but he follows Renee down the hallway to her room, knocking over some useless umbrella stand as he leaves. She perches on the end of her bed, and directs the much taller Kevin to sit on the floor between her legs. He’s somewhat uncomfortable at first with having his back to her, hands on his head, but he quickly becomes relaxed as she works her fingers through his hair and chatters about her day.

Renee is halfway through detailing a particularly interesting girl in her chemistry class when Neil bursts in, shirtless.

“HEY HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN KEVIN HE’S NOT IN THE DORM AND THERE WAS A LOUD NOISE EARLIER AND HE DIDN’T SAY HE WAS LEAVING AND. oh,” Neil finishes, realizing Kevin’s sitting on the floor. Neil’s toned stomach begins to get slightly red. Not that Kevin was looking at it. “Sorry for bursting in and freaking out! Kevin, I didn’t know you braided your hair that’s so cool I like how you’re growing it out not that I care because you can do what you want with your hair but I admire how long it’s getting and. I’m gonna leave now,” The red has been creeping up Neil’s body throughout his speech until it nearly reaches his ears. Kevin has been watching it with interest this whole time, and is slightly disappointed that it’s going away.

Renee laughs, and turns back to braiding Kevin’s hair. “It’s sweet how much he cares about you,” is all she says on the matter before jumping right back into their previous conversation.

At the end of that day’s practice, Kevin’s been working hard, and his hair is thick with sweat. The braids worked perfectly, but he’s not used to having his hair tied up for so long and is starting to get a headache. He takes the bands out and his hair falls down to his chin, slightly wavy, and he hears a clatter behind him. Neil must be exhausted from the day’s exercises if he can’t even hold his racquet.

The next evening is movie night, and Kevin is in his usual spot on the floor, leaning against the couch and watching a truly awful movie Matt had picked out. Kevin is starting to fall asleep when he feels a body sliding onto the couch behind him and, a moment later, gentle fingers brushing through his hair. He tenses a bit, but the circular motions being massaged into his scalp feel so good that he instantly relaxes again. He assumes it’s just Renee playing, though in his half-drunk fog Kevin notices that these fingers are treating his hair a bit more delicately than they were this morning. Renee must be trying not to wake him up. He naps for a few more minutes, but awakes yet again when he feels the braid being tied off. He tilts his head back to thank Renee, and sees someone else.

Neil’s eyes are crinkling at the corners, but are fully lit up, the way they get when he’s learning a particularly challenging exy play. The corners of his mouth are slightly turned up in a lazy smile, with the tip of his tongue sticking out from the corner. His breath smells like candy and is coming out in little puffs, and Kevin only then realizes that Neil’s face is barely an inch above his own. At this distance, Kevin can see little freckles across Neil’s strong cheekbones, and he wonders what it would be like to trace them with his fingertips. He’s about to do so, when he realizes that would probably be really freaking weird, so he says nothing and continues to stare. But then he realizes he’s been sitting like this for five minutes already and maybe he should say something or at least thank Neil for the braids. He opens his mouth but all that comes out is, “Um. I’m going back to the dorm now,” and he does just that.

The rest of the week passes peacefully, with Kevin chatting with Renee as she braids his hair each morning, and Neil going for a run every time he and Kevin might be alone together, foiling every attempt of Kevin’s to request that Neil braid his hair again.

Luckily, it turns out that Kevin doesn’t even need to ask, because halfway through the next week’s movie night, Neil’s fingers start stroking through his hair again. Kevin glances up.

“Okay?” Neil asks.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” and Kevin is rewarded with a small smile before being directed to look straight ahead so the braids don’t come out crooked. 

It slowly becomes a thing, Neil playing with Kevin’s hair. Not only on movie nights either, as Neil has very restless fingers, constantly drumming on every surface imaginable. This has always been annoying to Kevin, until he discovers that removing Neil’s hands from the countertop and placing them on his head results in much less noise and many more hairstyles. Kevin stops going to Renee’s room in the mornings, because Neil lives closer and can braid just as well, if not better. 

Kevin admires the neatness and precision with which Neil braids, how evenly he adds the strands of hair, how the braids stay in despite never pulling. Kevin may not know everything about hair braiding, but he knows that if it were a sport, Neil would be the master. 

A few weeks later, at another of the team’s movie nights, Kevin is feeling peaceful and blissed out while Neil’s nimble fingers create an intricate fishtail braid. The final piece of hair is tied off, and then Kevin feels a kiss being placed on the top of his head. Kevin freezes, and Neil freezes, and the lights are off, and Kevin is weighing the chances of being seen if he looks up and makes Neil do it again on the lips, when suddenly the gentle weight atop his head vanishes and Neil has teleported across the room near Matt. Kevin remembers the blush he saw months ago with Renee, and wonders if it’s gotten to Neil’s ears yet.

Kevin is scared his personal braider is going to stop doing his hair after that, but Neil is back at the end of Kevin’s bed the next morning, elastics in hand. The only difference now is that whenever he ties off a braid, Neil also places a quick kiss to the top of Kevin’s head. Kevin tries to ignore the mushy feeling in his stomach every time.

Months go by, and Kevin doesn’t act on any of the feelings he’s been having, and it’s driving him a little bit crazy. So he can’t really be blamed, per se, when one night after a game, he catches Neil’s hand as he finishes the first of two braids and brings it down to brush his lips across Neil’s knuckles.

Neil lets out a little sound, almost like a whimper, and then instead of kissing Kevin’s head, moves to kiss him on the cheek. Kevin turns his head a bit, and they’re about to kiss for real, when Kevin moves his head back. “Ah, ah, ah! You’ve gotta do the other braid first!”

Neil is not one to half-do things, so of course it takes him fifteen minutes to finish the second braid, and Kevin can barely appreciate the feeling of the other man’s expert hands in his hair because he’s too busy thinking about what comes next. 

When Neil finally finishes, he skips the head kiss, tilting Kevin’s chin up to kiss him flat on the mouth. And wow.

Kevin has to admit, the only thing that feels better than Neil braiding his hair is Neil’s fingers on his head undoing all his hard work.