Entry 1 (more creativity later)
. . . It had been at least three weeks since Ladron Muerte truly attempted to clean up around shop. Beyond sweeping up the clumps and strands of cut hair, he took little effort in making things too squeaky clean… and why should he? Business wasn’t exactly booming in the hair cutting industry, or at least not in this little dusty corner of Erasmus. While the shop remained decently ship shape, it was growing dusty and old, and could use a bit of remodeling. However, Mr. Muerte and his husband were not of extremely rich folk. Ladron looked down at his shoe for a moment, and bent over to sweep off some hair that caught on it.
The door gently creaked open, and the bell chimed to signal a full presence in the shop. A young lady mensch, and her older accomplish, perhaps an aunt or other relative simply out with her, walked over to the one-eyed man sweeping up the floor.
“We’re here for a trim and a good styling today..” said the younger lady, giving Lad a rather prim and proper bow of her head. “Is Mr. Muerte around?”
“Aye, I would be… Mr. Muerte,” replied the Koshka, ears bent back intently and giving her a kind smile, though the older woman remained void and uncaring.
“Oh! My apologies sir,” she exclaimed, causing a sudden nervous look to cross Lad’s face.
Lad was not exactly fan to any sort of proper titles, beyond ‘mister’ and would only accept that if it followed the last name that he and his beloved shared. Not only that, but the obvious would say he wasn’t that close to females either, and only tolerated them during business hours.
“I know your sign out says you will be closed in the next few hours, but all we would like is a small trim and some help with what to do,” the woman continued. “You see, we are attending a rather important dinner tonight and frankly, we don’t have the time ourselves to do it,” this followed by a dark glare from the aunt, as if telling the boy it was extra important granted it wasn’t.
Without any sign of sudden worry or nervousness over a timeframe, though a tired look in the poor man’s eye, Lad nodded, and gently set his broom to the side, walking over to a few old rustic colored seats lined with bronze, almost brassy looking arms on each side… that could use a few good hours of shine. “I’m sorry they aren’t luxurious like some of the other shops have.. they are antique though, if you will..” Lad said, namely to reassure the prissy aunt.
Shaking her head, the young woman appeared to have no problem with the seats, where as predictably, the aunt scoffed. Lad made note to cause discomfort for this old woman. He turned back to grab a couple of smocks to place over each of them, and then proceeded to turn on one of the sinks, and test its temperature. Had it been any other day, he’d be worried the bill payment wasn’t in soon enough, and the steampower would be shut down to where only cold water would run, however, it wasn’t too bad of a thought concerning the distasteful woman. Lad turned to the young girl and carefully moved her head back to the water, and rinsed, shampooed, and proceeded with the usual washing measures. Thankfully, the two weren’t furry Koshkas, whose fur usually took up a lot more shampoo. He finished rinsing a final time, and took her hair up with an old towel, which he decided best not to tell it had been used. He walked her over to another rustic seat, only bigger and planted on an axis.
“So who exactly is that anyways?” Ladron asked now that they were in a farther hearing range from the already distracted aunt.
“Oh she’s my auntie Lynn,” replied the girl, Lad caring little about remembering it. But best humor the customer..
“Hmm, I see… so hows about… this much?” he asked, and showed her with his hand the height he expected to cut her locks to, getting her nod of approval, then beginning to cut. From that point to when he finished the aunt’s hair, it would take several minutes for her hair to dry, before he could get the materials to style it, as he used two large engines with rotating fans, cheaply made, but eventually got the job done. Soon, it was the aunt’s turn, as he led the girl back to a seat near the warm vents that kept his shop warm, and dried customers’ hair. “Hopefully I can have you both done at closing time,” he told her, then took her aunt to the seat she had been in. Meanwhile, the girl looked around the shop, seeing several photographs, many in sepia tone, of Ladron and another man. The two were in seperable, and in each pic, a different age and a different place told their story. This distracted her while her aunt continuously griped and whined about an accidental scissor jab or poke at her scalp.
Apon finishing with the aunt, and walking back to the girl, Lad looked a little less worn out and a little more sociable. He found his work a strong passion to him, even if it wasn’t in the least bit something worth being proud in. Or… at least that much. The girl glanced at him while the aunt let her hair air dry, and blinked when she pointed to the pictures. “Is this a brother of yours or something?” she asked curiously, not ready for the response… somehow missing the photos of the two men sharing a kiss or a close huggy moment.
Lad almost blushed, but tried to resist, and shook his head slowly. “No, no, that’s my husband, Risk,” he said with a proud aura to his voice, but a tentative reach for one of the pictures. The girl, was unable to resist a blush. For a moment she wasn’t sure how to respond, but then ‘awwwed’ when she saw the admirable look Ladron gave the photo of him and Risk.
“… You must love him a lot..” she said then blushed again. “We.. well duh, of course you would if you were married I mean.. duh..” she said, feeling a bit embarrassed, but only making Lad smile more, and nod in certainty. “You look so sweet together..” she finally said in recovery.
This put a bright light in Lad’s eye. “Why thank you.. and yes… I love him more than words can say. I’ve never really.. put anyone before my own ambitions before, and he definitely deserves it,” Lad said.
Even the aunt seemed to grow a softer expression on her face, despite the fact that she was aware that the man had personally attacked her with scissors. Up until this point she had not said a word to him, or at least a word that mattered. “So then does he work here with you or..?” she asked, causing Lad to perk his ears and actually glance to her curiously.
“Oh Risk? No.. he does his own work. He makes a bit more than me since he’s been in better businesses. He actually does a few scientific projects… he’s working for a firm on creating new minor technologies, but not exactly top governmental work… if you will,” Ladron said, reaching back and rubbing his neck a little. “But like me, I think hes proud of his work.. and I don’t really think either of us will go looking for something more.. uh…” he said then started to chuckle. “Well, less humble.”
Both women seemed to nod at his scratchy description of his husband, but understood where he was coming from and what Risk meant to him. They continued to small talk for a little while, till Lad needed to take one of them back to the moving chair, and begin to style it up for their ‘fancy’ evening. With a few globs of gel, and some squirt cans of product that would keep things still, the young woman, and her aunt were given a fresh and perfect look for the evening.
“Oh, thank you Mr. Muerte, we look fantastic!” exclaimed the young lady, and a now approving nod from the aunt.
Ladron chuckled and looked to them with a gentle modest smile. “Aw, well Im glad. Its my job afterall… wouldn’t be doing it so well if I wasn’t getting praised,” he said and grinned, then held out a hand after wiping it down on his apron. “And please, call me Ladron if you ever come by again.”
Both women nodded. “Ladron. Well, again, thank you Ladron,” the girl said, taking out a small bag of money from her purse to pay for the both of them, and then a tip from the aunt for their stylist. Lad took the money gratefully, and smiled to each of them, personally thanking them for the tips after locking them away in his change drawer.
“You remember where Im at, and don’t be afraid to come by again… I promise I wont hold another scissor grudge,” he sneered a bit, the aunt rolling her eyes and walking out the door with the girl.
Ladron Muerte let out a deep and heavy sigh now that he was alone, and rubbed his forehead, his hair stringing in his face. It was closing time already, and he was beat. He walked up to the door and took down the ‘OPEN’ sign, but took a step outside and reached into his pocket, pulling out a cigarette and placing it to his lips. He was rewarding himself for a tiresome evening… it wasn’t often he got to truly enjoy a smoke. After lighting it, he puffed out some air, and stared up to the rust colored roof of his salon, and to the businesses on either side and across the street from him. The sun was already down to where the sky was a dark reddish hue, and clouds gave it an even dirtier look from this corner of the city, and with every puff of smoke, Lad watched it rise into the mess of sky above. Eventually finishing the cigarette, he threw the stub on the ground, and rubbed it out with his feet, before turning back to head into his shop, and do a last minute pickup.
In a matter of minutes, another person walked into the shop door, only this wasn’t a customer. Lad looked up from his desk and instantly a loving smile swept across his weary tired face. “Welcome back, Risk, how was work today?” he asked by routine, and walked over to greet his husband with a loving hug and kiss, Risk holding his waist once they finished their embrace.
“Was fine, missed you of course..” he said, giving Lad a gentle forehead nuzzle. “Did what we usually do… didn’t make too much progress on projects but heh, I got my paycheck,” said the Koshka, waving the paper up and smiling triumphantly.
Lad couldn’t help a chuckle, and gently rubbed his hubby’s back, though he could use it more. “That’s great, love, Im so happy for you,” he said. “I actually just finished taking care of two ladies and they tipped rather well… so Im thinking maybe we can go out to dinner tomorrow night?” he asked, getting no less of an excited smile from Risk.
“Of course we can. Favorite place, riiight?” Risk replied, reaching down and playing gently with Lad’s stubby tail. Lad nodded, and continued to flirt his typical flirt with his love, before eventually pecking his cheek and pulling away with a yawn. “You tired baby?” Risk asked taking his coat off and putting it on the coat rack behind Lad’s desk. The Koshka nodded with a tired frown, his husband slowly walking over feeling the mood overwhelmingly taking over. “Aww…come here,” he said, and opened his arms wide and took Ladron in, gently snuggling to his neck and giving him a few kisses. “Look, tomorrow is a weekend, you can close the shop up for a day, and we’ll just spend time together, hows that?” he asked, Ladron nodding. “Good. Come on, lets get ready for bed,” he started, arm around his loves shoulder as they walked upstairs, to the apartment-like loft they shared above the shop, after locking up and turning everything off downstairs. “Did you get to have dinner?” he asked Lad, and walked towards the kitchen, automatically assuming he did not. He assumed correctly. “You know, you don’t have to keep the shop open so late on a Friday night,” Risk explained, but Lad shook his head.
“Actually, more customers arrive on a Friday… cause a lot of them have things to do over the weekend and need a trim, or on Mondays too… I keep it open late on those nights,” Ladron said, rubbing his temples as he took a seat at the old wooden table, while risk proceeded to start whipping something up for him, seeing as not only was he in better condition right now, but also a much better cook than Lad. “But it makes it twice as sweet to see your face when you come home,” he said, with such a sweet tone.
Risk turned around and chuckled softly, walking over near him at the table, and wrapped his arms around him from behind, kissing the top of his head. “Youre too sweet, my little kitten. Whatever happened to that wild and crazy boy I met when I was younger?” Risk chuckled, and ruffled Lad’s hair, then paused. “You had a cig huh?” he then pulled Lad’s head back and suddenly lip locked to him for a good long moment. Risk had a thing for the taste of Lad’s lips and nicotine. Lad didn’t smoke very often, but when he did, usually both shared the enjoyment.
A long silence was finally broke when Risk looked up to see the small meal he was making for Lad was just about done in the oven, and pulled it out to let it cool. “Risk..” Lad cooed gently from the table, his husband turning his head to look back. “Thank you… for being so wonderful,” he said with a smile. Risk just grinned, and got Lad something to drink and a plate, then brought the warm food over, setting it down in front of him. “Just know next time you come home worn out baby, its my turn to pamper you,” said Lad as he gently blew on the food before digging in.
By the time Lad finished, Risk was already in sleepwear, (by this one would mean nothing and a pair of boxers), and already had their bed turned down, and came into the kitchen to gently wrap his arms around Lad again. “Just leave it all there, Ill take care of it tomorrow,” he said, and walked his husband back to their room and shutting the door. Lad smiled and turned to kiss Risk again, passionately and lovingly, while Risk helped him down to his own sleepwear. Like any other moment their bodies were close, an intimate vibe pulled them to lock arms and lips, before walking back to the bed, and laying down wrapped around one another. Lad clung to Risk, being the needier man of the two, and required his love and embrace to even think about falling to sleep. “I love you Risk..” he murmured softly, eye closed as he buried his face into his love’s bare chest.
“I love you too,” Risk replied, and held him close as they drifted off to sleep, the city still awake and steaming.
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