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eveistdiepommes · 4 months ago

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Tino’s shaky legs brought him to the tiny room attached to the bedroom. He wobbled there with all his might, finding this to be his only chance as the other four had left to do god knows what. The pale man had seen them briefly, the one with longer hair had used them to cut whatever they had wrapped around his hands. He memorized where they had been put, and sure enough, on the edge of the sink, lay a pair of rickety scissors. Carefully, with gauze-riddled fingers, the blond grabbed them, yanking them to his chest.

Large, buggy eyes stared at them cautiously. Tino’s mind worked alarmingly fast. His intelligence knew no bounds, as he and the others would learn soon enough. And now, he was going to do something very human. He would test a hypothesis.

Delicate, Tino took hold of the long blond hair that got in the way of his sight. And mimicking the movements of the longer haired man in that quartet, he closed the scissors’ blades around his golden locks, effectively cutting the bunch he grabbed with a slow sniiiip. Tino pulled the hair away and watched it fall out of his hands. His eyes widened as a frenzied smile grew on his face. Freedom! Freedom at last! But just as he went to cut more, one of those men had burst into the room.

“Tino!? Tino, are you—!?” Emil stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Tino holding scissors and a long strip of his hair curled up on the floor. The teen’s eyes widened and he anxiously went to take the scissors from the merman. “What the hell are you doing!?” The pale man flinched and stumbled backwards as the scissors were pulled from his hands. Emil cringed at this, not so much at Tino nearly falling, but the look of fear that the golden-headed man gave him. He knew he could be explosive, but he never had anyone look at him with so much… panic. Why did they ever think putting him in charge of looking over an otherworldly being was a good idea? Lukas was much better suited for this job, and Emil was sure the merman would’ve been delighted to be kept company by Berwald. Hell, even Matthias would’ve been more entertaining! But no. They left Emil to watch over him while they ran out to get groceries. He had only left to get Tino a glass of water. And in that short time, he had done something extremely dangerous (for him.)

“What are you doing?” Emil forced his usually sharp tone to be gentle. Tino’s eyes shifted and he sunk into himself, as if trying to make himself smaller or camouflage himself against the shower curtain. The teen chewed his lip. “I’m not… angry. I was just… worried.” He wondered if it was any use explaining to a being who didn’t understand him. Or at least, he was 75 percent sure he couldn’t understand. Tino reached up and played with the part of his bangs he cut, seeming briefly delighted before he touched the rest of his hair and bunched it in his fists. He growled lowly as he feigned tearing it off. Emil watched in both shock and concern. So he knew what he was doing. He was cutting his hair on purpose. “Your hair… you don’t like it? You want it gone?” Emil tried. Tino looked at him suddenly inquisitively.

With great care, Emil raised the scissors and pointed to them. Then he pointed to Tino’s hair. He thanked whatever heavens were smiling upon him as it seemed Tino understood and nodded his head ‘yes’ eagerly. Tino picked up on things quickly, this was good to know.

“You want me to cut it? It’s dangerous for you to do because these are sharp. That’s why I… sounded so… looked so…” Even to a mythical creature, Emil found it hard to talk about what he was feeling. But even though Tino had no clue, this was more open than Emil would be with anyone else besides the other three. Something about the pale man, while increasing the teen’s worries, also made him feel reliable. He was the youngest of the group, only 18, so maybe that’s why no one ever leaned on him for support. Or maybe it was because he pushed others’ emotions away in a cowardly attempt to protect himself. But with this creature, this man who was still learning what it was to be human, and had a long way to go at that, he felt like someone was counting on him. Looking to him for the next move. Like he was finally a dependable brother.

“Come here.” Emil jerked his head to signal Tino to follow him back into the bedroom. The golden blond trotted behind the slightly taller boy awkwardly, still needing to get used to his legs. The snowy-headed teen told Tino to wait a moment, left to grab a stool, and came back as quickly as he could manage to prevent Tino from getting any other clever ideas. “Sit.” He spoke, while guiding the merman so he would take a seat. “Okay… How, um… How short…?” The teen’s voice wavered a bit as he touched the silky golden hair and tried to get a gauge on what style the merman would like. Surprisingly, Tino took Emil’s clammy fingers and positioned them high on his head, around cheek length. Did Tino understand his question? He’d think about that later. Testing the waters, the teen snipped a tiny bit off at the cheek and watched as Tino’s expression brightened immensely. “That’s awfully short.” Emil snorted out in amusement, catching himself off guard.

The Icelandic boy gingerly continued cutting, snipping and changing his stance to make sure things were at least semi even. He didn’t think Tino would care too much about it being a professional job though. Golden locks danced onto the floor, fluttering as each cut released more and more of Tino’s shackles. And eventually the last chunk was cut. Immediately after Emil brought the scissors away, Tino’s bandaged hands shot up to touch the back of his neck. He ran his fingers through his short hair now, feeling a sense of being weightless wash over him. It was gone. All gone. Never again would he have to be linked to that world. Never again would he have to think about what had happened. Freedom at last!

Emil looked down at Tino, craning his neck a bit to look at his expression. And his stomach flipped when he saw that Tino’s smooth cheeks were kissed with tears.

“Hey! Hey, what’s wrong?” Emil questioned worriedly, walking to stand in front of Tino. He went to crouch down a bit with his brows furrowed, but he didn’t make it far before the merman had flung himself forward and wrapped his arms around the teen in an appreciative hug. Emil froze up upon impact, never good with physical affection. But, as he processed his surroundings, the warmth Tino’s hug was providing, he found himself caving… just a little.

The golden haired man reached up and felt Emil’s hair, and then parted and felt his own. Emil couldn’t help but smile smally.

“Yeah. You have short hair now. Just like me.” He stated bluntly, only with a hint of warmth as to keep his cool guy persona. Tino was elated.

He’d be human. Just like Emil.

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