Page 27 of Whirlwind

When Taylor cut his own hair, there was always a mess everywhere, and he had to wash all his clothes to get the hair out.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Taylor didn’t really care, since it couldn’t get much worse than it already was. But he was kind of curious.

Julio’s mother worked in a hair salon, but that didn’t mean anything, necessarily.

“I do, actually. I’ve volunteered to cut your hair before, but you never let me.”

That was true. It had felt a little too… intimate, before. He wasn’t ready to admit that, though.

The only sounds in the bathroom were the soft snick of the scissors and the softer whisper of the comb. Taylor relaxed into the soothing sensations of Julio’s fingers in his hair.

All too quickly it was over. Julio gathered up the towel, used yet another towel to remove any stray hairs that were left, and then quickly swept up the floor.

Taylor started to stand, but Julio stilled him with a hand. He grabbed a bottle off the shelf, and Taylor had another odd moment of realization.

Julio always kept hair gel at his house. They spent enough time together that Julio took showers at his place from time to time, and before he’d just seen it as a matter of convenience. After all, his house was in the same building where Julio worked.

Now it felt like his… boyfriend? was starting to move in with him. Totally crazy.

Julio massaged and shaped his hair, and Taylor was starting to get curious. He’d never used hair gel before. It smelled like Julio on the nights that he went out to a club, which gave him another little burst of delight. Now he would smell like Julio, too.

Julio washed his hands, but Taylor remained seated. He was starting to sink into this space where he waited for instructions because he knew Julio would want him to. It felt right.

He’d thought they were done, but Julio set something else on the counter. It was one of those toiletry bags that people used when they were travelling. This one was pink, though, and definitely hadn’t been in his bathroom this morning.

Julio unzipped the bag and pulled something out. It was a flat, rectangular case that opened to reveal… makeup.

Taylor shook his head. “I can’t wear that outside. No, Julio. Don’t make me do it.” That was way, way too scary.

Julio kissed his forehead. “You can always say no, love. Would you let me talk with you about it before you make your decision, though?”

Taylor had a heavy feeling in his gut, but he nodded anyway. He’d tried to put on makeup before, and he always came out looking like a garish clown. With a beard.

“You absolutely don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I can put it away now, or we could try it out and you could wash it off if you don’t like it.

“The way this works is that you choose to give me control. I don’t take it. I may push you to try something that you’re already interested in, but I won’t force you to do anything that doesn’t feel right.”

Taylor’s pounding heart began to slow down. He realized that was how it had been the whole time—Julio wasn’t taking away his control, just asking him to give it to him for safe keeping. Once he had a moment to think about it, he realized that he felt safe. There was no one that he trusted more.

Julio looked down at the makeup kit and then back at Taylor. “My thought for tonight was something pretty subtle. No one would realize you were wearing it unless they really looked. Will you try it for me?”

“We can take it off if I don’t like it?”

“Of course, baby.” Julio gave him a gentle kiss. “Now, close your eyes.”

Taylor felt a soft pressure on his eyelids and tried to keep still. It only took a couple strokes, and then Julio was clicking open another small case, circular this time. He brushed something from it onto Taylor’s cheeks.

The next one was a weird little brush on a stick that he thought was supposed to be for eyes or something, but Julio prompted him to open his mouth and then applied it to his lips. He wiped off a bit with a piece of tissue.

“Alright, love. Come see yourself.”

Taylor was dreading the mirror, but he stood anyway. He might as well get it over with.

But when he got there, it was… it was like someone completely different staring back at him. His eyes glowed and lips were kissably pink, but Julio was right. It didn’t look like he was wearing makeup. By some magic, he was actually, maybe, pretty.

And his hair was cute. It softened his face somehow and made him look younger. It was a little bit messy, but artfully so.

“Do you like it?”