Lay stuck around for a while, finishing off his glass of orange juice in the kitchen before refilling it and disappearing back into his bedroom.  Once the door was shut, Minseok let out another laugh.

“Does he always drink two glasses of orange juice in the morning?”

Luhan shook his head.  “No.  I’d recommend knocking if you ever want to go into Lay’s room.”

Minseok laughed.  “I’ll keep that in mind...”

They fell silent for a couple more moments before Minseok asked another question.  “So… you really don’t care?”

Luhan laughed.  “Of course I do.”

“Oh…um—“

“In the sense that I wish you hadn’t had to go through any of that.”  Luhan further explained softly.

“What?”  Minseok asked, surprised.

“Wouldn’t that be the fairly normal response for someone you care about?”  Luhan asked.

“For the first half maybe, but the second part…”  Minseok answered, voice trailing off uncertainly.

Luhan’s eyes widened as he understood Minseok’s concern, “Look, I cared about what happened before because it was clearly causing problems now, but to hold any part of it against you now would be—“

“Entirely normal.” 

“No, entirely unfair.  It’s not like I’m the Mary over here either.”  Luhan admitted with a laugh.

“But still.”  Minseok protested.

“But nothing, all of that happened before you even met me.  All that matters is what both of us do now, got it?”  Luhan found Minseok’s eyes, waiting for him to nod.

He did, eventually, a small smile forming on his face as he did.  “Got it… what are we going to do now?”

Luhan shrugged.  “I don’t know.  What plans did you have for the weekend before I threw a wrench in it?”

Minseok shrugged back.  “Nothing really.  Just typical stuff.  Oh, and Leo wanted to…”  Minseok stopped and reached out to touch Luhan’s hair, expression thoughtful.

“What?  Leo wanted to what?”  Luhan asked, as Minseok stood up to get a better look at the top of Luhan’s head, running his fingers against his scalp in a way that would have felt quite nice if Luhan wasn’t busy worrying about why Minseok had a sudden interest in his hair.

“Do you dye your hair?”  Minseok asked, fingertips still moving.

“What?”  Luhan asked again, still confused.

“Do you dye your hair?  Minseok repeated, sitting back down beside Luhan on the couch, completely serious.

“Of course I do.  It’s not like it can change color by itself.”  Luhan was seriously hoping Minseok didn’t actually think his hair was naturally blonde, but Minseok was already shaking his head, allaying his fears for Minseok’s common sense.

“That’s not… what I meant to say was do you dye your hair yourself?”

That question at least made a little more sense, although Luhan wasn’t really sure why it was relevant. “Oh, yeah, I do.  Although I make Lay check the back.  Why?” 

“Because,” Minseok said, smile widening, “I need your help.”

“With what?”  Luhan asked, becoming slightly uncomfortable with Minseok’s grin.

Minseok smiled.  “You’ll see.”

---

“He wants to make his hair what color?”  Luhan asked Minseok as they entered the beauty supply store.

“Red,” Minseok repeated.

Luhan shook his head as he went towards where the bleach would be.  “Why does he want to do that?”

Minseok laughed.  “He doesn’t really, but Ken wants to see it.”

“And that’s a good enough reason?”

Minseok shrugged.  “Leo likes Ken, remember?”

Luhan shook his head.  “I am not changing my hair for you.”

“Not a problem, so long as it’s not pink or something.”

“What’s wrong with pink?”  Luhan asked, having just pulled a bottle of pink dye off the shelf.

“Seriously Lu, it’s pink.”

“Lu?”

“Luhan is too long, and no pink.”  Minseok said, reaching for the bottle in Luhan’s hand.  Luhan pulled it out of Minseok’s reach.

“But I always dye my hair pink this time of year, and just so you know, that’s going to make you Min.”

“I can tolerate the name, but really, you always dye your hair pink?”

“It’s festive, and it fades out pretty quickly.”  He always got a lot of compliments on it honestly, and it was fun.

Minseok sighed with a shake of his head.  “I can’t believe I’m going to spend my first week dating you with you having pink hair.”

Luhan laughed.  “It looks nice, I promise.  We should do yours too.  We’ll have enough bleach left over.”  Luhan continued as he grabbed a box of dark red dye off the shelf.  “This look good?”

Minseok nodded.  “I think that’ll work, and I’ll pass.  I like my hair just fine, thank you very much.”

“But it’d look nice, and besides, don’t you owe me some kind of payment for helping you dye Leo’s hair?  It was only a few days ago the guy interrogated me in a car.”

Minseok sighed.  “Sorry about that.  He’s kind of... protective after everything that happened.”

“Yeah, after this morning, I was starting to wonder if that was what that was all about.  I did pass, right?”  Luhan asked, tone hopeful.

Minseok nodded with another laugh.  “He likes you.  He even told me to tell you everything that night, believe it or not.”

“Huh, I guess I like him too then.”  Luhan said as he placed all their items on the counter to check out.

Minseok laughed.  “I’ll be sure to let him know.”

“I assure you, that won’t be necessary, but we should dye your hair, to celebrate.”  Luhan repeated.

“You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”  Minseok asked as he grabbed the bag off the counter.

Luhan shook his head.  “Nope.  I’m now really curious to learn what you’d look like with pink hair.”

“If I let you do it, what’s in it for me?”  Minseok asked as they headed outside the store.

“You get to have really awesome hair.”  Luhan said with a smile.

“I’m pretty sure this is already established, but pink hair is not awesome.”  Minseok responded as they reached his bike and opened it up to pull out their helmets.

“How about a kiss then? Luhan said with a smile as he took his helmet from Minseok’s grasp.

“Aren’t I entitled to those anyways?”  Minseok asked with a laugh as he climbed on his bike.

“Not if your hair isn’t pink.”  Luhan responded as he climbed on behind, arms naturally wrapping around Minseok, now fully comfortable with the position, although still not quite as comfortable with the driving that was about to follow.

Minseok shook his head as he revved the engine.  “I’ll think about it.”

Luhan nodded against Minseok’s back as he held on tighter, preparing for takeoff.   “Good.”

---

“Why is there pink?”  Leo asked, eyes narrowing as he surveyed the bottles and boxes laid out on the table.

“It’s not for you.”  Minseok reassured with a laugh as Luhan began to open the bleach they had purchased.

“Who is it for then?”  Leo asked, eyes still narrowed.

“Luhan and me apparently.”  Minseok said with a sigh as Luhan smiled to himself while rereading directions to make sure he remember how to mix everything correctly.  (He had finally won the debate as they made their way to Leo and Minseok’s apartment, convincing Minseok that it was a good a way as any to celebrate a new beginning)

“Pink?”  Leo asked.

Luhan looked up with a laugh.  “Why does everyone act like this will look bad?  It looks nice.”

Leo shook his head.  “Keep that away from my hair.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got a whole jar of red, just for you.  Ken should be very happy.”   Luhan reassured.

Leo blushed and looked away as Luhan smiled again.  This Leo was the one he had eaten dinner with after their car interrogation.  He was much easier to talk to, comparatively speaking, and cute, almost, now that Luhan knew for certain that Leo wasn’t trying to kill him with only his eyes. 

Luhan returned to reading his directions, finishing them off with a nod before looking up to see Minseok and Leo waiting for instruction.

“So?”  Minseok asked.

“Well, first, you guys should change into some clothes you don’t really care about.  If this stuff gets on anything, it won’t be pretty, and also, I’m going to need those Styrofoam bowls you said you had.”

Minseok nodded as he headed over to a lower cabinet to pull out the bowls as Leo rose up from the kitchen table to head to his bedroom to change his shirt.

“What are you going to wear?”  Minseok asked as he handed Luhan the bowls, looking Luhan’s outfit up and down.

Luhan looked down at his shirt and pants with a shrug.  Sure he liked them, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t survive either of them getting ruined.  “They’ll be fine.  It’ll be a good excuse to buy new clothes.”

Minseok shook his head, dissatisfied.  “That’s stupid.  Come on, you should be able to fit into something of mine.”

“It’s fine really.”  Luhan said, even as he started to follow after Minseok towards his room. 

“I’m not going to let you ruin your clothes.”  Minseok responded as he entered his room and started to rummage through his dresser.

Luhan hesitated in the doorway for a second before following after because it was dumb.  Minseok had already been in Luhan’s room before.  He could be in Minseok’s.

Minseok’s room was pretty much the same as Luhan’s.  Same bed, same desk, same dresser etc.  Minseok had just pulled up from his dresser to examine a shirt he had dug up from the bottom of a drawer as Luhan’s eyes fell upon a difference, a piece of paper posted next to Minseok’s door that read:

Rules for Spring Semester

1. No skipping class.
2. No drinking just to get drunk.
3. No dating. 
4. No .
5. No skipping workouts, including stupid yoga.

“Stupid yoga, huh?”  Luhan asked with a laugh, pointing to the sheet of paper on the wall.

Minseok looked up from his search, having thrown the first shirt on top of the dresser and gone back in for another one, and blushed.  “It was the beginning of the semester, alright?  You can help me revise that one too.”

Luhan nodded as he reread the list, already formulating corrections in his mind.

“Hey, do you think this will fit you?”  Minseok asked, distracting Luhan from his thoughts as he held up a pair of grey shorts and a shirt.

Luhan shrugged as he surveyed the pieces.  “Probably.  Let me see.”

Minseok tossed the two articles over to Luhan, and waited as he evaluated the pair.

“Yeah, I think these’ll work.  What about you?”

Minseok held up another pair of shorts and a shirt.  “I’ve got lots of old soccer clothes.”

“Thanks, I guess.”  Luhan said with a laugh, even if he could relate.

“They’re clean.  I promise.  And um, the bathroom’s across the hall or…”  Minseok blushed.

Luhan blushed back as he spun back to face the door.  “I’ll just turn around.” 

“Yeah, me too.”  Minseok agreed.

Luhan nodded and pulled off his shirt and threw it aside before pulling on Minseok’s own, and then quickly pushing down his pants and pulling on Minseok’s shorts.  He then waited a couple seconds, taking note of the silence behind him.  “Finished?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

Luhan jumped.  Minseok was already there, standing close behind him with a smile on his face.  “Yup.”  Minseok said before walking past him, hand grazing along the back of Luhan’s waist as he went.

“Did you even turn around?”  Luhan asked with a laugh as he followed after, trying to ignore the tingling left behind where Minseok had dragged his hand across.

Minseok smirked as he sat back down at the kitchen table.  “I like you in black.”

Luhan blushed.   His boxers were definitely black that day.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  Leo asked, confused as he looked Luhan over.  None of the clothes he could see were black.

Luhan blushed deeper.  “Nothing you need to worry about.”  He said as he walked towards the table and grabbed a bowl to start mixing powdered bleach with developer.

“That smells terrible.”  Minseok observed as Luhan looked over what he had made with a critical eye.

“Always does.”  Luhan said with a cough when he got a strong whiff of it himself.

“Why is it blue?”  Leo asked, eyes narrowed again.

“It helps to keep your hair from being orange when we finish lightening it.”  Luhan explained as he reached to put on a pair of gloves that were on the table.

“Why do we have to lighten it first anyways?  Isn’t the goal pink and red?”  Minseok asked.

Luhan laughed.  “Tell me, when you were younger, did you ever try to use a colored marker over a black one?”

Minseok’s brow wrinkled as Luhan walked behind Minseok, placing the bowl on the table next to him and grabbing a brush to dip into it.  “Yes, why?”

“Did it work?”  Luhan asked as he raised the brush to Minseok’s head, brow furrowing for a second as he considered the best way to do this, quickly realizing that dying his own hair was a bit different than working on someone else’s.

“No, of course not.”  Minseok answered, still slightly confused.

“It’s the same concept.”  Luhan responded as he settled on a strategy, using the end of the brush to part Minseok’s hair and holding the part in place as he applied the bleach, starting at the root.

“Oh… I can’t believe I’m letting you do this.”  Minseok groaned out as Luhan made the next line in his hair.

“Too late now.”  Luhan said with a laugh.

Leo nodded in agreement with a smile.

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”  Minseok accused.

Leo nodded.  “You’re happy.”

Minseok sighed, while Luhan smiled as he worked.  Leo really was observant. 

“Is it supposed to make my head itch?”  Minseok asked, turning his head back and up as Luhan finished up the left side of his head.

“Yeah, it does that.  It can even burn your skin if you leave it on for too long.  I once got a bit on my forehead and it left a chemical burn that lasted about a week.”

“And you’re still putting it on my head?”  Minseok asked, tone concerned.  Leo’s eyebrows were raised as well.

Luhan laughed.  “It’s perfectly safe.”

“Yeah, so long as you don’t mind chemical burns.”  Minseok huffed as he turned back around to let Luhan continue to work on the other side of his head.

“I’m being very careful, I promise.”  Luhan said as he continued to paint Minseok’s hair blue.

“You better be.  If I’m injured, I’ll be holding you responsible.”  Minseok threatened.

“So threatens the person who says they’re going to turn around but doesn’t.”  Luhan observed as he pushed Minseok’s head down to get at the hair along the back of his neck.

“I did turn around.  I just turned back too early.”  Minseok protested.

Luhan snorted as he pulled Minseok’s head back to get his hairline around his brow.  “Yeah of course.”

“No really.  I just turned too early.”  Minseok said.

Luhan smirked and looked across the table at Leo.  “Ever hear the phrase the lady doth protest too much?”

Leo nodded in agreement as Minseok let out a frustrated groan.  “Are you done yet?”

“Just about.”  Luhan confirmed as he began to look over Minseok’s scalp, trying to make sure nothing was still black.  He touched up a few spots before giving a satisfied nod.  “You should be good.”  Luhan said as he started a timer on his phone and set it on the table.

“Except that my head feels like it’s being eaten by ants.  Are you sure that’s normal?”

“You’re fine.  Just let me know if starts to hurt so much you can’t stand it.  Then we actually have a problem.”

“And what do we do then?”  Minseok asked, voice filled with nervous trepidation.

“We wash it off as fast as possible and deal with the consequences.”

“The consequences?”  Minseok asked as Luhan switched sides of the table to stand behind Leo, swallowing nervously.  He really, really hoped he didn’t mess this up.

“Well, yeah, if we take it off early, you’ll probably look really weird.”

“Joy.”  Minseok said, sliding down in his chair and starting to reach a hand to his head. 

“Don’t touch it,” Luhan said, darting out a hand to push his down. 

Minseok sighed as he caught another small smile on Leo’s face.  “Oh stop enjoying this so much.  It’ll be your turn in a second.”

Luhan took a breath as Leo turned back to look at him.  “Same thing?”  He asked.

Luhan nodded.  “Same thing.”

Leo turned back, tone grim.  “Then go ahead.”

Luhan nodded again to himself, taking a final second to prepare himself before reaching out and making the first part in Leo’s hair. 

His hair was longer than Minseok’s so it took a little longer to get everything applied.  Unlike Minseok however, Leo was silent throughout the process, which Luhan just hoped meant that his head didn’t hurt too much. 

When he was done, Luhan pulled back and looked at both of them before letting out a laugh.

“What?” Minseok asked, turning to look at him.

“I should take a picture.  You guys look ridiculous.”

“And whose fault is that?”  Minseok asked as Leo rolled his eyes.

Luhan considered that.  “Technically, I believe it is Ken’s.  Why’d he want you to have red hair anyways?”

Leo shrugged.  “He sometimes wants to see strange things.”

“And you do them?”  Luhan asked,

“Wouldn’t you?”  Leo asked, surprising Luhan again with a suddenly pointed gaze.

Luhan swallowed once before giving a nod, “Yeah.”

Leo nodded back, satisfied.  He slid down in his chair as he closed his eyes.  “How long?”

“Hard call.  I’ll check in a bit, but probably not more than an hour.  We don’t need to get you hair as light as Minseok’s”

“Why not?”  Minseok asked.  He was growing tired of sitting there while being unable to scratch his head.

Luhan walked over to check his hair as he answered.  “Remember the marker analogy?” 

Minseok nodded.  “Yeah?”

“Well, the pink is a whole lot lighter than that red so the hair it goes on needs to be a whole lot lighter too.”

“Oh… are we almost there yet?  You did finish mine a lot earlier.”

Luhan nodded as he looked at a piece of hair he had wiped off.  “I did, and I think we should wait maybe ten more minutes just to be safe.”

“Joy.”  Minseok said, sarcasm evident in his voice.

Luhan just laughed.

10 minutes later, after some debate, Minseok was leaning over the kitchen sink as Luhan sprayed off his hair using the sprayer, running his fingers along his scalp as he made sure to remove all the bleach from Minseok’s newly blonde hair. 

“God that feels nine.”  Minseok breathed out as he watched the bleach run down the drain.

Luhan smiled.  “I know right?  This is always the best part.”

“Yeah.”  Minseok agreed as Luhan turned off the water, realizing they had forgotten something important.  “Where are your towels?”  Luhan asked.

Minseok laughed as his head hovered over the sink.  “There are dish towels in the drawer to the left.  That should work right?”

“Probably,” Luhan confirmed as he opened the drawer and pulled one out, placing it on the back of Minseok’s head and pressing it down, absorbing some water before rubbing the towel back and forth to dry Minseok’s hair off a little bit more.

“So, did it work?”  Minseok asked as he raised his head from the sink after Luhan’s hands left his head, towel sliding down to rest around his neck.

“Oh yeah, it worked.”  Luhan said with a laugh, “Check it out for yourself.”

He handed Minseok his phone so that he could see his hair.

“Oh my god.”  Minseok breathed out as he raised a hand to his head.  “My mom is going to freak.”

Luhan laughed again.  “I’m sure she’ll like it.  Especially once it’s pink.”

Minseok just shook his head.  “When will we start that?”

“Once your hair’s dried a bit more.  It’ll work better.”

“Then should we do your’s first?”  Minseok asked as they headed back towards the table where Leo was still sitting, so quiet Luhan wondered if he had fallen asleep.

Luhan nodded.  “Sure.  You going to help?”

Minseok nodded as he pushed Luhan down into a chair.  “Yup.”

“Do you even know what to do?” Luhan asked.

“No clue, but I was watching before.”  Minseok responded confidently.

“How comforting.”  Luhan said.

“At least this stuff doesn’t burn, right?”  Minseok asked as he started pouring some pink color into another bowl.

“Right.”  Luhan confirmed, “But you should put on some gloves, unless you want your hands to look like cotton candy.”

“I’d like to avoid that thanks.”  Minseok said as he grabbed another pair of gloves and slipped them on before grabbing another brush and standing behind Luhan’s head.  “So what?  Part, apply, repeat?”

“Pretty much, yeah.  Just get everything covered and you’ll be good.”  Luhan answered.

Minseok nodded and set to work as Luhan just hoped he didn’t miss any spots.

He didn’t, and neither did Luhan when he covered Minseok’s hair, or Leo’s, which looked really nice red.  Luhan told Leo that, and he just blushed again as he continued to look at it for a while longer before leaving the bathroom, presumably to call Ken.  Luhan and Minseok remained behind, standing side by side.

“Why did I agree to let you do this?”  Minseok asked as he stared at their reflections in the mirror.  They both now had soft pink hair, although the shades differed slightly since they had started at different levels of blonde.

“New beginnings, remember?”  Luhan said with a smile at their reflections.

Minseok laughed and shook his head as he placed a kiss to Luhan’s cheek.  “I hope that not all my new beginnings require pink hair.”

“Well, hopefully, you won’t be needing too many more.”  Luhan responded.

Minseok nodded in agreement.  “Hopefully.”  He was about to lean in for a kiss when Luhan stopped him with a finger.

“First, I’ve figured out my corrections.”  Luhan said.

“And you’d like to write them now?”  Minseok asked, slightly annoyed.

Luhan nodded. “I need to do it before I forget.”

Minseok sighed and pulled him back towards his room, pulling the sheet of paper down off the wall and handing it to Luhan.

Luhan took it and headed over to Minseok’s desk, grabbing a pen and starting to make his corrections.

“What are you writing?”  Minseok asked, unable to see what Luhan was writing as he kept blocking Minseok’s view.

“You’ll find out in a second.”  Luhan said as he finished off his final touches, pulling up the sheet from the desk and giving a nod as he read through them once more.  “Here.  These should work, don’t you think?”

Minseok leaned forward to pull the page form Luhan’s hand.  He laughed as he finished it off.  “Yeah, they’ll do.”

Luhan smiled.  “I’m glad you approve.”

Minseok smiled back as he leaned down to Luhan again.  “So am I.”

This time Luhan didn’t prevent him from connecting his lips to Luhan’s own, and when they left Minseok’s room later to go to dinner, they first made sure to affix the newly altered sheet of paper to Minseok’s wall.

Rules for Spring Semester

1. No skipping class.
2. No drinking just to get drunk. alone.
3. No dating anyone but Luhan.
4. No with people other than Luhan (when you want to do it)
5. No skipping workouts, including stupid yoga. especially awesome yoga. :)

---

One last chapter to go whee!

Anyone else bleach their own hair?  I do, Although I finally caved this week and got it done professionally for the sake of the holidays because I wanted to get it close to white without ending up too silver gray ^^

Oh, and thanks for commenting and subscribing.  Just passed 900 unique subs this week, which is pretty cool so thanks to all of you who got me there