“No, keep the finge, the finge looks good on hyung!” 

“Now, come on Ryeowookie, Minwoo-hyung said he wanted a new look.”

“No, appa, keep the finge! Don’t cut it!!” 

As Kyuhyun and his father walked into the barber shop, they saw a gangly teenager sitting in a barber chair, draped in a gown, clearly entertained as he watched the father-son duo fight over his hair. Ryeowook was standing on his little blue step stool, one hand holding a lollipop that was being flung wildly around as the other hand clung firmly onto his father’s thumb, effectively stopping the man from operating the scissors. They could see the patient barber trying to pry his son’s hand away from his thumb, while sending apologetic glances towards the customer. 

“Ryeowookie. If you keep on doing this, you’re going to hurt yourself.” 

“No, I won’t let go. You can’t hurt hyung’s finge.” 

His father sighed. 

“It’s a ‘fringe’, not a ‘finge’, Ryeowookie. And Minwoo-hyung said that he didn’t want it anymore so we’ll have to find something new that looks good on him, okay? Look, I’m happy you’ve taken the initiative to design hairstyles but you have to always listen to the customer, Ryeowookie.”

Kyuhyun smirked. 

“Yeah, Ryeowook-ie, it’s a ‘fringe’, not a ‘finge’ and you always have to listen to the customer, how can you be such a dumb dumb-ah?” 

The older abandoned his mission to restrain his father, dropping his hands to his sides. Instead, he glowered at the other boy. 

“Why are you here, mean Kyuhyunnie? Go away or I’ll poke you!” 

“I’m getting a haircut from your appa, ob-ni-mous-ly dumb dumb-ah.”

Ryeowook balled up his hands into little fists. 

“I’m not a dumb dumb, Kyuhyunnie! Tell him, appa! Tell him I’m not a dumb dumb!” The boy shouted, quickly turning to look at his father, who froze in the midst of t off the customer’s fringe, looking guilty.

“Ah, y- yes Ryeowookie,” he spluttered, “Don’t worry, you’re not a dumb dumb. You’re my cute, smart son!” He patted Ryeowook on the head. “Now go get the booster seat for Kyuhyunnie’s haircut. I’ll be done with Minwoo-hyung soon, okay?” 

Ryeowook blushed, mollified, then padded off to go do as he was told. 

“See Kyuhyunnie, I’m smarrrt! Appa said so! Hmph!” He flung his arms out dramatically, almost hitting his (nearly forgotten) lollipop on the wall. 

“Ryeowookie, watch out for your blue strawberry raz raspberry lollipop. I’m not giving you another one today!” warned Mr. Kim. 

“Okay, appa!” he responded brightly as he stuck the lollipop in his mouth. 

“Oh by the way, Ryeowook-ah, feel free to tell Kyuhyun-ah off,” added in Mr. Cho distractedly from the waiting area where he was thumbing through magazines as per his usual. “Tell Kyuhyun he’s not supposed to use the word dumb dumb-ah or he’ll lose his games for a week.” 

“Ehhh?” Ryeowook grinned devilishly, looking at Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun paled, looking away as he decided to be good for the rest of the appointment. 

The barber quickly finished up with the customer’s haircut and settled Kyuhyun into his booster seat, wrapped in a gown. Ryeowook returned to his step stool, staring unblinkingly at Kyuhyun’s hairstyle while on his lollipop. The barber was puttering around behind them, making small talk with Kyuhyun as he got all the required supplies. 

“Just a trim, Kyuhyunnie?” 

The boy shrugged noncommittally. 

“I guess so.” 

It was just as the barber was about to make the first snip that Ryeowook was roused from his reverie. 

“No, appa! Stop!” He lunged at Kyuhyun to stop his father from going ahead with the haircut. 

“Ryeowook!” his father yelled, grabbing and stabilizing Ryeowook, preventing him from falling. “Ryeowook, you almost hurt yourself! If you do that again, you’re going to your room for the rest of the week!”

The boy pouted. 

“Sorry, appa… but I- I don’t want Kyuhyunnie to have a trim!” 

“Look Ryeowook-ah,” the barber said patiently, tired and annoyed, “Kyuhyun wants a trim. Remember what I told you: what the customer wants is what we give them, right?”

“I know appa, but let’s give Kyuhyunnie a new hairstyle!” 

“Oh? What hairstyle?” The barber looked at his son, his interest piqued. 

“Let’s give him that hairstyle!’

“That hairstyle?” 

“The one in Soo-hyungie’s cartoon.” 

“Which one Ryeowook-ah?” 

“The one with the monsters that look funny!” 

“Ahh, that one. Which character?” 

“The hero guy!” 

The barber paused and his chin as he assessed Kyuhyun’s head. 

“Hmm, that would actually look quite nice but we can’t-“ 

“No, we have to! The hero guy is like Kyuhyun-ah - he’s mean, he likes to play games, and he can’t be quiet!” said Ryeowook, covering his ears. 

Kyuhyun growled, trying to control himself. 

“Hey! You-“ 

“And the hairstyle would be good too! Because Kyuhyunnie has a nice foamhead and pretty eyes.” 

Kyuhyun was still caught up in his anger.

“What did you- oh.” He blushed. 

Naïve Ryeowook didn’t notice Kyuhyun’s discomfort and continued to convince his father about the new hairstyle. 

“Appa it would be really good, right appa? We should do it! A heroKyu hairstyle!” He was getting more excited by the second, nearly bouncing as he spoke. His lollipop was in his outstretched hand, swinging here and there as he gesticulated wildly. 

“It’s a ‘forehead’, Ryeowookie and sorry but Kyuhyunnie doesn’t want that. He said he wanted a trim remember?” 

Ryeowook looked crestfallen. 

“But- but- it would be so good,” he whined.

“Well, too bad Ryeowook-ah, we can’t unless we have the customer’s permission.” 

The father-son pair heard a quiet cough followed by an “umm”. They turned toward Kyuhyun, who was looking down at his feet sheepishly, still blushing. 

“Um, I-, ummm, I- I- want that hairstyle,” Kyuhyun muttered, hesitating. He spared a sly glance at Ryeowook, who looked triumphant, a large grin painted on his face from cheek to cheek. “I’m not doing it because of you! I want to be a hero! I want to be heroKyu!” 

Ryeowook snorted in response. 

The barber sighed then looked over at Mr. Cho. The man gave him a small nod, giving permission for Kyuhyun’s new haircut. 

“Kyuhyunnie, are you sure about this?” 

“Yes, Mister.”

“Yay!” Ryeowook threw his hands outward, celebrating. He finally lost his grip on his forgotten lollipop, sending it flying to the ground. 

“No! My blue strawberry raz raspberry lollipop!” he whined dramatically as he ran after it. He picked it up then gently threw it in the garbage, teary-eyed. 

Kyuhyun guffawed.

“Well done dumb dumb-ah!” 

The former lollipop owner returned to his step stool, sat down cross-legged and pouted. 

‘Be quiet, Kyuhyunnie.” 

Mr. Cho cleared his throat, a threat hidden in the simple gesture. Kyuhyun’s eyes widened. 

“I mean, sorry Ryeowookie. You’re not a dumb dumb-ah.” 

But Ryeowook ignored him, wallowing in self-pity over the demise of his favourite lollipop. His father rolled his eyes, finally starting to cut and style Kyuhyun’s hair. 

Ryeowook remained on his stool, looking sad and pitiful. Kyuhyun shot the other boy self-righteous looks of gloating from his chair but didn’t say anything, afraid for his games. 

Towards the end of Kyuhyun’s haircut, Mr. Kim called out to his son: 

“Ryeowook-ah, can you please go get the hair gel from the other table?”

Ryeowook did as he was told, placing it on the barber table. 

“Do you want to do the finishing touches for Kyuhyunnie’s haircut? It was your idea, so you should do it,” coaxed Mr. Kim gently, hoping to get his son out of his rut. 

The boy perked up, his eyes sparkling. 

“Okay!” 

The barber squeezed a pint-sized amount of gel on the little boy’s hand. 

“Take a little bit of gel and rake it through here, here and here.” 

With the help of his father, Ryeowook enthusiastically reached forward and gently raked his fingers through Kyuhyun’s hair, taking a little more liberty with styling Kyuhyun’s hair than directed. He stuck his sticky hands up in celebration after he finished. 

“Ta-dah! I’m done, appa!” 

Mr. Kim brushed the hair off Kyuhyun’s neck and took off the gown as Ryeowook watched, clapping his sticky hands together. 

“You’re so handsome now, Kyuhyunnie! Like a hero. This is the profez-inal work of Ryeowook.” The boy nodded enthusiastically, glowing with pride. 

Kyuhyun jumped off the chair and looked at himself closely in the mirror, noticing Ryeowook beaming behind him. He took a deep breath and put on an arrogant disgusted face. 

“Tch, this is so yucky and ugly. I don’t like it! Appa, let’s go!” He huffed haughtily and looked away from the other boy, hands on his hips. 

Ryeowook’s eyes filled with tears. 

“You’re so mean! I picked the best haircut ever for Kyuhyunnie and… and… Kyuhyunnie's so meannn!” He burst out finally as he covered his eyes with his hands, tears spilling from his eyes. He ran up the stairs out of the barber shop, bawling.

“Kyuhyun!” his father called out, “Apologize!” 

“No!” said the boy defiantly, arms folded in front of him. 

“I apologize," Mr. Cho said to the barber. "Kyuhyun is so hard-headed sometimes. But, then again, I suppose they’re good traits for a future lawyer – wit, stubbornness, cheekiness. He really reminds me of myself when I was younger.” Mr. Cho grinned. “But still, he shouldn’t have upset your son like that.” 

Mr. Kim smiled at the other man. 

“Don’t worry about it. Ryeowook can be pretty dramatic sometimes. I'm sure he'll get over it soon.” 

“I think that the dramatics goes for both our sons,” Mr. Cho replied quietly as he glanced pointedly at his son. The barber looked over at Kyuhyun, who was surreptitiously looking at himself in the mirror, preening and occasionally striking the hero’s characteristic pose with exaggerated vigor. The two fathers rolled their eyes and shared a laugh as Mr. Cho paid for the haircut. 

“Your son did a good job though. I think this hairstyle suits Kyuhyun-ah very well. He has a talented eye.” 

The barber smiled. 

“I know,” he said as he raised his hand in farewell behind the two retreating figures.