“Damn! Who are you looking good for?” Halley yelled as I walked into the barbershop, Fern on my hip.

“Myself,” I laughed, “Good morning to you, too, beautiful.”

Halley had sort of become our poster woman for the barbershop. She was curvaceous, covered in beautiful floral tattoos from her neck to her thighs, and had 8 piercings in each ear. She kept her hair a vibrant shade of orange, always braided down her back, and clashing beautifully against the mahogany of her skin. Deep brown eyes were always hidden behind large square glasses, her smile warm and welcoming, and she constantly hit on me as a joke, as we were both gay, her wife Jo always coming to pick her up at the end of the day.

“Wear the tight jeans more often. Your ass looks great,” she laughed, cleaning off her clippers with a tiny brush, “Where is Lord floor manager?”

“Doctors. Dara sprained his ankle last night trying to stop the adorable shop baby from eating a fake flower on the bookshelf,” I laughed, bouncing Fern before taking her to the little area Dara had built for Fern to stay safe when we worked, “He’ll be here in two hours or so,” I took a seat behind the payment counter, Fern to my right playing with her toys and started looking over the appointment book, “Alright. You've got quite a few on your books, so I'll shift walk-ins over to… Nick.”

“God, really?” Nick groaned from the front door, putting out his cigarette and popping gum into his mouth, “I swear, we get the weirdest walk-ins.”

“We don't turn people away unless they're really fucking odd or rude. Remember that guy who grabbed Halley the other day? I banned him entirely and told him if he so much as walked past the shop, I'd call the cops. Mario.”

“Hm?” Mario called, folding towels in the back.

“Can I give you two of Dara's cuts this afternoon? He should be back before his appointment at 3. Probably on a boot, but he can do hair still.”

“You got it, Chief,” Mario leaned out to salute me, and I rolled my eyes with a smile, “Halley was right. You look great today.”

“It's just a mesh button-up and tank top! It's June in Georgia, I'm dying.”

“You can't act like you're not used to it; you haven't been in England since you were six,” Halley scoffed, “Surprised you kept your accent.”

“I refused to let it go. It's cute. Fits me.”

“Dada,” Fern babbled, and everyone froze as she had never spoken before, “Dada!” She pointed at me, and I shot over, scooping her up.

“Oh my God! Fern! Good job, baby!” I squealed as Mario, Halley, and Nick cheered.

“That's our girl,” Halley smiled, running over to hug me, “Good job, Ferny. We're so proud of you.”

The door chime went off, and our day truly started, with Fern sitting in my lap as clients came in regularly. I sent my barbers off for their lunches, Dara finally arriving at 3, and he immediately got to work, apologizing to me profusely for being on a boot to heal his ankle.

“Not mad at you,” I repeated for the 59th time today as I fed Fern applesauce as she sat in my lap, “You got hurt trying to keep Fern safe so I could shower.”

“But I'm slow,” Dara whined, and I shoved the spoon in his mouth, “Ew! It's covered in Fern's slobber and apples!”

“She slobbers on you all the time. Shut up. We are fine, Day. I'm not mad. I'm happy you're here, and I'm happy you're okay. That's all I care about.”

“Fine,” Dara grumbled, sitting in his barber chair to wait for his last appointment, “Did the order come in today?”

“Mhm. I already put everything up and sorted it between all of you for what you personally wanted. Halley, the new dyes came in.”

“Merci,” she blew me a kiss before going back to fixing Nick's hair as he had tried to do his undercut himself and it went horribly.

“Kipling called,” Dara whispered.

“Oh shit what happened?” I gasped.

“They moved him to a less secure part of the prison. Guess he's not a problem. I told him we're doing good, everything about the new house and how the shop is. He's proud of you but doesn't want to hear more. He wants to completely separate ties.”

“So do I, but thank you for telling him I’m okay,” I patted his head, and Dara smiled, “What should we do for dinner?”

“Pizza? I don't really want to cook, and you did last night. I'll buy.”

“Sounds good.”

We closed up the shop at 7 and headed home, pizza delivered thirty minutes later. Once our stomachs were full and I got Fern to bed, I took a long shower and joined Dara on the couch as he flipped through movies, yawning softly, his foot balanced on a stack of pillows.

“What’s the damage?” I flopped next to him, laying my head on the back of the couch.

“Just a sprain, so boot for 6 weeks, then I’ll go back in to have them check on it. It’ll be totally fine.”

“Oh good,” Smiling, I lay my head on his shoulder and Dara gently put his hand on my thigh, “What are we watching?”

“No idea, I can’t find anything.”

“Ugh,” grumbling, I stole the remote and started a random horror movie, cuddling into my blanket and slowly covering Dara’s hand, rubbing his knuckles.

We sat there quietly, enjoying the movie, before Dara slowly squeezed, my gaze flicking over to find him staring at me.

“Day? I know I don’t look as wonderful as earlier, but why are you staring?” I laughed softly.

“Have you… always been so attractive?” He whispered before clearing his throat, and I shot back, a bit startled.

“Huh? I-I don’t know. You’ve never said something like that to me before.”

“I just… noticed it today at the shop. I like… I mean, I am into guys, so I was just…” he turned a beautiful shade of crimson, and I laughed softly.

“No, you’re not.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I am. I lost my virginity to Josh actually.”

“Oh, gross! He wasn’t even hot!” I gagged.

“Well, I wanted to do it with you or Eddie, but you started dating, and I was kind of the third wheel. Josh told me I was cute, and… it happened. It felt right. Not with him,” he waved his hands quickly, making me laugh again, “But being with another guy. Then, I slept around for a little while before I met Emily. But I prefer men. It’s just… I noticed today how many people look at you. How many customers legitimately flirt with you. I knew you were cute. I’m not stupid. But I’ve never felt… attracted to you until we started living together like this. It hit me hard today. I’ve always been attracted to you. I think that’s where a big part of my jealousy came from. I was right there,” he sighed, fidgeting with the blankets, “And you didn’t see me.”

“I did. But Dara, you had me convinced you were straight, so…”

“I thought it was better if you and Eddie were happy. That’s all I ever wanted, I tell you that all the time. I just want you to be happy.”

“Well… I am happy. Look at my life. I own a beautiful house, I run a super successful shop, I have the most adorable little girl, and I’ve made so many new friends. I’m happy, Dara.”

“I meant… yeah,” he nodded, “I think I’ll get some sleep, okay? It’s been a long day.”

“Sure. I’ll make us breakfast.”

“Alright,” he smiled and headed to his room, quietly closing the door.

I finished the movie before shutting down the house and heading to bed, once again finding my guardian angel waiting for me.

“You lied,” I stomped over, poking Edward in the chest, “I can’t be with Kipling, he’s a felon!”

“Yeah, I know. But I honestly thought he’d change. It was set at first before he got caught and confessed. It’s entirely changed now. I told you this can happen.”

“So who do I marry?!” I pouted, crossing my arms.

“Can’t tell you.”

“What! Why the hell not?!”

“You haven’t noticed your own feelings,” he shrugged, pulling one of my curls as he used to when he wanted to annoy me, “But I will tell you that you’ll have four kids with them. Fern is the oldest, she’s number 1 of 5. You’ll stay in your home, though. Shut down your office, make it into a room for two, then Dara’s room will be for two. Fern will get to keep hers since she’s the oldest.”

“Jesus Christ. So Dara will move out eventually.”

“Well. He’ll move,” Edward smiled, pulling my hair again, and I smacked his arm away.

“Stop that. I just want him to be happy, Eddie. We’ve gone through so much side by side. Even with issues, we fixed them. We always fix things.”

“You always will,” he kissed my forehead softly, and I woke up to sunlight pouring through my bedroom windows.

“And here we go!” Dara’s voice came from the living room, and I pulled my sweater on, stumbling out there.

Dara was feeding Fern her breakfast, a small bowl of oatmeal with scrambled eggs and pieces of strawberry on the side. He was pretending her spoon was a plane, making Fern giggle between bites, her chubby cheeks bouncing.

“Did I oversleep?” I yawned, going to make myself coffee.

“Nope. This one woke up early, that’s all. I could hear her crying. I think you should check the batteries on your monitor, you never miss out on waking her up. But it’s okay, isn’t it, princess? We have a clean diaper, an almost full tummy, and I got Fern snuggles on the couch as we watched her show before she got hungry.”

“Mmm,” I nodded, barely awake as I had never been a morning person, “Oh, Eddie was in my dreams. He does that. Said you’d be moving at some point. Are you dating again?”

“Nope,” Dara shrugged, “I have someone in mind, but I’m patient.”

“Lucky them,” Smiling, I took a sip of my coffee before shouting, having burnt my mouth a little, “Ah shit.”

Dara rushed over, pulling an ice cube from the freezer, “Open.”

I opened my mouth, and he slowly slid the ice cube in, gently running his thumb on my bottom lip.

“Keep it there until it melts,” he smiled, “Avocado toast with egg?”

“Mhm,” I muttered, nodding my head.

“I know you want it fried; keep your mouth closed.”

I grumbled quietly and went to sit with Fern, watching her try to feed herself, oatmeal smeared on her face. My ice melted as I watched Dara cook, a relaxed smile on his face, glasses slowly sliding down his nose. At this moment, I realized I had finally noticed the same thing he had. Dara was incredibly attractive. Kipling had that cheesy mafia romance novel vibe about him, his way of love rough and intense. But Dara showed care in little things, in gentle ways, that had always been a balm to my spirit. He reminded me of that boy next door you fall in love with, the one you never really expected until he suddenly became a man. The kind of man who wouldn’t burn the world down for you but would protect you from anything. He was beautiful in a slightly dorky way that I had always found wildly attractive, and my heart shifted, letting me finally see Dara the way I always should have.

“Day?” I whispered as he brought my breakfast over, his sweats low on his hips, “Thank you.”

“It’s just breakfast, dork,” he laughed, sitting next to Fern.

“No, I mean… Thank you for coming back to me. We could have entirely fallen apart.”

“I can never apologize enough for the shit I did to you. I don’t even really know why I did it other than jealousy, and I’m still surprised you forgave me.”

“We made a promise when we were little,” I held my hand out to show him the thin scar that ran the length of my palm, “We will always find our way back no matter how far gone we get. We swore a blood oath.”

“Yeah that was some intense shit for 12 year olds to do,” he snorted, tracing my scar and showing me his matching one, “Why didn’t Eddie do it with us?”

“I always liked you more than him,” I shrugged, taking a bite of my food and hiding my smile at the flush that spread across Dara’s cheeks, “Eat. We have to work today.”

“Oh. Oh, right,” he nodded, scarfing down his breakfast, “Do you remember how many I have scheduled today?”

“10. Halley has 16, and Nick is off today; it’s his engagement party tonight. So I’ll probably split walk-ins between you and Mario if that’s fine.”

“You know I don’t care. You’re the boss.”

“But you’re the floor manager, so if it’s too much, tell me.”

“Never too much. I can handle it. Now, what do we do with the shop baby?” He poked Fern, who giggled, oatmeal covering her face.

“Same as always since you built that super nice play area for her.”

“Anything for Fern, you know that. It’s always been that way. Always will be.”

“I believe you. You don’t need to constantly tell me.”

“I constantly will.”