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For some time now, Luocha has been visiting more and more the Express, specially as he formed a kind of friendship with Dan Heng after everything that happened in the Luofu, but as more and more time passed, his visits became less about this friendship and more about a certain Welt Yang.
Welt was intriguing from the moment they first met. Well, *met* is a strong word, more like, saw each other briefly and then Welt left as fast as he could, and strangest of all was the book he sent to him later.
Dan Heng was nice enough to explain the situation to him, how when Welt boarded the express he had a companion that looked eerily similar to Luocha, and said companion left huge scars on the crew. And while not really his job to fix some guy’s trauma, something in his heart compelled him to try and get close to Welt, even if just to show him he wasn’t a threat.
His efforts, however, didn’t culminate to much, at best Welt only tolerated him, and the way he looked at him was conflicted, and the biggest problem of them all: Luocha started to actually really enjoy being around Welt. When he wasn’t lost in his own thoughts, he had a lively personality, he was funny, nice, endearing... handsome...
That last part he tried to not think too much though, otherwise he would catch himself staring at Welt for a moment too long, which wasn’t helpful considering the situation.
His biggest problem, he thought, was his characteristics. Which is a tricky problem. Change is possible but some things will always stay the same, his eyes will always be green, his natural hair will always be blond, his voice will always be a certain tone and pitch...
It was a conundrum, he was willing to change some of him to see if Welt would stop staring as if he was a ghost of his past, but what could he change...?
Well... there was *something*...
But should he really?
Would it even work? It’s such a minor aspect of him...
But with how major it felt personally, maybe it wasn’t so minor?
For a few days he pondered on the idea: cutting his hair short. It felt like an insane thing to do, hell, when it wasn’t tied, his hair got to the back of his knees, cutting it would be a major decision in his life.
And for what?
Just some guy?
Well, that’s the problem isn’t it, Welt wasn’t just some guy anymore, maybe he was back when they first met but now? He was a tangible being, a common presence in his life, the one for whom he grew to hold so much affection...
Oh, who cares?
Hair grows back.
Maybe his will grow even faster because of the Abundance too, who knows? All he knew is that he had to at least try. But he couldn’t do it alone... No... For once, he’s reluctant, and for another, he has so much hair it feels overwhelming to deal with it himself.
He looked at his phone, there was a person that he could ask for help, another friend from the express...
He opened March 7th’s chat and sent a simple message.
‘Hello March, are you busy today?’
Her answer was almost instant.
‘Hi Mr. Luocha!’
‘I’m not!’
‘What’s up?’
‘I wanted to ask for your help with something personal.’
‘You seem like the best person I know for the job.’
‘Sure!’
‘What is it, tho?’
Luocha took a deep breath, it was kinda nerve wrecking to even type it out, but he already started, might as well keep going.
‘I wanted to do something with my hair.’
Although he didn’t want to be *that* vague during the conversation, he couldn’t help it, but March seemed to get the grasp of it, and that’s what mattered. They decided to met at the Luofu since Luocha was already there, which also doubled as not having to cause any trouble at the Express itself.
They hung out for a while first after March arrived, Luocha was certainly stalling for time. But the inevitable came once they made their way to the inn.
“So… What exactly do you wanna do with your hair…?” March asked, a subtle worry in her voice more than curiosity.
Luocha closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. “I want to cut it...”
March looked at him as if he had just confessed to murdering someone in cold blood.
“...Very short.” he continued, looking at her.
“What!? Why?? Your hair looks so nice, why would you want to cut it all of the sudden?”
“It's because of— Mr. Yang.” March looked confused and still processing the shock of such request, “As you may know, I resemble an old companion of his a lot, which includes the long hair…
I thought that, maybe, if I cut it, it would be one less similarity, and maybe he wouldn't be so bothered with my presence anymore. “
March put a hand to her hip, looking him up and down. Luocha wanted to look away but kept his eyes on her so as to not draw any suspicions on his feelings of more than friendship towards Welt. He wasn't sure if it was working, but if she thought anything of it, she didn’t mention.
“But what if it doesn't work? I mean, you would've cut your hair for nothing…”
“Yes, there is a possibility that merely changing my hair won't help with anything but… It's worth a shot, I think. And hair grows back, maybe once he gets used to me, it will be long again.”
“You make it sound like this will take an eternity! But fine… If that’s what you really want…”
“Thank you, March…”
“But just so you know! I'm not a hairdresser. I might cut my own but,” she gestures to the messy spikes, “it doesn't mean that I'm that good at it.”
“It's ok, I trust you. I believe after the majority of it is cut it will be… less overwhelming to fix anything.”
March sighed, “In that case, let's get it over with!”
The two of them organized the room a little as to make cleaning up easier once they were done. March put on some music to fill the silence while she worked on the cut, and Luocha opted to sit facing away from the mirror.
Feeling so much of his hair being cut was already unnerving enough, looking in the mirror while March was cutting it would've been worse.
They chatted a bit during the process, but between Luochas's nervousness and March's concentration, they remained silent for most of it.
The process was rather swift, March had a way with the scissors even though she said this wasn't one of her specialties. But personally, it felt like it took forever. From starting to think about the idea to committing to it, each section cut made his head feel lighter and his heart heavier.
“Aaand…!” with a final snip from the scissors to cut away a stray hair, “It's done!”
March handed a mirror to Luocha, who, hesitantly, raised it so he could see himself.
“It ended up kinda spiky and messy,” March began to explain the cut, “but I didn’t touch your bangs, because they were already short and they already look good on you!
Since you always have a strand of hair to your left I also left a longer part here,” and she passed her fingers in the asymmetrical side tail to show what she was talking about, “I think it looks nicer than just leaving the entire front short!
And here in the back, I also left this lower part longer while the top part is shorter, you know, so you can have some layering there! And… because I also couldn't bring myself to cut it completely!
Otherwise you'd look like Mr. Welt or Dan Heng! And that's no fun.” She stopped her ramble for a bit, realizing Luocha was still static, looking at the mirror, “Are you ok, Mr. Luocha?”
He let go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He felt like crying a little, not from regret or because he didn't like it, for the contrary. He loved it, it felt strange, yes, but weirdly freeing. His goal was to do something to see if Welt would be more at ease around him, but it was a strangely cathartic experience.
“I love it, thank you, March. You did a wonderful job.”
March sighed in relief, “That's good! For a moment there I thought you hated it.
Wanna go to the Express to show it off after we tidy things up here?”
“Yes, I'd love to!”
Cleaning the mess of hair was no easy feat with how much of it there was, but eventually they managed to free the floor of it. It felt strange but nice throwing it all away.
And finally the time to head to the Express came. Luocha felt like his heart could burst out of his chest by any moment, an anxiety of what the outcome of all this would be.
March was the first to board, waving at the companions that were in the parlor car, “I’m back! And with a visitor!”
Luocha entered right after her, greeting Welt and Himeko, who were the ones there at the moment. Both of them were surprised at the new haircut, and while there was some mourning to the loss, Himeko admitted March did a pretty good job, and that the haircut was quite nice.
Welt’s reactions were the most interesting though, he was quiet, an usual occurrence when Luocha was there, but his expressions were different, he didn’t seem distant and looking through Luocha instead of at him, in fact, he seemed to be paying more attention to the conversations happening between the group, his thoughtfulness seemed to be going to different paths this time.
After a bit, March kinda elbowed Himeko and came up with a flimsy excuse to have to leave the parlor car, prompting Himeko to do the same, but with a little more grace. As March was leaving, she gave Luocha a smile and a discreet thumbs up, silently wishing him luck now that they were leaving him alone with Welt.
There were a few seconds of silence between them, an unsureness lingering in the air, a plethora of dialogue options hanging in the air, countless possibilities for the course of the following conversation. It might’ve been just enough time to blink, but it felt like an eternity, until Welt finally spoke first.
“It looks nice.” he turned to Luocha, with a small, polite smile. “Your hair, I mean.”
“Ah. Thank you, Ms. March did a wonderful job, didn’t she? She’s really good at this besides her reservations.”
“She is...” Welt looked at him, as if scanning every single detail. “Why the sudden change though? For someone with hair like that, cutting it so short isn’t something you do just because, right?”
Luocha felt like a deer in headlights at the questions. He was onto him. All the answer options rolled into him mind, he could try to come up with an excuse, try his luck with the theory that being from the abundance actually makes his hair grow faster so drastic haircuts are soooo normal for him, pay no mind that he had to ask March for help, maybe he did it to throw off the cloud knights in the Xianzhou, something that is totally both a normal and not suspicious thing to do. A few seconds of consideration and he decided what to say.
“It was because... of you, actually...” he said with a shy smile, eyes not meeting Welt’s, he picked honesty for this time, afterall, what was the point in hiding it anyways?
“Because of... me?” Welt sounded both curious and confused.
“Well, Dan Heng told me about the... situation, with your old companion. And how I resembled him quite a lot... So...” Luocha took a deep breath, now looking at Welt, “You’re... a very nice person to talk to, Mr. Yang, and I would like to be around you more, but it was clear that my presence bothered you, and while I can’t change most of myself, this... Was one of the things I could try.”
Welt’s surprised expression softened, followed by a light chuckle and a smile. “Well, I guess that’s quite the commitment.
You’re... fine, Luocha. I’m sorry you felt the necessity to do something like this because of me—”
“Don’t say sorry.” Luocha interrupted him, “It’s ok, we can’t really control how we’ll react to things like this. If this was a step to get to know you better, I’m happy to have taken it. As long as you’re more comfortable being around me, it doesn’t matter that I had to cut my hair, it will grow back in no time.”
Welt smiled, a fondness in his expression Luocha never got to see before, “In that case, I look forward to getting to know you better as well, Luocha.”