Archive of Our Own ^beta

Trent loved his hair, he always had. When the bullying got bad in high school, he started to grow his hair out and to his surprise, he loved it and that’s the way it stayed. It’s the way Trent thought it was always going stay but a certain American walked into his life, stayed for a bit, made Trent fall in love with him and then fucked back off to America. Trent understood that Henry was in America and he didn’t want to miss a moment more, he was a father too. Trent couldn’t get over the fact that Ted didn’t even bother to say goodbye, he had to have his book mailed out there because Ted couldn’t be bothered to say goodbye, not even a measly goodbye text.

That was the reason he was standing in his bathroom, clippers in hand, head over the bathroom sink and an annoyed look on his face. Ted shouldn't have affected him this much, he had loved his long hair and he was about to cut it off because of a stupid crush. He had to do it though every time he saw his hair or touched his hair, all he could think about was Ted. He couldn’t have that, he couldn’t deal with it. Hair holds memories and while the memories had been happy and exciting when they had happened, they have now turned sour.

With that thought, he brought the clippers to the bunch of hair he had held in his hand and cut straight through it, watching with slight relief as it dropped into the bathroom sink. He grabbed the almost identical bunch on the opposite side and cut through it, once again watching it fall into the sink, joining the other bundle. Trent pulled as much of his hair as he could hold to the front of his head before chopping through it all. The relief was almost immediate when he looked up at the mirror, he actually saw himself, not a scared teenager hiding from his bullies, journalist hunting blood and ending peoples careers and most importantly, the memories no longer flashed in his eyes like a movie. He was free.

—

Beard missed Ted. I mean of course he did. Ted had given him a home, a job and a safe space to be a part of. A part of him wishes he stayed on that plane, swallowed down all the doubts and just went with Ted back to America. He had became so used to waiting for Ted that he sat on a bench for 30 minutes and then went smashing on Ted’s door demanding he opened it this instance, only o be greeted with an old couple who had no idea what or who he was talking about, he’s made sure to put a note on his door to remind him.

Beard was slowly but surely getting there and he was sure he would. He had already planned to surprise Ted in the summer and stay for a few weeks before flying back. Beard couldn’t wait for that, he just has to keep his fingers crossed that Ted hasn’t planned to surprise him by coming back to Richmond or that could be a disaster.

He was casually sitting in his usual chair, legs up on the desk, reading a new tactics book Trent had got him for his birthday. Talking of Trent, he walks into the office just as Beard begins to flip the next page, Beard doesn’t bother to lift his head and continues to read as he hears Trent’s laptop bag connect with the desk.

“Fuuuckkkkkkkk” That causes Beard to lift his head and what greets him is not what he expected. Trent's hair looked awful, like not the normal ‘I’m a single dad’ awful like ‘I’m having a mid life crisis’ look. His hair is uneven because while the front and sides have been chopped off, not very good, the back of his hair had gone totally untouched which means he had a sort of mullet going on without the top part of the mullet. By the time the shock has left Beard, Roy has already departed the office, probably going to call an actual barber to sort out this monstrosity.

They sat in complete silence, only the noise of Trent clicking and clacking away at his keyboard though Beard isn’t exactly sure any audible words are going on that document but he couldn’t be bothered to get up and Trent would probably ignore him if he asked.

Only a few more minutes in silence, 3 to be exact, Beard counted every second before Roy re-entered the office, Jamie and Keeley in tow, stopping behind Trent’s chair and pointing at his hair. Beard could see their winces from where he was sitting, peering over his book.

“This will not do.” Keeley exclaimed stepping forward and pulling Trent out of his seat, pushing his laptop screen down and pulling him away by his arm, not with much strength and it looked quite easy for Keeley though Beard supposes that Trent isn’t really trying to stop her and seems quite content to just walk with her which means Trent knows just how bad his hair is looking.

“To the Salon!!!” Jamie yelled running out the room to undoubtedly catch up to them.

—

Trent doesn’t realise how bad his hair really looks until everyone at work mentions it and then he’s sat on Rebecca Welton’s sofa, bowl behind his head, Keeley behind him trying to fix said mess and Jamie was sitting opposite him staring into his soul, looking like he was waiting for permission to pounce and ask thousand of questions and Trent expected them if he was being honest. The questions never come though, even more surprisingly Jamie seems to notice Trent’s discomfort with him staring like that and he drops his eyes to his lap as soon as he clocks on, without a second thought.

Keeley grabs the scissors and begins trying to fix the back of Trent’s hair while Jamie sat awkwardly opposite fiddling with his hands that were resting in his lap, Trent had a sudden urge to fill the silence which he believes is the first time in his life.

“Is it really that bad?” Trent questions because his mind has gone blank and it’s the only thing he can think about. The last time he had looked in the mirror, it honestly didn’t look that bad but his guess is because he can’t see the back of his head.

“Yeah, but it’s alright. We’ve got you.” Keeley sighed, continuing to cut the lengthy amount of hair Trent had obviously missed which was way more than he thought though it was the back of his head and he had no idea how he was expected to cut that part.

“I’ve been in your boots before.” Jamie finally joined the conversation offering up his opinion. Trent disagrees, he’s heard about Jamie’s atrocities haircut he got done when he and Keeley ended but Jamie actually went to a professional to get it done. Trent was in so much mental pain that he had to cut it off himself.

“No.” Trent mumbled under his breath barely able to be heard by Keeley and Jamie, if he knew what would have come next he would have kept his mouth shut to begin with.

“I have though mate, I did what you did when Keeley broke up with me.” Jamie counter argued standing up on his feet and pacing in the free space of the room. Trent would have stood up and punched Jamie straight in the face if Keeley hadn’t started with the razor on the back of his head and sides. He would like to leave the room with no new injuries.

“You didn’t though mate. You went to a barber to get yours cut because you didn’t like the style anymore. I cut my hair on my own because past memories haunted me.” Trent is practically in tears by the time he finishes and something in Jamie’s face relaxes as he sits back down again.

“Didn’t mean to offend you mate.” Jamie fills the silence and sends Trent a sad smile, Trent tries his hardest to return it but he knows it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Your memories haunt you?”

“I just miss Ted.” The floodgates had opened and they didn't seem to want to calm down. Trent hadn’t admitted, not even to himself, since Ted left that he actually missed him. The fact he was no longer there with them just made the memories haunt his mind, making him think what could have been if Henry just moved to Richmond with Ted. Keeley turned off the razor and pulled Trent into a loose hug and Trent pushed his face into Keeley’s shoulder to finish his emotional breakdown.

Eventually, Trent had no tears left to cry and he lifted his head from the comfort of Keeley’s shoulder, he moved to wipe his eyes with the sleeve of his blazar but was stopped when Jamie offered him a tissue box with another one of his sad smiles. He takes it and sends Jamie a small smile in thanks and begins to rub at his eyes removing any remaining tears that had refused to fall down.

Once he had fully calmed down and stopped shaking in a manner that seemed dangerous, Keeley picked the razor up again, from the table she had left it on, switching it on, and continuing to fix up his hair. Trent was about to apologise for his sudden breakdown when the office door opened and Rebecca entered the room in the middle of saying something to Higgins. Rebecca stops when she sees the three of them causing Higgins to walk straight into her, nearly knocking them both to the floor.

“What the hell is going on?” Rebecca asks when she regains her balance looking between the three of them hoping for some sort of explanation. Trent thought it was quite obvious although to an outside person, it probably doesn’t look so obvious.
“Trent’s chopped his hair off because he misses Ted” Jamie explained and tried his best to ignore the death glare that Trent was sending his way. Rebecca nearly squealed as she rushed over and took a seat next to Jamie on the couch while Higgins stood in the centre of the room still utterly confused.

“Tell me everything” Trent groaned as Higgins shut the door with his foot and joined them on the couch, once Jamie had reluctantly moved up. Trent was really starting to regret not calling in sick.

“Girl Talk!!!”