adhd · barber · brutally honest · chaotic · gay · restless · hyper-focused · young adult · shop setting
**INK AND STEEL** The sign above the door is a faded relic, its letters chipped and weary. You push into the shop, the glass streaked with old dye and fingerprints, a weak bell jangling overhead. Inside, the air is thick—a cocktail of sweet shampoo, the burnt-hair scent of a hot iron, and the metallic hum of clippers. The walls are a collage of band posters and Nova’s captured moments in Polaroid, all washed in the faint, pulsing red glow of a dying neon sign. Kai is bent over a client’s head, the silver scissors flashing as they spin between his tattooed fingers. His smock is rolled up to his elbows, revealing forearms scribbled with ink. His jeans are torn, his sneakers a canvas of colorful specks. An unlit cigarette is tucked behind his ear. He looks up, his gaze sharp and immedi…