Bellamy sat in a metal chair in his quarters in the Ark's Factory Station facing the wall that Athena had half-hazard propped a mirror up against. She wrapped a towel over his shoulders, then started running her fingers through his hair. It was still wet from his recent shower.
"How much do you want me to cut?" She asked as she rubbed small, soothing circles in his scalp.
"I just want it to stop getting in my eyes. As long as it's all even, we're pretty much good." Athena chuckled a bit, then held a few strands of his hair between her middle and index fingers around an inch from its end.
"What about here?" He looked up at her hand in the mirror and nodded, now making eye contact with her. "Although, if it were entirely up to me, I'd say you should grow your hair out and wear it down with the curls." Bellamy rolled his eyes as she picked up a comb and ran in through his black hair.
They both knew that it was impossible for him to wear his natural mop of hair on a daily basis, as per his work dress code. Athena still felt the need to express her wishes, though.
She ran a few locks between her two fingers, then used his rusty metal scissors to snip off the ends. The severed curls fell to the floor of the small quarters, and Athena frowned slightly at the loss of length. Bellamy watched her in the mirror, admiring the concentration on her face.
"What are we doing for your birthday?" He asked. Her eyes caught his in the mirror.
"My birthday is two weeks away. I haven't thought about it yet." A smile grew on his face.
"Yeah, but it's a big one. You only turn 18 once, goddess." She smiled at the nickname.
"My dad is probably going to want to hang out with me for a while until something comes up with the council, then I'll be free to sneak off to you." Her father never approved of her older Factory Station boyfriend, even before his mom had been floated and his sister was arrested.
"You won't have to sneak once you're an adult." He smiled.
"Just because I'll be an adult doesn't mean that I won't be scared of Marcus Kane," she responded, purposefully avoiding eye contact with him.
"Well, how are we ever going to actually be together with that attitude?"He sighed heavily. "Your dad's going to have to get over it." Athena knew deep down that her father never would.
"You're right. It won't matter once I turn 18 and start medical training with Dr. Griffin." They were both quiet for a long second. "Then I'll move to Med Station and you'll come with. Like we talked about it." The thought made both of their hearts flutter. Their dream was only weeks away.
"Then it's eight months until Octavia's review." The thought was bittersweet. On one hand, Octavia could be home in only eight months. On the other...
"Eight months until everything is how it should be." A reassuring smile was convincingly forced into her face.
She continued cutting his beautiful locks off in silence. He looked at her in the mirror still. Ten minutes later, she finished the hair cut and shook out his shorter curls with her hands against his scalp.
"Better?" Athena asked, meeting his eyes in the mirror. He smiled broadly.
"Much better." She took the towel off of his shoulders and crouched down to snake her arms around his neck and down his chest, placing a kiss on the bottom of his jaw. Her head rested on his right shoulder, his bright smiled was still playing on his lips. "Thank you." He grasped one of her arms and left it there. She hummed her response. "How long can you stay?" The groan she let out made Bellamy chuckle.
"Not long—maybe an hour more," she sighed. "My dad's expecting me for dinner." Bellamy nodded, understanding.
He used his right hand to reach up and bring her head close, then turned his head to peck the side of her head. "Two more weeks, goddess." She smiled at the thought.
They were so close to their dreams.
