Talon by Ethan Fox

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I met Talon when we were in the 6th grade, about 12 years old. We had the same last name even though we weren’t related and because of that we were put next to each other in almost every seating arrangement or assigned as partners. This spawned a great friendship founded upon our mutual interest in history and the brotherly dynamic that spawned between us with me doing everything in my power to annoy Talon as much as possible and him trying to get me to tag along with him in his hobbies.

Talon’s dark brown hair was never extremely short or anything but throughout middle school his father made him keep it tidy, and tidy it was. He usually had a decently short back and sides, maybe a #5 or something- and with his thick hair it appeared that he had this nice deep brown pelt surrounding his head. The top of his head was brushed sideways- it had a brylcreem effect but his hair was so thick that it kept itself in place without any product.

We always had similar preferences when it came to hair. I wore my hair longer than his though, my black mop was always in my eyes and covering my collar and ears. He often complimented the length but said it could be styled better. I agreed but at that age I was much too lazy to care about my style so I dismissed his suggestions but thanked him for the praise.

It was in 7th grade though when I saw Talon experiment for the first time with his hair- and by that I mean, maybe his father forced him to go a little, or well a lot, shorter than usual. He walked into class and the top of his hair was shorter than usual, not exactly buzzed, but there was less on topl… but what intrigued me the most were the back and sides- skinned, whitewalled- not completely bare, there was nothing but his scalp showing. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the back of his head as he sat down in front of me in class. My eyes immediately noticed a stray freckle on the back of his head under his shorn scalped. I smiled looking at the freckle and how cute it was. It was strange to see his pale scalp for the first time, but I envied it. As I watched him rub it, I wished I could do the same. I smiled to myself, waving it off as class began.

He never had his hair that short again I’m sad to say- I never knew what happened that winter… Did his father want to try to enforce a stricter dress code only to meet pushback? Did Talon strike a deal with his father? Did the barber go shorter that day than he was supposed to? The theories in my head were firing off, but I never did find out what happened. He grew his hair out to its usual buzzed back and sides and gained a little more length on top and that’s how he had his hair until we graduated middle school and moved on to high school.

When high school came, Talon mentioned how happy he was, and to my dismay, that his father had finally given him autonomy over his hair. So- Talon did what all boys who are given that first dose of freedom do.. He grew it all out. His hair- which I found out when he grew it out, grew out curly instead of straight. As our freshman year went on he got it out to a curly mess, touching beyond his eyebrows in front and all the way to the collar in the back.

I groaned looking around the gymnasium; It was Sophomore year of high school, I was standing in line next to Talon in line to get our school photos taken. Nobody really wanted to wait in the long winding lines inside the freezing cold gym, but the prospect of having to return to English class seemed much worse, so Talon and I just stood waiting as we talked. As we were talking our eyes drifted to a girl in a different line with her hair dyed green…

"Would you ever dye your hair?" Talon asked me after looking the girl up and down. I was taken aback by the directness and almost randomness of the question

"Well-" I began, "I would… I think it's something that everyone should do once.. for the hell of it. Just like I think every boy should shave their head once, just to see what it feels like," I said, looking over to see his reaction.

He pondered for a second and nodded his head slowly, "Really?" He asked and I gave a nod in response, "Do you really- well interesting, y'know- If we had a long break off of school, I’d try it," He admitted.

Shock was the only thing I felt- Talon? I never thought I’d ever hear him even utter the words headshave- well I guess I’m the one who did that- but he said he’d consider it basically and that he would! Nothing prepared me for that- we dropped that conversation topic and it would leave my mind for years.

But contrary to the conversation, that year and the next, Talon grew more and more vain about his hair as girls and boys began to both take interest in him. My annoyance at this new ego fluctuated and as nights would go by and he’d send me photos after photos of new style ideas- I was growing so tired of it all… His hair had finally outgrown mine, and I wanted nothing more than the skinned back and sides from so long ago to make a return and for his messy mop to be replaced by that clean-cut boy that I grew up with.

This behavior continued throughout junior year, and it wasn’t until our final year of high school when he was 19 and I was 18, that the memory of Sophomore year in the gymnasium sprung back into my mind and I knew what had to be done. The desire to shave, shear, clip Talon was strong…

We were on the phone together one weekend night in May when I decided to spring the conversation into action, "Talon?" I asked, "Do you remember Sophomore year- in the gymnasium… what we talked about?"
"No- of course not? Why would I remember that?" Talon said, confused.

I let out a small chuckle, "We talked about things we should do to our hair… Does that ring a bell?"

"No- it doesn’t, what do you mean things we should do to our hair?" I could hear the tension growing in Talon’s voice.

"I said that every boy should shave their head at least once in their life… and you said if we had a long break you would be down…"

I heard silence on the other end of the phone, so I decided to continue, "And as we graduate this month… What better time?"

"I’ll do it if you do it…" Talon finally responded, and it was a response that made my heart skip a beat. The proposition was entirely fair, there was nothing backhanded about it… but still I felt torn- The price for his hair would be mine…

"Deal," I said with as much confidence as I could muster, "Deal-"

"Perfect…"

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The plan was made for the week after we graduated. Talon suggested his barber do the honors, but I thought it would be more fun to do it ourselves. It would be the first time for both of us to go bald, we agreed to it being with a 0 guard, if we were doing it, we were going all the way.

As I was walking over to his house for the procedure, my chest was mixed up with eagerness and anxiety. The mop I had desired so badly to shear would cost my own pride and joy (my hair). But, I made the choice, I chose the sacrifice, and I would get the prize of Talon’s hair on the floor.

Knocking on the door to his house, I let out a sigh as Talon’s father opened the door, "Oh- Hello Sir!" I smiled, not expecting him to even be home let alone open the door.

Talon’s dad smiled back, "Hey! Talon’s out back, he set everything up," He nodded glancing up at my hair, "I’m glad y’all’re doing this.. Y’all both need it," he chuckled to himself letting me in and directing me to their backyard.

Opening the door to the backyard, I looked at the ‘barbershop’ for the day... Talon was shirtless, stretching out and waved to me, "Yo- I didn’t wanna have to clean up the bathroom, so?" He shrugged. He had put a folding chair down in the grass and was holding a pair of hair clippers in his hand, "Take off your shirt and sit down-"

I shook my head, "Woah woah woah- chill, we’ve never decided who was going first," I exhaled, my heart beating already at being thrown to the wolves within seconds of arriving.

Talon turned on the clippers for a moment, causing me to jump back. He laughed at my surprise, "Nervous when this was your idea?" he mocked, "I thought that since we’re at my house, using my clipper, and I’m the one who set all this up, I would get to choose who goes first. And I choose you," He smiled.

I took off my shirt while rolling my eyes and tried to catch my breath as I took a seat in the chair. I tensed up at the feeling of the cold back of the folding chair on my bare skin. I saw Talon begin to walk my way and as he turned on the clippers, I ducked my head away from him.

Talon walked behind me and put his arm around my chest, putting me back against the chair, "If you’re so anxious, why did you even come up with this idea?" he laughed.

"Because I’m gonna enjoy scalping you a lot more than I am scared to lose my locks," I teased back, inhaling deeply as Talon pressed the clippers against my forehead.

"Here goes nothing-" He said, pulling the clippers back over the top of my head. I yelped and leaned forward, eyes widening in shock, "Stop Moving!" Talon whined, walking in front of me and pushing me back against the chair. He ran the clippers and made another pass over the top of my head.

After finishing a reverse mohawk, Talon laughed, took his phone out of his pocket and took a photo of my MPB looking head- I raised my hands up to try and block the photo and he swatted my hands down while taking another photo. During that break in the clipper action, I realized that the top of my head was acutely aware of the humid spring air, yet it felt much cooler than my neck and ears did.

Talon put his phone back in his pocket as he turned the clippers back on and went after my sideburns next, "You don’t look terrible," He said going over the rest of the sides.

I rolled my eyes as I felt him push my head down to start working on the back- "Ow!" I hummed, pressing my chin all the way to my chest.

"What- I need to clip," Talon retorted, shaving from my neck all the way to the crown. He finally finished up the back and sides. He shook his head though, going over it all one more time, "Give me a moment, I wanna make sure you’re nice and completely bald," he hummed while digging the clippers into the crown of my head.

"Okay-" I swallowed trying to endure the pain the top of my head was feeling. Oh how I was going to get him back for this one.

"There- you’re done…" Talon said, turning off the clippers. He began to rub my head as I tried to stand up, "Look at your little baldy-" He laughed, "I never thought I’d ever see you bald… like ever."

"Let me stand up-" I said, pushing against his touch. I stood up and looked over at him and he started laughing, "What does it look bad?"

"No- it's just different," He said giving it a soft rub, "It looks good on you, don’t worry bro."
"Thank you-" I mumbled blushing before snatching the clippers away from Talon, "Now sit!" I commanded, "It’s your turn…" I said smiling as he let out a nervous chuckle. I took his wrist and directed him into the chair, "Are you ready?"

"No-"

"Well too bad," I turned the clippers on, smiling as I felt the humidity of the air against my scalp. I held the clippers in both hands as I set them against the base of his neck. I already knew what I wanted to see first.

I flicked the clippers up and destroyed the back right of his hair, and through the cascades of falling hair, I saw the same old freckle from five years ago. I touched the freckle with my finger as I giggled.

"What- is something wrong? What did you do?" Talon jumped, trying to turn around.

"Calm down-" I sighed, "Let me clip… I just, it looks funny after the first swipe…" I said, coaxing him into letting me continue. I kept on clipping the back and sides, smiling at the memory of that science classroom when I first saw the exposed scalp of his back and sides.

I looked at his back as I smiled, I had continued to clipped the back and sides all the way as I smiled. This is what I waited years to do. I was going to sit back and enjoy it.
"Can you hurry? Goodness-" I heard Talon sigh. I decided to tease him by going even slower around the ears.

"You suck-" He rolled his eyes and I laughed.

I finally finished the back and sides and I walked to the front just as he did. I stopped as I heard him laugh, "Sorry-" He hummed, "You just look so weird bald,"

My jaw dropped, "You shouldn’t say that to the person with clippers in their hands," I shook my head, and he raised his hands in defense.

I told him to lower his hands and he complied. I took a curl of his in my fingers and twirled it before clipping it off. I looked down to see his frown and shook my head, "But you look so handsome," I said, roaring the clippers over the top of his head. I ran the clippers all over the top of his head, making sure to leave everything bald.. I aggressively went back over it again, ignoring his small wince. I had gotten my revenge and more.

I had finally turned off the clippers and as I ran my hand over the top of his head. I laughed at the sandpapery feel, and how his pale scalped glistened in the sunlight, "And you’re finally bald."

Talon popped out of the chair and ran straight past me. I turned quickly to see where he was running to, but when I turned around I was greeted with a quick blast of water. He had gone and grabbed the hose and was being sprayed at my chest and lower, "TALON-" I yelled and the only response was my laugh, "What are you doing?" He continued to hose me before moving around to my back.

He turned off the hose and handed it to me, "I thought we’d want to get all those loose hairs off."

"Then why didn’t you go for my head?" I asked, rubbing the top of my head and looking at all the loose hairs on my hands.

"I thought we’d do that with the shower head, a more enjoyable experience…" He nodded.

I hosed Talon down making sure I didn’t miss an inch of his body.

"You got my shorts wet!" He yelled.

"So? You got mine wet too!"

After we were done and put the hose back up, we were going to go back inside to wash our heads. As we opened the door back inside, Talon’s dad looked at us both. He rubbed his son’s head and laughed, "Why don’t you look much more like a man now and not one of them artsy hipsters." Talon blushed as he walked past, and when I walked through his father rubbed my head too, "I really have you to thank for making him go through with this."

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After we had dried off and changed (Talon let me borrow a pair of his shorts) we were in his bathroom, my head was bowed over the side in his shower as Talon lathered my scalp up with soap. As he turned on the shower head and started to wash the soap off my head. I tried to suppress any noise as I felt the pleasure of water running off of my naked head, it was so pleasant… It was over all too soon as Talon dried my head with a hand towel.

Talon bent over the side of the shower now and I decided to not lather him up with the normal soap- I snuck over to the sink and grabbed a bar of soap, I turned on the faucet and wetted it a little, "What are you doing?" Talon asked.

"Don’t worry about it," I quipped, walking back over before rubbing the bar of soap against his head. Talon flinched slightly, but I held his head and place as I continued to rub the bar against it. I quickly threw it back on the soap and turned the shower head on, washing all the soap off.

I dried his head and laughed as we both walked to the mirror to take a look at our heads for the first time…

My jaw dropped open as I looked at my pale head in the mirror- Talon looked so handsome, all of his striking features only being more defined with his shaved head- But I? I looked like a kid with a baldy.. I pouted in the mirror looking over a Talon who was trying to suppress his smile as he saw my displeasure, "So this is why you were laughing earlier?" I asked, looking at him.

"Oh come on- you look cute," He said, patting the top of my head.

I sighed as I began to get ready for bed. Talon and I agreed that I would stay the night. I brushed my teeth, trying to avoid my reflection in the mirror as I watched Talon take his contacts out.

We crawled into his bed and turned out the lights. I pulled the blanket up and felt a hand touch my head, "You do look cute, I wasn’t lying-" He said.

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks… you don’t have to make me feel better- and you look so hot." I chuckled.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, I’m really glad you kept your word and went through with it," I said.

"Me too," Talon mumbled in response, half-awake.

And that’s the story about how Talon and I received our first baldy cuts.

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