A RECON-nection to the Community by ckbald

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A RECON-nection to the Community

This story is a complete fantasy. It also reintroduces a grown up version of Douglas from CleanCut’s awesome story "Douglas Meets the Bros." I introduced adult Douglas in my earlier, still unfinished story "The Scholarship Student." This new story takes place about ten years later, and isn’t a continuation of "The Scholarship Student." This is now a multi-part story.

Part 3

Sam settled into Brick’s comfortable, classic red Koken barber chair, eager for his final transformation from high school English teacher to King of Siam to begin. The two barbers that Brick employed were busy with customers, and there was only one guy waiting at this later hour of the afternoon. Douglas had made the introductions, briefly caught up with Brick, and then hustled off to the cigar lounge at the other end of the block, explaining to Sam that the occasional cigar was a treat to himself, and one that his husband Ryan didn’t really share.
" My bro Brick here would be joining me, but he has his work cut out for him here, your highness," trainer Dougie chuckled.
"What about you, Sam, you a cigar man?" asked Brick.
"Well, not yet!" Sam laughed. "But, ya know, I think the King of Siam probably enjoys the finer things in life, right!"
And from the way Dougie kept talking, the transformation, at least the haircut, was going to be permanent. Sam shivered with pleasure at the thought of a recon, a severe cut if ever there was one, becoming his signature haircut from now on.
"Is his highness ready?’ asked Brick, gently squeezing Sam’s shoulder under the striped barber cape. "Once I fire up these clippers, I can’t turn them off until all of this is on the floor," he said as he ran a hand through the thick, black hair that just reached the middle of Sam’s ears, and hadn’t been cut in well over a month.
Sam smiled up at Brick. With his smooth, shaved head, well-groomed chest-length red beard, and thick, muscular Dad bod, Brick was right up Sam’s alley. He could imagine regular recon maintenance from Brick, if it weren’t for the fact that Dougie was the "official barber of the bro’s". Since coming out, and divorcing his wife, Sam had been on only a handful of dates, nothing that went beyond a lunch or dinner or two with any guy. "I’m in your capable hands, at least according to Dougie, so, yeah, I’m ready, man. Fire them up!" Sam said with a grin.
Brick placed the humming clippers alongside his left temple and proceeded to carve a meticulous path through Sam’s thick black hair, driving the clippers back and then up to the top of his head, stopping several inches above his crown, almost in the middle of his head. Maneuvering to the other side of the barber chair, Brick did the same thing on the other side of Sam’s head, the two stubbled paths meeting on top of Sam’s head.
"Oh, man, what the f*&ck, say hello to Bozo the clown," Sam nervously laughed. He ran his hand from the nape of his neck, across the buzzed line, up to where a small patch of black hair seemed to perch on the top, front half of his head, separated from the hair remaining on the crown by where the two lines the clippers had plowed met in the middle.
Brick stopped the back and forth motion of Sam’s hand by resting his own large hand over Sam’s as it crossed the spot where the two carved lines met. He left it there, on top of Sam’s, and said, " Bozo the Clown never looked as good as I’m gonna leave ya looking. Of course the clown never looked as good as what I’m starting with, either." Brick took Sam’s hand and guided it over the hair left below the line, on both sides and the back of Sam’s head.
"It’s going to be my distinct pleasure to remove all of this, and leave you with a razor-shaved, silky smooth back and sides." As Brick started to remove his hand, Sam grabbed it and guided it back to the top of his head, to the patch of hair left in front.
"And this?" Sam asked, making eye-contact in the mirror with Brick, and brushing Brick’s hand across his black hair, "What’s gonna happen here?"
"What’s gonna happen here is I’ll mow this down to a half inch, maybe a quarter inch, I’m not gonna blend it into the sides or the back, it’s gonna rest right up here, and you’re gonna be one hot AF King of Siam."
Feeling certain that there was a connection between the two of them, Sam let Brick continue on with his transformation from regular guy, high school English teacher to the temporary King of Siam, and a permanent bro of Dougie’s. And maybe from a single guy to Brick’s partner!
"Or at least a date or two. Can’t get ahead of myself," Sam thought with a grin.
He watched with a mixture of excitement and disbelief as Brick took a smaller pair of clippers and began plowing them through the hair below the line he had initially
carved around Sam’s head. He placed them at the nape of Sam’s neck and repeatedly pushed them up in several swift strokes to the line of demarcation, from one side of Sam’s head to the other. Bare, sandpaper-feeling skin was soon all that was left, and on top of his head, that patch of hair that was soon to be no more than a half or a fourth of an inch long. Sam could now recognize the beginning of the tight cut he had never seen or heard about until he started working with Dougie and teaching many of his bros. It was such an extreme look and he loved it! His caped lap and the floor surrounding the chair were carpeted with strands and clumps of black hair. He knew it might take his sons some getting used to, but he had a close relationship with them both, and they basically worshiped their dad.
"Damn, what are the boys gonna think when they see me with Brick, this big, bald, cigar smoking guy with his red beard, massive muscles, and that prominent (and soo sexy) gut?" Sam thought to himself, shaking his head a little with laughter as he reminded himself not to imagine anything between him and Brick.
"Steady there, fella, if you keep jerkin’ your head around, you might end up with a chrome dome like mine, not the sharp cut Dougie was nearly certain he was never going to see you sporting," Brick palmed the back of Sam’s stubbled head, steadying it as he placed a pair of clippers with a number 2 guard at the front of Sam’s head.
"I’ve decided we’re leaving a fourth of an inch on top. It will look good. It will be short, and I like it short, needless to say," Brick said.
"I like it that you like it short, so the shorter the better. And can we circle back to ‘the sharp cut Dougie was nearly certain he was never going to see me sporting’. I mean, what’s that all about, man?" Sam asked. He was grinning since he knew what Brick was probably going to say.
"Con told me shortly after he met you that you were paying particular attention to not only his recon, but that you generally complimented your students when they’d had theirs tightened up. So, not subtle, Sam," Brick laughed.
"Jeez, and here I was thinking I was so discreet, at least when casting glances at Dougie’s recon," Sam said with sarcasm.
"Well, get used to it bro! Shaved heads, recons, horseshoe flatties, people can’t take their eyes off ‘em," said Brick with pride. "Especially other guys. It takes confidence to wear such severe cuts. Not a lot of guys have that kind of confidence. You do, and you’re going to need it from here on out."
"Oh, and did you call Dougie "Con"? What gives?" asked Sam.
"Con, short for Connie, short for Recon. His husband, Ryan, gave him that nickname years ago," explained Brick. "Have you met Ryan?"
"I have not. I hope I get to. Maybe at the show?" said Sam.
"He shaves his head, same as yours truly. He comes in once in a while and lets me pamper him with a straight razor head shave and a beard trim. Why don’t we plan on celebrating on or after opening night. We’ll be twin couples: two recons and two shaved heads with full beards!"
During this exchange, Brick had turned the barber chair so that it faced away from the mirror, and he had been carefully mowing the patch of hair on Sam’s head to a quarter of inch all over. At the word couple, both guys smiled, although neither knew the other had.
"I wonder what else Dougie mentioned about me to Brick?" Sam thought to himself. "Seems like it must have been all positive!"
Brick shut the humming clippers off and placed them back on the counter. He took up a badger hair brush and cleaned off the top of Sam’s head, running it gently across his eyes, and across the sandpapery back and sides. The now very short hair on the top of Sam’s head rested on the front like a carefully placed welcome mat, with one tough, hot-looking future King and bro doing the welcoming.
"Bro, this is one tight cut! Dougie has nothing to worry about, man, I’ll be first in his line for twice weekly maintenance," Sam declared, palming the back of his head, and then running his hand back and forth over the rough sides and the buzzed patch on top.
"You’ve made Trainer Dougie’s day, sir, as well as mine. And just so ya know, that barber shop he runs over at Figgleton has sporadic to non-existent summer hours, depending on when and where he and Ryan are traveling, or when their families are visiting, so…," Brick was saying when Sam interrupted.
"So, I’ll be first in line here twice a week from June to September it looks like."
Brick laughed. "Yeah, that’s pretty much what I had in mind. You and the rest of his bros are gonna get the usual Trainer Dougie discount for sure, since you’ll be here so often."
While they were talking, Brick had been using his hand to smooth a thin layer of shaving cream all over the sandpapery parts of Sam’s head, right up to the edge of the clipped oval of hair on top. With a recon, there was no blending of the hair left on top into the shaved back and sides. The tight patch of hair boldly stood out,
giving the recon its reputation as the most severe of the clean, tight cuts worn by many Navy Seals and Marines. And now, the King of Siam.
"Ya know, teaching at Figgleton, playing the king, the recon, it’s all really helping me ease into this new chapter of my life, and actually, as you said earlier, giving me more confidence, " Sam began to explain as Brick started carefully scraping away the black stubble.
"Yeah? How so?" asked Brick, truly interested, since he hoped to become a part of Sam’s new chapter sooner rather than later.
"Seriously, you want details?" Sam asked.
"I do. As many as you want to share," Brick said, firmly but gently tilting Sam’s head up so he could meet his gaze. He continued to gently shave the back, sides, and crown of Sam’s head, stroking the straight razor with the grain, and then applying a second layer of shaving cream and shaving against the grain, guaranteeing that Sam’s recon was gonna be damn tight, and Sam was gonna look damn sexy.
Sam talked about how he’d always known he was gay, how that scared him for so long, how he had feared it would destroy his parents, who were so traditional, and how he hoped marriage, kids, and a corporate job would make it go away. His ex-wife was a great mother, she enjoyed musical theater as much as he did, and they enjoyed going to shows together, but she never encouraged him to act. He was good at his corporate job, but he’d always wanted to teach. His wife got used to the corporate money he made, and never encouraged him to leave it and go back to school to get his MAT. His sons were amazing kids, and he knew he was giving them less than his authentic self.
When he finally got so fed up with his cookie-cutter ideal of a successful, masculine life, his life that he couldn’t really call entirely meaningful, he took the first step in his new journey, and came out.
"And now here I am!" Sam proudly declared, wrapping up his story.
"Uh huh, and now here you are," Brick said softly, giving a little growl as he removed the cape and turned the chair so that Sam could now see his completed transformation in the mirror.
"Whoa! Brick, this is one tight AF cut! I. Am. Stoked." Sam declared. He gripped both arms of the barber chair and tilted his head down and to both sides, keeping his gaze on the stud in the mirror. In his blazer, tie, and slacks, he looked professional, formidable, tough, but friendly. Except for the closely clipped oval of black hair on top, his razor-shaved head gleamed in the light from the fluorescent panel above.
"Reach higher, respect, RE-con," Sam said, as his fingertips made their way slowly around his head. The contrast he felt between the silky smooth sides and the velvet-soft buzzed hair on top was giving him a boner that he tried to cover up by quickly jumping out of the chair, and reaching in his back pocket for his wallet.
"Sam Watanabe, put your wallet away. Your first recon is on the house, bro," Brick announced, placing his hand on Sam’s and guiding it back towards his pocket.
A phone pinged, and both Brick and Sam took theirs out to look. It was a text from Dougie.
"It’s been almost an hour, bros, have we got ourselves a king yet? Or do I have to enjoy a second stick alone?"
"Stick…?" Sam asked.
"Cigar," Brick explained. "Let’s head over. One cigar alone is one too many. I know you’ve got rehearsals later this evening, but the three of us need to celebrate!"
Brick then reached over and ran one of his meaty hands all over Sam’s fresh recon.
"This is one damn fine haircut, if I do say so myself. And one damn fine man sporting it, if I do say so myself," he said as he guided Sam towards the door of the barbershop.

To be continued.

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