2972/Just a trim

Just a trim
Date of Scene:	12 March 2026
Location:	Masato's Apartment
Synopsis:	Adrien is called to Masato's apartment to give Mamoru an emergency haircut. Mamoru reveals he'll soon be trying his hand at modelling too, and Adrien is offered some help.
Cast of Characters:	Nephrite, Mamoru Chiba, Adrien Agreste

---

Nephrite has posed:
Preparations were underway, ahead of the meeting. Masato had attended to the house itself, the Setagaya property would look undisturbed and pristine as it ever should. The illusions he'd set up would ensure no evidence of hauntings or rabid plants had ever coursed their way through his childhood home, and the lingering weight of his mother's despair had lifted. The twisted plant life was gone and the garden contained. It was fairly straight forward, to undo the wards, move some furniture, and cast the spotless appearance over everything that had been damaged.

Now, it was time to prepare Mamoru, and that involved a very early morning call to Adrien Agreste.

Masato felt it was more than appropriate to ask him for the favour, for holding onto his Miraculous recently. Given the nature of what Adrien had just been through, as well, it was only natural that he'd understand and oblige.

Discovering your dad dabbled in dark energy was a terrible solidarity to have.

In Masato's kitchen, a dining chair had been pulled to, so that a haircut could take place and the trimming easily swept up.

"Nothing crazy," Masato eyed Adrien's scissors, looking pensive as he paced by the chair, "Just make him look respectable."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Ughhhhh just trim off my lovely red tips, that should also be enough to tame it a little," Mamoru says aggrievedly. "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at Masato-kun's shitty dad, mutilating an awesome dye job like this. I feel like I should be wearing the Wicked Mask yukata to meet him, he's so evil."

Helpful prince is helpful. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
It was a request that was easy enough to handle. Adrien had arrived with his trusty messenger bag slung over his shoulder from which he could pull out the tools of the trade: A little zippered folio of scissors, and an electric razor. For cleaning the neckline, and maybe some feathering, but it was likely intimidating to those not aware of it's purpose.

The blonde teen glances over toward Masato's pacing with an amused smile. "I know. We're just trimming the dyed parts out, right? Don't worry," he adds with a chuckle. "I played a hair dresser once for a shoot."

A pause as he continues, "And studied under a master barber so I could 'do it right' and not end up like those stock photos of people portraying scientists looking through the wrong end of a microscope."

With that offered he carefully sets to work with a little snip here, and a little snip there, as his nitrile gloved hands work through Mamoru's hair carefully. He was *trying* not to make the Prince be more on edge from unexpected contact.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that."

Nephrite has posed:
Masato stopped pacing at 'played one for a shoot', and stared at Adrien hard until the boy continued. A great sigh of relief gripped him, and he slumped forward to hold his knees as if he might be sick.

"Don't do that to me, Adrien, my heart can't take it today..."

As he heard snipping, though, he watched from the corner of his eye warily. "I keep telling myself I'll feel better once the house is sold, but that's probably a lie. He's no director, but..." He admits. "I can't tell if my brain has stopped or if I'm overthinking so hard, it's a blur."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Honestly Mamoru's doing pretty good staying still already, slouched in the chair a little, knees bent and heels of his feet caught on the bar across the front of the chair at perfect footrest height. "Trust me, I'm a barber-surgeon," he says morosely.

Then he crosses his arms, and plants himself there permanently, he's never getting up again. "I mean you'll feel better that it'll be out of his hands, and that her garden is fixable, and he can't touch her or any of it anymore. Let's wait until after the sale to show you what I saw though, okay?"

Mamoru sighs. "Anyway, if you want a distraction instead of brooding, until we get this over with? I threw myself on the grenade of modeling for Kenji-papa's magazine."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Are you sure you want to sell it? You could always keep posession of it under a shell account so it's out of your father's hands," comes Adrien's suggestion with a glance over toward Masato. "If it was important to your mother at least."

Lightly he clears his throat while pausing in the snippage. There was already a decent pile of red hair strewn around from his progress while Mamoru just ... relaxes. Mostly. "Sorry, Masato. I'm trying this 'dark humor' thing out." THAT was dark?

Nephrite has posed:
"That's... probably for the best." Masato agrees, of the memories at least. "And I'm not brooding, I'm-- mentally fortifying." It's brooding. "And that's the thing of it, Adrien-san... we're trying to get my father to sell it Mamoru-- who has to pass for exactly the type of wealthy, traditional, unconnected to me, not-Mamoru he would sell it to-- so that Mamoru can sign it back to me. Because my father is trying to prevent me from having it."

He looks a little more incredulous about the modelling aspect, though. Sapphire eyes even dart toward Adrien about it, before Masato shakes his head a little.

"Should I be worried about this? Because I feel like I should."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste considers Mamoru for a few moments at mention of the Kenji-grenade and modeling. "Well." A pause to think of what to say with a quick glance shot toward Masato's own remark.

"That entirely depends. Of course Mamoru's got all the traits of a good model. Tall, good hair, very pretty. Are you sure though? It's a lot of hard work."

A little murmur of, "And very tough working for family."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It's to humor Kenji-papa, basically, to keep him from getting upset about Usagi having gone to the audition. I probably won't last, because I consider Usako, friends, school, sleep, and fighting monsters all more important than a high school job. Since I, uh, don't need one. And Kenji-papa knows all of that except for the fighting monsters part," Mamoru explains, arms folded across his chest, eyes closed, face scrunching when clippings fall down the front of it. Pfthfpt.

"So I mean you can worry if you want, but I wouldn't. I just want to know what to wear to the initial rounds of interview. I currently only have one suit that fits."

A beat.

"If you have terrible family, or no family," the prince says very gently, "you get new family. At least, that's what always seems to happen around here?"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Snip snip snip. Soon enough there's hardly any red left in Mamoru's hair and it's shorter than before. Adrien takes care to leave that fluffy feathery look to it though! Really, he might not do this as a job, but he certainly had many seemingly unconnected skills.

"I'd be happy to loan you something. We're almost the same size these days," he reasons with a glance down to himself. He HAD grown a lot these past few years.

"Honestly, slacks, a belt, a button down with sleeves rolled 1/4 up your forearms. A nice watch. And leave the top couple of buttons undone to show your collarbone. That ought to give the photographers plenty to work with while not outright showing off."

The mention of terrible family causes him to smile thin. "Not all of my family was terrible. My aunt isn't bad. ... My cousin is kind of a jerk," he admits only to sigh. "And now that I know Mother is alive I can at least have hope for her. I just worry because she's in Obsidian Tower's medical." A final few snips and then he reaches for a soft brush to clean off Mamoru's shoulders of hair-dust. "There. That should do it for a non-professional job."

Nephrite has posed:
Masato sighs, and allows himself the peace of not wondering what could possibly go wrong today, and instead starts mentally filing through wardrobe choices. "Right, I'm sure we can organise something business casual... and there's no harm in going for Spring forward colours."

He leans on the back of the chair with an elbow, rubbing his finger thoughtfully below his lip. It is a decent enough mental distraction, as he watches the last of the dark hair being snipped away.

Sapphire eyes lift from Mamoru to Adrien. "Getting your mother away from Obsidian, and without risking her health failing... that's a very tall order. But if anyone could help with that specific set of issues," he grimaced, "It would be us."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Shaking his head, finally, as Adrien brushes the hair away -- and shivering at the brush over the back of his neck aaaaa -- Mamoru exhales his soul. "Getting her away from Obsidian is probably too tall an order, given Director Dad, but... I'm willing to tell him I was Hematite so I can't go in the Tower, but I'm a healer, and I can call in a favor from Yuuhi-san to give me bona fides for being stupid enough to heal villains. To your dad. So he can offer me solutions."

He sits up and brushes himself off some more, then mopes. "Shoulda done that in henshin so the clippings wouldn't go down my real shirt."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste steps back until he reaches a chair which he sinks down into. His usual good posture is gone as he instead leans forward to rest his forearms on his knees with his head raised up enough to continue looking at his friends. "I appreciate it. I really do."

Even so his words are a bit heavy. "I don't even know what she has though. She always had poor health, and then being in this coma. I'm not sure father would let you near her even if he knew you could heal. I can't ask you to risk yourself by going back in there."

Nephrite has posed:
"You're going to be itchy, now." Masato notes dryly to Mamoru, but nods towards Adrien. "Just think on it. I'm not suggesting we do anything too crazy right now, because Mamoru's right. The fact that he's a Director makes everything harder. But... getting more information about your mother? That's a much easier place to start from. If there's anything that we can pull from our time in Obsidian to help you out here, we'll do what we can."

He inclined his head such that long locks tumbled over his shoulder. "The least we can do is also advise you on how to move forward and what to watch out for, on the inside. And of course, you can leave your Miraculous here whenever you need to."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru glances at Neph and wrinkles his nose and sticks his tongue out, then looks back to Adrien and laughs. "You can't make me not write him a letter, my dude. I do what I want." He dusts his hands off. "Anyway, you can help me or not. Maybe your dad's only in Obsidian to help your mom. Maybe if I bring Kunzite with me he'll be able to tell if there's an energy drain going on. There have to be options. Or Ami-chan and Izou."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste lifts his eyes toward Masato with a flash of a smile. The offer was good after all, and more knowledge of Obsidian was probably a good thing at this point. "Thanks, that will be very useful. Plagg said he had a good nap while here." Of course he did it was nice and dark.

Mamoru's assertion just causes a sheepish grin in turn. "Sorry, I don't mean to tell you what to do. I'm just worried he'll be paranoid about *how* you know about my mother and her condition without..." a hand lifts, wrist swiveling as if to indicate all of them in general. "Any of our connections coming out."

Again his hands drop but only to push against his knees as he stands again. "I'll think about it though. At least I know where she is in there, although ... It didn't feel like a pleasant place."

It's all said while he gathers his haircutting tools up to tuck back into his bag. "For now, I hope the haircut helps. A shower should get rid of the itching, sorry."

Nephrite has posed:
"It's a shame, that look really suits you..." Masato laments quietly, inspecting Mamoru's hair. Alas, temporary joys. He closes his eyes and let a breath escape his nose.

"Without all the fluff, I can almost hear the wheels turning in there."

He clicks his tongue, sparing a glance to Adrien. "Thanks again for coming on short notice. We'll keep in touch."