Peter & Bucky Are Pals

Chapter 42

“Well,” Pepper said, examining the back of Peter’s head carefully. “I suppose it could be worse.”

Natasha nodded in agreement. “We can work with it.”

“Undercut?” said Hill, brushing her fingers over the nearly bald spot that Dum-E had created above Peter’s neck.

“Undercut,” Natasha confirmed.

“What is an undercut,” asked Bucky.

“Shaved on the sides, long on top,” Hill replied. “We should re-dye his hair while we’re at it, shouldn’t we?”

Pepper brightened. “We could get it professionally done! I’m due for highlights, anyway.”

“Can. I get highlights too.” Bucky inquired unobtrusively.

“Of course!” Pepper beamed at him. “I think you’ll like Noor; she usually does my hair. I’ll give her a call now and see if she’s busy.”

Bucky nodded. He reached down and brushed his fingers across Peter’s hair, frowning slightly at the uneven patch. “Are you going to do blue again.”

Peter tilted his head, which shifted Bucky’s hand. “I don’t know. If I wanted a different color, would it work? Since it’s still sort of blue?”

“It’s really more green now,” Natasha said. “If you bleached your hair again, you could do a different color.”

Peter hummed in consideration. “Is it bad to bleach my whole head again?”

“Bleaching your hair too often will damage it,” Hill answered. “You’d probably be okay bleaching it again, but you’ll have to use regenerative shampoo and coconut oil.”

Peter brightened. “Coconut oil was fun last time.”

Bucky smiled a bit at that. “Confirm.”

Natasha raised her eyebrows at that.

“One of those days, Barnes?” Hill asked.

Bucky shrugged. “Had therapy earlier. It was. Hard on the brain.”

Pepper patted his shoulder empathetically.

“Steve. Asked if we should invite the Olds over,” he continued haltingly. “But it’s bingo night. And they always look forward to it. Didn’t want to bother them.”

“I’m sure they would’ve been equally as happy to spend time with you,” Pepper told him, her eyes soft and genuine. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to call Noor.”

“Hey, Barnes,” said Hill.

Bucky swiveled his head to look at her. “Yes.”

“Good job. That was a lot of words for a hard brain day.”

Bucky’s eyes crinkled slightly at the corners. “Thanks. I’m getting better. At talking.”

Peter’s phone buzzed; he pulled it out and grinned at the message. “Ned wants to know if we can dog-sit when he’s on vacation. Can we?”