Werewolf Boyfriend: August (special preview)

Every year, when the holidays come around, you get to paint the windows at work. Halloween is always such a big holiday in Hearthway Hollow, it encompasses the entire month of October. Right around the end of September, it begins. And not in the slow growing, hard to notice sort of way that it does elsewhere. It’s sudden and hard to miss. 

The stores in the downtown area all compete in a decoration contest. It’s a big time of year for local artists, as sometimes it’s a competition to get the artist who won the previous year. Storefronts look like miniature scenes from movies, there was even a rule set in place a window could not be changed daily after some heated competition caused altercations.

You’ve just been happy to be included every year, your boss enjoys your work, even if Sheer Luck hasn’t won anything before. The hair salon seems to do it’s own thing, rather than give in to the pressures of the rest of the world around them. Last year your boss set up a scarecrow to go along with your window, and that was it. Although, your best friend was trying to get him to change his mind this year, and actually try to compete.

“You have someone who works for the theatre working here too! They have access to costumes and props the rest of the town could only dream of,” Belle argued. 

Angel raised his hands. “I want nothing to do with this. Why does this salon even need to dress up when it’s already the best looking building in town?”

“Because there is a giant pair of scissors on the roof begging for the Halloween treatment!” Belle has been aching to win the Halloween Shop contest ever since she began working here. Her family has owned the diner since it opened, and in all the years this tradition has existed, it’s never won. 

You were happy just to paint. Most of your days were filled with hair dye and nail polish. You rarely got to work on such a grand scale, and you prepared for this all year. As soon as November hit, you bought a new sketchpad to prepare for the next Halloween.

“Auggie will be here soon,” Belle warns you.

“Alright, alright.” You hop down from your perch on the ladder and take off the paint smattered smock. You go to the back to get ready, preparing the hair dye like always, washing your hands, and getting your equipment ready on the cart.

Auggie, or August, was a regular of yours. He had started going grey in high school so he had been getting his hair dyed ever since then. He had wonderful hair too, he kept it long and it had perfect beach waves in it. Something most people have destroyed their scalps trying to achieve, and he just comes by it naturally. 

You’re pushing the cart out right as August comes in the door. “Go ahead and get seated, I just have to go find some gloves in the storage closet.”

“Take your time.” August takes his hair down from the ponytail and shakes it out. You can see the white roots at his crown, as well as the peppered effect in his beard. Something you’ve always liked about August, aside from everything, was the way even his eyebrows had flecks of silver in them.

It’s not something you’re proud of, but you’ve had a huge crush on August ever since you first saw him in Sheer Luck. He was tall, adorable, and seemed totally unaware of his natural charm. He was a bit clumsy, everytime he came he knocked over the coat rack, or kicked something without meaning to. 

But he was a customer, and a loyal one at that, you had made a promise to yourself not to date anyone at work, or any of your clients. You found gloves and returned to August, turning his chair and adjusting it so his head went into the sink.

“The window looks great!” August says brightly. “I look forward to your window more than anyones.”

“You’re just saying that so I don’t fuck up your hair,” you tease.

August grins. “Only a little.”