Allison buying Neil conditioner to add to his nonexistent hair care routine (finally) and after the first use the difference is crystal clear. Neil’s curls are more manageable and shiny; bouncy. He gets comments and compliments on how much tamer his head looks, but of course with Neil being Neil: he doesn’t particularly care.
Andrew’s reaction is something that leaves Neil fluttering inside, though. Andrew doesn’t say it with words (as he rarely does anything); it’s in the easy way he reaches to brush his fingers thru Neil’s auburn hair, noting the way they catch on less tangles than before. It’s in how he loops a curl around his finger and pulls it just to let it go and watch it spring. Sometimes Andrew will reach and drag Neil down by the nape of his neck just to press his face into Neil’s hair and breathe in deeply; the careful way he does it makes Neil shiver.
There’s just an air of quiet appreciation that makes Neil inwardly preen, happy to have accidentally discovered just a small thing that he can do that (seems) to make Andrew reach out and touch him even more than he already does. It makes Neil brush against Andrew more often; makes him stand a little closer than before. Anything to tempt Andrew to reach out and play with a curl or even better: tuck one behind Neil’s ear. It’s soft and stupid but Neil likes it in a way that only Andrew could achieve.
Neil goes back to Allison once the bottle is out. He went to the store and couldn’t find the brand; of course it’s something salon-graded. It’ll have to be alright though because now that Neil has discovered something small that he and Andrew both like, he isn’t going to let a few extra dollars stop them. He may start experimenting with new scents, though…
