Bad hair day
If there's something Naesala hates – well, one of the things he hates – is having to glance at his reflection on the mirror in the morning. It's not that he hates himself or anything – far from it actually – but he can't stand that blue blush he has on his head every time.
He hates it, he hates it, he hates it.
When he was a kid he didn't really give great thought to his hair, but as he grew up he realised that it was horrible. It's so curly, so messy; it's not stylish at all.
Eventually he found a solution: straighten it every morning before going out. If you have patience it's not a difficult task, but someone would argue that keeping his hair so long and still wanting to straighten it is suicide, but Naesala doesn't give a damn of what others say.
He looks good with long hair – or at least he likes himself like this – and no, he'd never leave it curly.
Even though he has enough practice to make it very quick, he still needs at least half an hour to straighten it completely, and this only on days when the hair decides to collaborate; some days though it's a lost battle, and he needs at least an hour to finally be presentable.
That day is one of those days; actually, it's even worse.
- Ugh -, Naesala mutters, and he almost throws the hair straightener at the wall in rage.
Today the hair really doesn't want to collaborate.
No matter how many times Naesala tries to straighten it, it still ends up curly, somehow. What the hell.
He checks the time; it's 8 am. At nine he's supposed to be in his office and it takes half an hour for him to arrive there.
He takes his phone and he sends a message to Heather – he's pretty sure she's already awake – and he tells her:
- You have to help me -.
- What happened? -, is the reply she sends him.
Naesala raises his phone a bit and he takes a photo of his hair.
- This -, he types, sending her the picture.
She takes way too much time to reply; she must be laughing her ass off at his misery. Now that he thinks about it, he should tell her to delete the picture before she sends it to someone else or saves it as "blackmail material" – not that he doesn't have any blackmail material about her, but he likes to have the upper hand.
- Bad hair day, huh? -, she says then.
- Yup -, Naesala replies, then he adds, - And I have to be at work in a hour -.
- Sucks to be you -, Heather replies.
- Thanks, you're really a great friend -.
- It's true -, Heather replies, then she sends another message, - Can't you, like, stay at home? -.
Naesala would've lied if he said he hasn't thought about it.
Not that he hasn't ever lied about his condition to get a couple of days of vacation, but he doesn't like doing it that much because now Tibarn is the CEO of the company, so he has to be present or else he'll make some stupid decision that will doom them all; besides he would hate being absent when he finally falls from his ass when he walks to his office – someday it'll happen, he's sure of it.
- No -, he replies, - Someone has to stop Tibarn from being stupid -.
- Then idk put a hat on or something -.
- You know that I can't wear hats inside the office -, Naesala replies, - But I'll see what I can do -.
- Don't worry, man -, Heather says then, - I'm sure you'll survive -.
- I hope so -.
He decides to at least wear a hat until he arrives at the office, then he's going to close himself there and hope that, at least for that day, none will come searching for him.
He doesn't own many hats – he doesn't like them very much – so he takes a black beanie Heather had bought him for his birthday a couple of years ago. It's still pretty new, though, since he's worn it only once or maybe two times.
He ties his stupid hair in a bun and he covers it with the beanie. He probably looks very bad and in fact he doesn't even checks himself out in the mirror before leaving the house, as he usually does.
As soon as he arrives at the agency, he goes straight to his office. He almost doesn't even acknowledge Leanne at the reception.
He closes the door behind him; finally he's safe. He sighs and he takes the beanie off, hanging him on the coat rack with his coat.
Now, there should be some documents he needs to check somewhere, right?
That day couldn't be less boring, but actually it's for the best: if nothing happens none will come bothering him, and none will see him in the horrid state he is.
His shift is almost over and he'll be able to go home, hoping that at least tomorrow his hair will listen to him.
Heather had joked once that he needs to cut his hair short, and Naesala can't believe that now he's even considering it.
Still not happening, at least not for now. It's not that bad.
It would be easier to straighten his hair like that, though, or maybe he could even find a way to make it work leaving it curly…
His thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door.
Just when he thought he was safe.
- … Come in -, he reluctantly says, after all he can't turn down a potential client just for his hair.
Hopefully it's not Tibarn or Reyson; Tibarn would only make fun of him, and Naesala doesn't want to be seen by Reyson like that.
He almost sighs in relief when he sees her familiar face. Those big green eyes, how could he not recognize them?
- Leanne -, he says, smiling at her, - What brings you here? Is there something wrong? -.
- No -, Leanne replies, smiling back, - I just wanted to check on you -.
She doesn't even wait for Naesala to tell her anything that she closes the door behind her and she sits on the chair at the other end of his desk, facing him.
- You didn't show up not even once like you usually do, so I feared you weren't well -.
- That's really sweet of you, Leanne -, Naesala says, - But as you can see, I'm ok, I only had a lot of stuff to check today -.
- Is it because of the hair? -.
Naesala huffed a laugh.
- You're always so perceptive, Leanne, why do I keep lying to you? -, he admits, - Yes, it's for the hair, mostly. If Tibarn sees me like this I'll never see the end of it and I'd like to avoid that -.
- It's cute -.
- Now you make fun of me too? You wound me like this -.
- I'm serious, Naesala -, Leanne says, - But really, you don't look bad -.
- That's because you like me no matter what, don't you? -, Naesala states, smirking, which makes Leanne giggle.
- You caught me -, she admits, then she and Naesala laugh together.
It's finally the end of his shift and Naesala can go home.
Usually he stays a bit longer to make sure everything is fine and maybe to chat with some other employees – or, most likely, Reyson – but not this time; the sooner he gets home, the better.
After all he doesn't think Reyson would miss him if he doesn't show up for one day – he's surely too busy being disgusting with Tibarn to even notice it – and with that thought in mind, he exits the building.
When he arrives home he throws the beanie on the table – he'll put it into the closet later – and then he throws himself on the sofa. At least now he's safe from any indiscreet eye.
Now that he has time he'll probably wash his hair again and see if this time he can straighten it.
He should seriously start to think about cutting it, though.
He's about to get up when his phone starts to vibrate; someone's just sent him a text.
He takes the phone out and he looks at the screen. It's Heather.
- Are you out? How did it go? -, the text says.
Naesala replies:
- Yeah I'm home now -, then he sends another text.
- Good. Only Leanne saw me -.
- See? All that worrying was useless in the end -, Heather replies, then she sends another text.
- It was funny, tho -.
- Next time you break a fingernail don't come crying to me, then -, Naesala texts her.
- Asshole -, is the reply, which makes Naesala laugh as he types:
- I love you too -.
Author's notes: do not take this too seriously, it was just a funny thing that me and my friend talked about once, and now that I'm taking prompts she wanted to see a story about it.
I don't know, but I've always found funny to think of Naesala as someone who has curly hair but absolutely HATES it, so he has to straighten it all the time. In the official artbook it's also said that his hobby his hairdressing, so...
This also takes place in the same universe the other modern AU fics are set in