September 14, 2008

A stipulation of Alfred's new job was that he had to get a haircut.

Arthur hadn't noticed because of high exposure, but when he actually paid attention, he realized that all four of them were becoming rather shaggy. Since they were current friends of a hairdresser, they decided that they should all go ahead and get a good trim to last at least a few more months. Monique was far too thrilled at the proposition and insisted that she take care of them all herself, calling in sick to work and inviting them to her flat. She set her rolling desk chair in her bathroom while the men entertained themselves with cooking an overly elaborate dinner and watching the cooking (especially Arthur, although the only one to say that out loud was Francis).

She took Alfred into her makeshift salon first, and Arthur chuckled as he pulled an exaggeratedly terrified face behind her back. He winked as he was dragged around the corner, and Arthur turned on his bar stool at the counter to see Francis giving him an odd look. He scowled at it.

"Something wrong, frog?" he snapped and Francis rolled his eyes.

"So immature, rosbif," he sighed dramatically, shooting back a matching nationality insult, but he didn't answer, just went back to his crepes or whatever.

Some indiscernible time later, the two of them reemerged, and all four of them stopped talking.

Al ran a hand through his new hair, smiling anxiously. "Is it that bad?" Monique slapped his shoulder.

"No, no, Alfred," Francis quickly retorted, gaze shifting from slight surprise to humored affection. "It's quite fetching, I assure you."

Arthur nodded, busy furiously fighting the part of him that wanted to pin Alfred to a hard surface and ravish him – a part of him that was rearing its ugly head with rapidly increasing frequency the more time he spent around Al.

Monique was a good hand with a pair of scissors and a razor. Alfred's hairstyle had always tended towards the teenaged-pop-star, thick, shining, and longer than it looked. Just before his new cut, it had been trailing past his chin on the sides, the slight curl that was usually nonexistent apparent at the nape of his neck.

She'd chopped it all off.

Now he stood there, sheepish and uncomfortable, tousling two inch long hair that was slightly longer on the top and somehow a darker blond than before, and despite it all, he looked older.

Feliks was the first to crack, coming around the counter to stand on his toes and ruffle Al's hair. "God, Monique, you're a genius." Al, who couldn't seem to stop smiling, bent down a little to give him easier access. "Alfie, I never knew your hair was so soft!" He flipped it all to one side, then the other, then shook it back to its now normal state.

"Thank you, I guess?" Al said when Feliks let him go, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets and shifting his weight from one foot to another.

"That's my line," Monique said, smiling at her handiwork before she jerked her head back towards the bathroom. "You're next, Feliks."

"Yay!" He started pouring his ideas of what he wanted on her, and Al sat down next to Arthur, who had finally brought his damned libido somewhat under control, while Toris and Francis went back to their fancy cooking.

"So what d'ya think, Art?" he asked, tilting his head sideways to run the hand of the arm propped on the counter through his hair some more.

Arthur snapped a hand out and caught his wrist. "If you stopped playing with it incessantly I might be able to tell you." Al squinted with his smile and held onto the counter to keep his hands away from his head.

"Sorry, it just feels really soft right now. See, feel it!" He bent his head forward, and Arthur hesitated for a moment, then reached up with one hand to brush his fingers through the remnants of his bangs, which now curled over his natural cowlick hairline. He raised his eyebrows and repeated the motion.

"What kind of shit did she put in there?" Al laughed and shook his head like a dog to settle it back.

"I dunno. Apparently a hairdresser never reveals her secrets." Arthur snorted. "So, do you like it?"

Arthur stared at him, memorizing that 'my entire self-worth depends on your opinion' look, and smiled. "Yes. It suits you."


Arthur was last, after she'd given Feliks's thin chin-length hair layers and a swept back style and Toris a smoother, side-parted deal. When she came out to switch victims, Feliks paused in his admiring of his fiancé's new style and caught Arthur's forearm. When he gave him a curious glance, Feliks gripped his chin and stared at his face with an uncomfortable intensity.

"Arthur, please, for the love of me, can I wax your eyebrows?"

Arthur jerked away fiercely from his hold. "What? No!"

Feliks persisted, jumping forward to latch onto both forearms this time. "Please, Arthur! Just this one time and I swear I'll never comment on them again ever! Please!"

"You should do it, Art!" Al chimed in, leaning back against the counter.

"I've always been curious how it would look to have those caterpillars off your face."

"Your opinion doesn't count, Francis!" Arthur's feathers were puffing up, he could feel it, but they wanted him to rip hair from his face for vanity!

"Just try it, Arthur," Toris said, clearly enjoying himself. "You never know until you go for it."

"I'm sure you'll be charming with them," Monique purred, running a hand down his bicep.

Arthur stared incredulously at all five of them, then threw his hands up in the air, disrupting Feliks and Monique's hold on him. "Fine, team up on me about it, whatever. I'll do it, if it only shuts you up!" They cheered, and he scowled. "But you better hold to that promise of no future teasing over my normal eyebrows."

They all agreed happily, and Feliks flounced out of the apartment with Toris in tow to go buy the necessary supplies while Monique took him back for phase one of his doom.


Half an hour later, dinner was ready, Monique was patting herself on the back for a job well done, and all they were waiting on was a third of their group to come out of the bathroom.

Inside said bathroom, Arthur, now with hair short enough to make his ears and forehead feel oddly cold, was leant back as far as the desk chair would go, eyes closed as Feliks carefully applied hot wax to the underside of an eyebrow.

"Now, this'll sting, but I promise it'll, like, go away in a sec." He pressed a cloth strip over it tenderly, and Arthur was beginning to understand why he was respected in his chosen field.

Feliks ripped the wax and hair off in a quick pull, instantly pressing three fingers over the newly bare skin, clucking in sympathy as Arthur gasped and flinched.

"There, now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Arthur cracked his other eye and frowned at him. Feliks giggled and looked at the strip, whistled, and held it up from Arthur to see. "But look at how much I got out!"

Arthur looked at the streak of dark hair embedded in the wax and panicked slightly. "Fuck, you took out my whole eyebrow!" He frantically patted the waxed brow to make sure there was still some hair there. Feliks laughed and set the strip on the edge of the sink.

"No, you've just got a buttload of hair up there." He painted more wax along the top of the brow. "Now don't fidget. If I've only got one chance at this, I wanna make it perfect."

Arthur sighed and relinquished control of his face to the crazy makeup artist for the moment. Besides, the wax itself actually felt rather pleasant, and he'd always been a little bit of a masochist.


When Feliks finished, Arthur sat up and scowled at the mirror. "I look ridiculous."

"You only think that now because of the redness." Feliks draped his arms over his shoulder and rested his chin on top of Arthur's head with a familiarity born from weeks of being forced together while the other two in their foursome were off doing acting and money-making things. "You look cute."

Arthur flicked his eyes up to Feliks's in the mirror. "I hate looking cute."

Feliks sighed and squeezed his arms a little in a backwards hug. "Oh, just accept that you can be adorable sometimes and let it go." He patted his ribcage and stood back to allow Arthur to stand up at last. "If anything else, I think you look fabulous."

Arthur smiled at the compliment, but schooled it away, took a breath, and stepped out of the bathroom.

Francis was the first to react, exclaiming in happiness and striding forward to take his face in his hands before he could really even register how he looked, causing Arthur to struggle and fight away. "Hold still and let me look at you!" Arthur stopped trying to squirm out of his hold reluctantly. "And stop scowling!" Francis squished his cheeks up to force the frown away.

"I hate you so much," Arthur muttered through the involuntary pout.

"Yes, I know." He relaxed his hold enough for Arthur's cheeks to fall back to normal and he gasped. "Arthur, my dear, you have a baby face and I never knew!"

Arthur pushed him away as forcefully as he could, shouting at him to "Fuck off!"

Francis was right, of course, and Arthur knew it. He had a soft, round face shape and big round eyes to match, which were normally buffered by shaggy hair and thick eyebrows. Without them, though, his rather immature features made him look much younger than nineteen, enough that the curse words continuously streaming from his mouth while he beat at Francis seemed inherently wrong and slightly creepy.

Al stood up and grabbed Arthur around the waist from behind, holding him back enough for a hysterical Francis to make his escape, laughing himself.

"I think it's cute," he said in Arthur's ear, which effectively stopped Arthur's sputtering and flailing. Because it was – cute, that is – if you looked past how much the outside failed to match the inside.

"Well, thank you," Arthur said in an uncharacteristically timid tone as Alfred set him back on his feet.

Both of them missed the rolled eyes and exchanged glances of the rest of the company, and the conversation settled over dinner and Al going on again about the details of his new role.


{A/N: Hey guys how many people forget that hair grows

I'm going to admit that I've wanted to write/had this in mind since I decided to write a sequel. Some sketches of what the haircuts look like are linked in my profile, like usual. I have a sketchbook full of short hair!Al, though, so if you want something else, hit me up. xD}