It had rained the day before, leaving the morning sky a milky white. From the elevated view of the town square, Iroha watched the mist sweep lazily through the village, concealing it's rolling hills in a wispy veneer of fog. The only things tall enough to to peek through were the roof tops of houses.
"Such a gloomy day." A voice behind her yawned, causing her to jolt in surprise
"Allen!" She exclaimed.
He looked at her suspiciously. "That's an unexpected reaction." He said. He ran a hand through his hair, still not awake enough to muster up the enthusiasm to tease her. Everyone knew the stylist was not a morning person. "So did you hike all the way up here to admire the view or is there a reason you're standing outside my shop?" He asked.
"Ah yes." She remembered. "I believe you open now?" She asked.
He rose an interested eyebrow, "I was just opening up shop when I saw you."
She fidgeted as she always did when she was about to ask his help and the faintest hint of a smirk twisted the corner of his mouth. "Are you a customer today?"
"Ah… yes." She bowed her head slightly.
His fingers twitched, betraying his excitement. "Well it's about time! I warn you though, once you have me as a stylist you'll never be able to go back to cutting your own hair. Two in three women even fall for me."
She wasn't going to respond to that, she'd known him long enough now to know better.
"Have a look in mind?" He asked, quickly coaxing her back into the salon before she could change her mind.
"I was hoping…" She trailed off, gripping at her arms, "Um. Well…." She struggled to gather herself. "I thought maybe given those skills you always boast maybe you even could make someone like me…."
"Hun, I'm your stylist, I'm not here to judge. Just out with it!" He said.
"Could you help me be… cute?" She asked. Humiliation and shame felt like it was gnawing an empty hole in her stomach as she waited for him to respond. Any hint of a smile had left his face.
"Cute?" He asked.
She nodded slowly, feeling his gaze even when she looked away. It was probably impossible after all. The blacksmith had never once felt cute in her entire life. Even as a preschooler she had had a permanently stern and mature look on her face and couldn't pull off the colourful accessories the other girls wore. At home she had to be tough and sure, living with several older brothers meant that she had to fight for every morsel of food she could at the dinner table and never had any command of what they played or watched on the tv.
"Never mind." She muttered, "I apologize for asking something so ridiculous of you. Thank you for not laughing, and please don't tell anyone about any of this." She sighed before preparing to head back home.
"Iroha." He said. "Why are you asking this? Is it because of Rod?"
She absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair. "So what if it is? As I am now, I don't suit him at all, it's hard to get myself to approach him. Girls like Tina and Michelle though…"
Allen crossed him arms and leaned against his desk.
She gave him a half smile. "They just seem so spirited and carefree. Of course, I know it's more than a simple make over to be them like them, not that I plan to be, and I don't want to make such drastic changes to my personality… I just wanted to see if I could be cute? I suppose?" At this point she wasn't really sure what she was saying either.
"Fine." Allen said, removing his glasses to clean them as he often did when he wasn't entirely satisfied. "Just so you know, I'm in my line of work to make women shine. Not to mold them to one man's taste." He said. "Though I can see this is more than just for Rod so I'll make an exception."
"Thank you." She nodded.
He led her over to the closest chair, angling it towards her to invite her to sit. "Let's begin then." He said without his usual vigor.
After some time of prodding and tweaking, Allen had called Yuri over who, although usually seemed rather lethargic, practically sprinted over after hearing the two key words "make over." Her eyes glistened with excitement, as she herded the blacksmith back to the tailors. She had not even seen her reflection since Allen had covered the mirror insisting that only seeing herself at the very end is what makes make up transformations so fun. She had some idea of what he'd done of course, he'd put all sorts of products in her hair, though she hadn't the faintest idea of what any of them were. She hadn't even ever known that there were hair products other than shampoo and conditioner. He had used multiple palettes of beige… stuff, some concealers, some foundations probably – then came all of the eye stuff.
Yuri talked excitedly to Allen as she threw out all sorts of words and terms the blacksmith had never heard of. Types of looks, types of necklines and shirt fits and the like. However, like Allen, the glint in Yuri's eyes faded a bit when she heard the look that they were aiming for was 'cute'.
Iroha sat as the two routed through the racks of clothes. First Allen and now Yuri. If neither of them thought she could be cute then surely it was impossible anyway. Even though Allen said there was no reason a girl should feel embarrassed talking to her stylist, she still did. Incredibly so.
They tossed some clothes at her, finally agreeing on an outfit and she was herded into the change room. She emerged a little later and despite their earlier reservations they both exchanged a triumphant look.
"….It looks good." Yuri smiled.
"Whoever would have guessed one of my two favourite barbarian ladies could ever look so girlish." Allen said walking behind her and placing a hand on either of her shoulders. "Might I say you look sweet enough to eat, love." He said lifting one of the two twin tails he had put her long hair in. She shook him off but he simply let his hand drift down to take hers in a gentlemanly hold and lead her to the full length mirror.
Iroha gasped. Somehow, through some magic, the stylist and tailor had performed the impossible. The girl before her had wide eyes with long eyelashes that bat innocently every time she blinked. She had been sure that the two ponytails would look ridiculous on a grown woman but they worked, brilliantly. The bright blue in her button up sweater made her look much younger and looked nice over the thin collared shirt she wore underneath. The fitted black pants slimmed her legs as well.
"Amazing. Allen… I never would have guessed you were so talented." She said.
"What do you mean?" He said in surprise, "Don't I tell you every day how amazing and brilliant the great me is?"
Rather than rolling her eyes she just smiled back at his joke, and his face softened into that incredibly rare expression that hinted he might actually care one way or another about his friends.
As if with perfect timing, the door burst open.
"Is Allen here?" Rod asked excitedly and somewhat exasperated. His eyes zoned in on the stylist. "There you are! I'd been looking EVERYWHERE for you! You won't believe-"
Allen put a finger to his mouth, "Tell me after, or never… if it's anything like your last big announcement I probably don't care. More importantly, check out my latest project." He spun Rod around to face Iroha.
"Iroha." Rod said in surprise.
She blushed, even the sound of her name from his lip always made her heart beat.
"You look different, I hardly even recognized you." He said.
"So what do you think?" Asked Allen.
"You look really cute!" Rod grinned politely.
"Th-thank you!" Iroha said excitedly but then Rod turn back to Allen.
"But you really have to listen, this is life changing news!" He protested.
He didn't even have to say the next words, somehow the room all noticed it at the same time.
"… On your finger." Allen said in disbelief.
Rod grinned widely. And held up his left hand to better display the metal band.
It was like getting struck by lightning while falling into a freezing ocean for Iroha as the implications of that small piece of metal hit her.
"Tina." She said.
Rod turned to her in surprise, "Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked.
"I made that commitment ring." She said quietly.
Allen grimaced and tried to shake it off long enough to look unbothered, "Wow." He said flatly, "So the girl confessed to you."
"Well yeah." Rod admit in embarrassment, "but I was going to ask Iroha soon myself to make some rings. I really really like her!"
Iroha was secretly glad at least that it was Tina that commissioned her. It would have torn her apart if she had known what pairing they were for while she was making them.
"Anyway! Let me tell you how it all went down!" Rod said excitedly.
Iroha felt numb.
"Rod." Allen said.
"So we were on a picnic up in the mountains and-"
"ROD." Allen repeated angrily.
"What?" The pet seller asked in confusion.
"Not now." Allen practically growled.
"What do you mean?" Rod asked, a little hurt. "You're my best friend, so I came to you right away. I want to tell you everything."
"Just get out." Allen said. He Removed his glasses and rather than clean them and put them back on as he usually did, he nearly slammed them onto the table, with just enough restraint as to not damage them "Now is NOT THE TIME."
Now Rod looked mad, "Geez, some friend you are. You know Neil always listens to everything I have to say. Why can't you just once think about someone other than yourself! You were so proud of yourself a moment ago when we were talking about your work." He said gesturing to Iroha, "but now that we're talking about me you don't care! And this is super important to me!"
"Rod…" Allen sighed, "We can talk about this later but not now, not here."
"Just forget about it." Rod muttered and stalked out.
A silence had engulfed the room.
It was surprisingly Iroha who broke the spoke up first. "Well then… thank you two for everything. I'm sorry you got into a fight…"
She attempted a smile as she fished out her wallet, "Isn't it funny?" Her voice cracked. "That the money I recently came across to do this makeover was from making those rings?"
She attempted to hand it to them but when they didn't move she simply left it next to the register and exited. A moment later, Allen nearly flung himself out of the shop in such a rush he even forgot his glasses. "Wait!" He called.
He caught her by her shoulder and spun her around, looking her dead in the eye. She nearly laughed, "You look so much more boyish without your glasses." In any other circumstances he would have scowled.
She looked out to the streets, "You were right… such a gloomy day."
He pulled her into a hug, much to her surprise. "I never say this, so you know I mean it. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean?" she asked, resisting his arms as she attempted to salvage the last remains of her dignity today. At least they were completely hidden in the fog so no one else could see her in such a pathetic state, clearly looking like she was on the verge of breaking. If she submitted to his arms she knew she'd cry, and that was one thing she'd never do in front of someone, not even a friend.
"Well, Rod never keeps secrets, he's an open book, I should have known he liked Tina." He said.
"It's fine." She replied, failing to sound convincing. "Really… Plus anyway, she suits him much better."
"Come with me." He said, taking her gently by the wrist.
"Really, It was just a little crush. I'm not experienced in this stuff so it was about as deep as an elementary school love." She protested, not commenting when he bumped blindly into one of Rio's lamp posts. He sighed, "Blind as a bat. We're both showing all of our uncool sides today aren't we?"
He took her back into the salon and sat her back down, beginning to clean off her makeup, "Since I know you won't know how to do it right." He explained and squinted while he worked, as it was all a little hard to see.
"Hey Allen?" She asked a little later.
"Yes?" He responded, pausing with the eye wipes.
"Was it really that ridiculous? For me to look cute?" She asked.
"Of course." He snapped.
She shot him a hurt expression that he couldn't quite see but could guess was probably crossing her face. He walked over to the counter and fished out a spare pair of glasses and put them on before returning to look directly at her. "Cute is an insult to you." He said.
"Any girl could walk in here and be made cute." He explained, "You've got something not even I can replicate blacksmith."
She didn't smile, "Thank you for trying to make me feel better, but I've already told you I am alright"
He shook his head. "You should know better than anyone that I don't just throw out false compliments, and don't expect me to repeat any of this tomorrow."
She just looked at him.
He released her hair from its ponytails and it fell loose over her shoulders. "Your hair is so naturally silky, I couldn't believe it when I touched it." He said, running his fingers through it from the base of her scalp. "You hardly really needed any of the concealer or foundation either." He said. "I know some vulturous women who would kill you for your skin and complexion."
He pulled out a couple brushes and some mascara, applying a very light layer of makeup. "What are you doing?" She asked.
"This is how I would do you up." He explained before swiveling the chair to face the mirror. In the reflection she watched him sweep her hair over one shoulder. "You're beautiful." He said simply.
She wasn't feeling it today though, but seeing him try so hard she faked a smile. "Thank you Allen."
"Don't mention it." He said flatly. "Ever."
She started to leave but right before opening the door Allen seemed to remember something. "Oh, but wait."
She looked at him curiously, a hint of his cheekiness was back. "You asked me about you looking cute."
"And?" She asked.
"Personality-wise it's all another story." He said, "You'll always be our stubborn, serious, cranky, naïve and adorable barbarian woman" His grin was his typical sultry, "The cutest cave woman I ever did meet."
She bowed her head. "Thank you for all your assistance this morning. I really must return to the forge. I'll be fine, really." She urged
With that she left.
"Liar." He said under his breath.
It would be another two days before Rio and Allen saw her again, and another three before any smoke was sighted rising from the forge's chimney.
I somewhat feel like reader responses here would ruin the feel of the chapter, I'll combine my responses next chapter. Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, etc.