A/N New chapter for you all. Posting on due to preference of the author. This fic is also being posted on AO3 if you prefer to read there. Happy reading.

Within the next few days in the house, Emil spent his time adjusting and researching. There was a bus stop in town that he could take to the city. The mall in the city had a photography studio inside, so maybe he could apply to work there. Then again that might be the last resort if he couldn't find work around town, he liked doing his photography work on his own. Not to mention the people. He hated photographing people.

But today he got enough for bus fare. Emil figured that something had to have it's picture taken somewhere in the city. He left of out his room and to his neighbor's door, knocking on it.

Sophia came to the door moments later. "Yes?" She asked.

"Wanna come to the city with me?"

"For?"

"Your companionship while I'm taking photos."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Sure. I haven't been out all week. I might as well get some fresh air." She said and slipped on some shoes and her jacket. "Lead the way."

Emil didn't get the chance to look around the city when Lili took him to sign his contract. That was a business trip, and this trip was all pleasure. The tall buildings, bright lights, and moving cars excited Emil. It was busy, and Emil liked it. Once they got dumped off at a bus stop in the heart of the city, Sophia looked at him. "Alright, what's our first stop?"

Emil looked at his surroundings, turning on the camera hanging around his neck. "I have no idea."

She sighed. Of course he didn't know where he was going or what he wanted to do. "Further up that way is a park, back down this way is the subway entry, all the way out that way is the boardwalk, and all that stuff up there is consumer stuff like shops and restaurants."

Emil nodded in understanding. "You're not gonna get me lost, are you? You're the only person I have right now."

"Don't worry. We're not as alone as you think. Some people work in the city. You'll see Gilbert all around the buildings since he works in hair salon Feliks works at is further up. The dance studio Natalya works at isn't far from here, and the nursing home Lili works at isn't too far either."

"Lili works in the city?"

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Was that the only thing you heard me say?"

Emil scoffed. "No, you said something about the other people that live in the house too. Now take me on a tour around the city."

"Fine, but this better involve lunch."

"We can have lunch as long as you're paying."

Even if Sophia complained the whole time, she wasn't that bad of a tour guide at all. He ended up with some nice photos of the city park, some long shots of the tall buildings, action shots of the moving subway, and photos of the midway on the boardwalk.

Emil and Sophia stopped into a shop on the boardwalk for a couple of scoops of ice cream. While Sophia was enjoying her ice cream on the patio outside the shop, she looked strangely at Emil's ice cream. "Why is your ice cream black?"

"It's black licorice." He said licking the ice cream.

Sophia made a face. "That's gross. You're gross."

"I'm not gross. Black licorice has an underappreciated taste that no one understands."

"No, it has a terrible taste that no one likes."

"At least whenever I go to a shop they'll always have my favorite flavor. That's the best thing about liking black licorice ice cream."

"You're not wrong about that." She said, licking her strawberry ice cream. "So you've been in the house for a few days now. How is it for you so far?"

"You were right when you said we have some...characters in the house, but so far it hasn't been too bad. Everything is just really…"

"Weird?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry I know the feeling. For weeks I felt like I was living on some stranded island with everyone else in the house. I still feel like that sometimes, since I work at home. But on the days I get out, days like this, I'm reminded that there are people living much more boring lives than I am."

"You don't think your life is boring?"

"Oh far from it. With everyone in the house together, I'm never bored. I spend most of my days drawing, but when people start to come home I feel like I start my day. Alfred always tells me about his day at school, while Matthew does his homework in the study for hours. Then Roderich and Lizzie come home and I get to talk to them before they start dinner with Feli. Then on the days that Feliks has to record a video for his YouTube, he asks for my help and Lili's help and that's always fun. Seeing Gil and Nat interact is strangely entertaining, and on days where it gets really boring in the house I'll sit in Kiku's room and watch him stream his video games."

Emil nodded as she listened to her words. "That sounds like a really boring life to me."

"Well sorry Emil, not everyone can hop around from place to place so easily. So maybe I can't travel how I want, but at least I'm surrounded by people that care about me as much as I care about them. I'm halfway happy."

"Halfway happy?"

"I'd be a lot happier with a dog."

Emil laughed at that before shaking his head. "You know I don't see what's so great about the people that live there. They're just regular people. Roderich and Elizabeta are nice, Feliciano is pretty sweet, you're cool to hang out with, Alfred's annoying, I can never hear what Matthew is saying, Natalya is super mean, Gilbert is ridiculously cocky, Kiku's always playing video games, Feliks can't say a sentence without the words 'like' or 'totally' and Lili is an angel that fell from heaven. How you manage to get so much entertainment out of them, I'll never know."

"Well you may really never know Mr. One-Month, it's going to take more than 30 days to see beyond what you're seeing in all of them. And did you just call Lili an angel?"

"Maybe that's true and maybe I did."

Sophia shook her head. "I knew you had a crush on Lili."

"Is she single?"

"Mhmm, but definitely not looking for your type."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you're not a good match for Lili. As someone that's known her since she's moved in, and being the only other person that's lived on the same hall as her, I know her pretty well. Lili is a stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of person, you're more of a…too-busy-to-do-anything kind of person. You see how those personalities don't really match up?"

"Okay first of all, I'm totally a stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of person. I'm a goddamn photographer, I stop and smell the roses for a living."

"You stop to smell the roses because you have to, she stops and smells the roses because she wants to. Again, you see the difference?"

Emil sighed. "Okay maybe my dream of her being my wife by the time I move out is a bit far fetched, but my entire life would be made if I could just take her out on a date before I move. Just one."

"One date huh? I think you could swing that. It won't be easy to catch her eye, she's kind of oblivious when it comes to romantic advances towards her, but if you get her attention romantically she'd be willing to go on a date."

"And how do you suppose I get her attention?"

"Well, that's the hard part. Like I said, pretty oblivious when it comes to romantic advances, so your best bet pretty much is being selfless." Sophia spoke in thought.

"Being selfless? Did she tell you that?"

"No."

"Oh, well she just told me Sunday that she liked that I was selfless when it came to helping Feliks get his date with Toris."

Sophia smiled some. "Yeah, stuff like that. She loves when people do stuff like that, but she's not stupid, so don't try being nice to everyone in the house all of a sudden. It's gotta be genuine help if you want to catch her attention. Like what you did with Feliks, it was genuine, and she liked that...Plus she wouldn't shut up about you doing it for him." She said, muttering the last part.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just, whatever you do, make sure it's genuine. You've got to really be willing to help whoever you want to help to catch her attention."

"Sure. Being nice. I can be nice without forcing it."

"I believe you. I just want to see it for myself."

Emil blinked. Lili said the same thing too. They were either oddly alike or just tell each other everything. Probably the latter.

Lili sighed as she clocked out. 5:45, she'd definitely make it on time for dinner tonight. She grabbed her jacket and headed out the workroom, and out the door, telling everyone goodnight on the way. She found her keys in her pocket and pulled them out, heading to her car. She paused when she saw two people hanging around by her car.

"Hey! Took you long enough to get off!"

Lili grinned and ran over to her car. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" She asked as she hugged Sophia.

"We were in the city, and stuck around for you to get off work so we could go home together."

Lili smiled at Emil. "That was really nice of you guys. It was a pleasant surprise." She said and hugged Emil as well.

Emil hugged her back and thought he was going to melt when he inhaled her strawberry scented conditioner.

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When they made it home, they made it just in time for dinner.

Alfred frowned when he saw the three walk into the dining room. "Aw man, I thought you guys were Feliks." He said before going back to eating.

"Sorry to disappoint," Emil spoke as he sat down at the table.

"What do you need with Feliks? He's not here yet?" Lili asked next.

"No, he texted me that they were pretty busy at the hair salon because they had a wedding party booked," Elizabeta said.

"And tomorrow's picture day at school, so he wants Feliks to do his hair," Matthew said next.

"Mhmm, I was thinking about a lighter color in my hair for the perfect beach blond look. That way, if I end up a bald slob in the future, they'll have that high school picture to look back at and know that I was not always a bald slob."

Natalya rolled her eyes. "You're doing it the wrong way, Alfred. You have to look like a slob in high school now, so in the future people will be surprised that you grew up hot."

"Okay but Nat, have you seen me? It's kinda hard to look better when you're already lookin' this good, I mean c'mon."

She shook her head. "You need to stop hanging out with Gilbert."

"Nope, that's all Alfred, Nat. Granted, sounds like me a lot, but definitely not me." Gilbert interjected.

"Not you, just inspired by you," Roderich said next.

"Was that supposed to be an insult because I definitely didn't take it as one."

Feliks pushed the front door open, pulling his cosmetic trunk in with him. It was quiet in the house, but someone was in the parlor. He walked in the parlor and found Lovino talking on the phone. "Oh, it's just you Lovi."

Lovino pulled the phone away from his ear. "What do you want?"

"Nothing, just seeing who was in the parlor. Are you talking to your boyfriend?"

"It's none of your business who I'm talking to."

"Yeah okay, tell Antonio I said hi." He said and made his way out the parlor and to his room. He dragged his trunk up the staircase. "Ugh, this is so a job for a boy." He grunted, pulling the trunk up another stair. When he made it up to the top of the stairs, he stopped in front of his room, fishing out his keys.

Alfred poked his head out of his room. "Well, it's about time you came home from work."

Feliks looked back at him. "Yeah, I had like, one of the longest days ever."

"Well, it's about to get longer because I need you to lighten my hair for my school picture tomorrow."

Feliks rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Alfred, I'm tired, I haven't eaten, and I would you believe me if I said I'm tired of doing hair?" He said unlocking his door.

"Please Feliks? Pretty please with sprinkles on top?"

"I'm cutting back on sprinkles, I'm trying to watch my figure."

"Okay, okay. Um, if you do my hair for me I'll do your laundry for a week."

Feliks paused. "You know how to do laundry?"

"Well I'm sure I'll get Mattie to do it, but you get what I'm saying."

Feliks walked up to him. "You should have called me earlier." He said and punched him in the chest, which made him cough harshly. "Come to my room in like, 5 minutes." With that, he went into his room, pulling his things in, and leaving Alfred gasping for breath.

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Feliks spread the bleach mixture over Alfred's hair evenly. He had changed in his pajamas, and had his headphones in, talking to Toris on the phone. Meanwhile, Alfred also had his headphones in, listening to music.

"Ugh, it was so long Toris. Like, why the hell did you decide to set up an appointment 30 minutes before we close for 12 people? First of all, how do you have 12 bridesmaids? Like, I don't even like that many people to even have as my bridesmaids." Once he was done spreading the bleach, he popped a shower cap on his head. "I'll come back up in a few minutes. Just sit here and let the bleach do it's thing, 'kay?"

Alfred nodded, not looking away from his phone.

With that Feliks went downstairs to heat up tonight's dinner, still talking on the phone with Toris.

...

Half an hour later, Feliks came back upstairs to his room and pulled off his shower cap, and gasped violently. "Toris I'll call you in the morning." He said and hung up the phone.

Alfred looked up at him, pulling his headphones out his ears. "Do I go wash my hair now?"

Feliks winced. "Um, yeah totally wanna wash your hair out soon, but, I think you should like, look at it first…" He said and grabbed a mirror handing it to Alfred.

Alfred took the mirror and looked at his hair, and gasped covering his mouth. Instead of the light blonde look he was going for, his hair was snow white. "Feliks, how did…What did...Why do I look like a grandpa?" He whined.

"I don't know, I didn't use that strong of a developer." He said going over to his trash, and shuffling through it. He pulled out the used bottle of developer, reading it. "So I thought I was using a 20 volume for 30 minutes, but as it turns out, I was using a 30 volume for 30 minutes…"

"So what does that mean?"

"I screwed up and I'm very sorry."

"Feliks picture day is tomorrow, how am I supposed to take a picture with this hair?"

"I don't know Alfred. If I had dye I would dye it back. And if there was a beauty supply store open I would go in a heartbeat for you, but right now all you can do is wash it out so it doesn't get worse."

"How can it get worse than this?"

"Your hair will start falling out."

Alfred ripped off his salon cape and ran to the bathroom.

The next morning Emil walked downstairs for breakfast, greeting everyone with a "good morning."

Matthew came in after him, fully dressed for school. He put his backpack on the side of him and sat down at the table.

"Where's Alfred?" Feliciano asked.

"He's—"

"Jesus Christ what happened to your hair?" Gilbert asked when Alfred walked into the dining room also dressed for school.

"I asked for my hair to be lightened, instead I got it whitened."

"I kinda.. used the wrong developer on his hair last night when I was bleaching it." Feliks muttered.

Alfred slumped down in his seat. "I can't believe I'm taking my sophomore picture as a grandfather."

Emil looked at him for a moment. "I think I can help." He said and left from the table and up to his room. When he came back down, he had a grey beanie in his hand. "Here you go. Everyone looks cool in a beanie."

Alfred slipped on the beanie and looked at himself on his phone. "Huh, really can't tell. Thanks Emil."

"No problem, now you'll be known as the kid that took a picture in a hat."

"Alfred the bus is coming soon, so finish up your breakfast so you and your brother can head to school."

"So what am I supposed to tell people when I have to take this hat off in class?"

"Oh don't worry, I've got an excuse for that too." Emil said next.

There was one more person ahead of Alfred before it was his turn. He massaged his cheeks, doing quick smile exercises. Then he was called next. Alfred walked up, giving the photographer his photo ticket and sitting on the stool in front of a grey backdrop.

"Alright the beanie is cool, but I'm gonna need you to lose it. It's blending in with the background." The photographer said.

Alfred winced. "Uh, I don't think I can do that."

"But you have to."

"But I can't."

"Do your arms not work? Take off the hat."

"But—"

"Mr. Jones, do as the photographer says and take off that hat." His English teacher demanded.

Sighing, Alfred slipped off the beanie, and he could have sworn he heard everyone gasp.

The teacher went to him. "Alfred, what happened to your hair?" She asked.

Then he remembered the comforting words Emil told him, to tell everyone else about his hair. "My, ah, brother Mattie decided to scare me before school today, and the color hasn't returned to my hair yet." He said before bursting into laughter. He'd have to give Emil credit. It was a pretty funny joke, yet no one else was laughing. "T-The color in my hair...It's white? Cause I got so scared?" He tried to explain.

His teacher beckoned him over. "Come with me."

The teacher took him to the principal's office, and the principal called Feliciano, who was the guardian on file for the twins. However when he didn't answer the phone, the principal hung up. "Mr. Vargas isn't answering the phone. Do you have another number we can contact?"

"Um, I think so."

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Elizabeta pulled up to the school. Luckily she was on lunch break, but she was sure there wasn't going to be much of a break after this was taken care of. She went into the school and into the principal's office. "Hi, I'm Elizabeta Héderváry, one of Alfred's guardians. What seems to be the problem?"

The principal shook Elizabeta's hand. "Thank you for coming down today Miss Héderváry, we seem to have some concerns involving Alfred."

"Concerns such as?"

"Well, his rather.. shocking hair color is inappropriate for school. It is in our school dress code that we do not permit distracting hair colors."

She looked at the woman strangely. "That's why we have him a hat. Where is his hat?"

"Ah yes, his little add on." She said pulling the hat out of her drawer and plopping it on her desk. "The hat is also not a part of the dress code. And I'm sorry to say Miss Héderváry, but we cannot permit him to take a school photo at this time."

Elizabeta couldn't hide her face of annoyance. Here she was thinking she was being called for a fight, but no, she was called out of work for a damn hair color.

This is why she hated high school.

The Hungarian looked at her desk and smiled politely. "Well, since you've found the need to call me out of work, keep him out of class, and ultimately waste both of our time, I'm taking him to get his picture taken with his hat on, so you can just have a question mark for his picture in the school year book for all I care." She said and looked back down at her desk, and plucked a single Tootsie Roll from the bowl of candy on the desk. She held it up between her fingers. "Do you see this?" She asked the principal.

The principal wordlessly nodded.

"Okay, keep your eyes on it." She said and walked over to the empty trash can in the office. She dropped it in the trash can, and a soft tink could be heard in the room.

Elizabeta turned on heel back towards them. "Now, all of our time has been wasted." She said in a low voice, and grabbed Alfred's hat, tossing it back to him. "Come on Alfred." She said and walked out the office.

Alfred watched Elizabeta leave out the office. He quickly scrambled to put his hat on, and looked over at the speechless principal, then down at the bowl of candies. Alfred grabbed a handful of tootsie rolls and stuffed them in his pocket before he quickly left to catch up with Elizabeta.

"So, what are we doing now?" He asked.

"I'm taking you to get some hair dye, then I'm taking you home."

"We're not getting pictures made?"

She unlocked the car from afar. "Emil can take your pictures after dinner tonight if you want them done."

"Okay, that sounds cool...Can I tell you something though?" He asked before getting in the car.

"Anything."

"The whole dropping the candy in the trash thing, total badass."

Elizabeta laughed at that. "I've done worse things to worse people."

A/N Another chapter for you all. I'm convinced no one is reading this on anymore but whatever. Pls review it'll make me feel good about myself. :(