You'd think when spending time with your friends come summer end, it would be rather lovely. Get ice cream, go to a game, maybe have a match at each others house or even just drive around the city if one of you managed to get a car. Awkwardly walking next to your childhood rival and now close friend in a shopping center was not the most ideal of those situations. Soon after Mr. McCallister had left, Tobey flat out refused to even utter a word after getting into Becky's car and taken to the closest mall, or rather the closest department store. Since they were children it has upgraded itself in some ways, mostly gaining some high-end stores from overseas in its lineup, but the department store was still stuff of nightmares for Tobey and Becky both. But considering the money that was essentially forced into Becky's hands earlier, it seemed like the most valuable option. It didnt make the car ride any less awkward though. Becky shifted in her driver seat a bit, drumming her fingers on the wheel as she turned out of the intersection "sooo..um..your dad was..interesting" "id rather we not talk about him Botsford" "ah, he speaks" "and id very much rather not speak to you either you interdimensional pain in the butt" "...ok ow" After hearing the narrator sound a bit like a wounded child Becky frowned, looking at Tobey who was crossing his arms staring out the window, she looked forward and slammed her breaks. The car was old, the early 1990s at least, so you can expect how far Tobey was sent flying forward with a yelp from the shock of the car slamming to a halt, "Alright, you wanna be snappy mister, I can be just as snappy" "BECKY! What he-" Becky glared at him, just daring Tobey to finish his sentence before the boy scowled and bit his tongue, leaning back into his seat after the heart attack he just had and re-adjusting his crooked glasses.

Becky nodded and gently began to start the car up again "Good...alright now that i seemed to scare the life back into you there. Want to fill me in on whats going on?" "..." "Tobey"

"..." Tobey at least tell me why the heck your acting so strange..seriously a Month no talking, this is the longest conversation I've had with you since i met your friends at the barrage..who are also worried about you too you know!" Tobey frowned, as did Becky as she opened her mouth to speak but Tobey finally let out his voice"..listen Botsford. Under normal circumstances, you may be able to pry information I have out, but trust me when I say, this is one situation, I Can't tell you.." Becky gave a sideways glance to Tobey, now slumping a bit, fiddling with the box she saw earlier in his hands trying to avoid looking at Becky

"I will one day..just..."

"...not today?"

"..no, not today"

Becky nodded, satisfied at least for now she turned the corner and finally pulled into the department store. They were still quiet, but at the very least the pair were less tense then before, shuffling into the store they passed rows and rows of different specialty stores until eventually, Tobey spotted one, and detoured towards "I suppose this could be a start" he muttered to himself Becky looked puzzled at the boy before her eyes fell on the sign

"hair salon? Really, you want to start here?"

"..not even the slightest actually. But knowing us we might forget to get this done while we're here, considering this was issue one on that man's list of things to change probably for the best to rip the bandage off"

Becky would be lying if she said she wasn't happy to see Tobey get his nappy mess of a hair chopped off, he hadn't cut it since he stopped being a villain, only reason it was as sort as it was now was that at one point he hacked off a section because Dr. Two brains got to excited with a bubble gum ray years ago.

Becky grew accustomed to his long hair, it became practically impossible to picture Tobey without it. But at the same time, judging by the stylists reaction to Tobey's hair and Tobey squirming at the sensation of his hair being touched? It was probably for the best.

"I...have to be honest with you, not legally but i Feel like i have to be honest with you..but i don't know if i have the strength to tell you how bad this is" The stylist winced as he played around with the back of Tobey's head, zeroing in on the small knot in the back just as Becky approached "oh good lord..uh...alright, i can at least say i have seen Worse neglect..but this rat nest very is much at the very top" Becky snorted, coving her mouth to hide her smile that held back a laugh as Tobey turned his head to glare at her. At one point the stylist looked like he had shivers all over his body and he dropped Tobeys hair, "i believe I'm going to need some more materials to help with this," he walked to the left and immediately came back, placing a thin green book between Becky and Tobey "I'm just going to leave this here and let you guys decide how you want his head to look, ill be right back"

Tobey groaned a bit, looking like a little kid about to get a shot from the doctors office and squirming a bit in his stool, fidgeting with the cloth the stylist dropped around his neck the moment he sat down. Becky couldn't help but lose the fight against herself and let out a small giggle, Tobey frowned at her

"what?"

"I'm sorry. It's just your acting like such a little kid" "wha- I do not!"

"I beg to differ, matter a fact i think a kid would actually be behaving alot better then you are right now"

"then start begging because I fail to see how my hesitation on getting my hair cut could make me seem anywhere near as childish as you say"

"...oh really?"

"yes really"

"so your little huffing and squirming isn't something a kid would do?"

"no its understandable to be hesitant on getting a haircut" Tobey snubbed his nose in the air briefly, Beckys only response was silence as she slowly turned Tobey in his stool around and grab his chin, pointing his face to look at a little boy, probably no more then 8 years old waiting happily on a stool like tobeys but with a booster seat, compared to Tobey the young boy looked ecstatic to be there.

"..that child is possibly a sociopath, totally different scenario," Tobey said as he sunk into his seat with an annoyed embarrassed expression, Becky scoffed flipping open the book of styles again "oh yhea your one to talk about children sociopaths" Tobey slinked in his chair more with a groan, closing his eyes he just tried to compose himself as he heard the snips of scissors and the flicking of pages from the styling book Becky had next to him. Given a moment to relax, on his neck Tobey felt soft fingertips graze his skin and gently move his hair, the cold touch made the boy jump and pull away

"oh sorry Tobey," Becky said, and again had her fingers on the back of his neck again and lift his hair with the back of her hand, looking between him and the photo

"I'm trying to see where the end of your hair in the back is gimme a sec" Tobey's lips tightened and his posture straightened so Becky would have a better look "you should have just said so Botsford"

"oh excuuuuse me- don't move" "ow" Becky tugged him a bit, eventually flicking to a page where a handsome blonde boy in a short haircut smiled into the camera, short but not so much it looked buzzed, just enough to peek around the boys ears, and the top remained longer, parted slightly to the right but still in the middle. Unlike how Tobeys hair looked now, the young mans hair looked healthy, flowing, and shiny. Meanwhile, Tobey had matts from robot oil, split ends, and frizzed hair long he hardly ever brushed, Becky looked between the two and grew a concerned look "i got use to your hair looking like that, not I'm kinda starting to see why the stylist looked so bothered," "hmp, i don't see why. Its just hair"

Tobey crossed his arms under the tarp, "it's a waste of my time to get my hair cut when I could be upgrading my robots, imagine- all my advancements gone just cus I chose to get my hair done then work on my projects"

"Yes cus a whole 30 minutes away from your lab would have had devastating effects on your shoe tying robot" Becky deadpanned, taking her hand away from Tobeys neck to ruffle the top of his head

"I don't hear you complaining when we get ice cream Tobey, or is that for the betterment of science?" Tobey was quiet, and groaned "please just pick a hairstyle already," he begged "im sure your just as eager as my father to cut this all off"

Becky hummed for a moment, picking at Tobeys hair and making the boy genius even tenser

"actually?.. not really. I like your hair"

"...wait you did?" he looked up

"well yhea, when you actually had it under control it looked nice. Just wish youd actually taken care of it, cus the guy is right. You head looks like a rat nest"

"..if its such a bother Botsford you should have said so earlier, id expect my assistant to stop me from making a fool of myself"

"tch, yhea right, I'm not gonna hand hold you through everything Tobey" Becky scoffed and playfully pushed Tobey's head "besides I'm doing that now, at least with the short hair it would be more manageable then your long hair was so you wont worry about the welding mask being stuck to it as often"

"...ok that is a good point, you should have led with that"

"uh-huh...oh wow"

"...is this Really necessary!?" Tobey asked.

Infront of him was the stylist, aswell as 2 other stylists ready with gloves and a cart of equipment, they looked like they were preparing for hair style war. The stylist that was messing with Tobeys hair earlier nodded and made his way to Becky

"young man i don't think i can stress enough how much is needed to take care of whatever hell you put your poor roots through, now," he gestured for the book back "was a style chosen?" the stylist and Becky looked to Tobey, he looked between the two and sighed

"yes yes i believe it was A15? one with the other handsome blonde guy"

"oh you mean the one who actually cared about his hair?" the stylist asked, wiping the prideful smirk off Tobey's face and making Becky hold back a laugh again with a quivering smile. The stylist walked around Tobey with a hair of scissors, running his hands through rough unbrushed hair, he managed to strong-arm the rat nest into a ponytail despite Tobey's resistance to the pulling the man held tight and took out the scissors, snipping away slowly at the hair until finally cutting off the matted beast once and for all. Tobey reached back to touch his head, it was only a rough cut to get the length down to wash his hair, but the breeze felt nice.

The stylist turned to Becky and smiled as he tossed the clump of hair in a trash can "we can handle it from here miss, this is not going to be an easy battle" Becky chuckled "i don't think you client will make it any easier" With that Becky was essentially shooed away while the stylist turned back to Tobey "alright, lets get this started" he grimaced and began his hard work.

Normally it takes 20 minutes at best to get ones hair cut, Tobey? His hair was so messed up it wouldn't be for another hour until Becky could see him. Atleast she thinks its him? Even the stylist was in awe of the effect his and assistance work had on the boy and his features, he was still Tobey, his hair was still poking every which way, but he looked cleaner, even looked more mature with how well the hair shaped his features, Becky basically circled the poor boy fro a minute with an impressed look on her face and looked at the back of his head "i almost forgot what the back ofyour neck looked like Tobey" "oh shut up" Tobey groaned and rubbed his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed and odd. Tobey wobbled his head side to side

"it feels strangely light..didn't expect my hair to have so much weight to it"

"yes well, that'll happen when you take into account you had rust and oil running through your hair" The stylist said as he handed over a large bag holding every skin, root, shampoo, and conditioner brand used on Tobey's head, "here, I've included the instructions on the bottom of the bag so you can be sure he doesn't go back to the way it was before..even included some ways to get rid of motor oil from his head since that seemed to be covering it all over his roots" he pushed the bag into a confused Becky's hand. Tobey raised a brow

"why you giving it to her?"

"hm? oh so she can make sure your hair is well taken care of"

"...why would She be the one to do that though, arent i the one whos suppose to use it?"

"did you use any of it before?"

"yes.."

"ah, well then please note i do not believe you"

Tobey frowned, the stylist patted the bag and smiled at Becky "good luck" Becky chuckled and nodded her head "come on Tobey its already been paid for, we can go now" "please" Tobey groaned, raising the collars of his lab coat up as he practically speed walked out of the salon. Tobey almost walked out of the mall altogether before Becky grabbed the tail end of his lab coat, "nice try" Becky scoffed "we came here to get more things didn't we?"

Tobey frowned, and yanked his lab coat out of Becky's hand "oh Now you want to do shopping?" "the alternative would be to have you walk out red faced and not talk to me or anyone for another month again, so Yes, i do"

Looking up at Tobey, Becky watched as a flash of what looked like sadness go across Tobey's face when she said that before turning to annoyance. The genius boy threw his hands up "fine, if that's how you wanna play it Botsford then fine. But lets make this quick."

"fine, but you've got to stop dragging your feet in that case" "i do not drag my feet" "your doing it right now," Becky said, rolling her eyes and leading the way at a pace Tobey could catch up to her. Eventually, Tobey and his long legs walked ahead of her though, made her speed up her pace, he smirked "if I'm dragging my feet its only so you can catch up Botsford" Becky frowned and sped up her walking again. Tobey did the same.

They repeated this little competition till they practically were running through the mall, laughing all the while. It was like the past month of ignored calls and conversations just, never happened. They didn't lose their rhythm with one another, buying clothes, watches. It would have made Tobey's father broke had he given them more money. Eventually, however, they came down to their final amount, despite spending what Bekcy felt was more then a thousand dollars they had little more then 6 bags of clothes and products to make Tobey keep up his appearance. The exhausting trip all came down to the pair resting at a random table in the food court. Becky slumped on the table tired and Tobey looking like a dead body draped over the metal chair. "Botsford" Becky made a sound to show her presence

"if i die, tell my father i hate him and that i left my mum the ship-shape-a-tron 7000"

"nice try, you better not die and leave me to suffer, dragging these bags for nothing"

"TJ can have them"

"TJ's too short and your too skinny for them to fit on anyone else you animated beanpole"

Tobey gave a weak laugh "beanpole really?" he asked lifting his head up a bit to look at Becky who smirked back

"yes McCallister, a beanpole"

Tobey scoffed and laughed still, throwing his head back into place. His laugh slowed a little, as he raised a hand to his head and had his fingers run through his freshly cut hair a bit looking up at the skylight ceiling of the mall, now a bit of a rosy gold color from them spending almost the whole day there already. "...your really unfair you know that Botsford?" Becky raised a brow and looked back over at Tobey confused "this day overall is for a horrible reason, given to us by a man i despise, and involving activities I wholeheartedly hate and would have sooner shot myself over, and your here making me laugh and somewhat enjoy this bit of time when I should be crossed at you," he slumped his arm a bit back down onto his chest still looking up, Becky frowned "now how come your the one crossed with me? i should be the one crossed with you," she rested her head on her arms "you seriously scared me for a while, i thought something really bad happened" "oh? Worried for me Botsford?"

A small silence hung over them with those last words, for some reason Becky's hesitance felt tight around Tobey's chest.A light click caught his attention, be was reluctant but he looked from the bright skylight down to the table to see a small figurine. Leaning in closer, wincing from the soreness of his muscles Tobey now could see the meticulously hand painted wizard figurine, dressed in white and blue robes with a red undercoat, blonde hair and a glittering silver staff with a red ruby gently placed on top, he glanced between the figurine and Becky

"I kept swinging by the Barrage..Omar and the others were a bit worried too you know.."

"you went to the Barrage?"

"Can you think of another place I would have gotten a figure that looks oddly like you?"

"Touche..." Tobey mumbled his words, gently picking up and playing with the figure between his fingers, looking bothered in deep thought "...my father is not an agreeable man Becky," he started "he's selfish, arrogant and prideful...he's far worse then i ever was. And I fear him more then anything" Tobey looked up at Becky, his eyes looking like he was scanning her face that was already filled with concern and worry for him "..I did not want you, to ever meet him. Ever. Because I cannot be certain of his motivations of Anything, so i can never be certain to what he might do, to not just you, but anyone he knows i have a link to.."

Becky remained a bit quiet, waiting for Tobey to speak more but he just stared at the figure in his hand

"...has he hurt you?...in the past i mean?" Tobey tensed

crossing his arms Tobey looked up at Becky, again she looked more concerned for him then curious. but...

...

...

TG

TG

TG

Tobey looked up just as Becky clutched her head "what was that?"

TGGGGG

..

..

"Boom.."

AAAAND THAT IS ALL FOR THIS CHAPTER WOOOOOO. I feel bad I had to cut Tobeys hair, especially so soon after making a drawing on tiktok on his apperence T_T but had to be done. im holding mysf accountable to making new chapters atleast once a week so I don't burn myself out too quick. I hope you all like this chapter and look forward to more soon next week! I think ill be updating this every Thursday? Friday/Thursday i will try and update with a new chapter.

But yhea that's the new deal. I love making this series and art for this series however i cannot let myself hyperfixate on this too much or my grades will suffer. And then in turn imma suffer sooo yhea

See ya'll next time!