The moment Will opens his eyes, he's met with the sight of El staring down at him. His whole body flinches. "What-"

Grinning, El grabs his arms and pulls him to his feet. "Come on! I have an idea!" She yanks him out through the hall and into the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Will asks as she rummages through the drawer beneath the sink.

She hops back up wielding a pair of scissors. Will looks at her warily. "Haircut," she explains.

"Who? What?"

Rolling her eyes, she shuts the door and turns on the faucet. Will jerks back when she reaches her hand for his hair. She eyes him. "We're supposed to be changing things up. That's what you said."

"I never said you could cut my hair!"

"So you don't want to change it up?"

"Not-" Will stares at himself in the mirror. His same old boring self. He hasn't changed much for most of his life. Same haircut. Same clothing style. He's taller, that's for sure, but other than that, it's like he's still that twelve year old kid who got abducted in his shed almost three years ago.

He looks back at El who's holding up the scissors and watching him eagerly. Taking another glance at himself in the mirror, he lets out a sigh. "Okay, fine. But-" He holds up a hand when El reaches for his hair again. "First, what exactly are you planning on doing?"

"It's a surprise."

"That's not very comforting."

She huffs, slumping her shoulders. "Do you trust me?"

"That's not the problem here."

"Will."

"Okay, fine. Just don't make me look like an idiot."

Letting out a laugh, she gives a shake of her head and moves him to lean over the sink. "I won't." She goes to work on his hair, chopping off a chunk from the side.

"I swear, if you make me look stupid, I'm never leaving this house again."

"I said I won't."

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Mhm. I saw it in a magazine."

"Saw what in a magazine?"

"The haircut."

"So, you don't know what you're doing."

"Will."

"Okay, fine. I'll shut up."

After a few minutes of snipping away at his hair, El grabs the electric razor from the counter, plugs it in, and brings it to the side of his head. Will jerks back. "Woah, what are you doing with that?"

"Shaving it."

"Shaving what?"

"The sides." When Will gives her a sheepish look, she rolls her eyes and presses her hand to the back of his head, pushing him back down to the sink. "You said I could do it, so let me."

"What are we doing with your hair? Do I get to cut it?"

"Just wait until I'm done with yours."

"Okay, okay. Just hurry up. We can't be late for school."

After a moment, sides of his head shaved, El turns on the faucet and runs water through his hair until its soaked. Then she hands him a towel which he dries his hair with. While he's drying off his hair and El's looking at hers in the mirror, the shouts of Jonathan echo from the front of the apartment. "Are you kidding me? Why didn't you tell me?"

Frowning, Will listens closely, but isn't able to make out everything being said. He hears his brother and mother's voices, both tense. "I can't believe you," Jonathan yells. "After what he did when we thought Will died? You're still letting him near him?"

"I don't have time for this, Jonathan," Joyce says. "It's good for you boys to have your father in your lives."

"No! No, it's not! Not when he's a complete asshole! You can't keep running back to him when you're lonely and ruining our lives."

"Jonathan-"

"No, Mom! Not this time. I'm not letting you do this to him. He's been through enough."

"Why don't we talk about this later, okay? I need to get to work." Footsteps echo in the hallway, and there's a knock on the bathroom door.

"In the middle of something," Will calls.

"Oh, okay – wait, is that the razor?"

Will shoots El a look, and she turns off the razor. He pauses, takes a breath, and opens the door. Joyce's eyes fall on Will and El. "Oh my – what's happened to your hair?"

Will and El exchange looks. Putting on a smile, El leans forward. "Makeover."

Blinking, Joyce looks back-and-forth between them. "Okay, well, if you're happy with it... well, why don't you two wash up and get ready for school?" She gives them a quick smile and starts to leave.

"Oh, Mom," Will says, and she turns back around. He scratches his neck. "Um... Mike called yesterday, and he said he and Nancy can't come this weekend."

Brows furrowed, Joyce frowns. "Oh. How come?"

He shrugs. "Nancy's busy, so she can't drive them, and Mrs. Wheeler doesn't want Mike to come by himself either."

"I'm sorry." Joyce squeezes his shoulder. "I know how much you were looking forward to seeing him." She pauses before her face lights up. "Why don't you invite some of your new friends? You said you had a friend from school. Why don't you invite them?"

"Oh... I don't know."

"Just ask them. Even if they can't come, I'm sure they'll appreciate the invitation." She gives him a smile, so he shrugs. "And don't forget to figure out the names of those kids who are picking on you. I need to call them."

"I know, I know."

She ruffles his hair. "Are you feeling okay?"

Rolling his eyes, he grumbles, "Yes, Mom."

"Okay, okay. Just making sure. You two, have a good day at school."

They mumble yes. Once she leaves, El looks to Will. "Mike isn't coming?"

Tossing the towel in the hamper, Will sighs. "Yeah. Sorry, I should've told you last night."

She doesn't answer, instead looking to the mirror, biting her lip as she brushes her hands through her hair. Will clears his throat. "I don't think we have time to do anything with your hair right now, but maybe after school?"

She nods. "Okay." Putting away the razor and scissors, El cleans up the hair in the sink. "Who were your mom and Jonathan talking about?"

Frowning, Will brushes stray hairs off his pajama shirt. "My dad."

"You're not happy?"

Great question. He should be happy, shouldn't he? I mean, he's seeing his dad, right? Most people should be happy to see their dad. Right?

With no answer from Will, El says, "He's a bad man?"

Will grabs his toothbrush and squirts toothpaste on it. "I don't like to think anyone's really bad, deep down." He hands El the tube of toothpaste. She takes it, puts some on her toothbrush, and the two of them brush their teeth in silence. Once their done, and they finish cleaning up the bathroom, they get ready for school, gathering their school supplies and getting dressed in their new outfits: Will in an old Joy Division shirt he got from Jonathan, denim vest from the thrift store, and sunglasses; El in a bright red shirt, jeans, a bandana in her hair and fingerless gloves on her hands, and sunglasses.

Looking at themselves in the mirror, they both smile. "Total badasses," El says.

Will lets out a laugh. "Totally."

They gather their backpacks and go to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Jonathan is putting scrambled eggs on his plate by the stove as they take a seat at the table. "Hey, Will, how are you doing?" he says, his back to them. "I just wanted to know after yester – what happened to you?"

Jonathan stares at Will and El, taken aback. Will lowers his head. "Does it look bad?"

Blinking, Jonathan shakes his head and lets out a laugh. "Uh...no. Actually, it looks pretty cool. I was just wondering why the sudden change. And when did you get a haircut?"

"We want to change things up," El explains.

"Well, you've succeeded in that."

Will gestures to his hair. "El cut it today."

Chuckling, Jonathan scrunches his nose. "Really? Just now? Is that what you were doing in the bathroom?"

Spreading butter on a slice of toast, Will lifts a shoulder. "It was El's idea."

"What's with the sunglasses?"

El shovels her scrambled eggs in her mouth. "They're bitchin'."

Jonathan chuckles. "Sure."

"We got them from a thrift store," Will explains.

"Hm. Well, they look nice." While Will and El eat their breakfast, Jonathan lowers his fork. "Mom said she'll get a new phone after work."

El raises an eyebrow, glancing over to the charred phone on the wall. Keeping his eyes on his plate, Will murmurs, "Did she ask what happened?"

"Of course she did. All I told her was that I scared you when you were on the phone."

Will scrunches up his face, but Jonathan waves his hand. "Don't worry. Anyways, Nancy told me last night that she and Mike can't make it to your birthday. Is that what Mike told you?"

Will takes a bite of his toast. "Mhm."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's not that important anyways."

He can feel Jonathan's eyes on him. Humming, Jonathan pokes his eggs with a fork. "Did Mom tell you about Dad?"

Will pauses his chewing. "Last night."

"I can't believe he's coming here," Jonathan hisses. "After everything he did, I can't believe she would let him come back."

"It's just for the weekend."

"Yeah, but still. He shouldn't come at all."

"Maybe he won't be so bad this time."

Jonathan frowns. "You don't know the half of it, Will. He's not a good guy, and Mom never should have let him come here."

"She said he wanted to see us."

"Bullshit. He's probably looking for money." Jaw tense, Jonathan stands up. "Come on. Don't want to be late." He puts his plate in the sink, grabs his bag, and marches to the door. Will and El rush to finish what they can of their breakfast and hurry after Jonathan.