The Perils of Paint
Disclaimer: Familiar characters, settings, events, and concepts all belong to Takeshi Konomi.
Note: Oh my goodness - something that isn't Rikkai hospital fic. I've come to the conclusion that all the PoT fic taking up space on my computer ought to just get posted - so enjoy! There are quite a few short little sections of this; I'll try to post one every day or two until they're all up.
For once, Kikumaru Eiji was glad that it was raining. The people driving past and populating the sidewalks as he walked away from school might be less inclined to notice the figure hurrying along under a bright red umbrella, his bag bumping against his back. The fact that he was wearing a sweatshirt a size too small would also not be considered unusual: they would assume he was trying to stay dry with whatever he had available, not trying to hide the deplorable condition of his hair. During the tennis meeting the paint that had spilled on his head had mostly dried, and despite Fuji and Oishi's attempts to seemingly drown him in a bathroom sink afterwards, very little of the it had actually come out. So Eiji hurried along, sopping wet, splattered with paint, and rather anxious about his hair. It had been a horrible afternoon. Well, it was still a horrible afternoon, with the potential to become even more horrible. He didn't want to think about what could happen if the paint wouldn't come out.
"It's not that bad!" Oishi hurried next to him, his navy umbrella contrasting sharply with Eiji's red one, "We'll get it out!"
A third, black umbrella was slightly behind the other two but easily caught up. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine," Fuji smiled as he approached, reaching over to pat Eiji's arm.
Eiji was tempted to tell Fuji that everything was not going to turn out fine, unless by some miracle his hair was returned to its original condition, but that would only result in Fuji insisting even more assuredly that everything would be fine, which would be even more upsetting, which…well. It didn't really matter. Instead he just sighed, trying to pull the hood of Fuji's borrowed sweatshirt up around his head more. Fuji and he were about the same height, so how could Fuji fit into a sweatshirt this small? Eiji has to keep pulling the sleeves down around his wrists. Maybe this one has just been stuffed in Fuji's bag since last year.
A car beeped at them, and Eiji peered over his shoulder to see Fuji Yumiko in the driver's seat. She rolled down her window, calling, "Syuusuke, get in! Today is a bad day to walk!"
Fuji walked to the car, "Would it be all right to give my friends a ride as well? We have a project to work on together."
"All right," Yumiko nodded, and Oishi and Eiji hurriedly closed their umbrellas, getting into the backseat. Oishi's enthusiastic thank you was enough for all three of them, Eiji supposed, peering at Yumiko's reflected face in the rearview mirror.
The Fuji house was probably the most conductive to what they were going to attempt. If they had gone to Oishi's, Eiji predicted they wouldn't get very far before Oishi's little sisters and parents got in the way. And if they had gone to Eiji's own house…well, he didn't want to think about how all of his siblings, much less his parents and grandparents would respond to his hair problems.
"Computer first," Fuji announced, propping his umbrella up near the door and then leading the way upstairs.
After an Internet search for ways to get paint out of hair, Oishi looked skeptical. "Some of those things don't sound very safe. The cooking oil would be okay, but I'm not so sure about paint thinner…"
"I don't care!" Eiji pulled at his hair a little, feeling the crinkle of dried paint. "We just have to get it out!"
Oishi gave Eiji a long, skeptical look almost worthy of Tezuka, but it was wasted. Eiji only leaned closer to him, stressing, "This is important, Oishi!"
"It says here that bleach might work too," Fuji continued to work at the computer, hardly paying attention to Oishi and Eiji's exchange.
Oishi bit his lip a little and stood up, waiting for Fuji and Eiji to follow. It would probably be best to get them away from the computer before they found too many other dangerous 'remedies.' "Let's just try the oil first."