Ch.6 Who drank my goddamn appleblood?
Authors note: I don't remember specific details but I feel like considering everything in the show co-ed bathrooms would be the norm.
Arthur's first day at school was going exceptionally well. Considering he skipped all his classes and was now hiding in the restroom.
Which was hard to find due to the markers on the doors being either a griffin or a cauldron on them. He still didn't know what they meant after trying both of them.
Arthur really hoped he didn't have to go to this school for much longer. He already started with zero chance to make any friends, hanging around nine year old's all day kind've killed peoples interest. The only person that talked to him was Anthony from basic spells class and that was only for when he needed help spelling something.
He boredly shoved some of the school lunch down the toilet, repeatedly flushing it till it went down.
"Hey! Whoever keeps flushing, I don't know what you're dealing with but you're going to flood this place."
Arthur paused, about to shove the metal tray in, "Really?"
"Woah woah- Wait. You want to do that?" the squeaky voice asked.
"Maybe." Arthur replied sourly.
He watched as two black boots with their ends folded stopped in front of the stall he was in.
"Dude- no offense, but you kinda sound nuts right now and I don't want to swim home in toilet water."
Arthur set the tray down, he really didn't want that either, he couldn't float anyway. He decided to unlock the door and slowly let it swing open.
The kid, who had blue tights on to show he was an illusionist, had his eyes covered in preparation for what he was about to see.
Arthur laughed and the kid slowly uncovered his eyes looking relieved, "What were you doing in there?"
"Drowning my sandwich."
The kid blinked, "Ok….but…why?"
Arthur shrugged, unable to come up with an answer. But apparently he didn't need to, because the kid apparently had a thing for jumping topics.
"Well, I'm Gus and- Oh my titan."
Gus gasped, popping Arthurs personal bubble by messing with his hair and bouncing a piece up and down.
"You really need to cut your hair, man. It looks like my friend Willow's garden."
"Pretty?"
"No. Overgrown."
Gus bounced up and down, "I have this booklet from the human realm- It has a bunch of different haircuts and something about loreal- I'm pretty sure its a song."
Arthur smiled, this kid completely forgot what just happened didn't he, "Really?"
"Yeah-" Gus searched his bag for a while before pulling out said booklet, "This one kind've looks like yours but way cleaner!"
Arthur stared at the page Gus highlighted, "Oh woah."
It did look cool. Above the ear was shaved and blended in really nicely with the rest being left alone, it somehow worked.
"I think it would look good on you." Gus nodded proudly.
"Wanna do it then?"
"Ooh for su- Wait what."
Gus blinked before slowly pointing at him and then at Arthur, "Did you just ask me to cut your hair?"
Arthur grinned in a way that only troublemakers did, probably setting off alarms in Gus's head who was backing away.
"You don't have to. We have mirrors in here and I still have safety scissors from my class project."
Gus's eyes sparkled, "Human haircuts? I want one too- Why do you have safety scissors? Why don't you have the normal hazard ones?"
Arthur blushed, "Um…don't worry about it. Which one do you want."
"This one!" Gus said immediately pointing at something similar to his, but dyed purple.
"Oh! Maybe we can get someone that knows potions to do it. "
"You think it'd look good on me?"
Arthur nodded," Yeah you'd look like that Abomination Leader, Darius I think?"
Gus flexed in the mirror, " Just as buff too."
Arthur stared at their reflection, usually on his own he looked pretty small but next to Gus he was huge. He was only a little bit taller but way wider, Gus was a chicken bone.
It looked like a mountain dwarf next to a midget elf.
"You gotta do it with me too!" Gus said, punching him in the side, "I can't be alone on this."
"Um, ok."
Arthur decided to move Gus's arms in a position that he saw a beach bodybuilder do once. He then copied the move and they were in sync.
They looked extremely stupid.
"Oh yeah!" Gus said.
"Shazam?..."
Gus slowly turned to Arthur in thinly veiled disgust," Shazam?"
"I thought we were saying stuff." Arthur said beet red.
"Man you need a way better catch phrase for this- Wait, no, no hocus pocus we gotta hocus focus. The haircuts!" Gus yelled, slamming a fist to his hand.
Gus looked contemplative, "I think.. If we sharpen your safety scissors enough we should be good!"
Arthur nodded, "I'll get the barber capes!"
He excitedly grabbed one of the two ply's of toilet paper from the stall, "Think this'll work?"
"Um- if we want to look like mummies."
Arthur squinted. What was wrong with mummies.
Gus grabbed paper towels from the sink, holding it up like it was a 'top-of-the-line product' they showed on the late night crystal ball shows.
"Take a seat young man, I can make you look a million times younger!" Gus said entering performer mode, pointing at a trashcan he'd transformed to look like a barber chair.
Arthur shook his head and sat down, almost falling over as Gus caught him, "Oh I see you can't keep still, excited? You should be."
Arthur smiled, big this time. Gus was making his day a whole lot better.
"Oh yes. I brought a picture, I hope that's ok." Arthur said, pulling the booklet directly out of Gus's bag and flipping to the page of the guy with the shaved mullet posing in what appeared to be jeans with the leg part cut off.
And man. There was a lot of leg to be shown.
Gus and Arthur shuddered.
"That's rudimentary stuff! Sit back and relax."
Gus took only a few chunks off before someone crashed into the sanctity of their makeshift shop, "Hey Gus…I know this is against a lot of social norms to barge in when your friend says they need to go to the bathroom but you've been in here for a really long time and the bell already rung-"
The girl, who looked like a really buff nerd wearing those circle glasses, stopped in confusion as Gus slowly put the scissors behind his back.
"Ok…why are you cutting that guy's hair …does he have lice or something?" She asked, pointing between the both of them, "What's going on?"
Arthur flipped through a page on the booklet and landed on something similar to her style, raising it up for her to see.
Her pupils widened in interest and she immediately shifted into a no questions asked attitude, "I'm in."
Gus immediately prepared another trash can against the sink, "You want the same treatment or salon style?"
The girl gently took the scissors from Gus's hands vaguely gesturing to Arthur, "Well…first let's fix…that."
Gus pouted while Arthur's eyes widened, he hadn't actually looked in the mirror yet so he was starting to get worried.
He went to turn but a hand stopped him, "Don't worry it's not that bad." The girl reassured him kindly.
Even though he was pretty sure it wasn't because even when he ducked under her she reinforced her grip on his shoulder until he stayed put, too afraid she'd break him if he tried again.
She snipped around his ears, the child sized scissors paling in comparison to her. It wasn't even that she was huge, she just had a really imposing aura. The constant smiling just made it worse.
Maybe her face was just like that.
"I probably should've asked before I started cutting your hair but, what's your name? I'm Willow!" She asked enthusiastically.
Arthur looked at her carefully, her voice would've sounded silly on anyone else but it somehow just fit her, "Arthur."
"Well Arthur, do you want me to cut the back? It looks kind've…"
Arthur whipped around, "I want to keep it."
Willow raised her hands in defeat, "Customers choice."
Gus rubbed his chin in thought," Well. If you look at it long enough you kind've get used to it….hey-"
"I'm not giving you one Gus." Willow said firmly," They only fit some people."
"Are you saying…I'm not worthy?" Gus asked dramatically.
"You have to earn it." Arthur said just as seriously.
Gus crossed his arms betrayed by his new bathroom buddy.
Willow raised an eyebrow at the two, before shaking her head and lightly hitting Arthur's nose with the non-sharp side of the scissors, "All done."
Arthur looked in the mirror, shocked at what he saw. It looked exactly like the picture.
"It was kind've easy since I didn't have to do anything else but the sides." Willow said, shrugging avoiding his gaze as he looked at her with awe.
"You're like a chef…but with hair." Arthur said, noting she had somehow avoided giving him the dreaded block fringe that made anyone look like a page boy.
He practically skipped over to Willow and Gus, "You ready Gus?"
Arthur excitedly picked up the scissors, but both of them stayed where they were, Apparently getting cold feet.
Gus rubbed his arm, "Ok dude I thought about it and…I think my dad would kill me if I came home blue."
Willow nodded, looking unsure, "And, I've seen Gus at work…are you any better- Have you cut hair before?"
"Um. I helped cut a cat's hair once when it was all matted and stuff."
Arthur found her hand gently pushing his one down along with the scissors, "I think that's enough for today. I'll just get one of my dads to do it later, sorry."
He nodded a little sad, "Well- Thank you. For the haircut."
Willow nodded, "Well I couldn't leave you like that."
Gus raised his eyebrows sky-high, "I wasn't done!"
Arthur felt happy, being around people his age group was a lot easier than being someone's reading buddy.
Maybe school wasn't that bad.