Woo woo epic hair dyeing chapter! I've dyed my hair once (well, I didn't dye it, but still) so I don't have too much experience lol. And the title of this chapter TOTALLY bodes well, no foreshadowing here...

Warning: kind of spoilers for Hamilton? I literally don't know much about how it ends because I've never seen it, I just know a little, soooo yeah.

Also I started reading Blueycapsules and it is the weirdest FNAF thing I've ever read- and that's saying a LOT. Like, one minute it's this amazing, tragic, wonderfully drawn comic, and the next panel it's Sans and Hatsune Miku kissing in the background and William is a noodly purple man. So bizzare, but totally well-written and hilarious. Highly recommend!

Reviews!

MoonTheMagical: Yes, it's something I designed. Anyone who reads this story will be magically notified whenever a chapter uploads! Just something I added for funzies.

Lydia-From-Limmat: aww, tysm for sticking through the whole thing! It's a long ride lmao. And yeah, poor Chica- she might be kind of upset by the end of this chapter ;) ;). And I'm glad you like Ruby! Also, hopefully Evan isn't too relatable...we wouldn't want a bite of 2022 on our hands.

SomeRandomRobo: Totally! it's so annoying. Although it is pretty funny seeing what it comes up with. Also yesss, double-masking. In a world of masks-under-their-noses people and anti mask Karens, it's good to know there are epic people being safe!

Qxr: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is amazing, I definitely agree.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 70

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Ducky ran back and forth through his house, grabbing crackers and cheese from the cupboard, getting the feather duster from the closet, and making sure his sisters were in their respective rooms. Harp music played from a distant room, which he thought would set a comforting aura for the visit. Exactly what he wanted.

Ding-dong!

And there was the doorbell! Ducky grinned, straightening the white straps on his overalls, and doing a quick check of his hair in the mirror before dashing over to his bright purple door and opening it.

"Heyyyy!" He greeted cheerfully, waving vigorously. "Come on in, I made crackers and cheese for everyone, and my sisters have some leftover smoothie in the fridge."

"Ewww, vegan food." Ruby scoffed in disgust. "Give me some...flesh."

Tulisa rolled her eyes and straightened her prim ponytail. "You carnivores have no self-respect in this society."

Josh frowned, squeezing past Myah and Ruby and ending up right in front of her. "What does society mean?"

"Oh come on, you can't be that stupid," Tulisa laughed. Then, after a beat of silence, she realized he was serious and groaned. "What the heck! How did you make it through elementary school, let alone eleventh grade?!"

"I dunno, man. Magic!" Josh trilled breezily, leaning forward and snatching a handful of cheesy crackers coated in salt off the paper plate that was on a small dresser. He stuffed them all in his mouth greedily and swallowed. Tulisa proceeded to shove him, scold him for being rude, and apologize profusely to Ducky, who assured her that it was no big deal and that there were plenty of marble cheese and Trixcuits to go around.

Ruby heard them all talk, but she was too focused on the decor of his house to pay much attention. The thing that had caught her eye, or well, her nose, was the smell. It was lovely, all jasmine and black coffee and everything a warm, comforting home should be. The tarnished wood ceiling -which matched the floor and contrasted nicely with the lavender walls - was low and cozy, lit by candles that looked handmade and porcelain lamps with shades made of blue patterned beads. A navy blue and autumn brown afghan was draped atop the violet couch, tie-dyed silk curtains falling down behind it, the light shining through the transparent blanket and casting funky shapes and patterns on the nylon carpet below.

"Ruby, stop simping over Ducky's house and help me find more cheese." Josh deadpanned, talking around a mouthful of crackers and cheese. Tulisa followed reluctantly behind him. Ducky laughed at the two of them and grabbed Ruby's and Myah's hands and tugged them forward.

"C'mon, I wanna show you the rest of the house- preferably a part that doesn't contain embarrassing baby photos of me."

"Wait, there's embarrassing baby pho- heyyy!" Ruby cried in frustration as Ducky dragged her into his kitchen.

"Ooo, I like the beads!" Myah marvelled, running her hand down a string of the clear plastic beads, hundreds hanging down from the doorway like a mock barrier. They were in vegetable-like shades of celery and carrot, which she found amusing.

"Hah, thanks! My sister Amalia made them. She's artsy like that. I locked her in her room so she doesn't go all paint-lady-crazy." Ducky rolled his umber eyes and helped himself to a container of baked cinnamon apples sitting on the white marble countertops, grabbing a fancy silver fork from the silverware drawer and stabbing it into one of the slices. He waved his fork around absent-mindedly whilst chewing, then swallowed and continued.

"Oh, and you can have whatever. As long as it isn't Heather's health-nut cashew butter. It costs like a billion dollars a jar and she'll go bonkers if you eat it!" He pursed his lips in the direction of Josh's hand. Josh gulped, moving it away from the small jar of cashew butter.

"I'm excited to dye your hair! I've only dyed this streak, so I've got some experience, but I've never dyed a full hair of hair." Tulisa grinned.

Ducky nodded cheerfully. "Oh yeah! I've got pretty tough hair, so we're going to have to bleach it for a bit, but it should turn out nicely! Purple was just getting a little boring, ya know?" He frowned, glancing down at his outfit of purple tee with yellow splotchy sunflowers and white overalls. "In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have worn white. Ah well, I'll just cover it with a beach towel anyways."

"Why do you have so many herbal teas?" Josh murmured from the other side of the room. Ruby observed them as well, looking through the cartons.

"Mint, licorice, chocolate chai- Bengal Tiger?! What the hell does a Bengal Tiger tea taste like?!" Ruby wheezed, pulling the small box out. It contained a fancy mandala-like design of a tiger perched on a hill on a sunny day.

"It tastes delicious, that's how it tastes." Ducky huffed, crossing his arms. Ruby quickly snatched a packet of the green leaves, sticking it in one of her many pockets and zipping it up. Maybe she could try it some other time…

Ducky checked his yellow-banded watch. "Okay, we should probably get started now. Follow me to my room, and Josh, don't eat too much cheese, please."

"Two lwate." Josh mumbled, mouth stuffed full of cheese.

After making their way up the green-carpeted staircase and past a few beautifully painted bedrooms, they were in front of Ducky's bedroom.

"I used to have to share with Dalton, but now I've got it all to myself. It's right beside a bathroom too, so last year we made it into a suite. Sweet, right?"

"Totally," Ruby agreed, admiring the cozy look of his room. The ceiling was slanted down at an angle, glossy posters for various musicals and plays covering the slant. A purple dresser with a vanity mirror sat on the side, hundreds of pearls and glimmery jewelry sticking out of DIY gem boxes. Overcoats hung over a desk chair, a laptop covered in stickers sitting on the desk next to a few canvases covered in splatter paint. A large tapestry was stuck to the ceiling, black and stitched in a rainbow. LED lights were strung around the room, slowly fading to each and every colour.

"Your room is so cool! I wish I could redecorate mine, but I wouldn't want to ask." Tulisa sighed wistfully, tracing the intricate carvings in the dresser.

Ducky smiled. "Thanks! So, the bleach bottles are in here, and I've got the red hair dye right here. We can get started now and watch a movie or something while it lightens."

"Cool!" Ruby grabbed a small bottle of bleach and flipped the cap off. "So, how do we do this?"

"Well- I mean, don't you know?" Ducky asked, confused.

"Uh, well, my natural hair colour is blonde so, no." Technically the truth. Weird to think that if things had ended up differently, she could've been a blonde.

"Okay! So, I actually don't really remember since my dad usually dyed it for me, so just read the instructions and you should be good to go."

"Sure thing." Ruby examined the back of the bottle, which contained a sticker with a tiny printed paragraph of instructions. She squinted to read them. Blah blah blah, place hair on tinfoil, blah blah blah, leave on for one-thirty minutes. Seems easy enough!

She passed it to Josh, who proofread it, just in case Ruby's eyes had blurred the letters. Seriously, why would they write it in such a tiny print? You could miss something crucial, especially if you were speed reading!

Luckily, it seemed that that was all there was to it, and the five of them got started on painting his dark curls with bleach onto long, shiny strips of tinfoil. Everyone laughed at how silly it looked, then they settled down to watch Ham Ilton, a musical about a pig wanting to be president, the duration of which was about the time it would take to bleach his hair. And then they could get started on the fun part of dyeing it!

Ruby settled back against the bed, ready for two hours and eleven minutes of fun.

~lll~

And, at the dramatic finale of the movie, Sir Bacon raised his sword above the dead body of Ham Ilton. A single tear trailed down Myah's cheek, and she inched closer to Ruby, clinging onto her arm. Ruby didn't mind one bit, so she stayed perfectly still.

"That's so...sad! Why is that the ending?!" Myah cried in anguish, letting her cheek fall onto Ruby's shoulder, squishing her face in a cute way.

"Well, it's history. You can't argue with history." Tulisa shrugged like she didn't care and wasn't affected by the tragic ending, but Ruby could see her eyes glistening.

"It's a really great movie though, isn't it? The songs are fantastic, it's easy to see why it got so popular." Ducky commented. Ruby glanced over at him and laugh suddenly, not having actually looked at him in a while.

"Your hair- it's all orange! And straight!" She exclaimed. The others looked over and laughed as well. His normally curly dark hair was plastered straight to the mirror-like silver tinfoil and was dyed a shade that reminded her of a sweet potato.

"Really?! Lemme see!" Ducky grinned, dashing over - well, more like crawling over - on his knees to the dresser, standing up and looking in the vanity mirror. A surprised laugh akin to that of a duck's came from his mouth and he tapped the piece of hair lightly. "Woooow. This is the first time in my life I've been straight."

Ruby wheezed. "Alright, nice. So should we take the strips off now?"

Ducky gave her a thumbs-up and he took a seat in the spinny chair, grabbing his blue hot-dog-printed towel and wrapping it around him as a sort of blanket. Tulisa picked up one of the strips of hair, selecting one from the back, and carefully peeled the tinfoil off. It came off nice and easy, which she expected.

What she didn't expect was for the hair to come off with it.

Tulisa's eyes went as round as a full moon, and she held the strip up behind Ducky's head, her mouth wide open with one hand covering it. Myah, Ruby, and Josh all followed her gaze to the strip of hair and inhaled sharply.

"What is it? What's up?" Ducky asked cheerfully, craning his neck to see. Quick as a flash, Josh wheeled his chair so that he was facing the wall and they were behind him.

"It's uh- it's nothing. A, um, surprise...yeah."

"Oh." Ducky grinned. "Cool! I love surprises. What is it?"

"If we told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" Ruby pointed out, trying to stay serene, what with Tulisa and Myah silently freaking out behind her - they appeared to be panicking in ASL.

But why did his hair fall out? She did it for the right amount of time, and Josh had even double-checked it! Ruby frowned, grabbing the bottle and examining it. While doing so, she noticed that the 1 beside the time seemed a little...thick. She rubbed at it for a moment and- oh no. It came off! It was supposed to be only thirty minutes, and they added an extra hour!

Josh leaned over to Ruby's ear, cupping his hand over his mouth so Ducky wouldn't hear.

"Listen, I'll try and distract him. You and the others figure out what to do!" He hissed. Ruby nodded, quickly whispering it to Tulisa and Myah, and the three quietly snuck out of the room while Josh distracted Ducky with a conversation about CS:GO (which Ruby was actually pretty good at - all those years of having an older sibling paid off!).

"Where should we talk? I don't wanna stand in the hallway." Tulisa frowned. Ruby glanced around, searching for a room they could hide in for a few minutes. Most of the rooms were closed with little signs reading 'DND' on them, so that was a no already. But one door didn't have anything, just a small brown beaded sun hanging from a thumbtack. Cautiously, Ruby turned the handle, hoping it was just the bathroom.

It was not a bathroom.

What the heck? This room was... different to say the least. With no light on and only the curtain-covered windows to shine a little light in the room, it was difficult to make out what she was looking at. Ruby could hear the strings of a harp being plucked somewhere in the room, so it was obviously inhabited…kind of creepy though, to be honest. So dark and gloomy...

The room was dark brown and wooden, with hundreds and hundreds of woven wicker baskets on shelves. Ruby pulled the lid off one, revealing some sort of ground-up herb. She took a tentative sniff and then sneezed into her elbow. Gahhh, sage. Long, wispy scarves hung on a coathook, winding around them like boa constrictors. An oil painting of a tiger hung on the wall, edges cracked and frayed with age. The carpet was tough and thick and navy blue, not squishy like the rest of the houses had been. The room had a sort of scent that reminded Ruby of cracking open an ancient book, like when she'd gone through her attic and found a few.

Lovely music, the one coming from the harp, suddenly stopped. A voice, raspy with age and heavy with a Spanish accent, rang out from further into the room. "You children are going to introduce yourselves? I am not getting any younger here."

The three girls ventured further into the room, Ruby taking in all the sights and sounds as they went. A ticking grandfather clock. A (probably fake) skin of a wolf. A watercolor painting of a boar with long sharp tusks.

The ticking grew louder.

Shadows of the curtains cast down. They waved from a distant breeze. What breeze? We're inside!

Myah clung to her arm again, and while Ruby did find it endearing, the small girl did happen to have very sharp nails. She was starting to leave crescent-shaped half moons in her arms. Totally cool scars in theory, painful in reality.

Until finally, they were at the end of the room. A black office chair sat behind a desk, the thin fabric ripped and torn from use. Ruby could just see the top of a cloud of gray hair, and dark, gnarled fingers akin to branches of an old tree, plucking the strings of a barely visible golden harp. A sweet melody played, the sun from the window making the instrument shimmer and shine.

The clock ticked louder. The nails dug in sharper. And the chair turned around.

An elderly lady swathed in turquoise and wooden beaded necklaces smiled up at them with burgundy lips. "Why, hello there. You are friends of Ducky's?"

Tulisa nodded, seeming relieved. "Yes! Yes, we are. I'm Tulisa Abbott, and these are my friends Ruby Roxanne and Myah Shoyo." She pointed to each of them in turn. "You see, we were trying to bleach his hair, but I think we might have left it on for too long…" Tulisa trailed off, seeming a bit embarrassed.

"Say no more. It fell off, yes? Does he look like a chicken egg?" She asked, smiling curiously.

Ruby laughed, and after a few seconds, so did Myah, who thankfully had released her grip. She liked this lady, she reminded her of Ms Posey from her old neighborhood. "Um...kind of. Only one piece has fallen off so far."

"Right. I can fix this. You three, call me Mariana." She told them, setting her harp down in its fancy leather case and placing two hands on either side of her chair to lift herself off. Mariana walked with a sense of confidence, one that Ruby had been trying to imitate for a while. It was hard to have good posture when you were weighed down by so much homework all the time!

The three girls plus the woman made their way down the hall to Ducky's room, opening the door to find Ducky and Josh engaged in what looked like a dramatic game of...thumb-wrestling? Honestly, with the looks on their faces, you'd think they were in the Olympics or something.

"Oh, hey guys! Did you find the thing?" Josh asked, an edge to his voice.

"Yes, actually, we did find a thing." Ruby replied, stepping aside to reveal Mariana, who grinned a surprisingly devilish grin at the sight of Ducky. She moved forward swiftly, taking a strip of paper into her careful hands.

"Oh, hey Abuela! What's up?" Ducky asked, grinning in obliviousness. Well, Ruby supposed they did say ignorance was bliss, after all.

"Oy, mi hijo. This hair is… well, it is bad. Very bad. But I can fix it. I Ican make it stick to your head. Give me...mm, ten minutes. Leave room to leave us alone." She showed them away with a ring-covered finger.

"How the heck is she supposed to fix it? It's fallen right off!" Tulisa whispered under her breath in confusion as the four kids walked out of the room and into the hallway

Ruby shrugged. "Let her work, I guess."

"Wait, so why does my hair need fixing?" They heard Ducky ask in utter confusion from inside the bedroom.

~lll~

After ten minutes of the four of them playing a strange four-person version of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Ducky arrived outside the door, hair dark, curly, and with cool purple highlights underneath the curls. In other words, back to normal plus extra cool hair dye.

"Cool, right? I thought why not try something different? After all, Jupiter is in Pices till May this year, which means there's luck and adventure wherever you look. So I thought, ``Hey, why not?" Ducky explained cheerfully.

"Wha- but- how-" Josh appeared to be at a loss for words. "It was all-"

"What Josh means to say is, he thought it was going to be red. Right, Josh?" Tulisa asked carefully.

Josh nodded slowly. "Yyyeahh. Uh, looks great, man! Got any more cheese?" He made a fist and then stuck his thumb in the air. Tulisa face-palmed, but luckily Ducky didn't seem to notice and instead chose to ignore him and turn to Mariana.

"Thanks for dyeing my hair, Abuela! It looks awesome, I love it." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and beamed in gratitude. Abuela smiled and waved a hand down humbly, then exited the room to go play her harp more, probably.

"Sooo, tomorrow's Valentine's Day! Do you guys have a date?" Ducky asked curiously, wiggling his shoulders and eyebrows in a suggestive fashion.

Silence met his question, followed by lots of giggling from the group.

Ruby sighed overdramatically. "Guess we're all alone. Well, then do you want to hang out sometime? We get a day off anyways, so we could pick out a nice park or cafe to go to."

Myah's face lit up. "Ooh, there's a really nice park by my house! I was thinking you and me- er, all of us, could go there sometime! It's got a marble fountain and a mini stage where you can go up and play music. I never play, of course, but it's fun to listen to. And they've got food trucks, and-"

"Okay, okay!" Tulisa laughed, holding her hands up for quiet. "Well, text us the address and we'll work out the time. Sounds good to everyone?"

The other four nodded their heads in agreement, and the plan was set. After some final goodbyes and a half-hazard promise from Josh that he'd pay Ducky back for the cheese, they started to exit the house.

"So, no Valentine, hm?" Myah asked Ruby as she was heading to her cherry-red bike. Down the road, a shiny white car honked, a lady with short black hair leaning out and calling Myah's name, who paid her no mind.

"Uh, yeah." Ruby confirmed, busying herself with the strap of her glittery helmet. Those buckles were so hard to do sometimes, it was so annoying!

A gleam of something - Ruby couldn't quite figure out what, but it was definitely passionate - entered Myah's midnight eyes, and suddenly she was leaning close and pressing Ruby up against the bike, stepping over the already blurred lines and into something a little less than platonic. A pair of slender alabaster hands made their way on top of Ruby's freckled ones, and she held her breath, hazel eyes wide. What is happening…?

A playful look replaced the last one, and Myah cocked her head to the side like a puppy, raven bangs falling into her eyes.

"Well, that's good. Because I didn't want to share you with anyone else." Myah purred coyly, smirking.

With her soft hands, she gently took the straps from Ruby and snapped the buckle together with ease, stepping back and removing her hands from the taller girl's, eyes remaining completely locked onto Ruby's.

From down the road, the car honked twice, and the lady who Ruby assumed to be Myah's mother was yelling names and words, but Ruby couldn't hear anything over the rush of blood and the pounding of her heart in her ears. Her face was totally red right now, she could just tell.

"Well, seems I have to go. Have a great evening, I can't wait to see you tomorrow!" She chirped, back to her usually carefree self. She turned around and started to skip away, humming a melodic tune - not before turning and shooting Ruby a half playful, half flirtatious wink, of course.

Oh, okay. Just leave me with that, will you! Ruby thought scornfully, but she didn't even mean it. Mean it. What did any of that even mean?

Ruby was sure she'd have enough time to muddle over it in the middle of the night when she was trying to sleep. All she knew now was that tomorrow... tomorrow would be very interesting.

A/N

Feeling bold there, eh Myah? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) idk man seems a little suspicious of you.

I'll try and have the next chapter out on the 14th...it'll be kind of crazy! I'm very excited to write it.

Question/Challenge: have you ever dyed your hair? If so, what colour? I've got the e-girl front blonde pieces, but they've been growing out for a while now lol. Maybe I'll get them re-dyed soon!

Have an amazing day/night!

~ghost