The Perils of Paint, Part 4
Disclaimer: Familiar characters, settings, events, and concepts all belong to Takeshi Konomi.
As always, thanks to everyone who has reviewed - it is nice to know what you think! I won't be adding anything else; this is the last part of the story - thanks for reading!
Oishi had never shopped for hair dye before, but Eiji and Fuji seemed to know what they were doing when they knelt next to the display of little boxes near the other hair products. "We have to match it right," Fuji was saying while examining several different boxes. "Otherwise it won't turn out the right color. Let's see. This is red for medium brunettes…this one is for darker brunettes…"
"We need one for hydrogen-peroxide-gone-terribly-wrong-orange!" Eiji scrambled for the boxes himself. There had to be a formula in his red for bad bleach jobs. People probably went around bleaching their hair with stupid things all the time, right?
"I need to see a little bit of your hair so we can match it, Eiji." Fuji reached up to tug a few strands of Eiji's hair loose from the ski hat he was wearing. He wasn't sure why Eiji had grabbed his ski hat when he owned several other hats. Honestly, a blue knit hat with snowflakes on it looked a little strange in summer. Fuji readily admitted that it was amusing though.
Eiji pulled the sides of the hat down around his ears, trying to hiss quietly, "Don't let anyone see! This is totally the most embarrassing afternoon and evening of my life! No one can know about the disaster that is my hair!"
"You're sure you can't just wait and get it fixed at a salon?" Oishi ventured to ask, sounding hopeful. "They would probably do a really nice job, better than Fuji and I could."
"Don't even suggest that, Oishi! You don't want me to have to go to school like this, do you?!" Eiji gaped at his double's partner, still holding the edges of the hat around his ears. He glanced furtively around the convenience store. "Someone could see me! Even someone from another school! And they would probably take a picture with their camera phone and show the rival tennis teams and there would be horrible pictures at our next game and that would just be bad, Oishi, really bad! I would probably be so embarrassed I wouldn't be able to play, Oishi!"
"I think we can handle it," Fuji said with a calm smile, then tossed Oishi a box of hair dye. "That should work."
They returned to the upstairs bathroom after a quick explanation to Fuji's mother about their activities all evening. "We've been trying to help Eiji with his hair, but the bleach job wasn't ideal," Fuji told her. "So we're going to dye it back to the original color."
"All right," Fuji's mother said sweetly, deciding that the explanation was satisfactory (if Syuuske was up to something, did she really want to know?). "Make sure to invite your friends to eat something when you're finished."
"Is your mom making normal food tonight, Fuji?" Eiji asked quietly as they made their way upstairs. On several of the occasions when he'd been invited to eat at Fuji's, the food was a little out of the ordinary. Well, maybe more than a little. It could be downright questionable, especially after Fuji started setting out the condiments.
"Eiji, that's not a polite thing to ask!" Oishi reprimanded.
Fuji just started pulling old towels out of the bathroom cupboard. He smiled. "I'm sure we're having something good."
Despite the fact that both Fuji and Eiji had a significant amount of experience with bleaching and dyeing and Oishi had absolutely none, Seigaku's vice-captain still found himself mixing the dye. More smelly, headache-inducing chemicals.
"You should color your hair, Oishi," Eiji announced while happily rubbing dye all over his head. The smell of regular old hair dye was somewhat comforting, actually. Back to normal and fabulous, hooray! "I think maybe red, like mine. It would look good, Oishi."
"I don't think so. I like it the way it is." Oishi shook his head a little nervously.
Fuji was once again sitting on the bathroom counter watching everything. "We have enough dye leftover, actually."
"That's okay. I don't want to dye mine," Oishi protested more firmly. What was it with tennis club members and hair color anyway? Thank goodness a few of Seigaku's other regulars hadn't done anything with theirs, or he wouldn't have much of an argument.
"Too bad, Oishi." Eiji mused with a shrug while letting the dye set. "I guess I will always have better hair than you then. Oh well!"
"What's wrong with my hair?" Oishi asked, then decided to dismiss it with a laugh. Things had been too crazy already to get hung up on anything.
Eiji stayed in a cheerier mood, especially when the dye was rinsed out and his hair was joyously restored to a happy red color. While he aimed Yumiko's hair dryer at his head, Oishi let out a relieved sigh and headed out. "Well, I'm going home. It's been a long evening."
"You don't want to stay and eat?" Fuji asked.
"You need to wait for me!" Eiji spoke over the hair dryer, looking offended. "I don't want to walk by myself!"
Oishi wanted to slap his hand against his forehead, but he refrained. He liked both Eiji and Fuji, he really did – but didn't they understand the necessity of doing homework, of spending a little time with family? He managed a smile. "My family is probably wondering what's kept me for so long. Thank you for the invitation to eat, Fuji, but I need to decline. And you walk by yourself all the time, Eiji."
"I'll only take a tiny bit longer, Oishi. Just wait for me," Eiji pleaded, still blasting his head with the hair dryer. "And you and Fuji can eat while you wait for me. I don't mind. I can eat very fast when I'm done."
"Come on, Oishi." Fuji hopped off of the countertop, already heading for the stairs. "We're having a casserole tonight, I think."
How did he get wrangled into these things even when he tried to get out of them? Oishi wondered as he found himself directed to a chair at the Fujis' dining room table. Maybe he needed to take an assertiveness class. Yes, that would maybe help. Something about how to say no is no. Kindly though, if possible.
Fuji's mother's casserole was edible, but barely. Oishi had never tasted anything quite like the combination of noodles, meat, and spices before, but he politely and rather quickly choked down what seemed like an impossibly large plateful. Even after he gratefully washed it all down with a slice of dessert and a glass of lemonade, Eiji was still upstairs.
"We're done eating." Oishi peeked into the upstairs bathroom. What was he doing in there and why was it taking so long? "For goodness sakes, Eiji, you're not gelling it and everything, are you?"
It was a pointless question because Eiji was already just about finished styling his hair right back into its former glory state. He happily bounced out of the room after shoving a container of hair wax back into his bag. "Come on, Oishi, let's go! It's all fixed!"
"Aren't you going to eat?" Oishi asked, noticing that Eiji had made a beeline for the front door and was already swapping the house slippers for his shoes.
"Have you ever had casserole, Oishi? Don't tell Fuji, but it's really bad," Eiji whispered secretively. Oddly enough, Fuji didn't seem to mind in the least that Eiji didn't stay to eat. He waved as his friends left his house, "Bye! See you tomorrow!"
Eiji practically skipped towards his and Oishi's neighborhoods, though he didn't actually say very much. In the middle of the walk he hugged Oishi tightly around the shoulders, almost knocking him a little off balance. "Thank you for helping me with my hair, Oishi! You and Fuji are such good friends!"
"It's okay," Oishi replied with a smile. So what if it had taken almost the entire evening and he was going to have to skip one of the few TV shows he watched in order to get his homework done? – Eiji was happy again, which was relatively important.
"You're sure you don't want to color your hair, Oishi?" Eiji asked. "Helping you with that would definitely make up for everything today. I owe you."
"No. No, I don't want to color my hair," Oishi reiterated. Never, never, never – not after the day's adventures. "You can make it up to me just by never getting paint in your hair again."
End.