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At first, no one really knew. Jeremy would come in with his hair a certain color and everyone would just assume that he dyed it. It was always green at first anyway, the shade might have changed a bit but no one noticed. When he walked in one day, with bright red hair, no one questioned it and just assumed that he had decided to change it. No one noticed the color fading through the day. When he came back the next day with green hair, some thought it was strange but no one said anything about it.
Jeremy was glad no one had seemed to notice but he knew it couldn’t stay that way forever. Even if he was a generally happy man, he still had other emotions and they would show up one day or another. It all happened when the decided to make a Let’s Watch in Layers Of Fear. It was a miracle Jeremy had managed to hide it for so long but this was when things started to change. They didn’t make it long before Gavin noticed Jeremy’s hair turning less green and going purple. Throughout the whole time Geoff was playing, he kept glancing at Jeremy’s hair, even catching him during a jump scare, his hair undoubtedly a bright purple, fading as he burst out laughing. He decided not to mention it for now. He’d talk to Jeremy later to not interrupt the video.
As soon as it was over though, he cornered the youngest lad, determined to find out what made his hair change color. His hair had now returned to the green it usually was and Gavin couldn’t help but think he might have imagined it all.
“Alright, what’s up with your hair?” He asked anyway. His mind couldn’t have come up with this, it had to be real.
“What do you mean? Is there something wrong with it?” Jeremy asked, suddenly self-conscious.
“Don’t play innocent. It was purple during the Let’s Watch. I saw it.” Gavin pushed.
Jeremy sighed. He knew he couldn’t hide it forever but he feared the day he’d have to reveal his secret to everyone. Maybe Gavin would keep it to himself though.
“This is really weird okay, and I don’t know if you’ll believe it or not but I swear, it’s the truth.” Jeremy warned him, gathering his courage. “I- my hair… This part,” he started, running his hand over the top of his head, “is totally natural. And it changes with my mood. There’s nothing I can do about it.” Jeremy tried to explain. “It becomes purple when I’m scared and the brighter it is, the more intense the emotion is, that’s why it got brighter during the jump scares.”
“And what does it mean when it’s green?” Gavin asked, now interested.
“I’m happy.” Jeremy said.
“So, you’re generally happy?” Gavin said.
“Yeah, my life is great. Why wouldn’t I be happy?” Jeremy said, putting an end to the conversation by walking towards his desk before Gavin got too much out of him.
Gavin felt like Jeremy was telling the truth but he couldn’t help but be skeptical. Hair that changes color naturally couldn’t possibly be real, much less changing with a person’s mood. So he decided to ask Michael for help in testing whether it was true or not.
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“You’re kidding me, right?” Michael had said when Gavin had told him.
“No, I swear. That’s what he told me, at least.” Gavin said.
“And you believed him?” Michael said in disbelief.
“Look, I saw his hair change. I don’t know what else it could be.” Gavin said. “I don’t know whether it’s true or not either so just help me.”
“Alright, sure.” Michael finally accepted.
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All afternoon, Michael and Gavin had tried to get Jeremy mad. They were on his back all afternoon, Michael talking shit at every opportunity he had and Gavin “accidentally” killing him in every game they played probably more than he had to. Both boys occasionally stole glances towards the youngest lad and they could see their plan seemed to be working. At first, Michael didn’t want to believe it but he soon had to admit that Gavin had been right, Jeremy’s hair was really changing color and turning red.
“OKAY WHAT THE FUCK GAVIN, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Jeremy finally broke.
Michael was about to say something but, when he turned to Jeremy, he realized his hair was bright red and the younger lad was legitimately pissed off. Everyone’s head had turned to him at his outburst and the gents were now looking at him, puzzled.
“I’m sorry Lil J.” Gavin said.
They hurriedly finished the Let’s Play, Jeremy still mad at the two other lads and the gents still confused. As soon as they had finished filming though, Jack finally spoke what was on the three gents’ minds.
“Wasn’t your hair green when we started this let’s play?” Jack asked.
Jeremy sighed. Now he was gonna have to tell anyone. “Yeah. But Michael and Gavin pissed me off.” He mumbled.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Geoff asked.
“My hair isn’t dyed. It’s natural and it changes color with my mood. It’s green when I’m happy, red when I’m mad and purple when I’m scared. Happy now?” Jeremy said angrily.
“And the brighter it is, the more intense the emotion is, right?” Michael asked.
“Yes, asshole.” Jeremy snapped.
“I’m sorry Jeremy. I didn’t know if I should believe you and I asked Michael to help me find out if it was really true so we wanted to make you angry. I think we might have gone too far though.” Gavin said, clearly feeling bad for making the younger lad so angry.
“Yeah, I’m sorry Lil J.” Michael added.
Jeremy really wanted to stay mad at them but the two other lads looked so sincerely sorry that he just had to forgive them. “Just don’t do it again.” He said, the red of his hair fading a bit into a lighter shade. “Please, don’t use this against me though...” He added, this time for everyone else in the room.
Everyone agreed to not use it against him but it was hard to ignore it and it annoyed Jeremy that everyone knew how he was feeling just by looking at his hair.
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It took a few days for the subject to come back. Everyone had been curious about what color Jeremy’s hair could be and what it meant but no one dared ask it until that day. It was Michael who brought up the subject.
“Hey Lil J. Can I as you something?” The red-haired lad had said, acting very unlike himself which worried Jeremy but he nodded anyway.
“Has your hair ever gone black?” Michael asked.
Jeremy sighed, relieved that Michael was asking about his hair and not something worse. “Yeah, just a few times when I was a teenager and got overwhelmed and I didn’t even know what I was feeling anymore.”
“What about pink?” Geoff asked, looking at the younger boy over his monitor.
“Yeah, that usually means I’m shy or embarrassed.” Jeremy said. “Doesn’t happen a lot.”
“Y’know what I thought the other day? It’s kinda weird that we haven’t seen you with blue hair yet since it’s kind of a common color. I think you’d look pretty cool with blue hair.” Gavin said.
“I don’t wanna have blue hair though.” Jeremy said.
“Why? What does it mean?” Gavin asked.
“It means that I’m sad.” Jeremy said.
“Uh. So you’re never sad?” Michael asked, turning a bit in his chair to look at the smaller lad.
“Nah, not really.” Jeremy said, shrugging his shoulders.
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In reality, just like any other human being, Jeremy did get sad from time to time but he would hide it. The only people he had let see him with blue hair in the past five years were his girlfriend and his mother and he intended to keep it this way. While he could not stop his hair from changing color, he could still hide it.
So when his cat ran away one morning and that he couldn’t find it after 20 minutes of searching around, he did what he always did when he was feeling sad. Not wanting to be late for work, he grabbed a hoodie and put on a beanie before leaving. As soon as he got to work, he pulled on the sweatshirt, making sure to pull on the hood over his head before he walked into the office. He was glad no one seemed to notice hi, when he walked in, Gavin only saying hi without taking his eyes off his monitor.
“Hey Jeremy, how you doing?” Ryan said, gaze still on his screen.
“Hey.” He said, walking to his desk.
Before he could sit, Ryan looked up from the scree in front of him and noticed that Jeremy had both a beanie and the hood of his sweatshirt on, a sad look on his face. He got up, walking over to the younger boy and pulled the hood off.
“I’m fine.” Jeremy said, unable to convince anyone.
Ryan frowned down at him and pulled off the beanie to take it off, revealing Jeremy’s now bright blue hair. “Are you sure about that?” He said, raising an eyebrow.
Jeremy sighed. “Ryan...” he started, remembering everyone’s promise to not use his hair color against him. Before he could say anything more though, the taller man’s arms were wrapped around him and he was brought closer to the gent.
“Don’t lie to me Jeremy, you don’t have to.” Ryan said softly, before releasing his hold on Jeremy, his hands on both of the younger boy’s shoulders instead.
Jeremy let out a shaky breath. His silence brought everyone’s attention to him and Jack got up from his desk, crossing over to the lads’ side of the room to stand next to Ryan with Jeremy while Michael turned his chair around to watch the conversation closely.
“What happened man?” Michael finally asked after a while, getting up from his chair and tentatively reaching for Jeremy.
“Scooter ran away. I searched for 20 minutes and I couldn’t find him.” Jeremy choked out, his voice breaking as tears filled his eyes.
“Scooter? That’s your cat, right?” Michael said.
Jeremy nodded as he tried desperately to blink the tears away.
“I’m sorry Lil J. I know how hard that can be.” Jack said, pulling Jeremy into a hug. “He’ll come back. Hell, he might be there tonight for all you know.”
“He’s never been outside.” Jeremy mumbled against Jack’s chest, his voice shaky.
“Then he’ll come back. He probably won’t like it outside if he’s never been there.” Ryan said, squeezing Jeremy’s shoulder.
Jack let go of Jeremy and the lad sniffled, discretely wiping a few tears away, Michael noticing from where he was standing but opting to act as if he couldn’t see. “I guess you’re right, he’ll come back. And if he doesn’t Kat’s looking for him anyway.” He said, clearing his throat in an attempt to steady his voice a bit more. “Thanks guys.” He added, a little embarrassed.
“No problem buddy. That’s what friends are for.” Ryan said, smiling down at the smaller boy, letting his hand linger on Jeremy’s shoulder for a moment before he moved back back to his own desk.