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Alfred stood infront of the mirror, pressing small pieces of hair in between a hot straightening iron. He felt the heat of the iron radiating off of it and warming up the parts of him that were closest to it.
He was almost done. He just had to flatten down a few more curly sections, then he'd be fine. He'd look normal again and he could leave his house without feeling weird.
"Hey, Alfred, I hate to interrupt whatever you're up to back here but we're going to be late if you take much longer." Arthur called out, slipping through the unlocked bathroom door. Alfred flinched, throwing the straightening iron down onto the counter. "Yo, Arthur- You gotta start knocking before you just barge in like that.." He stated, his confident tone wavering slightly. He turned around to face the other, looking at the slightly confused expression on the others face.
"Were you... straightening your hair?" Arthur questioned, stepping into the room more and shutting the door behind him. "Nah, dude. Of course not. My hair just naturally looks this good." Alfred stated, leaning against the sink. "No, no. I'm not stupid like you are. I know what I saw." Arthur argued, stepping closer and trying to look at what was behind the other man's body. Alfred moved to block the sink more everytime Arthur would try to look behind him.
"If you aren't hiding anything, why can't I look?" Arthur questioned, still trying to look around the other. "Because there isn't anything to look at, dude-"
"Theres obviously something to see if you're hiding it." Arthur declared, finally pushing the other aside and looking at the item sitting in the sink. It was a black straightening iron, still on and set on the highest setting. "Look, okay, I can... I can explain-" Alfred stuttered out, keeping himself backed against the wall slightly.
"Why would you care to do such a thing to your hair? I thought it had straightened out over the years. I didn't know it was you doing it." Arthur mumbled, grabbing the iron and turning it off. "Well I just.... I don't know, it just got harder to manage and I didn't want to deal with it anymore." Alfred stated, fidgeting with his sleeves slightly.
"You've never seemed to have an issue with managing difficult things. There's got to be something else to it." Arthur said, turning to face the other man. "Its really nothing, dude. I dunno why you're so insistent on there being something super deep to it." Alfred responded, avoiding making eye contact with the other.
"You only ever avoid eye contact when you're lying. Talk to me." Arthur stated, leaving no room for argument. "I'm not lying, and even if I was it's none of your business what I do." Alfred spoke. "Now just go away and let me finish-"
"No. You don't need to be doing all of that kind of stuff. Finish getting ready and lets go. We don't have time." Arthur ordered, before turning and going to leave.
Alfred was left alone with his thoughts again. He turned and looked at himself in the mirror, letting out a quiet sigh. He guessed he didn't look too bad. The parts of his hair he had already straightened had started to curl back up again, basically erasing all of his effort. He grumbled, walking out of the bathroom without doing more. He slid back into his bedroom, grabbing a jacket and hastily pulling it on before turning off his light and leaving.
He walked into the living room to see Arthur waiting by the door, staring at the clock across the room impatiently. The other man perked up as he heard Alfred's footsteps. "Finally you're done... I told you that you didn't need to put in all of that effort. We're just going to run errands anyway. You don't need to look perfect to do that." Arthur commented whilst walking over to grab his keyring off the coffee table in the living room.
"Well yeah, but I think I kinda look stupid when I don't put in effort." Alfred admitted, watching Arthur grab his keys. "So that's why you do it. Because you think you look bad when you don't." Arthur stated, walking back over to the front door.
"Well not entirely..." Alfred responded, messing with his sleeves. "It's alright to admit that's the reason why." Arthur paused, fumbling with his keys to find the house key, continuing his sentence once he found it. "Either way, you look good when you don't damage your hair further with heat." He added, opening the door and gesturing for Alfred to follow him out.
"You really think so?" Alfred questioned, following the other out like he had been requested to. He stood back and watched him close the door and lock it, before walking by him and down the steps. "Of course I do. I'm not one to lie, you know." Arthur answered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the other was following him still.
"That's... pretty cool of you to say, dude. Thanks." Alfred beamed, picking up his walking speed slightly to match Arthur's. "You don't need to thank me, I'm just telling the truth." Arthur replied, casting a sidelong glance at the man next to him.
He could get used to this version of Alfred.