Chapter Text
May 18th 1994. 1 month after 'Parklife' release
"Can't believe I'm fucking doing this.." Graham grumbled beneath his breath. He was stood behind Alex, Dave, and Damon, who were all far too focused on the reflection in the mirror. According to Damon, a new album meant they needed a 'new look' which meant new haircuts. In a way.. he was right. Their haircuts for Leisure were all pretty shit if he was putting it nicely. But he didn't think that meant cutting their hair in Alex's bathroom with kitchen scissors. There was hair everywhere. On the floor, inside of the sink, on their clothes, even on the mirror! mixtures of blonde, black mixed together like a cat's shredded pelt of fur.
He stood in front of the mirror with the scissors in his hands. Everybody watching with anticipation as he gave his reflection a confused look. Where was he even meant to start? He had never cut his hair before in his life. The scissors hovered over his overgrown bowl cut. "What do I even.." he murmured, moving the scissors up and down his bangs, trying to decide which was too high and which was too low.
"You just got to go for it, Gra" Alex spoke out in the silence, leaning against the bathroom counter as he watched the guitarist struggle. "We'll fix it later if it goes wrong. So you know - chop chop"
The band laughed lightly at the small pun. Graham fiddled with the scissors before he cut some of the hair. Finally. His bangs fell in front of him. "Shit" He exclaimed in a breathy voice. "How do I fix this? I look stupid!"
Alex laughed and took the scissors from his hands, hooking his fingers into the metal holes. He began chopping parts of Graham's hair to make it 'even', even though it was far from it. Graham watched more hair fall and fall from his scalp. This wasn't fair, all the other men actually looked good with their haircuts, while he had the ugliest one. Inside he wanted to scream at Alex to fix it. He refused to be the ugly duckling of the group.
"Don't cut too much of Alex. Gonna embarrass the poor bastard" Dave chuckled, running his hand through his new, short, and NEAT hair.
Graham gulped. Was he really cutting it that short. He waved his arms about, forcing Alex to stumble back. "Alright I think I've got it Alex." He said and snatched back the scissors. and began shaping it as best as he could. He tried his best to copy what his barber did with the razor he just picked up. And after a long dreadful 5 minutes of silence he dropped the tools and looked in the mirror. His hands hurt like hell.
His eyes caught Damon's in the mirror
He was smirking, of course he was. Graham couldn't admit that he definitely looked better with his bowl cut out the way of his face. But it was like the smirk he had when they met at Stanway. The same smirk when he teased him when they first met.
"What?" Graham laughed.
"Nothing.. just haven't seen your hair like this before. Looks good Gra" He said in his calm tone as usual.
"Agreed" Dave poked in
"Yeah" Alex spoke.
"We really shouldn't have done this the day right before our first performance you know. What if it went terrible?" Graham asks.
"But it didn't, did it?" Damon asks and looks at all the boys in the mirror. "Looking fresh for our new album. Do you think we're ready?"
"2 of our songs are No.1 on the charts. I think we have to be ready" Dave chuckled as he looked at all the hair on the floor. "One more rehearsal?"