WILL SOLACE ONE-SHOTS

BEING BLONDE

Sorry my first chapter was so negative.
I remember Annabeth mentioning how she had to work twice as hard to be taken seriously as a blonde. So here's this idea.

"He couldn't stand dirt under his fingernails."

"He's nothing but a pretty boy."

Will had heard these comments for months after becoming head Apollo camper, always snickered behind his back. At first, he brushed them off, but now they were starting to work their way under his skin.

"Too pretty to be professional."

"Too blond to be a real doctor."

That last comment pushed him over the edge. Impulsively, he marched into a mortal hair salon and asked for black hair dye. The lady tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted. He was through with being underestimated.

He dyed his hair in the Apollo Cabin bathroom. When he raised his head from the sink, he stared at his reflection-- and cursed.

Austin chose at that moment to walk into the bathroom. He took one look at Will and fell over, howling with laughter.

"What did you do?" Austin exclaimed, voice shaking with mirth.

"I dyed my hair."

"Why?"

"I--"

"It looks like a Halloween costume! You look like a goth!"

Despite his situation, Will began to laugh himself. Austin was coughing from laughing so hard.

Kayla marched into the bathroom, demanding what all the yelling was about. She did a double take upon seeing Will. "What on earth?" she exclaimed. "Why'd you do that? I loved your blond hair!"

"Be--"

"You didn't follow the directions right, did you?"

Will blinked in surprise. "There were directions?"

Kayla put her face in her hands. "Apollo's lyre, you're an imbecile!" She pointed at Austin. "Get the Aphrodite Cabin. Tell them to bring a buzzer and bleach. Lots of it."

Will's hands flew to the top of his head. "You're gonna shave my head?!"

"If it comes down to that, we'll have no choice. Of all colors, you had to do black? You ruined the color completely!"

When Austin left, Kayla turned to him. Her solemn expression made her look much older than twelve. "Why did you do this?"

"People wouldn't take me seriously because I was blond. Every time I wore a suit and tie in the infirmary... I just got sick of being ridiculed." He motioned miserably to his hair. "I tried to do something, but made myself look even more like an idiot." The son of Apollo sighed. "Blond through and through."

Kayla's eyes softened. She put a hand on his shoulder. "They should see you at the end of the day after working in the infirmary: the front of your shirt covered in blood from an emergency surgery, your hair wet and tangled from a hasty shower, your hands dry and cracked from washing them over and over." She smiled at his surprised look. "If they can't see you past your hair color, then they're fools."

Will smiled. "Thanks." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I overreacted. I should've just kept it blond." He smiled. "I should prove them wrong about me."

At that moment, several children of Aphrodite barged through the door, supplies raised high as they yelled, "We've come to save the day!"

☀️☀️

It took serious Aphrodite magic and gallons of bleach, but the dye was out. Will grinned at his reflection. "Thank you," he said to Drew Tanaka.

Drew shrugged. "Anytime. Just please, don't do it again." She went to the door, then turned back around. "I know what they say about you because you're blond. And with every patient you healed, you proved them all wrong."
And with that, she walked out, leaving Will deep in thought.

☀️☀️

Ever since then, he would laugh when people called him a dumb blonde or a pretty boy. He knew they were wrong.