Baby Steps » Ant x Dec

Proud

My stubble was far too thick for a 15 year old boy. I was looking homeless, like I'd let myself go. I couldn't go to my Mams grave looking like I'd just crawled out of a dumpster. It would be disrespectful.

Alph's razor, sat comfortably on the side of the sink, talked me as it had been the past couple of nights. I picked it up, gripping it experimentally and wondering if shaving was as easy as the boys at school said it was.

Somehow time started to pass by as I tried to tell myself that i could learn to do this alone. Most boys had their dads to teach them. I didn't have that, so I'd have to teach myself, just like everything else in life. I had to grow up alone.

I stared at the razor in front of my face for the one hundredth time, focusing in and out on the blades and then back to my reflection. I frowned and looked at the shaving foam in my other hand. This was so stupid. How hard could shaving be?

I understood the basics, I'd watched movies and wasn't stupid. Put the foam on your face and then shave off the stubble. But how did guys Just not cut themselves? What if I cut myself?! I couldn't visit my Mam looking like I'd just stumbled out of a war zone. Dec would know I'd tried to shave then too, everyone would know I did it wrong. They'd laugh at me.

However, I knew I'd have to do it eventually and there was no better time to clean myself up.

But I was still too scared.

Leaning heavily on the Donnelly's bathroom sink, I glared at myself. A real man wouldn't be scared of an inanimate object. So I shouldn't either. My friends would laugh their heads off if they found out what a pathetic pussy I was.

I placed the razor down, having made up my mind and squirted some foam onto my hand. A lot of the boys did it after football in the showers sometimes. Robbie said he'd been shaving for years. I could do that too. Time to man up and just do it.

Glaring harshly at myself in the mirror, I rubbed the strange foaming substance onto my cheeks, only really realising how prickly my face was when my finger-tips brushed over it. No wonder Dec wanted me to shave, he must've been really fed up with spiky kisses.

I wasn't really sure how much foam I needed so I added a little more and just covered my face, accidentally breathing in the strong fragrance and wincing In disgust.

"You don't wanna be shaving dry kiddo."

"Shit!"

I hadn't known anyone was awake let alone watching me, so after practically jumping out of my skin at the voice from the doorway, I
gripped my heart from the freight. Only scowling when I realised I'd pressed a lump of shaving foam against bare pec.

Alph chuckled from where he was stood and smiled kindly despite my foul language, "Finally shaving it off aye?"

I found red flushing to my cheeks for absolutely no reason at all and replied a few octaves lower than was completely necessary, "Dec doesn't like it."

"Anne doesn't like my facial hair either." The older man commented, rubbing his smooth chin before looking back down at me with that same friendly smile. "Need some help with that?"

I swallowed down the embarrassed lump that had lodged its way in my throat and nodded quickly. Alph stepped into the bathroom, placing a hand on my shoulder and coming up to tower behind me.

"Alright so first things first, fill the sink with warm water. Warm not hot and wash that foam off your face a second."

I followed every instruction to the letter. For some reason having Alph in the room meant it didn't seem like such a scary task anymore, in fact I wanted this lesson to last forever.