Disclaimer: Okay, I've told everyone over and over again, but alright. I own nothing. Not Yu-Gi-Oh!, not Batman, not The Office, not anything. I'm just a crazy kid who likes to write fan fictions.

Author's Note: Hello everyone. You've probably never seen me before in this section of this site. And somehow, I don't see it as being the last time, either. I'm normally off writing stuff about Batman and the Teen Titans, but today, I'm just dropping by with this little thing. I'll admit, this is my first Yu-Gi-Oh! fan fic and therefore, it might be a bit OOC, but I'm trying to keep them IC, I swear! It's a bit AU-ish and strays some from the storyline, I know. But I couldn't get this story out of my head, so I wrote it down, all in good humor and chillness, and posted it. I hope you enjoy!

-Y-

Just Half An Inch, Please

"I can't believe I trusted you on this!"

"What are you talking about, Yug?"

"I look absolutely ridiculous!"

"No you don't."

"Tristan, don't I look ridiculous?"

"Um... well..."

"See! I was right; this hair cut is almost as humiliating as my height!" Yugi moaned.

"But, Yugi, this makes you at least a foot taller than you already are!" Joey argued.

"Joey!" Yugi yelled.

The streets would have been much quieter today if it hadn't been for Joey, to say the least. The three friends (one of which was asking for a death wish at the moment) were on their way back to the game shop from the barber's. Originally, this was supposed to be a simple trip. Go to the barber's for a hair cut and come back. Simple. Easy. And it wasn't supposed to end this way in the slightest. Yugi had been on his way out of the game shop when he had run into Joey and Tristan.

The new friendship was something that Yugi had had to get used to just as seeing the completed Millennium Puzzle itself was. To be honest, Yugi still sometimes got tense while around them (considering they had teased him in the past), but as time passed and they hung out more, that feeling melted away. At this point, it lasted maybe two minutes. But it was two minutes too many, because if it hadn't been for those two minutes, he could have probably have gotten out of them coming with him.

"I'll be back in a half hour, Grandpa!" Yugi had called as he stepped out of the Game Shop, when Tristan and Joey had walked up to him.

"Hey Yugi!" Tristan called.

"Oh, hey guys," Yugi replied, "I'm heading to the barber's shop, so I don't think today's a good day."

"Ah, we'll come with ya," Joey answered.

"Yeah, we weren't planning on doing anything really anyways," Tristan added.

"Um, I guess, alright," Yugi said, "I don't want to drag you guys along, though."

"It's no problem," Joey said, "So how much are you chopping off?"

"Uh... I don't know, just a trim, really," Yugi told them, "My dad's visiting and so Mom wants me to look nice and that sort of thing."

"Oh, got it," Tristan answered.

Arriving at the barber's shop, the three high school students looked around and sat down.

Yugi signed in, telling the barber at the front, "Just half an inch, please."

The man nodded in acknowledgement at Yugi. After sitting down, Yugi decided to pull out his pack of Duel Monsters and look through them again. He was still getting used to the game, but the more he studied them, the more strategies came to him. It was kinda cool actually. Grandpa had said he thought Yugi was a natural, which was odd because Yugi felt anything but a natural. Meanwhile Tristan decided to grab a newspaper and see if there was anything worth reading about.

Joey however, got bored very, very easily. Getting up, Joey started looking around again, sometimes grabbing a magazine from the table and looking through it until he stopped seeing anything interesting. Browsing through the pages irritably, Joey caught sight of something that made his eyes go wide. Glancing over at Yugi and then back at the page, a couple gears started turning in Joey's head.

"Hey, Yugi, why don't you dye your hair?" Joey asked.

Yugi looked over at Joey with a mixed expression, "Huh?"

"You should dye your hair or somethin'," Joey repeated.

By now, Tristan was also looking at Joey like he was crazy, "Joey, what guy dyes their hair? Isn't that a girl's trend?"

"Well this guy does," Joey said.

Tristan got up to look at the photo while Yugi slowly started edging back into his seat. He had a bad feeling about all of this. He was half confused as to why Joey would even suggest this and half nervous about the outcome of this conversation. Tristan took one look at the page and then looked back and forth between his two friends.

"You're nuts," Tristan argued.

"I am not," Joey argued back, "This guy looks cool like that. And so does that guy!"

"It's obviously fake, Joey," Tristan told him.

"But that's what makes it so cool," Joey replied.

"Dude, he'd look like some weird anime character. Yugi couldn't pull that off. There's just no way." Tristan answered.

Yugi watched as Joey argued back, "Yeah, he could."

"I could what?" Yugi finally asked.

"Here, check this out," Joey said, running over to the old couch.

Yugi took one look at the picture and immediately sided with Tristan. The guy on the right had blue bangs while the guy on the left had the tips of his hair dyed green. They both looked like hard core punk rockers, a bit emo even.

"Joey..." Yugi said, trying to find the right words, "I don't think..."

"Look, Yug," Joey argued, "You need to sport something a bit more hard core. I mean, why do you think half the kids at school never notice you unless it's to pick on you?"

Taking that as a partial insult, Yugi took a moment to reply, "I'm... I'm perfectly fine with not being noticed much."

"No, you're not," Joey answered, "I mean, come on, you're a cool guy, but if you don't ever stand out a bit, no one will ever remember ya."

"I don't know..." Yugi stated, trailing off.

"Oh, don't listen to him, Yugi," Tristan argued.

"Shut up, you," Joey yelled at the latter, "Listen, Yugi, I bet you, you'd look awesome with this."

"But Joey... My dad's going to be..." Yugi started.

"In town, I know, but dude, don't you want your dad to think you've actually reached high school and become the rebellious type?" Joey asked.

Yugi would have answered that he wasn't the rebellious type when Joey continued, "Listen, I see what you mean. I don't think either of these are you, but I bet we could work it a bit. Maybe add a bit of hair gel in there. It does wonders for me."

"You're beginning to sound like Tea, Joey," Tristan remarked.

"Hey, you use it too," Joey argued back, holding up a fist.

"The difference is that mine actually looks good," Tristan answered back.

"Why I oughta..." Joey started.

"Alright, I'll do it," Yugi yelled, before Joey could start a fight.

Both of them looked over at him, one in shock, and the other in some sort of glee that worried Yugi greatly, "Sweet! This is going to be fun."

Yugi covered his mouth instantly, not daring to open it again. Why on earth had he said that? He could have agreed to anything in the world and he had to have agreed to that. He couldn't just say 'don't fight, guys', oh no, he had to comply with Joey's outrageous idea to make him look like the shortest, most desperate guy in the world.

"Yugi Muto?"

Yugi looked up as his name was called and hunched his shoulders. This was so bad. He looked in the mirror at his black hair. It hung loosely and limply by his face. He really should just trim it. Half an inch, that's all. It will be so much less painful. Then again, it did sort of hide his face. Though he had to admit, he kind of liked it like that. Not that did much these days with Tristan and Joey hanging out with him.

"Alright, well, let's just get this over with," Yugi sighed, resigned.

"Great!" Joey smirked as he followed the barber to the back.

Tristan reluctantly followed, worried for Yugi's sake that Joey would do something stupid and Yugi would end up going bald instead of whatever crazy idea Joey had in mind. Yugi shut his eyes most of the time as the barber trimmed his hair. He could hear Joey whispering things to the barber while Tristan would occasionally object to something he felt was outlandish. At one point, Yugi did catch part of the conversation (apparently he had called up Serenity over the phone for advice).

"Why don't you just make it a natural color? Joey, what's all this about? You better not be doing something stupid," Serenity called over the phone.

"Hey, sis, would I ever do anything stupid?" Joey asked.

"I'm not saying you would Joey, but... I'm not saying that someone else wouldn't... or that you wouldn't either," Serenity started, worried about whatever craziness Joey was getting himself into.

"Don't worry, Serenity, we're just having a little fun," Joey told her, "Talk to you later."

"Um, okay..." she said, as they hung up.

After doing so, Joey continued to tell the barber what else to do to Yugi's hair. Yugi felt the barber paint on a goopy mess of something onto bits of his hair and then cover it with what he thought was aluminum foil. Soon enough, the barber hauled Yugi off to heat the coloring agent. As he did, he looked back at Joey, who almost looked giddy at the idea of seeing this monstrous creation, and Tristan, who looked more worried and sorry for Yugi than anything else. That's when his phone rang. Yugi picked it up to hear his Grandpa over the phone line.

"Hello?" He said.

"Yugi? Where on earth are you?" Solomon Muto asked.

"I'm getting my hair cut," Yugi answered.

"It's been a half hour," Solomon told him, "How long does it take to cut hair these days?"

That's when Joey grabbed the phone from him, "Don't worry Mr. Muto, everything will be just fine."

Grabbing the phone away, Tristan added, "And if it's not, I'll beat the livin' snot out of Joey."

"What?"

Yugi took the phone again and rather quickly answered, "Well, gotta go bye."

Yugi sat back in the seat, really ready to pout, when Joey told him, "Ah, stop being a wussy, Yug, it'll look great."

"Joey, this is... this is..." Yugi started, "Well, I don't know what this is, but..."

"It's stupid, is what it is," Tristan cut in.

"Tristan it's not your hair!" Joey argued.

"It's not yours either!" Tristan said back.

Yugi felt himself scrunch up his shoulders, "Come on guys, I guess, let's just see how this turns out."

Once the dye was done, the barber took Yugi back for the final touches. Turning Yugi away from the mirror (for the kid's own sake), Tristan and Joey were the first to see the new hair style. Tristan took one look at it and than grabbed Joey by the jacket furiously.

"You idiot! I mean, this is... this is..."

"Hey, he's not done," Joey told him, "Lay off."

Yugi somehow felt more depressed by this than anything else. Joey started telling the barber what else to do to Yugi's hair. After about a good ten minutes the barber finally stepped in to actually say something.

"My word, you've got a lot of hair, kid," He said, "And listen, if your friend's idea turns out to be a failure, we can cut it off, don't worry."

Yugi nodded and looked at the clock. He really had to get home. It had been nearly an hour already.

"Alright, here we go," the Barber announced finally.

He spun the chair around to face the mirror as Joey and Tristan came around to see the finished product. Yugi stared at himself for a moment before going pale. His hair (trimmed, but still pretty long) was now spiked up, the ends of nearly all of his black hair now colored a deep purplish red. What wasn't dyed the odd color on the ends, however, were his bangs as were a few other strands of his front hair. They were now a wavy golden blonde and stood up and out to the sides, also in a bit of a spiky manner. Yugi felt his jaw drop. This was anything but subtle or simple and he wasn't sure what to think of it at all. Sure it was a trim, but it… it was… well, he didn't know what it was.

While Tristan also seemed to have the same sort of reaction, Joey clapped his hands once and smiled, "Man, oh man… That's amazing!"

Yugi didn't get a chance to argue before Joey had dragged Yugi out of the shop after paying, Tristan in hot pursuit. Yugi bent his head down low, fiddling with his Millennium Puzzle as he silently brooded, getting angrier and angrier at Joey by the second, which is what led to their current conversation.

"Remind me never to listen to you again," Yugi told Joey bitterly.

"Yugi, seriously, it doesn't look that bad," Joey argued.

Tristan finally stepped in, "Why don't you do it then, Joey?"

"Because my hair's perfect the way it is," Joey answered back.

"Joey, how can I go to school like this?" Yugi asked, desperate for an answer.

"That's easy, you just get out of bed and get dressed and walk over to..."

"Joey, I look like a painted porcupine!" Yugi yelled, "You realize that I'm going to be mocked for the rest of my high school life because of this?"

"But you already were mock...Ow!" Joey exclaimed as Tristan hit him in the back.

Yugi felt his face burn as he walked down the street, getting glances at people from all around.

"Hey Joey! Yugi!"

Yugi felt himself freeze. He knew that voice. Oh, did he know that voice. That was...

"Hey Tea," Joey answered, "Check out Yugi's new do."

Yugi debated for a moment if he could still make a run for it, but quickly figured that was a long shot considering Joey was right next to him and could easily out run him. Besides, Tea had probably by this point seen the back of his hair anyway. He slowly felt himself turn around to face Tea. He winced, as though it was painful when he finally caught site of her. But instead of laughter or pointing, or even giggling, Tea said something unbelievable.

"Oh my gosh! Yugi, that's so cool! I mean, like, what'd you do to it? It looks awesome!" She exclaimed, "I mean, how do you keep it up like that, it's just, it's so unique and original!"

"You... you like it?" Yugi asked.

Tea laughed at his surprise, "Yugi, how can I not? It works so well for you."

"It does?" Tristan asked, shocked.

"Yeah, don't you think?" Tea asked.

Tristan took a moment, but finally stuttered, "Well, I, yeah, I think so, too. I just wasn't sure if anyone else would."

"It was my idea," Joey added, "Took an hour, but you can't rush perfection."

"Guess that explains your messy look," Tristan muttered.

Joey growled at him when Yugi said, "Well, I'm glad that you like it, Tea."

"Yeah, it looks great! You should keep it that way!" Tea told him.

"You bet I will!" Yugi answered, his heart pounding a bit faster than normal.

"Well, I gotta be going," Tea replied, "See you guys at school tomorrow."

"See ya, Tea!" Yugi called.

Yugi waved as Tea walked off while Tristan started to fume and Joey smirked, feeling smug. They walked back to the Game Shop for a bit of a different reaction. While Yugi's Grandpa shrugged it off as something popular these days, Yugi's mom wasn't sure as to what to make of it. It might have been easier if Yugi hadn't liked it at all, but after seeing Tea's reaction, Yugi had thrown nearly all worries out the window.

When Monday rolled around, Yugi got the surprise of his life when he entered his high school. Some people were shocked, some immediately complimented him, while others merely just stared at him, confused (Kaiba included, but he figured it was probably one of Wheeler's hair-brained ideas, literally). When he got home and once again checked out his hair in the mirror, Yugi took the moment to wonder as to why on earth he had even listened to Joey in the first place. But after second or two, Yugi began to feel light headed and started to loose consciousness. That's when Yami finally decided to take a good look at their new hair.

After staring at it for a second or two, Yami took a couple blonde strands and pulled them up with a couple of the spikes. After deciding that he was also satisfied with their new hair style, he nodded and laughed a bit. It was so worth influencing Yugi to let Joey do something crazy like this. They looked way cooler this way. Now all they needed was get a chain to hook the Millennium Puzzle onto. Yami repressed another laugh as he let Yugi take control again and return to normal. Yugi held his head for a moment before shrugging off the dizzy spell and running down to the shop to practice more Duel Monsters. After all, his homework could wait this once. Right? Right.

-Y-

A/N: Well, that wasn't so horrible, was it? Personally, I love their hair. It's so cute and cool at the same time. So yeah, here's my first One-Shot for Yu-Gi-Oh! I hope you liked it. And don't worry, those of you who are wondering why I'm straying from 'Custody', I'm getting there. I've been suffering from a bit of writer's block and decided to write a few One-Shots in order to get me started up again. I hope to get back to that soon enough. But yeah, I hope you liked the story! Stay amazing! Later!

Rena