Mai struggled through a knot in Joey's unkempt hair, finally stopping to sigh and glare at him. "You know, Joey, you could stand to brush your hair more often."
He just shrugged and grinned playfully. "If I did that, what would you do when you come over?"
She considered taking the bait before deciding it wasn't worth it. Instead, she returned to brushing and ignored the hypothetical nature of the question, pretending to consider it seriously. "I could style it or something." Her voice turned a bit more genuine with further consideration. "I wonder what you'd look like if you lost the gel and wore it down. Maybe curled or something." As she talked, she worked through his bangs.
He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you how I'd look. Lame. I'll stick to big and poofy."
"That's no fun," she said with a playful pout, not pausing in her progress.
"You want fun, you can hang out with your girlfriend." His face held a mock-annoyance as she just sighed fondly.
A silence hung. Not an uncomfortable silence, by any means. An amused, somewhat warm, silence.
"So," she said, startling them both by breaking that silence. "Speaking of my girlfriend."
"Yeah?" he asked, turning back toward her slightly and nearly causing the hairbrush to catch in a snarl. "How's that going?"
"What?" She said, surprised for a moment before she processed the question. "Oh. Good." Her smile grew softer as she thought "Real Good."
His voice was serious as he said, "Good. I mean, I love you, but if you ever hurt my sister-"
"I know," she interrupted, wanting to get away from this conversation topic. "And I'm so intimidated by you that I wouldn't dare. Anyway, that's not what I was gonna talk about."
"Then what is?" he asked.
"I was gonna ask if there's anyone you're into."
He flinched and his face went red. "Who wants to know?"
Of course, this only caused her smile to grow wider. "Me! Who else? I'm craving some juicy gossip!"
"Nice to know you care," he muttered sarcastically.
"So is there anyone or not?"
"Well…" he trailed off, hesitating.
"C'mon! Who's the lucky person?"
"Actually, I-"
"Or unlucky, I suppose, considering your habit of standing your significant other up." She started laughing. She hadn't meant to interrupt him, but it was just so easy.
"It was one time! And I told you, I didn't stand you up! My alarm-!"
"You know I'm just teasing, Joey, now spill!"
He paused for a moment, waiting to see is she would interrupt again and save him the need to confess. When she didn't, he sighed laboriously and said, "The thing is, it's not just one guy. They both kinda hit me at once."
She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, I've been down that road before, don't worry. Just give me names already!"
He looked embarrassed as he muttered, "Yug and Kaiba."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really? The little squirt and the guy with a fetish for a playing card?"
He turned around, suddenly put off by the lack of eye contact offered by her brushing his hair, so she reluctantly put the brush down. His face seemed uncharacteristically serious now. "Okay, first off, when's the last time you saw Yug? He's finally hit puberty, you know? He almost looks like the pharaoh."
She nodded. That made sense. The pharaoh was definitely pretty cute. "Well, okay, but Kaiba? Really? I mean, I guess he can pay the bill at the restaurant, but you two can barely be in the same room for five minutes without starting a fight!"
"You know, I was thinkin' the exact same thing. But, somehow, I just have the most fun around him. And, seriously, so does he. Sure, we're at each other's throats, but we're both grinning."
"I guess that makes sense." It didn't really make much sense to her. How could someone stand to be around someone who infuriated them?
"So what am I supposed to do?" he asked, suddenly interrupting her thoughts.
She smiled disarmingly and shrugged. "Just chill out, okay? I mean, it's not like you actually have to pick one or the other right away."
"Huh? I don't?"
She chuckled and moved so that she was behind him again and could move the brush through his hair calmingly.
She inhaled slowly and said, "You know, it's called dating for a reason. It's just a date. It's not like you're getting married or even going steady. Just ask them both out. Make sure it's different days though, that can get awkward."
"You've done that, huh? Why am I not surprised?" he said, breaking the atmosphere and causing her to run the brush roughly against his ear.
"Yowch!" he yelped, pulling away, "Easy on the merchandise, Mai!"
"Another comment like that and I take out a razor."
"You wouldn't."
"Wanna bet?"