Yami and Yugi, much to the disbelief of their friends, did not use hair products. Sure, they used shampoo and conditioner (Yami had taken a little time to learn about how and why he had to utilize them, as in his era, there had not been so many hair-care necessities), but had no use for gels or sprays. Their hair, as much as neither of them could understand it, just always stood up on its own. Which, considering how many times the pair and their friends had slept outside, or been woken up first thing in the morning, was still a mystery.

At first, when Yugi had been a child, he would try to brush it down. Now that he was older, though, he actually saw it as a part of himself. Unfortunately, neither one was exempt from having bad hair days. Especially when one had revenge hanging over his head.

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"Yami?" Yugi called through the bathroom door. "Is everything alright? You've been in there almost forty minutes now."

"I, ah, I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute." Yami's flustered voice came through the door.

"Are you sure? You don't usually take this long."

"I'm sure. " Yugi then heard the unmistakable sound of his partner sigh. "Just out of curiosity, you remember telling me that Bakura could very easily get into this house, right?"

" . . . Yeah, why?"

There was a pause, and then the bathroom door swung open. "Please don't say you told me so. I'm fully aware of the fact."

Yugi could only stare. Yami's long, iconic, star-shaped hair was dripping wet . . . and hanging around his shoulders. "What . . . what happened?"

"I'm fairly certain Bakura did something to my shampoo."

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"This will look good on you until your hair goes back to normal." Grandpa pulled out a spare bandana and deftly tied it around his grandson's head. Yami, ignoring the extra attention focused on his head, just took another bite of his toast.

"Grandpa, he looks kinda like a hoodlum now. I don't think you want him behind the till today like that."

"Thank you, Yugi. That really helps." He finished his breakfast and put his plate in the dishwasher. "And thanks, but no thanks, Grandpa." He handed the black cloth back to the elder.

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"Yami, I got this. Don't you worry, pal." Joey bounded over behind the counter and helped himself to his friend's head. "Tea, go down to the corner store and buy some hair ties." Without another word, he got to work grabbing small clumps of hair and fiddling with them until Tea got back.

"Is this enough?" She asked, handing them over.

"Yeah, that'll be good. Just need to tie these off now. And done." He tied the last clump of hair off and held up Tea's make-up mirror. "What do you think?"

" . . . I look like that dancing guy, Johnny Steps. How did you manage to do so many braids?" Yami asked, examining his friend's work.

"Serenity went through a phase where she'd try to find as many hair styles as she could." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess I still haven't lost my touch."

"My turn!" Tristan snickered, grabbing the brush Tea held out to him. He, to the displeasure of both Joey and Yami, quickly began to undo the hair ties and brush out the braids, grinning when he noticed they had left the game king's hair . . . what had his big sister called it? Cramped? No, crumped. Crimped.

"What do you think you're all doing?" Yami grumbled, still attempting to preserve what little dignity he could. "I'm not a toy."

"Until whatever Bakura did to your hair wears off, Yami," Yugi grinned down at his brother, still seated behind the check-out counter, "that's exactly what you are."

"Okay. Now what do you think of my masterpiece?" Tristan crossed his arms and stuck his chest out proudly.

They all remained silent, trying to understand just what they were all seeing. Yami, knowing by the looks on their faces that he didn't want to know what had happened on his head, closed his eyes and hid his face.

"Masterpiece . . . huh?" Tea ventured. "What's it called? 'All thumbs'?" Yami's locks had been messily tied up into crooked pigtails right on top of his head. While his blonde and red tips had given his braids flair, though, they now just served to make him look even more ridiculous.

"I don't want to see." Yami till hadn't uncovered his face.

"Okay, you know what? Leave this to a professional." Tea took Tristan's place behind the now-prideless, pigtailed, pharaoh. "I'll make this work for you." Yami didn't say anything. Thirty seconds later, Tea held her mirror in front of him again. "Well?"

" . . . I look like a-," he trailed off, not sure exactly how to finish his sentence, but he liked how he looked.

"Young college professor?" Joey tried.

"Poet?" Yugi tilted his head to the side. Tea had pulled the majority of his hair back into a single ponytail, but left his bangs and some of his red-tipped ebony hair hang long on either side of his face.

"I like it like this." Yami turned his head form side to side. It really looked different, but in a good way.

"Alternatively, I can do this." Tea removed the hair tie, brushed one side of his bangs back into the ponytail, and let out a bit more black hair for the other side. Then she tied his hair up once more and had him look in the mirror. Now his hair covered one eye, while the rest was out of the way behind his head. "What do you think of this?"

"I look-,"

"Like a bad boy?" Joey tried again.

"Like you should be wearing more leather?" Yugi stifled his laughter behind his hand.

"Hot?" Tristan saw the expressions suddenly turn his way and held up his hands. "I grew up with my big sister in the house. Forgive me for knowing what teenage girls find attractive."

Yami smiled and shook his head a bit, making his bangs swish from side to side. "I was going to say half-blind, but I guess those work, too."

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"You really do look different like that. I nearly had a heart-attack when you signed in." Casey chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry. I think I pretty much learned my lesson about pranking Bakura." Yami had had Tea change his hair back to the 'young college professor' look once they'd played around a bit more. "How's Mouser doing?"

Casey, in response, bent down to retrieve the feline from his spot at her feet. "He caught a mouse the other day."

"Really?" Yami smirked at the tiny face sniffing at the computer screen. "That's great."

"Yeah." Casey rubbed his head, "And then he put it right in the middle of the dinner table. Most awkward welcoming party my family has ever thrown." She laughed.

"Who were you welcoming?" Yami reached across his desk and grabbed Mouser's original collar, jingling the bell in front of the camera and chuckling as the black and white cat pawed at the other computer to get at it.

"A new family moved in next door. They seem nice, but weren't that happy with Mouser's offering." She turned to look at the clock on her wall, and then looked back into the camera. "I've got to go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Goodbye." Yami was reaching for the disconnect button when Casey suddenly stopped him.

"Oh, and by the way, I think whatever your friend did to your hair is starting to wear off. I wanted to see if you would notice, but you should probably look in the mirror before going anywhere."

They signed off and Yami went to the bathroom to find that, sure enough, his hair was back to defying both logic and gravity. His bangs were standing straight up while the rest of his hair was attempting to follow suit, but, as it was still in the hair tie, it made him look rather comical. "Thief King, this isn't over yet."

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Rule 37: No more messing with my hair (I can do worse to yours than just dying it)

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This was requested by ShatterTheHeavens.

Don't forget to review! And go check out my latest one-shot, Yami's Movie Commentary, if you want some more humor!