Ship: Constitutionshipping (Yugi Mutou x Rebecca Hawkins|Rebecca Hopkins x Mahad)

Sorry about the huge delay on this. There's no point in giving you guys excuse, so let's just get to the story, yeah?

Yugi grimaced into the mirror. It was all over the place, hanging in his face and down onto his shoulders.

It was getting too long. Not even copious amounts of hair product could get it to stay up anymore.

He puffed the hair out of his face with a resigned sigh.

Rebecca laughed. "I've never seen you wear a beanie before, Yugi!" and she hid her giggle behind one small hand.

He pursed his lips. Heat filtered into his cheeks.

"Ah, come on." She nudged him with her elbow. "You don't look bad, or anything."

He sucked his upper lip between his teeth loudly. "Yeah, well, it's better than what's under the hat, I assure you."

"Oh?" She shifted her hold on the bar above her head to face him more fully. The bus rocked, and the light flashed and shifted across the lenses of her glasses.

He looked around discreetly. No one was watching. He took the black beanie off and grinned at her sheepishly.

Her jaw dropped, and she immediately raised a hand to cover her mouth again. "Oh my god," she laughed.

"So the beanie's staying," Yugi murmured, tugging it back on. He tried all he could, and by the time he needed to leave, it was too late to try to wash his hair and straighten anything out. Thus, he resorted to the most horrific manbun to ever grace the face of the earth (in his opinion).

"You really, really need to get it cut," she snickered. It was quite obvious that she was holding off rather boisterous laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, but any time I tried to get it cut the way I like in the past, it got absolutely butchered," Yugi grumbled. Surprisingly, the only one who had any skill in cutting his hair in a way that was optimal for his particular style was Grandpa (who showed rather surprising skill in wielding a pair of scissors), but, with Yugi this far away from Domino City, Grandpa was simply no longer an option.

"I know a guy," Rebecca sang.

Yugi sighed, skeptical. "So you've said."

"C'mon, Yugi!" She playfully pushed and pulled on the strap to his backpack. He swayed back and forth with the gentle force. "Just trust me! The guy's called 'The Magician.' Let him work his magic on that wild mop of yours!" She leaned closer, a devious smile crawling onto the deceptively innocent planes of her face. "And he's cute, with a nice butt to boot."

"Rebecca!" Yugi hissed, flushing darker.

"Not as nice as yours, though," she simpered, and her brows waggled.

"Oh my god." He tugged the edge of the beanie down to cover his blistering face.

Rebecca always made her interest in him more than obvious, and he still didn't know how to respond to her flirtations, no matter how badly he wanted to. She was intelligent and witty and fierce and never afraid to speak her mind, to hell with the consequences.

And she accepted him for who he was, bisexuality and all, and he couldn't ask for a more perfect girl.

"Thank you," he muttered. His eyes were still hidden behind the edges of his beanie, but he leaned gently against her shoulder. "You…" He paused, licked his lips that had suddenly gone bone dry. "You…"

And then the bus was hissing and sputtering to a stop.

"Let's go!" Her little hand was on his wrist and tugging him to leave.

With a yelp and a frantic adjustment of his beanie, Yugi stumbled after her. The moment was gone, and the words died on his lips.

You have a nice butt, too.

Totally awkward and maybe a little creepy. Good thing he didn't get the chance to do it.

"What were you gonna say?" she asked. Her fingers were still wrapped around his wrist, until they slipped down and intertwined with his own.

"Um." He chuckled. A gentle squeeze to her hand, one that she reciprocated with a wide smile. "N-Nothing important, I guess."

"So, what do you think?" she asked. She was playfully swinging their hands back and forth. Whenever he gave her an inch, she took a mile. And Yugi kind of liked it.

Yugi shook his head and looked away from their clasped hands. "Uh, about what?"

"Well, about trusting me and letting me bring you to my stylist, of course, silly."

"Oh." He laughed. Of course, of course. "Well, uh, I guess I'll think about it."

She pursed her lips dramatically, like a duck face. He laughed quietly. "I guess I'll take it, for now. It's progress, I suppose."

But she knew when to back down.

"Thanks, Becks," Yugi murmured.

"No problem. But I'll probably be back to bothering you about it, tomorrow."

"Thanks for the warning."

"Of course, Yugi!"

"Another beanie day?" Rebecca asked, sighing, leveling Yugi with that reprimanding side-eye.

He frowned and fiddled with the hat. "It's kinda growing on me…"

"Sure, sure," she snorted. "You've got another horrendous man bun hiding under there again, don't you?"

He deflated. "Yes."

She patted his shoulder, then, like a striking viper, suddenly latched onto his hat and tugged viciously on it.

"Hey!" he yelped and clutched the material to his head with an iron grip.

The beanie wasn't even on his head anymore because of the force with which she was pulling on it, but at least it was covering up his haphazard topknot because of his clenching fingers.

"Holy cheezits, it's even worse today!" she gasped.

He glared up at her. He finally managed to wrangle his head out of her grasp and readjusted the hat. "You couldn't even see it," he grumbled.

"I didn't need to, sweetcheeks. I could tell," she snickered.

"No, you couldn't."

"Sure, sure, like you know what I can and can't tell."

He laughed and shook his head, and her arms hooked around his elbow. "Yu~gi!" she sang.

"Ugh, fine, yes, whatever," he groaned.

"You didn't even hear what I had to say!"

"I could tell."

"How did you know I wasn't going to ask something incredibly embarrassing?"

"Either way, I suspected it was going to be hell."

"Too true, too true."

He snorted.

"Oh, c'mon, it's not going to be that bad. I'll make the call right now."

"Okay."

Rebecca had to continue to drag him into the salon when they finally arrived. Yugi didn't dig his heels in, but he was in no rush to cross the threshold, either. With his other hand, he fidgeted with the edge of his beanie, as was a nervous habit that developed over the past several days. Already from the looks of it, the place was chic, high-end.

Yugi dug his heels in harder, the thick soles of his leather boots stuttering over the sidewalk. "Becks…"

She peered over her shoulder. Her sandy blonde hair half-obscured her face. "Yugi?"

"I…" His eyes rolled up to look at the sign sprawling above the windows of the storefront. He tugged at his beanie. "I don't think I can afford this place."

The crease in her brow softened. "It's on me. Don't worry about it."

"Becks…"

Her tone hardened, brooking no argument. "I said don't worry about it." Another firm tug had him stumbling after her.

"Okay…" He'd still make it up to her later, somehow.

The door opened with a gentle chime. The interior of the salon gleamed with bright lighting and a clean modern interior design. Low conversation, faint music, roaring blow dryers, buzzing clippers, and snipping scissors mixed to create a low din that filled the ears with a strange pleasantness. The air smelled aromatic, cloying, and a tad overwhelming with a concoction of hair products used by the stylists. Semi-circular reception desk squatted in front of a large arrangement of shelves showing off rows and rows of brightly bottled products.

A woman, dark-skinned and bright-eyed, waved exuberantly from her seat behind that gabbro counter. "Hey, Rebecca!"

"Hi, Mana," Rebecca chirped back, and Yugi stood quietly at her side. She was still holding his hand. "We've got an appointment with Mahad at two-thirty."

"Of course, of course." And she clacked away on the computer for a moment. "You've come to the right place," she added, smiling brightly and meeting Yugi's eyes for a moment. "He's probably wrapping up his previous appointment right now. Feel free to sit and wait for a moment." From behind the raised edges of the desk, she lifted a large ceramic bowl decorated with dozens of tiny pink stars. "I have some candy if you want some!'

Yugi shook his head with a smile. "My grandpa told me not to take candy from strangers."

Mana and Rebecca both giggled, and heat rushed to Yugi's cheeks.

"You're so cute," Rebecca cooed, before she shoved one of the wrapped chocolates into his free hand. "Take the damn candy."

"Geeze, fine."

Mana laughed again – she had a very bright, delightful laugh – and Rebecca pulled Yugi over to the waiting chairs.

"I really think you're going to like him," Rebecca chattered, nearly buzzing with excitement in her seat. Between her soft, small hands, she was playing with one of Yugi's, running her fingers over his knuckles, along the lines on his sensitive palm, skirting around his short, blunt nails, then darting between his fingers to skim the minute webbing at the vertices.

It was making Yugi's hand tingle and made blood rush to his cheeks, but it would be a lie if he said that he wasn't enjoying himself. "I mean, I don't doubt you" – Yugi liked most people – "but does it really matter if I like him?"

Rebecca gasped, scandalized. "Of course, it matters! Finding a stylist you get along with is half the work! You said your grandpa did your hair for you, right? Well, imagine if you couldn't hold a conversation with him the whole time he was in your face, cutting your hair, the like? It would be awkward as hell."

"That's true."

A person striding in front of them to check out caught their attention.

Stylish tight red pants, a matching vest over a black shirt, the man seemed to be on the cutting edge of fashion, but most notable was his hair, dark and glossy and falling down around his shoulders in perfectly styled curls. It was a curtain of silky ebony locks, and the only thing Yugi could think about was I want to touch it.

"That must have been his appointment," Rebecca whispered. "Look at that hair."

"Oh, trust me, I'm looking at it," Yugi mumbled back, not even trying to hide his awe.

"Rebecca," a calm, measured voice greeted.

Yugi turned his head.

A tall man, skin a warm, rich bronze, stood in that gap between the wall and the shelves. A tight white shirt clung to his torso, his legs incased in dark jeans and shoes sensible for standing on one's feet all day, but the view was mostly blocked by an imperial purple apron. The material had a smooth gleam, like silk, but when he shifted on his feet, it moved like it was made from a thicker substance.

"Mahad!" Rebecca called happily, and she stood abruptly, dragging Yugi out of his seat.

The smallest of smiles twitched at the man's lips. Yugi's heart stuttered in his chest. He had long, well-kept hair, and the bits around his face were cut to frame it perfectly.

"Yugi here needs your expert hands. Believe it or not, he's got quite the mess lurking under this cute beanie of his," Rebecca announced. When she made to try to peel the hat off again, Yugi thought for a moment about hissing and spitting like a feral cat but ultimately let her tug it off.

Mahad's dark eyes widened the smallest fraction.

The smile Yugi gave him in return was entirely sheepish.

"Yeah, it's not so pretty when it grows out, but I have a picture here of it before Yugi went bushman style, and I think it's right up your alley."

Mahad nodded then. "I'll see what I can do." With a languid gesture of his wrist, he turned on his heel and walked deeper into the salon.

The back of Mahad's hair was half-up, and Yugi watched that lustrous brown ponytail bob and swayed as Mahad walked. The rest fell down in straight strands well past the nape of Mahad's neck to trail off between two defined shoulder blades. Even from this angle, Yugi could see that straight posture, tall and proud, and naturally his eyes followed the perfect line of Mahad's spine to where the apron strings were wrapped around that lean waist to dangle over – Oh wow, Rebecca really wasn't lying when she said –

"I told you he has a nice ass," Rebecca hissed into his ear with more than a little giddy excitement.

"Becks!" he whisper-yelled, and anxiously pushed her face away with a gentle palm. "Not so loud."

"I wasn't that loud," she mumbled. Her lower lip curled out into a pout.

Either way, Yugi wasn't sure if he could ever get his blush to fade away at this rate. If Rebecca found his thoughts that readable, then he really needed to get his wandering eyes under control.

Behind the shelves, the salon was bustling with activity. All the stylists at all the stations were hard at work on their clients. Yugi wondered if it was always this busy.

Mahad stopped at the one empty chair. "Please, take a seat."

Yugi did so, peeling away from Rebecca's hand, and she was quick to whip out her phone and show Mahad an older picture of Yugi, back when the last semester first started. They had become fast friends, and it wasn't long after meeting in a graphic design class that they were regularly hanging out. This picture in particular was when they went out to get ice cream on a very hot early autumn day.

Yugi had chocolate ice cream all over his mouth and chin. It was rather embarrassing, and when Mahad gave another one of those small, subtle smiles at the sight, Yugi buried his face in his hands and genuinely contemplated just finding a hole to go die in.

"This is what the front looked like…" She swiped her thumb through the album to find another picture, hopefully a less mortifying one. "This is the back. Think you can do that?"

A solemn nod. "Of course." He turned away from her, and toward Yugi. He plucked a long piece of fabric from the hook on the wall. It was a smock, and its color was a perfect match to the apron Mahad donned. With a skilled flourish, he draped it over Yugi. Despite the glossy appearance, it was rough to the touch.

Yugi gasped, hands gripping at the arms of the chair, as it suddenly began to rise, jerkily.

Mahad chuckled, low and quiet. One of his feet was pumping at a lever on the chair's lower half. Of course, of course.

Yugi might as well just accept bright tomato red as his skin color at this point. Embarrassment? What embarrassment? This was just Yugi's reality now.

Long fingers gently plucked the hair tie from Yugi's bedraggled manbun. "Would you like your hair shampooed and conditioned?"

Yugi glanced to Rebecca. She was in one of the waiting chairs positioned perhaps a meter in front of him. She nodded vigorously with both of her thumbs up. "Magic hands" she mouthed, nodding toward Mahad.

What? Yugi wasn't sure what that meant, but he stuttered a "S-Sure" out anyways.

Mahad hummed in reply. Some clanking and thudding echoed behind Yugi. He tried to look over his shoulder, but Mahad was already back at his side. "I'm going to recline the chair now, okay?"

"O-Okay."

A strong, calloused hand cradled the back of his neck, and Yugi couldn't help but stare at the man hovering over him as he was guided down, until his neck was resting on a divot of a hair-washing station. The counter was on hinges that allowed it to swing open vertically. But Yugi was hardly paying attention.

Mahad's hair fell a little from around his face, revealing a smooth forehead and high cheekbones and defined temples.

H-Handsome.

Hissing and warm, water rushed through a nozzle. Mahad wetted Yugi's hair, down to the scalp. "Is the temperature good?"

The focused rush of warm water across Yugi's sensitive nerves had him melting in the seat, his eyes closed. "Ummm…" His eyebrows furrowed for a moment as he struggled against catatonic state to produce words with his thickened tongue. "Y-yeah. Perfect."

It was so foreign to have someone else's hands in his hair, smoothing through it, making sure it was properly saturated with water, but it was undeniably nice. He hardly noticed one hand leaving, didn't notice at all the sound of a bottle cap snapping open, but he definitely noticed when Mahad held it a handful of centimeters from his face. "Is the scent of this shampoo suitable to your tastes?"

The aroma of coconuts and mangos and sunshine on the beach washed his senses, and Yugi smiled sleepily. "Yeah, that smells good."

A humming chuckle, and then those skilled, long fingered hands were kneading the shampoo into his hair, into his scalp, and he tightened his fingers on the arm rests for fear of melting into a puddle on the ground.

Magic hands.

He understood now.

Goddamn, he'd really been missing out all his life having Grandpa cut his hair.

"Head up a little," that low voice murmured, and Yugi did so with an uncomfortable twinge to his brow, but it was worth it when Mahad's hand quickly but thoroughly lathered the hair just above the nape of Yugi's neck.

Yugi tried his best not to purr. No wonder cats and dogs liked getting petted so much.

The rinse, the conditioner, and the rinse after that all happened in a honey-sweet, warm water haze, and Yugi was more than a little disappointed when Mahad guided him into sitting back up. Mahad smoothed the knots out of Yugi's hair with a wide-toothed comb and settled a small towel on his shoulders to keep his dripping locks from soaking him.

"You look like a wet kitten," Rebecca giggled, looking up from the magazine she had plucked off the side table.

Yugi wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out at her. "Rude."

"How short do you want me to cut your hair?" Mahad asked. His fingers were carding through the wet strands, sectioning them off with clips, and the occasional gentle scrap of fingertips on Yugi's scalp made him shiver.

"Just shorter than in the picture," Yugi answered, narrowing his eyes at Rebecca when she waggled her brows at him.

And Mahad went to work, the snip snip snip of the scissors fluttering in Yugi's ears, and the little chunks of hair pitter pattered onto the shoulders of the smock, fell down the slanted front of it, and some tumbled right to the floor.

"Do you go to the same college as Rebecca?" Quiet and measured, so much so that Yugi nearly missed it.

"Yeah. We met in a graphic design class last semester." Yugi tried not to jostle too much as he talked. "She decided to be bothersome on the first day, and we've been friends ever since."

"Hey, I heard that!"

"Never a dull day with that one, I imagine," Mahad chuckled, sliding hair between his fore- and middle finger, comparing lengths of the strands. Compared to Grandpa's technique, Mahad was quick and efficient, but at the same time meticulous, always taking the time to double-check his work.

"Oh, you have no idea," Yugi stage-whispered back.

"I think I can infer from my interactions with her," Mahad replied with that small, private smile.

Throughout the Yugi's time in his chair, Mahad displayed remarkable skill at starting and continuing conversations despite hardly talking himself. He would drop a question or a sentence or two, and it would lure more and more words from Yugi's lips. Rebecca joined the conversation, and there was a solid minute or two of bickering between the two friends while Mahad listened with that small smile. It felt natural, one of the most natural interactions Yugi had with a new person in a long time. And that was saying something, as Yugi was naturally a very friendly and open person.

It seemed like it was over far too soon, though he had spent the better part of an hour and a half in Mahad's chair.

"Oh my gosh! It looks great!" Yugi gushed, admiring his new haircut in the mirror. The admission hurt a little, but it was definitely a higher quality than Grandpa could ever manage.

"I'm happy that you like it," Mahad murmured, standing beside Yugi, ruffling his fingers through the freshly shorn strands as if once again checking over his work.

Yugi's cheeks heated at the touches.

"I told you," Rebecca squealed, glomping him from behind. "You were afraid for no reason!"

"I hope you enjoy the rest of your day," Mahad said after Rebecca slipped him a tip wrapped in a napkin.

"You, too!" Yugi called, waving as they started to walk out. "Thanks again." He quickly turned to Rebecca. "What was the napkin about?"

She ignored him in favor of Mana, to whom she paid the rest of the bill for Yugi's haircut.

"Rebecca," he prodded, both figuratively and literally as they walked out the door.

"Our numbers," Rebecca said with a beaming grin. "Do you think Mahad would like to be in a throuple with us?"

"Becks!" he groaned, pressing his palms to his face.

"Just kidding," she sang. "Except not. I think he'd be into it."

"I can't believe you."

"I can. I'm awesome."

The End

The one who requested this asked for hairstylist!Mahad, and my older sister is a professional hairstylist. When she was still learning, I was oft a guinea pig 'neath her unlearnt blades XD She still cuts my hair, actually, but not recently, since I've started growing it out.

Anyways, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to request a character if you want to!

Next ship: Mistshipping (Otogi Ryuuji|Duke Devlin x Kajiki Ryouta|Mako Tsunami) Pt 2