The July heat was absolutely baking as Ness staggered into the house after an intense training session in the backyard, silently cursing that they didn't have an indoor training room (Although a few Smashers had tried training in the basement, Samus had threatened to kill them if they did it again after Kirby and Fox broke part of the washing machine). The temperatures were hitting into the 90s and 100s every day, and it made most everyone cranky.

Jogging up the stairs, Ness frowned as he saw the bathroom door locked. Due to the heat, everyone had to take showers after training or matches. This would be fine, if people didn't hog the bathroom so much. Ness had no doubt whoever was in there had been in for quite some time, simply that's because what always happened in the house, and someone had been in the bathroom before he went out to train. He gave a sharp knock on the door. "Hurry up!"

'Be patient!" The reply, muffled by the noise of running water and the wood door, belonged to Fox. Ness huffed and slouched against the wall. Fox better rinse the shower this time... He thought, wiping sweat off his forehead as he sat and waited. As he did, he noted his bangs were getting long. They almost covered his eyes. It wasn't just his bangs either. All of his black hair was getting quite shaggy. Although normally he wouldn't notice the untamed raven locks, they pushed out from under his hat currently, giving him a ragamuffin look. Come to think of it, Ness couldn't remember the last time his hair had been cut, which explained why it was practically touching his shoulders in the back.

The door swung open at last, and Fox walked out, fur still damp. "Did you rinse the shower?" Ness called back at his retreating form.

"Yes." Fox answered. "By the way, wash your hair. Mario's orders. He's cutting it with Luigi after you get out. That, and it's greasier than Falcon's fried chicken, and I didn't think that was possible."

"Hey!" Ness scowled. "That's impossible! That chicken had enough grease to give a guy a heart attack!" He got no reply other than a small snort as Fox descended down the stairs. Sighing, the psychic went into the bathroom.

Emerging around twenty minutes later, now clean, Ness dumped his filthy clothes and wet towel in the hamper. Bounding down the stairs, he strolled into the hallway.

"Ness? Is-a that you?" Mario's voice came from the dining room.

"Yep." Ness replied, walking into the room. "Fox told me you were going to cut my hair?" Noting the chair pulled away from the table, Ness walked over and took a seat. Mario nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! Luigi is-a getting the scissors. Ready to-a lose some of that bulk?" The plumber said with a smile. "I'm-a sure it must-a be hot."

"It is. I think the last time I cut my hair was months ago, and that was just trimming my bangs." Ness said, messing with the offending piece of hair. "Honestly, I could pass for a girl right now!"

Mario gave a small laugh, eyes twinkling in amusement. "That's a bit of an-a exaggeration, but I'm-a sure you'll feel cooler without it." Ness tugged off his hat and reverently placed it on the table. Ness was hardly a careful person, but he always treated his hat as though it was made of delicate glass. Sure, his friends laughed about it, but that hat had been through a lot of things with him, and it had been his father's. It was practically an heirloom.

Luigi wandered in with a pair of old silver scissors in his hands. "Are you-a ready?" He asked Mario, who nodded in response. Taking a bit of Ness's pitch black hair, Mario accepted the scissors and snipped at it, occasionally asking Luigi to hold some of it aside. It was all going just fine until Ness heard that accursed word, instilling a feeling quite like his blood freezing over in him.

"Oops."

Ness's eyes widened as he heard the small word escape from Luigi's mouth. "What did you do?!" He demanded at once. "I swear if you messed up..."

Now the young psychic heard a small, nervous laugh. "Ah, n-no. We didn't. Just uh, dropped-a the scissors." The man's nervousness was almost tangible, especially to a psychic as emotionally tuned as Ness. Worse yet, he could sense another emotion from both brothers - panic.

"How-a do we fix this?" He heard Luigi hiss to Mario.

"Just-a keep going and don't-a say a word." Mario answered back. Ness heard the scissors begin snipping again, more frantically this time. It was clear they were trying to reverse some kind of damage.

Looking back, Ness should have stopped them right there, but regretfully, he did not.

He sensed something next almost like Luigi's emotions wincing - that couldn't be good. "Ok, seriously. What did you do?" He asked again. He got no response other than a brief hesitation, then the snip of scissors, and a sharp gasp.

"That's it!" He yelled, springing out of the chair. "If you won't tell me, I'll see myself!" With that, he stormed out of the dining room, sprinting through the hallway to the downstairs bathroom, all while ignoring Mario's frantic "No-a, don't look!"

Flipping on the lightswitch, Ness yelped and recoiled at his own reflection. He was no longer shaggy - now, he had a haircut that looked like a bowl cut had a baby with a bald head, with the grandfather being a head with ringworm. (Perhaps he was being a tiny bit dramatic, but the point stood that his new hair sucked.)

Staggering back in the dining room, Ness stared down the two sheepish looking plumbers with a poisonous glare. Hesitantly, Mario raised the pair of scissors again, and Ness took a step back.

"Don't you dare touch my bangs."

Ness spent the remainder of the day hiding in his room, trying to fix his hair by any means possible. Hair products and combing were only covering up the unsightly bald patch on his right side, leaving the rest just awkwardly...there. Even his trusty hat could only cover up so much of it.

Finally, Ness simply grabbed a towel from the bathroom and wrapped it around his head before placing his cap on top. He looked ridiculous - but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Seeing it was dinnertime, he gave a loud sigh and walked downstairs, entering the dining room as though it was a crime scene and he might see something terrible there. The others stared at him blankly, unsure why their resident youth had seemingly developed a questionable taste in hair accessories out of nowhere.

Mario and Luigi entered with plates of food, wincing as they saw the animosity in Ness's eyes from his seat at the dining table. Sitting down with the rest of the group, they began to eat, both the brothers and psychic uncharacteristically quiet.

"Are we not going to acknowledge the elephant in the room?" Falcon said, gesturing at Ness. "Why do you have that thing on your head?"

"None of your business." Ness retorted sullenly. A few of the Smashers looked even more confused. It was bizarre to see the normally sunny psychic acting so bitter.

Mario sighed and shook his head. "We gave him a bad haircut."

"HEY!" Ness slammed his fist on the table, rattling the dishes. "Maybe I was trying to keep that a secret and would have rather you not share it with everyone?"

"We were bound to find out eventually." Fox said, sipping his water. "What were you going to do during matches? Can't fight with a towel on your head, after all." Donkey Kong grunted his agreement next to him.

"Jig-Jig!" Jigglypuff exclaimed. Ness shook his head and scowled.

"No! No! I am not showing it!" He muttered. The psychic's irritation and embarrassment was reaching a peak, face flushed a deep red. "Stop..."

"We won't laugh." Link spoke up. Many looked surprised. The Hylian usually chose to communicate only through gestures.

Ness took a deep, shuddering breath. "Fine." He mumbled. He pulled the towel off, revealing the mess of a haircut he had. "Look, it's terrible. Can I please put the towel back now?" He braced silently for the laughs he was sure were to come.

"If you wore your hat tilted up more, it will hide some of the bald patch."

Ness blinked in surprise as Falcon, of all people, offered his advice. Hesitantly, he tilted it the way he advised. Samus nodded in approval.

"Once it grows back a little, you can trim off on the other side so it looks even." She recommended, studying it.

"Combing your hair completely flat in the back will make it less noticable too." Falcon added again. "It won't be fantastic, but it'll save some of your dignity."

Ness sat and stared, openmouthed, at the fact that his fellow Smashers were being genuinely helpful. Mario cleared his throat, somewhat awkwardly, and looked Ness in the eyes.

"Ness...we're-a really sorry about-a ruining your hair." He apologized, Luigi nodding at his words with a morose appearance. Staring at his reflection in the water glass, Ness contemplated what to say. True, the plumbers had saddled him with a mar on his appearance he could be teased for... but no one had. They were all helpful, and supportive, shocking the young boy.

People always did manage to surprise him.

Looking up, Ness met their gaze with a genuine smile. "It's alright. Maybe someday I'll be able to look back at this and laugh."

And indeed, in the later tournaments, he would recount this time with an embarrassed, but humorous, outlook.

I think everyone's had a bad haircut at some point.

I'M NOT DEAD! :D Still kicking. Sorry this took so long- writer's block is a jerk. I'm here and a year older! (My birthday was on the 28th)

I was blown away at how much y'all liked the previous chapter! Thanks so much for your support!

Quick question: would anyone be interested in a Discord server? If I made one, I'd probably post art and ideas and y'all could yell at me to hurry up, Haha. As well as share your own stories and art! But I'd only do it if I saw interest. I haven't seen many fanfiction writers' discords.

Thanks for the love, y'all!

-EBC