Notes: I wrote this a while ago on Tumblr, but just now decided to upload it to FF.N. This takes place pre-canon, when Jounouchi and Honda are fourteen. Specifically, Jounouchi just recently turned fourteen, and Honda's a couple months shy of his fifteenth birthday. It's about February-ish here. Additionally, "sista" is how I translate the word "aneki" in my fics, and "sister" is just a translation of "nee-san." Since those words are how Jounouchi and Honda refer to Honda's older sister respectively, I figured it was worth mentioning.

Haircuts and Battletoads

Jounouchi laid back on Honda's couch, his legs draped over the armrest, as Honda knelt on the floor beside the coffee table and focused on taking out another Battle Clash boss with the Super Scope light gun. Jounouchi could see the TV screen flashing with every shot Honda took out of the corner of his eye, but his attention was mostly focused on his bangs as he held them up in front of his eyes.

"Do you think I should cut my hair?" he asked.

"What?" Honda said, but it was more of a grunt.

"Should I cut my hair?" Jounouchi asked again.

"If you want," Honda said. He pulled the trigger on the light gun rapidly, and Jounouchi squinted a little; even when he wasn't looking at the screen, the rapid flashing whenever a battle got intense still hurt his eyes a little.

"I like it longer," Jounouchi said after a second. He let his bangs fall onto his eyes before he picked them up again. "I think it looks cool."

"Then don't," Honda said.

"What?"

"Cut it. Don't cut it if you like—" Honda cut himself off with a swear, presumably because something went wrong for him against the boss he was facing, but after a moment he asked, "Why do you care about your hair, anyway?"

"I don't," Jounouchi said.

"Then what are you asking me if you should cut it for? If you don't care, why bother?"

"Dunno." Jounouchi twisted his bangs between his fingers again before he asked, "Why do you care about your hair, huh?"

"I don't care about my hair," Honda said, and he laughed a little beneath his breath as the screen flashed violently again. Jounouchi snorted.

"The way you spike it up like a doofus says otherwise. You spend time styling it li—"

"What did you just call me?" Honda demanded. Jounouchi craned his neck to look over, and saw that Honda was now staring at him, eyebrows raised, instead of at the screen.

"I called you a doofus," Jounouchi said, and after he spared a glance at the screen he added, "You just died again."

Honda looked back at the screen and swore. "That was your fault," he snapped. "Quit distracting me."

"Yeah, yeah," Jounouchi said. He looked back up at the ceiling, and ran his hand through his hair again. His bangs were so long he didn't really have to tease them to look at them, but he did again anyway. For kicks, really. It wasn't like he cared either way. "You should hurry up and finish that so we can play Battletoads."

"Dude, I don't want to play Battletoads. We have to hook up the Famicom for that and we're never gonna beat it anyway," Honda said.

"Not with that attitude," Jounouchi shot back, and Honda snorted. "But seriously, I'm bored. Let's play Battletoads."

"In a minute. I told you have to fini—son of a bitch!" Jounouchi looked over to see that Honda had died yet again, and in a fit of rage, Honda raised the light gun as if he was going to smash it against the coffee table. He seemed to think better of it in the next second as he brought it down to his lap, but his older sister Ayumu's voice still carried from down the hallway:

"Hiroto, watch your language, Mom and Dad'll be home soon!"

Honda groaned. "Yes, sister!"

Jounouchi cupped a hand around his mouth. "Hey, sista! Wanna come watch my language?"

"Shut the hell up, Jounouchi!" Ayumu yelled back, and her words were punctuated with a door slam.

"What does that even mean, does she want to 'watch your language'?" Honda asked. "What were you even trying to say?"

Jounouchi shrugged as best he could, with the way he was laying back on the couch. "Don't know. It was just the first thing that came to mind."

Honda didn't answer, and after a moment, Jounouchi rolled over on his stomach so he could watch Honda play. Honda was pretty good at the game; Jounouchi had never played Battle Clash himself, but from what he knew Honda was on one of the last bosses, and he seemed to be holding his own pretty well. Jounouchi let his arm dangle off the couch and brushed his fingers along the carpet, and after a minute he said, "I call Battletoads after your next death."

"You can call Battletoads after I beat the game," Honda said, and Jounouchi groaned and buried his face in the couch cushion.

"You've been trying to beat it for an hour and a half. You suck too much. Give it up."

"Hey, forget you, I'm doing just—" Honda's words broke off in an inarticulate yell of frustration, and Jounouchi turned his head to the side to see that, despite his marked skill, Honda had died yet again.

"Battletoads?" he said hopefully, as Honda glowered at the light gun as if he was contemplating breaking it. Honda continued to glower at it for a moment before he sighed in defeat.

"Battletoads," he said, and Jounouchi grinned as he bounded off the couch to go hook up the Famicom.