Authors Note: Wow, this site has changed A LOT in one year...Anyway, to any of my old readers who might be reading this, good to see you! And hello to any new ones. So, this is a small multi-chapter fanfiction that is written for an awesomely amazing friend of mine. Whether she knows it or not, she helped me get back my love of fanfiction, and yaoi in general, and has been a BIG source of support in getting me to write again. I promised her a fic months ago, and well...didn't turn out so well with school. So this little thing is going to be a belated Christmas/New Years/Promise fic for her. The chapters are relatively short so far, because I don't think I need ridiculously long chapters for something with such a simple plot as this.

Warning: This work of fiction is going to be pure fluff with just a sprinkle of angst and MAYBE a dash of the good stuff (if you know what I mean). I will try my best to update weekly (more often, if I can) and get this finished within the month. I'm not expecting it to be long, 5 chapters at the most. Please read and enjoy!

Oh yes, and this is a Christmas story. A little late, I know, but...meh. I had written this mostly around Christmas, and then got busy. And distracted. So yeah. But Christmas is good any time of the year, right? Right? Guys?

Dedication: This work is dedicated to the amazing, wonderful, beautiful, talented HieiAijin1410. You rock my world and make me laugh, and you've helped me so much with getting back into writing. I hope you enjoy this!

Disclaimer: Trust me, if I owned this awesome series, it would have gone on with the original cast forever.

Chapter 1: 'Tis the Season

"What did you say?"

The testing room was loud, filled with the sounds of fake explosions, carefully chosen victory and "Game Over" music, and the hacking and slashing effect noises of Kaiba Corp's newest game. Yet everyone, even the testers engrossed in the game, heard Seto Kaiba's deadly calm voice above the din. They knew better than to stop what they were doing, but even the threat of an angry Kaiba wasn't enough to prevent several pairs of eyes from becoming onlookers to the inevitable fight.

The young CEO of Kaiba Corp, Japan's greatest gaming company, was currently towering over a young man seated before one of the many gaming consoles. Seto Kaiba looked intimidating in his dark winter trench coat and gloves (he was, after all, about to leave), and the glare on his face could have melted a glacier. But it didn't seem to affect the young man it was directed at, who just stared up at him calmly, a smirk playing at his lips.

"I said," Yami Motou, the tester, drawled, "that the game needs work. It's not ready yet; you would only be wasting money."

"May I remind you that the game you're talking about is one that I personally designed and created, and that has received passing marks from four other testers?" Kaiba wanted to wipe the smirk off of Yami's face. He had known, when his former rival had come to him two years ago requesting work, that it was a bad idea. But Mokuba had pouted and pulled the "little brother" card, and Yugi (Yami's younger twin and Mokuba's boyfriend) had given him such a plaintive look at one dinner that Kaiba had had little choice than to at least put Yami on a probationary period, which the elder Motou twin had then passed with flying colors. He had worked harder than many of the game testers who weren't on probation, he had creative ideas and suggestions, and he seemed to anticipate Kaiba's concerns with a game before he even voiced them. But now it seemed Yami had the gall to assume that just because he had a full-time job here at the company, he could now criticize work Kaiba had personally done.

Yami rolled his eyes, and placed the controller he had been using onto the tray in front of him. "Mr. Kaiba," he said (Kaiba was never able to find a hint of sarcasm when Yami called him that), "that might be the problem. How old are you?"

Kaiba scoffed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Would you please just answer the question?"

"Twenty-seven, as you know."

"And what is your IQ?"

"Far above yours, and I still don't see where these questions are heading."

"What is the game you're best at?" Yami continued, ignoring Kaiba's growing impatience.

"Would you just get on with it already?" When Yami only glared at him, Kaiba rolled his eyes and said, "Chess." He decided he didn't like that almost smug look on Yami's face, or the way he crossed his legs and folded his arms as he leaned back in the chair. Like he was the one with the upper hand.

"First of all Mr. Kaiba, those four other testers probably gave this game an okay because they were scared to lose their jobs if they criticized your work." Yami and Kaiba both glanced over at the others in the room, who all looked away. Four sitting at units similar to Yami's looked especially guilty. Yami chuckled, and then turned back to Kaiba. He held up a hand, one finger raised, and then he raised another. "Secondly, you yourself have just proven my point. This game is a creation made from your interests. Didn't you say this game was supposed to be for children ten years and older?"

"I did," Kaiba said. He was careful to sound bored, even though Yami was slowly earning his interest.

"Mr. Kaiba, this game takes too much thought for a child of ten. Your basic story is interesting, but the game play would frustrate even the most advanced child gamer. The three decks a player can choose from are unevenly made. Each one of the duels takes me at least thirty minutes to complete; a child would take even longer. And they would have to duel the same person and win many times in order to even make another enemy's territory even slightly accessible to their deck."

"Do you even have a point?" Kaiba drawled. Cold blue clashed with burning crimson as he and Yami looked at one another.

"You need to make this more accessible to children. Take out the chess aspect of the duels, and re-think how the preliminary decks are laid out. And get rid of that ridiculous notion of cards being lieutenants, generals, and god knows what else; even I tossed the information aside after five minutes of reading it."

Kaiba was silent. No doubt the others in the room thought he was angry; he knew Yami wasn't fooled, and honestly he couldn't fool himself. If he was angry, it wasn't at Yami for explaining this to him, but at the testers who hadn't pointed these things out, and at himself for not noticing them. He looked at the screen in front of Yami, where it was currently paused on the duel from the game they had been discussing. He looked at the terrain, at the monsters hovering over the cards. The brunette stepped forward, until he stood next to Yami, and reached out to grab the controller. With the information he had memorized when making the game, he forfeit the match, then opened his deck and scrolled through. Then, Kaiba chose a different opponent (this one an ugly fellow with blue hair and glasses) and began a new game. The room was silent as he worked, all eyes in the room on him. Kaiba placed the controller down ten minutes later, but didn't look at Yami.

"We'll put this project on hold until after the holidays. When the testing center opens again in four days, we'll discuss the changes that need to be made." Kaiba could feel all their eyes on him, but especially one pair in particular. He could feel Yami's eyes watching him, and somehow he knew Yami guessed everything he was thinking. He could picture them perfectly: how they would be narrowed, unwavering in their gaze, burning with Yami's intensity. The same way they were whenever they played a game together.

"Any suggestions you have today, write them down. I'll hear them out in four days. Finish what you're doing, and get out of here so we can close the building." The brunette looked at his watch. He had to meet Mokuba at the airport in an hour, and if he didn't leave now he'd get caught in holiday/rush hour traffic. "Enjoy your time off, and be prepared to work hard when you return."

"Kaiba," Yami called to him as Kaiba walked off. The brunette paused and looked back; it was never a good thing when Yami wore that smirk, but the look suited him. "Not even going to say Merry Christmas?"

Kaiba answered Yami's smirk with one of his own as he said, "Bah, humbug." Yami's laugh echoed in his ears as he walked out the door.

X X X

Yami stayed at the office until it was time for him to leave. Despite Kaiba's words, he wasn't going to hurry through his work. He knew the man wouldn't appreciate half-assed work, and he respected Kaiba (and the job the man gave him) too much to slack. Every other tester in the room had left twenty minutes after it was confirmed that Kaiba had indeed left the building. Yami had stayed behind, stubbornly playing Kaiba's ridiculously difficult and convoluted game to make it more…well, fun. The game was just as complex, irritating, and cold as Yami's employer. The rules were so intricate it was hard to feel anything towards the game.

But that doesn't describe Kaiba anymore, Yami thought with a smile. It was true, in the beginning. Kaiba had been so complex a person when they first met that all Yami wanted to do was leave him alone or wring his neck. He was stubborn, cold, indifferent, prideful, and so arrogant he could have given his rival, Duke Devlin, a run for his money. In fact, all through high school and college Yami had thought the same of Kaiba. But the shorter male enjoyed a challenge, and he had decided to view Kaiba as a puzzle. He was given an added incentive when, four years ago, Yugi had begun to date Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba. It had been a shock to all parties involved, and Yami remembered more than one argument between the Kaiba brothers.

But Kaiba, like Yami, didn't want to lose his other half. He had come to grudgingly accept the relationship, and in the past year had actually become a frequent presence at the Motou house; on Mokuba's insistence, of course. With this new relationship, Yami had to figure Kaiba out, because he would be seeing a lot more of him. He knew how deeply Yugi and Mokuba cared for one another, and how much it would mean to both of them if Kaiba and he could get along.

Yami smiled as he remembered the day he came to Kaiba Corp and applied for a job as a game tester. He had heard from both Mokuba and Yugi about how much Kaiba didn't want him working here. Yami himself had fully expected to be turned out on his ass. But he did have a major in game design, in the top five percent of his class, and he knew what Kaiba wanted better than anyone. He should, with how many games they had played together in their never-ending rivalry. Kaiba had looked like he was being put through the worse torture imaginable when Yami had come into the office expecting to be turned down, only to be offered a job as a game tester for a probationary period. If he gave satisfying results for three months, he would get the job full-time. If not…well, then he was screwed. Needless to say, Yami had worked hard and gotten the job.

And in the past two years he had gotten to know Seto Kaiba very well. He knew that Kaiba stayed late every night, sometimes working until three in the morning even when everyone went home. He knew that Kaiba took any failure personally, and worked twice as hard to make up for it. Yami knew that Kaiba made the rounds of the building at least twice, that he took his work home with him even when he stayed late, and that he preferred tea to coffee (which had been a very shocking discovery). And he had found out that Kaiba was far from the block of ice he tried to be.

Last year, Mokuba had gotten in a car accident on the way to work. Yami had been in Kaiba's office with him, discussing the possibility of making an updated version of one of Kaiba Corp's older games, when the brunette had gotten the call. Kaiba had turned pale, and he had literally fallen into his chair. Yami had never seen the other male as reckless as he had been that day. His pride and arrogance had been ripped to shreds in the face of losing the one person he cared about more than anyone else in the world. Yami had ridden with him to the hospital; had seen him all but punch the doctor who had dared to tell him no visitors were allowed. He had sat all through the night with Kaiba while Yugi got on the first plane he could from America back to Japan. All through the night they had sat in those uncomfortable chairs. And at some point, when Yami was dozing off, he had heard a soft sound.

Yami would never forget how Kaiba looked then; hunched over in the chair, his fingers clutching his hair as he fought to hold in his pain. Yami had known that Kaiba had blamed himself; had worried; had wished it had been him and not Mokuba. He had known that Kaiba had felt broken. He had also known that he couldn't comfort Kaiba the way he would later comfort Yugi; the brunette would have killed him. All he could have done (all he did do) was to brush his fingers lightly across Kaiba's shoulder. Kaiba had looked up, but Yami had closed his eyes once again.

Not much had happened, but ever since then things weren't as tense between them. They were rivals, but they were also something else. Yami didn't know what. That night many things had changed between them, including how Yami felt about the arrogant bastard.

"Not that he's ever going to notice," Yami muttered as he shut down his station. He stood and stretched, groaning as the muscles in his back ached. This job probably wasn't good for his health, but at least it was fun. Where else would he get paid for playing games? He hurriedly cleaned up his area and made sure everything was in order; Kaoru, the guy who worked the front desk, couldn't leave until he did. He shrugged on his coat, pausing when he smelled a bit of cologne that most definitely wasn't his. It was faint, but definitely there; it must have come from Kaiba, when he had stood here looking over the game. He had been so close Yami had felt the roughness of Kaiba's coat brush against his hand. Had Kaiba touched Yami's coat? He didn't know, but the smell of the cologne strangely made Yami feel warmer.

It's almost like I'm wearing his coat, he thought, and immediately blushed when he did. He coughed and buttoned up the coat, reaching under the desk to grab his bag. When he checked his phone, he noticed a message from Yugi telling him Mokuba was coming over for dinner. Which meant Kaiba would be there. If Yugi wasn't telling Yami he was going out, and he wasn't telling Yami to go away, it meant Mokuba would be joining them for dinner. And since the younger Kaiba had been gone for three weeks on a business trip, it meant the older Kaiba would join them because Mokuba would have begged and pleaded. Yami smiled and put his phone in his pocket. He had to hurry and pick up the wine. Only the best for the Kaiba brothers, after all.

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Ending Note: And here's the first installment of fluff. I know, I know, a lot of information and not a lot of action; there's more barbs, glances, touches, and all that to come, don't you worry. Anyway, I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season!

Liked it? Hated it? Let me know in a review!