"SS" Solution

This was a Christmas present for the Lovely Electricfizz over at Livejournal. She requested a SetoxJou story and when I asked for a specific prompt she said 'something Holidayish'.

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It was a week before Christmas and he was ready to fire just about every moron employed at Kaiba Corp. The one day of the year where he could just relax and spend time with Mokuba was becoming an abstract idea with all the problems that sprung up this week. If it wasn't a bug in the server, it was a failed delivery. Or a miscalculated simulation, a misfiled report, missing supplies... how the hell does someone lose two thousand staplers? If that wasn't irritating enough, an hour before class started, the printer outside his office jammed and out of the entire floor of employees, not one was able to fix it. He ended up getting ink all over his shirt only to find out that a manufacturer's error left him with no possible way of fixing the printer himself. In the end he shouted for a new printer to be ordered and for his secretary to get the manufacturer on the phone because they owed him a new shirt.

So there he was, sitting in his limo, changing into a new shirt that his driver gave him. At least he wouldn't fire him. He'd probably give him a bonus. The vehicle pulled up in front of the school and Seto got out and headed straight for class. He still had two minutes before it started. At least the morning wasn't a total disaster. When he entered the classroom, he ignored the teacher's greeting and immediately sat down, opened his briefcase and tried to get whatever work done in the minute and a half he had.

"-too tacky. I'm sure he's gotta enough of em…"

Now he had to hear the mutt's annoying bark too? He looked up just as the owner of the voice walked in with Mrs. "Friendship is so blah blah blah". He went back to his files as the blonde sat next to Yugi and the others while muttering something about shopping and jerks and being hungry. The bell rang, silencing the dweeb patrol's chatter.

What seemed like years later, the class was dismissed and Seto made a beeline for the exit. He vaguely felt his shoulder bump into something before he was already down the hall and gaining speed. He stopped and rubbed the bridge of his nose and forehead at the inconvenient headache.

"You seem a bit more of a grouch today… what's up your ass Kaiba?"

"It's called a headache… mutt." Jou actually ignored the last end of his retort and just pulled a face. He leaned against the wall, catching his breath.

"Tell that to the poor girl you body checked." Seto paused and looked at Jou, who motioned back the way they had come. There was a group of students crouched around a girl who was sitting next to a locker, one boy fanning her, while another held up two fingers. So that must have been what he bumped into…

"Whatever. You don't have to deal with the imbeciles that I do. You and your friends can be considered rocket scientists at the moment." His eyes fell to his ink stained fingertips. He let out a frustrated growl and walked away.

Jou gave the barest of smiles.

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When he did get back to Kaiba Corp, there was a delivery of six new printers and an entire wardrobe waiting for him in the lobby. A supposed gift from the manufacturer.

He would have found some small satisfaction in this if it weren't for the fact that an overseas company wanted to start negotiations. He would have throttled his secretary if she weren't the best of his employees, but even she couldn't throw off the company's eager demands for negotiation. They had sent about a dozen fruit baskets within a few days, much to the displeasure of the Kaiba Corp CEO. He finally conceded, only because if he saw one more basket waiting for him he would most likely have an aneurism.

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The day before Christmas Eve, he was still negotiating with said company. He still had to finish some reports for his own company, and buy Yugi's cheerleader a present.

He groaned at the thought. It was all Yugi's fault. During one of Seto's weaker moments, consisting of a severe lack of caffeine, his rival had begged him to partake in his groups holiday fun. They called it Secret Santa. He got to pick a name from a small festively decorated box and was practically yelled at by the entire group when he was about to read the name on the slip.

Now that he understood the title of the ridiculous idea, it only made him dislike it even more. Either way, he would have his secretary find tickets to a ballet performance, the country up to her discretion since Seto understood nothing to do with the activity.

He figured such a present would increase the chances of her laying off the friendship speeches, even if for a week.

He could only hope.

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With a final handshake, negotiations were complete. Seto took a delight in seeing the other man wince from his very tight grip, before excusing himself.

They were the only one's in the building, being that it was Christmas Eve and he had let his employees go home to their families. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't a complete jerk. As he waited for the visiting group to leave, he silently laughed at the thought of buying out the company, firing their executives and selling the company piece by piece. He had to suppress his smirk when he thought about sending them a nice big fruit basket.

And since he wasn't such a jerk, he figured he could wait till after New Year's to do so…

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After dropping off his Secret Santa gift, which involved squeals of happiness and a very awkward hug for Seto, he was home. He walked in headed straight for the den, where Mokuba was already putting milk and cookies out. Seto reached for a cookie and Mokuba slapped his hand away.

"They're for Santa!"

"But I'm hungry Mokuba…" He clutched his stomach, feigning hunger.

His brother just laughed, gave him a quick hug and headed over towards the Christmas tree to pick which present he wanted to open. Seto sat down on the couch and swiped a cookie anyway, relaxing for the first time in months. He watched his brother pick up a gift, shake it and put it back down. He was carefully deciding which one to open, a habit that he and Seto had yet to get rid of.

Seto smiled as he watched Mokuba circle the tree and thought of the next morning, when they would visit the orphanage with a truck full of presents. Those were the moments the Kaiba brothers looked forward to the most.

"Got it! This is the one I want to open tonight!" Mokuba shouted as he held up a wrapped box that was nearly his size. Mokuba brought the present over and set it down near his brother's feet, before running out of the room. He came back moments later and handed Seto a present wrapped in duel monsters paper, complete with a gold bow.

"Jou came over while you were at work. He said to give this to you."

"Hn…" Mokuba beamed at his brother as Seto took the gift, before attacking his own present.

Kaiba stared at the box that he held in both hands, instinctively shaking it. It rattled, the noise sounding familiar. It wasn't heavy, so he doubted that it was coal. Why would the mutt give him something? Unless… Jou had gotten him for the Secret Santa.

He unwrapped the present slowly, finding a white box in his hands. He opened the box and peered inside.

A bottle of Tylenol on some soft fabric. With raised eyebrows, he picked up the fabric in one hand and the bottle of Tylenol in another. Mokuba paused from his unwrapping and tilted his head to read the tag hanging off of the fabric.

"Body…Victoria Secret… Uhh.. Seto?"

Mokuba gave his brother a confused look, but Seto was reading the card that had been underneath the items.

Seamless, nice idea, huh? Comfy and sexy, only the best for this CEO.

As for the bottle… well now at least two of you're problems are solved.

Merry Christmas Kaiba!

- Jounouchi

He stared at the card for a moment after reading it, then he looked at the bottle and lastly, the bright red thong that hung from his fingers. When he startled to chuckle, Mokuba shrugged it off and resumed his own present opening. Afterwards, they ate dinner and Mokuba rushed off to bed, eager to wake up the next morning.

As for Seto Kaiba, he went to bed, having already calculated four different possible ways of assuring that the name he selected for next year's Secret Santa, would be Jounouchi's.

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A/N: I haven't written in a few months, and as for writing for my favorite pairing.. it's been a lot longer. I had such writer's block, but Christmas morning came and so did this idea. Definitely feels nice to write the pairing... and write in general :p

Happy New Year!