Merry Christmas, my fellow crazies! And an insane new year!
Okay, I'd like to say that Miki isn't mine, as awesome as she is. She belongs to a good friend of mine, Lilac Rose6. Hi, Lilac! How'd I do? Wait, don't answer that, you haven't read it yet.
All was pretty well at the Turtle(1) Game Shop on Christmas Eve The guests were conversing, holiday carols played in the background... And the smoke detector had finally stopped beeping, thanks to a kitchen knife jammed halfway through it, courtesy of a certain, blade-loving yami.
The reason it was going off in the first place, you may ask? Simple: another, unnamed psycho-cough, Mariku, cough- had made a bet with crazy #1 that he could set the neon star on the top of the fake pine tree in the corner - which the store clerk had said wouldn't, under any circumstances catch on fire - aflame.
So now, ten bucks and several yen richer, he was told that if he so much as touched the decorations, he would be banished to the couch for a month. So he just sat next to Malik on the orange plush sofa, watching a hologram-less duel between the pharaoh and the former thief king.
The rest of the party-goers sat around the living room, chatting about their plans for New Year's, or lack there of(2).
"Prob'ly gonna just go over to Ma's an' watch the ball drop with her an' Serenity. Maybe even invite Kaiba, if I can drag 'im away from his desk," Joey Wheeler stated, giving his boyfriend-but-not-boyfriend a look that clearly said he would drag Seto Kaiba away from that laptop of his. He'd gotten him to attend this holiday party Yugi and his grandfather were hosting, somehow.
And Yami: he'd put a couple ornaments on the tree. That counted as helping.
"Aw, is wittle Joey going to have a special night with his boyfwend?" his friend, a pointy-haired brunette, taunted.
"Can it, Tristan."
"Shut up, Taylor. It's not as if you and Devlin won't be going at it as well." It was the most the CEO had said all night.
"Hey!" protested two equally embarrassed, male voices. Everyone else just laughed as four faces happened to be bright red, and not from the eggnog.
From the kitchen, three younger guests sat. On the table was a crudely draw sign that said, "14 and under area" in red and green(3). The three young teens weren't allowed to partake in the holiday beverage made from eggs, since there was alcohol mixed into it, so they sat around the oak table with steaming mugs of hot chocolate, having their own little party.
"And the funny part is, that's probably true," Miki Devlin whispered, leaning forward so the older guests wouldn't hear her. "Which is why I'll probably be spending the last night of the year at Mokuba's, if that's okay with him." She brushed graham cracker crumbs off her coal-black skinny jeans and the hem of her red turtle-neck. When she brushed back her bangs, one would notice a headband right under her hairline, adding to the contrast between red and black, along with the deep crimson of her snowboots.
"I'm sure Seto won't mind, especially if Joey gets him out of the house." The young Kaiba, unlike Miki, wore a sweater of deep blue, which brought out his eyes, along with light gray denim jeans and his own, black boots, partially hidden under the hems of his trousers. What about you, Aimi? Do you have plans?" He asked the white haired girl sitting across from him. She seemed the odd one out, with both of her companions possessing raven locks.
"I'm not at all sure," she admitted, glancing towards the living room, where her older brother was trying to give Bakura some advice on the duel, while Yugi was doing the same for his own yami. "You never can tell with Bakura. For all I know, he'll have a 'special' evening planned, and I may have to get out of the apartment to keep my sanity intact." She fiddled with a single loose thread on the sleeve of her own sweater, forest green in color. Covering her feet were a pair of slightly clunky boots she'd, ahem, "borrowed" from Bakura. But the dark-wash jeans were hers, from a back-to-school shopping trip.
Obviously fighting down a shudder, Mokuba responded, "Well, in that case, you're welcome to come over."
"Thanks, Mokie." Aimi grinned into her cocoa as she noticed Miki scoot ever so slightly closer to Mokuba. She was fully aware of the crush her friend had on the Vice President of Kaiba Corp. After all, what were female friends for, other than sharing slumber party secrets?
Reaching into the bag of marshmallows, Aimi grabbed one and leaned back in the kitchen chair, nibbling on it.
"Why do you eat like that anyway?" asked Miki.
"Eat like what?"
Miki reached over and grabbed Aimi's wrist, pointing to the remainder of the pale pillow-like snack. "Like this. You hold this little marshmallow with both hands and nibble on it like a squirrel with an acorn. You even have your pinkies out, all dainty-ish."
"Oh... I guess that's because that's the way Mum always ate them," the whitenette admitted. "She'd always eat them straight out of the bag and un-toasted. Dad was always trying to get her to try s'mores, but she just didn't like the chocolate and marshmallow and graham crackers all together. She'd eat them separately, though."
A crash sounded from the main room, followed by incoherent shouting. Three heads turned to gaze upon the chaos. From what they could see, apparently Bakura had been getting fed up with his losing streak and had tackled Yami from across the playing mat. Their poor hikari's were yelling at them to stop wrestling and apologize to each other. But the two yami's seemed unreasonable, rolling around as they were, each trying to gain the advantage over his adversary. Tristan, Joey, Duke, and Malik and Marik seemed to have formed a small group, and looked like they were betting on who would prevail. The elder Kaiba just sat back in the background, enjoying his view of the commotion.(4)
"This happens every time they're within ten feet of each other," said Aimi, hand covering the majority of her face in what one would call a "facepalm." "It's a wonder Yugi even invited us back after last year's party."
"Yeah, I heard it took a while for him to trust snowflakes again..." informed Miki.
"Can't say I can complain about Seto. He's not helping Yugi and Ryou pry Bakura off of Yami, but he's not betting on them. In the middle, I guess," said Mokuba. "I'm probably gonna have to have a talk with him when we get home."
Suddenly, a static-laden rendition of Deck the Halls played. Recognizing it as her ringtone, Aimi retrieved it from her pocket and flipped it open. Incoming Call from: Hana was displayed across the screen. She quickly answered it and set it to speakerphone.
"You've reached Aimi Bakura. Speak now or I hang up."
"Moshi moshi, Aim(5)! How's it going in the land of sushi?"
"Just fine, Hana. Say hi to Mokuba and Miki!"
"Hi, guys! Judging from that response, I bet I'm on speakerphone."
"You'd win that bet. So how's America this time of year? I've heard it's full of last minute holiday shopping."
"Hey, lady, you're not the only one wanting to get home! Sorry, Aimi, my dad just got cut off on the highway. Yes, Pop, I'm rolling up the window now."
"Tell him we say hi."
After Hana relayed the message, she asked, "So, Aimi, just wanted to say Merry Christmas and guess what? I should be back in Japan by New Years! Only bad thing is, my cousin wants to come. He is so annoying, always yammering on about this new Black Cops(6) game. So irritating, I mean-." There was a muffled sound, like someone's hand cuffing a head. "Ouch! Ron, you did that on purpose! Why I oughta-" Insert the sounds of the cousins fighting - one in the back seat, one in the passenger seat - and something that sounded like the phone hitting the dashboard.
"Your calling party has disconnected. For options..."
Aimi snapped her cell shut, grinning and rolling her eyes. "She can't get along with most people, and she was such a quiet girl when I first met her..." she mock-complained.
"Well, maybe you brought out the special person in her since then?" teased Miki.
"And you moving here helped?" Aimi refused to have the mickey taken out of her. (A/N: fear my poor attempts to make my character sound British. Yes, cower, fools)
Before Miki could respond with a comeback - all in good fun, of course - there were a couple exasperated, half-hearted calls of "Present Time!" over the din of the two dark personalities still duking it out over the card game. This was followed by warnings of, "Anyone misbehaving will have their presents given to someone else." Needless to say, Yami and Bakura straightened up instantly. Though they gave each other the odd glare with mutterings of "this isn't over."
The three young teens took their places in the relatively circle-shaped group as presents were retrieved from beneath the smoky-smelling tree. Each person had a reasonably fair number - say, around four or five festively wrapped parcels - stacked on the shag carpet in front of them.
Except for Seto. He had two, and a couple candy canes with tacky bows. And one was sugar shards in the cellophane, barely recognizable as the candy it had been once before.
The yami's ripped into theirs instantly, wrapping paper flying in all different directions like indoor snowflakes. To his credit, the Pharaoh tried to keep his mess to a minimum, unlike the Egyptian and former Thief King, who had inadvertently (Oh who are we trying to kid?) got it everywhere. Soon after the party, Yugi would find it in the bathroom. The bathroom. As in the one downstairs.
The hikari's on the other hand were trying their best to save the paper, and opening them one at a time, admiring each gift for a good minute or two before moving on to the next.
Everyone else opened theirs in what would seem to be a mix between the yamis' man-beast-like ripping, and the hikaris' slow and steady approach. So, they pretty much opened their presents like normal people.
Aimi skimmed through a couple Duel Monsters Booster Packs. Cool, Monster Reborn and Graceful Charity. I've been looking for these. Wonder if Mokuba got that Man-eater Plant from Father Christmas. Mokuba, judging by the exclamation of "Yes!" and the mini happy dance he performed while sitting on the floor, apparently did get the aforementioned trading card. And, by the looks of it, Miki had found those Dungeon Dice Monsters dice Aimi had gotten her.
Bakura had gotten a brand-spankin'-new pocket knife: unfortunately, for him, it had come with a safety-lock feature that he had yet to figure out. Ryou had recieved the Owl City album he'd been looking at for the past couple months, complete with the old-fashioned CD player and headphones to play it in.(7)
Malik and Mariku were playing with the Dobeman puppy someone had put under the tree. The note had said, "From Santa." Thing was, it was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
"Just make sure that if it goes number one and two, it's on the wrapping paper," warned Yugi, pointing to first the puppy, then the paper. "Grampa will kill me if he comes home to Doberman doo-doo." They payed little attention to him though, the more spiky-haired one looking to get ideas. Malik immediately bopped him on top of the head.
"Bad yami!" he scolded. "Yugi is our friend now!" Mariku grumbled an, "okay" and went back to the puppy that he'd named Mr. Barkums.
Joey and Tristan had recieved... well, no one really figured out what they got. But sources say they were probably some sort of food items. More than likely.
Duke had gotten Industrial Illusions' latest item, the How to Become as Manly as Maxamillion Pegasus by M. Pegasus. On the cover was a picture of the silver-haired man (guess who?) lifting a pair of pink dumbells, while wearing a pink track suit. From all of us here,(A/N: actually there's only one of us. In other words, that's just me) bringing this story to you, we hope he knows that it was a joke.
Both Yugi and the Pharaoh had purchased each other the new Duel Disk system ((c) Kaiba Corp) and several booster packs of Duel Monsters cards. They immediately retreated into a far corner to augment their decks and have their own duel. For fun, of course; but we all know how competetive our star-haired-boys can get, don't we?
Seto's gifts had consisted of a savings bond from Joey(how aggravating, but that just sums up Joey, doesn't it? But that's the reason we love him, isn't it), and a home-made card in a box from Mokuba. Can anybody guess what was drawn on the card? Here's a hint or two: It's huge, spews lightning blasts, and is the ka of the girl he fell in love with in his past life.
...Still can't guess? Well, that's too bad, isn't it?
Finally, there was only one present left unopened. It was about fist-sized, wrapped in in snowman-themed gift wrap, and was addressed, "To: Mokuba and Miki, From: A Friend." The text was typed, making it virtually impossible to identify who this "Friend" was by their handwriting.
Both dark-haired teens stared at it, seeming to be wondering what was inside. Miki was the first one to reach out and pull (okay, rip) the ribbon off. The wrapping paper immediately fell off revealing a small box, which Mokuba opened and produced...
A sprig of mistletoe. The oval-shaped, green leaves, the white berries, the whole shebang. All tied together with a pretty green ribbon.
Mokuba and Miki gaped at it. Who on earth would give them mistletoe?
That's when Aimi sprang into action.
Really, how is it I'm the only one who thought of this? she wondered as she jumped up from her spot near the tree, snatched the mistletoe out of the box, and dangled it over her friends' heads.
The younger Devlin and Kaiba blushed furiously, especially since everybody else had begun to stare at them. Even Mr. Barkums seemed to stare intently, furry brown-and-black head tilted slightly to the side. You could practically hear the unspoken chant of "Kiss! Kiss!"
Finally, eyes closed and still red as a tomato, Miki leaned in and pecked Mokuba lightly on the lips. The room erupted in cheers and applause.
"Finally!"
"'S about time!"
Miki and Mokuba looked anywhere but each other while the clapping died down. Then Miki realized who the mistletoe was from.
"Aimi!" she growled. Said friend laughed, ruffled both heads of black hair, and jumped back out of swinging range.
"Hey, it was gonna happen sooner or later. Why not a kick to get it going?"
Ryou jumped into the conversation with a "Well, I think it's time for us to be going."
"But hika-" started Bakura.
"Thank you for inviting us, Yugi," the whitenette cut off.
"No problem."
"Bye guys!" Aimi looped an arm around each of her friend's necks and hugged them quickly before following her brother and Bakura down the stairs and out the front door of the Game Shop. They were in the car before the bell above the door had a chance to tinkle.
"'Kura, put your seatbelt on. Aimi, you realize that they'll probably be at our door in the morning, demanding answers," said Ryou, keeping both hands on the wheel as the car's tires rolled over the snow-covered road.
"Hey, someone had to do it? Who better than the best friend?"
You don't have to tell me. I know it sucks. Just wanted to put something Christmas-y up. Merry Middriffmas, Slavemas, and Christmas everybody!
(1) There's a sign out front with a turtle on it. I think I have a pretty good idea what "kame" means. At least I think I do.
(2) Nothing really important here, just wanted to say I like that phrase. Haha, "Lack there of"...
(3) I kinda planned for this to be post canon, so Mokie, Miki, and Aimi (hehe, "ee"s) would be around 14 (maybe 15), and the rest of the gang would be around... 17, 18, 19? And I don't know how old you have to be to be allowed to get plastered in Japan, so I hope this is correct. Sorry Lilac! It's only a year, not much difference right?
(4) Sorry, it had to be done. Getting three yami's, three hikari's, and the four "cheerleaders" together (may or may not include Seto, as he could sue me for including him in that particular group) is a recipe for chaos. Hence the singed christmas tree and sliced-open smoke alarm. *glares at yamis responsible*
(5) No, it's not a typo. Her nickname, as far as I'm concerned, is "Aim".
(6) I know it's actually called "Black Ops", Hana just isn't that into online games. She prefers boardgames.
(7) I just figured that Ryou would enjoy that band. It's cute, and a bit romantic, in a way, but it's not Disney. Perfect for him, right?
Review? Please? You can even tell me how much it sucked.