Under the Mistletoe

Joey gave his hair a final quick tousle before relaxing on the bed. He was ready for this party twenty minutes ago. Kaiba, ever the perfectionist, was still getting ready. "How long does it possibly take to put on a shirt and pants?"

"Unlike some of us, I actually give a shit about how I look."

Truthfully, he was just giving Kaiba shit because he could. For the first time in his life, he wasn't looking forward to a Christmas party. His relationship with Kaiba was still a secret to everyone except Mokuba. Granted, there were parts of secrecy he understood. Kaiba tolerated anything about him being published in a legitimate newspaper so long as it was concerned with KaibaCorp or Duel Monsters, but he loathed tabloids and didn't want his personal life blasted out there for everyone to see. That much he understood, and he didn't care if they were a couple in public or not.

But these were his friends he was lying to. At first, when their relationship was more like causal hookups, he didn't mind keeping the secret. No sense getting everyone excited over something that might not last. But the deeper their feelings for each other became, the harder it was for Joey to keep something like this from his friends. And he wasn't looking forward to a holiday party where the others would be cuddled up with their significant others or kissing under mistletoe and he had to keep acting like he was ready to punch Kaiba in the face.

"Joey?" He looked up to see Kaiba standing at the foot of the bed. Of course he had to look great, dressed in a slim fit red shirt and black pants. As if this wasn't going to be hard enough. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah."

Kaiba walked over to his side of the bed and helped him to his feet. "You know I'm the ones they say usually looks miserable around the holidays, right?"

"It's just...do we have to keep ...us...hidden from the others? They won't say anything to anyone else if we ask them not to."

Kaiba sighed and took his hand. "Joey...we've talked about this."

"I know; I just don't like lying to them."

His other hand settled on Joey's waist. "Just be patient a little longer."

"Yeah but..." He was cut off when Kaiba's lips gently pressed against his.

"It won't be forever, I promise."

"It better not be ya bastard." He pulled Kaiba into another kiss just as they heard one of the cars pull up and Tristan's loud voice from the front door. "You owe me."

"Just remember, puppy, I still haven't given you your gift yet."

Everyone showed up shortly after Tristan did, and Mokuba made sure everyone knew where the food and drinks were. His brother had also placed mistletoe everywhere and he wondered if he hadn't been talking to Joey. Mokuba had been just as bad (worse actually, he was more persistent) and wanted him to be open about their relationship for months. Kaiba usually ignored or deflected it; he wasn't comfortable talking about or showing his personal life in any capacity.

But the way Joey would look away whenever Tristan put his arm around Duke's shoulders or Yugi would kiss Tea's cheek left Kaiba with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he tried to wash away with bourbon laced eggnog.

As the night wore on, he noticed a disturbing trend, or maybe it was the eggnog telling him it was. Tristan had a preoccupation with getting Joey and Mai under the mistletoe. Last he remembered, Mai already had a boyfriend, and neither she nor Joey would do anything but hug when they found themselves standing under it. He trusted Joey and had no ill feelings towards Mai, but he still disliked them being put in that situation.

"You know," Mokuba whispered, "if people know you two were dating, this wouldn't be a problem."

"It's not a problem."

"Uh huh. Then why have you been watching them for the past ten minutes?"

Damn his brother was perceptive. Even Joey had noticed and was looking at him weird. Fuck it; if Joey wanted everyone to know, he thought of a way to make that happen. "Hold my eggnog. And don't drink any, you're too young."

Joey had hoped that if Kaiba and he weren't going to tell everyone, they could at least keep the fighting to a minimum. Apparently, Kaiba figured things differently given by the death glare he'd been giving him and now that the was marching over to him. "What do ya want rich boy?"

"We need to talk." There was no teasing and bickering in his voice and Kaiba's hand was already around his wrist and dragging him away.

"What da hell do ya think you're doing?"

He stopped near a giant piece of mistletoe hanging in the main doorway into the living room. Everyone would see whatever was going on. "You wanted to tell everyone," Kaiba said quietly, his hand gently cupping his cheek. Joey's heart was pounding. "I think maybe you were right."

The kiss was slow, gentle, and he could taste the bourbon and eggnog on Kaiba's lips. At some point, the laughter and chatter died down to complete silence save for the music playing from Mokuba's iPod. His arms twined around Kaiba's neck, and Kaiba pulled him flush against him.

"Seto," he breathed, almost forgetting that they were thisclose to making out in front of all their friends.

"Merry Christmas Joey."

"It's about damn time." Mai cheered, and Joey spun to look at her. The hell did she mean? "Oh don't look at me like that. I had a feeling this would happen."

"Talk about Christmas miracles," Yugi muttered.

Tristian and Duke's jaws were on the floor, Bakura had his hand over his mouth to suppress giggles. Tea's eyes were like saucers. Yugi though, had the same look on his face Mokuba did. "The hell are you grinning at, Mutou?" Kaiba asked, his arm still around Joey's waist and holding him close. "You look like you know something."

"Nothing."

"I...May have told him," Mokuba said. "What? You two were hopeless; I needed to get advice from someone."

"Plus you were never at your place anymore. Like...ever. So I kind of figured you were seeing someone. Just didn't know who."

Kaiba rested his head on Joey's and muttered something that sounded like 'fuck it'. "Well, uh, now you all know," Joey said. He could feel his cheeks getting warmer by the second.

"Now that the cats out of the bag can we watch Christmas movies now?" Mokuba asked.

As every filed out of the living room and towards the home theater, Joey hung back with Kaiba for a moment. "So did you plan this or was seeing Tristan trying to set me and Mai up under the mistletoe that promoted you to do something?"

"I told you to be patient a little longer didn't I?"

Kaiba had an excellent poker face except when it came to emotional matters. He was looking anywhere but at him. "You were jealous?" He teased, poking Kaiba in the ribs for extra effect. Kaiba took his wrist and pulled him closer.

"Maybe I just understood what you meant by being tired of hiding it."

Whatever Kaiba's reason, Joey felt a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He rose up on his toes and placed a kiss on Kaiba's lips. "Merry Christmas Seto."

"Merry Christmas Joey."

Happy Holidays everyone!