Dear Santa, I Can Explain…
A series of Holiday stories featuring Christmas letters the characters write to Santa trying to explain themselves before they end up with a lump of coal.
Implied Puppy shipping
Chapter 11 Interlude Resort
"Jou, I really think this is enough mistletoe," Seto said, looking around the room, the entire mansion had, under the blonde's insistence, become a veritable minefield of the festive plants.
And considering three-fourths of the house's inhabitants were family members, well…
Awkwardness ensued until the brothers silently agreed to ignore tradition when they had the misfortune to be caught under the sprigs of greenery with one another.
Jou frowned, "Yeah I think I overdid it, let's just keep the ones in the living room for the party, 'kay?"
What party? Seto wondered, half the guest list cancelled. Then he remembered, as far as Jou knew only Yami, Yugi, Honda, and Otogi would be gone, he'd told the blonde of the first two, and that idiot dice duelist had called Jou personally.
But Katsuya'd looked so happy; Seto'd never found a moment to tell him. Oh well, he figured, it won't hurt to keep him in the dark.
That part figured out, Seto took in his lover's first statement. Since when does the puppy give in so easily? Usually he'd protest and plead with the brunette until he inevitably caved. Seto smirked, "Okay, who'd you have to kiss?"
"Erm, the UPS guy. I think you were right to say we shouldn't put any by the front door, 'cause he was NOT attractive."
Seto laughed. He was, in spite of himself, enjoying the decorating; the four housemates had even had a tinsel fight while trimming the tree (much to the CEO's later embarrassment).
He'd decided years ago to suck it up and make the best out of Christmas, for his brother's and more recently Katsuya's sake. Since the two had become a couple the blonde had spent the holiday (and later everyday) at the Mansion, away from his indifferent father and his appalled and disgusted mother.
This would be the fifth year since they last had what could be deemed as a civil conversation, even by Seto's lax standards in what 'civility' merits. And the brunette had every intention of driving depressing thoughts of that- that- HARPY (no offense to Kujaku) out of the puppy's mind.
"I'll get the stepladder," Seto offered in the face of Jonuchi's miffed glare from his hilarity moments ago. And, placated, the shorter smiled and went to fetch a wastebasket to hold the dratted plants.
When the de-mining was successfully underway the lovers heard the front door open and the cheerful voices of the younger Kaiba's calling greetings to their guardians, and inquiries as to their location.
"UPSTAIRS!" Jou bellowed. Causing Seto to wince, Katsu was always so loud.
A few minutes later the elder two were joined not only by Mokuba and Noa but by the pair's kind-of-sort-of-but-not-quite girlfriends Shizuka and Rebecca. All four were sporting angelic looks, and the blonde pipsqueak was holding something behind her back.
"No," Seto said, tossing yet another piece of mistletoe into the trash can and stepping down from the ladder.
"But Seto!" Noa protested, "We didn't even ask yet!"
"It's not a toy or anything!" Mokuba promised.
Seto glanced at Jou who gave him a 'what could it hurt to listen?' look and sighed, "You have five minutes, sell me."
"Skiing," Noa proclaimed as if it were the most wonderful thing in the world.
"Skiing?" Seto asked.
"Yup," Mokuba took the pamphlet that Rebecca handed him, "Professor Hawkins heard about this place, it's called Holiday Lodge. It's way up in the mountains, almost a twelve hour drive, he says it's a renovated place that he stayed at years ago, it has great mountains, an onsen, and a whole bunch of services and in the resort entertainment."
"You sound like an infomercial," Jou informed him.
Rebecca scowled, "The point is that it'd be fun, Grandpa'd be with us the whole time, we'd all be out of your hair for the holidays, and you guys can have fun and get wasted without worrying about setting a bad example."
"Rebecca!" Shizuka reprimanded her friend, really the girl was too blunt.
Noa ignored the two and focused on Seto, "Well…?"
"You had me at way up in the mountains."
"YES!!!!"
Five seconds later, all that was left of the teenagers was the pamphlet, slowly drifting to the floor…
WAHHH! I'M SOOOOO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG!!!!