Chapter Two: The Beginnings
Warning: male/male 'situations' and suggestion.
It had taken some convincing, but Yami and Yugi had finally gotten the rest of their 'ghosts' into the idea. Of course, Bakura and Malik just agreed to do it after the fact that at it was a perfect opportunity to mess with Seto's head was pointed out by a grinning Yami. And Pegasus was in it just to get back at 'Kaiba-boy'.
Currently, the three spirits, Pegasus, and Yugi were huddled outside of the Kaiba mansion next to the garage, where they couldn't be seen. "This is COLD, Motou," Malik hissed, rubbing his bare arms and trying to find some warmth. "You should've dressed warmer, Malik," Bakura replied for Yugi. The albino himself was in a heavy black coat that fit his assigned 'character' well. He was going to be first, but he didn't need to be happy about it.
Inside the mansion, which was being heated all over on Seto's orders, Joey was searching for his lover. He couldn't find the tall brunette anywhere… darn stupid huge mansions. He heard yelling, and ducked behind a doorway.
"GET OUT! You're FIRED!"
A man ran by, closely pursued by a thrown wine glass that would have struck his head if he hadn't ducked in time. Joey winced; Seto was obviously in a bad mood. The poor victim of his koi's wrath staggered out the front door and out into the snow.
Peeking his head out, Joey saw Kaiba sitting on a couch with a glass of wine beside him. The CEO was wearing a scowl, and his brows were furrowed in anger. "Hey, Set… Why'd you fire that guy? I liked him," the blond said softly, not wanting to ignite Seto's temper.
"He annoyed me about bonuses too much."
Joey frowned. Seto usually didn't fire people over things as small and unimportant as that. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to the billionaire with a slightly upset expression. "I don't know why ya don't like this time of year, Seto, but ya really shouldn't take it out on everyone else."
He didn't get a reply.
Scooting closer to Kaiba, Joey wrapped his arms around the taller teen's neck and hugged him gently. The object of his affections grunted and sat back a bit more on the couch. Joey traced circles on Seto's chest with a finger, smiling again. "I've got your gift already. I think you'll like it."
/Gift? Oh, yes. Christmas gift,/ Kaiba thought after a moment of confusion. "You didn't have to do that, puppy. I've got everything I need already." At t hat, the blond pouted cutely. "But I wanted to get it for you, Seto."
They bantered a little until it was time for Joey to leave, and the brunette was sorry to see him go. But, of course, he didn't let that be known. It wouldn't do well for his image if anyone knew that he had weaknesses.
But Joey didn't go home. Instead, he walked back around to the garage of Kaiba's mansion, meeting up with the other conspirators. "You took long enough!" Malik hissed, his teeth chattering. "Heh, sorry. Seto and I got a bit sidetracked," the other blond replied, blushing faintly.
Yami chuckled, and Bakura smirked. "Are we ready to do this or not?" the albino asked, rubbing his hands together. Joey looked at his watch. "Give Seto time to get his nightly drink… in five minutes, we can start."
Five minutes later, inside the mansion, Kaiba set down his mug. He pulled his silk robe tighter around himself, scowling at the chill that came from the window of the kitchen. "Bah. I hate this time of year," the CEO muttered, moving out of the kitchen and down the halls towards his bedroom.
Mokuba wasn't around; his little brother had decided to sleep over at Yugi's. That didn't bother Seto much, he preferred being alone. Well, actually, it did bother him, but he wouldn't admit it to even himself. Seto Kaiba needed no one.
He opened the door to his large room and shut it quietly, then moving over to his king-sized bed. He pulled back the sheets and slipped under the covers, pulling a heavy comforter up on top of him. "All lights off," he snapped, and the voice-activated lighting system shut down the lighting of the mansion, leaving the billionaire in almost total darkness.
He rested back against the pillows and tried to sleep, but found that he couldn't. To amuse himself, he looked at the pattern of his window that the moonlight created over his bedspread, taking in all of the angles and doing equations in his head from his estimates.
There was suddenly a loud crash, and he shot up into a sitting position. "Light on," he hissed, and the lights in his room came to life. Reaching under his pillow, the slightly nervous Kaiba pulled out a pistol and pistol clip. Loading it as he moved, he slipped back out of bed and stalked over to his door, yanking it open.
His eyes strained in the darkness, trying to see if there was an intruder in his mansion. Not hearing or seeing anything else, he berated himself for being so jumpy and unloaded the gun, turning around.
He came face-to-face with Yugi.
The billionaire jumped back in surprise, and then scowled. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MOTOU!?" he barked, trying to regain his composure. "I'm not Motou, Seto Kaiba. I am the spirit of Christmas," said the small boy. Seto scowled. "Get out of my house, twerp, I'm not in the mood."
"You will be visited by three ghosts tonight, Kaiba. They will each appear at the sound of a bell."
Fine. Yugi was probably sleepwalking or something, so Kaiba decided to play along… to an extent. "Three ghosts, bells, whatever. I got it, now leave!"
The spiky-haired teen smiled mysteriously and nodded. There was a flash of light, and Seto lifted his arm to shield his eyes. When he lowered it, Yugi was gone. Spooked, Kaiba just shook his head and went back to his bed, but put the pistol on his night table, near enough for him to grab. /Stupid brat… I'll deal with him in the morning./
Back outside, under Seto's window, Yugi was being lowered carefully back down. "Nice job, hikari," Yami whispered, giving Yugi a quick hug. The smaller boy beamed and then grinned at Bakura. "Your turn. It's almost eleven o' clock," said Yugi in a happy whisper.
The tomb robber smirked back, twining his hands together in anticipation. "This is going to be fun… I'm so happy Mokuba let me into his mind so I could do this properly."
The silver-haired man next to him grinned and handed Bakura a small microphone to place into his ear. "Use that, and I'll guide with Kaiba-boy's thoughts," he said, dropping it into the shorter man's hand. An evil smile crossed the spirit's lips and he fixed it in place, and then pulled his coat tighter around him. "How much longer?"
"Ten minutes, Bakura," answered Malik, looking at his watch and shivering. Pegasus snorted at the Egyptian and then smirked. "Perhaps you shouldn't have decided to wear a sleeveless shirt and jeans in the winter, Ishtar."
"I'VE NEVE-"
Before Malik could finish yelling, four pairs of hands clamped over his mouth simultaneously. "Shh!" Bakura hissed, glancing up at Kaiba's window when there was a loud grunt and a muffled curse. The group of people outside the window held their breath as they heard Seto getting out of bed and walking towards the window.
Thinking fast for once, Joey pushed them down and flat against the wall and covered them with loose snow, hoping his boyfriend would be too tired to look carefully. Malik let out a high-pitched noise as the cold intensified around him. Joey himself ran around a corner and started imitating a dog barking, and hit a few trash cans that were conveniently nearby.
Above, Seto threw his window open and stuck his head out, glancing to the side where the noise was coming from. "Get out of here, mutt!" the irritable CEO yelled, hoping to spook the 'dog' into running off. Just a few feet underneath his head, the people nearly stopped breathing.
They were relieved when, grumbling, the billionaire pulled the window shut with a snap. When Malik was sure that he heard Kaiba return to bed, he burst out of the improvised snow bank with his tanned skin nearly blue. His teeth were chattering, and he looked the entire world like a half-drowned cat.
Joey wanted to laugh, but instead he crept over and gave Malik his jacket. Slipping it on gratefully, Malik nodded at the blond. Having nothing better to do, the Egyptian examined the jacket carefully… it was very warm, and it was a shade of green that complimented Joey perfectly. And it had a cute little KaibaCorp logo on the front, right below the left shoulder. Noticing where Malik was looking, Joey blushed slightly.
"He so owns you, Wheeler," Malik whispered with a wink, causing Joey to turn bright red. Bakura snickered softly. "Look, it's Joey the red-faced puppy."
Pegasus, still sitting in the snow, was concentrating on Kaiba with his eye shut. After a moment, he opened it. "He's getting paranoid, because he knows it's almost eleven. Bakura, go for it. And do be a good man and don't mess this up…"
Bakura lifted himself onto the windowsill quietly and grinned, staying behind the curtains. "I wouldn't ruin this for the world," he said, almost purring, before taking out his millennium ring and waiting for the grandfather clock in the hallway of the mansion to start chiming.
Inside, Seto huddled down under the covers and his comforter, curled up into a ball on his huge bed. He suddenly felt very small and vulnerable; the silence of his deserted mansion only being broken by the methodic ticking and tocking, and finally the clanging, of the clock outside his bedroom door.
He ducked his head under the covers in a useless effort to try and block whatever was going to come out at him.
(Reviewers' corner… with City, Bob, Seto, Joey and Bakura)
City: I love torturing my Kaiba-kun…
Seto: I realized that. *huffs*
Bakura: Mwaha. I get to torture Kaiba first… and I'll also be the first to read the reviews *hauls everyone to the Shadow Realms*
Bob (Evil black talking cat muse: I hate it when this happens. --_--
Bakura: *summons up image of reviewer*
ACME-Rian: Well, can we have the 3 spirits? Here's some presents: Joey - A GIANT BALL OF LINT! Kaiba - A trench coat that's platinum. Tristan - a date with Serenity. Plus insurance and a mallet to keep Joey away from you.
Joey: Lint? o_O
Seto: Well, the trench coat isn't a bad idea… but I imagine it would be hard to wash. *nods to self*
Bakura: *sniffs* What, nothing for me? *banishes ACME-Rian and summons another reviewer*
Gutterflower Skellington: This should be fun! *adds story to favs* I can't wait to see what happens next! *huggles Bakura*
Bakura: Off! I'm not touchy-feely! _
GS: ^_^
Seto: *smirks*
Bakura: Bah! *summons next one*
Peter Kim: I want to see Tomb Robber (who will enjoy this, I'm sure) Malik and Pegasus help Yugi with this; with Pegasus reading Seto's mind, etc.
City: Well, Peter, guess what? I read this review when I was halfway through writing the second chapter… and you're going to get your wish! I wasn't going to include Pegasus, but the idea is great and so I shall exploit it! BWAHAHAHA!
Bob: It was my idea to use it! _
City: Shush, kitty.
Seto: Keep that girly psycho away from me… *eyes City*
Bakura: *smirks* I am so looking forward to this. *next reviewer*
WolfKeeper989: Funny, keep it up!
Joey: Short, sweet n' simple! I love it!
Celeste Rose: Aww! This is cute! Hurry up and update, please? ^_^
City: *waggles fingers* You shall get your wish!
Seto: More like a nightmare. *sulks*
Bakura: Next! *rudely banishes all reviewers for the last one, losing patience with all the praise*
Alina3: YAYY! Christmas specials RULE! Hope you update soon.. ^_^
Bakura: BAH! *returns everyone to normalcy* No flames?! Damn!
City: *whaps Bakura upside the head*
Joey and Seto: *smirk*
Bob: *sweatdrops*
City: Keep feeding me suggestions and the like! I've already got the third chapter written out, but it's not typed… you all still have time to effect it! Reviews are obsessively waited for 24/7!
Seto: Sad but true.