The Twelve Days of Christmas

Lieutenant Motou yawned and stretched languidly in his bed, now becoming unusually accustomed to having warm arms wrapped tightly around him from dusk until dawn. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a tired hand, watching as ruby eyes blinked open in front of him.

Yami's eyes dilated as they focused to the dim light in the room, the curtains keeping most of the sunlight from pouring through.

"Morning, Yami," Yuugi greeted.

Crimson orbs looked at him confusedly, then suddenly grew wide when they noticed their extremely close proximity. The Aldar's mouth suddenly dropped slack.

Wonder what he'll be up to today, Yuugi thought with slight exasperation.

Yami said nothing, but Yuugi was able to clearly see the deep red blush spreading widely across the Aldar Lieutenant's face.

He's…shy? Is he going to be blushing all day long? Not say a word to me like a love-struck little girl? Yuugi thought this over, thoughtful as he watched Yami's dumbfounded face. The Aldar was trying to stutter some form of a response, but was unable to get past the 'ah, eh…see ah…erm…ah…'

Lieutenant Motou couldn't stop himself from smiling, remembering what that one thing was that love-sick people always yearned for.

He kissed Yami quickly, lingering longer than usual, then got up to shower, enjoying the look of sheer joy, shock, and absolute embarrassment on Yami's beat red face…which was slowly turning a slight purple in hue.

"See you down stairs, Yami. I'm sure breakfast is already on the table."

Yami's mouth opened and closed like a drowning fish, but Yuugi by no means missed the slight smile that grazed that handsome face. And besides, if Yami wasn't to be ignored to keep him from going mad, today would be one of those days where he just might have to pour the attention on Yami.

Yuugi almost stopped at the thought that he might actually be enjoying himself.

No. He couldn't be. Absolutely silly. Ridiculous. Absurd. Anyone could have a little fun in his position.

Of course this was the case. And he had to repeat this to himself throughout the whole shower, too. And down the stairs. And into the kitchen. And while sitting at the dining room table…

~ * ~

Yuugi poured himself a glass of chocolate milk, deciding that he deserved a chance to splurge on something that wasn't entirely good for him for once in his life.

"More snow's on the way," Ishtar grumbled from the doorway, eyeing Jou who was cooking breakfast. Yuugi was grateful that at least one of their members enjoyed making meals, because he knew that he sure didn't.

"How much," the Elsarian asked, flipping a flap-jack.

"Eight inches, or so they say."

Yuugi frowned as he sipped his milk. "I never have liked meteorologists. They get paid to guess at things their whole life. They still get a pay check even if they're wrong. We guess wrong and we kill eight hundred people and a town or two, then live as a hermit the rest of our life."

Ishtar growled again lowly. Yuugi often wondered if he ever truly ascended from their ape brethren. "Patience. Revenge is a dish best served cold…"

Yuugi shivered at the statement, knowing very well the below-freezing temperatures currently out side.

"So, ah…Yug. How's Yami today," Jou asked, changing the conversation.

Yuugi sighed audibly. "Shyer than a little child with a crush."

His captain gave a sound that sounded something like a bark and a snort. "This 'ought to be interesting."

Yuugi shook his head, got up, and disappeared into the pantry for some instant oatmeal. He heard Yami enter the kitchen. "Good morning, everyone!"

"Ah…mornin' Lieutenant," he heard Ishtar reply. Yuugi wondered at being able to speak English again. Perhaps with the other stages it was instincts that were driving his actions, thus forcing him to rely on the one language he knew best? Perhaps this stage was not so bad?

…Would he be coherent today?

Yuugi found the peaches and cream oatmeal, his favorite, and reentered the kitchen. "Have a nice shower, Yami?" He asked kindly.

The Aldar's eyes locked on him and his mouth went slack again, all speech leaving him. Yuugi blinked at him calmly. Red graced Yami's cheeks, his neck, even the tips of his ears, and his speech became stuttered and spluttered responses again.

Yuugi crossed the length of the kitchen to grab a bowl for his oatmeal, standing closely to Yami's side as he reached up to the tall cabinets. He always hated being so short.

"Good morning, everyone! Is it not another beautiful day?"

Yuugi felt the little nerve above his eye twitch as Captain Malik waltzed into the kitchen area. It was a good thing they had a lot of room.

"Perky again this morning, captain?" Yuugi ground out.

"Always on gorgeous days!" Malik headed to the fridge, nodding at Yami as he went past. "Lieutenant," he greeted happily.

Yami was still stuttering with barely half a response.

Malik stopped and raised one eyebrow to his hair line, looking at his Lieutenant curiously. "Ah," he said after a moment. "Be-et hetu." He proceeded to the fridge.

Yuugi brushed past Yami, noticing mildly shocked that he almost toppled over at the contact as Yuugi went to get a spoon.

Ishtar noticed his almost imperceptible grin. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Yuugi shrugged nonchalantly. "Wouldn't you, if you were able to get reactions like this?" He gave a small pinch to the Aldar's lower rear, causing Yami to audibly squeak, glow about ten different shades of red, a mixture of a shocked expression and a satisfied smile on his face.

Jou shook his head as he finished with the pancakes. "Yug, you're getting to have too much time on your hands. I know that your grandfather used to keep you hooked on games so that you didn't become destructive."

Yuugi huffed indignantly. "It's not my fault I could make plutonic blasters when I was nine! I had to test out my equipment to make sure it worked!"

Malik looked up at Yuugi shocked from the table. "And where did you get plutonium at such a young age?"

Yuugi flushed slightly. "I lived next door to a chemical plant that produced large amounts of radioactive materials for the government. They, ah…they never paid much attention if a forgotten barrel of something happened to go missing."

The Aldar captain was stuck speechless that humans could be so careless.

"Not," Ishtar growled. "You snuck in and took small amounts in SC's when you found them and snuck out without a peep. You're also one of our best infiltrators. You're a terrible liar, though."

"SC's," Malik asked.

"Safe Containers," Jou supplied. "The things we use for transporting dangerous materials from point A to point B."

"Ah. Safe Storage Units. I understand."

Yuugi could only snort at his captain, choosing to instead eat his meal.

"Is Yami going to eat this morning," Jou asked Malik.

"Of course he will, as soon as Yuugi leaves the room. So long as he is in here, Yami will not move a muscle."

Yuugi shrugged as everyone looked at him. "All right, I'll leave. We don't want him to starve." He took his bowl of instant oatmeal out into the living room.

The moment Yuugi was out of sight, Yami seemed to snap back to reality and grabbed himself a plate and a few flap-jacks for himself.

"Feeling okay there, Yami?" Ishtar hazarded.

"Of course, I feel fine," Yami stated unfazed.

"What do you think about Yuugi at the moment," Jou asked curiously.

The Lieutenant suddenly froze, his face becoming all red again. He seemed unable to speak.

"Never mind," Jou stated, and Yami cleared his throat and seated himself without another word.

The rest of breakfast was, for the most part, awkwardly quiet for the duration of the meal.

~ * ~

Yuugi was slumped on the den couch, watching a new action movie with Jou. Both were downing popcorn and sodas that had been stored in the back room, rather unfazed as the main character was blasted by a ray gun by the man-eating Vulcans that had landed to consume the earth.

"Man, everyone knows that ray guns can't cut flesh. They're nothing but glorified stun-guns," Jou complained.

"Even after so many years of business, Hollywood is still producing cheesy films," Yuugi piped in. They fell silent again as they continued to watch the movie.

"Motou!" A gruff voice hollered from the hall.

"Go away," Yuugi hollered back.

Some shuffling noises drifted their way, and as the main-character's love interest was just mortally wounded, Ensign Kaiba stalked into the living room pulling a stuttering Yami by the collar. "I found this sitting in the hallway spying on you as I went to the recreation room. Do something with him, please," Seto growled, pushing the Aldar closer to the couch.

Yuugi sighed as he looked at Yami's beat-red face, knowing that it probably wasn't a good idea to just leave him to sit in the hallway like that.

Jou watched curiously as Yuugi reluctantly got up and pulled Yami by his hand towards the couch. "Sit," Yuugi commanded, pushing on the Aldar's shoulders until he was seated.

Yami looked as if he was going to lose the ability to breathe shortly as Yuugi sat down in his lap, pulling the Aldar's arms around his waist and holding him there. "This 'ought to keep you out of trouble," Yuugi stated, looking quite comfortable between Yami's legs.

Lieutenant Tiyaku swallowed the lump in his throat, smiled past his blush, and shyly hid his face in Yuugi's hair as the movie continued.

"Don't tell me that's the movie Vulcan Cannibals," Seto snarled.

"Ensign, they've made cannibal movies about every race humans have come in contact with, don't feel too special," Yuugi stated.

"They haven't about Aldars," he snapped back.

"Give 'em time," Jou stated, polishing off his popcorn. "They've only just met them. You should have seen the one about Elsarians! Talk about making Norman Rockwell look like the devil in disguise!"


Seto stalked off before they could make anymore comments. It was a small wonder that Humans and Elsarians got along so well. Both had histories of cannibalism and psychosis running through their gene pools.

He took a deep breath to regain his calm. He was definitely, definitely sending in for that transfer.

~ * ~

Yuugi yawned as he looked out the window, noticing that the clouds outside were now completely dark. The sun was down, and that big storm had headed in. Malik stood from the book he was reading, ready to head for bed himself.

"Say, Captain Malik," Yuugi asked softly, not wanting to awaken Yami from his snooze quite yet.

"Yes, Lieutenant," Malik questioned.

"When will Yami be able to speak coherently with me again?"

"Not until the twelve days are up, Lieutenant. Anything to do with you he will be unable to speak about until this is all over."

Yuugi rolled this around in his mind. "Will he speak English tomorrow?"

"It all depends on how severe his stage is. It is different for every Aldar who has life-bonded."

So, in other words, Yuugi deduced that this was by no means an exact science. Rather like Humans and their own tendencies with love.

Fantastic.

"One more thing," Yuugi asked, Yami's breath raining down his neck. "What's Estukenteh for goodnight?"

Malik blinked as he thought of the translation. "Kunigh," he stated.

Yuugi suddenly understood how Yami could understand him earlier. Both words sounded very similar. "Thank you, Malik. Kunigh for now. I'll see you in the morning."

"Kunigh, friend," Malik smiled, walking up the stairs to his bedroom.

Three days down. Nine to go.

Yes. Goodnight indeed.

~ * ~

Hmm…it seems that when I don't update I get strange peoples emailing me telling me to do so.

….I feel so loved! ^_^

Gomen about the tardiness, gotta love homework, don't ya know!

Ja Ne for now!