Title: Sugar and Spice (1/7)

Author: Satanic Mechanic

Rating: PG-13

Pairing(s): Seto/Jou, slight Otogi/Honda

Beta: Jennie

Spoilers: None

Summary: A baking contest turns Domino High into a competitive frenzy.
What effect will this have on everyone's favorite CEO and a certain
underdog in the competition?

Notes: This was written for the a challenge over at adragonslair. I'd figure I'd post it here because I haven't updated anything in awhile…and this is the only thing I have finished. Please except my humble Christmas themed offering! Updates should be daily, unless I forget…so with that said, enjoy!

Domino City was just one of those places, where the most impossibly ridiculous things happened. No one really seemed to question when caped men appeared all over town, droning on like zombies. People had almost forgotten about the time when monsters ran rampant in the city. If you could make it here, you could make it anywhere, as long as you weren't afraid of being possessed by some ancient spirit from 3000 years ago.

It really shouldn't have come as a surprise when Domino High announced, in Jounouchi's humble opinion, one of its strangest and most ridiculous events yet – a baking contest for the Christmas season. It wasn't really all that extreme, just a bit strange, considering the high school didn't usually get too involved with that kind of stuff. What was really bothering the blonde, however, was the way his class was taking the whole thing.

"Dude, I am so going to own you."

"Pft, whatever. My grandma game me this killer dumpling recipe that is going to blow your rice crisps out of the water!"

Jou groaned and plopped his head down on his desk a little harder then necessary. This had to be the tenth argument he had heard involving the baking contest that morning. The whole school was getting riled up over the event. About baking! Had Duel Monsters turned the majority of the teenage population so competitive that now they were making a big deal out of baking? It boggled his fragile young mind.

"Hey Jou! Guess what?" Yugi came bounding up to the hunched over boy. His wild hair was dyed red and green, and he was still wearing his usual collar, but there was a jingle bell attached to it. Basically, he looked like Christmas had thrown up on him.

"You got a cool new super ultra mega rare card to show me?" Jou perked up as his friend smiled, eager to hear something else besides what the perfect amount of time to bake rice crisps was, and the best sugary frosting.

"No silly, I just registered for the Christmas baking contest!" Yugi beamed. Silly? Since when did Yugi call him 'silly'? Now that he thought about it, between the festive new hair style and the way that his friend had been acting lately, he was guessing that maybe the boy had drank just a little too much eggnog.

"Me too!" Anzu came up from behind. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"You people are pathetic," drawled out a deep voice from behind the group. Damn straight! Jou turned around to face the man, just so he could shake his hand.

"Oh, hi Kaiba," Jou replied blandly. Maybe the handshaking thing was a bit overboard.

Kaiba glanced at him for a minute, regarding him with the same expression he probably reserved for road kill and other such unpleasant things. After the brunette was done ignoring the greeting, he turned to regard Yugi. "Honestly I'm a bit disappointed in you. I thought you had more honor than to buy into such a ridiculous thing."

Yugi frowned, not really looking hurt, but just a little disappointed. "So you're not entering, Kaiba-kun?"

He snorted. "I'd rather drop dead where I stand."

That could be arranged, Jou mused as he watched the display, grateful that he was being ignored by his favorite asshole for the moment. It wouldn't do to say…strangle Kaiba with the various strands of tinsel decorating the classroom so close to the holidays; Santa might put him on his 'naughty' list.

"Oh, that's too bad. But I guess you must just be afraid of losing to me again," came the confident retort.

Kaiba was in the process of walking away when he stopped midstep, immediately recognizing the change in tone. "Is that…a challenge?" Kaiba asked meaningfully, turning around to glare down at the shorter duelist…who was now substantially taller then he was a few moments ago.

"If that's what you want it to be…" the taller Yugi replied nonchalantly as he studied his fingernails with some sort of interest, oblivious, or at least wanting to appear oblivious, to the fact that Seto was now glaring at him with daggers in his eyes.

"Very well Yugi, but I'm warning you, this isn't Duel Monsters. You don't know who you're messing with!" Kaiba spat out the last part with extra venom before storming out of the class room, leaving in his wake a trail of swooning girls.

Jou sighed, a little disappointed at losing his only ally, even if it was someone he couldn't stand, against the abhorrent contest.

"Jou, I should probably mention that I took the liberty of signing you up for the contest earlier, as well."

"You what?"

"There's no point in trying to back out now. As far as I know, you can't leave the contest once you have joined."

Jou sighed again, surprised that his friend would do such a thing with this consent, but then again he could be a bit fickle at times. He figured it probably had to do with the strange spirit that lurked inside the puzzle, not someone he typically enjoyed arguing with.

"Just peachy…" Jou groaned as he rested his head on his arm.

"I figured you needed to get more into the holiday spirit," was the only explanation offered.

Jou moaned and plopped his head back down on the desk once more, a place where his forehead was beginning to feel quite welcome. He really would have liked to, but growing up in his household, Christmas was not necessarily a special day, except for maybe that all the bill collectors were off from work that day leaving the house call-free. "Well I guess there are worse things I could be doing a week before Christmas." Like caroling, he reminded himself. Last year Yugi had decided that would be a good idea, and suffice it to say the neighborhood didn't really appreciate the blonde's singing, or 'howling', as some people had called it. He supposed Kaiba would have really enjoyed the analogy, had he been there.

His only culinary experience to date was boiling two minute ramen, and he trusted himself in the kitchen about as much as he trusted a gun in the hands of a madman. This was going to be interesting.

Yami crossed his arms and smirked, satisfied that he had done his part for the day, and blowing a wild green bang out of his face as he did so. "Yugi…what the hell did you do to your hair?"

……………

The always-fascinating study of chemistry was interrupted by a loud beep. The teacher quieted down the class, then yelled at Jounouchi, so that they could listen to the speaker in the corner of the classroom.

"Due to the overwhelming response to our first Christmas baking contest, I'm afraid there will have to be a change in plans." The class immediately hushed, looking up at the speaker as if the fate of the world was about to be announced. "Since we had so many applications, the competition will now be held in pairs. Please stop by the auditorium after classes to sign up with your partner." The room was filled with noise again as everyone began making plans with their partners, thinking it was a great idea.

"The rules of the event are as follows: Starting tomorrow, you will have a week to work with your partner to produce as many quality goods as you can. On Christmas Eve, there will be a sale held at Domino High, and whichever team sells the most will be declared the winner. We'd also like to mention, that due to the large turnout, the winners of the competition will receive a cash prize of ten thousand yen to split!" the principal announced with enthusiasm as the entire room erupted with excitement. Even Jou was beginning to get hyped up now. Five thousand yen would be enough to get all of his friends something nice for Christmas, as well as a little extra something on the side for himself.

"Hey, Yugi…" Jou turned to his friend, only to find Anzu latched around his neck. "Wanna be partners…" he trailed off, already knowing he was fighting a losing battle if the predatory glint in Anzu's eye was any indication.

"Sorry Jou…I just promised Anzu that I'd work with her." Yugi frowned.

"Ah, it's alright man, I'll just have to catch up with Honda later and try to snag him," he replied, confident in the fact that people were probably just as interested in pairing up with his knuckle head of a friend in a baking contest as they would be with him.

Soon after the announcement that had sent the entire school into hysteria, class was dismissed for lunch break. Jou scoured the lunch room looking for his friend, and he finally caught up with him in the sweets line. Tapping him on the shoulder he asked, "Hey man, did you sign up for the stupid contest?"

"Yeah," Honda sighed, "That prize sounds pretty sweet. Who knew Domino had that kind of money to give out?"

"So what do you say? You and me? We could totally pull this off, we've done it in worse situations," Jou grinned.

"Sorry Jou…me and Otogi already signed up together," Honda frowned, knowing that the blonde wasn't going to be too happy.

"Dice boy? Why the hell would you go and do a thing like that?"

"That dice boy has talents outside of creating games." Jou gave him a strange look, watching as his friend's face flushed an interesting color. "Er…not that I would know or anything like that."

It seemed that everyone in the school had already chosen their partner, and Jou was beginning to feel like the last kid picked in gym class. There was one person left, one person who he knew couldn't have had anyone to team up with, so Jou put up his brave-face and made his way over to the dark corner of the lunch room, an area where most students rarely went, if they knew what was best for them.

"Hi Kaiba!" Jou spoke in the sunniest tone he could muster. Kaiba looked up at him for a second, narrowing his eyes before turning back to his work. "Um well, I just have a question. I know that you signed up for the contest, and I don't have a partner yet, so I was wondering if…"

"Why would I want to group myself in with an incompetent individual such as yourself?" Kaiba snapped, answering the question before it had even been asked. Jou had to clinch his fist in order to not flip out, considering this was his last hope at winning the 5000 yen prize.

"Kaiba, think about it. You're in this to beat Yugi, right? What else would be better than not only beating him, but doing it with his best friend by your side?" Jou offered, knowing that the straightest way to Kaiba's heart was by giving him a one-up on his opponent, awakening his vengeance woody, so to speak. He was not really proud of the fact that he was roping Yugi into this, but he was getting really desperate.

"Hn." Kaiba closed the book he was reading. There it was, the idea was computing successfully, all Jou had to do now was cross his fingers and wait for a response. "I can see the advantage in that. I suppose I could do worse you for a partner," Kaiba said as he sneered at the many giggling girls that always walked past his table a bit slower than need be. "But might I ask why you are so willing to help me out-do your friend?"

"I really need the cash prize," Jou said and grinned. "He'll thank me later when he gets the new DVD player he wanted for Christmas."

"I see."

"Great then, um, I'll meet you after school to discuss the plan of action or whatever," Jou said, receiving a curt nod from Kaiba, then quickly proceeded to make his way towards the other side of the lunchroom. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be working with him of all people, but he had to admit, having Kaiba on his side for anything had to be an asset. Besides, it was only a week away from Christmas, time to spread joy and goodwill to thy neighbor and whatnot. Kaiba couldn't possibly be a worldclass prick now, right? How hard could it be?

………..

Jou grumbled as he gathered his books from his locker. What kind of evil teachers would give so much homework at the start of Christmas break? His teachers, he reminded himself. This day just kept getting better and better. He had practically had a heart attack earlier today when the tree in the main lobby had fallen on Yugi, then restraining Yami with all his might to keep him from banishing it to the shadow realm as they fought to get him out. Perhaps Kaiba could have been more helpful if he wasn't looking like he was about to break into hysterical laughter at any moment. "Kaiba!" Jou jumped as he closed the door to his locker, turning to see Seto Kaiba looming over him. "Geez, don't scare me like that. What are you, a damned ninja?"

"I couldn't wait all day for you to find me, so I came here."

"How did you know where my locker was anyway?"

"I have my ways," Kaiba replied flatly as Jou's mouth hung open. Maybe that earlier ninja comment of his wasn't so far off, or maybe he just really was a psycho. Jou shook his head and hoisted his bag over his shoulder.

"So, how do you wanna do this? We could meet at my house or…what are you looking at?" Jou flushed as he followed Kaiba's gaze, landing very dangerously close to his crotch.

"Is that a candy cane in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Seto smirked, and Jou blinked a few times before he realized he was talking about the oversized candy cane that had been given to him earlier by a classmate. He had stuck it in his pocket for safekeeping.

"Do you mind? I haven't really had a good day, so if you could just keep your smartass comments to yourself…" Kaiba blinked slowly as Jou went off on his tirade, waving the aforementioned candy cane around for emphasis. Kaiba was about to open his mouth to tell him to shut up when he found something thick and slightly sweet lodged in his mouth.

"And you wanna know something…else…" Jou trailed off, realizing what he had just done, having been absently waving around the candy cane as though it was the reason for all his recent misfortunes. For a moment they had just stared at each other, Jou wide eyed at what he had actually just done, and Kaiba looking quite annoyed. "Uh…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just whip it out like that!" Jou slapped his forehead as he realized how that had sounded. "Look, I really have to be going, so why don't we just talk about this tomorrow? Okay? Bye!" Jou spoke quickly before scuttling off in the crowd before Kaiba could reply.

Seto stood there for a moment, trying to contemplate exactly what he had just gotten himself into, pairing himself up with a scatterbrain like the mutt. It was understandable how a few passersby were a bit confused to see the CEO in such an interesting predicament. "Peppermint…" he commented to no one in particular as he pulled the candy out of his mouth with an audible 'pop'.

……….

Jou had stopped by the public library after school, trying to forget about the spectacle he had made out of himself in front of his future partner in crime. At least it had shut him up, he reminded himself. He had spent a good three hours studying whatever books he could find on baking, taking notes and making copies on the photocopier. Three hours, and he still didn't know a damned thing about what the hell he was doing. His only hope now was that maybe Kaiba would be his normal obsessive-compulsive self and take over the project, leaving Jou no room to screw anything up.

Walking up the steps to his apartment, Jou thought that maybe he could do some practicing at home, if he could find enough suitable ingredients. The blonde reached up into the mailbox, finding the usual bills, second notice bill statements, and court date notices for unpaid bills. He frowned as he felt something plastic and pulled it out of the metal box.

"What the…" Jou stuttered out as he read the bottle. It was lube -- chocolate flavored lube to be exact. Was this someone's idea of a joke? He turned it over and found a tag attached to the red ribbon tied around the plastic bottle. "Secret…admirer? Who would want to secretly admire me?" Jou raised his eyebrow and jumped as the front door came swinging open.

"Ah, good boy, give me the mail," Jou's dad smiled as the blonde handed him the bundle, immediately sifting through the pile, taking out the bills and tossing them on the floor somewhere. "Eh…what's that?" the older man questioned as he noticed what the blonde was holding, staring down at it like it was a stick of dynamite ready to explode.

"This? Um…it's chocolate milk! See?" Jou grinned as he opened up the cap and squeezed some of the liquid into his mouth, grimacing as it crawled down his throat at a slow speed.

"Alright…" The man gave his son a strange look before heading inside. Jou followed suit, but not before he re-read the words 'from your secret admirer' about twenty times, as if the name of the person was suddenly going to appear in bright flashing letters in front of his eyes.