Title: Sugar and Spice (2/?)

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?

Christmas was always a busy time for Kaiba Corp, and Seto Kaiba drove to his estate feeling exhausted. He cursed himself for taking on the extra work of the ridiculous contest on top of school and work, but he simply couldn't let Yugi get the best of him once more. "Mokuba?" he called into the quiet mansion. Usually he could hear his little brother in the living room watching tv, playing games, or on the rare occasion, doing his homework without being told. "Mokuba?!" he called out louder, and not being able to find him in any of the first floor rooms, he headed for the stairs. He may have been panicking just a bit, but having had his little brother kidnapped more times than he could count on one hand could cause anyone to be paranoid.

There was a slight shuffling noise coming from the door to Seto's room, so he headed in that direction. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the worst before kicking open the door. He found Mokuba hunched over the foot of his bed, blinking up at him like a deer caught in headlights.

"Uh…Hi Seto, you're home early…" Mokuba giggled nervously.

Relief washed over the brunette, only to be replaced by a fresh wave of panic as he realized just what Mokuba was hunching over. "Mokuba…what are you doing?"

"Well, I was snooping around for my Christmas presents…" The boy flinched as he caught the disapproving glare coming from his brother, but pressed on, knowing that he had Seto backed into more of a corner than vise-versa, "But I never expected to find this…" Mokuba grinned down at the large opened chest at the foot of Seto's bed. It was the same chest that Seto had hidden the boy's Playstation 2 in a year ago when he had punished the younger boy. Little did he know, Mokuba was quite the skilled hunter.

"Get away from there," Seto ordered, taking a few steps closer to the boy, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"I always knew you were a big softie deep down, Seto!" Mokuba beamed, ignoring the order and reaching into the chest to pull out a small brown plushie. "But Kuriboh? I thought you hated that monster."

Seto scowled and walked over to Mokuba's side. "I do. The fans send these things to me."

"Mmm hmm, if you say so." The boy grinned and placed the Kuriboh back into the chest, which was filled to the brim with various fluffy Duel Monsters. "I think this one is the cutest," Mokuba cooed as he pulled out a large Blue-eyes White Dragon plushie, running his finger over the smooth red ribbon tied around the neck.

"Put Blue back," Seto replied sternly, watching as Mokuba tossed the stuffed animal in the air and caught it expertly. "Now."

"Blue? Is that his name? How very original of you," Mokuba smirked before jumping up and squeaking, barely evading the Scapegoat that was thrown at his head.

…………..

"So Seto, I really liked that Celtic Guardian plushie. Can I have it?" Mokuba asked as he finished swallowing his food, looking up to see his brother seated at the other side of the table immersed in the daily newspaper, holding it up as a make-shift barrier.

"I thought we agreed not so speak of that subject." The newspaper twitched as Seto turned the page.

"Maybe you did, but I plan on holding that over your head for a long time to come." Mokuba giggled and shoveled some more rice into his mouth.

"Well, since you're so keen on the subject, why don't we talk about what you think you were doing looking around in my personal things in the first place?" Seto folded the paper down, allowing Mokuba to see his face, and the vein on the side of his neck that always popped out when he was annoyed.

"Eh…I'm sorry brother, I was just really eager to see my presents and I knew that's where you hide that kind of top-secret stuff."

"Devious little thing."

"I learned from the best," Mokuba shrugged, "So, I heard some stuff about a baking contest at your school. What's that all about?" the boy asked, deciding on a change of topic before Seto saw fit to take something away from him again as punishment. He couldn't afford to lose his Playstation again, seeing as how Seto would have to find a new hiding spot.

"Everyone is quite excited about it. I suppose they'll be disappointed when they lose to me."

Mokuba almost spit out his milk at that. "You entered?"

"Is that such a surprise?"

"Yes!" Mokuba threw up his hands, "It is a partner thing right?"

"Yes."

"…and, you do realize that you're…not much for the 'partner thing', right?" Mokuba asked in bewilderment.

Seto snorted, "Yes. Unfortunately, I got the short end of the deal in that department."

"Who? Anzu, or maybe Honda ?"

"Worse."

"Jounouchi?" Mokuba gasped , naming off Number One on the list of people who ranked on his brother's 'stupidity' list.

"Hn." Seto took a small bite of chicken before turning back to the stocks.

"Geez…" Mokuba poked at his rice absently, his mind running wild with all the things that could possibly go wrong with that scenario. "Well, just try to be patient, and I'm sure everything will turn out alright."

"Yes, thank you for your wonderful insight. Now, shall we discuss your punishment?"

Mokuba groaned.

…………..

"Mutt."

"Kaiba? Where'd you get this number?"

"Connections." Seto rolled his eyes when he heard the dead silence on the other end,. Obviously, between yesterday's locker incident and now this, Jou was truly begging to think he had cameras following him. "It's called the phonebook," he tried again, this time hearing a small intake of breath.

"Oh, ok." Jou laughed awkwardly. "So, um, what's up?"

"In the midst of your eloquent exit today, you forgot that we on't have school tomorrow, so we couldn't possibly make plans then."

"Oh right…stupid me," Jou replied lightly.

"Yes, stupid you. So, how about 6 pm at my house tomorrow night?"

"Alright, fine."

Seto hung up the phone and turned to see Mokuba bounding towards him, a huge pile of mail under one arm. "We got lots of Christmas cards, brother!"

"Hm, mostly from all the ass-kissers at work. Put them next to the fire wood," Seto replied flatly as he put on his reading glasses, filing through the various letters.

"That's not nice! Let's hang them up, make this place seem a little more Christmassy!"

"Fine, go get some tape, and by the way, 'christmassy' is not a word," Seto caved and Mokuba cheered.

"Oh yeah, check this one out. Weird looking, huh?" Mokuba came back with a roll of tape from the kitchen and handed his brother a glittery red envelope from the pile with only the words 'To: Seto' written on it, no address or stamp. Seto eyed it suspiciously, but Mokuba only seemed intrigued. "Open it!" The brunette complied and gasped at what he saw.

"Oh my g….Mokuba cover your eyes!" The raven haired boy ducked as Seto tried to shield his innocence.

"It's Jou!" Mokuba exclaimed, laughing out loud , while Seto looked like he had just seen a ghost…a very sexy ghost if the blush on his cheeks was any indication.

"Where would one even buy a thong like that?" Seto scowled down at the picture. Jou was laid out on satin sheets, wearing nothing but a barely-there red thong decorated with little dancing reindeer, and atop his head a fluffy Santa's hat. On the bottom of the picture was a small note that read : 'I want you to ring my jingle bells', to which Seto promptly choked on his coffee after reading.

"I can't believe Jou would do something like this," Mokuba gasped between peals of laughter.

"I'm guessing he didn't; this must be some kind of photo-touch up. But who would play a joke like that?" Mokuba shrugged, both of their gazes remaining fixed on the picture until Seto snapped back to reality. "Hey! I told you not to look!" Mokuba giggled before running off.

…………

Jou glanced around his room, wondering what to pack for this interesting little excursion. True, he was only going over Kaiba's house for a night, and just to bake crap, but he felt somehow vulnerable going over there without anything. He figured that the rich boy would have all the supplies they would need, so he wouldn't have to worry about that. He did have a few books that he had taken out of the library that might be useful, so he threw those in his school bag. And some snacks, because one can never have too many snacks. There was a baseball bat in the corner of the room that caught his eye that could definitely be useful, if there was anyone who needed a swift hit to the head, it was Kaiba, but he shook his head and continued looking around.

His gaze landed on the bottle of lube on his dresser. That was something that he definitely didn't need to go to Kaiba's…hell just thinking about 'lube' and 'Kaiba' in the same sentence made his stomach turn. He wasn't even sure why he had kept the damned thing in the first place, it was just a cheap gift from some pervert. Throwing it in his bag, Jou supposed he could dispose of it on his way to Kaiba's, not feeling comfortable leaving it in the house where his dad might find it.

Taking a quick glance in the mirror, Jou noticed that his hair was flat and smooth and neat looking for once. He growled slightly and flipped his head over, running his hands though it viciously before picking his head back up. "That's better," Jou grinned back at his reflection, wild blonde mop back in all its glory, before heading out the door.

………

Glancing at his watch Jou noticed three things: one, he was going to be late; two, he was definitely out of breath; and three, it was freaking cold as hell. The blonde plopped down on the sidewalk and took a juice box from his bookbag, gulping it down quickly. He had definitely misjudged the distance from his house to Kaiba's. He looked down the road to see the mansion looming over the rest of the buildings, not more than a few blocks away. Jou sat up, grunting at the pain in his side and began running again.

"You're late," Seto replied flatly as he answered the door, looking down at a panting, hunched over Jou.

"Sorry, I had to walk here." Run would really have been the better term, but Kaiba was a smart guy and could probably figure that out from the way the blonde was practically coughing up a lung on his front steps.

"Hn. Come inside." Seto opened the door wider, allowing the weary blonde to step into the warm interior.

"Thanks," Jou muttered as the brunette held the door for him. With out much greeting, Seto began walking through the labyrinth of a house while Jou obediently followed.

"Here we are." Seto lead the boy into the large kitchen, all kinds of ingredients and appliances set out on the glistening white counter tops. "Planning a camping trip?" Seto asked as he finally noticed the bag Jou had slung over his shoulder.

"Shut up. It's just some stuff I brought."

"I see. What kind of stuff?"

"Well…let's see…" Jou zipped open the bag, taking the snacks out first. Seto smirked slightly, but didn't say anything. He then pulled out several books.

"Ah, these could help…" Seto remarked thoughtfully as he flipped through a few of the recipe books.

"Yeah and…" Jou froze in horror as he realized what had just slipped out of the bag. He must have been so caught up in getting to Kaiba's house that he had forgotten to get rid of it.

"Jounouchi?"

"Huh?" the blonde squeaked out in a higher octave than he would have liked.

"What are you doing with chocolate flavored lube?"

Jou blinked up at Kaiba, whose face remained relatively blank, with just a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes. He supposed his 'hey, it's chocolate milk!' approach wasn't going to work this time. In a way, he was somewhat grateful for that because he really didn't want to swallow another mouthful of that stuff. "Oh that…well um, that is…" the blonde stuttered out, looking down at the tiled floor with interest.

"It's a nice gesture, but you're really not my type," Seto smirked as he saw the flush on Jou's face grow.

"Asshole," Jou grumbled as the grabbed the bottle and shoved it back into the bag quickly.

"Well, let's get down to business then," Seto said as he watched Jou pout, red cheeks signifying his embarrassment. He reached down and picked up his trademark metal briefcase, putting it on the table and snapping it open. "I figured we'd do some sugar cookies and other American recipes, and then some traditional mochi and…." Jou tried not to laugh as Seto used a pointer to indicate the different graphs that he had printed out. "What are you grinning at?"

"This," Jou waved his arms in the direction of Kaiba and his briefcase of doom. "We're not planning a global takeover here, we're just baking."

"Well, excuse me for trying to be organized," Seto scoffed.

"You're excused." Jou reached down and pulled one last item out his bag, draping it over his neck before tying it around his back. "What?"

"Where did you get such a frilly apron?" Jou looked down at the pink and white-laced apron he had on and frowned.

"It was the only one in the house! I don't want to get my clothes all dirty."

"I think it's a little too late for that," Seto stated as he poked a small, red stain on the blonde's sleeve.

"Ah, can it, will ya? Let's get stared already." Seto nodded his head, enjoying the usual bickering, but knowing that they would never get anything done if it continued. He was still in this to win after all.

"Here, measure 3 cups of this into the mixing bowl, I'll go get some eggs." Jou nodded and took the bag of flour, setting it on the table. He pulled at the top first, but it wouldn't come open, he tried pulling harder but he only succeeded in splintering a nail.

"Ah, shit!" Jou hissed as his finger bled a bit, sticking it into his mouth.

"What seems to be the problem?" Seto sighed grimly as he walked over to where Jou was, thumb in his mouth and bag of flour still sitting unopened on the counter. "Can you not even handle the most simple of tasks? Give it here."

Jou yelped and yanked the flour out of the other man's reach in a spastic display. "No! I can do it!" the blonde whined as he began pulling at the folds in the top once more. Seto growled as he tried to wrestle the bag out of the blonde's fierce grip.

"Dammit mutt, just let me do it!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!" Jou gave a harsh tug with all the strength he could muster, blinking as white suddenly invaded his vision. "Uh…whoops" When the clouds of flour settled, he looked up to see a very pissed off Kaiba caked in flour. "I told you wearing an apron was a good idea…hehe…heh."

……………

"Finally." Jou dusted off his hands as he slid the last of the metal trays into the large industrial size oven. He had to give Kaiba one thing, this contest was going to be a lot easier to win with all of his advanced equipment. Hell, he didn't even know that Kaiba Corp. made mixing machines, but they worked pretty damn well. "Now what?" Jou asked as he closed the door with a loud bang.

"Now we wait," Seto replied, wiping up the counter.

"Ah, okay." Jou glanced over at the timer -- they had about an hour until everything was done. Then the awkward silence began. Sure, it had been easy when they were working together to make the goods for the competition; it had kept them focused on something other than each other. But now what?

"So…" Seto started slowly, and Jou glanced up after slipping off his apron.

"What?"

"Do you…want something to drink?" Jou nodded gratefully, but what he really could have used was something to eat. His snack supply had long since been depleted after more than two hours of labor. Kaiba was poking around in a refrigerator on the other side of the room, so Jou took the chance to pounce on one of the mixing bowls, still coated in uncooked brownie mix.

"Mmm…now that's the stuff." Jou swiped his finger through the goo and brought it to his mouth, only to freeze mid-lick as he saw Kaiba standing over him, a soda in each hand.

"I see you really do like to lick chocolate off of things." Jou blinked stupidly for a moment before his mind flashed back to the memory of the chocolate lube from earlier. He wrinkled his nose at the mental images that brought forth.

"You perv," Jou pouted before slipping the finger in his mouth.