The second theme for my SetoxHondaxYami triangle. A silly story. And no, I still don't own. Enjoy!

Waiting To Melt

053: Chocolate of starting melt

What a mess, was the first thing that came to Hiroto's mind when he looked around the kitchen. How embarrassing, was the second thought and where is Yami? was the third to run across his mind. And the worst part was all three thoughts came heralded by a naked chibi Seto Kaiba with chocolate smeared over half his body.

The chocolate was understandable, as Hiroto was practically wallowing in it now, and even the presence of his snobbish classmate was easily explained. It was the naked part that disturbed Hiroto in a very…good…way. Only good depending on one's perspective, of course, and, as Hiroto was too numb to think, other things had to decide whether he enjoyed the thought or not. It seemed, by all the signs however, that a naked chocolate Kaiba agreed very much with Hiroto's appetite now.

Really, though, none of this should have happened. Hiroto was not supposed to be lying on the kitchen floor with hardening chocolate trapping him to the linoleum, enjoying a nude Seto, and wondering whether Yami was in the same predicament. It was all his fault though, and Hiroto was wishing very much right now that he could blame it on Jou.

The disaster began a few hours earlier that day…

"October twenty-fifth!" Hiroto announced as he walked into the Kame shop. Yuugi looked up from the magazine he was reading behind the counter as his friend sauntered in. "Yuugi, do you know what October twenty-fifth is?"

Yuugi glanced over at a calendar sitting to his right by the cash register. "A Tuesday?" he asked.

Hiroto laughed and shook his head. "Nope! It's Kaiba's birthday." He then proceeded to walk around the game shop, idly examining a new booster deck of Duel Monsters cards, fingering a plastic "on-the-Go" board, and curiously picking up a cheap figurine sitting on a display shelf.

Yuugi lifted an eyebrow in puzzlement as he placed his magazine under the counter. "And you know this how?"

Hiroto grinned. "I asked Mokuba." He placed the knight from the marble chess set on display back on the board and approached the counter, leaning against the glass as he smiled at Yuugi. "So, anyway, I was thinking of doing something for Kaiba for his birthday."

"But it was two weeks ago," Yuugi remarked, his eyebrows getting quite the exercise and becoming very friendly with his wild hairline.

Hiroto continued talking as though Yuugi hadn't pointed out this most obvious fact. "I was thinking of baking him a cake. My mom has a recipe for special chocolate frosting. I figured Kaiba could always get his own cake anywhere if he wanted but no where is he going to find frosting as fantastic as my mom's. I mean, what else do you get a guy who has everything, or at least, the potential and money to have everything his heart desires? So, what do think Yuugi?"

Now, it was well known among Hiroto's friends that he had an undeniable crush on Seto Kaiba. After all, their student body didn't have many others to offer- Miho, whom Hiroto chased relentlessly for a long while would never look his way and Anzu, who wasn't half bad beauty-wise, only had eyes for her little Yuugi. Seto was tall, dark, handsome and rather irresistible despite his personality and it was only natural Hiroto's eyes fell on him- one of the only people, really, who could look Kaiba in the eyes. However, Hiroto was shy and didn't know how to approach the man of his dreams and so Seto was unaware of Hiroto's attraction to him.

Another well-known fact to the group was Yami's infatuation with his High Priest's reincarnation. After all, Seto's counterpart was Yami's older cousin back in Ancient Egypt and anyone who knew anything about Egypt knew about the multitude of inner-breeding within the royal circle. Of course, Yami denied having anything to do with the High Priest his cousin in the past, but then, he couldn't remember his past, so no one could believe his claims. Yami Bakura, the spirit of the Ring, spread rumors about the two back in the day (because, of course, he would be privy to those kinds of things) and that only cemented more Yami's often refuted affection for the present-day Seto. Nevertheless, he secretly did harbor feelings for the stuck-up prat and, hearing Hiroto talk about him now, he eagerly switched places with the rather bored Yuugi stuck listening to Hiroto's excited drone about Kaiba.

"…and I don't know, but I thought it would be funny to stick a surprise in the middle of the cake, though I'm not sure what because, obviously, what do you stick inside the cake? And would it get burned when you bake the cake? Yuugi?" Hiroto finally seemed to notice that Yuugi was not listening to him and he looked up to see why. He was greeted instead by two narrowed yet eager eyes. "Yuugi?" Hiroto asked again.

"Kaiba's birthday was two weeks ago and I missed it?" Yami exclaimed. Hiroto nodded, just a little wary of his friend. "We should do something for him!"

"That's what I was saying Yuuge, weren't you listening?" Hiroto said.

"Oh, I'm not Yuugi. I'm the Pharaoh," Yami pointed out.

"Oh, Yami!" Hiroto smiled. "Do you want to help me bake a cake for Kaiba's birthday? We can use my mother's chocolate frosting recipe to make it special."

Yami considered the offer for a moment, then nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah!" They both ran to the kitchen.

Yuugi, shoved rather carelessly in his soul room, groaned. Chances were he would be stuck with the clean-up.

And so the chaos began.

Yami decided to make the cake mix from scratch and was lucky enough to find a recipe in Sugoroku's kitchen. Hiroto, meanwhile, busied himself with the frosting. They each worked beside the oven, preheating at 400oF for the last twenty minutes (it took them a long time to figure out what the ingredients were. Yuugi helped them a little, but only because he wanted to have a functioning kitchen by the time they were finished.)

Now another, not so known fact about Hiroto was that for a while he harbored feelings for the spirit of the Puzzle. Because Yuugi was in "control" of their shared body most of the time, it was barely noticeable, but when they dueled, and Yami came out, Hiroto was in love. The mystery surrounding Yami's past as well as his fine Pharaonic features made him quite attractive in Hiroto's eyes.

Hiroto had just completed the frosting when he decided to peek over at Yami while he worked. He laughed. "Yami, you have chocolate on your nose."

Yami looked up and, sure enough, there was chocolate smeared over his nose. Yami smirked. "So do you."

Hiroto's hand immediately flew to his nose, which was clean. "No I don't Ya-" he was cut off by a spoonful of cake mix hitting him squarely on the nose. "Hey, don't waste the mix!" he cried.

"You only say that because you know you couldn't win against me!" Yami said.

Hiroto's eyes narrowed as he dug out a handful of chocolate frosting. "Oh yeah?"

Yami's eyes lit up. "Yeah," and he scooped up some cake mix as well.

"On three?"

Yami nodded. "One…two…THREE!"

Yami got Hiroto in the chest, but Hiroto got Yami's hair. The Pharaoh let out a horrified cry. "You didn't!"

Hiroto laughed. "I think it's a good look for you Yami," he said.

"I will get you, Honda. Mark my words," Yami growled.

Hiroto sniggered. "Oh, big words from the little man. Can you back them up?" He picked up the glass bowl and prepared to launch an attack when something flew into his hair. Hiroto's eyes went wide. "My…hair!" he exclaimed.

Yami bent over in laughter. "Never underestimate my almighty aim!" he declared. "You'll need to be really clever to retaliate now, but with all that chocolate weighing your brain down…well, let's say it's just that much less likely."

Hiroto looked up, a dangerous glint in his eye. "Oh yeah?" he whispered. "Well, Retaliate THIS!" He charged swiftly at Yami, holding the bowl close to his body until he was close enough. Yami watched in frozen horror as the bowl of frosting tipped over his head and chocolate gooiness fell from above all over his body. Honda shrieked with laughter as Yami glared.

"Oh, Honda, you've done it now…" he muttered softly as he picked up the cake mix bowl. "I'll give you a three second warning. Ready? Threetwoone!" And Yami flung the cake mix all over Hiroto's shirt.

A war broke out then. Yuugi was twitching with shock.

Ten minutes later Hiroto was utterly defeated…but then, so was Yami. Admitting mutual defeat, they made to shake hands, but ended up slipping to the floor instead. Hiroto hit his head hard on the ground and blanked out for a minute or two. The first thought to come to his head was 'what a mess'…followed by 'how embarrassing' and then 'where's Yami.' And the worst part was…

"Honda? You alive?" Somewhere from the kitchen floor came Yami's voice.

"Yeah, I'm alive. Yuugi's gonna kill us though."

Yami snorted. "Yeah, only I can't get up."

"The chocolate, right? It's beginning to harden," Hiroto said.

"Exactly. You're safe, for the moment."

Hiroto closed his eyes and sighed. The day certainly had not gone the way he planned- baking a cake for his first crush ended up as a food fight with the second. Yami was pretty hot with chocolate on his face though. When Hiroto got out of the situation he found himself in, he vowed to think much more on the image of chocolate frosting in Yami's hair. Maybe allow himself the pleasure of imagining licking the confection off Yami while he's at it. Chocolate-covered Yami…yum.

"So, when do we get up?"

Hiroto opened his eyes, tried to see Yami. Of course he couldn't. "Wait a little while."

"Until when?"

"When the chocolate melts." Hiroto smiled at that mental image.

"When will that be?" Yami asked.

"Winter's coming soon. When jii-san turns the heat on."

"Oh." Hiroto returned to his dreaming.

"Well, the cake's ruined," Yami said at last.

Hiroto shrugged, breaking the chocolate crust forming on his arms. "His birthday was two weeks ago anyway. Doesn't really matter now."

"I guess not."

Another silence and Hiroto began to realize he could easily get up if he wanted. He stayed on the floor.

"So, when's the next birthday coming up?"

"Hmm, Malik's in December."

"Damn."

"Same time next week?"

"Sure. What's the occasion?"

"We forgot your birthday this year."

"Works for me," Yami laughed. "So, has the chocolate started to melt yet?"

"Not quite. Just another minute or so."

"Yeah, I'd hate to kill you too."

Hiroto laughed.

End

the "on-the-Go" board I made up. I can't really think that there's such a thing as a traveling Go board for on the road trips. I just thought it would be funny, for those who enjoy Hikaru no Go.

Hey! The second story done for the themes. Still no kissing, but I hope I got the romance in with Hiroto's naughty wanderings. Mheh, and Seto wasn't really in the story, but that's okay. It's his fault, really, for having a birthday, right? Anyway, please review!