The Heat is On

Wow, chapter 12 and it's pretty close to being finished. Get ready for some card-playing fun, Yu-Gi-Oh style. What crazy mischief will everyone get into now?

Sorry if it's a little short but I promise I'm working on it as we speak…

Cans of pop from the fridge had been distributed, mugs of hot chocolate warmed still chilly hands and plates of chocolate cheesecake sat temptingly on the table as the group of teenagers got ready for yet another round of 'Idiot'. Disaster had only been narrowly averted moments before as Téa had intervened between Joey and Seto debating whether she was a lady or not. Those two would never see eye to eye on anything, except maybe Duel Monsters strategies.

Joey, bound and determined to keep Kaiba and Téa apart, hovered near her, ready to take his place between her and 'Moneybags', much as he had at the end of the snowball fight. Téa took notice of this and while she loved him dearly for the sentiment, she knew that he wouldn't succeed. Her and Seto were opposites and totally attracted to each other. Their kiss outside in the snow had proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Besides, the rules for 'Idiot' had yet to be taken into account.

With both hands full of drinks, she cleared her throat to calm down the idle chatter and focus everyone's eyes on her for a second. "Are we all ready to play cards?" A general nod from everyone and an inconspicuous wink from Seto gave her her answer. "Great, now let's take our places at the table according to the rules."

"There are rules for where you sit for this game?" Mokuba piped up from somewhere beside Yugi. He'd never heard of this idea before. Usually, though it was just him and his brother playing cards. Playing with a lot of people was way more exciting. More of a challenge, too.

"Of course, it's just to make the next rule a little easier to follow. Okay, Joey, you and Tristan take that side of the table, and Kaiba and I will sit on this side. Yugi, you and Mokuba take the ends since you two are the neutrals."

Joey groaned silently. First, he'd lost the battle to get in the washroom with Téa, then he'd been ambushed by a black-haired devil who stole his pyjama pants and now he couldn't even keep Téa from sitting near that jerk, Kaiba. The rules were very specific. The President and Vice President sat across from the other President and Vice President. He was so used to it just being the four of them at Christmas that he'd forgotten all about that particular rule. Operation Keep Away was now a humiliating disaster instead of just a miserable attempt. Seto smirked at Wheeler's flustered expression. A master of keeping his thoughts to himself, he was definitely not.

Yugi, and consequently Yami, noticed the sizzling look Kaiba and Téa shared as they moved towards their new, respective seats next to each other. This game should prove to be highly interesting as a flash of challenge rose unspoken between the couple. Yes, they were a couple. And perfectly suited for each other. Somehow, Téa had already managed to mellow out a high-strung Kaiba. Nothing was lost on Mokuba either as he bounced towards the far end of the table to take his place. Those two were still making 'eyes' at each other. At least he understood that girls really weren't that bad after all. Images of Megan flashed through his mind and he sighed. He should have gotten her phone number – maybe they could have played together after school sometime. Maybe Téa would get it for him. In exchange for certain, embarrassing Polaroids of a CEO she liked, of course. Tristan was the only one who really didn't notice anything weird going on. He was too busy wondering what he was going to say to Julie besides "Merry Christmas" when he called her tomorrow.

This was going to be a great game, she thought. Seto had silently challenged her and she'd accepted with the barest nod of her head. Setting her drinks down on the table and getting ready to recite the rest of the rules, she went to pull her chair back only to find that it already was with Seto standing in attendance. Surprised pleasure crossed her features at the gentlemanly gesture and she gracefully took her seat as he pushed her chair in. Téa didn't miss the brush of his fingers on her bare upper arm as he took his seat next to her.

Catching the mutt's flashing eyes from across the table, his eyebrow arched high. "She is a lady, Wheeler." Turning to Mokuba, who sat to his right, he missed the murderous death glare cast in his direction by golden eyes. A single look was enough to admonish the younger Kaiba into not attacking the slice of cheesecake that sat in front of him. The last thing Seto needed was a sugar high younger brother to deal with. That had been hard enough last Saturday, especially that engineered kiss he'd been forced to share with Wheeler. The memory of it still made him shudder.

'Tonight promises to be most fascinating, Yugi,' Yami stated, his spirit form floating cross-legged next to Yugi. 'Sitting between Joey and Téa at the end of the table will put us in the centre of the action.' A smile tugged up the corners of his mouth and his deeply violet eyes crinkled at the corners.

'I just hope that we can keep Joey from killing Kaiba. I have a feeling he won't be too impressed when he finds out about those two and his wasted efforts on "Operation Keep Away".' Yugi kept his eye on Joey, watching him fidget in his seat across from Téa. Tristan almost missed his chair for the goofy expression on his face. Too many thoughts of a certain pink-jacketed girl.

"Now that we're all settled, I'll explain the last few rules to the game since we're continuing from before," Téa started to say, beaming a smile at all of her friends gathered around her kitchen table on Christmas Eve. The cheerful Christmas tune, "Jingle Bell Rock", and the feel of Seto's sock-covered toe caressing her ankle had absolutely nothing to do with her good mood.

"Are these new rules really hard?" Mokuba asked, a smear of hot chocolate covering his upper lip. This card game was so much better than Duel Monsters. Luck came more into play here since the cards were dealt out randomly. Maybe he could beat Seto and Téa at this game one day. With Megan cheering him on…

"No, they're not hard. You just have to remember them. First, you've all noticed the seating arrangement. The President sits across from the Idiot…"

"Joey, in case no one remembered," Tristan piped up finally coming back to reality with the darkest of blushes staining his cheeks. Téa thought it was thoroughly adorable before continuing on since she had a pretty good idea as to whom he was thinking about.

"… and the Vice sits across from the other Vice. Like I said, this just makes the next rule a little easier to follow. The Idiot deals out the cards and we all arrange our hands to our liking. But Joey has to give me his two highest cards and I give him my two lowest. Kaiba gives Tristan one low card and he gets Tristan's highest in return."

"Then it's really hard to get out of the Idiot position, with all of your good cards gone to the President," Mokuba countered, the chocolate moustache more pronounced this time. Téa was right, these weren't hard rules so far.

"Téa's done it b'fore, Mokuba," Joey said, shuffling the two decks that sat near his chocolate cheesecake. "It's only the two highest cards. A couple Christmases ago, Téa was the As… Idiot and she gave Yugi her two Jokers she'd been dealt but she'd still had three twos in her hand. She went from Idiot to Prez in one hand."

"Wow, Téa, you must be really good at this game," Mokuba added, talking around the bite of cheesecake in his mouth. At least he didn't spray it all over the table. Seto could have groaned in embarrassment. He thought Mokuba had better manners than that.

Everyone thought the blush on her cheeks was due to Mokuba's praise of her skills. No one knew that Seto's toe had reached a little higher than her ankle. Téa cleared her throat once and took a sip of hot chocolate to cover the flutters she felt in her stomach at his touch, even if it was just his toes. She just knew he was smirking at her. Turning her head a fraction, she saw the silent giggles he was holding inside. If he kept this up, she was in serious trouble of losing her concentration, her train of thought and the game about to be played. Well, she had a few tricks of her own yet to play.

All talk stopped for a moment as Joey dealt out the cards and everyone fiddled with getting their cards in order and getting their pennies ready for the bowl in the centre of the table. Téa scanned her hand, trying to determine which cards she should give Joey. A lonely four and a single seven struck her as being the choice she should make. No point in breaking up the multiples she had. Plus a Joker and a two. Not a bad hand to start out with and it was only going to get better when Joey gave her his cards. Plucking the four and seven out of her hand, she slid them across the table facedown towards Joey. His distressed expression made her smile. 'He must be giving me something good,' she thought as Joey slid two cards her way.

Seto stared at his hand with interest. A pretty good mix of cards, many of them multiples and a couple of twos plus a Joker. Not a bad hand at all. Maybe he would be able to give Téa a run for her money, literally, and win this game. It was all strategy based after all. The only difference between this and Duel Monsters was that he didn't get to choose the cards himself. A single six made its way across the table to Tristan, facedown of course. Tristan sighed once and slid a facedown card to Kaiba. Those were the rules after all. At least it was only one high card.

Yugi watched Téa's reaction to the cards she'd just received and he inwardly groaned. That slight grin meant they were doomed. He'd known her long enough to read even the smallest movements of her face and the fact that she showed even that much emotion during a card game… At least he'd be able to stay a neutral. That was the safest position, especially after that challenge had passed between Kaiba and her. He didn't want to get in the middle of those two when it came down to a card war.

"All right. The exchanges have been done and now it's time to start the game. A couple more things to remember. Since Joey is the Idiot, he starts the game but he also has to rake the cards in once the hand is over. This is very important, now, so pay attention. NO ONE ELSE can touch the cards on the table once they've been played. If you do, you become the new Idiot and you have to switch hands." Téa glanced around the table and saw that everyone was nodding in understanding. Even Mokuba, though he still looked a little unsure. Seto had stopped playing with her ankle under the table as he concentrated on organizing his cards into whatever order he'd needed them in. The quirk of his lips didn't bode well for her. Maybe he was going to beat her this hand. That would be a change. It would be an excuse to play a third hand and determine who held the title for the next year.

Joey scanned his hand and figured that this would be his only shot to play any number of cards, so he drew quickly and tossed out four fours. Téa swore under her breath. She'd given him one of those fours and now he'd played it against her. Seto heard the hiss of breath and knew that she wasn't happy. Maybe now was the most opportune moment to start his little tricks again. After all, if she was already off balance from that little play, a little more and he'd have the game in the bag. His superior strategizing would also need to come out but with the hand he'd been dealt and the addition of Tristan's Joker, he was almost guaranteed to overthrow Téa.

Tristan sighed and threw out four sixes to cover Joey's just played hand. At least he got to play some cards before having to resort to the majority of singles and pairs that he held. The addition of Kaiba's single nine at least had made him another pair that he could hopefully use later. It looked like he and Joey would be fighting it out for Idiot again.

Mokuba scrutinized his hand, peering between it and the eight cards that lay on the table in a small pile. This was going to be a tough game. Seto and Téa would be hard to defeat and then there was the possibility of Yugi joining in the action. What was a youngster supposed to do? He just sighed and threw out four sevens on top of Tristan's sixes. Staying in the neutral position was the best he could hope for since he didn't want to get between the twosome sitting next to each other. He'd seen Seto's eyes smile and that was always a bad sign.

Seto didn't even think about his move. His hand automatically pulled out four Queens as he shot a triumphant grin in Téa's direction. If she was going to win the hand, she needed four higher cards or she needed to use something a little more… powerful. This would tell him exactly what he was up against. Even though it was only the first hand, it was this that determined the rest of the game. Would she be cautious or would she throw it to the wind?

So, that's how he wanted to play. Save his better cards for later, eh? She smirked right back at him, watched him shiver at her look, and put four Kings on top of his carefully laid Queens. She knew exactly when to take a chance and the first hand wasn't the time to take one. If it was a war he wanted, it was a war he would get.

The silence was starting to grate on Joey's nerves, as he got ready to rake cards off to the side. Yugi was next and he was still looking at his cards. Everyone was too quiet, besides eating cheesecake noises, and there was so much tension that a saw couldn't cut it. At least it wasn't a bad tension. There was something else in the air and he didn't know what to label it as. The looks between Kaiba and Téa were the most confusing ones. The other guys were too busy staring at their cards but those two were staring at each other. It was almost like… a challenge was going on. Maybe there was a bet he didn't know about. Maybe Kaiba had bet Téa that if he won, she'd give him whatever information he wanted. But what would Téa get if she won? That was a good question to ponder for a few minutes til it was his turn to play cards, or not.

Poor Joey.

The card game wasn't going to play itself, so Yugi played his one, best card. Nothing else he had in his hand could defeat Téa's four Kings. A single Joker landed on top of the pile of cards and everyone at the table groaned. No one had been expecting that move in the first hand, least of all Kaiba. That meant there were only three Jokers left in the game and Yugi had his suspicions as to who possessed them. It would be a matter of when they were played that determined the winner.

"Well, well, looks like it's about to get interesting," Téa stated, smiling at her best friend. The knowing look she received in return confirmed everything. Yugi knew that the game was now between her and Seto. A battle of the sexes, a test of skill and strategy. Besides, if he won, they would have to play best two out of three. Time to turn up the heat and create a bit of a distraction for the stoic CEO. All was fair in love and war and this was a little bit of both.

I promised everyone an update before I left for vacation and here it is. Scary when it takes me almost 3,000 words to describe the first hand of a card game. Promise I'll be continuing to work on it while I'm gone…

Thanks for everything from everyone who reviews. You don't know how your words touch me…

Aphrael21;)