Merry Christmas to everyone ^^. Thanks very much to my best friend SparklingDashofEgypt for helping me write this.
It was a week before Christmas, and Yugi and Atem were doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. As Atem looked at a display of women's clothes, a familiar melody came on the overhead speaker of the mall intercom, which had been spitting out Christmas music enough for him to ignore it until now. He heaved a sigh.
"Atem? Are you ok?" Yugi asked, noticing Atems attitude had changed.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Atem nodded, looking down at Yugi who was sitting next to him.
"Be honest with me Atem, I know something is up. You were fine until that song started playing." Yugi paused and smirked. "I know what's wrong."
"What's wrong?" Atem asked, feigning ignorance.
"You miss Loretta, don't you? I saw the way you were looking at that display." Yugi continued to smirk.
"I thought they were nice clothes," Atem said defensively.
"They were women's clothes, Atem & I only know one woman that was close to your heart." Yugi gave Atem a nudge with his elbow.
"Shut it." Atem grumbled, turning away.
"Come on Atem, admit it. You miss her." Yugi gave him more of a nudge.
"I will not. She didn't want to be with me anymore so I have put it past me." Atem snapped, crossing his arms across his broad chest.
"Ok, fine. Suit yourself. Are you ready to go? I can't find anything for Grandpa." Yugi sighed.
Atem faked a grin and jerked his thumb back at the women's clothes rack. "You sure he wouldn't like that?"
"I doubt my Grandpa would even fit some of that stuff, but I know a certain someone that would look really good in it, especially that dress." Yugi pointed to a Sapphire blue halter.
"Too bad she'll have to buy it herself, I heard she's moved to Egypt." Atem answered, heading toward the exit.
Yugi bit his lip, not saying anything as he followed Atem out.
"So what's on schedule now?" Atem asked as they walked to the car.
Yugi shrugged. "I guess we should go home."
"Good idea." Atem led the way.
As they got back to the car, Yugi felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. "You just get in the car Atem, I won't be long."
Atem nodded and got in, taking his phone as he waited.
Yugi turned his back to the car, leaning up against it. "Hey Tea, what's up?"
"I was wondering if you were still coming to the party I'm throwing this weekend?" Tea asked.
"Yea, of course we are." Yugi chuckled.
"Is Captain Pineapple still in the dark about it?" Tea asked, referring to their code name for Atem.
"I haven't said a word, he thinks shes still in Egypt but I dont know how their meeting is going to go, I think he's still hurt over what happened." Yugi sighed.
"I understand. Her leaving was hard on us all." Tea sighed.
"What time do you want us around Tea?" Yugi whispered.
"About 6, she'll be here by then."
"Ok, see you then Tea." Yugi hung up & got into the car.
Atem didn't notice his return, paying attention to his phone.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" Yugi asked.
"Hm? Oh, nothing." Atem put his phone away.
"That was Tea, shes invited us around on the weekend for a Christmas party." Yugi told him, leaving out the other details.
"Oh, sounds like a good time." Atem smiled.
"I was hoping you would say that, its nice to see you smiling." Yugi smiled
The weekend came and it was time for the Christmas party. Atem sighed as he got out of the car. "Do I really have to go"
"Of course you do, what's wrong with you all of a sudden? You were happy about coming to this last week." Yugi raised an eyebrow at Atem.
"I just have a funny feeling this won't end well." Atem answered, nervously.
"Why? It's only us and our friends here. Unless you decide to get really drunk and start a fight with Marik or Duke." Yugi chuckled, rolling his eyes as they headed towards the door.
"Why would I do that?" Atem raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly, now stop worrying." Yugi smiled, knocking on the door.
Atem sighed, resigning himself to going to the party. "Let's get this over with."
Tea heard the knock at the door and opened it. "Hey, about time you two got here."
"Sorry, I kept us." Atem apologized.
"No problem, its nice to see you. Come in and have a drink." Tea offered.
"Yeah, sure." Atem came in, shedding his jacket.
"Hey Pharaoh, what took ya so long to get here." Joey grinned
"Yugi being annoying." Atem pointed out.
Joey chuckled, thrusting a glass into Atems hand. "Sit down and relax Pharaoh, its a party."
"I suppose. I don't feel much like partying." Atem sighed.
"Why? What's up? It's not like Tea's invited Bakura." Joey chuckled.
"That's not funny, Joey." Atem glared at him.
"Sorry Pharaoh." Joey apologized, rubbing his neck sheepishly.
Appearing from the hall, a girl with long flowing, ebony hair spotted her friend Tea. "Hey Tea, do you know where my..." She paused, also spotting a familiar head of hair. "Atem...?"
Atem glared up at Tea. "You left out the small fact that she would be here, Tea.."
"Surprise..." Tea giggled, nervously.
"What are you doing here?" Atem demanded, not meeting her eye.
"Tea invited me, but dont blame her its my fault..." Loretta bit her lip.
Atem glanced over at Tea, waiting for an explanation.
Tea squeezed her eyes shut. "I invited Loretta because she told me how much she missed you and if you knew she was here , I knew you might not have come."
"Of course I wouldn't have, she was the one who chose to break up with me." Atem growled angrily.
Loretta sniffed, tears pooling in her eyes. "Can we talk in private please?"
"Fine." Atem huffed, hesitantly getting up and following her.
Loretta led Atem to the hallway and shut the door. "Please look at me Atem, Im really sorry about what happened between us. What Tea said is true though, I really have missed you."
"Really?" Atem raised an eyebrow, still suspicious.
"Would I ever lie to you?" Loretta raised an eyebrow.
"You did lie to me until you admitted you weren't feeling our relationship for months before then." Atem pointed out.
"I know, Im sorry. Look, if you want me to leave, I will. I dont want to ruin this Christmas party for you." Loretta turned to walk away.
"Wait."Atem gently grabbed her wrist.
"What?" Loretta asked, also raising an eyebrow.
"You don't have to leave the party. You were invited just like I was."
"Your obviously upset about seeing me and I dont want to ruin the rest of the night if all we are going to do is argue or not even talk to each other." Loretta sighed.
"I think in the spirit of the season I can be civil." Atem gave her a small smile.
"I think for Tea's sake, I will try as well." Loretta gave him a small smile back. "Its nice to see you again also."
"Definitely nice to see you. I was just so hurt after you broke up with me." Atem frowned.
"The feeling is mutual actually." Loretta giggled.
"Why did you?" Atem asked, keeping his eyebrow raised.
"I guess it was all because of the stress from work, I shouldn't have taken it out on you didn't deserve it." Loretta sighed.
"I accept your apology. And I'm sorry I was so hostile." Atem tried to smile again.
"Its a shame it took us this long to sort this out, but to be honest, I never stopped thinking about you the whole time we were apart." Loretta giggled a little.
Atem chuckled. "Good things are worth the wait." He looked up at the ceiling. "Tea." He chuckled again, shaking his head.
Loretta took a step back, unsure. "Im sorry, I dont know if Im ready for this yet."
"What's wrong?" Atem asked, looking concerned.
"I think we need time to get used to one another again." Loretta shrugged, feeling her heart pounding in her chest.
"That's fine, I just was pointing it out." Atem shrugged also.
"I guess we better go out there before everyone thinks we've killed each other." Loretta giggled.
"Wanna poke a little fun at them?" Atem winked.
"Sure, I guess. What did you have in mind?" Loretta raised an eyebrow.
"Undo and redo your buttons in the wrong holes and mess your hair up a bit." Atem did the buttons of his own shirt as an example.
Loretta smirked, catching on to what he was doing and copied him. "This type of thing was what I really liked about you."
"Oh?" Atem raised an eyebrow, smiling at her messed hair.
"The prank-playing is what I mean." Loretta blushed, realising what she'd just said.
"I remember this," Atem gestured to his messed shirt. "Was NOT one of our problems."
"To be honest Atem, it was kinda the lack of this, was one of the reasons why I left you." Loretta looked away.
"Oh?" Atem raised an eyebrow, watching her.
"Im sorry, we shouldn't talk about it anymore." Loretta shook her head.
In the living room, Yugi looked nervously at the hall door. "Do you think I should go and see if they are ok Tea? I partially responsible if something was to happen."
"I think we would have heard something. Wait, I think they're coming out." Yugi said suddenly, hearing the door open.
Loretta giggled before pretending that she'd been panting. "Oh man that felt good, its been so long. Good thing Tea hung that Mistletoe on the ceiling."
"Definitely the best way to reconnect." Atem pretended to pant as well, winking at Loretta.
Yugi's mouth dropped open. "You didn't!"
Loretta winked back at Atem, kissing his cheek. "In more ways than one."
"Dont look at me, I didnt put it there for that reason." Tea blushed.
"Way to go, Pharaoh!" Joey cheered as Yugi and Tea scowled at him.
Loretta and Atem both cracked up laughing. "We honestly never did anything."
"That's just mean." Yugi scowled at him.
"Sorry Yugi." Atem chuckled then quickly turned to Loretta. "Did you just kiss me?"
"I might have." Loretta giggled
Atem shook his head. "I still have lots to learn about you."
"Oh yes, you do." Loretta smirked. "Now that we have that out of the way, lets party."
Atem was now getting extremely drunk from all the eggnog Loretta kept supplying him. "This-hic-party-hic-is-getting-hic-outta-hand."
"I like you better when you're wasted." Loretta giggled, now also feeling drunk.
"Did you plan to make me dr-drunk?" Atem accused, laughing.
Loretta didn't answer, she just grabbed Atem by the front of his shirt, passionately kissing him.
Atem kissed her back. "Merry Christmas Loretta."
"Merry Christmas Atem." Loretta smiled kissing him again as she spotted the mistletoe hanging above their heads.
"Tea." Atem and Loretta both laughed, shaking their heads.