This took longer than I expected and I'm a little sad I wasn't able to post it on time ;_; But better late than never, right? ^^' I wish you only the best for the New Year, lots of love, good laughs, pleasant memories and that you achieve all the things you planned on for this year 3

Toast

"You're not allowed to be in here you know that."

Atem looked at Seto as the tall man entered the kitchen with a wary look. "But I'm hungry."

"That's no excuse." Seto deadpanned and made his way over to him. "You could have told me and not sneak in here secretly."

Rolling his eyes, Atem sighed heavily. "First, I didn't sneak in here I just… waited until you got up to get the fireworks and second and more importantly I'm perfectly able to make myself a toast, thank you very much."

"You said the same about your tea and then the kettle exploded."

"Do you want me to starve?"

"I want you to leave the kitchen and come back to the living room. There's only five minutes left."

"Oh!" Atem's eyes lit up at this, since he loved fireworks and he smiled at Seto. "Then the year will be over just like that."

"And the next will begin just like that."

"Of course." Atem chuckled at Seto's indifference towards this topic. "But it's the first time we're celebrating the turn of the year together. So it's special."

Seto just nodded slowly before he shrugged. "A lot of people celebrate the turn of the year with their partner. We're just doing what everybody else is doing. We're just like everybody else."

Atem huffed and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the sideboard. "So it's nothing special for you that we're here together at midnight?"

"We've been together at midnight so many times before already. So what if it's the turn of a day or of a year, it's basically the same. Something old ends and the future begins."

That obviously didn't convince Atem either but his expression changed a little. "This must be your favorite day then, right? A whole year is turned into the past and you can forget about it all."

"Probably…" Seto shrugged again and glanced at Atem with a meaningful look in his eyes. His old rival had basically hit the nail on the head. At least if he thought about all previous turns of the year. This one was far too different. And Atem being here with him was really the tip of the iceberg. He looked him over for the hundredth time that day, not that he had to make sure that Atem really was here he was just… nice to look at. He tore his gaze away from him and looked at the toaster when an idea formed in his head. "How about another toast?"

"You want to hold a speech?"

Seto shrugged again. "I'm good at those." He simply said and Atem chuckled.

"You certainly are."

A short nod was the only appreciation Seto showed Atem for this comment and he turned around to get them glasses and something to drink. He still had a bottle of wine he got from a business partner who had thought he was older and liked this sort of beverage. He had made it very clear to the man that he wasn't like Pegasus in any way but now he was kind of glad that he kept the bottle. It would have been dull to toast with water.

Turning around he placed the glasses on the sideboard next to Atem and saw him fidgeting with a knife dangerously close to the toaster.

"Atem, no!" He shouted and extended his hand to grab Atem by the wrist but it was already too late: the knife hit the wire and the toaster exploded in a flash of white and yellow. Seto was fast enough to jump before Atem and push him to the ground where he shielded the smaller man's body from the parts that flew around.

It was quiet again just as fast as the commotion occurred and Seto leaned up a little and quickly checked if nothing had caught fire. His racing heartbeat slowly calmed down too and he looked at Atem who was still lying under him with wide eyes and ragged breathing as he gripped the collar of Seto's shirt in his hand so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"Are you okay?" Upon hearing Seto's concerned voice, Atem's eyes focused on Seto and he nodded slowly. Seto sighed relieved, leaned back and slouched against refrigerator, trying to calm down again. "And I always thought I was the one with the weakness for explosions."

"What… was that?" Atem's voice was thin and pressed. He leaned up on his elbows and caught Seto's gaze again as if the look into his eyes helped him to get his calm back.

"That was a perfect example for why you are not allowed in my kitchen." Seto nagged and out his hand over his face. "You can't touch the toaster with a knife like that."

Atem chuckled somewhat at that and leaned against the cupboard opposite to Seto, still not daring to take his eyes away from him.

They didn't take their eyes off each other, each searching and finding something else in the other's look. Their gazes turned more and more intense with every passing second and while Atem was still trying to find his answer to what had just happened, Seto was close to devouring him. It was that strange mixture of danger and security around him that pulled him in and it was in these moments that he realized how much it affected him that Atem was here, that he was with him and what it meant to him, what Atem meant to him and when he thought that he could lose him again so easily and he just…

"I lied."

"What?" Seto's slip of tongue brought them both out of their trance and Atem could tell that he hadn't intended to say that. Normally when something like this happened Atem would just leave him alone or wait if he told him or not but this seemed different and kind of important to Seto to just ignore it. "When?"

"I lied when I said we're just like everybody else…" Seto fixed his eyes on Atem's once more and almost grinned at his confused look before he continued. "Because we're not. We are special. This is special. I would have never thought I'd have an actual relationship or that anyone would even want one with me. But I guess you're not anyone, right? You are Atem and you are… the only one for me."

They both blinked at those words, whose meaning may have been pretty obvious but Seto still thought he'd never say it out loud and Atem surely never thought he'd hear them.

Atem smiled at Seto and nodded and the distance between them suddenly bothered him. There was so much more to his words than that and he wanted to tell him that right now.

"It means… a lot to me that you are here with me, that I have you in this way and I'm slowly getting used to the way it feels like when you call me by my name or look at me with your captivating eyes or when you kiss me breathless. But sometimes… I still think you'll disappear when I turn around or that I wake up from a dream and I want to hold onto you and trust that you'll never leave me again." He paused again and looked away for a second as if he only just realized what he was saying. But against his assumption Atem's expression wasn't ridiculing or incredulous, he seemed more astonished and moved and Seto decided that since he had already started to sprout these things he could at least finish what he started.

He caught Atem's gaze again and looked determinedly and unwavering into his eyes. "The year will be over soon and these words as well as this moment will be in the past. Usually that meant for me that I would leave it all behind and work to forget it all but this time it's different. This is the first time I don't want to forget or blow up the past. Because this time it'd mean to forget you to. I already impressively demonstrated that I'm unable to do that, didn't I. I can't forget you, no matter how much I might have wanted at the beginning. And now it's the very last thing I would want. I got you back because I didn't want you in the past. I wanted you by my side. I want you with me. Now… and in the future. And…" Seto stopped when he realized that Atem was trembling slightly and a wave of anger and longing rolling through his body that made him groan. "And if you don't come here and kiss me in the next two seconds I'll return you back to…"

To his relief he didn't get to finish his sentence because for once Atem did what he told him and kissed him in this particular way of his, with just the right mixture of passion, harshness and provocation. He pulled Atem close to him and placed him in his lap, hugging his arms around his body and holding him in place when he ended their kiss.

"I'm non-returnable, Kaiba." Atem said with a grin and Seto ran his hand through his wild hair.

"You know that saying all of this wasn't like me at all and those were surely the cheesiest words that ever came out of his mouth. But… they were the truth and I wanted you to know it." Atem nodded swiftly and Seto placed another kiss on his far too enticing lips. "Those words were meant for you and you alone and… I swear I'll kill you if you tell anyone I said that."

Atem blinked surprised at the sudden change in Seto's expression and attitude but couldn't help his small laugh. "That sounds more like you." He patted Seto's chest in a rather mocking manner and kissed his cheek. "I won't tell anyone. You can be sure of it."

Seto nodded his approval and thought about standing up and cleaning the mess but Atem obviously sensed his intention and snuggled even closer to Seto.

"That really was a nice toast."

"I can only return the compliment." Seto chuckled darkly and raised his eyebrow at him but Atem only smiled back sheepishly and laced his fingers with Seto's.

"You sure have a talent for speeches like that. I mean, this was a rather dangerous and chaotic situation and you were still able to talk so openly and eloquently about our relationship and your devotion to me and…"

Seto groaned and rolled his eyes exasperated. "Will you just shut up?"

The grin Atem shot him was the one Seto had waited for the whole evening. "Make me."

Were the only words he said and all he needed to say for Seto to understand and he latched onto Atem's lips just as fast and hard as he had only moments ago. They kissed again deeply and ardently and neither of them was aware when the clocks stroke twelve and turned the current year into the past one, closed the last chapter over all the exciting and frightening, good and bad things that had happened and opened a new book with blank pages that were ready to be filled with all kinds of adventures. And although it was over they both knew that they would remember this last year as the one that changed their lives in ways they never would have thought possible.