Hello! And welcome to Cactus Bob's house of horrors! No, I'm just kidding. I read my last chapter again and found all of these grammatical errors… It was so distressing. I think I did better on this one though!

Atem woke sore, groggy, and freezing to the sounds of giggles. He sat up and looked over to find Tea and Yugi chatting happily on the bed, sharing a pint of chocolate ice cream.

"So he comes up to me, and he's like, 'So why haven't you been returning my calls?' And then I'm like, 'I haven't been returning your calls because I thought you were too busy with your sister. You seemed pretty busy when I saw you two frenching, gutterface.'"

"That disgusting piece of slime. You should have killed him."

Tea laughed. "You make an excellent honorary girlfriend, Yugi."

"Thank you."

Atem squinted at them. "Yugi… You're awake."

Yugi giggled. "Yes, sometimes." He said, eating another spoonful of ice cream.

"How on Earth can you eat ice cream at this time of morning?" Atem asked incredulously. "It's not even dawn yet…" he said, his words fading into a yawn that sent frozen particles of his breath into the air.

"Well," Tea started. "We were worried that the ice cream would melt, but then we thought about these temperatures..." She ate another spoonful, and Atem noticed the red gloves on her hands. "Nevertheless, I feel that we need the serotonin."

Yugi nodded emphatically. He was clothed in navy blue gloves, a dark gray hoody, and a saxe blue, waist-long scarf. "We were hoping that we would finish it ourselves, before anyone else woke up, but you can have some… I guess." He said reluctantly.

Atem stood up and shivered. "I'll pass." He said, hugging himself to keep warm.

"You should bundle up." Yugi said thoughtfully. "I can't imagine how we're going to heat the house considering that the power's still not on." He turned to Atem and winked. "Wasn't this cold in Egypt, so I guess you didn't really have to worry about it, huh?"

Atem shook his head, stepping over the snoring Joey and Tristan to get warmer clothes. "There was a reason that we didn't have windows."

"What are we going to do while we're here?" Yugi asked, as he and the rest of the gang sat amongst the couches in the living room. "It's not like we have energy… or heat… or light."

"What do you mean that we don't have anything to do? We have all the stuff that we've done that we've never told anyone else about." Tea said cheerfully. "We could just… talk."

"That sounds like a good idea, Tea." Atem said. "So who'd like to start?"

There was silence.

"Tea! Good choice everyone!" Tristan said suddenly.

"Me?! Why me?!" Tea asked, her face turning as red as a ripe tomato.

"Because dis was all your idea and dat's why you should start." Joey explained.

"Come now, Tea." Atem encouraged. "I'm sure that you have some entertaining story."

"Fine," Tea started, and stopped for a minute to think. "OK, I was eight years old… and, um, the school Yugi and I were going to was doing a mandatory talent show, and I danced, 'cause that's what I'm good at. Well, Yugi didn't really have anything to do, so he went up on stage… and he sang."

"SAY WHAT?!" Joey exclaimed, as Yugi held his head in his hands in shame.

"I thought you said we'd never speak of that again, Tea." Yugi mumbled faintly.

Tristan had burst into hysterics. "You… were… singing…" He choked out among his guffaws, tears forming in his eyes.

"I heard him. He was pretty good, actually. It was hard to tell, though. It was some kind of foreign song. " Tea said, giggling.

"Yugi… sang…" Tristan gasped.

"I don't understand." Atem said. "What's so funny?"

"Dude… you're jokin', right?" Joey laughed. "Dis is like the most lame and funny thing a person can do."

"Why's that? I mean, I probably wouldn't be comfortable with singing in front of anyone myself, but I don't see why it is a cause for ridicule." Atem said.

Tristan stopped laughing and took a breath. "Sure, ruin it for me." He said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Yugi kept himself hidden in his hands.

"Dude, this is fun. Let's all share secrets about our friends that will totally embarrass them." Tristan suggested.

"Yeah!" Joey agreed. "And Yugi, since you were just so badly humiliated, you can go next."

Yugi looked up. "Me? Humiliate someone? I don't know…"

"Come on, man! You can do it!" Tristan said.

"Alright, um, well this one was just last year…"

"Yugi. Yugi, wake up." Yami insisted, leaning over the sleeping boy, who was recklessly tangled in the covers of his bed.

Yugi stirred and looked up at the transparent spirit above him. "What is it, Yami?"

"Something's happening outside." The pharaoh said, sounding concerned.

Yugi crawled out of bed groggily and opened the curtains. "I don't see anything." He said, rubbing his eyes.

Yami looked surprised. "What do you mean 'you don't see anything'? Those white particles falling from the sky; you can't see them?"

Yugi peered at him for a moment, and then, realizing what he was saying, started to laugh. "It's just snow, silly! You woke me up for snow!"

Yami looked outside, and then looked back at Yugi. "Snow…?"

"Mm-hm." Yugi mumbled. "If you want, you can take over and check it out for yourself."

Yami nodded, and then switched places with Yugi. He put on some shoes and went outside, where he was shocked by a dramatic change in temperature. He stuck out his hand in curiosity and let a snowflake fall on it. He stared at it for a few seconds until it melted.

"It's water…" Yami said to himself. Yugi appeared in spirit form beside him, giggling softly. Yami turned to him. "What?"

"It's just…" Yugi shook his head. "I've never met someone who didn't know that snow was water before."

"Awwwwww…." Tea said. "That's cute!"

Atem flushed. "It's not as if I had ever seen any before that day. Even if I did remember my time as pharaoh, I wouldn't have recognized it."

Joey chuckled. "It's just weird. You not knowin'… everything." Joey said.

"I don't know everything." Atem defended.

"Ah, we're just kidding, Atem." Tristan said. "By the way, Yugi, that's kind of a letdown. Humiliation-ly speaking."

Yugi scowled. "It's not as if I want to embarrass my best friend, Tristan. Unlike some people…" he said, glaring at Tea.

"Alright, alright," Tea said. "Who's next?"

"I think Atem should go next." Tristan said, grinning. "Regardless of the fact that he seems to object to this whole game, as a former pharaoh he probably has a butt-load of juicy secrets."

"What?" Atem asked. "I don't have anything of entertainment or importance."

"Really?!" Joey asked enthusiastically. "Because there is something you could do on your turn if you don't want to…"

"Oh, no, Joey." Yugi interjected. "I can't let you fulfill your life's desire at the expense of Atem's dignity."

"Life's desire?" Tea asked.

Yugi nodded. "He always said that he wanted to knock Atem unconscious and send him out to sea with a bottle of tequila and a kimono. Don't ask me how he'd do it in this weather, though…"

"Is that so, Joey…?" Atem asked menacingly.

Joey looked around nervously. "No, Atem, um, of course not. It's Yugi! Yugi's lying!" Joey said, and then ran into the bedroom to avoid Atem's imminent wrath.

Atem sighed and looked at Yugi. "I trust that you wouldn't lie to me, Yugi."

"Yeah…" Yugi said hesitantly, looking to the floor at his statement. "Of course I wouldn't…"

Atem recognized that tone immediately. "Yugi, what are you lying to me about?"

Yugi fidgeted. "Nothing, Atem…" he lied.

"Yugi."

"I…" Yugi fidgeted, and then hung his head. "I used to have a crush on Tea."

Tea started to giggle. They heard a faint "hee hee" from the bedroom – apparently Joey had overheard their conversation.

"… but… not now, right?" Atem asked. "That is past tense, isn't it?"

Yugi nodded violently. "Yes, yes of course!"

"Dude, are you serious?" Tristan asked incredulously. "This is insane!"

Tea leaned over and smacked Tristan on the head. "Tristan, shut up. I think it's sweet."

"Yes…" Atem said hesitantly. "So you're not keeping anything else from me, right Yugi?"

Yugi thought for a moment. "Not as far as I know."

Joey popped up from the hall. "Wow, Yugi was humiliated again. Good work, Atem."

"Excuse me?" Atem asked, confused.

"You got Yug' here ta admit another embarrassin' secret. That counts for your turn." Joey explained, sitting down.

Atem looked distressed. "That's not what I intended."

"It's OK." Yugi said. "It feels better now that it's off my chest."

"I would say that it's Joey and Tristan's turn, but then again, I really don't want to know." Tea said thoughtfully.

Atem and Yugi murmured their agreement.

"Aw," Tristan said. "I had a good one…"

"Well, it's nighttime and the power still hasn't come back on yet." Yugi said, searching through the dark fridge.

"And it's still freezing." Tea complained, shivering.

"I wish we could have a warm meal. Or a warm house. Or a warm something." Joey said, leaning back in his seat.

"Complaining isn't going to do anything." Atem said. "Let's just dress more warmly and eat something before we go back to sleep."

"Right," Yugi said. "Alright, let's see. All we're going to eat tonight is chocolate chips, raisins, peanut butter, and somewhat melted ice cream. Everything else is either raw meat or for tomorrow."

"I call the chocolate and ice cream." Tea said, resting her head on her hand.

"Alright then." Yugi said, taking the items out of the refrigerator. "The rest of us can have the raisins and peanut butter." Yugi turned around and gave Joey a formidable evil eye. "Listen, if you eat all the peanut butter, I'm going to tie you up and lock you in the basement." (1)

Joey was taken aback. "You really like peanut butter, don't you?"

Yugi just smiled and took out five spoons from the drawer.

They ate in silence until Tea spoke up. "Guys?" Everyone stopped eating and looked at her. "How long do you think this is going to last?"

"I really don't know, Tea…" Yugi said. "If things get really desperate, I guess we could try and go outside and wade through the snow, or something. But I doubt it will last that long."

"Yeah," Tea said. "Of course it won't." She ate her last spoonful of ice cream and got up. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

Yugi stopped. "Tomorrow's Christmas."

Everyone was silent. "Dude, I didn't even realize…" Tristan said, sounding depressed.

"None of us did." Joey agreed.

Atem looked down. "We'll find something to do."

So, what is the gang going to do on Christmas? Find out soon, next chapter!

(1) Hahahaha Otherworld reference!