Hey guys! This is the last chapter… I just wanted to give out my thanks to you all before the fic starts!
Thanks to A.YamiYugi, Journey Maker, Setep Ka Tawy, Arion Girl, and cheeky-eyes for reviewing! I appreciate everything you've said!
Thanks to Mei1105, MissDomaYuset, and anime-ruthless for favoriting!
You guys rock my socks off!
"Ugh, the power's still not on." Tea said angrily, covering her head with a pillow. Yugi wordlessly got out of his sleeping bag and climbed under the covers of "Tea's bed", turning into a huddled mass at the foot.
Atem chuckled slightly and rubbed his eyes. "Cold, Yugi?" He asked sarcastically.
Yugi poked his head out of the lower end of the covers. "Snow… there's too much snow…" he muttered, and hid back underneath the covers.
Tristan woke with a snort. "Merry Christmas…" he said groggily, and laid back down.
"Oh yeah," Tea said. "Merry Christmas, everyone."
"Merry Christmas." Yugi and Atem said simultaneously.
Joey began to snore louder. It seemed to be his way of saying "Merry Christmas", while still not having to wake up.
They sat in the bleak, gray silence of a usually cheerful Christmas morning. "Hey guys?" Yugi asked from beneath the sheets. "Does everyone remember their secret Santa?"
Atem nodded. He was extremely pleased, because he had gotten Yugi. He had gone out and found sheet music for every one of Yugi's favorite songs that could possibly be played on the piano.
Yugi had gotten Tea tickets to the local playhouse, to a show of her choice.
Tea had picked Joey. She had managed to get a gift card for a year's supply of burgers at Burger World, so that he could eat to his heart's content. Only, her gift was at her house, and she had no way of getting to it.
Joey wasn't awake to agree, but Tristan knew that Joey had picked him. Joey had actually gotten a brand new, hand-painted motorcycle helmet, designed to match Tristan's bike. Which was also at his house.
And Tristan had chosen Atem. It had taken a long time to find out what to get him, but he had finally decided on an ankh-shaped necklace, to remind him of Egypt and the Millennium Puzzle. Unfortunately, his gift was at his house, too.
"I remember," Tea said. "But all of our presents are at our houses. Except for yours and Atem's."
"I know," Yugi said, sitting up. "But I had this idea. How about we don't get each other what we bought? Not this year, anyway. How about we get stuff from around the house and give that?"
Tristan thought for a moment. "Like, searching through your private property and giving you something that already belongs to you?"
"Well, yes," Yugi said, rubbing the back of his head. "Except we would make that stuff… different. More personal. More interesting."
"Like, searching through your private property and giving you something that already belongs to you?" Tristan said.
"Yeah!" Yugi cheered.
Tea nodded. "Cool. It beats not doing anything other than being depressed."
"I agree." Atem said.
"Alright then." Yugi said. "Let's get started."
Everyone got up to search for something, when Joey was stirred awake. "Waz goin' on?"
Immediately, Tea went to the kitchen. She sifted through cabinets, the refrigerator, and the freezer to find something interesting. Then suddenly she found it. Chocolate. It was perfect.
She took a few bars out of the cupboard and then took out three star-shaped cookie cutters and a metal cookie sheet. She knew where everything in Yugi's house was already.
"Heat, heat, I need heat…" she thought. "Candles!"
She grabbed a lighter, and then set the cookie cutter on top of the cookie sheet. Then broke one of the chocolate bars into little pieces and placed them into the cookie cutter. She did these with two others. After that, she took three candles and lit them, putting them between two tall coffee cups. The she placed the metal pan on the coffee cups, letting the candles' flame melt the chocolate into pretty star shapes.
"Then I can freeze them, and it'll be the perfect present!"
"Darn, I was having a hard enough time figuring out what to get Atem before. Now what I am gonna get him… What does someone who's so old need?" Tristan thought, frustrated.
"I mean, what does he care about, anyway?" Tristan stopped pacing in the hallway. "That's it."
Joey was a little caught off guard by the gang's plan, but all in all, he thought in was a good idea.
"So what can I get Tristan dat Yug' has?" he thought, walking around aimlessly.
"Joey!" Tristan called out, running up to him.
Joey jumped into the air. "What the heck are you doin', man? I could've been workin' on your present!"
"Look," Tristan said, taking a breath. "I know you don't know what to get me, and you know I don't know what to get Atem, so I have an idea."
"What's dat?"
"A joint present. We'll both get something for Atem, and that will be your way of getting something for me."
"Like," Joey stopped to think. "I'd be getting you something, which you'd be regiftin' to Atem?"
"Basically."
"… Alright, so what is it?"
"It needs to be something from the heart." Atem thought. Since Yugi technically owned everything already, he needed to put a part of himself into his gift.
Yugi and Atem had shared everything… except for their past. That was a part of them that had changed them dramatically, and that the other would never truly know. But it was something they could express.
Atem took a piece of paper and folded it in half. Then he drew a flawlessly straight line along the crease. On the right side, he poured out his childhood on paper, using calligraphic handwriting and a prosaic writing style. On the left side, he copied everything he had written, but he wrote it in Ancient Egyptian. He did this again with five more papers.
He took another piece of paper and folded it into an envelope. Then he placed his memories into the envelope. For Yugi.
The moment Yugi suggested his plan he had known exactly what to get Tea. He bounded to the hallway and pulled down the ladder to the attic. He climbed up and went through a number of boxes until he found what he wanted. His mother's old belongings.
Opening the box, he nearly choked as he was met with so many sentimental objects. The vanilla perfume that she used to wear. Her square, bottle-cap glasses that she put on at night when she drove. Her fuzzy, tan slippers that seemed to be surgically attached to her feet. But that wasn't what he was looking for.
He searched until his hand met something smooth and soft. He grabbed it and pulled it out. It was his mother's navy blue, delicately embroidered silk robe. It was perfect for Tea. But she didn't need to know where it came from. No one did.
"OK, so everyone got everything?" Yugi asked cheerfully, holding a box with a bow on it.
"I have my gift." Atem said, carrying a tan envelope.
They looked at the others, who weren't carrying anything. "Where are your presents?" Yugi asked disappointedly.
"Well, I didn't know how to wrap mine." Tea said, looking at the floor.
"And we can't wrap ours." Tristan said.
Yugi was confused. "'Ours'?" he asked.
"Yeah!" Joey said. "My gift to Tristan was his gift to Atem. Uh, you'll understand when we give it."
"Alright," Yugi said. "So who'd like to go first?"
"I wanna go first!" Tea jumped in. "Come on, come on…" she said, ushering them to the kitchen.
She opened the door and took out a plate from the freezer. "Merry Christmas, Joe!" she yelled, presenting the plate of star-shaped chocolate to the blonde.
"Chocolate…" Joey drooled, grabbing the food. "This is so touching!" He said, nearly in tears.
Everyone laughed at this "touching" sight. "So I guess Joey… and Tristan are next." Yugi said, still confused.
"Oh, right." Joey said, pulling out of his staring contest with his gift. "Atem Mutou, Tristan and I hereby bestow upon you da ability to restrict our making fun of Yugi for one month, whenever ya want."
Atem laughed out loud, and Yugi blushed indignantly. "Does that include casual physical abuse as well?" Atem asked.
"That's right." Tristan said.
"Then I thank you very much." Atem said, hugging Yugi cheerfully. "And I think it's my turn."
Atem and pulled the letter out of his jacket pocket. Then he handed it to Yugi, smiling warmly. Yugi opened the letter and looked visibly surprised at the multi-page biography he found. He didn't say anything; he just leaned back against the kitchen counter and began reading with interest.
"Yugi?" Atem asked when he got no response. "Do you like it?"
Yugi looked up at him, and then he giggled and tackled Atem to the floor. "It's awesome! But I haven't finished it yet. I only got to the second page!"
Atem laughed. "I'm glad you like it."
Tea cheered and jumped up and down. "This means I'm next!"
Yugi nodded and got off of the floor. He ran off to the living room and came back with the box he had held earlier. "This is for you." He said, handing Tea the package.
First, Tea took off the bow and stuck it on the top of her head, earning laughs from the rest of the gang. She opened the box and gasped. "Yugi…" she whispered, taking the elaborate robe out and holding it up. "It's beautiful."
"Whoa…" Joey said. "Check that out."
"Where did you get this?" Tea asked, petting the soft silk.
Yugi winked. "Not gonna tell."
Tea began to bounce. "I got new clothes…" she chanted, bouncing up and down.
"Well, it looks like we did have a Merry Christmas after all." Atem said.
Yugi nodded in agreement. "I guess the important thing is that we have each other."
"Merry Christmas, guys." Tea said.
"Merry Christmas." Said Joey and Tristan.
"And a Happy New Year." Yugi finished.
Then, as they sat in the Christmas cheer, they heard a faint rumbling. "What's dat?" Joey asked.
Yugi's eyes widened. "That's…"
"A SNOWBLOWER!" Tea yelled, and then ran to the bedroom to look out of the window. Just as they thought, a snowblower was driving down the street, ridding the street of the severely lowered snow-level.
"We can go home!" Joey yelled. "And we can blow this Popsicle stand!"
"It's more like a Popsicle itself." Tristan said.
Just like before, a heavy sound was heard. Lights and heaters turned on around the house. Yugi laughed. "I guess it won't be a Popsicle much longer."
Tea looked at Joey and Tristan, and then bent down to look Yugi in the eye. "Yugi… I gotta go." She said, running into the kitchen to get her present and running outside. "Merry Christmas!"
"Yeah, um, bye!" Tristan said, running off with Joey behind him.
Atem smiled at Yugi. "Did you have a nice Christmas, Yugi?" he asked, sitting down on the bed.
Yugi smiled too, and sat down next to him. "The best."
5 days later…
"Boys!" Grandpa called out to the house. "I'm back!"
He was met with silence. "Boys? You're not trying to hide anything, are you?"
He walked into the usually quiet house and set down his suitcases in the living room. Then he realized. Atem and Yugi weren't here. "Now where could they have gone, considering that they knew I was going to be home today." He thought to himself.
Then Grandpa heard the sound of the door opening downstairs.
"Hurry up, Atem. Grandpa's going to be back any minute." Yugi said, his voice muffled by distance.
Yugi and Atem hastened to the kitchen, where they saw Grandpa sitting amusedly in one of the chairs.
"Grandpa…" Atem started.
"Hi." Said Yugi. They were both carrying a number of grocery bags.
"What exactly happened that you two had to go out and buy a whole refrigerator of groceries?" Grandpa asked.
Yugi and Atem looked at each other. Yugi took a breath. "Well, Grandpa, it's a long story…"
"… And since we had no edible groceries left, we decided that we should go out and buy some."
Grandpa laughed. "When will you boys learn…?"
Atem was confused. "What does that mean?"
"You stayed here, in the dark and the cold, with Joey, Tristan, and Tea for 3 days straight." Grandpa stated, amused.
"Yeah…?" Yugi asked.
"Don't you pay attention, Yugi?" Grandpa asked. "We have a generator, snow shoes, and a snow shovel all in the basement!"
Merry Christmas everybody! And a super-freakin'-tabulous New Year!