Disclaimer: Legal stuff in previous chapters. I'm too lazy to rewrite it.
Warnings: Mild language, muffins, Mutt-ness. Implied Seto/Yami.
"But Nii-sama!" wailed Mokuba.
Seto growled, digging his fingers in.
"Nooooooooooo!"
The last chocolate chip muffin splintered into pieces, littering crumbs across the floor. Seto had a handful of it, squished up and looking decidedly un-muffinlike.
"You know, the last one was supposed to be mine," Mokuba pouted, his voice a tingling mix of squashed laughter and faux-forlorn sorrow.
"It should have been if we went by today's count," Seto agreed, regarding the crushed treat. "But if you can remember, last time Yami made muffins, you ate the last one."
"But I left you all the blueberry ones," Mokuba argued in between devouring bites of his half of squashed muffin.
Seto watched. "That's disgusting." Then he brought his half up to his mouth and ate it.
It was almost noon. Seto was up in his room again, carefully tying his tie and adjusting it to perfection. The man staring back from the mirror didn't look like the world's youngest CEO, he decided after careful scrutiny. Instead, he looked rather like someone's significant other, politely requested to dress up for a meeting.
Seto sighed and checked his watch. 11:58. Why did time pass so slowly? Would Yami even be home at noon? His note had said he'd hoped to be, but that morning he'd said it'd be around one…
Better to be prepared an hour early and have to wait than not be ready at all when they show up by surprise.
11:59. Why was time so damn slow?
He'd finally settled down and was reading on the couch when he heard the door open. Without paying any attention to the book he'd been reading, he tossed it aside, completely disregarding its feelings on the matter.
"Seto?" That was Yami's voice. There was some shuffling of feet and muffled voices. Yami must have brought the rest of them home as well.
"I'm here," he called back, walking with swift, though measured steps towards the entryway. But not running. CEOs did not run.
He appeared near the entryway, catching sight of Yami and the rest. He recognized all but one of them, the one being a peculiar rose-haired boy standing attentively next to Yuugi. His lip cured into a smirk when Katsuya – unaffectionately known to him as the Mutt – brushed up against Mai by accident and blushed an absurd shade of scarlet.
Yuugi looked up and caught sight of him. The little squirt waved and extracted himself from the group, coing closer. Seto noticed one thing in particular, and that was how the duelist had grown. Yuugi might always have been shrimp-like and short (and probably always would be by his standards), but whatever they fed him in America must have triggered a set of forgotten hormones. There was a wiry toughness under that exterior, nearly a match for Yami. The catlike grace he moved with – that was like Yami as well.
His eyes narrowed.
"Sorry to barge in like this," the shorter duelist apologized. "I asked Mai to drop us off at the Game Shop, but Yami insisted we come here, so…" He shrugged.
Seto caught Yami watching the both of them. He cleared his throat, making the Mutt jump in surprise. All the others refocused their attention on him as well.
"Why don't you move the party out of the foyer and into the living room?" he suggested in a neutral voice.
Mai was the first one to take him up on that, nodding appreciatively as she passed him. The Mutt followed her, then the one with ridiculous hair, then Mazaki, Yuugi and the pink-haired freak and lastly Yami, who paused to give him a tight smile. It was both thank you and I'm sorry rolled into one. Seto nodded. Then Yami disappeared into the living room too and Seto steeled himself to go in and intermingle with his greatest rival and the punk's – friends. Comrades. Groupies.
Nobly, he refrained from wincing, seeing the Mutt sprawled across the leather armchair that was his favorite. The others had also found spots for themselves, dotted about the room like so many multi-colored bugs.
Yami's arm looped into his. When had the other come up to him?
"Just play nice," Yami whispered to him. "Please," he added, and Seto's iron will crumbled.
Damn. "Fine," he softly answered.
"Does anyone want anything to drink?" Yami asked, catching everyone's attention.
"Do you have lemonade?" That was Mazaki, perking up considerably at the mention of drinks.
Yami nodded. "We have lemonade, water, diet coke, iced tea and orange juice," the ex-spirit recited, ticking them off on his fingers.
I don't think I knew we had all that, Seto thought dazedly.
The others placed orders and Mazaki got up to help pass the drinks out. Seto shooed her back to her seat, taking the opportunity to escape to the kitchen under the pretense of helping Yami. The ex-spirit was pouring the different liquids into cups. He looked up when Seto slipped in.
"Do you need help?" The CEO asked.
Yami jerked his head towards a set of cups filled with orange juice. "Those are for Mai and Honda," he said. "I'll bright out these."
"There's six of those," Seto stated patiently. "You take four, I'll take four. Who do these go to?" He indicated the teas.
"Yuugi and Andre."
He nodded and scoped up the two extra drinks to bring out. Was it his imagination or did the one with Yuugi bristle as he handed over the tea? Yuugi thanked him politely. So did Mai when he gave her hers. Hiroto seemed to be sulking. He took his orange juice from Seto without comment.
Seto contemplated returning to the kitchen, but then Yami appeared, bearing drinks. His lover passed them out, then disappeared back into the kitchen, emerging moments later with a small platter of food.
The Mutt's eyes went wide. Seto snorted at the expression on his face. There was minimal chatter while the eight – Seto included – indulged in mini cheese cubes, crackers and grapes.
"When did you make all this," he murmured to Yami.
His lover smiled tiredly. " Five thirty in the morning."
"So then the economics professor began ranting, and we figured we'd all save our eardrums," Yuugi finished. "So, we weren't really cutting class, Yami. It was self-preservation."
Seto snorted. Everyone focused on him. "The smart thing to have done would have been to stay and help with the cleanup. It's easier to pull the guilt card to get what you want that way."
The Mutt looked askance at the idea. "Trust Rich Boy ta know," he commented.
"What's that supposed to mean, Mutt?" he snarled back.
Yami interceded before it could get messy. "Probably not the best idea, Yuugi," the ex-spirit interrupted before Jou could shoot a comeback at Seto.
Seto watched Yuugi shrink a little under that hard violet gaze. The young punk's eyes glowed with the scarlet contacts. Privately, he thought the change of eye color was a smart move, but Yami – who'd had quite the surprise from it, according to Yuugi – didn't seem to be quite as pleased. Not to say he wasn't supportive, but Seto caught a distinct vibe of – unease – whenever Yami looked at the young man's eyes. He vaguely wondered why.
"But he didn't even notice!" Yuugi protested, his voice climbing into the high range it had inhabited when they all had been in high school.
He winced away from the half-shriek. I'd forgotten how high his voice can get, he thought in annoyance. The shrimp sounds like he's being sat on. He stood up violently. Yami looked up.
"Wha – ?"
"I'm getting something to drink," Seto interrupted, ignoring the fact that his own glass was still untouched. He stalked out of the living room into the kitchen, planning to stay there for the duration of the stay of Yuugi-tachi.
Sorry Yami. Even I can't put up with them forever.
"Is it safe to come out?" Seto asked, moving slowly out into the living room. Yami was stretched across the couch, an arm thrown over his eyes in a position highly reminiscent of Seto's own pose early that morning.
The ex-spirit chuckled dryly. "Yes, Seto. They're gone."
"And thank god for that," he said, coming around to sit on his leather armchair. Frowning, he lifted a couple of blond strands from the precious leather. "The Mutt's shedding," he growled. "That's the last time I let the dog on the furniture."
"Seto." Yami's voice was deep in warning. Seto knew his lover didn't like it when he called Katusya "Mutt." Or when he insulted any of the gang, though the Mutt – uh, Katsuya – was by far the easiest to bait.
He held up the strands of hair. "I don't want him molting on my chair," the CEO argued.
Yami, who hadn't looked up and hadn't seen the strands in Seto's hand, sighed and rolled over.
Seto guessed his lover was settling in for a nap. Heck, after getting up at five thirty to do everything he'd done, he deserved one. So, instead of sticking around, Seto snuck upstairs being as quiet as possible.
I wonder when Mokuba's coming home, he thought idly. His younger brother had requested that he be allowed to spend the night at a friend's house and Seto had reluctantly agreed. Vaguely he wondered how the night had gone.
With that wonder came another. It had been quite a while since the adoption question and neither of them had really mentioned it since. Did he still want to go through with this?
Part of Seto was convinced Mokuba only wanted a brother to alleviate loneliness, but friends could do the same, then why bother?
I'll need to talk with him about this, Seto decided. Yami too. If were' a family, we may as well start acting like one again.
Author's Note: If I ever finish this, maybe I'll go into detail about Yuugi's life in America. Someone remind me when this is over, and I'll do a oneshot on it...or something. I think it would be fun to explore that aspect.
--Seto's leather armchair is based off one I have at home that reclines. I love it to death, and I'm just as posessive as Seto about it.
--The muffins... Well, see, there's this DeviantArt artist by the name of Bayleef who draws chibi Yamis and... The muffins come from there. Crack!Chibi rules. I forget if I mentioned Leef in earlier chapters...