Masaka: *praying fervently* Let me get it done by Christmas, let me get it done! Let your strength fill me up and your determination guide my will so that I can actually keep up the discipline to finish this story by Christmas…oh and please don't let me forget my finals for the sake of this story like I always freak out will happen even though it never has…Amen
Yami Masaka: You are SUCH a worry wart
Jason: *praying fervently* -and don't let Yami Masaka wind up making Masaka cry again like during that dark section of writer's block that nearly stopped 'Saka from finishing "Heavenly Interventions" and let me get lots of cuddles too, Amen.
Yami Masaka: *looks between the two of them and then blushes* Oh ya great make me feel like the ungrateful one why don't you…sheesh
CHAPTERSTART
Solomon was pushing the last customer out the door when Atem and Yugi came home from work.
The old man watched with some interest while his grandson told his other-half to wait a minute while Yugi got changed and while Atem told his grandson to take his time while shuffling his feet impatiently.
"Oh ho, what sort of cozy conspiracy is this?" the old man snuck up behind the ex-pharaoh, nearly causing Atem to leap right out of his knee-high boots.
"GAAAH! Damn it jii-san, can't you just walk up to someone like a normal person!" Atem yelped in agitation.
"Ho ho ho," Grandpa just laughed merrily, "so is this some little shopping-trip you've planned or do I detect the signs of a more…romantic interaction forming?"
Atem grimaced and turned his head away towards the kitchen. "I'm not sure. Yugi simply said he wished to…talk."
"Ahhh yes the dreaded vagaries of 'a talk'. Yugi's grandmother used to scare the wits out of me by asking me somewhere special for 'a talk'. I was never sure if I was about to get in trouble or if she really did want to talk about something."
"Really?" Atem cocked a politely curious eyebrow.
"Yes, yes. This one time she took me out to the park during February…to see the ice-skaters and have a little talk she said…I got so nervous that I somehow stumbled onto the ice myself and ended up falling through the one darn thin-patch on the entire lake, spent the rest of the winter with hypothermia."
"…So…why did she take you out there?" Atem couldn't help but ask.
"To tell me that we were going to have a kid actually," Grandpa smiled nostalgically, "she thought the nice scenery of the park would put me at ease. Obviously that plan didn't turn out quite as well as she hoped."
"From a certain perspective," Atem grinned teasingly, "after all you didn't get shocked by the news. It was waiting for the news that did you in."
"…That's true," Grandpa chuckled wildly. The old man then shook his head and took on a slightly more melancholy look. "It was very lonely around here…after she was gone. Kaida did me a greater blessing than she even realized when she left Yugi in my care while she went off to pursue her career in America."
Atem smiled sympathetically at Solomon's words even while he felt so lingering confusion over the subject. The choice Yugi's mother had made to live a half a world away from her son still struck Atem as bizarre. Though he could remember little about his own family further back than the age of fourteen Atem couldn't remember a time when he didn't have at least three or four mother-figures immediately at hand.
"Kaida and my son were almost as bad as you two are, now that I think about it," Solomon came back to the present subject with a sneaky smile. "They were friends long before they ever admitted to actually being in love but oooh I could tell when they finally reached that stage where they just couldn't keep their hands off each other. No one had to tell ME they were in love. It was obvious in every look they shared, just like I see in you and Yugi."
"T-that's …that's not what is going on at all," Atem turned scarlet with embarrassment and confusion. "I mean we aren't…I don't even…know how Yugi feels about me."
"Hmm," Solomon thought, "well…perhaps not. But I believe that Yugi does have SOME feeling for you at least. You two have been through so much it shouldn't even be a question plaguing your mind."
Atem's face burned again and try as he might he couldn't stop. Solomon was so much like Atem's old advisor Shimun…even the way the old men's words forced themselves past all his defenses and made him rethink what he was most certain of was the same.
"Well! I can see I've troubled you enough for one night! I best be off!" Solomon thumped Atem heartily over the shoulder before heading towards the door.
"Where are you off to at this time of night?" Atem smirked.
"The airport! Our guests are supposed to arrive tonight if the blasted airplane hasn't flown through a rift in time or something else that seems ridiculously impossible until it actually happens," Solomon said over his shoulder as he shouldered on his winter-coat and pulled on his own less provocative footwear. "You and Yugi behave yourselves while I'm gone."
Atem blushed again but glared despite it. Unfortunately the old man didn't turn around for it to have any effect.
"Darn crazy old-" Atem cursed under his breath.
"Okay! I'm officially refreshed and ready," Yugi's voice interrupted Yami's tirade as the boy tromped back down the stairs. "Sorry if I took a while. I've just been so tired lately and- you know what? Never mind."
As if Solomon's words were somehow laced with a curse Atem found that he couldn't take his eyes off his other-half all the time the young man was walking down the stairs.
It was strange that something as simple as a cashmere sweater and a pair of charcoal linen pants could make Yugi look so much more grown-up at the same time keep him looking soft, approachable…and tantalizingly touchable.
"W-won't that b-be cold?" Yami coughed, yanking his eyes off Yugi's body to stare purposefully at the floor.
"We're not going far," Yugi walked right past the pharaoh to the coat-rack. "I heard grandpa leaving and figured that if we're going to be on our own for dinner we should probably avoid flirting with disaster and go out for food. Kazutaki's noodle store is just done the street and it'll be pretty much deserted because the old man refuses to decorate turning away a lot of the holiday crowds."
Atem felt his heart-rate decrease a little. Kazutaki's noodle store was an eatery that the Motos had been visiting for as long as Atem had known them. Apparently old man Kazutaki and Solomon were shogi-buddies and after most matches Kazutaki paid back his bets to Yugi's grandfather with a round of free beef ramen.
The first time Atem had joined the outing Kazutaki had mistaken him for a much older man and had given him sake to go along with the appetizer. Atem had spent the rest of the night with his head in Yugi's lap purring in drunken bliss.
"P-Perhaps we could just order something from here?" Atem chocked, hating the idea of another grinning old man telling him things that would only cause the ex-pharaoh to hurt worse after Yugi told him about his relationship with Anzu.
Perhaps some of Atem's anxiety seeped through their link because Yugi immediately sighed and took his coat off. "Sure that sounds fine to me."
HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO
Honda grumbled darkly under his breath as he waited for his blonde best-friend to show up to their usual meeting spot.
It was just his lot in life that the minute Jou's love-life intersected his own Honda started having to make these sorts of sacrifices.
"Work for a freaking year under a freaking boss who wouldn't know a fuel-gauge from his own ass and get nothing," the uni-spiked haired teen snarled under his breath, "it just figures. It really just freaking figures."
Much as Honda wanted Jou to get things settled with Seto, the brunette still felt as if his own rights were being somehow infringed. Sure he wasn't a duelist nor was in love with someone who was almost comically distant from his own economic and intellectual level but what of it? He worked hard too after all. The world couldn't be filled with only duelists after all. Nothing would get done.
"Bah, it's not important," Honda let it go with a cleansing deep breath. "If Serenity is more comfortable in street-level restaurants then we'll eat in street-level restaurants."
The only reason Honda had decided on Domino Tower as the place to show off his very seldom show-cased charming-side anyway was because his elder siblings had both pressured him into it.
Chikako, who Honda figured was already suffering terminal frustration because of her nasty-minded son Joji and her surprisingly saintly husband, had all but screamed that Honda's future with Serenity DEPENDED on a romantic dinner.
'Come on Honda, sure you got the girl, but you need to make sure she doesn't reconsider her decisions. You have to remind her that you can be charming too…that she didn't give away the best years of her life on a second-best choice…just because she was too impatient… so she doesn't wake up years later so much older and stuck with a husband who gave all his libido to his own son leaving his wife who would LOVE a little more attention to amuse herself with boxes of freaking romance novels that only increase her appetite for romance and--GAH! JOJI YOU BETTER NOT BE LOOKING IN MY CLOSET AGAIN!!' Honda could hear Chikako's mostly rhetorical advice drifting through his mind.
Kazuo's advice had been even worse. It had involved a point-by-point plan which started at Domino Tower and ended in a seedy love-hotel that only the truly desperate could call 'romantic'. Fortunately the exact words didn't also echo through Honda's head.
It would be the one mental conversation that Honda would actually have to put censor-bleeps over.
"It wouldn't have ended well anyway…not with THOSE two saying so," Honda thought wistfully.
"What wouldn't end well?" Jounouchi's voice spoke out nearly scaring Honda right off the curb.
"GEES MAN! RING A BELL OR SOMETHING WHY DON'T YOU!!" Honda cried foul. His best buddy only gave a self-satisfied smirk and plopped down beside him on the window-ledge of Tobikuma's bar.
In their less than legal days Jou and Honda had spent quite a bit of time at the bar –though they never did manage to sneak a drink past the surprisingly sharp old man behind the counter—and even now they felt that the old place was still somewhere special. It was a place with a bad enough reputation that Honda and Jou could still feel masculine and in-charge…without actually being so stupid as to put their lives on the line.
"You're gettin' rusty man, I walked right up to ya and you didn't even react," Jou chuckled. "So what did ya want to talk about?"
Momentarily Honda wondered if he could sneak in a little conversation about his crazy siblings and about the weird nature of romance, but he figured that might make Jou a little suspicious so he went right to the lie Serenity and Mokuba had all but scripted out for him.
"I just wanted someone to complain to about those stupid up-tight jerks working the reservation desk at Domino Towers," Honda sighed convincingly disheartened.
Jounouchi arched an eyebrow critically; "I thought you and Sere' had a date made for Christmas Eve there?"
"We DID but apparently some rich bastard bought the table right out from under us," Honda snarled with unfeigned viciousness. In his mind it had been Mokuba who had really ruined the date, so it wasn't as if he was really lying about the 'rich bastard' part.
"THEY WHAT?" Jou yelled in rage.
"Bought it out by paying the matradee three-thousand something dollars. I mean how the hell is a guy supposed to compete with THAT sort of cash-flow?" Honda continued the lie.
"T-That's- T-that's-Well that's awful! You gotta go and fight this Honda," Jou clenched his fists.
"Naah I'm just gonna take Serenity out to my brother's cabin. It's a shack really and it will take most of the day driving out there and back but at least we won't have to deal with snobs. Hopefully Kazuo will remember that he LENT it to me and not show up drunk like he did the last time I tried to take Serenity out there," Honda said, honestly giving Jou his alternative plan.
Honda had liked the idea of a private get-away in the woods a lot better than any fancy dinners but he hadn't dared attempt it before now because he knew that Jou would throw a fit. Honda's last attempt hadn't been ruined by just a drunken sibling. Fortunately this plan of Mokuba's gave Jou something ELSE to spaz out over while Honda and Serenity took the chance to escape.
"Well I'm not lettin' em get away with it that's for DAMN sure! Stupid rich guys think they can get away with anything…WELL NOT WITH JOUNOUCHI KATSUYA'S LITTLE SISTER THEY DON'T!!" Jou howled to the sky.
"You go get em Jou," Honda half-heartedly pumped his fist.
Obviously already charged up Jou puffed his chest out and stomped down the street towards the restaurant in that bow-legged stance that Honda knew meant Jou was more bluster than bite. Still the brunette pitied the poor sap that was going to be on the receiving end of all that anger.
Still, it was funny so Honda rolled his eyes at the sight as he pulled his cel-phone out of his pocket and dialed Mokuba's office –the kid was technically KC's vice-president—to inform the little creep that the dirty deed was underway.
"The dog has taken the scent," Honda chuckled to the preteen's answering machine. "Estimated time until he reaches the bone-yard will be-" he looked condescendingly at his watch "-really freaking soon so get your actors in place NOW! And from now on kid, I will take any further interruptions on my romantic plans as harassment so this had better work."
Honda then flipped his phone closed and took a deep breath. He looked over his shoulder at the bar and gave a sneaky grin. Since he had time to kill until it was safe for him to start his plans with Serenity he figured he might as well enjoy his age old game of 'annoying the bartender.'
HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO
Mokuba was running behind schedule because of a shipment of Smart Kuribohs®, Seto's latest play-time sensation and the creepiest thing since the Furbie®, had somehow gotten turned on. The whole box of robotic fur-balls had scattering around the loading dock getting under foot and generally scaring the bejeesus out of anyone who wasn't prepared for the sight of a bouncy clicking duel monster in real space.
Those things had been seemingly hell-bent on causing the employees as much trouble as possible and had only seemed to settle down when Mokuba came running to fix the problem.
"If I didn't know any better I'd think someone was messing with me," Mokuba scowled almost as darkly as his brother was wont to as he marched into his office.
His secretary, Higa Nobuko, --the little sister of Seto's own secretary Higa Akuro whom Mokuba had hired mostly just to be ironic—was standing by his desk with the expression he least wanted to see on her face.
"Whatever it is, tell me it doesn't involve fuzzy robots," Mokuba pleaded the brunette.
Nobuko shook her head and held out a clipboard. Mokuba walked over and looked over the in-voice with great despair.
"My actors…they BOTH quit at the SAME TIME? This is horrible! I worked so hard to steal those two away from their agents for this private project!" Mokuba wailed as he flopped into his chair.
The smaller Kaiba then steepled his fingers under his chin and groaned. "You have permission to call the understudies now Higa."
His secretary just shook her head again and flipped the page on the clipboard over showing another in-voice underneath. Mokuba looked it over and went pale.
"T-THEY'RE ALL UNAVAILABLE!! WHAT IS THIS??"
"T-They said they were um…well t-that's just the thing the reports were well…they all sounded scared," Nobuko tried to explain. "I-I really tried to get them to come back, I-I offered twice the payment, and permission to print the story i-if they were successful in getting Kaiba-sama and Jouonouchi-san together only…o-only no one would accept."
"This is terrible! NOW I'VE KISSED UP TO A MAN I HATE AND HAD TO CALL IN A FAVOR FROM THAT SAME BASTARD FOR NOTHING!!" Mokuba wailed. It was enough to make a protégé's brother cry.
"I'll give you one weirder," a more controlled version of Nobuko's voice suddenly called from the doorway.
"Akuro-san?" Mokuba looked over to the older Higa sibling.
"W-what's going on nee-sama?" Nobuko asked.
"Just about the same time my little sister called me in hysterics," Higa said, marching purposefully into the room and pulling something small out of her well-pressed pin-strip skirt-suit pocket, "I got this weird little card saying that everything would be okay. If this is a gag you are pulling to try to mess with my sister again I'm telling you right now that you better be prepared to explain all that you've been doing to Kaiba-sama because I don't have time for these childish pranks with so much REAL work to do, not to mention the fact that your brother's migraine medication is close to running out and he's such a 'joy' to work with when he's in pain and refuses to leave despite it."
Mokuba took a small handkerchief from the now bristling thirty-year-old and gently unwrapped it. Within the surprisingly girly pink lace sat a rectangular card about the size of a duel-monster's card. It was slightly burnt as if someone had tried to pick it up with burning chopsticks --or at least melting acrylic nails—yet fortunately the almost archaic styled script was still glaringly legible.
"Dear minor Kaiba,
The difficulties before you, in regard to the fated union of the dragon-sires, have been referred to us by a mutual friend. We apologize for the deception but it was required for you to let our expertise take over. We are far more eager to see this union consummated by words or actions than even you and by our vow we will not fail. Everything will be as it should be.
With dearest regards to his shadow-highnesses youngest lieutenant-"
And in place of a signature Mokuba looked down on what looked like a mathematical infinity sign drawn in red and blue.
"Please tell me that YOU know what it means because with all the other things I have to finish by the twenty-fourth I don't have time to also be looking for some stalker," Higa groaned.
Mokuba turned the card over in his hands a few times with a near blank expression on his face. Then something must have clicked because a giant grin came across the preteen's face.
"Well I'll be damned…someone was messing with me," Mokuba chuckled.
"Watch your language," both secretaries said passingly.
"You both can get back to work now," Mokuba said, taking off his locket and slipping this card behind his photo of Seto as he now knew this card to be a very precious item indeed. "A few out-of-towners have come to help with Operation Mistletoe that's all."
Nobuko blushed while Akuro just rolled her eyes and stomped back towards the door.
"Sometimes I don't know why I even work here," the older Higa said as she charged out the door. "It's like you summon problems out of the very air just to annoy me."
"Not quite out of the air, Akuro-san...not quite the air," Mokuba just laughed enigmatically.
HO-HO-HO-HO
(A/N: I am so tempted to move onto the drama that is ringshipping and puppyshipping but I know that you fan-girls have been patiently waiting for me to set things right on the puzzle front and since I know it won't distract from how happy the final will be, only make Christmas-lessons seem less romance-based and more 21st century pseudo-religion based I'll go with the starfish heads)
Atem hug up the phone with Pizza Planet and returned to the couch where Yugi was sitting. Now that they weren't in a hurry to be anywhere or do anything Atem could see how fatigued his light really was.
"I think I should have been a little more like Bakura in Murakami's treatment," Atem growled softly as he sat down next to his other-half.
"W…what are you talking about?" Yugi asked sleepily.
"You are exhausted little one," Atem pointed out, gently taking Yugi's hands in his and running his thumbs soothingly over the backs of the younger's wrists. "You've been letting your light-ka burn too brightly in dealing with this part-time job. I should have stepped in much sooner."
Disappointingly Yugi pulled his hands from Atem's and sat upright with a laugh. "Mou hitori no boku, if Murakami was the only thing I was dealing with then I'd consider myself blessed. I haven't told you this directly but I'm helping Ryou with his gift and certain…problems keeping arising that are just taking their toll. Not to mention the other ones."
"Other ones what?" Atem blinked. Yugi just laughed and teasingly poked Atem in the forehead.
"You'll never find out. Not until its time. I worked really hard on my own mental defenses mou hitori no boku. They are tough enough that you are not getting past."
Atem huffed and leaned heavily back against the couch. He knew from sad experience that when Yugi was decided on something, very little could change the boy's mind. Considering his own formidable stubborn streak, Atem had to wonder if he and his other ever got into a disagreement if they'd ever be able to break it.
"Without the details this is just a guess of course but I'd suppose these 'other ones' are what are causing you to burn too brightly," Atem huffed.
Yugi just laughed again and shook his head. "You are not one to talk about using up too much spiritual energy Atem. You and Bakura are the WORST example of spiritual control that Ryou and I could ever have, Murakami is barely on the list of current victims."
Atem tried to play innocent but Yugi really did know him too well. Besides it was kind of hard not to notice when notoriously cocky members of your school suddenly and very publically went insane.
"I only ever use my powers in self-defense, besides which the rules are different for shadow users and light users," Atem snarled.
Yugi cocked his head curiously to one side but luckily before he had a chance to ask the doorbell rang giving Atem amble excuse to leave.
Paying the delivery-boy extra for coming quickly despite the snowstorm warning that had been lingering over the city for the past three days, Atem brought the food into the kitchen where Yugi had already set up the paper-plates and bottles of soda.
"Sometimes I have to question your tastebuds, hikari. A pineapple just does not belong on a pizza," Atem hoped to hold off this conversation a little longer as he passed the Hawaiian lovers pie to his other-half.
"Blame Jou for the craving, before him all I ever ate was pepperoni and black-olive," Yugi said as he took the small box and set it down before his place-setting on the table. Before Atem had a chance to do likewise the small hikari hit him with the look. That same look that made it impossible for Atem to not answer any question no matter how embarrassing the potential answer.
"Don't ask me to explain myself Yugi. You already know it. Bakura and I made sure you and Ryou knew everything about your own magics when we realized our resurrection meant that the faulty seal my father had put over the Shadow Realm was completely shattered," Atem said hoarsely.
Just the memory of teaching Yugi to summon his monsters, remembering the sensation of the boy's ka brushing across his own as it tried to reach out towards the other-realm, made Atem feel faint. Having a connection to the boy's mind had been one thing but after that first summoning Atem had been hooked by Yugi's ka as well.
"…You don't remember do you?" Yugi smiled weakly, making Atem look up from his meal.
"What do you-"
"I'll take that as I yes," Yugi smiled even wider. The boy then dropped into his seat and pulled a slice out of the box. "Come and eat and then we'll talk, okay? It's hard to be serious when your head feels like it's about to float right off your neck from hunger."
Though he was grateful for the reprieve, Atem felt that he had more respect for Solomon's fears of intimate conversations. All these stops and starts were making even his shadow-forged cool begin to break.
In silence the two boys ate their fill of pizza and drank their fill of soda. After about the fourth slice Yugi sighed in happiness and pushed the box away. Without further thought Atem pushed away his own box.
"What is it you think I forgot, hikari?" Atem asked.
"Bakura was in charge of the lesson about the fundamental differences in light and dark magic," Yugi said taking a final sip of his cherry-cola before pushing that aside as well. "You and Bakura had divided the lessons and the explanation of power-division was his."
Bakura and Atem had indeed decided to divide the lessons because both spirits had felt that if they had to be exposed to their other's light-ka on a near daily basis for the months it would take to train their others they would either go insane or end up doing something very naughty and possible unwelcome to their charges.
"Bakura had the best intentions to start," Yugi said with a sort of wistful smile on his face. Annoyingly the light got up and wandered into the living room, making Atem follow as surely as if he were on a leash.
"What did Bakura tell you about the difference between dark-ka and light-ka?" Atem asked as Yugi arranged himself comfortably on the couch once more.
"He started to say something about light-ka being selfless and dark-ka being selfish and had started to get us training to feel how Ryou and I's ka disperses differently when he just seemed to lose control of himself and he leapt on Ryou," Yugi said idly. "I was a bit worried at first but once I saw that Ryou was well…more than happy with the attention…I excused myself from the lesson and came home. The next day when we all came together for our usual coffee they told the group they were a couple."
Atem wasn't sure how to process this information except to snort: "Some greatly willed avenger he turns out to be; can't even resist exposure to his other's light without breaking into a lust-filled mess."
"Hmm, to be honest I was a little jealous," Yugi said.
"Jealous? Of what?" Atem scoffed.
"Of the whole situation I guess. Maybe of Bakura's weak-will. I just spent weeks afterwards imagining what it would have been like if you'd been in charge of the lesson…and that it had been me who'd gotten tackle into the floorboards like that," Yugi finished with a blush, his eyes fixated on the ground.
Atem stared at his other-half for what could have been ages, his intelligent brain slow for once to pick up what was lying right before him. Atem tried to make a sound but only a sad attempt of a croak managed to break free.
"Anzu and I aren't a couple either," Yugi had to add. "Never were and by the shadows we never will be. I love her, I guess, but it's not what I feel for you…have always felt for you."
This was what unfroze Atem and send him stumbling into Yugi, all but falling into a desperate, sloppy and sticky kiss. Yugi jolted a bit at the ex-pharaoh's fervor but couldn't have even begun to protest before Atem tilted the boy onto his back.
(A/N: What is it with me and couch make-outs?)
Eventually air became a necessity and Atem broke from the kiss just long enough to get a lungful of air before he was right back in again, nibbling Yugi's neck like it was the world's finest gingerbread cookie.
"A-AH-temu, y-y-OH-ou c-can't-" Yugi tired to protest. Atem wasn't in any hurry to listen however. As far as he was concerned everything that was Yugi was now his. The ex-pharaohs inhibitions were gone, baby, gone. Those delicate round ears were his to suckle, that sweet little dip of Yugi's collarbone was Atem's to lick, the boy's still momentarily shirt-covered nipples were his to pinch and-
"I-I really think you s-should *YAWN*-" Yugi's next attempt to protest was broken with one of the most coal-cooling sounds that a lover could make.
"Yugi? Oh! That's right, you SAID you were tired! I'm so stupid, it's just you said- and I really wanted to—and you didn't mind—but of course that doesn't mean—" Atem awkwardly stumbled, pulling Yugi back upright and tugging the boy right up against his chest.
Yugi laughed and nuzzled against the ex-pharaoh's shirt: "Okay well that was a bit too teasing for me even if I do feel tired but…thank you for stopping. That would have been the most horrifying thing I could ever dream up, to finally get the chance to touch you all over and then have my stupid body put on the breaks right in the middle of it all."
"I-I'm sorry," Atem blushed, "I just …I had just about convinced myself that I could never have you and I sort of …well I did lose my mind there for a second. Next time I'll be more courteous."
"Next time…I like the sound of that," Yugi said in a tone that was just about as dazedly happy as Atem felt himself.
Knowing that if he followed this train of conversation it would just lead right back down into the cushions, Atem tried another course.
"So…what IS it that has been draining you so, aibou? I know you said you that you have sealed that information away but if it is going to come between us…coming… between…Well if it is a problem for you then I feel I have some right to know," Atem coughed awkwardly. At least the damn blush hadn't risen again.
Yugi curled into Atem's lap in a way that nearly did away with all his will-power anyway then sighed both wistful and sad at the same time.
"Well I suppose it's safe to say that I have been doing a lot of Christmas prep and…other than that …I suppose the most exhausting thing I've been dealing wit his helping Otogi test his new product.
Suddenly a new voice intruded saying "Beta-testing hmm…sounds fun, mind if I take the job off your shoulders?"
Only Yugi's weight in his lap kept Atem seated as he whirled around in a panic to see Mai Valentine leaning sumptuously against the arch dividing the living-room from the kitchen where the back-door was located.
"H-How long have you been standing there?" Atem chocked over a ball of nerves now stuck firmly in his throat.
"Woo-hoo long enough," Mai said, teasingly fanning herself with the fleece-lined lapels of her coat.
Atem was too horrified to move so Yugi escaped his grasp much easier than if Mai hadn't suddenly appeared to play the part of the world's sexiest metaphorical bucket-of-ice-water.
"Mai it's well…w-what are you doing here?" Yugi asked as he self-consciously tugged his shirt back down from where it had bunched up right beneath his sternum.
"Didn't mean to interrupt you kids," Mai winked. "I just happened to catch an earlier flight than the rest of the crew and decided to come over wait out the time difference here. I can just wander the town a little if you'd like."
Yugi's blush faded as something of a calculating spark lit in his eyes. "Oh that's okay Mai…well it is if you meant what you said about taking over beta-testing."
Mai looked curiously over Atem, who just shrugged helplessly in reply, then turned her attention back onto the shorter duelist.
"I certainly wouldn't mind the job-opportunity besides which my gaming-skills could use a bit of a refresher. I'd need you to put in a good word to the dice-man though. Not to sell myself short but I'm not sure he'd react kindly to losing his king…for a simple queen of the harpies."
"Oh Otogi will be fine with it. I've been too busy for him anyway and I can tell all the stops and starts are starting to annoy him," Yugi laughed.
"Stops and starts huh," Atem pouted from the couch. Mai laughed wickedly at the expression but Yugi just blushed and looked away.
"I'll take you there before it gets too dark. He has a spare room too if you want to avoid the hotel crunch with the others," Yugi offered after a quick look at his watch.
"Between sharing a room with two saccharine-sweet preteens, their parents, and an older than old history professor and shacking up with an old friend, I'll definitely take the old friend," Mai nodded.
"…Rebecca is happy then?" Yugi tried not to let his tenderness show. Neither Atem nor Mai were fooled.
"She's delirious. It was a good thing you encouraged this pair kiddo," Mai winked. Yugi smiled gratefully then hurried off to put on his coat.
A long, terribly awkward moment passed as Mai and Atem were left alone.
"…Blue-balls?" Mai couldn't help herself.
"Y-Y-YOU—I CAN STILL SELL THOSE SUMMER BREAK PHOTOS OF YOU TO THE TABLOIDS I HOPE YOU KNOW!" Atem screamed in frustration.
"Not like they'll show anything the boys haven't already dreamed up," Mai said tugging the corset top underneath her coat up to make her breast bounce playfully.
Yugi returned to see Atem buried into the sofa's arm muttering very vehement Egyptian curses while Mai just grinned like the cat that ate the canary.
"Uh…do I want to know how this all happened in the five seconds I wasn't here?" Yugi asked.
"Probably not," Mai said honestly. Yugi shook his head with mock despair then came to Atem's side.
"Just hang on for a little while, mou hitori no boku. Remember my room is sound-proofed if nothing else," Yugi said in a hurried rush before planting a small kiss on his other's cheek then hustling back to Mai's side.
"Awwh that's so cute, what did you say to make our pharaoh here turn into a tomato?" Mai cooed.
Yugi just smiled enigmatically and led the female duelist out into the evening.
HO-HO-HO-HO
Masaka: *shaking from blood-sugar crash* M-Mu-Must g-go oooooon
Yami Masaka: *looking over Christmas list and checking the sky for rain* Aibou, light of my life, if you write anymore your wrist will break off, you'll pass out AND you won't have time to either eat or shop before you have to get on the bus back home. It's 2:43 and you haven't eaten anything since 7:06
Jason: Beeeeesides, you ended with puzzleshipping. To add anything else now would detract from the sweetness.
Yami Masaka: For once the dog is right. Just finish this up, post and be done with it!
Masaka: P-Proof…r-reading…still
Jason and Yami Masaka: MAKE IT QUICK THEN LEAVE ALREADY!!