Masaka: I will finish this story by Christmas! If ONLY this story by Christmas! I will finish this story by Christmas
Yami Masaka and Jason: So start writing already!
Ho-Ho-Ho
Kamenwati found it slightly ironic that he'd ended up huddled underneath the roof of Domino Park's nativity scene. It was better than hiding in a church, he supposed. Not that he had anything against churches persay –particularly not one as inoffensive as the little chapel that was nestled amongst the trees in Domino Park in a desperate attempt to parallel the churches in New York's Central Park—but as a figure of ageless mystic-power Kamenwati hadn't had a very good history with churches either.
In a life-time many life-times before Ryou's grandparents had even been born, the Millennium Ring had come to the possession of a young English Crusader. The boy's spirit hadn't been particularly engaging so Kamenwati had thought it fun to plague the poor man's soul with 'heretical' thoughts of abandoning the quest to reclaim God's city. He certainly hadn't expected the man to go so hysterical that he begged his fellow pilgrims to slay him rather than let him return unfulfilled to England.
…Then again Kamenwati had never expected his hosts to do HALF the things they usually ended up doing. Alexander the Great was another example of a little nudging gone too far…Elizabeth Borden was another…Edgar Allen Poe…
Now that he really thought about it Kamenwati had been having a bad effect on people since the very beginning when he'd been taken in his very first host, a child of the pharaoh's body. It had been that meek soul who had given Kamenwati his new name.
The Thief King's true birth-name had been devoured by Zorc Necrophilius. It had been the loss of that name that had made Kamenwati so certain that he was condemned…so certain until he'd gained another name…and heard it ringing off the lips of his true soul's partner, Ryou Bakura.
"GAAAAAAAACHHHOOOOOOO!" the spirit squeezed violently enough that even his calming thoughts were thrown out of his head. He looked over at the little plastic infant whose roof he was sharing and bowed his head more out of sarcasm than true belief.
"Sorry about that little JC. I don't mean to crash your birthday party like this but I kinda got kicked out of the place I was staying…kind of got kicked out of the family I was staying with," Kamenwati's humor drifted off into deep regret.
Sitting here in this frigid cold was bad enough but being cut off from Ryou's mind made the chill even harder to take. It felt like Kamenwati had managed to find that one frozen spot in hell that everyone talked about.
"Course, that would mean you're down in Hell with me," Kamenwati continued his odd conversation with the little plastic Emmanuel. "I mean from all I've indirectly picked up I've heard that you did up making a trip down there to save all our little lost lambs but…well I don't think you'd really be interested in saving someone like me, would you?"
Though Kuriboh had been the monster doing a lot of the work this evening, during this particular reconciliation there was something greater at work. Something greater that might have been signaled down by Doma but definitely went to a much higher power than Doma would ever dare to directly solicit.
The small Christmas-star that was half-buried under the snow on the managers' roof-top began to glow with more brilliance than a decade-old bulb could ever produce. And it was by this light that Leonardo Bakura was lead to Kamenwati.
"Oh hell, now what? Are you going run me off from this place too? Am I somehow corrupting even this stupidly historically inaccurate Christmas scene?" Kamenwati sneered at the linguist and huddled even more tightly into the far corner of the manger.
Leonardo just stared at him with what could have been mistaken for panic.
"Y…you're…you're hands…" Leonardo said painfully.
Kamenwati cocked a curious eyebrow but followed Leonardo's direction and looked down at his fingers. It was highly discomforting to see that the usually serenely white digits were now gray with what was probably the onset of frostbite.
Before Kamenwati could even think about exactly who he was sitting in front of, the spirit summoned his magic and let the dark flames eat away the damage. After he got some decent feeling back into his hands, Kamenwati decided to take the extra-precaution of letting the flames run through the rest of his body as well. Though he did have the grace to step outside of the manger before doing so.
Leonardo reacted to Kamenwati's magic use with his usual half-grimace and the professor made a concentrated effort to not look in the spirit's direction until Kamenwati had put out all the flames.
"It's alright now," Kamenwati snorted. "The monster has been shoved back into the closet."
Surprisingly, instead of saying something disparaging like Kamenwati himself was the monster, Leonardo actually seemed to flinch and blush with humility.
"Forgive me, it's not…it's not you. I'm just …still not used to all this …particularly not here."
Kamenwati looked over his shoulder towards the manger in shock then looked back at Leonardo in disbelief.
"There is a freakin' unnatural heavenly body as well as a distinctly inhuman being with wings depicted in that scene," Kamenwati thumbed towards the star and angel still serenely sitting on the manger's roof. "I don't think my little self-heating trick is all that impressive compared to that."
"Oh! …I…I had never thought of that before," Leonardo blinked rapidly and stared at the nativity scene with something like scholastic interest.
"Well while it's WONDERFUL that I could turn your interests towards Biblical magic," Kamenwati rolled his eyes, "I think I should probably be more interested in what are you doing here? I already left the house. Are you really that pissed at me that you won't leave off until I pack my ass back to Egypt cuz let me tell you that would be a terribly timed decision. If you'd caused me to snap earlier I could've taken Masaki's stupid Christmas gift with me and snuck my way into the Ishtar's place for a few days."
"I am not here to run you out of the country," Leonardo snorted. "Nor was I looked for a new subject to research. I am here to collect you and bring you back to Ryou."
Kamenwati wasn't sure why he didn't snap right back into insanity. The suggestion was certainly sarcastic enough to make Kamenwati's teeth clench. And yet under the still oddly radiant light of the stupid plastic star, Kamenwati felt in control of his darkness. Hell, in this light it almost felt like Kamenwati didn't have any dark ancestral burdens at all.
"You want me to go back to Ryou? Seriously? That's the best you can come up with? If you're going to lie at least make it something convincing," Kamenwati spat.
"I am not lying," Leonardo frowned. "I have had a …a change of heart as to your relationship with my son and—"
"And what? Suddenly the idea of a recently reincarnated near-god of darkness sneaking into your only son's pants on a daily basis doesn't terrify you anymore? You're suddenly ready to believe the best of me and bury the hatchet?" Kamenwati snorted.
"Bakura please, I know that I was cruel to you—"
"You weren't cruel, you were honest. I could respect that even as I hated you but now that…wait a minute, did you just call me Bakura?" the dark spirit's eyes widened in shock.
"That is your name, is it not? At least one of your names?" Leo smirked triumphantly.
"Well I…I mean, I've been called that by the people here in Domino but…shit, it's YOUR name!" Bakura stammered and blushed, feeling well and truly confused.
"It can be your name too," Leo said with a more solemn expression as he pulled Ryou's ring out of his winter-coat's pocket and held it out for Bakura to see.
"…What are you proposing to me?" Bakura teased to cover the fact that he was barely breathing.
"PROPOSE TO—" Leo snarled and nearly lost his cool. The linguist closed his eyes and took a deep breath that Bakura's still nerve-tightened lungs envied. "I do not have that much love for you, Kamenwati Kul-Elna Bakura. It's my son that you have to thank for this ring."
Bakura didn't even notice that he was walking until he was barely two feet away from his hikari's father and Bakura's hands were reaching towards the velvet jewelry box.
"Ah! Crap!" Bakura blushed and shoved his hands hastily back into his pockets. He felt strangely ashamed for desiring to take the ring from an indirect messenger. "I uh…not to …to say I don't want it but…b-but why didn't you leave that with Ryou for him to give me? I mean…unless he's…"
"Ryou is very much alright. He's physically and emotionally exhausting from being thrown in the middle of our fight but otherwise he's fine," Leonardo smiled with the fatherly affection that he'd probably always felt but that had been hidden behind anger for all of the time he'd been here in Domino.
"He's not hurt?" Bakura chocked.
"My son is much stronger than you give him credit for," Leonardo said as he closed the ring-case's lid with a snap. "If I am to accept you as my son-in-law I expect you to give him more respect than that."
"Your son-in-law…are you…is this? Okay, just to clarify I didn't accidently banish myself to the shadow-realm when I was warming up back there, did I?" Bakura shook his head wildly. "I mean I AM talking to Leonardo Lyo Bakura, right? Half-British, half-Japanese professor of Linguistics over at the Whitehill University and father of Ryou Bakura, right?"
"I am Leonardo Bakura. This is real. And I am beginning to feel very worried as to your mental-health that you should be having this much trouble dealing with this all," Leo rolled his eyes with as much annoyance as Bakura had shown the older man earlier.
"I…I don't know what to say," Bakura blinked stonily.
"And I don't particularly want to hear what you would say. I simply want you to take this," Leonardo slapped the box back into Bakura's hand. "And go back to the hospital where Ryou is probably being discharged and I want you to agree to make an honest man out of my son."
"That's it?" Bakura stared at Leonardo in disbelief.
"It will have to be enough for now…though I dare say between now and whenever you actual plan on exchanging vows with my son, you and I will have to have a long talk and settle some of our differences for good," Leo nodded sternly.
"So…I'm officially Bakura to you now?" the ex-thief questioned.
"Oh good God man, I wasn't that bad! So stop staring at me and be off!" Leonardo unbelievingly reached down and picked up a handful of snow to toss in Bakura's face. "Be off! Scram! And make things right with Ryou!"
"Yah okay only…well…I mean this is just supposing my apology works out but…well maybe you've forgotten what it's like when young lover make up but—"
"I shall be spending the night with Solomon and Arthur helping them with the last minute things they forgot to attend to before they agree to go watch that community ballet recital your friend is in," Leo turned red but refused to react. "So whatever you do…well I don't want to imagine what it is you do so I'll leave it there."
"Good…oh and Leonardo?" Bakura said just before he stepped into a hastily summoned shadow-portal.
"What is it?" Leo huffed.
"You really shouldn't take the lord's name in vain like that, I mean he's right there," Bakura teased before allowing his magic to pull him back to the one he loved most.
Ho-Ho-Ho
While Leonardo was trying desperately not to curse even more out in Domino Park, over at KaibaCorp Mokuba was busy entertaining his dueling peers and waiting for some message from his brother to tell him how things had gone with Katsuya.
Noboku Higa found him crouched underneath the refreshment table staring at his cell-phone and gave a heavy sigh.
"Mokuba-sama…what are you doing?" the younger Higa secretary asked.
"Wha? Oh, hi Noboku, I was just—" Mokuba waved distractedly at the woman before suddenly she reached down and tore the phone right out of his hands.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU—" Mokuba was silenced when his usually timid assistant pulled him into a tight embrace that made Mokuba's little pre-teen brain turn to mush.
"Is it not enough for you to be your brother's right-hand man? Must you live only through him?" she asked in a soft whisper.
"I-I don't know what you…Ah! No wait! Don't hug me like this here! Rebecca will see and then she'll blackmail me with it forever and-" Mokuba squirmed to get out of her grasp. Noboku held on too tightly though and after a minute of graceless floundering the vice-president decided it would be more gracious to wait until Noboku was ready to let him go.
"You are not an adult yet, Mokuba-sama. You are not even close," Noboku finally pushed Mokuba far enough away that she could look at his face without her own cleavage getting in the way.
"I-I know I'm not…I-I wasn't acting…um…that is…" Mokuba's blush intensified as he realized Noboku was looking at him in the same way Miss Masaki looked at her daughter, or how Solomon looked at Yugi.
"You are going to have fun with your friends tonight, Mokuba," Noboku said resolutely. "So help me you will or I will have Akuro come over her and FORCE you to have fun."
Mokuba looked over towards where the elder Higa sister was trying to keep the geeky R&D Department from coming to blows with the Finance Department. Akuro looked so fierce, even amidst KaibaCorp's finest minds, that Mokuba couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated.
"I wouldn't want that," Mokuba admitted softly.
"Neither would I, Nee-sama will probably be in a foul mood until midnight when the corporation is officially closed for the holidays," Noboku nodded in solemn agreement.
Mokuba smiled reassuringly at Noboku but when he scanned the room for his companions he saw that Rebecca and Leon were dancing with a group of KaibaCorp's employee's children and his confidence suddenly melted into his shoes.
Mokuba had only ever purchased friends before, usually to play Capsule Monsters with, and even those relationships had never lasted longer than the time it took for the quarters to be spent. Without money or competition to field the way Mokuba didn't really know how to interact with others his own age.
"Why don't you give one of those young ladies or there one of the new Smart Kuribohs©?" Noboku nudged her chin at the pile of slightly wrapped display-models that the decorators had positioned under the enormous Christmas tree.
Mokuba's nodded numbly and picked one up but a slight coo from the box reminded Mokuba of just how much he had come to hate these fuzzy robots and he dropped it back on the stack.
"No, no more buying friends," Mokuba resolutely shook his head. He turned and held gallantly held a hand out to Noboku. "I'd like you to be my ice-breaker, if…if you wouldn't mind."
"Me?" Noboku blushed. "What do you want me to do?"
"You're interested in mythology, right? Rebecca Hawkins will talk to you about whatever mythical monster you want until dawn," Mokuba laughed affectionately at the mental-image of his short blonde cohort wildly lecturing to this older woman.
"Oh..oh okay," Noboku shrugged. She took Mokuba's hand but before she could turn towards the group Mokuba tightened his grip and held her still.
"Mokuba-sama?" the secretary blushed even further.
"First…first I'd like it…um that is I mean it would be nice if we …could dance? Maybe?" Mokuba coughed.
Noboku flushed as she looked into Mokuba's young face and for a moment saw that shadow of the older gentleman that he was becoming. It was a startling difference from the usual scheming, laughing, sometimes even whining boy that she saw behind a desk every day.
"I…I would enjoy a dance very much, Mokuba," Noboku dropped the honorific with fondness.
And so the odd pair began waltzing their way over to Rebecca and the others, away from where Mokuba's cell-phone and the Smart Kuribohs© lie discarded under the tree. Neither one of them noticed that one of the Kuribohs was giggling to itself.
(A/N: Why did I give Mokuba an older romantic interest just now? …To be honest, I don't know. I just figured the kid deserved something a little better than following around a pair of love-struck pre-teens. Besides, this way Mokuba can't be interrupted by any more calls from the hospital, the cabin decorator's complaining that Honda never showed up or any of those other little plot bits)
Ho-Ho-Ho
Ryou was on the curb outside the hospital when Bakura arrived. His little light didn't look particularly healed, but then again Bakura didn't imagine that Ryou could be feeling very well if he was still under the impression that Leo and Kamenwati were at each other's throats somewhere in the snow.
Rather than appear all at once and risk Ryou getting so huffy that he threw a disorienting shot of light-ka through him, Bakura decided to present himself in stages starting with opening the mind-link and sending his feelings of love and apology towards the younger.
The effect was a little bit more than Bakura had intended, however, because Ryou's whole body seized as if it had been filled with electricity and the hikari would have collapsed onto the ice if Bakura hadn't run out to catch him.
"Jeez Ry, I'm gone for a day and you're already so sensitive?" Bakura snickered lovingly into his light's ear.
It wasn't really that surprising that the joke would hit Ryou's frayed nerves the wrong way, but Bakura still hadn't expected the punch his light threw to hurt as badly as it did.
"Shit!" Bakura wailed and reached his left hand up to rub his jaw.
"B-Bakura…you…where did you," Ryou immediately noticed the ring that Bakura had slipped on during his little shadow-jump.
"Believe it or not, your dad gave it to me. He had this crazy idea that you might've wanted to propose to me," Bakura smiled gently as he watched Ryou flip his hand one direction then the other in a desperate examination of the ring.
"M-my father…delivered this?" Ryou gasped and began to tear up. "B-But he…I-I thought he—"
"I thought so too, but apparently something got to him…hmm…now that I think about it rationally I have sensed a lot of peculiar shadow activity going on tonight and I-MMMPH!" Bakura's smart-aleck responses came to an immediate end as Ryou suddenly pulled him into what had to be the best kiss they'd ever shared. Which was definitely saying something because Bakura had always thought highly of their kisses even when Ryou was still so green at it that he kept nearly chipping a tooth against Bakura's teeth.
"Marry me, my Kamenwati. Be my Christmas present," Ryou purred gently into Bakura's lips.
"Gladly…just so long as you agree to be my Christmas present as well," Bakura purred right back.
Ryou grinned cheekily and said, "I thought you didn't like Christmas."
"Are you kidding me? I've got my very own Christmas elf on permanent loan from the North Pole," Bakura smiled and nipped playfully at Ryou's lower-lip. "In fact…you know you're father won't be home for the rest of the night…"
"You cannot be serious!" Ryou wrenched away from Bakura with horror. "You cannot possible want to do THAT in a-a costume covered in pom-poms, t-that we rented from MOKUBA!"
"I'd steal the one pharaoh's brat was wearing but given the way those two have been cooing at each other lately I doubt it will be any better condition than your own is going to be," Bakura snickered.
"Hmm particularly not after tonight," Ryou couldn't help but think aloud.
"Wha—UGH! Ryou! No! Don't think about things like that when I'm right in your mind with you! Uhhhh gross, porcupine-sex," Bakura blanched and slapped his ring-weighted hand over his eyes.
"I believe this is what most people would refer to as turn-about being fair play. Don't think I don't know about those dirty conversations you had with Atem after we first had sex," Ryou flushed and glared.
"That was for his education, not my mental-assassination. Yuuuuck, now I don't know if I even WANT to officiate our engagement like I planned," Bakura continued to shudder.
"We…we are engaged…aren't we," Ryou said softly, almost as if he were afraid that speaking too loud would break the dream.
"Well yes, but it probably won't count until I find you a ring as well…" Bakura pouted and tugged at Ryou's suddenly very naked looking ring-finger. "As romantic as your plan was, my light, I wish I'd known sooner."
"I already have a ring," Ryou trailed his fingers down his neck to warped pendent of gold that he wore which was all that remained of the Millennium Ring.
"I mean a real ring," Bakura smiled in fondness. A sudden thought then occurred to him and he gently tugged the necklace off Ryou's neck.
"Bakura?" Ryou blinked.
"How about one more lesson in ka-control, my lovely light?" Bakura smirked charmingly. "I'll give it direction and you give it the juice."
"I'm not sure what you mean but okay," Ryou bowed his head and started to glow with power. Bakura placed Ryou's hand over his palm holding the Millennium Ring's fragment. Bakura then placed his other hand over Ryou's and pressed the boy's skin firmly against the gold.
Ryou yelped slightly as he felt the once solid metal under his palm turn as liquid as melted ice before suddenly returning to a solid, albeit much smaller form.
"Huh, that's funny. I'd meant it to be a lotus," Bakura grunted with slight annoyance as he pulled his hands back revealing the engagement ring now sitting in Ryou's palm.
It was a beautiful gold ring decorated by a small poinsettia made of several tiny rubies and three even tinier topaz gems. There were even etchings of leaves carved into the gold making the odd festive bush look even more like a flower than it usually did.
"O-oh Kura!" Ryou gasped. "You…no, I know how connected you are to this gold…this…this is all that's left of your family and-"
"And it should be used for the purpose of building my new family," Bakura said as he slid the ring onto Ryou's finger.
"This…this means so much…" Ryou smiled at the ornament.
"Enough that you'll rethink my first celebration suggestion?" Bakura wiggled his eyebrows.
"Only if you wear yours too," Ryou laughed and placed a kiss on his incorrigible fiancé's forehead.
"Done and done! Merry freaking Christmas to me!" Bakura grinned and cast his final portal spell of the night.
Ho-Ho-Ho
(A/N: You now I really like the Nutcracker…which is why I am leaving Anzu's performance up to your imaginations. I'm sure she does really well there but…well she's not the romantic lead is she? She's the girl who's going to complain about being the only single lady amongst her friends and I'm gonna have to make it up to her sometime in the future…maybe…)
Christmas Morning
Atem was awoken by the annoying chirp of his cellphone. Being the rather technophobic man that he was, Atem had not been very keen on the idea of owning his own phone to begin with. Having the damn the ring wake him out of a dead sleep did not improve Atem's feelings towards the wretched device.
What did improve Atem's overall mood, however, was when the ex-pharaoh's sleep addled mind woke up enough to remind Atem of the glorious events of the previous evening. The same wonderful events that were the reason why Atem was sans pajamas in Yugi's bed feeling more fantastic than if he'd won a thousand tournaments.
"Yes…yes…YES!" Atem whooped and punched the air victoriously in an utterly childish move.
Any of the ex-pharaoh's rivals would've burst out laughing at the sight of Atem grinning like an idiot and all but performing a victory-dance as he got dressed but Atem wouldn't have cared.
Though the fates had been against him and the demands of his friends had kept getting in the way, Atem "Yami" Motu had finally, FINALLY had sex with his hikari.
Yugi had been a little hesitant at first, obviously still preoccupied with Ryou's troubles, but Atem had only needed to give Yugi the slightest mental nudge and the hikari's resistance had tumbled down completely.
Atem was repeating his favorite moments over and over again in a giddy loop in his mind as he finished pulling on his jeans and even as he fished the damned cell-phone out of the back-pocket.
There was a short text-message from Yugi's grandpa on the screen enigmatically said that the old man hoped the boys were enjoying a very Merry Christmas and that he'd see them there. Atem had no idea what Solomon meant by 'there' but it wasn't that impossible to believe that the old man might have not come back from the hotel last night and was simply saying he'd come and join the celebration later.
Atem shrugged and slipped the phone back into his pocket to examine more closely later. Right now all Atem wanted was to find where Yugi had scampered off to so that he could kiss the boy good morning.
Another victorious smile crept goofily over the former pharaoh's lips as he recalled the variety of kisses he'd exchanged with Yugi last night.
"It's raining sunshine, it's raining sunshine," Atem hummed to himself, unaware that the somewhat fitting description to Yugi's passion triggered burst of light ka last night was from one of those holiday stop-motion films he detested.
The pharaoh bounded down the stairs and peeked into the kitchen to see if Yugi had maybe woken up early to eat breakfast. The boy certainly had a lot of calories to make up for after last night's exercise.
"Okay that's enough," Atem scoffed at his own childishness. He didn't get very far into attempting to clear his mind before the phone went off again from inside Atem's front pocket, making the ex-pharaoh feel decidedly goosed.
"Shit! Stupid vibrate," Atem pulled the phone out in time to see another text-message appear in the memory. This one was from Anzu. She'd apparently had the time of her life at last night performance and that she would tell him all about it when he got there later.
As this was the second time one of his closest friends (A/N: no longer insecure about his relationship, Yami has let Anzu back on the list) had mentioned the mysterious locale of 'there', Atem began to feel the slightest bit suspicious. He knew Yugi wasn't planning a party here. The Kame Game Shop was too small for more than four or five people to get together, which usually suited the group fine but hardly made for a party.
"Okay…mystery for later," Atem shoved his phone deeply back into his pocket. Unfortunately that move was a bit too hasty because as soon as it was back in nerve-rattling proximity to his skin the damn thing went off again.
"Oh for the love of Hathor!" Atem snarled and pulled the wretched device back out. This time the message was from Bakura. It was even more enigmatic than the rest saying that even if Atem was no longer part of the Cherry gang –how Bakura knew this, Atem didn't even want to imagine—that Bakura was STILL further along in his relationship with Ryou and that he'd explain all about it when they met up 'there'.
"Stupid tomb-robber! Where is there, damn it!" Atem was about to stuff the phone back into his pocket before he thought better of it and put the thing down on the kitchen counter. It was a good decision to make to because as soon as it hit the counter the phone went off again.
In fact, in the next seven minutes, Atem seemed to get a text-message from everyone he knew all saying that they couldn't wait to see Atem 'there'. It was almost sinister how none of them would mention where 'there' was and how they all seemed to assume that Atem just knew.
"What the hell is going on?" Atem glowered as the strange, purposefully secret-keeping, device.
"Atem? What are you doing to your phone?" Yugi's voice suddenly rang out from behind him and caused Atem to jolt even worse than when the phone had gone off next to his crotch.
"Ah! Nothing! That is…good morning aibou," Atem smiled charmingly as he held the phone out of sight behind his back.
A quick glimpse at his aibou solved the lesser mystery of where the boy had been hiding. According to the card Yugi held up in explanation of his wardrobe Yugi had opened his gift from Secret Santa while waiting for Atem to get out of bed. The fluffy purple bath-robe and slippers that were Yugi's present from his Secret Santa appeared to be slightly too big but that only served to make Yugi look more cuddly and touchable.
Atem was still going to have a word with this mysterious gift-giver. After all, a bath-robe hardly seemed like an appropriate Christmas present. It seemed particularly bad because Atem had spent a lot of thought and effort getting his gift for Jounouchi. …Though if it had been the perpetually cash-strapped blonde who'd given this gift then Atem didn't mind overly much.
"Opening gifts without me, love?" Atem pouted, pretending to be hurt.
"Well, I tried to wake you up but you were practically in hibernation," Yugi rolled his eyes. "It's hardly my fault that you'd rather sleep then celebrate."
"Considering it was you who wore me out," Atem felt his sentence open-ended. As he'd hoped Yugi turned an adorable pink and hid his face by rubbing a towel over his still dripping hair.
Atem waited until Yugi had to come back out for air then leaned in and gently kissed the boy's lips.
"I am immensely happy. Are you?" the former pharaoh asked.
"I'm …sore," Yugi blushed. "Like really, really sore. And I am kind of ticked off that Ryou didn't give me a better warning about how sore I was going to get. I mean what the point of having a friend who has already lost their virginity if you can't mine them for details like that?"
"I don't believe Ryou is the type who feels comfortable giving details…now Bakura on the other hand," Atem rolled his eyes.
"I can imagine," Yugi giggled then frowned. "Do you think they made up?"
"According to this damn jittery thing then yes," Atem said holding up his phone between his forefinger and thumb like a dead rodent. "And apparently Bakura wants to tell me all about THAT little moment as well at some place he didn't clarify. In fact, all our friends seem to have some secret meeting arranged …do you know anything about that?"
"I do indeed know all about that," Yugi flashed a triumphant smile all his own. "But because you woke up so late, you'll just have to wait and see. For now I think you should shower while I fix up a quick breakfast and call the gang to let them now you got their messages."
"Hmmph very well…though…I don't suppose you'd like to try out your bathrobe a little more and join me in the shower," Atem asked with honest eagerness.
"YAMI! Sore! All over! First time! Ever!Still! Sore!" Yugi choked out brokenly.
"There are other things we can do that won't make you THAT sore," Atem pouted.
"N-no," Yugi shivered as Atem projected images of just want he planned into his younger half's head. "No. We're running late and…and…damn it if you'd only woken up when I'd tried to wake you then maybe a-and…j-just go shower!"
"I love you too, aibou," Atem chuckled and swaggered out of the room.
Ho-Ho-Ho-Into the Finale We Go!
Despite Atem taking twice as long as normal in the shower so that he could tease his aibou with more mental projections of the ex-pharaoh's sud-covered body, and Yugi's own highly sensitive reaction to said projections that made the boy's attempts at cooking pancakes into a quest for the impossible, within one short hour both star-heads were properly groomed and dressed in –as Yugi had insisted—their best seasonal clothes.
"More sweaters," Atem grumbled down at his red top with venom. Yugi giggled and kissed the frown off the dark one's lips.
"Shut up, you look great. Now I want you to carry these boxes and follow me. We have a small walk ahead of us but it shouldn't be far enough that we'll need a cab," the hikari said dropping a stack of brightly wrapped packages into Atem's arms.
"Wasn't the whole point of the Secret Santa thing in only buying one present?" Atem huffed suspiciously at the gifts.
"I only said that to make Jou and Honda feel better. But these aren't for our immediate group. These are for Rebecca, her grandpa, Leon, Mokuba and my Secret Santa," Yugi said as he walked awkwardly over to the coat-rack. "And before you can complain about why you have to carry them I want you to remember how hard it's going to be for me to walk over there to begin with."
"I'm sure I could come up with a magical pain-reliever if you gave me a minute to think about it," Atem pouted.
"Naaah, it'll do me good to perform the hobble-walk of shame," Yugi blushed and giggled. "It'll help keep me grounded and not so filled with awkward butterflies that I'll want to scream what happened to everyone over there."
"Gaaaah Yugi that's the second time you've called our destination 'there'. This is getting highly annoying," Atem grumbled.
"Just hold on a moment," Yugi kissed Atem's cheek sweetly. "You'll see in a moment."
Atem cursed slightly under his breath at infuriating secrets and cute hikaris who made it impossible to be mad about secrets as he followed Yugi out into the street.
Ho-Ho-Ho
Thanks to yesterday's blizzard the entire city of Domino was blanketed in a nice serene layer of snow. The sidewalks, the lamp-posts, the trees and everything else Atem could see was frosted white and glittering like melted diamonds.
"When it snows, ain't it thrilling? Though your nose is a-chilling," Yugi sang joyfully as he walked along. The boy interrupted his own song to spin around and smile invitingly. "Isn't it all so wonderfully yuletide?"
"I suppose so," Atem shrugged slightly. "I mean it will probably look the same in February."
"Ooooh you stubborn ass," Yugi rolled his eyes and turned back around. "You still aren't seeing it, are you?"
"Seeing what?" Atem huffed. "Were on an empty, frost-bitten street and-"
"That's just it! It's an empty street! It's a beautiful morning and yet there is no one around," Yugi threw up his arms in exasperation. "Everyone is inside with their loved-ones or friends enjoying a day of compassion and joy!"
"Is that so?" Atem chuckled.
"Yes that is so…am I'm going to prove it too you," Yugi winked and suddenly turned off the sidewalk to walk up the stairs of the Domino City Convention Hall.
"Yugi, aibou, where are you going?" Atem chuckled.
"There," Yugi said mysteriously.
Feeling strangely giddy with excitement, instead of just annoyed as before, Atem quickly followed his aibou up the steps into the building.
The halls were empty but there was a faint atmosphere of merriment that only ever arose when people were near.
"What's going on Yugi?" Atem blinked curiously.
"A very Merry Christma," Yugi chuckled as he threw open the doors to the convention center and revealed an absolute wonderland.
Ho-Ho-Ho
It was a joyful, noisy scene of chaos inside the convention hall, and Atem didn't have much than a few seconds to admire the picture before he was forcibly pulled into it by the friends that had gathered there.
"FINALLY! You are so late, pharaoh and OOH! That's a present for me right? Oh and look Leon, this one is for you!" Rebecca ran up first suddenly releaving Atem of his gifts and passing them around to the addressees. Leon arrived a close second and was barely any better than Rebecca for giving the pharaoh a brief thank-you before running off to join Rebecca under the giant Christmas tree.
Already underneath said Christmas tree Honda's little cousin Joji was looking at his newly received Smart Kuriboh© in slight terror while his mother was weeping all over a very embarrassed Mokuba and secretary in gratitude for the gift.
Not too far away Kaiba Seto and Jounouchi Katsuya were having what seemed to be a VERY playful conversation over how Jounouchi looked in his new caramel-colored leather duster. Their flirtations were practically celibate, however, compared to the Otogi and Mai who were testing out the mistletoe to the fullest extreme.
Before Atem could decide if the blonde duelist's shirt was naturally that low-cut or if Otogi had been helping it down, he was ambushed once more by Anzu. The extremely bubbly ballerina pulled him over towards the artful hot-cocoa tree display and mothered him into taking one of the warm mugs into his hands even as she excitedly rattled on about her Christmas Eve performance.
"Oh and the costumes were so gorgeous I wish I could brought mine here to show you!" Anzu squealed with glee. "It was all like a dream and I can't even begin to tell you how nervous I was! If it weren't for Mamoru-chan—"
"Mamoru-chan?" Atem grinned teasingly.
"Oh, I-I mean if i-it weren't for my dance partner Inui Mamoru I wouldn't n-never …I would've…oh stop giving me that look!" Anzu blushed and punched Atem's shoulder with not a little force.
"Eeeeeasy there slugger," Bakura came out of nowhere to grab Atem before he fell over. "It would sort of ruin the mood if you accidentally scalded Atem to death."
"It wouldn't have scalded him to death," Anzu blushed defensively.
Bakura just shrugged and mentioned how Serenity wanted Anzu to cover over to the buffet-table so the redhead could show off her Christmas present from Honda (compliments of Mokuba).
Once the brunette had run off, Atem found himself the subject of Bakura's holiday glee as the thief informed him of the engagement.
"You're serious!" Atem nearly spilled his cocoa anew as Bakura smiled beamed with pride.
"Serious as the shadow realm. It was to pay for this beauty," Bakura wiggled the platinum ring on his finger, "that our hikaris went through that wonderful elfish mess. Remind me to give Yugi my thanks for that by the way."
"I just can't believe that Leonardo actually allowed this," Atem continued to shake his head against the shell-shock.
"Me either," Bakura huffed and looked over his shoulder to where an utterly transformed Leonardo was eagerly engaging in story-exchange with Solomon and Arthur. "But I think I might now the reason behind the change of heart. I just can't believe you managed to get your duel-monsters to agree to pull off something his big on Christmas Eve. I know my deck is insanely sensitive about being allowed to celebrate their own version of this crazy holiday."
"Duel monsters? But I didn't summon any-" Atem didn't get to finish his thought before Ryou came to pull Bakura away for their own turn under the mistletoe while Mai came over to wish Atem a Merry Christmas.
"I was so happy that you involved me in this whole thing to begin with," the blonde said as she straightened out her top –which looked suspiciously like one of Otogi's crimson dress-shirts -, "what with not having a proper family to celebrate with myself and all. But then you and your partner had to go and make this an even more amazing trip by settling me up with Otogi. I have to say that I would have never come on to him on my own, I was always so stuck on Jounouchi even though I'd say it's pretty obvious he's more interested in blue eyes than purple."
"W-well that's good for you but I didn't-" Atem tried to explain again when Mai was suddenly swept back into Otogi's arms and led off to the dance-floor where Mr. and Mrs. Masaki were cutting a rug with Mr. and Mrs. Honda.
For the first time since the doors opened Atem found himself with a moment to himself and was finally able to realize that he'd completely lost sight of Yugi.
"Have you lost something sir?" Mokuba's young secretary appeared out of seemingly nowhere to take Atem's empty mug en-route to picking up drinks for herself and her young boss –who was at the moment getting sprayed with silly-string by Leon von Schroder-.
"Uh…you wouldn't have happened to see where my partner went off to?" Atem smiled sheepishly.
"Oooh, you mean the young man who arranged all this? He's over there by the big window next to the smaller Christmas tree," Noboku pointed in the correct direction.
"Thanks…oh and Merry Christmas," Atem smiled.
Ho-Ho-Ho
Yugi was looking at the obviously ironically chosen maroon star shaped ornaments on the tree when he felt a warm pair of arms wrap around his shoulders.
"I think I've been had," Atem's rich voice said into Yugi's ear causing the duelist's body to tremble like a bowl of jelly.
"Oh yah? Why do you think that is?" Yugi giggled and allowed Atem to turn him around.
"Well, according to the few little conversations I've been in, it seems that this entire party isn't quite as natural an event as we'd all like to believe," Atem said solemnly.
"What do you mean it's not natural? Everyone seems perfectly magic-free to me…though I do have my suspicions about Joji's present," Yugi pouted and threw a quick glance towards the mechanical Kuriboh chattering away at the young Honda.
"I mean it is unnatural because SOMEONE has been running around over the past few days making arrangements for everyone to be a bit more gleeful than they were before," Atem smirked.
"I have no idea what you're going on about," Yugi smiled innocently up the ceiling. "Oh, and by the way. This gift is for you."
Atem looked down at the brightly wrapped gift in Yugi's arms with some surprise. "A gift?"
"It IS the tradition," Yugi laughed.
Atem looked like he was about to say something but instead just took the gift and gently untied the green ribbon and tore open the red paper.
"It's …a box?" Atem said in confusion as he looked over the nice walnut chest in his hands.
"Boxes are traditionally meant to be opened, oh brilliant son of Ra," Yugi rolled his eyes.
Atem nodded numbly and pulled back the lid.
The small-fragment that Yugi had kept of Atem's puzzle sprang up and began to twirl in time to the music but what Atem seemed more impressed by was the collage of pictures that lined the interior.
"Pictures of all our friends," Yugi smiled. "So that every time you want to look at the puzzle…and reminisce about the past…you'll remember how you are also lucky enough to be included in our wonderful present."
"Our present…present…that's….that's very clever," Atem coughed awkwardly and rapidly blinked his eyes.
"Why mou hitori no boku…are those tears?" Yugi smiled gently and cupped his other-half's face in his hands.
"Yugi…you are amazing," Atem said breathily.
Even though Yugi had been imagining Atem's reactions to his plans for months, the words still managed to make his body to tingle with near painful delight.
"O-Oh it's not r-really all that impressive. I-I mean I had t-this old music-box just sitting around and—" Yugi blushed and tried to take a step backward so he could collect himself.
Atem didn't allow him that chance as the ex-pharaoh put the box down on the window-ledge and pulled Yugi into a tight embrace.
"Your gift is beautiful but that is only part of what makes you amazing. You spent weeks trying to convince me that Christmas could be part of my new life, my new culture and yet for weeks I resisted you…bur rather than give up…you did all this…just so that you could save me from my own stubborn rejection."
"T-that's just part of the hikari's job, right? Helping the yami get along in the world and everything?" Yugi squeaked.
"Ryou fulfilled that much by taking Bakura as his lover, and you could've easily done the same…but instead…you did this. You made my world so brilliant and filled with so many people…and I don't even know where to begin in thanking you for it all," Atem smiled with such awe that Yugi felt oddly like he'd accidentally taken the role of the Christmas angel.
"You don't have to put that much thought into thanking someone for a Christmas gift. I-if you really like it…then you just enjoy it," Yugi mumbled into Atem's sweater.
"Just enjoy it, huh? Well then I will do that, but only if you stop sulking in this corner and enjoy it with me," Atem backed away far enough that he could kiss Yugi without kinking his neck.
"I wasn't sulking! I was waiting to give you your gift!" Yugi huffed and pushed Atem playfully in the chest.
"Oh? You mean you weren't over here pouting over how it was so unfair of all our friends to credit me with the duel-monster magic that you were responsible for?" Atem teased.
"Shhh! Don't bring that up! I'm going to be spending the next year paying back Kuriboh for all he's done! And I've only JUST gotten over the ka-drain from it all! If Kuriboh decides to come out now I'll be spending the rest of Christmas nursing sore hips AND a sore head!" Yugi yelped.
"Well I certainly wouldn't want that to happen…I guess I'll just have to take over some of the magic debt with you," Atem pecked Yugi sweetly on the nose.
"You'll what? Oh! I didn't mean—"
"I want to," Atem squeezed Yugi gently. "I owe that little fuzz-ball for all he's done to help me realize how incredible Christmas is."
"You really think so!" Yugi squeaked.
"Yes I do. Merry Christmas Yugi.
"Oh! Merry Christmas Atem! Merry, Merry Christmas!'
The End
Masaka: I'll probably have to end up pulling this chapter and doing some editing but for now I want to get the entire story posted as soon as possible!
Yami Masaka: Yah, cuz a Christmas story just isn't as effective after Christmas
Jason: And on that note…MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR WONDERFUL READERS, AND MAY YOUR NEW YEARS BE JUST AS BRILLIANT!
All: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!