Yu-Gi-Oh is the property of Konami and Kazuki Takahashi, and this work is only a very appreciative celebration, from which we hope to derive no profit of any kind.
Mornings come late in Scotland in December. By the time there was daylight enough to see the frost coating the ground and tree branches outside, Yami and Yuugi had both been up for hours. They'd eaten a good breakfast, and spent a happy couple of hours in the downstairs drawing room, passing presents around to be opened. The Countess – Mother – was a wonder; for every present there was for Yuugi, there was another that matched it for Yami. After it was all over and the wrappings cleared away, he surveyed a pile that included books, fur-lined gloves, and a monogrammed shaving kit. – It was monogrammed with Donald's initials rather than his own, that was the only reminder that these things hadn't been chosen for him personally. The books on the other hand, were quite to his own taste, being mysteries and popular novels, rather than the travel books Donald himself would have enjoyed.
"Thank you, Mother." He leaned over, thinking to give her a hug, but the Countess turned her cheek toward him for a kiss. "I'm not Donald, but I'll try to be a good son to you."
"Life moves on." Was there a waver in her voice? Yami wasn't sure. She leaned into his kiss, then turned, and when their gazes met, her eyes were dry, her face calm. "I quite like my new son Yami, er, Donald."
Yuugi, exuberant, threw his arms round both their necks in a quick, three-person hug. "I quite like my new brother as well," he said. "And I like my old mother." Yami saw him throw a glance toward his father, as if hoping to include him as well. He heard the strain that came into his voice as the Earl remained where he was, deigning only to nod stiffly, wordlessly, before turning back to his conversation with Pegasus. Apparently some people still found it easier than others, to adjust to the new situation. "This is the best Christmas ever," he said, sounding – almost – like he believed it.
"It's the best Christmas ever for me." Yami reached up quickly, hugging Yuugi himself, and the Countess as well. "It's the first one when I ever had a family to share it with."
"I suppose I count for nothing then?" Pegasus interjected, his tone amused. Yami looked up at his partner, who sat behind his own small pile of gifts, and next to the Earl, who was busy showing him a book on Scots Lowland history that he'd just given him. Whatever his words said, his looks gave him away: He was a part of this scene of family coziness. "Never mind," he said. "I am quite a Scrooge, and the boy and I never did anything special for Christmas the entire time we were partners." He smiled at Yuugi. "It's your job to make up for the lack."
Yami gve Yuugi a quick hug. He looked up at his ex-partner, smiling into Pegasus' answering smile. "He'll do it," he said. "He'll glory in it."
"My Yuugi." The Countess's smile encompassed him and Yami both. "He has a loving heart."
There was one person who wasn't part of this warm family scene. He was with them, but not ofthem, and Yami found himself looking up at him to gauge his reaction. He was half surprised the Earl hadn't made some critical comment yet, or exploded with anger. Unlike the Countess, he still held himself distant from Yami – and from Yuugi as well, as though he blamed his son for the new development of having Yami here.
The Earl looked back at him, his face stiff, his eyes cold-looking. Here was one man he'd never win over, Yami thought, one person in this household he'd never coax into accepting him. He told himself that it was for Yuugi's sake that he cared, and looked back toward his lover with fresh fondness in his heart. But the discomfort of thinking about the Earl, this man who was supposedly his "Father", at least in public, remained.
For his part, the Earl watched the scene in the drawing room from under lowered brows, the frown on his face habitual these past few days even when he wasn't sure of its reason. His wife and Yuugi, they were cut from the same cloth, both quick with their smiles, their fond words. Margaret's affectionate nature was part of what had drawn him to her. Even now after 30 years of marriage, he still felt his heart warm when she gave him one of her sweet smiles; he still felt like he grew taller and straighter, when she gave him a word or two of praise. Side by side with her elegance, Yuugi was an awkward puppy. He jumped around, he talked too much, and he threw impulsive hugs at everyone… No, he thought, watching while his eager son pulled, first his mother, then his friend, this Yami, and then both of them, into close, fond hugs. No, the boy gave his mother affection, in response to her affection. And what did he give his father?
It hadn't been like this when Donald was alive. – The Earl looked up. Max, or to use his real name, Pegasus, was saying something to him about the history book they'd been looking at. He'd given it to him, which was a gesture of welcome in itself, and to someone who didn't deserve it, but now he found he couldn't summon the interest to look at it. His eyes kept returning to the scene on the hearthrug: His younger son – His sonnow, plain and simple. – and his wife, and the other boy, the one Yuugi had been willing to defy him for. And he longed for the days when Donald had been here, when they'd been together, both of them firm and reserved, both understanding each other without words.
Down on the rug, "Yuugi has a loving heart," Margaret was saying. And the Earl had to agree. Yuugi's strength was his love, but it was a strength that seemed to pull them apart, instead of bringing them together. He gave it out to everyone, to his mother, and to all his common friends at school, and to this criminal boy that he'd taken to his heart for some reason as well. But for his father, what did he have?
"I've had enough of this Christmas foolishness." The Earl stood, Pegasus' history book sliding off his lap to the floor, unregarded. He turned toward the door, barely noticing as he stepped on a glove box of someone's, kicked aside the tin of ginger-nuts that had been Yuugi's annual gift from Father Christmas ever since he was five. He wanted to say he was leaving because Donald wasn't here, but that made no sense, did it? "You three may stay here and laugh like fools if you want," he told the trio on the hearthrug instead. "I'm going for a walk before dinner."