CHRISTMAS GAMES

Yugi pranced merrily across the kitchen, humming to himself The Twelve Days of Christmas as it jingled out from the radio. His grandpa, who had been gone for three weeks in Egypt was finally coming home today, and the boy was busy preparing for his return by spending his day baking cookies on and off. The scent of warm cinnamon and ginger wafted through the kitchen as the boy grabbed his turtle-like oven mitts. When he wasn't inside baking he was outside playing in the snow.

It had piled rather high this year, closing school for the whole week before Christmas break. It was perfect packing snow too, just right for snow balls and snow men. He and Joey had even built a snow fort in the yard at Kaiba manor the first day of winter break, thanks to numerous pleadings from Mokuba and Joey. They had played outside for hours, resulting in a runny nose and a worried Yami, but the fun they had was more than worth it.

Perfect that Grandpa would come home today, the day before Christmas Eve! Not that he didn't enjoy having the whole house to just him and Yami, but after three weeks he had begun to miss his Jii-chan; after three weeks even Yami was missing him. Besides, it was the holiday season and Yugi was a firm believer in being surrounded by those you love and those who love you on Christmas.

The boy was just about to open the oven to retrieve the latest batch when he felt his waist being encircled by two strong arms, and his back being warmed by another body. He smiled back at his yami. Speaking of being surrounded by those you love…

"They smell delicious aibou," his other half murmured against the back of his neck, ducking for a moment to nuzzle the soft cashmere of Yugi's Christmas sweater.

Yugi smiled back at him. "Thank you Yami; I was just finishing your batch."

The lighter half turned a little to see his dark grinning from ear to ear, quite a cute look added with his cherry red turtleneck and dark blue pants. The Mutou clan loved their cookies, but they varied in favorites. Yugi had his sugar cookies, sweet and fluffy. Grandpa liked molasses so he could dip it in his tea. Yami loved gingerbread, the spices and smells reminding him of his home. And the whole family could happily spend one day a year just sitting together and munching on chocolate chip.

His lover stood back, disentangling his arms so the boy could take out the cookies. Smiling, Yugi opened the oven, and leaned down to inhale the spicy sweetness from fresh gingerbreads. He didn't make them decorated with frosting or licorice or gum drops, for Yami liked his gingerbread straight so he could taste all the potency of the cinnamon and ginger flavor right on his tongue. Carefully placing his protected hands on the edge of the baking sheet, he gently pulled out the tray and placed it on top of the stove, smiling his thanks at Yami who closed the door on the oven.

"Now don't try to take one right away Yami, you remember what happened last time," he said warningly, still shuddering at the memory of his love's blistering fingers.

"Haha. Don't worry aibou, I've got something to hold me over," the older teen said, his voice somewhat muffled.

Perplexed, the lighter half turned and his purple eyes widened when he saw the size of the enormous candy cane currently shoved in his partner's mouth. "Whoa! Where'd you get that?"

Yami pulled the mint out of his mouth and looked at it thoughtfully. "Seto and I both got one when we went Christmas shopping a week ago."

"And you haven't eaten it yet?" Yugi was flabbergasted. His love did have a policy on personal control, but it was a well-known fact that he was helpless when it came to sugar. In fact if it weren't for his minus zero waistline, one would call his addiction unhealthy.

Yami smiled wantonly, and curled his tongue sinuously around the candy. "I wanted to wait for the opportune moment."

The boy watched, his eyes wide and cheeks red as the Game King rolled his tongue across the pearly cane. Sinful thoughts crept into his mind as the crimson-eyed man sucked on the holiday treat. "Um…any particular reason you're trying to tempt me?"

The Game King shrugged, making Yugi realize that he had one hand securely behind his back. "Oh, several reasons I suppose. Grandpa's coming home soon and I want to make use of the remaining time we have alone together. You on your own are deliciously tempting in that cute reindeer sweater, so maybe I'm trying to return the favor. Or, could it be that the Christmas party is tonight and maybe if I get you out of my system now I won't be tempted to jump you during the party?"

Yami took a step towards him and Yugi put his hands up in defense. "Oh no! There's already going to be at least one yami/hikari pair banging each other at that party---two if the Ishtar's show up---that doesn't mean we need to jump on the bandwagon."

The Pharaoh put down the treat and placed his somewhat sticky hand on the boys arm. "So let me take a sample now and I won't be tempted tonight," he whispered softly, his tenor voice heavy with sensuality.

Still internally debating whether he was eager or nervous, the light bit his lower lip and said tentatively, "Well, okay, but just for a little bit."

Amethyst eyes closed, eagerness fast ahead as he lifted his arms a little, trembling with want. Desire heated his blood as he felt his temperature rise in anticipation. Only…Yami wasn't moving.

Confused, the child opened his eyes, and looked up at his Pharaoh, who was grinning smugly while pulling his arm up in the air. The boy looked up high, above both their bodies where dangling from Yami's hand was an unmistakable sprig of mistletoe.

Still confused he glared back at his lover, a little annoyed at both himself and his partner. Yami for stopping, and himself for being so disappointed.

The Game King trailed a finger down Yugi's cheek. "I want to wait to unwrap my present until Christmas. Don't want Santa to think I'm a bad boy after all."

Soft arms wrapped around him as his aibou smiled at the gesture. "You're already a bad boy my Pharaoh."

He mischievously waggled his brows at the little one. "You know me too well."

Mistletoe lowered to just above their heads, the Pharaoh leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on soft lips. He was ready to back away when his aibou made a little unhappy grunt and leapt forward to latch at his lips. The Game King was a little startled at first, but relaxed instantly, smiling against his hikari's mouth. Mmm...he loved the holiday's. It was that season that made his aibou taste like sugar cookies. He dropped the mistletoe, and reached around Yugi, his arms entirely circling the thin boy as he tenderly prodded his mouth open. His light moaned softly, causing the Pharaoh to groan into his warm mouth as their tongues shared a half-hearted battle for dominance.

"Well, well, well, is this what always goes on in the house while I'm away?" Came a cheery voice.

The two broke apart instantly, and Yami smiled warmly at the elder while Yugi hurled himself into his Jii-chan's arms. "Grandpa! I'm so glad you're home!"

A warm welcome appeared too much for Sogoroku as his face turned an odd shade of white. "Oomph! Oh! Yugi! Glad to be…home…"

The Pharaoh came over to the pair grabbing Yugi's wrist and quickly pulled him away. "Aibou be careful, you're going to suffocate him."

The boy blushed and shrugged bashfully. "Sorry. Hey grandpa, are you hungry? I made plenty of cookies!"

He waved his hand tiredly. "Oh Yugi, you know how I get with planes. I'm so weary I fell asleep in the taxi."

Looking on in concern the older teen put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should go lie down; we can catch up after you have a nap. Jet lag is the worst."

Aged skin turned up in a sleepy smile. "Ahh, thank you Yami. I appreciate it." Giving one last hug to his grandson and one hug to the Pharaoh, Sogoroku picked up his lone bag and treaded up the stairs.

Once the older man was out of earshot Yugi said curiously, "How do you know about jet lag?"

Yami smirked playfully and went over to the stove where he grabbed a ginger-man cookie. "Kaiba flew Bakura and me over to Italy once."

Yugi's eyes widened and he put his hands on his hips indignantly. "And where was I? What about Joey and Ryou?"

Crunching on the cookie the older teen closed one eye in an attempt to remember. "I believe you were spending the day shopping for school clothes. This was long before we had lives of our own, and without you guys what were we supposed to do all day?"

He came over and stole the remainder of the cookie from his lover's hand. "Kaiba has a company to run, why didn't he go do his job? And how could you have possibly gone to Italy and back in what was probably…," he paused to count, attempting to keep the cookie out of his partners grasp at the same time. "Six hours?"

"Kaiba has a custom-made Blue Eyes White Dragon Concord Jet, designed it by himself, I'll let you do the math. And he didn't go to work because that morning Joey pushed the emergency shut down button for Kaiba Corp. headquarters and it takes twenty-four hours for the systems to come back on after that's been pressed. Don't ask me why he pushed it, the label on it probably said ONLY PRESS IN EMERGENCY SITUATION'S and he was feeling hungry or something." The darker explained angrily, trying to reach for his cookie that Yugi had stretched behind his back.

"How come we weren't invited?"

"It was seme only."

Yugi blushed and put one hand back on his hip, hold the treat just out of reach. "That's not fair! I happen to know for a fact that Kaiba and Joey take turns just like us, and Bakura let Ryou be seme for their anniversary!"

Yami rolled his eyes. "All of which occurred after our little escapade."

Unsatisfied at the explanation Yugi stuffed the last of the gingerbread cookie in his mouth, making Yami pout in anger.

"What'd you do that for?"

Ignoring the question, the little one asked with his mouth full of gingerbread, "So what'd you do there?"

Grunting, the Game King reached behind him and took another cookie, protectively covering it with his other hand as he ate. "We originally just went to see if authentic Italian pizza was as good as everyone said it was. But then we went off to shop and cause trouble," he finished with a grin.

The shorter boy rolled his eyes as he swallowed. "So was it?"

Yami tilted his head. "Was what, what?"

"The pizza. Was it as good as everyone says?"

He shrugged at his aibou and walked over to the table, picking up the furry Santa hat from the table and playing with the white pom at the end of it. It came with the passion fruit body lotion as part of a holiday special. "It's pretty nice; not nearly as good as their ice cream."

The boy blinked, his eyes clouded as if something just came to him. "Ice cream?"

"Yeah," Yami responded amiably. After a pause, he grinned at his hikari. "Of course you'd know that, the way you gobbled it off of me so fast."

His face as red as the hat in Yami's hand Yugi slapped his arm. "That's why you never told me where it came from!"

A shrug. "You only asked once or twice."

Arms crossed in a pout, and cute little cheeks were still flushed. "And I would have persisted if you hadn't distracted me so much!"

Yami tapped the end of Yugi's nose. "Ah, but distracting you is so much fun."

The boy opened his mouth to respond. "Ga---…" the boy's eyes widened and he appeared to be thinking something over before he grinned widely. "You know Yami, you're right. At least you brought me back a souvenir when you went to Europe."

The Game King backed away. He didn't like the little glint in those wide eyes. "That's true."

Quick as lightning, Yugi snatched the velvet hat away, and looked at it perspectively. "Tell you what, Mr. King of Games. We're going to play a little game. Christmas is two days away. In that time, we have to exchange this hat between us. The last one to be wearing the hat by the time it's midnight Christmas Eve loses. The only rules are that you can't tell anyone and your opponent can't be aware that you're trying to put the hat on their head."

The Pharaoh smirked. "Intriguing; what's the prize for this game?"

Hikari smiled. "If I win, you have to get Kaiba to fly you to Italy again, this time with me Joey and Ryou."

Yami's brow rose in curiosity. He knew his light was up to something, but god damn if he couldn't resist a challenge. "Fair enough. I accept your challenge Yugi."

The light giggled. "I thought you would."

Smirking, something occurred to the dark. "Wait. What if I win?"

Yugi shrugged and put on the hat. "I guess you'll have to go by yourself and bring back some more of that Italian ice cream."

Confused, the older teen said, "Why?"

Yugi blinked guiltlessly up at his Yami, twisting back and forth on his little feet with his hands behind his back. The cotton ball on the velvet hat swayed back and forth as he moved, swinging in front of his eyes before falling back to his big head of hair. Mouth lit in a bright smile the little duelist looked as adorable and angelic as the day he was born; all he needed were chibi-eyes. However the next words out of said mouth were anything but angelic, his eyes glittering with impishness.

"Gotta have something to wear this Christmas."

I wanted this to be a one-shot, and I most likely will keep it that way, but if you'd like me to continue I'd be more than happy to. Thank you for reading. Please check out the others if you'd like. Self-promotion is so tacky, but I'm desperate.