Pairing/Character: Yami no Yuugi/ Kaiba Seto
Rating: G
Theme: Mistletoe
Disclaimer: Yuugiou is copyrighted to Takahashi Kazuki.
Kaiba Seto was not very much amused. It was bad enough that his younger brother had all but dragged him out of bed –after an evening filled with coffee and boring sales figures- and tugged at his hand to one of the large living rooms in the Kaiba Estate, forcing him to sit down and to listen to his detailed plans for upcoming Christmas.
He should've known; his secretary had dutifully warned him about it, yet he still wasn't prepared for the little typhoon known as his brother when talking about Christmas dinner, presents, decorations. Kaiba clearly didn't see the joy or the importance of the holidays, but he knew how Mokuba felt about it, so it was a priority to him. Just like previous years, he would call that specific decorator to design not too obtrusive, tasteful and classy ornaments and adornments. He made a mental note as to contact the caterer for a fine Christmas dinner and some sugary treats- he wasn't about to deny Mokuba anything on this particular holiday.
Kaiba had everything planned out in his head when he realized Mokuba was still talking, and talking about... quite different plans for this year. To his horror, Mokuba told him in one long run-on sentence who was coming to visit the party. It took him no longer than a few seconds to fully dawn the implications of Mokuba's plans. Decorating the estate by themselves- all right, it would be a pain in the ass, but if Mokuba thought it was great, so be it. Making dinner, also by themselves- with a bit of luck, he could avoid that by calling for some takeout after all, but the rest...? Great, the whole friendship parade is going to swarm all over my estate, Kaiba sourly thought, almost whimpering mentally. Mokuba wanted to invite everyone for a get-together for Christmas, including presents, decorations, dinner...the whole clique hanging around Mutou Yuugi, the one who beat him several times with Duel Monsters, denying him his title of World Champion- he wasn't so sure if he liked them all over his estate, but he knew that he already had lost this round. Mokuba was looking at him with hopeful eyes and that particular look on his face that made it difficult, if not impossible, to refuse him, so Kaiba gave his approval, even though it was while gritting his teeth.
Christmas Eve had arrived and Kaiba had grumpily received the whole 'clan', as he was referring to them grudgingly, at his mansion. He wasn't about to be all happy and friendly just because it was Christmas- the meaning of the holiday went past him anyway. If only Mokuba was satisfied and happy, then it would be perfect. He didn't want to look at the boxes filled with decorations. Mokuba stepped on one of them, giving out orders as if he was a tiny general. He was quite excited about having so many people around him, giving Kaiba a small pain in the chest, reminding him that Mokuba, in fact, had been quite lonely with the past Christmas holidays. He ignored the rest standing around his little brother, listening to him. He'd already seen Yuugi, the boy was rather hard to miss with his extravagant hair. The King of Games was standing in-between his best friends, Jounouchi and Anzu, and wearing that hunk of gold around his neck. Kaiba snorted, not too loudly though, but he was easily drowned out as the others cheerfully agreed to Mokuba's designation of teams to decorate the estate.
"Nii-sama, will you take this box for the living room, and take Yuugi-kun with you?"
He had only a brief moment to cast a begging glance at his little brother, before Yuugi all but latched on his arm, the box already in his hands.
"Come on, Kaiba-kun! We'll have the living room decorated in no time!"
Kaiba couldn't care less about the Christmas spirit and he was probably the only one unaffected by Yuugi's cheerfulness -what was it with Christmas that made people so... bubbly and happy?- while he was walking behind him towards the large living room. The box in Yuugi's hands jingled and he couldn't even wrap his mind around what kind of decorations would be in it, and how much time it would cost him to...
"It isn't the time to be thinking about business now, Kaiba-kun," Yuugi said suddenly, not admonishingly, but good-natured as usual.
"Spare me your advice, Yuugi," he bit back, almost growling- even though it was Christmas, he wasn't going to cut back on his usual snarky comments. Yuugi always managed to irritate him, even though he was nothing but polite and friendly- well, maybe that was why-, but especially when he started talking about magic and his Puzzle. Kaiba couldn't believe that Yuugi could be so preachy when he wanted to, and go on and on about something so disinteresting, and something as unbelievable as magic and the mysterious, unknown past of the Pharaoh. Ah yes, the famed darker half that helped him in duelling, or rather, took over when duelling, and had the luck of the devil when it came to the Duel Monsters game.
Opening the doors to the living room, Yuugi sneaked under Kaiba's arm and entered first, holding the box in front of him.
Great, Kaiba mentally heaved a sigh. Decoration duty with a midget. Following Yuugi into the room, he kept to his own tactics: to get it over with as quickly as he could, to be over and done with it. The less attention he gave it and the faster he worked, the sooner it was over and out of his system. Yuugi placed the box almost reverently on the coffee table and opened it, taking out a bunch of garlands and several other decorations.
"We better get started, Kaiba-kun! We don't want the others to wait for us if they're already finished!"
He only received a disdainful snort- Kaiba couldn't care less if others had to wait, and certainly if it were those others- that peace and friendship loving hippie clan. Grabbing some of the decorations, he went to work, using his height to his advantage when it came to applying the garlands. He shook his head to get rid of the glitters that fell onto his hair and was slightly surprised that Yuugi hadn't uttered another word after he'd opened the box. Kaiba glanced over at him, but he had his back turned to him, creating a decoration piece with candles. Shrugging, he continued with his own decoration work, wondering why the silence wasn't as comfortable as he thought.
"What is this?"
Kaiba hadn't noticed he was so caught up in his decoration duty- even if it was something as pitiful as decoration, he still wanted perfection-, that Yuugi had went over to the box to pick up the apparent last item- a bunch of soft, woody plants with dark green, oval foliage and white berries.
"That's mistletoe," Kaiba provided him the answer, mentally groaning. What was Mokuba thinking by having mistletoe in the living room? Did he want a kiss and make out party or something?
"What does one do with mistletoe?"
He arched his eyebrows, slightly taken aback by the question. "You hang it from the ceiling, of course," he all but snarled, not understanding why Yuugi pretended not to know what to do with it. "It's tradition to kiss under the mistletoe."
"Really? Well, we better get it up, then," he answered, amusement clear in his voice. Kaiba scowled, not in the mood for the other's quip. However, the mistletoe was the last of the decorations, so the work was finished after this one, and that was a slightly better prospect. If only the ceiling wasn't that high...even with his height, Kaiba couldn't reach it.
"We need some steps or a ladder to get it on the ceiling," he stated the obvious.
"I will see if the others have a ladder," the other offered, and turned towards the door. Kaiba estimated the difference in height and the distance between him and the ceiling. He doubted that there were ladders available, the only ones he could think of were in the large garden shed, and it would take at least an hour to get it...an hour he didn't want to spend waiting, and worse, in Yuugi's company.
"Wait," he barked, taking slight satisfaction at seeing the other freezing at his command, only to turn around and send him a glare that was enough to chill one to the bone. Kaiba didn't show that it affected him -only slightly, of course-, and pointed to the ceiling.
"If I give you a boost, you can hang it up on there. You only have to hook it on the lamp, right there, and it's done."
He looked at Kaiba, then to the ceiling, and back to Kaiba again. "Are you sure? That would mean we would be very close, under the mistletoe."
"Don't be stupid," Kaiba was quick to answer, using the same barking tone in his voice. "I don't want to spend any more time at this stupid decoration thing then necessary. Come on, we'll be finished in less than five minutes. You didn't want to keep the others waiting, remember?"
"Fine," was his only answer, and he shrugged slightly. He walked over to Kaiba, who was impatiently waiting for him to hurry up. Scowling at the impressive height difference, he took off his shoes and plucked the mistletoe out of Kaiba's hands.
"All right, lift me up."
Kaiba groaned, not really wanting to do this and hoping that no one would bust into the room. He laced his fingers together, watching how Yuugi stepped onto them, and he lifted him up, mentally amazed at the other's slight weight. Yuugi leaned against him with his knee against his chest, and moved up his hands to attach the mistletoe to the lamp. Kaiba looked the other way, as the Sennen Puzzle the other was wearing poked him in the chin- he should've asked him to remove that stupid thing. Hmm, he'd never known that Yuugi smelled so... spicy, and that was a thought he immediately banned. Dear God, he really was taking his sweet time to hang up some stupid leaves at a stupid lamp.
"Are you ready yet?"
"Yes, I am ready," was the answer, again with that amused tone. Kaiba growled, noticing that he subconsciously had lowered Yuugi despite his slight weight and when he turned his head again, he was almost face to face with him, Yuugi a little higher up than him.
Why wasn't he lowering him more? Why didn't Yuugi step out of his hands and...and what? Kaiba searched for something to say, but for one time in his life, he hadn't a comment or reply ready. Even worse, every rational thought was cut off as his lips were touched, brushed, captured into a kiss. He was so baffled that he parted his lips in response, and Kaiba Seto was kissed by his arch enemy in Duel Monsters, someone he didn't consider a friend or an ally, someone he differed so much from that he couldn't wrap his mind around it that he enjoyed the kiss, more than he'd care to admit...but the touch and the pressure on his lips was gone, and so was the weight on his fingers. Gaping like a fish, Kaiba blinked a few times to get everything back into focus again. Yuugi was putting on his shoes, and talking about how well the decorations had turned out and see? Kaiba had enjoyed putting up the decorations, and how Christmas was going to be great and all, together with everyone and their best friend...
Looking up, Kaiba saw the mistletoe dangling from the lamp, neatly attached, and for no reason at all, he took a step back, almost hurriedly. Yuugi caught his movement, and started to laugh.
"Kaiba-kun! It's not like I'm going to kiss you! We're finished here; let's see how the others have done their decorations! It's going to be so neat!"
He refrained from gawking at the other, smaller duellist, and managed to maintain his usual demeanour while he was leaving the living room with Yuugi, stealing glances at the other. It couldn't be...I don't believe... Kaiba was silent, and for once he was thankful that the other was filling up the gaps in the conversation with easy chatter and banter, until they found Mokuba again, with the list of chores in his hand.
"Nii-sama! How did the decoration go?" He beamed at his elder brother. "You're early to finish! Did you use everything from the box?"
"Yes, we did," Yuugi answered before Kaiba could. "He even managed to hang up the mistletoe!...and took a large step backwards!" he continued giddily, lowering his voice as if telling a large secret, even though everyone, and certainly Kaiba, was close enough to hear.
Kaiba looked at his younger brother, whose mischievous look was more than obvious.
"Did you manage that all by yourself, nii-sama?"
"No," Kaiba was quick to answer, but sounding less harsh than usual. Mokuba knew how high the ceiling was in the living room and he'd never lied to his younger brother before. "I had a little help."
"Excellent," Mokuba said and scratched "decoration duty" off the list. Kaiba glared at him, but Mokuba either didn't notice or was brooding on new plans. Knowing him, it would be brooding on new plans and Kaiba Seto knew that there were more moments like these in store for him- and when he was looking over at Yuugi, who was standing next to him, a smile on his face and contentment radiating off of him, he admitted to himself that he wouldn't mind. He wouldn't mind at all.