Joey sighed as he finished decorating his "Secret Santa"'s locker, he didn't know why his school participated in this moronic tradition. Not only was it a week-long event before the Christmas Break, but it was mixed up by grade...which was stupid because usually Joey got paired with someone he didn't know. Worst of all, besides the fact that it put a strain on his already limited funds, Joey rarely received gifts from whoever had been unlucky enough to draw him. It probably had something to do with the fact that he used to bully and steal from a lot of the kids in Domino High, but that was years ago, and seriously people change...get over it.

Normally, Joey's friends would make for his lack of School-Wide Secret Santa gifts by staging their own internal Secret Santa (at which, Joey did not mind spending a little bit extra on his friends). But this year, Joey was all alone: Yugi was in Egypt with his Grandpa, Tea in America looking at colleges, Tristan's parents had pulled him out a week early to go on a ski vacation, and Duke had just plainly opted out of Secret Santa because he and Joey agreed that a two person Secret Santa was just as stupid as the school-wide one.

So here he was, way earlier than people normally expected him to be, decorating a stranger's locker with gift wrap and bows, since that was Day 1's theme. The themes for Secret Santa were: Day 1: Decorate your person's locker, Day 2: Drop off a labeled baked good off at your person's home room, Day 3: Provide something sweet, Day 4: An inexpensive holiday accessory, Day 5: Santa's Choice. After his task was completed Joey wandered back to his locker to stash his materials away before the hallways got too crowded with other students, only to find that for the first time ever that his locker had been decorated.

Joey stared at the person's handywork: Blue and silver wrapping paper, with matching bows, candy canes taped to the paper, as well as a cut outs of the Red Eyes Black Dragon and Flame Swordsman. Wow. Whoever had done this definitely knew him...

Joey smiled: of course...the gang must have done this so that he wouldn't be alone this year. Awesome. He sent a series of texts to Yugi and the others thanking them; he was so happy that he didn't even care that Kaiba had come around to see why Joey was standing in the middle of the locker aisle grinning:

"Nice locker, mutt. Hope whoever decorated that locker, isn't a third-rate duelist like you."

"Mmm...it IS an awesome locker. Thanks for noticing!" Joey was in too good of a mood to rise to Kaiba's bait today.

Hmm, Joey thought as he looked at his cell phone. All of his friends said that the locker looked nice, but they had no part in the design or coordinating someone to do it for him. At first he thought they were just playing along, but as text after text appeared on his phone, maybe he had, after all, gotten paired with a decent person this year.

The next day Joey found himself surprised when he reached his desk in homeroom, to find that there was a plate (the plate itself was a limited edition Red Eyes Black Dragon plate with gold trim!) of cookies...but not just any cookies...his favorite flavor: caramel white chocolate chip macadamia nut! Joey bit into one and had to stop himself from moaning- they were homemade.

/Okay, guys...no fooling. I know one of you made these cookies!/ Joey said as he munched on another cookie, /Where did you find the plate? This is an uber collector's item?!/

"Good lord mutt," Kaiba was staring at Joey from the next seat over, clearly appalled at the rate the cookies were being shoveled into Joey's mouth, "Are you even chewing?"

He was about to retort to the blue-eyed teen when he received a text from Yugi, which said that he had no idea about the cookie. Tea and Tristan's denials soon followed. Interesting. Maybe they were upset that Joey had figured it out so quickly.

By the third day, Joey felt miserable as he left a box of his home-made peppermint bark with his Secret Santa's homeroom teacher. Eating the entire plateful of cookies before second period yesterday, had left his stomach sour to the point that Joey couldn't even LOOK at sweets. Whoever his Secret Santa was, they were an awesome cook...but he'd have to take it easy next time.
He arrived at his desk to find that there was a tin of gourmet chocolates awaiting him along with a note that said, "Try to pace yourself this time. Enjoy!"

"Smart advice," drawled Kaiba, not even looking up from the book he was reading, "Whoever this person is, they've got more sense than you, Wheeler...however, they clearly missed the memo that dogs shouldn't eat chocolate."

Why that smarmy- Joey popped the tin open and proceeded to eat ten pieces of chocolate. Sure, he wound up throwing up in the middle of first period, but having the teacher make Kaiba escort Joey (who was still retching into a trash can while they walked) to the nurses station had been totally worth it.

On the fourth day, Joey wound up staying home due to his stomach. However, as not to disappoint his Secret Santa, he wheedled and begged Duke to come by and get his gift so that Duke could deliver the reindeer headband, for Joey.

He answered the door to the sound of Duke's irritated knocking, and simply pushed the poorly wrapped gift into Duke's waiting hands, "Thank's man, I owe ya'"

Duke rolled his eyes, "Whatever, and don't say that or I might just stick you in that dog costume again...there's an even coming up at the Black Crown..."

Joey rolled his eyes, "Seriously, thanks."

Duke then shoved the blue gift bag he had been holding (which Joey assumed was for Duke's Secret Santa), "This is for you."

"From you?"

"No, your Secret Santa."

"You're my Secret Santa?"

Duke rolled his eyes, "Did you throw up your brain too, yesterday? No, I am not. I am here on behalf of your Secret Santa, because like you, that moron didn't want to disappoint."

"Wow. How nice of them," Joey was touched, "Hey, man, since you know who mine is, is it someone I know?"

Duke sighed, "Oh, most definitely," and then the Dice Duelist turned on his heel and left.

Joey tore through the gift bag to find a black gift box...which held a...a...note.

"Sorry. After much deliberation, I felt that today's gift might give me away. I'll give it to you, tomorrow when I give you the last one. Remember: Santa's Choice. Meet me behind the south bleachers after school's out. Pack a change of clothes...and a tie."

Joey was confused. The person went out of their way to make Duke deliver a box with a note in it...why not just give it to him tomorrow? Whatever the reason, Joey sighed as he went to look for an outfit (he' have to go out later and buy a tie) for whatever it was his Secret Santa had planned.

It was a blessing that the area behind the south bleachers was void of others, because Joey couldn't deal with having an audience right now: "YOU?! YOU'RE MY SECRET SANTA?!"

"Wasn't obvious, mutt?" Kaiba grinned from where he stood, "Do you know anyone else who has access to limited edition Duel Monsters paraphernalia, that gets to school earlier AND has access to our homeroom? Every morning it's been the two of us."

Joey sputtered, "No, it wasn't because you're usually a jerk to me, and I wouldn't expect you to do nice things like decorate my locker, or bake my favorite cookies...or even give a damn about Secret Santa in the first place." (He ignored the part of his brain that was going: KAIBA CAN COOK! SETO KAIBA MADE YOU COOKIES...YOU CAN GET MORE!)
Kaiba 'hmmed' at Joey's line of logic, "I suppose you had a point there. Perhaps, I just wanted to spread a bit of Christmas Cheer."

"Yeah right, " Joey snarled, "You just probably wanted to humiliate me," He sat down on the bleacher dejected, "I can't believe that you didn't just throw out the paper with my name on it when you drew it."

"I didn't draw it," Kaiba said quietly, "I just decided to be your Secret Santa, when I heard that the your beloved Geek Squad had left you for the holidays."

Joey went quiet and stared at Kaiba, who for once wasn't looking back at him with his "Muahaha- I am Seto. Fucking. Kaiba. Kneel before me, fools!" expression, but with a softer and more kinder look that was usually reserved for Mokuba.

Oh. So he didn't have a Secret Santa this year...just Kaiba...being nice to him. For once.

"Thank you," Joey swallowed, "That was very awesome of you Kaiba...I liked the cookies, and everything..."

"I noticed," Kaiba said with a laugh, "Next time, please, pace yourself. You clearly don't do well with copious amounts of sugar." There was an awkward silence before Kaiba continued, "Do you want the
rest of your gifts?"

Joey nodded, he was trying to sort out the confused emotions that were thundering through him- he hoped that Kaiba hadn't noticed that there were tears pricking at his eyes.

Kaiba handed over a box that was identical to the one that Joey had received the day prior, which turned out to be a pair of dogtags with Joey's address engraved on one, and the other with all of Joey's dueling statistics in the major tournaments he had participated in ; there was a Red Eyes engraved on the front.

"As you can see, I left space for your future matches," Kaiba pointed out.

"Thank you," Joey breathed, "Now I know why you didn't want to give this to me yesterday...you were right: I would have guessed who you were, right off the bat."

Kaiba seemed pleased, "As for today's gift, I am taking you out to dinner...does the Domino Chop house sound good?"

Joey was dumbfounded; so that's why he needed a tie, "Ah, er. Yeah that sounds awesome, " and then he stammered, "Is this really a Secret Santa gift, or are you...are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Asking me out..." Joey mumbled, and then felt his cheeks go red, "I mean...Ah- crap. Sorry. that was really presumpt-"

"And what if I am, 'asking you out?' Do you have a problem with that, puppy?" Kaiba's evil grin was back in place.

"No," Joey breathed. "No, I don't have an issue with that."

"Good. We can change at my house. Roland has the limo out front," and then the teen began to pick is way through the snow towards the gym doors. Joey scrambled to follow, his legs were practically dumb with the emotion he was feeling.

Then a thought struck him," Hey, Kaiba-"

"Seto," Kaiba-er-Seto corrected him.

"Er, Seto, I just had a thought," Joey said as he fell into step with the taller teen, "Since you were doing Secret Santa on your own, that means you didn't anything this week."

"And so?"

Joey fiddled with the dog tags as he attempted to put them on, and walk and talk to his rival-turned date, "And so? You didn't get anything. I mean you spent that whole week getting me really thoughtful things-"

"I don't need anything," Seto said quietly; Joey could have sworn that Seto looked for once, shy.

"No," Joey said firmly, "You deserve something; it's Christmas and that means presents. I'll think of something awesome to give you, okay?"

Seto smiled, "Oh, I am sure you will..." his voice dropped an octave lower to a seductive purr, as he whispered into Joey's ear "Come to think of it, I do have a few things on my list..."

End! Hope you liked it!