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When Seto Kaiba had torn down the house previously owned by Gozaburo he had spared no expense, going as far to rip out its foundation so that he could rebuild a new house free of the lasting effects the monster still had on his psyche. During its design and construction, he never would have imagined that the home theater would really be used by anyone other than Mokuba and himself, and even then, it had seemed a superfluous addition that served only to fill empty space in the floorplan. Yet it seemed Atem and Yugi had no respect for his architectural intentions, as it appeared they had turned the large circular couch closest to the screen into some kind of nest. Complete with two Egyptians trapped under them and a pile of blankets, helpless to move lest they disturb the smaller two perched in their laps.
“Atem if you would just move for just a second I could go upstairs and yell at him to come down here.”
“Don’t even think about it,” a very bundled up pharaoh hissed from his place nestled up against Seth’s chest. Even with what seemed like every blanket in the mansion piled on top of him, the tiny king was still relying on Seth’s body heat to keep him from freezing to death during the first city-wide snow day Domino had seen in years. A snowstorm that had been so awful not even Seto had managed to make it in to work, even with the new duel disk model due out in two days, (just in time for Christmas.)
“Fine, then let me just carry you with me while I go yell at him.”
“Do so and you will be sleeping outside with the Blue Eyes White Snow Dragons you so lovingly crafted.” If looks could kill Seth would be six feet under the ground right now, but even that perceived slight wasn’t enough for Atem to give up his spot in his cousin’s lap. It was too cold for that.
Yugi had to snort from his spot in Mahaad’s lap, eyes still trained on the screen where he was proceeding to wreck the shit out of anybody who was unlucky enough to be matched up with him in an online Smash Bros match. Thank god Seto knew better than to get shoddy Wi-Fi that would go out during the storm of the century like this.
“Why don’t you just text him?” Seth sighed, giving up any hope he would be moving in the next two hours and instead settling back and trying to get SOME blanket coverage back from Atem (unsuccessfully).
“Phone’s dead.” Both Yugi and Atem intoned at the same time, in that way that could make someone sometimes forget they no longer shared a full mind link. Not that it really mattered with how in sync the two were, especially when one or both were gaming.
“Why don’t YOU text him?” Yugi grinned, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear Seth say it anyways because it brought him endless glee.
“…”
“Say it.”
“……”
“Oh come on babe its not that hard to say ‘I crushed it earlier diving in front of a blue eyes snow sculpture to protect it from getting hit during a snowball fight’”
“………”
“Ok I’ll say it for you then, ‘I crushed it earlier diving-‘“
“Mahaad why don’t you take Yugi and go find him then.” Seth groaned, cutting Yugi off before he could be reminded of his humiliation from this afternoon yet again. He was still sore in more ways than one.
“Babe don’t even think about moving I’m on a hot steak with Kirby and you’re my lucky charm.”
“I would never dream of it,” the priest chuckled, taking a moment to re-adjust the blanket that had shifted off Yugi’s shoulders during a particularly passionate bout of cursing at the giant screen in front of them. “Besides Seto has evidently already decided to join us.”
“What?” Three sets of surprised eyes blinked at Mahaad, and then at the doorway where Seto had yet to move from since he arrived, laptop in one hand, coffee in the other, and bags under both eyes.
“I texted him.” Mahaad continued, once again having to re-adjust the blanket.
“WHAT?” Now that was the truly shocking statement, even causing Yugi to almost drop his controller. While Seto had made sure to give Mahaad a cellphone, the priest rarely, if ever used it. He was so inactive in the group chat that most of the time they all forgot he even had one, much less knew how to use it.
“Mmmhm. I knew Seth’s was no longer working, and by now you and Atem have usually drained the batteries on your own by playing games. I thought it prudent to have a working one with us in this weather should an emergency arise.”
Oh, now that did make sense. Leave it to Mahaad to pay more attention to Atem and Yugi’s cellphone habits than to his own cellphone, not that they weren’t grateful for it. Mahaad always seemed to know just what to do to keep the five of them safe and content. And together.
“When I got his message, I assumed it was some kind of emergency,” Seto deadpanned, not quite willing to state just how thrown off he had been to see Mahaad’s name show up at the top of a text, how briefly terrified he had been that he’d missed something. That something was wrong. “But it appears you haven’t frozen to death yet.”
He was half tempted to just walk back upstairs to his office, knowing for a fact his productivity would be cut in half if he let them persuade him into their nest of blankets and pillows and half-finished cocoa. He should leave really. They had all been considerate enough to leave him mostly alone today, knowing how important this release was, and even offering to help where they could. (Not that Seto would ever admit how helpful Seth was when it came to corporation business. He was still getting used to that aspect of their relationship.)
Now that he knew all his boyfriends were safe, and seemingly content without him it would be a mistake to walk down the stairs into the pit. It would be a mistake to lean against Mahaad and let Yugi steal half his lap. It would be a mistake to let himself get comfortable, knowing Mokuba was already asleep in bed after a long day of snowball fights and running all the social media hype for the company regarding the new duel disk release. Hell, Mokuba had probably spent more time on the phone today than he had. (At least the younger Kaiba knew how to maintain a healthy sleep schedule while staying productive with work. Small blessings.)
So then why was he letting himself be tempted, trudging down the steps into the theater and settling down beside them? Why was he letting Yugi re-adjust to settle half on top of him even if he had to half shove the duelist aside so he could fit his laptop on his lap as well?
“You did good.” Yugi cooed, passing the controller to Atem seamlessly without even breaking his combo so he could peck both Mahaad and Seto on the cheek, reaching over and tousling Seth’s hair when he looked affronted he didn’t get any affection as well. Seto only huffed, letting Yugi have his way but decidedly not letting him distract from the projected release day sales numbers he still wasn’t quite sure were correct.
It was admittedly harder to focus though, the same numbers and press releases and ads he’d been over a million times starting to run together as his mind wandered when given its first opportunity for a real break all day. Instead he found himself just… Relaxing, the tension between his shoulders easing somewhat, and the caffeine twitch in his left eye less intense. He couldn’t work as efficiently like this, but if he was being honest with himself, (which he seldom was without a lot of prompting,) this wasn’t TOO awful.
“…Partner stop you’re going to throw off our streak.” Atem whined loudly enough to completely distract Seto from his work. During Seto’s musings it seemed Yugi had somehow managed to splay himself over his three tallest boyfriend’s laps (quite admirable given his size) and was threatening to displace Atem with how passionately he was lip locking with Seth. It never just ended with a hair tousle with those two.
“Mmmm come join us then?” Yugi paused just long enough to invite Atem, though his lips never really left Seth’s, who immediately stole Yugi’s mouth back once given the chance to continue making out.
“Absolutely not its too cold for that.” As appealing as a little heavy petting was right now, that involved the possibility of having to remove clothing later on, which was something the pharaoh just couldn’t chance. Yugi was going to respond but then Seth’s tongue was doing that and oh, he couldn’t just let him get away with it without a little retribution could he.
In danger of losing his blankets and the match Atem had to take drastic measures, moving himself and his hoard to a new location between Mahaad and Seto, the former immediately fixing Atem’s blankets and working on braiding his pharaoh’s hair which was still wet from his extended hot bath earlier. (The king had almost been comatose from cold following the snowball fight and a bath was the only way to revive him.) Seto was accommodating in his own way, moving his coffee cup so Atem could curl up against him unencumbered, the contact and warmth of their nest admittedly preferable to the stark coldness of his office.
It was strange, how quickly he had let himself fall into this routine, how… comfortable he had let himself get with the four of them living here, constantly in his space. It was strange to realize how he had never really BEEN comfortable in this house, HIS house, even with the bones ripped out so that Gozaboro’s ghost supposedly couldn’t reach him. But he couldn’t ignore the facts, the data, that showed he slept better with more people in his bed, ate more with more people in his kitchen, and cared more about living when he had more than just one person to care about.
It felt cramped sometimes yes, which was quite frankly ridiculous statement given the sheer size of the house. Each of his boyfriends could have their own wing of the mansion should they choose and there would still be rooms and hallways that would sit empty for months at a time before someone remembered to wander into one. But that simply wasn’t the case. Instead they chose to fill every corner of his house, dragging him into the library, solarium, wine cellar, trophy room, gym and countless other rooms he wondered why he had even built in the first place, whenever they wanted company, card games, or (illicit) contact. It was slowly becoming clear to Seto Kaiba that with his new house, his new foundation, there simply wasn’t room for Gozaboro’s ghost to linger in the shadows and around corners like he used to. It was simply too crowded now.