◇ Repost of a present to @darkmagicart , takes place in a revival au of Atem we’ve been writing.
[Read on Ao3 here]
If it wasn't so late at night when the centralized heat went out in the building of the condo Seto would have gotten a room at a hotel. If only the thing could have broken earlier. No one could come by for maintenance until the morning. Just his luck.
Mokuba had gone to sleep already and was awoken by the temperature drop and had come out to ask what was going on only to be greeted by the sight of Atem and his brother shivering in the living room when Seto was on the phone trying to figure out what was going on.
The phone call Seto was on ended in his defeat.
"Heating is out until tomorrow. And with the weather outside I really don't want to drive through ice."
"Isono isn't far, maybe we could ask to crash at his place?" Mokuba suggested.
Seto frowned. "He's got some relatives over right now. We shouldn't intrude. Fire up the kotatsu and the fireplace. It's time to live like the rest of the country for once."
It dawned on Seto as they worked on preparing for a chilly night that Atem might have not experienced this before. Between living in Egypt and being in the puzzle...
He'd assume it was Yugi who did the sleeping--but he really had nothing to base that off of. Did they need to take turns sleeping to make sure they were fully rested?
"I don't know if you experienced a winter while with Yugi but... most apartment buildings here actually don't invest in centralized heat. Too much of an investment."
Mokuba made some tea and hot chocolate for them all to recover from the first initial temperature drop before they all huddled around the kotatsu. Despite dragging the table as close as they could to the the gas fireplace, Seto's fingers were still icicles when Mokuba scooted close to him for warmth.
"It's kind of like we're camping, but indoors, heh."
At least someone was having some fun.
The chill in the air was ever-present even as the clock ticked on and the temperature in the room finally rose a few degrees.
Mokuba's nose was cold against Seto's shoulder as he laid down to go back to sleep with a stomach full of hot chocolate.
"Your fingers got frostbite?" Seto asks as a joke to Atem.
"I'm fine, Kaiba. They’re just a bit chilled. I could still shuffle cards in my sleep."
But when the inventor looks over Atem is still shivering a bit despite being under the kotatsu and the blanket he often carried around with him.
Seto gives a huff of disbelief.
"And beat you in a duel in my sleep too."
Seto whacks him in the stomach with a pillow.
"In your dreams."
The clock on the wall reads three AM. Silence stands for a few more minutes as Mokuba's breathing evens out and he drifts off to sleep and Seto stares at the ceiling.
"Mine are," Seto says quietly to not disturb his brother.
"What?"
"My fingers are still cold."
The cold tips reach over to lightly touch where Atem's arm would be under the blanket, before drawing back towards Seto. And that's enough for his message to get across and Atem moves closer to close the gap between him and the Kaibas.
Seto doesn’t say anything, but gives a soft hum. And with an arm around Mokuba and with his head tucked into the crook of Atem’s neck he fell asleep.
Home is like a kotatsu. It’s so warm you never want to leave.
