Christmas time at long last. At Joey’s recommendation, him Yugi, Yami, Tristan, Tèa, Malik, and Ryou had come over to help you decorate your house. You glanced around the partially decorated room. It looked more like a disaster area, oh well it was fun anyway.
“How did you find bells that play music?” Ryou laughed holding up a box titled “Singing Bells”.
“You’d never believe what you can find at a dollar store.” Joey grinned and took the box out of his hands.
“Nice.” You commented and pulled out another box of decorations.
“You have to put the lights on before the ornaments.” Tèa groaned. You could hear the sound of ornaments being taken off the tree.
“You should have said that before I finished.” Tristan retorted sounding irritated. You tried to stifle a laugh as you lugged a box of old decorations from your closet.
“Let me help you with that.” Yami offered and took hold of the other half of the box.
“Thanks. The house is looking really uh interesting.” You noted. Yami nodded. His statement was drowned out by a loud crack followed by a crash.
“You idiot you broke the tree!” Joey shouted. You hung your head not wanting to see the damage done.
“Guys help!” Yugi called.
“Hahaha he’s stuck under the tree!” Malik jeered bursting into laughter.
“It’s not funny.” Yugi pouted.
“Yeah it is.” Joey joined in laughing. Yami arched his neck trying to see what was going on. The two of you placed the box on a chair and walked in. The only part of Yugi visible from beneath tree was his hair. Malik and Joey were nearly crying they were laughing so hard. Tèa and Ryou were trying to pull the tree of Yugi. Tristan was holding an arm full of ornaments looking somewhat guilty but laughing anyway. You and Yami joined in the efforts of lifting up the tree. Pine needles were covering your floor and everything that had previously hung within a close proximity of the tree had been knocked to the ground. The tree was snapped in half and branches were scattered everywhere. After a few minutes Yugi was freed from the tree, his hair and clothes covered in pine needles, ornaments, and various parts of the tree.
“None of this would have happened if you didn’t have to take all the ornaments off the tree.” Tristan stated matter-of-factly.
“Shut up, you’re the one who knocked the tree over.” Tèa frowned.
“I can’t believe you broke the tree!” Malik jeered, coughing a few times in order to stop himself from laughing again.
“Yeah eh, ha sorry about that _______.” Tristan apologized rubbing the back of his head.
“It’s alright. It is still …workable.” You lifted up the tree, which now resembled the one in the Peanut’s special. You opened the box of decorations. The Christmas decorations were mixed in with the Halloween ones. You tossed a pair of toy handcuffs to the side and pulled out some tinsel. ‘I’ll just save the cleaning until later.’ You decided.

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You finally finished vacuuming up the last of the pine needles, having had to empty the vacuum multiple times. Your house looked pretty cool. The beat up tree was currently playing a rendition of “Jingle Bells” Almost every decoration Joey had found played some sort of music. It was pretty cool, albeit, rather annoying as well. The house came out looking pretty cool. Your parents were probably going to flip out about the electricity bill, but the house looked awesome.
You walked aimlessly around your house picking up empty boxes, wrappers, and broken decorations. You lifted up the toy handcuffs; the Halloween decoration it had come with was broken so there was no longer a point in keeping them. The pair of keys was still inside of the lock. Sorting through the boxes, you placed the ones that would store ornaments or other decorations after they were take down in a larger box, placing it inside your closet. The boxes and wrappers that were garbage you decided to throw out, hoping you hadn’t mistakenly grabbed one that was useful. By that time though, you were so sick of cleaning that you really didn’t care.  You put on your coat, not taking the time to zip it.
You walked to your back door, arms full of the garbage. You shifted more of the boxes to one arm and managed the doorknob with the other. It finally swung open. Something clinked on the ground behind you as you walked towards your garbage can but you paid it no mind. Using your foot, you kicked the lid off your garbage can and dropped the trash inside.
“Finally.” You muttered, your breath visible in the cold air despite the fact that the sun had almost set. You rubbed your hands together and shoved them in your pockets. It was cold outside! It had snowed a while ago leaving the ground wet. It was the good kind of snow, the kind you could make into a snowball. Your foot hooked on something and the same clinking noise as it slid off. You knelt down and felt around until you found whatever it was.
It ended up the thing was only that pair of handcuffs. You frowned and shrugged and walked back to the garbage can. It was cold outside but you didn’t feel like going inside. A wind blew roughly, blowing your coat’s hood over your face. You pulled it back down and leaned against a part of your deck.
‘I wonder if this would fit around that slot.’ You wondered and held the pair of handcuffs up to it. You shrugged and pulled they key out of the lock, opening the cuffs and chaining it around the slot. You smirked ‘Guess it does fit.’ You locked the other cuff around your wrist out of boredom. ‘Well that was fun’ you thought with sarcasm. You placed the key in your other hand and tried to open the cuff around your wrist. Working with the hand you didn’t write with made this a harder task then it needed to be. It also didn’t help that your fingers were frozen and numb.
Just before you were able to unlock the cuffs, something hard collided with your head, something wet and cold. You raised your hand to try to block your face, the key falling from your hand. You spun around trying to see what that was. You did not see anyone, though you were sure that something had lunged a snowball at you. You looked up seeing the snow falling from the roof. You thought you had figured out where the mass of snow had come from, but now your mind was on another topic, trying to find the key! You spotted something in a clump of snow next to you. You lunged forward and tried to reach it. No matter how far you stretched you could not reach it.
You tried everything you could think of to get the key. You called for help but your neighbors were out on vacation so you had no response. You shouted until your voice was hoarse.
Switching to a different tactic you decided to use your coat to drag the key closer. You tried to toss the coat that was still half attached to your body. The coat did not reach any further than your arm or leg. You tried once again and fell, the cuff around your other arm jerking your left arm up. You gritted your teeth in pain and sat. There was no point in trying anymore. You shouted again but your voice was barely a whisper now. ‘Oh, this is fantastic. Simply fantastic.’ You sighed leaning back against the deck, sitting forward again as your arm was bent behind you.  ‘What am I going to do?’ you pulled your legs to your chest trying to warm up.
You heard cars driving by in your front yard. It was ironic that people could be so close but completely unable to help. This was one of the funniest things that had ever happened to you. You were sure you would be laughing if you lived through this. If you lived through this. You pulled your coat back on, your hands completely numb. The cold was so intense that it was physically painful. The coat did very little. It had been soaked in snow so it was even worse than before. Now you were wet and cold, but if you took the coat back off then the wind would be attacking your wet clothes directly. So you decided to sit back and suffer through the cold wetness that was seeping through every shred of your clothing.
Squish. Squish. Squish. Crunch. Laughing. Squish.
“Though it has been fun watching you fumble hopelessly for this key,” Marik stepped forward, holding the key in his hand. ‘How did he get that? I thought it was over there!’ you looked to the chunk of snow you had been trying to get at. Footsteps led to it and back to where Marik stood. “I am growing bored. What say you we play a game?”
“Okay sure.” You nodded, standing the best you could. Something about Marik seemed off, as per usual, but you could not place it exactly, you never could. “What is the game?” you asked, waiting for him to unlock the cuffs.
“How cold are you?” Marik asked, his tone suggestive.
“Really cold.” You answered, not catching the innuendo. “They key is right there. Could you please get me out?” you asked pointing to the area the key had fallen in. It was too dark to see it exactly.
“I would, but that would ruin the game.” Marik jeered, letting your head back down. You looked up, not comprehending what he was trying to say.
“What?” you asked your mind starting to pick up more.
“This will be a game. I’ll give you something to keep warm.” He grinned, taking off his scarf and wrapping it around your neck.
“That doesn’t sound like a game.” You noted aloud. The scarf did make you warmer though.
“I have not finished explaining the rules.” He declared, patting the top of your head. “You will need to give me something in return. You have one try. You’ll win something no matter what. The best prize of course will be this key.” Marik smirked holding the key in front of your face.
“How do I win?” you were not sure where the rules were going, but you had a brief idea.
“Let me give you a hint.” Marik leaned in and kissed you briefly. “That was for the scarf.” He chuckled, sticking out his tongue.
‘He has to be kidding.’ You thought, your heart starting to thud against your chest. One look at his face told you he was not kidding. A gust of wind blew and the painful cold made itself known once more.
“Want to play? You have one try. I will give you what it is worth.” he grinned, kneeling down in front of you.
“If I say no?”
“Then you will stay here all night or until someone else comes.”
“I really don’t have a choice then do I?” you noted. Marik simply grinned. “Okay fine.” He relented and leaned forward originally planning on kissing him on the lips but your nerves got the best of you so you gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
“If that is the best you can do,” Marik took a glove off his hand and it over your handcuffed hand. “This will be a long cold night.” He declared, standing up and walking towards the gate.
“Wait can I try again please?” you asked your shoulders slumping slightly. You had hoped that you would have made it out of this without embarrassing yourself too much. You were glad that you had a glove over your hand though. You had been worried you would get frostbite. Your free hand was cold, but you were able to shove it in your pocket. You smiled inwardly knowing that Marik must have known that too.
“I suppose I can allow for it once. But this is your last try.” Marik turned back. You wondered if he really would have left you there. He returned to kneeling in front of you. You took a breath trying to breath evenly. ‘It is only a game. It is only a game.’ You repeated to yourself. You leaned in once more trying to fight down your nerves as you did so. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to do this; that was far from it. You closed your eyes knowing that if you caught one glance at the look on his face you would chicken out again. You pressed your lips against Marik’s and kissed him full on the lips for as long as your breath could allow. When you pulled back you opened your eyes and looked back hopefully. Marik looked happy, but even you could admit that you could have done a lot better than that.
“Hmm that was much better. But,” he stood up “it was not worth letting you go.” He took off his cloak and draped it over your shoulders, turning to walk towards the gate.
‘He wouldn’t.’ You thought, your breath caught in your throat. You watched Marik walk out of sight. You arched your neck and tried to look over, expecting Marik to walk back saying that he was joking. But you knew that Marik didn’t joke around. You lost some of your hope when your heard the gate shut. ‘He could have just pulled it shut to make me think he left.’ You waited and waited, adjusting the cloak. It was really warm. You hoped it would be enough.
By now you knew that Marik was not coming back. The snow’s silence mask returned allowing only the sounds of cars whooshing by. You closed your eyes estimating that it was around one or two in the morning. You hoped that Marik would be back when the sun came up to unlock the handcuffs. Your increased heart rate decreased and the blush faded from your face. You closed your eyes trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. You were pretty sure that you would not freeze to death with the cloak, or at least you had convinced yourself that you wouldn’t.
You drifted in and out of an uneasy sleep, never getting comfortable enough to fall asleep.
You finally got as comfortable as possible. You used the scarf as a pillow, wrapping it around your head to keep your face and ears warm. You wrapped the cloak around you like a blanket. Your arm was still above you, but you were able to drift off anyway.
You thought that you could not have more than closed your eyes when something pulled the cloak from your right side. You tried to ignore it but the biting cold was too much to endure. You pulled your arm out from the warm position between the cloak and your body and tugged at the cloak. You heard a small clinking sound above your head. You would have though it was just the handcuffs if a glint had not caught your eyes. You sat up carefully, watching the object carefully; sure it would move out of reach if you breathed too quickly. You sat up and lifted up the key, something falling from it and floating back to the ground.
You jammed the key into the handcuffs and unlocked them. You dropped your gloved arm gratefully to the ground, the soreness finally being relieved. You were smiling from ear to ear. ‘The wind must have blown it over here.’ You thought with glee. Standing up and stretching. You started walking but turned back, remembering the fallen object. You had left the handcuffs on the deck, sure that if you touched them then you would be locked in them once more.
The object ended up being a piece of paper. You picked it up and looked read it.
“Let’s play again sometime-Marik”