Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters.
Sitting on his bed, Seto Kaiba exhaled in relief as he rolled his neck back to work out its kinks. His neck was sore from being hunched over his laptop in a rare show of bad posture, but he had to admit, it was worth it. Normally, he spent his late hours at the office, so for a change of scenery, he decided to bring his work home for a weekday night. After doing his work in the comfort of his own home and pajamas, he wondered why he didn't do this more often. Looking at his bedside clock, Seto was surprised to find that it already read 11:19. He had worked for about five hours straight. He set his laptop aside and got off his bed to stretch his legs and take a short break.
He headed down the hall towards the kitchen. His brother Mokuba's room was on the same hall further down, and when it came into view, he realized that he hadn't seen his brother all day. Seto thought. He came home around 6:00, and Mokuba had still been out at… Seto couldn't remember where his brother went after school, but he knew it was some club meeting. Come to think of it, Seto realized, he hadn't seen much of Mokuba at all recently. Kaiba Corp's new project took so much of his time at the office that he usually only saw the ten-year-old during breakfast. Seto felt a little proud that his brother was so independent he didn't need to be constantly looked after.
But as he walked closer to Mokuba's door he frowned. Yellow light spilled from the space under the door, and he could hear the low volume of music. With a furrowed brow, he rapped twice on the door before opening it.
"Mokuba?" he said, and his younger brother's head jerked toward him. The young boy was lying on his stomach on his bed, and his hands held a video game controller as he faced the TV. The music Seto had heard was the background music to a new fighting game called Battle Man. It was vastly inferior to anything Kaiba Corp would produce, but it had become increasingly popular among younger children, anyway. Including his brother, it seemed.
"Uh, Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed, looking surprised. "I didn't know you were up."
"That's my line!" Seto snapped. "Get in your pajamas and get into bed. You have school in the morning, you know better than this!" He waited until Mokuba mumbled an "okay" before leaving and closing the door behind him.
Continuing on his way to the kitchen, Seto felt a little annoyed that Mokuba would break an unspoken yet obvious rule, but he figured the problem was over. Changing his mind about getting a snack, he settled for having a glass of water before heading back to his room. But as he passed Mokuba's room again, he noticed that the lights where still on.
"Mokuba!" he exclaimed as he swung the door open without knocking. Mokuba turned his head to look at him. "I told you to turn that off!"
"I just wanted to finish this last round," Mokuba explained.
"I don't care about that! When I tell you to do something, you need to do it," Seto told him firmly.
"Fine," Mokuba sighed, and Seto left his brother's room for the second time that night before heading back to his own.
As Seto settled back down in his bed to get a little bit more work done before going to sleep himself, he couldn't help but feel hurt. His little brother had always looked up to him, done what he said. Mokuba's undying devotion and loyalty was the one thing he thought he could always count on, and to have that slipping from his grasp left him feeling oddly… vulnerable. A thought occurred to him that his brother had defied him twice already, so he should check one more time to make sure he was in bed. Standing up once more, Seto headed to his brother's room. His jaw clenched when he saw the lights were still on, and he barged into Mokuba's room for the third time that night.
"Mokuba!" he barked in anger and disbelief at his brother's audacity. "This is the third time I've had to come up here! Why is that game still on?" Mokuba hunkered down slightly at the sharp tone, but he didn't even take his gaze away from the TV.
"You're not my dad, you know," he muttered. But his under-the-breath words weren't quite as hushed as he may have wanted. One second he was button-mashing the controller trying to get Battle Man to do an uppercut combo, the next second the controller was yanked out of his hands and he was staring at the grains of the carpet from his new position over his brother's lap.
"Seto! Wha- augh!" he cried when something painfully collided with his backside. He shot a horrified look over his shoulder, and saw it was as he feared. His heart began to pound when he saw Seto angrily raise his hand again and had just enough time to wince before his older brother brought his hand back down against his upturned bottom. This time the powerful sting brought tears to his eyes. He started to squirm. "Seto!" he pleaded as he tried to get up, but his brother's arm across his back held him down resolutely. Mokuba's tears turned into full sobs as blow after stinging blow fell across his rear. Altogether, they totaled about ten, and when Seto was finished he set Mokuba on the bed and stood up without a word. As his little brother sobbed into his pillow, he marched over to the still running game console and ripped it angrily out of the TV before stomping out of the room, turning the lights off and shutting the door behind him.
When Seto got to his room, he contemplated slamming the stupid game into the trash can, but he forced himself to take a deep breath and ended up just sliding it under his bed where it was out of sight. That done, he sat down on the edge of his bed and closed his eyes as he steepled his hands under his chin, replaying the night in his head.
He started to feel slightly embarrassed. He had just spanked his little brother, something that he had never thought he would actually do. What had Mokuba said right before it happened? "You're not my dad." But that was wrong, in a way. Ever since they were left at the orphanage, Seto had decided he would play the role of the father Mokuba never had. And sometimes a father disciplines his kids.
Still, Seto thought that part of this was his fault. If he was going to play father to Mokuba, he shouldn't have vanished from the kid's life like he had for the past few months. Mokuba was only ten, he needed someone to be with and raise him, not leave him on his own and assume everything would fall into place. But, no matter the case, it was time to have a talk with his little brother, and he figured sooner would be better than later.
When he knocked on Mokuba's door (this time, the lights were off and no noise came from inside) he didn't get an answer, but he opened the door slowly and stepped inside anyway. The light from the hallway was enough to guide Seto through the darkened room until he stood by Mokuba's bed. He gazed down at his brother's face-down still form and heard that his breathing was still short and irregular, not deep and even like it would be if he were sleeping, so he sat down at the edge of the bed.
"Mokuba," he said softly as he placed a hand on his brother's back, "We need to talk." Mokuba didn't say anything, but Seto felt his body stiffen. "Come on, sit up." Mokuba did so reluctanty and sat up to face him while Seto switched on the lamp resting on the nearby end table. The new light allowed him to see that Mokuba's eyes were still slightly red from crying, but he steered himself away from feeling guilty.
"What did you do that for, Seto?" Mokuba surprised him by demanding first. Seto was inwardly grateful – it saved him from having to come up with an opening to the awkward conversation himself.
"Because, Mokuba," he began to answer slowly, "I may not biologically be your father, but I am your guardian. It's my job to take care of you, make sure you're doing what you're supposed - "
"I've been taking care of myself just fine!" Mokuba interjected with a teary glare.
"Staying up until midnight playing video games when you have school in the morning is not taking care of yourself!" Seto snapped. "As I was saying, it's my job to take care of you, and I haven't been doing that lately." He paused. "I'm sorry."
"Seto?"
"Look, Mokuba. Just because we don't have a traditional family doesn't mean you don't have anyone to answer to. I know I've given you that idea because I haven't been around much, but that's going to change. I'm going to take my role as your guardian a lot more seriously – that means when I tell you to do something – like go to bed – you need to do it. Otherwise, there will be consequences." Mokuba blinked.
"Like… what you did tonight?" he asked lowly.
"If I think it's necessary, yes," Seto answered firmly. He waited, expecting angry protests, but none came. Instead, Mokuba sniffed, and Seto hoped there would be no more tears.
"I'm sorry, Seto, for not listening to you," he said, his voice trembling a bit. "Are you still mad at me?"
"No," Seto assured, and he held out his arms to have Mokuba scramble into them. He missed this, he realized as his chin rested on his brothers dark mass of hair. "I love you. And even though things are going to be different around here, I'm still your big brother. We can still have fun and talk about anything."
"I love you, too," Mokuba replied sleepily, and Seto took that at his cue to leave.
"Okay, it's bed time again," he said before giving Mokuba a brief peck on the forehead and guiding him back under the covers. "I'll see you in the morning." He switched off the lamp and left the room, feeling a lot better than he had when he came in.
When he got back to his room, he was now too physically and mentally tired to attempt any more work, so he shut down his laptop and got ready for bed himself. He didn't remember falling asleep, but the next thing he knew his bed was shaking as someone scrambled into it. The nostalgia hit him before he even fully awoke, and he rolled over and opened his arms instinctively to allow Mokuba to cuddle up close. They didn't bother to speak before they drifted off to sleep again – the comfort the two brothers had from just being close to each other was nothing that could be put into words.