Even Ice Can Melt
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh, I do not own Monopoly, I do not own the Lion King, Catch that Kid, Cody Banks, DDR, or anything else mentioned in the fanfic. I do own the story line, but that's about it besides my fantastical story and the people in my head. If I did, I would be a whole lot richer, and doing something for that, not writing a fanfic for a website. Oh, yeah, and I now own the design of Kaiba Corp's parking garage, too.
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Seto Kaiba sighed and took a deep breath, relaxing for the first time in a few hours. He hadn't even realized that he had been tensed up, all over a few lines of text in the crucial part of the coding for his new dueling game. He almost laughed at himself for being so tense about a simple game. But it didn't surprise him.
With a half-smile, he shut down his laptop and closed it. He glanced at his watch. Mokuba's going to be so proud, he thought. It was only 6:30. He would be getting home at a decent hour today. In time for dinner, even.
He pulled on his trench coat and shut his laptop into his briefcase, snapping it shut. He was unusually happy today. He even walked out of his office with half a smile on his face. His secretary gawked at him as he walked by. Heh. Guess she's not used to me getting out before her. But he had his reasons. He had, after all, just finished editing the last glitches out of "Dueling for Beginners Version 3.6".
Seeing that Roland was not waiting with the limo for him on the curb today – he hadn't been expecting him this early – Seto walked into the company's three-floor garage. He walked over to his private parking place. Well, the representation of his private parking space, anyway. He found a small button on the yellow line that separated his from the next with his toe. He proceeded to step on several others in rapid succession, looking up in time to see his reflection in the window jumping between the buttons. He blinked and stood, dumbfounded by his reflection. He was going to have to change that sequence to one that didn't involve jumping back and forth between buttons that were so far apart. He had never realized just how much his button-sequence made him look like one of those ridiculous dancers playing DDR at an arcade.
He just smiled to himself and walked over to the corner pillar, flipped a few almost microscopic switches and walked into the doorway that opened in the pillar. The door slid shut behind him, and the elevator in the pillar began to rise. He looked through the wall of the elevator, which could be seen through only from the inside. He had designed this elevator himself, and having always loved heights, he had made sure that he could see the streets below from his elevator. Compared to his office, three stories wasn't very high, but that didn't mean that he couldn't still enjoy the view.
He stepped out of the pillar in his private car lot and stood, looking between the three cars that he owned exclusively for work. I think I'll try being adventurous today. Seto pulled out his key ring, found the right key, and unlocked the door of the red Mustang. He slid into the driver's seat and inserted the key into the ignition. The engine came to life and Seto drove out of his lot and down to the street.
Thankfully, there wasn't much traffic today – it might have ruined his mood. He made it home and was pulling up his long driveway by 6:45. He parked the Mustang on the driveway – Roland would return it to the lot tomorrow – and got out of the car.
Mokuba came streaking from the front door and threw himself into Seto. Seto caught him and gave him a hug. "Hey, big brother! You're home early today!" Mokuba said happily, looking up at Seto.
Seto smiled and ran his fingers through Mokuba's hair. "I finished work early and thought that I'd try coming home in time for dinner for once."
Mokuba grinned. "Seto, you're the best big brother ever."
"So, what's for dinner?"
"I don't know, what do you want?"
Seto grinned. "Getting inside would be nice. Then maybe we can look through the pantry or ask Aki to make something nice."
"Kay, big brother." Mokuba turned and dashed inside, followed by Seto. He paused for a moment, then looked back at his brother. "Then I guess you'll be doing something after dinner?"
Have I really done that so many times? "No, Mokuba. I think that we should spend the evening together tonight. Let's do what you want to tonight."
Mokuba started. "You mean it?" Seto nodded. "As in anything I want?"
"Well… maybe not anything," Seto said, taking note of the devilish look that had flashed across Mokuba's face when he had asked.
Mokuba grinned. "I'll go tell Aki to make something for dinner. You can go change out of your work clothes and then… maybe we could play a board game?"
Seto nodded, looking down at his clothes. "All right. I'll meet you in the living room when I'm ready."
Mokuba started to nod, then blinked. "Which living room?"
"The one on the second floor to the left of my bedroom."
"Got it."
Seto walked down the two hallways to his bedroom and stepped into his large, walk-in closet. He selected a pair of jeans and a navy blue long-sleeve shirt and changed into them quickly. I'm feeling like acting normal today… he mused, walking out of his bedroom. A maid stopped and stared at him for a moment, then, realizing that she was staring her boss, turned away, hoping he hadn't noticed. Seto didn't say anything, although he had noticed.
He walked into the living room and found Mokuba already there, setting up a game of Monopoly. Mokuba looked up. "Which piece do you want to be, big brother?"
Seto stood, for a moment, considering. Then, he smiled. "One minute. I have a better idea." He walked out and came back in a minute later, holding a few tiny pewter duel monsters. Mokuba grinned wildly at the sight of them. "Go on. Pick the one you want." Mokuba looked at them for a long moment, then finally picked Swordstalker as his piece. Seto smiled, then picked Blue-Eyes as his piece.
Dinner was ready far before they had finished their game. Seto had been winning slightly, already owning Boardwalk, Park Place, and a few other key lots. Mokuba looked up at him and said softy: "I'm sorry we have to stop, big brother."
"It's fine. Besides, we could always come back after dinner."
Mokuba smiled. "Thanks, Seto. But I don't want to… I was hoping to watch a movie after dinner."
"Anything you want, little brother."
The two of them walked downstairs to the dining room, where Aki was just finishing setting out the plates. "There's way too much food here," Seto said. "We'll be having leftovers for a week."
"So? At least they'll be good leftovers."
Seto had to agree once he had bitten into his first piece of beef fillet. Aki knew how he liked it and had done it perfectly. Mokuba was eating everything but the little slivers of carrot in his salad. He never did, anyway. Seto had always thought that it took more energy to pick them out of the salad than to eat them, so even though they weren't his favorite, he ate them anyway.
They had finished a surprisingly large amount of the food when Aki came in and switched the main course for dessert. "Yay!" Mokuba yelled. "My favorite! Thanks, Aki!"
Seto smiled at his brother, who was busy digging into his chocolate parfait. He nibbled a bit on his, but Seto had never really gone for sweets and he was full, anyway.
After dinner, they went back to the living room. Mokuba was going through the large collection of videos. "The Lion King? Cody Banks? Catch That Kid?"
"Whatever you want." Seto sat down in his black leather armchair and reclined slightly. "I said we'd do what you wanted tonight."
Finally, Mokuba picked a movie and slid it into the DVD player. He sat down in a banana chair and started rocking as he watched the opening credits.
"Seto?" Mokuba was looking at him. "Why are you so happy today? I've seen you finish projects early and still be stressed out and tired when you came home. What's different about today?"
Seto shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just feel different today."
Mokuba looked at him for a long moment. "I think I like you better this way."
"I think I like me better this way, too."
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During the movie, Mokuba had fallen asleep. Upon noticing, Seto quietly turned off the TV, took Mokuba upstairs and into his room. As soon as Seto had pulled the covers over his younger brother, however, Mokuba sat up, eyes wide open. "Seto..." he said, looking confused. "Why am I in bed?"
"You fell asleep during the movie."
"I did not. I'm not even tired. I'll-" Mokuba yawned mid-sentence.
Seto smiled at his brother and ruffled his hair. "Kiddo, go brush your teeth and get into your pajamas before you fall asleep."
Mokuba looked like he might argue, but yawned instead. He got up off the bed, pulled his silky dark blue pajamas out of his dresser and left the room.
He came back a few minutes later, clad in his pajamas. He climbed under the covers and pulled Seto in for a hug. "Good night, big brother," he said in a tired voice. "Thank you for playing with me tonight. We should do this more often."
"We probably should," Seto said, running his fingers through Mokuba's unruly black hair. Mokuba was already asleep. "Sleep well, kiddo."
As Seto walked out the door, Mokuba's voice came one more time. "I love you, too, big brother." Whether or not the thought was conscious, Seto didn't know. And he didn't mind.
Seto walked back downstairs and got his briefcase. He brought it up to his room and started his laptop up. Setting it on the bed, he walked into the bathroom and took a short shower. When he re-emerged from the bathroom, dressed in navy-blue pajamas with silvers streaks on them. He got onto the bed and lay down, above the covers, logging into the server on his laptop. It was only 9:30 – he was used to being at the office much later than this, and not tired at all. He pulled up "Dueling for Beginners" and scanned through the coding one last time. It was perfect, of course, but he wanted to make sure. He inserted a blank CD from his briefcase into the CD burner on his laptop and burned the program onto it.
Pulling the CD from its slot, he put it in a case and wrote a short note to Mokuba.
Mokuba,
I'm sorry that work keeps me away from home so much, and I really enjoyed this evening. I hope that we can do it again soon. Maybe next time I'm working late hours, you can use this to entertain yourself.
Your brother,
Seto
Smiling, he inserted the note into the front of the CD case and got up off the bed. He crept down the hall to Mokuba's room and put it down in front of the door. Standing in front of Mokuba's door, he felt himself lean slightly sideways against the wall. I'm really lucky to have such a great brother, he though contemplatively. A lot of people would trade a lot more than their little brothers for Mokuba. But all he does is look up to me. I need to show him what a good person he is, sometimes, too.
I wonder how he would react if I told him that I'm jealous of him? How he would react if I told him that I wished I could be like him? That I wished that I could make friends like he can?
Well, Seto Kaiba thought, considering the circumstances. Maybe someday we'll find out.