Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters
Title: I Want You
Romance: Noa x Mokuba
Word Count: 4,071||Status: One-shot
Genre: Romance, Drama||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge: Season 12: Round 1: Noa x Mokuba, Stepshipping.
Notes: This takes place in an AU of manga canon; Seto is seventeen, Noa is fifteen, and Mokuba is thirteen. It involves a non-consensual kiss and thoughts of murder.
Feedback: All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Summary: [one-shot, Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge, season 12, round 1: Noa x Mokuba/Mokuba x Noa, Stepshipping, au: manga] Noa wanted Mokuba from the first time he saw him. Now, it's time to take the first step towards having him.
A lot of people wondered why Kaiba Gozaburo went to the trouble of adopting two young boys when he already had a very healthy son of his own. People being people, rumors ran rampant for some time that Noa wasn't as healthy as he seemed and that his father wanted to make certain the family company didn't fall into strange hands. People being people, that was also the most plausible of the rumors that made the rounds, with some of the others being that Noa had secretly already died and the person everyone saw roaming around was in actuality a robot, with Noa's personality somehow imprinted upon it.
The other rumors were even worse, and Noa paid no attention to them. Nor did Seto or Mokuba. They all knew the truth.
The two brothers were there because Noa wanted them there. Gozaburo always made certain that his son and heir acquired whatever it was that he wanted, or in this case, whoever it was that he wanted.
Though even Gozaburo couldn't get everything exactly the way that he or Noa wanted it. Noa hadn't wanted Seto. Didn't care a thing for the tall boy with the unbelievably sharp mind and eyes that grew colder every day.
What he wanted was Mokuba. Who he wanted was Mokuba. He'd always wanted a brother of his very own, someone he could play with when his father wasn't able to indulge him. Seto came along because Mokuba flatly refused to let anyone adopt him without bringing his big brother along.
Mornings in the Kaiba mansion were much like mornings in any other family. Even multi-billionaires and their children, adopted or otherwise, had to eat breakfast, take showers, and get ready for work and school. Of course, in the Kaiba household, school involved going to a specific room and waiting for their tutors.
"Is there anything that you need me to check, father?" Noa asked, ignoring the quiet whispers going on between Seto and Mokuba. Unlike the two of them, he owned stock in Kaiba Corporation, and on occasion lent his advise about what new plans his father had for weapons and who to sell them to.
Gozaburo shook his head, most of his attention on the newspaper in front of him. Noa had already paged through his and not found anything that really caught his interest. He didn't mind; it gave him a chance to take care of other matters that were a little more personal to him.
He didn't quite look at Mokuba. He didn't want to scare the other away.
"Behave yourselves." Those were Gozaburo's last words before heading out the door, clearly far more focused on his business meetings than anything else. That suited Noa just fine.
As soon as the three of them finished breakfast, the maids got to work cleaning the table off, while the boys headed for the classroom. Seto kept himself beside Mokuba, carrying on with whatever conversation the two of them had started at the table. Noa didn't let it bother him. He knew it wouldn't last much longer.
Each of them had a different tutor, for a multitude of reasons. Gozaburo insisted on all of them learning multiple languages, how to handle business matters, and any number of other subjects. Noa breezed through most of the lessons without a second thought; being a natural genius had its perks.
He couldn't help but be a little annoyed over the fact Seto had even less trouble than he did with some of the lessons. When the day came, he'd make certain Seto never had a reason to put any of that to use. Mokuba might complain, but not for very long. So far as Noa was concerned, Mokuba cared about Seto entirely too much.
"Good morning, Kaiba-sama, Kaiba-san, Kaiba-kun." The three tutors chorused as they entered the classroom. All three of them gave more or less identical nods to the men before spreading out to go to their individual desks.
Noa paid little attention to what Seto's tutor put in front of him, and only marginal to what his own set for him to work with. He didn't doubt he could take care of it in a short time, after all. What he paid real attention to was what Mokuba's lessons consisted of. Today it was English, a language Noa himself spoke fluently after years of tutoring. Mokuba still kept stumbling over parts of the grammar and sentence structure.
"You're getting there." He murmured to the other with an encouraging look. He wanted Mokuba to finish his lessons before Seto today; he had plans for the two of them, and they could only happen if Seto stayed occupied and out of his way.
Mokuba flashed him a bit of a smile, one that did strange and very welcome things to Noa's hormones. Yes, he definitely wanted to get Mokuba out of here for a little time just for the two of them.
Knowing he needed to get his own work out of the way, he turned his attention to it and got down to business. It would take hours; they had quite a lot to learn, being three boys who would one day hold the reins of a major multi-national multi-billionaire company. Noa had had a head start, of course, since he'd taken lessons since almost as soon as he could toddle.
He couldn't help but glance out the window every now and then; spring was just getting a good foothold in, and it had been way too long since he'd been outside in the sunshine. That shaped part of his plans for today as well. He'd watched the weather for nearly a week, choosing today as the best for his idea.
Today he was finally going to kiss Mokuba.
Noa tried not to get too impatient. He knew how many lessons they had and that they had to get through lunch as well and yet he couldn't shake the sensation that time was against him, holding everything back so that Seto would finish before them or Mokuba wouldn't be ready in time either or that just something would go wrong. He wondered on occasion that day if somehow someone else had gotten wind of his plans and fussed with the clocks. They weren't exactly going backwards, but the more he looked at them, the more he wouldn't have been surprised.
"Noa?" Mokuba's voice broke through one of those staring sessions. "Why do you keep looking at the clock?"
"Because I have a surprise for you." Noa made the decision without thinking about it, which wasn't usual for him.
Mokuba blinked a few times, head tilted to the side. "Surprise? For us?"
Noa's hands flexed for a moment on his pen. "No. For you. It's something Seto wouldn't be interested in." He wasn't even sure if he were lying or not, and didn't especially care.
Seto looked over toward the both of them, eyes narrowed. "What kind of a surprise are you talking about?"
"I just said you wouldn't be interested." Noa bit the words off. "Didn't you hear me?"
Whether or not Seto had, Noa could clearly hear the older boy's teeth grinding together. Regardless of age, they all knew that Noa outranked them both in the family hierarchy. Gozaburo on occasion gave them gifts or provided things they wanted, but not like how he did for Noa. Noa never let them forget that they were here because of him anyway. If he wanted to, he could have them both dumped right back into that orphanage.
Not that he wanted to, because he refused to give up Mokuba, and Seto simply was a dead weight attached to him.
He had plans on dealing with that dead weight in due course anyway. All he needed were a few more years and everything would be exactly the way that he wanted it.
Mokuba shifted uneasily, eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them. Noa swore to himself; why did Seto have to ruin everything? Why did he even have to exist? Why couldn't there just be him and Mokuba? No Seto, then no worries about anything else.
Calm down, he told himself, staring back at his books in an attempt to look as if he didn't care about anything else. It's almost time.
Finally Mokuba's last book closed, and Seto still had two more assignments to work through. Noa kept back a smile as Mokuba glanced at him.
"What's the surprise?" The younger boy wanted to know.
Noa pulled himself to his feet, dismissing the other two tutors with one wave of his hand. "I'll show you." He didn't pay any more attention to Seto, instead guiding Mokuba out of the classroom, ignoring Mokuba's quick calls to his older brother about how he'd come back soon and not to worry about him.
As if there'd be anything to worry about. Noa wouldn't ever hurt Mokuba. He just needed to explain things to him. And kiss him. A lot.
"Where are we going?" Mokuba hurried to catch up with him as he moved through the hallways.
"To the stable for right now. Then for a ride." Noa knew every inch of the mansion grounds, and knew quite well that Mokuba and Seto didn't, not yet, anyway. He'd guided them on their tours, and used the mansion's security system to find out what they did when he wasn't around to watch them. He knew what they knew, whether they knew he knew it or not.
Riding was one of those lessons that they usually took together, and yet again something that Noa was better at than Seto and Mokuba were. Mokuba still needed a little help into the saddle, and riding at anything other than a quick trot for long periods of time wasn't advisable. So once they got out into the forest that backed the mansion up, Noa made sure they didn't go too fast. He wanted Mokuba calm and relaxed, not fretting because he might fall off.
So far as he could tell, it was working. Mokuba spent most of his time staring at the tall trees and enjoying the kiss of the wind on his cheeks than he did staring back at the slowly vanishing mansion where his brother still remained cooped up inside.
"Why don't you two get along?"
The question wasn't one Noa expected and he hissed under his breath. He'd been doing so well enjoying himself without many thoughts of Seto, and the few that slipped in were of the fact the other wasn't there. But of course, Mokuba had to keep thinking about him.
"What makes you ask that?" This was their time together. They were supposed to have fun together, and Mokuba needed to not think about Seto!
Mokuba shrugged, his gray eyes resting on Noa for a few moments. "I was just wondering. I wish you would." He fidgeted, one hand going down to rest on his horse's mane. "Big brother's great." Before Mokuba could get started on listing all of Seto's virtues, Noa spied his target location ahead of them through the trees. "We're almost to where I wanted to show you. Come on." He nudged his horse to move a little faster; not so much that Mokuba would be at risk, but just enough to get there sooner. He could hear Mokuba mumbling something under his breath and ignored it. He could guess what it was and he'd had enough talking and thinking about Seto to last him two lifetimes.
The trees thinned out and the land sloped downward, a stream that was but a few breaths away from being a river cutting across the clearing, sunlight glittering on the water. Broad rocks dotted the landscape, as did flowers of a dozen hues or more. Noa wasn't much one for nature, preferring the cool technological world for himself, but the real beauty of this place for him was how far it was from the mansion and how unlikely it was that anyone would bother them while they were out there.
Mokuba looked all around at it, his eyes growing larger with each moment. Noa hadn't thought he'd be that much more into pretty scenery than he himself was, but he was willing to consider that he might've been wrong. A little.
"I've got to show Seto this."
Noa's teeth ground once again. Why couldn't he get Mokuba to just not think about Seto for five minutes? Were they that close? That dependent on each other? That devoted to each other?
It couldn't be. He wouldn't let it be. No matter how long it took him, he'd find a way to break Mokuba away from his brother. If that meant Seto had to die sooner than he'd already planned to kill him, then so be it.
But first things first.
He dismounted, leading his gelding over to a sturdy tree to be tethered. "Come on, let's look around."
Mokuba gripped his saddle hard as he carefully swung himself out, taking his time to get it right. Noa watched as he tethered his mount as well and started to peer all over.
"How'd you find this place?"
"I looked for it," Noa replied with a hint of amusement. "We're not too far from the mansion, but no one will bother us out here. It's the perfect place to relax for a while." And not have to worry about certain annoying older brothers, servants who thought they had a right to object to anything he did, or fathers who would want to know more than Noa felt like telling him.
"I can't wait to show Seto!" Mokuba burst out and Noa upgraded his plans by another week.
"I'd rather you didn't. This place is special. You're the only person I've shown it to." Noa moved a little closer, ready to begin the next stage of today's plan.
Mokuba looked over toward him. "Don't you want him to see it?"
"I didn't say that." Noa smiled, an expression he'd spent a lot of time practicing in the mirror, one that didn't let on anything going on in his head. "I just don't want you to tell him. I'll do it." I wonder if I could drown him over there. Sadly, there weren't any cliffs he could throw the older teenager from. That would've been perfect. A guaranteed death and no need for a body, so lots of time to help Mokuba mourn the unfortunate accident.
"Oh. All right." Mokuba took a few steps toward the stream, peering down at it. He didn't look as if he were quite as fascinated with the clearing as he'd been a few minutes earlier, but that suited Noa quite well. He preferred Mokuba's attention to be on him.
"Mokuba." He'd never been very good with words, and this was a special situation. He was going to have to field his way carefully. He'd thought about reading up on how to do this, but Noa suspected that 'how to seduce one's adopted brother' wasn't a subject generally written about.
"Yeah?" Mokuba didn't look at him and Noa hoped that he wasn't thinking about Seto again.
"There's a reason I showed you and only you this place." Noa wasn't even lying.
"You said it was special, right?" Mokuba glanced over, and Noa's heart skipped a beat or two at the sight of those large gray eyes looking at him. He didn't want them to ever turn away, and he knew they would, the moment they were back in the mansion.
If he didn't love Mokuba so much, he would've considered making certain they didn't, the hard way. But he refused to hurt Mokuba in any way that he could avoid.
He didn't count killing Seto. That wasn't hurting the younger boy. That was removing a dead weight.
"It is. And I want to make it even more special." Noa stepped closer, taking each one with a flicker of nervousness that Mokuba would somehow figure out what he had in mind and start trying to leave.
"What are you talking about?" Mokuba didn't move. Noa took one more step, reached out, and caught the other's hand. Mokuba stared up at him, starting to pull his hand away. Noa didn't let him, holding Mokuba's in both of his own.
He needed to say something, but words failed him. This was different from explaining an idea to his father about something to do with a report or an idea. It was very different from telling the servants to do something. Mokuba was very much not a servant. So Noa simply let his instincts do the talking.
He leaned forward and set his lips against Mokuba's, shoulders tense, stomach churning with anticipation of the moment when Mokuba would start to return it, admitting to everything Noa knew that he had to feel, even if he hadn't realized it until now.
More than one book talked about that, about feelings hidden and confused and unconfessed until someone else made a gesture. That was what it had to happen now.
Mokuba pulled himself away, yanking his hand out of Noa's, and stared at him in a thousand grades of shocked. "What are you doing?" He reached p to touch his lips, rubbing at them for a moment.
"I kissed you." Noa's hands clenched. This wasn't what he'd expected. It wasn't what he wanted. It wasn't what was supposed to happen. How dare Mokuba do this to him! "I've wanted to do that for a long time." He did his best to keep his anger in check. Perhaps Mokuba was just surprised. He might not have anticipated this. He might need more time to adjust to the thought. They were legally brothers and if that was all he'd thought about, then…
Then Noa needed to rearrange his thinking, and as soon as possible.
"Noa, why?" Mokuba looked more and more confused with each passing moment.
Perhaps it was also his age. Mokuba was only thirteen, after all. If he'd moved too fast…perhaps he should've waited another year or so. He'd waited three years already, just from the moment he'd first seen the brothers, and he'd only fully comprehended what he wanted from Mokuba a year ago now.
"There's nothing wrong with it." Noa scrambled for the words that would put everything right again. The last thing he wanted was Mokuba deciding to (of course!) tell Seto about this. He thought he could persuade his father, but Seto would be impossible about this. "Did you like it?" Mokuba's expression could've been set in the dictionary as the definition of what on Earth are you talking about? Noa took solace in the fact that he hadn't actually said he didn't like it, and reached for his hand again.
"I've never kissed anyone before," Noa admitted. "I wanted you to be the first person." And the only person. The only one for him, no matter what happened.
Mokuba shook his head, quickly moving backward. "Noa, we're brothers, brothers aren't supposed to kiss each other."
"We're only adopted brothers." Noa reminded him, still stalking forward. He didn't want to think of it as stalking, but Mokuba was kind of running away, so the word fit, at least a little.
"I don't care! I don't want to kiss you!" Mokuba's hand dived for his pocket, and Noa knew at once what he was going for: the knife that he kept there, legacy of their time in the orphanage. He wouldn't need it with Noa, though, and even if he had, Noa moved a fraction too quickly, seizing Mokuba's hand firmly.
"Mokuba." He had to remind himself he didn't want to scare the other boy. Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to push too much right now. "I'm sorry." He wasn't. He would never be sorry but comforting white lies would ease the way for now. He stopped himself in his tracks and even moved backward, though he didn't release Mokuba's arm just yet.
Mokuba stared at him, anger in the depths of his eyes and the set of his jaw as he jerked his arm away. Noa let him go; he could've kept the grip, but he wanted to soothe the other, not get him even angrier. "I thought we were friends."
"We are friends." Noa wanted something other than friendship and he was determined to have it. Perhaps not now, but eventually. "I…" He raked his brains, trying to think of some way to get through this. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
Tension still kept Mokuba at bay, but a little of the anger seeped out of him. "Right." He didn't look entirely ready to open Noa's veins with his knife, but at least he wasn't running back to the mansion just yet. "Is that really why you wanted to show me this place?"
"I wanted to show it to you because I thought you'd like it." Sharing their first kiss here, even with everything that happened since then, did make it more special to Noa. "Do you want to come back out here tomorrow?" An idea sparked and Noa let it flow, despite how much he didn't want to. "We can bring Seto with us."
Mokuba relaxed just a little more at that, and Noa held back a wince. He wanted to tell Mokuba not to mention this to anyone, but from what he'd seen with his father's workers, that tended to make people want to tell more than anything. Instead, he ducked his head down. "If I could do this over…"
"It's…it's all right." Mokuba could forgive people far more so than Noa himself could. He liked that about him. "We'll just kinda forget this happened. And I think big brother really would be kind of bored out here."
Success! He could keep this place untainted by Seto's presence for at least a while longer.
"You're probably right." Noa let all the plans he had to deal with Seto slide into the back of his mind. He'd work them out later and put the best of them into action. Everything after that would be easy to deal with. He'd helped his father manage fortune-breaking deals before. This wouldn't be any more difficult.
He took in a deep breath and turned away from Mokuba, moving over to stare down at the stream's flowing waters. He didn't say anything else, letting his posture speak for him: depression, sadness, upset at having upset Mokuba…
Every breath of it a lie. He didn't think that body language could convey what he really felt about the situation. Maybe a few rounds of sparring would do a better job, but he didn't know if there was anyone he trusted to spar against him right now.
"We should probably go back. It's getting close to dinner." Mokuba said after a few quiet minutes.
"I think you're right." Noa moved toward his horse, which was busily chewing up a mouthful of grass and didn't look very enthused about being untied. Noa didn't care. If he wasn't going to have a good day, he didn't see any reason why anyone else should.
The ride back was far quieter than the ride out was, and Noa wasn't at all surprised to see Seto in the stables, waiting for his own horse to be saddled. They'd clearly been gone too long. At least by Seto's standards.
"Big brother!" Mokuba surged toward, the distant look in his eyes replaced by joy. "Want to go for a ride?"
Noa said nothing, only guided his gelding over to where he could dismount. The stablehands would take care of everything else for him. Mokuba didn't invite him to come along this time, and he wasn't going to spend any more time around Seto than he absolutely had to.
This was all Seto's fault anyway. If he didn't exist, then Noa would have all the time he needed to persuade Mokuba around to his viewpoint.
Well, he knew how to fix that. All he needed were a few more minor points to work out and it would all be taken care of.
Noa liked getting what he wanted, and he made certain that nothing stood in his way.
The End