Shadu: Okay, so this started out as a one-shot, but then I realized it's gonna be a little long for a one-shot. It will be a shorter story though.
Seto lay in bed as the Saturday sun crept into the sky and shined down on him. He groaned; he didn't want to see the dreaded light just yet, even though it only poked through the curtains but a small bit. Just that small bit notified him that he had to get up and make breakfast. He was so tired, though. All he wanted to do was sleep in, just one time. Just once he'd like a day off, which he never seemed to get. He considered taking today off. He thought about sleeping all day, or maybe taking Mokuba to a movie. Something, anything, that didn't involve much work. It was Saturday, after all, and most had today off. Well, Seto concluded that, even though he didn't know exactly what he was going to do all today, he would sleep in. So, he closed his eyes even tighter and rolled onto his side and slipped back into dreams.
Mokuba woke not too long after Seto had wakened first. He wanted to see his cartoons for the morning, and smell whatever Seto was cooking. He loved it best when the weekend came and all the maids were gone. It was just him and Seto. Many may not believe it, but Seto was actually a very good cook. He could make almost anything. Mokuba loved Seto's cooking the best. Mokuba was disappointed when he got downstairs and didn't smell any cooking.
Mokuba looked around the bottom floor for Seto, but he was nowhere to be found. Mokuba then went upstairs and checked all of Seto's offices, thinking that Seto had started on some work and had forgotten about breakfast, which he had done on occasion. Seto, however, was in none of those places. The only other place that Seto would be was in the bedroom. But that would mean that Seto hadn't gotten up yet, and that wasn't like Seto. Mokuba doubted whether Seto was in the bedroom or not, but knew he had to check.
Mokuba poked his head in the door timidly. There was definitely a lump under the covers of the bed, which meant that his brother was still lying in bed. But why? If he was asleep, why? Seto never slept any later than seven thirty, and here it was nearly eight thirty and Seto wasn't up. Something was wrong.
"Seto?" Mokuba called, inching over to the bed. "Seto?"
"What?" Seto groaned, not turning over towards Mokuba.
"Are you okay?" Mokuba asked, crawling onto Seto's bed.
Seto just slowly let out a bunch of air in a steady stream as a response. Mokuba crawled over Seto and put his small hand on Seto's forehead after brushing away Seto's brown hair. Seto's forehead was warm, much too warm to be normal. Mokuba's mind raced. Was Seto really sick? Mokuba could never remember a time, ever, that Seto had been seriously sick. He had never been sick enough to keep him in bed. And yet here he was, sick as a dog. All the maids and servants were gone. It was just Seto and Mokuba. Mokuba had never taken care of a sick person before. But Seto had taken care of him before. So, Mokuba thought. What had Seto done when he was running a fever?
Mokuba sprang off the bed and raced for the bathroom. He pulled out a small washcloth. Racing to the kitchen, he pulled out a medium-sized bowl. Filling it halfway with cold water, Mokuba then went back to Seto's room, walking carefully so he wouldn't spill a drop. He set the bowl on the nightstand and then raced out of the room back to the bathroom as he remembered another thing Seto usually did.
Standing up on the counter, Mokuba looked into the medicine cabinet. There were all kinds of things in here. There was cough medicine, pain killers, antiseptic, Band-Aids, cotton balls, rubber gloves, gauze, allergy meds. Mokuba hadn't ever seen half of this stuff. He didn't know that the medicine cabinet held so much. But it didn't have what he was looking for. He jumped off the counter after closing the cabinet door and looked through the drawers. In the third drawer he found it. Pulling it out with triumph, Mokuba raised the thermometer in the air. Shutting the drawer, Mokuba shuffled back to Seto's room.
Crawling back on the bed, Mokuba scrambled over Seto's body, receiving a groan from Seto. Mokuba plopped himself by Seto and plucked out the thermometer from his pocket. Taking it out of its case, he looked at it carefully. He quickly figured out how to use it, not that hard really. However, seeing as how he had never used it before, he had to be sure. He attempted to stick it in Seto's mouth, but Seto closed it tightly.
"Seto, please let me take you temperature," Mokuba pleaded.
"Why?" Seto asked, his voice hoarse and weary.
"Because you always make me let you," Mokuba stated.
Seto opened his eyes for the first time that Mokuba knew of this morning. Seto's usually bright blue eyes were dull and tired. Mokuba hadn't noticed it before, but there were dark circles around Seto's eyes. His face had paled out a little, but his cheeks were a slight rosy color. And Mokuba sat there as Seto's dull eyes watched, studied him. Then, with a sigh, Seto closed his eyes again.
"Fine, if it means you'll leave me alone," Seto grumbled.
Mokuba smiled. He could almost always get what he wanted from Seto. Taking the thermometer again, he poked Seto's lip with it until Seto opened his mouth just enough to allow the tip passage. Mokuba pressed the button on the top and waited. When a high-pitched beep sounded off, he pulled out the thermometer and looked at the reading.
"Seto," Mokuba looked at his brother.
"What?" Seto grunted.
"Is 104 degrees bad?" Mokuba asked.
"It can be," Seto answered. "Why?"
"That's what the thermometer says," Mokuba stated.
"Just great," was faintly cursed under Seto's breath, and barely heard by Mokuba.
Mokuba crawled over Seto again and grabbed the rag. Mokuba dipped it in the cool water and rung it out. Mokuba jumped back onto the bed and pressed the damp cloth onto Seto's forehead. Seto willingly rolled over onto his back and allowed the coolness to be pressed fully on his forehead and the wetness that seeped from the cloth creep down the length of his face.
"Mokuba, would you please take the comforter off?" Seto requested.
Mokuba nodded and peeled back the top layer of the bed. Seto peeled off the shirt he was wearing and tossed it aside. Seto pulled the remaining sheet and blanket up to his chin and just laid there. Mokuba looked up at his brother. Seto's sides heaved with great effort. Mokuba was greatly concerned, but decided not to make a big deal of it.
Shadu: Please review. I'm desperate for them right now.