What's Done Out Of Love...
October 24th, 11:59 PM
As Mokuba lingered in the doorway to his brother's bedroom late that evening, watching Seto sleep soundly, he almost felt bad about what he was about to do. It was one minute to midnight, when the day would switch from October 24th to October 25th, his big brother's birthday.
He sighed and wandered over to his brother's bedside. Mokuba understood why Seto never celebrated his birthday-he was the busy, no-nonsense president of Kaiba Corporation who had little patience or tolerance for humanity in general. But Seto's birthday meant a lot to the little brother: it was the monumental day of when the most important person in his life-his brother, parent, caretaker, protector, and best friend-entered the world. Mokuba wanted to give Seto something different for his birthday, and he knew that in order to give him something he'd appreciate, Mokuba would have to give him that last things he wanted: chaos and loss of control.
The glowing alarm clock clicked over to midnight, and Mokuba gently ran his fingers through his resting brother's hair. Seto shifted onto his back and began to snore softly, causing Mokuba to break into a light smile. His brother never slept so peacefully, but he'd need it for the day he would have to endure in just several short hours. He pulled his hand away and reached over to switch off the alarm and turn Seto's cell phone to silent.
"Happy birthday, Seto," Mokuba whispered, and he affectionately adjusted his brother's blankets before stifling a yawn and heading to bed himself.
October 25th, 5:30 AM
Beep...beep...beep...
Mokuba grumbled as his own alarm clock started squawking indignantly for him to wake up. He slammed his hand on the button, stretched, and tumbled out of bed tiredly. Five hours of sleep was decidedly not enough; he couldn't understand how Seto managed to get less than that most nights.
He yawned widely and dragged himself down the hallway to make sure his brother wasn't awake yet. There was no light emanating out from underneath Seto's door, so all Mokuba did was press his ear to it; satisfied that muffled snoring could still be heard through the barrier, he pulled away and went to get ready for the day himself. After showering and getting dressed, he grabbed a muffin from the kitchen, then ran off to Kaiba Corp to set the rest of his plan into action.
9:45 AM
Sunlight was leaking through the windows, casting a pleasant warmth over Seto's face. The bright glow itself, however, was not quite as welcome; he was much more used to awakening in the safe, familiar darkness.
So...why was it so bright?
He shot straight up with a gasp, as though he had been jolted awake after a nightmare. He glanced over at the clock, horrified to discover that it was almost ten in the morning.
"Damn it..." he snapped, throwing back the covers. Why hadn't Mokuba woken him up? It wasn't like Seto ever overslept; perhaps the child thought he was sick. Then again, even he couldn't remember the last time he'd been ill.
He tore off his blue flannel pajamas and replaced them with black dress pants, a light blue long-sleeved button-up shirt, and a cream-colored tie. There was no time for a shower, so he quickly spritzed himself with the slightest hint of cologne. Typically, he never wore that crap-after all, he never allowed anyone except Mokuba close enough to notice-but smelling like a blend of mahogany and subtle spicy musk definitely set a better example for his employees than smelling like he overslept and didn't shower the night before.
Which was exactly what happened, but they didn't need to know that.
He grabbed his cell phone-which had somehow been set to silent-and discovered a call from Mokuba's cell an hour and fifteen minutes earlier. Growling, he switched the volume back to normal and called the child back.
"Seto? Everything okay?" Mokuba's innocent voice asked as soon as he answered his phone. "You missed the board meeting this morning."
"What?" he yelled, grabbing his silvery briefcase on his way out of the bedroom and storming down the hall. "Mokuba, why didn't you wake me up?"
"...I didn't realize that was one of my responsibilities," Mokuba replied stubbornly. "Anyhow, I thought maybe you needed the extra sleep because you weren't feeling well or something. I didn't want to bother you. Don't worry, though, I took care of the meeting and made a record of the notes for you. I'll be waiting in your office."
Mokuba hung up. By this time, the elder brother was out at his car, having chosen to drive himself rather than wait for the chauffeur to show up. He closed his eyes for a split moment to zen himself out a bit before driving, then jammed the keys into the ignition and gunned out of the driveway.
What is wrong with me today? he asked himself while speeding down the highway. Oversleeping, forgetting meetings...I've never been this irresponsible. As he approached the exit he normally would have taken, he discovered that there was a rather heavy influx of traffic waiting to exit the same way; Seto groaned loudly, turned on his blinker, and zoomed around the cars that were slowing down to take that exit. He sped off to the next one, which took him on a fifteen-minute roundabout detour, but he finally made it to Kaiba Corporation.
11:00 AM
By the way everybody reacted when Seto finally thundered into the building, he might as well have morphed into a fire-breathing dragon. Everyone in his path immediately cleared, including the clusters of people waiting at the elevator. He entered it in solitude, and when he reached the executive floor, he was more than a little relieved to find it empty except for his personal assistant hanging out at her desk, mindlessly filing papers. She glanced up, a bored expression on her face, but instantly looked oddly confused when she saw her boss approaching.
"Oh...Mr. Kaiba...your eleven o'clock just showed up, I directed him into your office, I didn't even realize you weren't here yet."
Seto scowled at her. "Your lack of observance is alarming," he snapped, although his mind was insisting that he didn't have an eleven o' clock appointment...then again, he was pretty sure that there hadn't been a meeting early that morning either. He was starting to wonder who he was to question what was going on with his company.
But when Seto opened the door to find none other than Joey Wheeler lounging on the sofa in his office, he was positive somebody screwed up, big time. Instantly, he regained all of his self-confidence, and turned a glare onto the blonde.
"Wheeler, I really don't want to ask what you're doing here, but since you are here, I have no choice. What the hell do you want?"
Joey broke into a wide grin and jumped to his feet. "What kind of greeting is that? It's been awhile-six months, I think? I just wanted to see how you were doing."
Seto balked at him. Was the idiot serious? They'd known each other for a very long time, one would think he'd be more aware about the CEO's position on social calls. But the blonde simply laid back down on the couch and kept rambling.
"Kaiba Land's still great, y'know, last night I watched some kids fighting to beat that little robot you've got. I still think my deck deserves to be uploaded, but that's just me. Also, I hear you're going to be building a hotel right next door. Is that true or is the rumor mill spitting out crap?"
Seto rolled his eyes. "The only one spitting out crap right now is you. Get out."
Joey scowled. "Hey! I cut time out of my busy schedule to come check up on you! Don't you dare give me the brush off!"
"I'm alive, even you can see this. I've got things to do, now leave." Seto walked over to his desk, sat down, and pressed a button to ring his assistant. "Piper, have Mann send up those records from R&D."
Both Joey and Seto sat around in awkward silence for a few moments, until the blonde walked over and opened the door.
"If you were trying to get ahold of that chick that was out front, she's gone."
Seto stood up and practically trampled Joey over on his way to see for himself. Sure enough, the girl was long gone. He yanked out his cell phone to call Mokuba.
"What's up, Seto?" he asked. Seto could hear laughing and mechanical music in the background; he knew Mokuba was out manning Kaiba Land.
"Mokuba, I need you here, you said you'd be in my office. Instead, I find Wheeler here-and why are you still here?" He took a moment to glare at the blonde before continuing with his little brother. "Things are out of control. I'm running late on everything, I missed a meeting that wasn't even in my calendar, my assistant is AWOL, and-"
"Oh, Seto, calm down, Piper took a half day today. She cleared that weeks ago," Mokuba said cheerfully. "But I had to fix a problem at Kaiba Land, otherwise I would have been waiting for you. I'll come right now. Bye!"
Seto hung up and slammed his fists down on his desk. Joey, who was lying down on the couch again, tipped his head back to look at the stressed CEO.
"So...I was thinking about getting a burrito for lunch. Want me to grab you one too?"
Seto shot him a look. "Wheeler, so help me God, if you don't get your ass out of here, I'll-"
"I have an idea: why don't you start off with, hey, Joey! It's awesome seeing you, but I'm having a real hell of a horse shit day, and I don't want it to rain down on you. While I'm here brooding and barking orders at my employees, why don't you go get a whole free day at Kaiba Land and then maybe be can grab a couple of steaks-OW! What the hell?" Joey yelped after being hit in the face with a ream of printer paper.
"Out!" Seto bellowed as he hurled a nearby hole-puncher at Joey, who spluttered for a moment before dashing out. The brunet sat back down and buried his face in his hands until three urgent knocks sounded on his door.
"What?"
The door opened and Roland rushed through. "Sir, there's been a gas leak, we need to clear everyone out," he insisted. At this point, Seto looked completely demonic, but protocol was protocol. He grabbed his suitcase and sauntered out of the office, phone in hand to dial Mokuba.
"Send out the message. Everybody goes home for the rest of the day," he called over his shoulder. He held the phone to his ear until Mokuba answered.
"I'm on my way. Traffic's kind of rough-"
"Tell Kenjiro to take you home. There's a problem with the gas line at work, so we're working from the mansion there rest of the day," he told Mokuba.
"Okay, Seto," Mokuba said quietly. "See you there."
2:00 PM
By the time Seto had reached his study at home, he was ready for a nap, despite the extra sleep he'd gotten that morning.
Sighing, he placed his laptop on his desk and pressed the button to power it on. He was deep in thought as the machine booted up, thinking about the hellish day he was dealt; however, he snapped out of his brooding when he tried logging onto the Kaiba Corporation system and it insisted that the entire network was busted. Well, not in as many words, but that was the gist of it. He tried a few tricks, all of which usually would have worked, but obviously they all failed that time. With a growl, he slammed the computer shut, propping his elbows on the desk and creating a steeple with his fingers as he considered things.
Every single thing that could have gone wrong that day did. Why could nothing in his life every work out? It seemed that everything was a struggle, ever since the orphanage. Nothing was ever easy.
"Can't I get a break just once?" Seto groaned to himself. "Even if it's just for my stupid birthday..." He frowned, thinking hard until a soft knock sounded on the door.
"Seto? Can I come in?" Mokuba's gentle voice called out. Seto grunted in response, and the child walked in, a slightly guilty look on his face and his hands behind his back. "Sorry it took so long to get back, I stopped to pick up something for you."
Mokuba shuffled forward and placed a plain white box on Seto's desk. The elder brother pulled it closer and opened it, revealing a miniature cake iced with chocolate ganache. It was decorated with white and black striped wafers, and white icing spelled out, 'Happy Birthday, Seto!' in a cheery font. A faint smile graced Seto's lips as he stared at the treat from his brother, until it all clicked in his head.
"It was you..." he said, staring at his brother. "You messed with everything at work today."
Mokuba remained silent for a few moments before smiling sheepishly. "I just wanted to make your birthday different for once...Seto, everyday is the same for you, and your birthday is special. It's the day you started to exist, and that's important to me. But if I just brought you a cake, you'd say thanks and carry on like nothing happened-"
"Mokuba, you cut the the gas line at work. Do you understand how dangerous and detrimental that could have been?" Seto said harshly, giving the child a hard stare. Mokuba's eyes widened and he shook his head furiously.
"No! That wasn't me, I swear! I wouldn't do anything that would hurt anyone..."
Seto sighed in relief at that. He believed that; Mokuba really wouldn't harm anybody. That could be left to the proper authorities, then. But he still wasn't happy. "You have no idea how bad it looks that I missed that meeting because I was asleep."
"There was no meeting," Mokuba confessed. "I just made you think that there was. That's why I turned off your alarm, so you wouldn't have time to check."
"When did you do that...? I set it last night right before I went to bed."
"I know," Mokuba said, averting his eyes. "I pretended to sleep when you checked on me before you went to bed. But I was awake, and I stayed up and waited for about an hour. Then I sneaked into your room while you were sleeping, and I turned off your alarm and your phone. I know you're mad, but I had to make things bad for you to accept something good." He raised his head and looked at his brother with big, pleading eyes. "But I know I went too far. I'm sorry."
Seto sighed and held out his arms. Mokuba smiled a little and fell into them, resting his head on his brother's chest.
"Mokuba...please tell me you are the one who locked up the Kaiba Corp system," he said, opening the computer again with one arm and gesturing at the error screen. "Because it'll be easier to fix as soon as I know what's going on...and that no one's trying to mess with me."
Mokuba giggled and nodded. "Yeah. I just set a firewall block any access from a computer outside of the ones at the HQ."
Seto rolled his eyes and squeezed his brother. "And Wheeler...?"
The little Kaiba snorted and pulled out of Seto's arms. "I paid him $200 to annoy you."
Seto massaged his temples. "Next time, if you want to annoy me, keep Wheeler out of it. Just blow up the building or something," he muttered. He leaned back and gazed at the shit-grinning child standing in front of him. The kid was brilliant, good-natured, and loyal-even if he apparently knew exactly how to drive his big brother crazy. This was the child that he was trying to give the world to, and in a weird way, the events of the day had showed Seto that he'd succeeded in this endeavor. A rare smile-the first true one in years-spread out on his face, causing Mokuba's smile to grow even bigger. He threw his arms around the elder brother once more, and hugged him with all his heart.