To Fix What's Broken
"In the world of games, there's no room for brotherly affection. Until you know that, Mokuba, you'll never be more than a loser!"
This was etched into Mokuba's mind like a searing stamp. Despite how tightly his brother had hugged him just hours earlier, Mokuba was having a hard time erasing Seto's words from his memory. He couldn't figure out why, though. Now that he'd come out of his coma, he was a completely different person: definitely not the smiling child he'd been so many years ago, but also not the sociopath so keen on destroying Yugi, the one person who'd saved both of them, along with the people closest to him
The interaction outside Pegasus's castle had been awkward, at the very least. Mokuba could see that his brother felt guilty about what he'd done to all of them-although he'd never admit it. Seto had displayed gratitude for Yugi to the best of his inept ability, and hugged his little brother, showing that incredibly human, deep-seated desire for close physical contact that Mokuba was sure he'd never need again. At the time, Mokuba had warmly received the gesture and clung back for dear life, but now he couldn't help but to wonder if he was going to lose his brother again.
Mostly because Mokuba wasn't entirely sure who his big brother even was at this point.
The helicopter ride home had been more than a little tumultuous: squeezing everyone in was difficult enough in the first place, but the ride was a long one. Somehow, Tristan, Joey, and Téa had managed to squeeze together like sardines and sleep during the latter part; something Seto had been grateful for, seeing as their non-stop yammering was causing deep-seated annoyance to bubble to the surface into blatant anger. While Mokuba had drifted in and out with the rest of the group, Yugi had remained awake near the window. Mokuba could have sworn he'd heard Yugi and Seto having some sort of quiet conversation at some point; perhaps it was just quiet because of the roaring engine and Joey's rumbling snores right in Mokuba's ear, but his brother didn't appear too upset at the time.
After the aircraft had landed on the Kaiba Corp helipad, and Yugi and his group had disappeared into the night, Seto and Mokuba retreated home in complete silence. When they'd walked through the front door in the early morning hours, Seto had glanced down at his little brother, and Mokuba saw for the first time how truly exhausted he was.
"Are you hungry?" he'd asked.
Mokuba had shaken his head. "No, not really." He glanced away before making eye contact again. "I know you probably want to get caught up on work...I was just going to go to bed, if I get hungry I'll just have some cereal or something."
Seto had lingered silently for a long moment before finally nodding and heading off up the stairs. Mokuba hesitated for a short while before following up the stairs and dragging himself to his bedroom, where he'd been thinking deeply for the past few hours. Mokuba had watched the sun rise over the horizon, casting a warm tangerine glow on the sea in the distance.
A quick glance at the clock told him that it was now just after seven in the morning; he wasn't sure if Seto was just getting ready for work or going to bed. Any other time Mokuba would've expected his brother to be in his office at Kaiba Corp already, but he hadn't heard him go downstairs yet at all. With a heavy sigh, Mokuba finally pulled off the blue bandana he wore around his neck before taking off the same disgusting clothes he'd been forced to wear ever since he'd been snatched. After dropping them down the laundry chute with a shudder, he pulled out of pair of his red pajamas and headed to his bathroom to take a shower.
The hot, steaming water felt even better than usual as the shower head sent pulsating jets of water onto his back. While shampooing, he felt the sting of the cuts he'd received and ignored on his body earlier; it hadn't seemed important at the time, but it was sure bothersome now. He quickly rinsed and wrung his shaggy raven-colored hair out before jumping out of the shower, drying himself off, and pulling on his clean and soft pajamas, preparing to just spend the day at home; he was tired and worn out, but not exactly sleepy. He shuffled down into the kitchen, and started to boil some water to make himself some tea.
Maybe that would help ease some of the tension from his mind.
After that was done, he picked up the mug and strolled out to the parlor, where he sat on the couch and started to sip his tea. His solitude was benignly interrupted when one of the maids appeared in the room. He gave her a small smile, and the woman offered him the same in exchange.
"Mokuba...it's so wonderful to have you back all safe and sound," she said quietly. "Your brother, too, though I'm surprised he's taking the day off of work."
Mokuba blinked. "Is he?" When the woman nodded, he placed his mug down on the table and stood up. "I need to go talk to him."
The maid looked as though she were about to protest, but Mokuba was already sailing out of the room. The only way to truly fix their broken brotherhood would be to patch up the cracks and holes Gozaburo had left between them; the child was suddenly ready for this to happen sooner rather than later. He rushed up to Seto's room-where he was certain to find his brother on a laptop, or at his desk-only to find the elder Kaiba stretched out on his back on his bed, sleeping peacefully. He was wearing his black flannel pajamas, and his bare feet dangled almost childishly over the side of the mattress due to the fact he was lying in a skewed diagonal position, probably to avoid bumping the laptop still whirring away at his side.
Mokuba couldn't stop himself from smiling lightly as he crept over to the computer. He gently climbed onto Seto's bed, taking care to avoid bumping his hands or feet as he gingerly crawled over limbs to the laptop, on which he quickly pressed the spacebar to deactivate the screen saver. Not at all surprised to see that his brother had been loading the reports of everything that had happened during his absence, Mokuba carefully reached over his brother's head to grab the power cord. The battery was at less than half charged; Seto must have fallen asleep not long after they'd gotten home.
Before he could pull the cord to the laptop, Seto's hand grabbed onto Mokuba's arm. The child froze and stared down into his brother's face; his eyes were still closed, but his expression had tensed the slightest bit.
"I'm just plugging your computer in, Seto," Mokuba said softly. "The battery's getting low."
The vibrant blue eyes finally fluttered open, and fixed upon the little Kaiba. Seto let go of the arm and blinked a few times slowly, studying the child as he plugged the cord into his computer.
"There you go." Mokuba was about to slide off the bed, but Seto stopped him.
"Mokuba."
The child looked down at his older brother, who was forcing himself into a sitting position. He swallowed and moved back a bit.
"Yes, Seto?"
"We should talk."
Mokuba hesitated. "Um...do you remember...Death-T? And...so on?"
"I remember everything," Seto said shortly. "And I do regret it...all of it."
The child nodded and looked away. "When you told me I would be a loser until I stopped-"
"I regret all of it, Mokuba." Seto's voice was harsh, but in a completely different way. Mokuba looked back up to meet his brother's eyes, and sure enough, they weren't angry at all. He looked ashamed; sickened with himself. Mokuba understood, and nodded.
"I forgive you. I won't hold it against you."
"It's not that easy, Mokuba."
"Yes, it is," the kid responded. "For me it's very easy. We've both been through a lot, and I understand what happened. You're my brother, Seto, no matter what happens. I'm going to be right beside you."
He crawled over and gave Seto another hug, who reciprocated after a moment. Once they broke apart, they studied each other for a moment before Mokuba slid off the side of the bed.
"Anyhow, you looked like you were sleeping pretty well. I'm sorry I woke you up. I'll let you get some more rest."
"Mokuba..."
The child stopped and turned around. "Yes?"
Seto was pulling back his blankets and sliding under them this time, and once he was situated he looked back at his brother.
"Get some sleep yourself. Then come back later and we'll play a game, or whatever you want."
Mokuba smiled lightly and nodded. "All right, Seto. See you later."
And he headed back to his own room, knowing that the darkest part of his brother was gone, and that things could only improve between them from that moment on.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the random 2 AM piece that popped into my head after reading the part of the manga where Kaiba is a total jerk to Mokuba. So obviously that translated into some fluff...somehow. ;) Gotta love insomnia.