Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks.
Tender, Warm and Serene
Mokuba drops the report off in Accounting and heads back to his desk to pack up. He sighs to himself as he checks his watch; 7:30pm. Another Friday night working late. Really, he should get a life, but he wants to work as much as he can to help his brother. Though his academic scholarship paid for his tuition, books and dorm, Seto still had to foot the bill for incidentals and his medical expenses, which were extensive. Even with Yami helping out, and the school's health insurance, the costs were staggering.
He idolizes his big brother. Stricken with leukemia in late fall of his freshman year of college, Seto refused to drop out. He wanted to finish his Criminal Justice degree and go on to a JD and probably a law degree. His doctors told him his life expectancy wasn't great, but he laughed at them, proclaiming he'd "live as long as he felt like it". The first round of chemo nearly killed him, but it sent the cancer into remission. When it returned in the spring of his junior year, Mokuba saw his brother begin to lose hope.
Then he met Yami.
Yami Motou was as far from the kind of person Seto would hang around with as one could get. He wore completely outlandish outfits, stayed up until all hours, flirted carelessly, dated casually and had dozens of friends who invited him to parties almost nightly. And that hair! The spiked, tri-colored spectacle bounced along on his head, attracting attention everywhere he went. And he loved it! Usually, all it took was one comment about his coif and he'd have the person convinced that it looked spectacular on him in no time.
The hair also allowed him to advertise his gallery shows without having to pay for flyers or anything. Once he mentioned being an artist, most people would go 'Ooh!' like it was the most natural thing in the world for his hair to be like that. Then he'd tell them about the show and they'd promise to come just to see what he, with his outrageous hair, was capable of; most actually showed up. Several even shelled out the medium to large bucks to take something home with them. A few even became regular patrons.
One such patron, Mr. Pegasus J. Crawford, went so far as to hire Yami as his personal portrait painter. The vain billionaire adored having his portrait painted and so loved Yami's work, he paid, upfront, for his sophomore, junior and senior years at college in addition to astronomical amounts to have his portraits done. In the late spring of Yami's junior year, Mr. Crawford met the woman of his dreams, Cyndia, and Yami's workload with him doubled. (Tripled of you count the portraits of them together.)
By contrast, Seto wore well-made conservative clothing, went to bed around 10:30pm every night, eschewed loud rambunctious parties and spent the bulk of his down time with his younger brother. Dating didn't interest him and he frowned on flirts. He kept to himself, preferring the company of a good book to most people. There were two professors he enjoyed conversing with and one of the Law Librarians whom he didn't view as a complete idiot, but that was it. The only other people he spoke to regularly other than Mokuba were his oncologist and his general practitioner.
The flamboyant Art major approached Seto one day as he sat under a tree reading.
"How can you stomach that idiot," the perpetually tanned man scoffed.
Seto glanced up from his devouring of Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science to regard the person interrupting him with a critical eye. Surprised by the hair, tight red leather pants and its matching, long-sleeved mesh top fitting perfectly on a lean, but well-developed body, Seto was left speechless.
The interloper flopped down on the ground beside him, legs in a lotus position, back perfectly straight.
"I mean, what's with that "eternal recurrence" bullshit?" the gorgeous stranger continued. Gorgeous? What? Where did that thought come from?
Seto caught himself staring at the man, completely missing the bulk of his rant.
"And another thing," he asserted, narrowing his eyes, "who in their right mind would want to relive every moment of their life without omission?
"Not saying that I haven't had some pretty great moments to relive," he smiles, further drawing in the mesmerized Seto, "but I've also had some pretty shitty moments that I wish would go away forever."
"Besides", he laughs through his nose, "that sick bastard was in love with his sister. You can't trust anything he says."
Finally finding his voice, Seto responded to Yami's assertions and they talked for more than two hours about Nietzsche, school, politics, driving and food.
That afternoon under the tree began a whirlwind romance, which culminated with them moving in together after a scant two months of dating.
Mr. Crawford, fearing Yami would lose his talent if he strayed too far from his craft, purchased a spacious loft for them, eliciting a promise from Yami to "paint something everyday". As he genuinely liked Mr. Crawford, despite his eccentricities, he did his best to do just that.
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'Well, my second week in the corporate world wasn't half bad,' Mokuba muses. 'It's weird to be stuck in a cube all day, but at least I get to be on a computer. Not that I want to be overworked, but I hope my boss gives me something more challenging to do next week. I'm getting bored already!
'I can't wait to tell Seto and Yami about how well things are going. I didn't want to bug them these two weeks during exams, but it should be all right for me to run by the apartment tonight. I can't believe Nii-sama was so worried about me fitting in. My co-workers are pretty cool and very helpful. If it weren't for them, I'd have gotten lost wandering this place on the second day!'
He pauses and looks around, realizing that he'd gotten on the wrong elevator again.
"Hmm, speaking of lost…" he snickers to himself. "Let me see, I got off the blue elevators instead of the red, so that should put me in the "East" tower... Right! There's the sign! So I need to go down this hall, make a right at the water fountain, pass the ladies room and the red elevators should be right around that corner!"
Crossing the space quickly, he fails to notice the shadow of someone coming around the corner from the elevators until it's too late. He slams into the person, sending both of them back to land hard on the carpeted floor.
"Ow!" The other person exclaims.
Mokuba jumps up quickly, planning to help up the other and apologize profusely, until he sees who it is.
'Oh shit!' he curses to himself, realizing he'd just knocked over Noah Kaiba, CEO of the company.
"I-I'm really sorry, sir," he stutters, helping the slightly shorter man to his feet.
"Hey, it's after 5," the impeccably clad gentleman asserts, "You can drop the brown-nosing."
"What?" Mokuba starts.
"I said it's after 5. You don't need to stroke my ego anymore. The fact that you're still here at this hour shows me that you're a hard worker. I don't need you to grovel."
"Uh, yes sir."
"Kaiba is fine."
"Um, okay Kaiba."
"Ugh, that's sounds so wrong coming from you; try Noah."
"Noah?"
"Yeah, that's better. So, what's your name?"
"Watanabe Mokuba, si-uh Noah."
"Well, nice to meet you, Mokuba," he bows formally.
"Nice to meet you too, Noah" Mokuba bows shakily.
"Have nice night", the CEO calls over his shoulder, "And I expect you go home right now!" he commands lightly, sliding a hand into his pants' pocket as we walks down the hall.
Mokuba stands dumfounded for a full five minutes. Did that really just happen? Did the CEO of Kaiba Corp. just treat him like a friend after he knocked him down in the hall? Did he honestly tell Mokuba to call him by his given name!
'No.' he shakes his head, 'I must be more tired than I thought. I'm imagining things.'
He rubs his butt as he steps into the elevator.
"This hurts too much to be imagined," he mumbles to himself as the doors close.
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"Mokuba, are you all right?" Seto calls to his distracted younger brother after looking up from his law books.
Mokuba had arrived about an hour ago, but had been silent the entire time.
"Sure, Seto," he mumbles, not looking at his brother, "I'm fine."
"Then why the big mope?" Yami interjects from his studio space in the corner of the loft.
"I don't mean to mope. It's just…something happened at work today that I'm not sure how to handle."
"Is someone harassing you?" Yami glares.
It still amazed Mokuba how protective the passionate artist was over him, sometimes even more than Seto.
"Down, Yami," his brother teases, "You have your own little brother to worry about. I can handle mine."
"Whatever, Seto," he dismisses, turning back to his canvas. It had become somewhat of a running 'argument' that Yami cared more about Mokuba than his own little brother.
"Yugi is off in America with his girlfriend, that Anzu bimbo, even after I told him she was bad news. He doesn't need me to look after him anymore."
"She's not a bimbo, Yami," Seto defends.
"She is!" he snaps back.
"Tell me, Yami, did she become a bimbo before or after she turned you down for your brother?"
"Shut up, Seto."
"Probably after," Mokuba snickers, Seto agreeing with a snort of amusement.
"Fine!" Yami storms off to their bedroom, causing Mokuba and Seto to laugh outright.
As over the top as Yami could be, he couldn't stand jabs about the size of his ego, though it is quite large.
"I guess I'd better go, Seto," Mokuba grins.
"But you didn't tell us what happened today."
"I'll come back after work tomorrow. I think Yami needs you now."
His brother nods in agreement.
"You're right. Come by around eight. I'll make us something."
"Okay"
Mokuba slips on his shoes at the front door.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Seto."
"Tomorrow. Goodnight, Mokuba."
"Night!"
Seto closes the door behind his brother and makes his way to the bedroom. He finds the lights out and Yami hidden under the covers of their king-sized bed. Seto smiles lightly, imagining the angry pout on his koi's face. They've only been together for six months, but Seto knows his koi's moods inside and out. He knows Yami wasn't as angry as he'd presented, more annoyed by his and Mokuba's teasing than anything. And he knows, instinctively, that Yami's real upset centered around the lack of time they'd had together over the last two weeks. Too much time apart always brought Yami's insecurities to the surface.
His lover would never openly admit it, but Seto knows Yami's greatest fear is that Seto will grow tired of the 'novelty' of being with him and drop him like a rock. After all, 'they have very little in common' Yami pointed out on a regular basis. How little his koi understood him.
"I'm not going anywhere, Yami," he assures his love as he does often.
"Of course you aren't," Yami mumbles from beneath the covers. "The sex is too good."
Seto smiles and starts taking off his clothes, knowing an invitation to ravish his gorgeous boyfriend when he heard one. Once under the covers, Seto showers Yami with kisses as they mold to each other passionately. Quickly Seto prepares him and they make love until both are completely satisfied, falling asleep with joint 'I love you's on their lips.
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Mokuba finds himself at a local ramen place, having a quick bite and trying to sort out the earlier events.
'Maybe I'm just thinking about this too hard,' he ponders. 'After all, he did mention that it was after five o'clock. Maybe it's a standing company rule that after hours formalities go out the window. I mean, when Shibuya and his boss, Mr. von Bielefelt, were joking around last night at Shibuya's cube, Mr. von Bielefelt called Shibuya 'Yuuri' and Shibuya called him 'Wolfram'.
'Yeah, I'm just getting bent out of shape for nothing.'
Satisfied that he's solved the mystery of the CEO's unexpected familiarity, he devours the rest of his meal and heads home.
A/N: No actual plans to crossover Kyo Kara Maoh, but you never know...