Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks.
These tumors are "silent". S+YY, if you squint. Warning: Character death.
Winter – Part 3
T-Minus 203 - December 23
He glares at the pile on his office sofa.
'I can't believe I bought gifts for those idiots,' he grumbles to himself. 'I really am losing it. If I didn't have a reason to get rid of this tumor before, I do now. Anything that makes me do crazy shit like this has to go. I don't even remember what the hell I bought!'
He continues to fume, trying to decide if he should just chuck it all, give it to charity as a write-off or actually give the gifts to those intended.
'Hn. They'd probably drop dead from the shock. Wait that could be amusing to watch. Yeah, I'll give them their gifts for the pure entertainment value,' he decides, grinning evilly.
'Now since that's settled, back to Noah and Mokuba's gift.'
He turns back to his laptop and continues making the travel plans. After weeks worrying about what to get the most important people in the world to him for what is likely to be their last Christmas together, it just hit him.
They would go on an extended vacation, just the three of them.
And then he'd tell them everything.
Maybe.
He still wasn't sure about that part. Then again, he probably wouldn't have much of a choice. His behavior had become increasingly erratic, the insomnia was starting to drive him even crazier than he already was from the mood swings, and the rashes still plagued him, despite being on different seizure medication, his vision cut out twice just yesterday.
Not to mention falling up the stairs this morning.
Yeah. Up.
He had to tell them. Noah had already begun looking at him like he knew something.
Besides, part of the time they'd be on vacation, he'd be undergoing treatment in a new clinical trial in San Francisco, CA set up by Dr. Corey.
They'd leave January 10th and come back sometime in mid-February. He'd already talked to Mokuba's teachers and set up things to run smoothly at Kaiba Corp. in his absence. And since Noah worked for him, he could give him as much time off as he wished. He smiled to himself. This would be the best Christmas gift ever.
He'll get Yami to look after the house, with express instruction not to allow friendship girl, the Mutt, Otogi or Honda anywhere past the front room. And if anyone but Yami touched anything in the entertainment center, heads would roll!
His brow wrinkles. When had he and Yami become such good friends? When had they become friends, period? Were they friends? Or had he latched on to Yami for his own sanity as the Pharaoh tended to deal with him in a fairly straight-forward manner? And what was Yami's point anyway? Why hang around now and not before?
'Is it out of pity because he knows I'm dying? Or…or is he gloating, knowing that when I die he'll probably retain the 'King of Games' title forever?' he frets.
At that thought, he pauses in his travel plans, fingers slipping from the laptop keys.
'Maybe he's just using me to inflate his own ego.'
For some reason, thinking that Yami isn't as supportive as he's acted really bothers him. He'd gotten used to having his rival around; gotten used to bouncing treatment options off of him; gotten used to losing his composure, believing Yami would never use it against him. What if he was wrong? What if Yami aired everything to that band of losers he hung with and they sat around and laughed at 'poor, pitiful, doomed Seto'?
What if his treatment suggestions weren't to keep him around, but to kill him faster?
Something wet lands on his hand and he realizes he's crying.
Shit! Fucking tumor!
Scrubbing the tears from his face and eyes, he checks his watch to see the time in San Francisco, which he'd programmed in after the last visit. He'll call that doctor tomorrow and cancel everything. He wouldn't be some lab rat so that Yami and his friends could laugh about him after he's gone. Fuck him! Fuck them all! He'll die with dignity!
He'll go on vacation with his brothers and let the servants take care of the house.
Fuck Yami!
Stabbing his intercom button, he orders his secretary to cancel his lunch date -
"Not date! Plans! Lunch plans with Yami Mutou! Cancel them!"
"Umm, yes sir, Mr. Kaiba."
He sits back in his chair with a huff.
'There, that's done! Shit! Now I have to change my vacation plans again! Fucking Yami! Shit! Now my head hurts!'
Reaching in the right hand desk drawer, he grabs the bottle of pain killers, dumping two in his hand and swallowing them without water.
"Fucking Yami," he grumbles, throwing the bottle back into the drawer.
Closing his laptop, he leans back in his chair and closes his eyes, forcing himself calm.
Five minutes later, he re-opens the laptop and starts working on something company related. He'd change the travel plans later. Maybe. Why not go to San Francisco anyway? It's a great city. And neither Mokuba nor Noah had seen it yet. No, he'll just leave the trip alone. Try as he might, he can't help but feel a little sad losing at least the illusion of a friend.
He stops typing and leans back in his chair, steepling his hands to gaze at the mound of gifts again. If he wasn't going to deal with Yami anymore, then he shouldn't give out those gifts either. Not even for the entertainment value. He sighs to himself, momentarily at a loss.
"Are you better now," a familiar voice inquires behind him.
Whirling in surprise, his eyes widen at the sight of Yami casually leaning against the tinted window, arms folded.
"You…! How the hell…! How long have you been here!" Seto sputters.
"I helped you bring the gifts in," Yami replies calmly.
"You helped…? But…? What time is it?"
"4:30."
"What? No, that can't be right. I haven't…I cancelled lunch, so it has to still be morning."
"We got back from lunch and shopping at 2:15. We talked for a minute or two about where you wanted to go for dinner, and then you started looking at the gifts and spaced out for about an hour. Suddenly you started typing on the laptop and smiling, and then stopped abruptly, frowned, started crying, and cancelled our lunch plans. You took some pain killers, mentioned me, paused for a few minutes, typed on the laptop some more, and then went back to looking at the gifts."
Seto falls back in the chair again, shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Gods, Yami. I'm losing time now. I don't remember anything after coffee this morning until seeing those gifts. This is fucked up."
Yami pulls a chair over and sits next to him, quietly placing a hand on top of one of Seto's, offering a smile of consolation.
'Hn. I guess I really do have a friend,' Seto admits.
T-minus 192 - January 3
Christmas turned out better than I'd imagined.
Although none of the losers dropped dead from shock. Pity. Hn. I guess that would have put a damper on things, though.
Mokuba and Noah were speechless when I gave them their gift. When the shock wore off a few hours later, Mokuba came crying into my arms. (I know it meant much more to him than Noah.) He didn't care that we were in the middle of dinner at the time. We had to excuse ourselves for a while until he calmed down.
I also managed to shut the Pharaoh's mouth with my gift. I knew he had a thing for armbands, so had a pair custom made in solid gold; one with his true name, Atemu, in ancient Egyptian and one with his adopted name, Yami, in modern Egyptian.
I don't know what emotion was flashed in his eyes when he looked at me, but I knew I'd done something special.
Making my brothers and Yami happy put me in such a good mood that I let the losers stay over after dinner.
Of course, no one but Yami was allowed past the bottom of the staircase. After all, I couldn't allow my home to get infested.
I'd have probably had to spray for fleas if the Mutt had come upstairs. HA! HA! HA!
Yami I let stay the week, sending him home after New Years'. By that time we'd gotten sick of each other.
Actually, I'd just gotten sick of him beating me.
Fucking 'King of Games'.
Oh, what did Yami get me? Three days after New Years', he handed me a package with a large sticker that said 'Do Not Open until Christmas.' I glared at him.
"Now you have even more incentive," he'd smirked.
Cocky bastard. I'm going to live just to shove it in his face.
And to find out what he got me.
I hope its non-perishable.
It better not be that five pound chocolate bar he knew I wanted.
Wait, I finished that off last week. Mmm. Tasty.
T-minus 187 - January 8
Crimson eyes glitter over flushed cheeks and a smile of pleasure, sultry voice encouraging him, hands gripping his shoulders tightly, legs wrapped around his slim waist.
"Yes, Seto! Just like that! Ahhh! Right there!"
"Yami," he growls, losing himself in those crimson depths.
'So close,' he breaths to himself, absently grasping Yami's stiffness and pumping hard.
In a matter of moments, Yami erupts all over his hand, crying out Seto's name and gripping his shoulders hard enough to leave fingerprints.
'So, so close,' he pants, closing his eyes and biting into a bronze shoulder, both hands now gripping Yami's waist fiercely.
Losing the quick, deliberate rhythm he'd established earlier, his thrusts become more and more erratic until he explodes inside the tight passage.
He wakes with a start, sweaty and sticky.
'Hn. Definitely spending too much time with Yami if I'm dreaming about him like that. Must rectify that situation.
Throwing off the damp covers and slipping out of the sticky boxers, he heads for the shower.
As the water rinses the shampoo from his hair, he remembers that he, Mokuba and Noah will be leaving in two days, so the situation of too much time with Yami would rectify itself; for a little while at least.
Yami would meet them in San Francisco in two weeks. Seto had asked him to come while he under goes stage one of the clinical trial. Not that he really needed Yami's support, he simply figured Noah and Mokuba would want to talk about it since he hadn't planned on telling them anything until the day they arrived in San Francisco. Seto knew he'd be in the hospital overnight and that would give Yami plenty of time to explain everything to them.
Seto had told Yami about the laptop, the disks, the videos, Mokuba taking over Kaiba Corp., the memorial service; all of the plans made in preparation for his death. He hadn't meant to, but he'd had another behavioral out-of-body moment during a chess match and spilled everything. Thankfully, though they were sitting in the game room at the mansion, both Noah and Mokuba were out and didn't hear anything.
T-minus 120 - March 20
These treatments suck.
I've been practically living in the hotel bathroom these last two days. Noah decided to take this leg as Yami and Mokuba had each done two and he'd only done one.
Shit.
I hate being dependent on people. This shit better be worth it.
Two more treatments to go and then we just have to wait and see.
