I have no idea why the font's decided to change. I guess I'll just go with it. If you spot any large formatting or grammatical errors, please let me know! Thanks. BB

Once again, mine and the elder Kaiba's stamina outlasted the younger brother's. I stretched from where I'd been sitting at the table. The man and I had been shooting ideas back and forth, trying to work the kinks out of turning the long-time table top game into something digital without losing the charm of the original. "What if you used like...a dial?" I said, head on my hand. "A dial." "Like...this." I laid my iPad on the table and quickly scribbled an arched bar. One end I colored red and the other green, shading it a yellow in the center. "If you hit red, it would be like...a critical fail, where if you hit green, it would be like a critical hit." His brows lifted as he looked at my scribble. "That's an option. What's to stop a player from getting skilled enough to master it?" I shrugged. "Maybe change the speed depending on the difficulty of the task?" He hummed a bit and I leaned back in my chair in a stretch. "All this thinking has me all cooped up, I'm going to get a bit of fresh air..." I stood, joints popping a bit back into their proper places as I moved around the couch where the boy and pooch once again slept, heading to one of the panes of glass and grabbing a handle dipped into the frame. Softly sliding it open, I stepped out to the balcony attached, taking a deep breath of fresh air. It was chilly, but the cool air felt good on my skin. The sound of the door softly sliding shut had me turning to see the CEO having joined me. "I was being polite, but I came to support my bad habit." I said with a small smile as I lifted the lid off a flower pot to show an ash tray with a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Didn't strike me as a smoker." I gave a tiny shrug as I lit the end of one and put them back into the pot. "Left over habit really... used to smoke like a chimney way back when. Quit a few years ago." I leaned on the rail of the balcony, eyes out to the broad, lit city below. We were quiet a moment before I spoke. "Isn't it just... beautiful? Nothing to a pent house suite I'm sure, but still..." A soft snort left him as he leaned on the rail with me. "It is nice... Kind of surprised, usually these kinds of places can cost someone quite a bit." I chuckled. "I got a nice deal. The landlord had been trying to rent it out for months until I stumbled across it." "That's surprising." "Not really. Some old lady died in there." His gaze snapped over and I cracked a grin as I took a drag off the cigarette. "Died of old age to my understanding, just went to bed one day and didn't wake up. I guess that's a big deal here, he was desperate to let me have it." I chuckled, flicking the ash. "And you just...moved in." "He cleaned it! It was perfect when I moved in!" I said, tone betraying my humor in the whole situation. "To be honest there's some places I lived with my mother that was a whole lot worse. You'd be hard pressed finding somewhere somebody didn't die in." He snorted and I heard that low chuckle once more. "If it saves a penny right?" "Well yea." I pressed the cigarette into the pot, putting it out before putting the lid back on. "I love it here... In Domino I mean... I think Damian would too." "Has he not visited?" I shook my head, smile slowly fading. "My Dad and I... I don't know, we don't get along." "That's unfortunate." "I earned it." I said softly. "I made some... poor choices before I came here. While I view coming here as a fresh start... He doesn't. He's only looking out for Damian, but... I don't know what to do, you know? I'm not sure how to get back into his good graces." I leaned my head on the heel of my hand, eyes still out over the city. "These things take time." "I know... I just miss him so much. We spent most of our childhood apart. I was old enough to miss him...he didn't know who I was..." I shrugged. "When I turned 16, I ran away from my mother and stayed with Dad a while, that's when we bonded. Unfortunately, things just kind of caught up with me. So I left. I wasn't what Damian deserved, and I knew it. We still talked though, obviously." I sighed, and for a while he didn't respond. "Atonement... is a hard road." He said, breaking the silence. "There's been times in my climb to the top of Kaiba Corp that I wasn't sure I was good enough for Mokuba either. Decisions that, looking back I know I should have handled differently...but you can't do anything about that." His gaze flicked to me. "There's nothing you can do about what you've done, but... you can use what you've learned in those difficult times to make better decisions in the future. Through that, you get the trust back." I gave a soft smile to the man. "Thank you."

As we stepped back inside, I found the shrill sound of my cell phone had stirred the younger Kaiba from his sleep. Reaching the end table where it sat, I picked it up and placed it to my ear. "Hello?" "Jesus Milo, I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours." I flinched at the sound of my father's disapproving tone. "I'm sorry, I've had guests over... What's wrong? Is it Damian?" "No." "Then what..." "Your mother passed away last night." For a moment, I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly. "What- I mean- I don't understand... Does Damian know?" "No. I don't want to upset him." "Upset him? He has a right to know..." "That's not what I called to discuss." "Then what..." "The service is Saturday." "Saturday- Tomorrow?" "No." Then I realized they were a day behind. "Oh...Okay, I'll get a bag packed, just... can you hold the service at least? I mean, you're taking care of it-" "It's at two in Denver." "But I'm not sure if I can-" "I've done enough as it is Milo. This shouldbe your responsibility." "I know but-" "Goodbye Milo." "Wait but-" The call clicked and I swallowed the lump in my throat. "But..." I sank down on the end of the couch, staring at the dark phone. "Milo?" The sleepy eyed Mokuba looked my way, concern clear on his face. "Are you okay?" "I um... I need to go back to the States for a little while, my mother passed..." I looked to the elder Kaiba. "I may not be into work next week..." He gave a small nod and looked to his brother, who was getting up and starting to get his things together. "Kaiba Corp has full funeral leave. I'll put it in." Said the brunet, shrugging into his coat. "Thank you..." I swallowed another lump as I looked at Deezer, who was confused and unsure of why his master was so upset. "Don't suppose Kaiba Corp covers dog sitters..." I felt a hiccup slip through and coughed, leaning down to rub my face with my hands, desperate to stop my chin from trembling and my eyes from burning. "Seto..." A soft sigh could be heard before the elder brother spoke up. "Alright..." The younger brother came over and gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I'll watch him for you Milo." I looked over, and saw genuine care in the boy's eyes. "I couldn't ask you to do that..." "But I'm your friend, and friends do stuff for friends when they need it." I swallowed once more. "You don't mind?" He shook his head. "Thank you." I pulled the boy into a uncertain embrace, but the moment I felt him squeeze back, I felt relief. Pulling back as tears started to build, I wiped my eyes. "I'll um... I'll leave my key with the door man, and if you could just come by in the morning or at night, let him out and throw some food in his bowl, he'll be okay. I'll only be a few days..." "Take as long as you need, okay? Here." He reached down to my phone and typed in a few numbers. "That's my number, text me before you leave so I have yours okay?" I nodded. "Okay." He handed me my phone and stood. I looked up at the brothers genuinely thankful for them. "Thank you..." They nodded and showed themselves out.

This is a work in progress! Don't forget to favorite and review!