Seto and Mokuba climbed into the back of the limousine. As they started on their journey home, Kaiba felt relieved. Now that he actually had a name for what he was facing, he felt more prepared to tackle the issue. He was going to do some work on his laptop when his little brother laid his head in his lap, yawning. He stuck his thumb into his mouth (Kaiba mentally kicked himself for not bringing the pacifier with him. He should have known that after all that poking and prodding Mokuba would be exhausted.) and went to sleep in his brother's lap.
"Goodnight, Mokuba." He said, quietly.
"'Night, bubba." Came the contented sigh.
Kaiba stiffened in his seat. If he had been standing when that had happened, he likely would have fallen over. It had been at least six years since his brother had called him that. Frankly, he was surprised that Mokuba even remembered that. He had been so young when he had called him that particular name. Maybe he was able to remember more of his early childhood now, Kaiba mused. But, with a shrug, he dismissed the idea and started trying to come up with new solutions to deal with his brother's incontinence, but came up with nothing new.
When they pulled up to the manor, Seto collected his brother in his arms and took him upstairs. He checked first that Mokuba's diaper was dry (it was) before taking off his shoes and tucking him into bed. He gently pulled Mokuba's thumb from his mouth and replaced it with his pacifier. He watched as Mokuba unconsciously reached for his bear and got it into his arms, snuggling it gently. It made Seto smile. In that moment he looked more like a two year old boy than a nine year old.
It was that thought that made Seto pause. In an instant he flashed back to all the regressive behaviors that his brother had been exhibiting the past week. Maybe that was what he should be worrying about now that his incontinence had been diagnosed properly and (sort of) treated. He decided to go with that new train of thought and went to his study to begin his research. He found several articles about younger children (age five or under) regressing, but was hard pressed to find anything talking about that kind of behavior in older children. From the articles he found on younger children, it seemed that their need for regression was typically a reaction to change- like a new sibling, starting school, or moving houses. There was also the possibility that it was a way of coping with something traumatic. When Kaiba looked over the flip book of their lives, he was able to suddenly understand it all with almost perfect clarity.
Their father had passed away when Mokuba was just a baby. After being pushed from home to home with their relatives for two years, they were shunted off to the orphanage, where he was his brother's protector and only friend. When they were adopted by Gozaburo, Seto was forced to work hours at a time without rest, leaving his little brother to fend for himself alone. When Seto had pretended to think Mokuba had betrayed him, the worst thing about it all was the terrified and heartbroken look on his little brother's face, but it had worked out in the end and he had been able to overthrow his Stepfather with his brother's help. But becoming president of Kaiba Corp had come at the expense of his time with his brother. Seto now saw that in becoming Vice President of Kaiba Corp, Mokuba had been forced to enter the real world far too quickly and at too young an age. Although Kaiba himself had flourished under those harsh conditions, he could now see the enormous toll they had taken on his little brother.
Now that things were stable in their lives, maybe he should let him slide back for a little while. Let Mokuba have the childhood he had been robbed of. Maybe he could help out now and somehow try and start to make up for all that time apart. Maybe he could finally be the father that his brother deserved. The idea was all it took for him to make a decision.
He knew what he had to do.
Affection, Love, and Sensitivity weren't exactly emotions he knew how to handle well. Sure, he had experienced them in his life, but only vaguely. No one had demonstrated those emotions to him in a long time, so naturally, he had no idea how to show them to his brother. Sure, he tried to be as nonjudgmental and nice as he could make himself be, but he knew that a lot of the time he missed the mark. But he knew that showing those emotions would help his brother immensely, so he decided to watch a few videos online to get reacquainted with the ideas.
He watched a mother play and deal with her young son through a slew of situations. The kindness and level-headedness she showed him were something that Kaiba took note of. He watched mothers to try and learn love and sensitivity, but it was watching fathers interact with their young children that really hit home for him. If regular guys all over the world could be this way to their children, then he could certainly do the same for his own brother.
He shut his laptop off and closed it, feeling a new sense of confidence. He could do this- and he wouldn't back down from this new challenge. He was, after all, a champion- and champions never backed down. He took a deep breath, and then let it out. This wasn't going to be an easy win like playing duel monsters with an amateur- it was going to be one of his biggest hurdles yet- but like every other obstacle he'd faced in his life, he was determined to knock it down.
Smiling, he shut the study door behind him and went upstairs to wake his brother up.
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