Author's Note: I'm really sorry that I haven't been updating but now I have the next chapter and a half drafted, so hopefully I'll be getting those typed up soon. I really can't believe that I've been at this so long that it's time for another Valentine's special. I'll try to write that tomorrow (oh god, today now…). It will be short, but I'll try to make it fun. I would have done that, but this chapter was already half written…so…
Anyway, I hope you all have someone to spend today with, or if you're like me you find solace in watching Bridget Jones and gnawing on a Hershey bar (my boyfriend is 500 miles away).
Disclaimer: I really forget to do these so often…I still don't own YuGiOh. Proof of this is the fact that the majority of the characters are not open about their man-love.
Fair Play
Chapter 15.5: That Chapter That Shall Not Be Named Pt I
Joey and Mokuba were still sitting comfortably in Gia's Pizza as Seto boarded his plane to Osaka. He settled himself into one of the plush seats, took a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and fastened himself in, trying to relax for take off. The jet (in no way resembling any duel monster) slowly rolled into position on the runway as Seto checked items off his mental to do list. By the time they were in the air, he was finished and was satisfied that he'd not forgotten anything, including the paperwork transferring ownership of the car from himself to Joey.
The seatbelt light turned off and he leaned back, closing his eyes. This was easily the calmest he had ever felt leaving Mokuba.
Joey felt his good fortune as he stepped into the Kaiba mansion for the second time. He was sure that as numbers go, there were few who didn't live or work in the building that could claim this privilege. He knew none of his group could, and they were the closest thing the elder Kaiba had to friends. As for Mokuba, he preferred other people's houses to his own, despite it's many attractions.
This only confirmed for Joey that money couldn't buy happiness. 'Still.' He thought, looking around. 'It can more than cover the essentials.'
On a smooth dark wooden table near the door there were two envelopes (one manila and one standard) and two folded sheets of paper (One labeled "Joey" and the other "Mokuba", both in the same neat hand). Mokuba was the first to notice that the small wastebasket by the table seemed to be brimming with the confetti of failed notes. Both boys were curious, but the pages looked so thoroughly shredded that it would be impossible to piece them back together. Instead, Mokuba handed Joey his note, read his own in silence and reached for the white envelope. With a whistle he handed it to Joey. "My brother is insane."
He also looked inside. "Or a bit stupid." Joey replied, counting out the bills. "Five hundred dollars. How the fuck long does he think he's going to be gone?"
"This should only take a day or two, especially since Seto is pissed." Mokuba paused here and Joey thought for a moment. Seto really hadn't seemed all that mad, but then again, whenever Seto had the most reason to be upset, he always seemed icy cold and calm. Mokuba continued, interrupting Joey's thoughts. "But he was supposed to take a trip there in a few weeks anyway, so I wouldn't be surprised if he took care of that business while he was there. So…five days…probably."
Joey just nodded and let Mokuba give him a mini tour of the house. Though he was impressed, he was thinking only of the note in his hand and the manila envelope, now in his backpack, making the mini coup really his. He'd been waiting for a moment when Mokuba was distracted enough to not notice him reading his note, but now he wasn't so sure he should even open it. Not knowing allowed him to fantasize about what could be on the page, rather than what was.
Mokuba led him upstairs to his room and began packing. Though Joey had never seen Mokuba's room before, he was sure that it had only in the past year or changed from the room of a child to the room of a teen. It seemed awkward in some ways, with sparse furniture and decorations, as though Mokuba was unsure of what to do with it now that it didn't revolve around toys.
Some things though, were apparently innate. Mokuba packed much of his clothing from what was scattered on the floor. Only socks and boxers came from the dresser.
While Mokuba was busy cramming as much stuff as possible into his bags, Joey flopped into the lonely mushroom chair in the corner, deciding that he really didn't have a choice but to read the note. Especially because both he and Mokuba believed that what he held in the hand was the sole survivor of an army of notes, the pinnacle of note evolution, wrought with Seto's own hands. Ok, so it wasn't as dramatic as all that, but he did believe that the shredded notes in the garbage were once meant for him. It would be cruel to let so much effort go to waste, just for his little fantasy. And reality is what we have to deal with…
He unfolded the page:
Joey,
Thank you again for watching Mokuba. I left some money so you could order food, I think it should be enough, even with the way you two eat. Please make sure he doesn't just eat junk though. I shouldn't be gone more than five days, and Mokuba shouldn't be much trouble for you. Feel free to call me if you have to.
Gratefully,
Seto Kaiba
Wow, worst letter in history. "Gratefully"? Couldn't he have ended it "yours" or something that left him with a little bit of hope? There was a post script, but it was scribbled out so thoroughly that he couldn't make it out. Seto must have not liked it, but had run out of time to write another note. So this enigmatic P.S. was all he had for hope.
"Should I bring my deck?" Mokuba asked.
"Wa? Oh, sure. I haven't dueled in a while, it'll be fun." Joey answered, not really all there. Satisfied with this answer, Mokuba again began scrambling around the room, grabbing things he might, in some strange reality, need. "Mokuba, you do realize you're not moving in with me…right?" Mokuba just laughed. "Do you want to stop and rent some movies on the way back?"
"We can just raid the collection down stairs. I haven't seen most of them."
"Sounds good to me."
Mokuba finished his spastic method of packing and he and Joey each hefted one of the bags onto their shoulders. They then chose a few movies and, after locking the door, made for Joey's shiny new mini coup.
A few blocks away from the Kaiba household Joey breeched the subject they had left to lie until now, as neither really knew how to bring it up. "If he told you in confidence, please don't say anything…but I wanted to know something about your brother…" He trailed off, knowing Mokuba would understand.
"He probably didn't want me to tell anyone-"
"Then don't."
"BUT, I think a lot less people would get together if everyone kept secrets."
Joey chuckled. "Though a lot fewer would break up."
"At first he told me he might be bisexual…but by the end of the conversation he admitted that he had never really felt anything towards women." This time the information didn't result in the death of a car, which was lucky, as Joey didn't expect that the Kaiba's had another one to spare on him. It instead hit Joey in the stomach, bursting into a tickling sensation that threatened to make him quite high. Still Joey however, he looked over at Mokuba and realized the boy wanted to say something, but was holding back.
"You ok?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
"I was just thinking, if you and Seto got together, would you be my brother?"
Joey was shocked, but grinned. "Kid, I already think of you as a brother. I'm not sure dating your brother could make me care about you more. I don't think there's anything that could."
Mokuba smiled with joy on his lips but sadness in his eyes. "I've, well…we've never had anyone else that cared about us. I guess we did once actually, but only Seto can remember our parents, I've only seen pictures and headstones."
Joey wasn't sure what could be said at this point. Nothing could heal the wound of losing someone, and nothing could bring them back. Instead, at the next stop light, he took a hand off the wheel and squeezed Mokuba's arm gently. There was a pause until they were almost to Joey's apartment. "You have family now." He said.
Mokuba smiled, then frowned. "Seto would too if he'd get his head out of his ass."
Joey smiled. "Hey, I think he's been peeking out every once in a while lately."
They laughed as Joey, with his usual luck, found an empty parking space near the front of his building.
When they entered the apartment Mokuba didn't look around in awe as Joey had at his home. It wasn't due to any lack of interesting things to look at, but rather, from being there so many times. He liked Joey's place the best of all his friends' homes. He again took in the familiar eclectic furnishings of the studio apartment. The retro fridge, the homemade curtains, the overstuffed sofa picked up from the thrift store, and most amusing to him, the TV with ancient game systems and a brand new DVD player. His apartment was a studio, on the top floor of what had once been a factory, but years ago was renovated into an apartment building. The only luxury item that had been there when Joey moved in was a large circular window complete with window seat. None of his friends had thought it looked very promising as they helped him carry boxes up ten flights of stairs (especially since this redeeming window created a draft even when tightly shut and the window seat was falling apart), still Joey loved it, and as he sometimes did with people, he saw it not as it was, but how it would be. His apartment was formerly the office suite and had a private bathroom with a shower that seemed to have two temperatures: scalding hot or a freezing cold that made testicles run for cover.
Now the place was homey, warmly lit and interesting. Joey was excessively proud of what he'd done to the place, especially in regards to his "bedroom." The apartment had no dividing walls in it, excepting the bathroom, and Joey saw the place he slept as just as private as the place he showered, if not more so. While he couldn't build walls in the apartment, he, in his usual bending the rules style, found a way around it.
Their high school had been getting rid of all of their wooden set materials in favor of non-flammable unistrut. It was from there that Joey got a portable stage, a structure about a foot off the ground, usually used in the plays to symbolize a separate room. Joey did exactly that, finding that the stage was large enough for his bed and a night stand, leaving his dresser off the riser, to the side. He completed his privacy by surrounding it all with hand painted changing screens.
And while all of this was interesting, what Mokuba loved best was that the apartment always smelled like pumpkin.
