Chapter 19: Summer Plans

Seto was having a hard time feeling excited about Mokuba's return home with Joey in his home. The two twenty-somethings sat across from one another in the living room. Neither man wanted to look in the other's direction and it had been a while since either had spoken. Joey slipped his phone out of his pocket to check the time for possibly the tenth time in the last fifteen minutes. He felt the urge to text Serenity and ask about her ETA, but he also knew she was driving and wouldn't be able to text him back. There were very few situations that made Joey feel truly uncomfortable and one of those situations happened to be awkward silence. Seto's presence was possibly making it worse for Joey, too.

"So… while we're here," Joey blurted out, unable to remain silent for much longer, "Do you want to talk about the competition? It's been a while since we last talked about it."

"Absolutely not. You didn't tell Serenity, did you? Besides, I thought we were taking a break from that so what's there to talk about?" Seto replied without making eye contact. His eyes were watching for the foyer; at any moment, Mokuba and Serenity could walk in and overhear their conversation.

"Serenity doesn't know about it, don't worry."

"Good. Speaking of Serenity, we'll have to talk later about this 'friend situation' with Mokuba," Seto said, his eyes remained fixed in the same place as they were before.

"What situation is that?" Joey asked.

"The fact that they're friends. Serenity doesn't need to give Mokuba a ride home. Mokuba knows he can call me if he needs a ride."

"I don't think you have to worry about that. For one thing, Mokuba is in college now and it's highly uncool to get rides from family to or from campus. For another thing, Serenity is in her last year of university, remember? Once she graduates, she won't have anything to do with someone who's still in college," Joey said, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes, "Besides, she told me she would never date a freshman."

"Wait, so you've discussed dating Mokuba with her?"

Joey opened one eye to look at Seto, "You're not the only brother that thought about the worst-case scenario. I had to be sure for my own sanity that they were just friends."

Seto crossed his arms and legs, turning his full head to the door. As annoying as Joey was, Seto was relieved to hear that they could agree when it came to their siblings dating one another. Seto wasn't sure how he would've reacted to such news, let alone what he would've done. The first thought that came to Seto's mind was pulling Mokuba out of university completely, but he knew that wouldn't go over well with his brother. Seto felt his blood pressure rise just from the thought of Mokuba and Serenity dating; he had to put it out of his mind in order to calm down. After all, there was nothing to worry about—Joey confirmed that it would never happen.

Just then, the front door opened, causing the brothers to leap to their feet.

"Nii-sama!" Mokuba exclaimed, flinging off his shoes by the door and running straight into Seto's arms. Seto's smile stretched across his face as he closed his eyes and hugged Mokuba tightly. After a few moments, Mokuba asked, "Are you happy I'm home?"

"You bet! I've been excited all summer," Seto replied, his eyes still closed, and his arms still wrapped around Mokuba. For a brief moment, Seto forgot about how painful and lonely the past couple months had been since Mokuba left. Holding his little brother made him feel as though everything had gone back to the way life was and the way life, according to Seto, was supposed to be.

Mokuba chuckled, "I can tell because I can barely breathe!"

"Oh, sorry about that," Seto immediately released Mokuba and looked up to see Joey and Serenity grinning at their reunion. Seto felt a tinge of embarrassment but not an overwhelming amount. It wasn't necessarily that he was embarrassed for himself but more that he was worried that he may have embarrassed Mokuba. Seto looked over at Mokuba's smiling face and determined no harm had resulted from the embrace.

"The first semester is always the hardest; I remember it like it was yesterday," Joey said, giving Seto an empathetic nod.

"Speaking of semesters, has Nii-sama agreed to hosting Serenity's party yet? It's gonna be so much fun!" Mokuba replied, "Serenity and I were discussing themes for the party on the drive down."

Seto's smile disappeared within milliseconds. "I just got through telling Wheeler to forget about it. Why does the party have to be at Kaiba Mansion anyway?"

"Because we have this huge mansion that we never do anything fun with? Come on, Nii-sama, you know you don't care if a party happens here."

"Since when did I have to treat Wheeler like a game show contestant that won my mansion for a day?"

"It's not about Joey, it's about Serenity! She's really helped me out with my fall semester planning and…" Mokuba paused, as if picking his next words very carefully, "I know if I host a party for a senior at my school, it'll boost my social status on campus. So… technically the party is for Serenity, but it is also for me, too. Does that mean you'll say yes?"

Seto was stumped and Mokuba knew it. The CEO was mentally prepared to say 'no' to every scenario imaginable, but he didn't know how to say no to his little brother. Seto sighed and Mokuba grinned—Serenity was going to get her party. Seto sighed, "Fine, the girl can have her party at the Kaiba Mansion, but I don't want to plan anything for it, and I don't want to attend. Those are my terms; are we clear?"

"Yes, thank you so much!" Serenity and Mokuba said at the same time, jumping up and down with excitement.

Mokuba ran over and gave Seto another hug, "You're the best, Nii-sama!"

Seto returned the hug, knowing full well that the earlier display of affection must've been related to the party request. At the same time, Seto didn't care. Mokuba knew he could always get his way and, frankly, it was true. In Seto's eyes, Mokuba deserved everything, even if that meant hosting a party for Joey's sister.

"Well Serenity, you wanna head home now that the party is settled?" Joey asked.

"Actually, Mokuba and I were thinking about driving around Domino City and maybe grabbing dinner downtown," Serenity said as Mokuba walked back over to her and their hands became interlocked. Seto and Joey's eyes were glued to Mokuba and Serenity as they continued to stand next to one another, holding hands.

Joey pointed at his sister, "What's going on here? What are you doing with your hands? Why are your hands touching each other like that? I'm very confused." The volume of Joey's voice became louder with each question and his speech became faster. Seto was completely silent, waiting with bated breath as to what Serenity's response would be and questioning his initial thought that Mokuba could and should always get his way.

"Oh, did I not tell you? Mokuba and I are dating now."

And with that, Mokuba turned his head and gave Serenity a little kiss on the cheek. Joey's eyes became wide and he suddenly felt the urge to vomit. He kept thinking to himself that there was no way this was real, but there they were… holding hands and now the image of Mokuba kissing Serenity on the cheek would be ingrained in his mind forever. Joey immediately started thinking about the possibility of hiring a hit man, but not a real hit man, just some sort of relationship hit man. Someone specifically hired to break people up. Was that a thing? Could he do it without Serenity knowing? And Joey knew he didn't care how much it would cost, as long as he didn't have to sleep at night wondering if he and Seto would have to spend the holidays together.

"Are… you… what…?" Joey spoke, but only every other word came out of his mouth and nothing was making sense. Joey stopped speaking, suddenly feeling dizzy and overwhelmed with nausea. Joey thought about the past and the couple of times Tristan expressed interest in dating Serenity. Then there was that one summer Tristan actually asked Serenity out. Joey beat Tristan up so badly that they stopped talking for nearly six months and Joey thought they might never be friends again. Now Joey was contemplating conducting the same course of action while considering the fact that Seto might actually murder him if Joey laid a hand on Mokuba. So many thoughts, memories, and decisions were whirling around in his mind, to the point where Joey knew he couldn't keep himself from barfing for much longer.

"Joey, are you okay…?" Serenity asked, letting go of Mokuba's hand and approaching Joey.

Joey's face was pale white, and Serenity was concerned by how quickly her brother's face changed color. Joey whirled his body around and ran to the nearest sink—the kitchen sink. Within seconds, he was uncontrollably vomiting.

"Um… Nii-sama?" Mokuba cautiously asked, realizing that his brother hadn't made a movement, not even blinking his eyes, in about five minutes. Seto's eyes seemed to be staring directly off into space with color vanishing from his face at a rapid speed. "Nii-sama, are you okay? Have you even taken a breath?" Mokuba asked, running over to his brother's side, and becoming increasingly concerned with Seto's silence. Mokuba became overwhelmed with worry and grabbed Seto's arm; he had never seen his brother like this before.

Seto could physically feel Mokuba grab his arm but Seto's mind continued to be somewhere else. He was far too preoccupied to respond—the CEO was currently watching his life flash before his eyes and it was terrifying. Seto saw birthday parties and graduations, he saw himself getting married and his younger brother too; in every memory, Joey was there. Seto's jaw dropped when he wondered when exactly Mokuba and Serenity started dating and did that mean they could've slept together already? Seto was in disbelief by every aspect of this recent discovery but nothing shook him more to the core than thinking he might be the only virgin between the two Kaiba brothers.

"Nii-sama, I think you should take a breath. Can you take a breath? You're really scaring me!" Mokuba exclaimed, shaking Seto, "Besides, Serenity and I were only joking! We're not actually dating. We just said that to get a rise out of you two."

For a split second, Seto seemingly snapped out of his trance and looked down at his brother to ask, "Do you mean it? Were you just joking?"

Joey, who was still hovering over the sink after vomiting moments earlier, turned his head, "What? Are you being for real right now?"

"Yes, we mean it! We promise we aren't dating—it was just a joke. I'm sorry we tricked you," Serenity quicky replied with remorse and continued, "Now please tell me you'll be okay, Joey. We really didn't know you guys would react this way."

Seto stood up straight and turned his head forward, appearing as though nothing had been wrong for the last couple of minutes. "Great to hear! Now if you'll excuse me…" Seto marched forward to the nearest bathroom on the first floor. For the first time since Mokuba called to say he was driving down, Seto's mind was completely blank. Seto considered this a victory, as if all of his despair disappeared instantly. The moment Seto grabbed the doorknob to the bathroom, however, Seto's vision went black and his body plunged forward.

-YGO-

Seto groaned as his eyes began to slowly open. He observed his surroundings with caution and was relieved to see that he was seated in the living room of his own home instead of a hospital. Seto looked down and saw his arms by his sides, realizing he was sitting upright on the couch. Seto lifted his head and felt a bag of ice slip off the side of his head and roll off his shoulder. Seto let out another groan before rubbing his eyes. He was having a hard time grasping the last memory he had before everything went black.

"Hey Nii-sama, how are you feeling?" Mokuba asked, walking over to Seto with a glass of water in hand, "Are you up for drinking some of this?"

"How long was I out for?" Seto asked, taking the glass from Mokuba's hand and taking a small sip.

"Just an hour or two. Joey and Serenity helped me bring you to the couch and then they left. They figured you wanted to be left alone."

Seto winced and put a hand to his head. There was a small but pronounce bump on his skill where the ice had been placed before it rolled off. "You hit your head pretty hard when you fell, but I didn't think it was serious enough to bring you to see a doctor. I did send some pictures to Isono and called him to make sure, though," Mokuba added, picking up the bag of ice and placing it back on Seto's head.

"It's starting to come back to me what happened…" Seto said slowly, adjusting the ice on his head.

Mokuba got up from the couch and stood opposite to Seto, "I'm so, so sorry about making that joke. Serenity and I thought it would be funny! We had no idea you and Joey would have such a reaction."

"Yeah, let's just try and avoid jokes like that in the future, okay?" Seto said, "Of course you and Serenity dating would've been my number one nightmare coming true, but I do hope that, when and if you're dating someone, you would tell me right away. You would, right?"

"Of course, Nii-sama," Mokuba replied, sitting back down next to Seto and giving him a small side hug, "You're the first person I would call when that happened."

"Good to know." Seto smiled and ruffled Mokuba's hair.

"Would it be cool if I dated other people in Joey's family, as long as they were distant? Like his cousins or something?"

"Mokuba, so help me, I'll set up a DNA screening process before allowing you to date anyone if you keep making these jokes…" Within seconds, the two Kaiba brothers laughed simultaneously. Even though Seto's head was still throbbing with pain, it felt good to laugh and even better to laugh with Mokuba. Despite the prank, Seto was happy to have Mokuba home.

-YGO-

A/N: Well, this chapter took longer than expected! I'm also not sure how I feel about the ending, but I was more focused on getting this posted than anything else. If you notice a drastic change in style between the first half of the chapter and the second, it's most certainly because I wrote them two months apart. I don't know what happened! I was on track and ready to get back into my monthly routine but everything going on in the world distracted me, I suppose. I'm hopeful to jump back into my regular posting routine but I'm not making any promises. Anyway, I hope you're all doing well and staying safe! Thanks for reading.