Fate: Ahem. Apologies for the wait. I'm updating on my roomie's computer. IoVc3 will be going up soonish, and then I'll get cracking on new material. Sound good to y'all? It does? How convenient. Oh, and in case you didn't know, none of this is mine. Except Lupita and Ruoko. Borrow them if you like, but ask first. And on with the fic!
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"I think that by now I'm owed an explanation," Mokuba said politely after the rep had vacated the premises and the mansion had returned to its normal procedures.
Seto glowered at him, wondering why his brother wasn't choosing to give him a break between tasks. This was followed with him heaving a sigh and dropping into one of the armchairs. "So be it," he said resignedly, in the tone that usually could bring about the stirrings of guilt in a younger brother's heart during even the most adverse situations.
This time, of course, no such thing happened. Mokuba merely remained standing, his arms folded, scowling at his brother.
"Stop looking at me like that," Seto said crankily. "And for God's sake sit down."
Mokuba resentfully did so. "What happened to the control you're oh-so-famous for?"
"Out the goddamn window, otouto," Seto snapped. He rose jerkily from the chair and went to the door, closing it firmly and locking it. He then crossed the room and repeated the performance with the other door. Mokuba, having picked up on Seto's suspicion, had finished closing, locking, and shading the windows.
The younger boy turned with a hooked, charming smile that promised kingdoms in the easy glance if only his every wish was fulfilled. Seto hated that look not because it could compel him to bend to his brother's will, but because it showed that a adroit mind was at work behind those large gray eyes...a mind that reminded him of the worst aspects of himself.
"Stop that, kid," Seto said sharply.
The smile vanished from Mokuba's face, but the glow in his ice-pale eyes remained. "Your explanations are locked in with us, niisama."
Seto felt the first stirrings of fury touch the back of his mind. Mokuba was becoming rather a teenaged brat at fourteen, styling his hair in gravitationally impossible fashions, tossing out his more childish attire in exchange for suits and uniforms, and developing a serious attitude to accompany his natural manipulative self.
"Don't bait me, Mokuba," he warned.
Mokuba seemed to be about to smile. "And why not""
"Because you don't have to," Seto replied.
Mokuba blinked, then slowly took his former seat. "So if I don't have to, then you're going to be completely forthcoming with any information that I desire? I find myself not believing you."
Seto sat down quickly to hide the flush spreading across his cheekbones. "What would you like me to tell you?"
"You're asking me to bait you," Mokuba said gravely. "That's a bit contradictory."
"There is a difference between baiting me into snapping at you and baiting me into telling you what I intend to make part of your knowledge anyway," Seto answered stiffly. "Take a wild guess at which one I want from you."
About to snap out a sarcastic answer, Mokuba looked at Seto's face carefully, closing his mouth as he did so. Fear, anger, frustration, impatience, and an odd softness that Mokuba had never seen directed towards him were all written across the older boy's visage.
Mokuba pressed a finger to his lips, lost in thought as to how best to approach the subject. He finally looked up at his brother, his eyes empty of expression. "Who are they?"
"They?" Seto asked, looking perplexed.
"The male, female, or genderless entity that has captured your attention so fully these past few weeks," Mokuba elucidated. "Let's start with gender, or lack thereof. We can go to names next. Well?" he prompted.
"Male," Seto said after a pause.
"Good. Girls are annoying," Mokuba said with a quick nod and half-smile. "And if it were genderless, that would be...well, it'd be interesting. Now. Names?"
"Er," Seto stated, turning an odd shade of greenish-puce.
Mokuba pulled his knees up to his chest casually, wrapping his arms around his shins. "We'll skip that for now," he said swiftly. "So, tell me about him. How do you want to go about courting him?"
"I don't," Seto replied.
Mokuba blinked. "For God's sake, you've dated boys before."
"That's not it," Seto answered.
"Well, then what is it?" Mokuba inquired.
"The fact that I can't stand him!" Seto shot back.
"Wait a minute," Mokuba said, getting up. "You like him but you hate him."
"Not quite," Seto answered.
"You want his body but you hate him," Mokuba translated.
Seto made a face. "Kind of."
"So, do you want him or not?" Mokuba demanded.
"No!"
"Then what's your problem?" Mokuba asked.
"I want to stop wanting him!" Seto wailed.
Mokuba frowned. Then he started pacing back and forth in front of Seto. "So there's this hot guy."
Seto nodded.
"And you know you're pretty good at seducing, whether it be male or female," Mokuba continued.
Seto flushed. "That is not the sort of thing you should know about, otouto!"
Mokuba turned to him and raised one eyebrow briefly before continuing to pace. "You're not exactly a quiet person, niisama."
Seto wondered if it was possible to die from embarrassment. If so, his brother would make an excellent murderer. "Shut up!" he squeaked.
Mokuba simply kept pacing. "So that's an affirmative as well. Also, you're not the type of person to keep a relationship going for more than two months, maximum. Not at this stage in your life. Am I correct, or am I totally and utterly off?"
"You're correct," Seto said dully. "Oh, and Mokuba?"
"Yes, niisama?"
"No matter what I tell you, disregard every order for you to play with my mind," Seto said bitterly.
Mokuba looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. "But I'm not done yet."
Seto sighed and dropped his head into his hands.
"Anyway. So you agree that if you wanted to, you'd be busily charming this person to your side," Mokuba said blithely.
"I thought we'd already been over this," Seto complained.
"So if the only thing going for them is looks, and you don't want them for that, then why the hell did you ever consider them? Why, for that matter, are you still considering them?"
"I don't know," Seto said, his voice muffled by his fingers. "I honestly don't know."
"Well, look, niisama. Do you want my help or not?" Mokuba said.
Seto thought about it. True, Mokuba was being rather the little crosspatch these days. However, he was obviously going to be more coolheaded than he was, and equally obviously capable of manipulating anyone into doing what he wanted without any serious effort. The benefits of having his little brother along for the ride vastly outweighed any teenage rebellion that might occur along the way. "Yes. I want your help very much."
"Then you're going to have to give me more to work with," Mokuba said decisively. "And that means names."
"Later. Anything else you need to know?" Seto inquired.
Mokuba thought. If Seto was concealing the name, then obviously he wanted to keep something hidden from Mokuba--namely, something that Mokuba would find significant. Therefore, it was a safe bet that he knew the person in question. He refused to speculate further at the moment and instead turned his thoughts to what else he would want to know. "Where can I find them?"
"I'm not sure anymore," Seto said. "They used to be at the Kame Game Shop frequently," he said unwillingly.
"And it's my guess as to why they don't go there anymore, is that it?" Mokuba said. "It's no use in hiding names anymore. Honestly, it's actually probably worse for you to be hiding names than it is for you to tell me straight out. I mean, there's a lot of really nasty possibilities running through my mind, and I'd like to have at least ten of them canceled out by your information."
"It's going to be the worst one you ever thought of," Seto warned.
"Then that's about..." Mokuba made a show of thinking, again pressing a finger to his lips. "Um. That knocks out fourteen really scary possibilities. There's also about four less-freaky-but-still-disturbing ones that you've eliminated."
Seto stared at him. "How many creepy guys do you know who go to the Kame Game Shop?"
"Apparently a lot more than you do," Mokuba said carelessly.
"Before I answer, I have a question for you," Seto said.
"Well, damn," Mokuba replied.
"You're not straight, are you?" Seto asked.
"Indeed not," Mokuba replied. "Partially your fault, I'm sure," he added, watching Seto's reaction amusedly. "The circumstances in which you found yourself telling me about...ah...stuff certainly have given me a much...broader outlook on life."
Seto turned vaguely purplish. "I can't believe you're still bringing that up!"
"I was nine, for chrissakes!" Mokuba said. "I didn't even know you could do it with girls until a year later!"
Seto curled one hand into a fist and began smacking it on his forehead. "We didn't go all the way."
"No, you waited until I was eleven for that. And didn't warn me about your plans for that couch," Mokuba said amusedly.
"Is that why you got it changed?" Seto demanded.
"I just got it reupholstered," Mokuba said dismissively. "You're dodging the point. Effectively, but not without causing easy observation of your tactic. Name?"
Seto looked up, glaring at Mokuba through his screen of fingers defiantly. "Katsuya."
"Jounouchi Katsuya"" Mokuba said, stopping and turning back to him. "Oh, good."
"What?" Seto asked disbelievingly.
Mokuba started pacing again as he ticked off points on his fingers. "First, we don't have to have the requisite argument about whether or not he is hot. Second, he's your age, so you're not doing the pedophile thing. Third, I didn't even consider him in my list of creepy guys. He's harmless. A bit touched, but harmless. Come on, how bad can friends of Yuugi-kun be" They're all basically the same."
"But I don't want him!" Seto protested.
"Don't you?" Mokuba inquired.
Seto thought about it. "Yes. But honestly, it's like...I spend all this time telling him I hate him, then just turn around and seduce him?"
"You may have a point there," Mokuba admitted. "But frankly, I don't like it. Or I do. I'm not sure."
Seto watched silently as Mokuba kept pacing. It was an odd habit and he'd had no idea from where his brother had picked it up. It always made him feel slightly cheated.
"You like him, but you don't want to," Mokuba said. Seto considered making a snarky retort, then realized that Mokuba wasn't listening to him. "He...likes you? Dislikes you?"
"I haven't seen him lately," Seto said. "Not in a long time. He's been kind of laying low, I think."
"So he does like you. And you like him. Both of you like each other a good deal," Mokuba said. "And you don't want to like each other. I don't think this could work out. Or it could, but you'd have to work at it together, and I can't see you doing that. You're the type to chase, and so is he. You'd chase each other around in circles until one of you gave up.
Amusing as that would be, and I will certainly help you if you try it, I can't see you conceding to it...especially when you're uncertain as to whether or not you'll go after him. But still…there's something."
"Exactly," Seto said, feeling relieved.
"I think I'm going to need to make a flowchart," Mokuba said thoughtfully.
"Why don't you just go with that I don't like him?" Seto asked testily.
"I will," Mokuba said vaguely. "Now what are we going to do?"
"I am going to go upstairs," Seto said, rising. "And I'm going to go online for a few hours."
"You mean all night?" Mokuba asked.
"Quite," Seto said as he moved to the door. He rattled the handle, then cursed. "Dammit! I locked the doors," he complained, feeling for the key. "Why aren't these the kind that open from the inside" What do you think about getting them—Mokuba?"
One of the windows was ajar. Seto went over and looked out. "Damn that kid," he muttered. "I thought I told him to stop jumping out windows."
*
"He likes me? Oh my God!"
Mai burst out laughing. "You have no idea how girly you sounded. Also, how in some other context, that could be taken in a way that is rather detrimental to your plans."
Jounouchi turned bright red and put his head down on the table next to his coffee.
"Don't do that, you don't know how long it's been since they cleaned the tables!" the redhead from before called over.
Jounouchi groaned and sat up with alacrity.
Mai smiled and waved the girl over. "Come over here for a minute. You too," she added to the girl's friend.
They both looked cautiously at the somnolent cashier, then helped themselves to shots of espresso and moved down along the bar.
"Is this another session of the Love Doctor thing?" the boy asked, pushing an espresso shot over to Jounouchi.
"Yes," Mai said.
"Can't help you there," the boy said rapidly, slamming down his espresso.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Jounouchi asked curiously.
"Nah," the boy said. "You're avoiding hooking up with Kaiba-sempai? Curious."
"What is?" Jounouchi asked.
"Let me introduce us first," the girl broke in. "I'm Tanako Lupita. He's Shigame Ruoko. We seem to have been included in the proceedings. Isn't this the sort of thing you want private?" she inquired.
"You heard us a few days ago and you were laughing your arses off while we played that recording of what happened today. You're included," Mai said decisively.
"Can you help me?"
"No," Ruoko informed him. "Drink your espresso."
"Yes," Lupita said at the same time. "I think perhaps we can. Ruoko-kun," she said warningly when he started to ignore the party. "We can, you know."
"How?" Ruoko asked.
"Yes, hang on, how?" Jounouchi asked.
Mai and Lupita both looked at them like they were insane. "Having two girls is better than having only one," Mai said, as though this were obvious. "Certainly that's logical."
Ruoko and Jounouchi both looked somewhat startled and irked. "That's it?" Ruoko asked.
"Yes," Lupita replied. "That is."
"What do you want to do now?" Mai asked Jounouchi.
Jounouchi blinked. "I...want to think for a while."
"Why?" Mai asked.
"He likes me..."
Lupita and Mai looked at each other. "Makes sense," Mai said. "I'll give you a lift. You're not walking."
"We'll be here whenever you come back," Ruoko said, eyeing Lupita's as-yet-untouched espresso.
"Bad Ruoko-kun. Mine," Lupita said, moving her espresso protectively. "C'mon, let's go back to the machine."
Ruoko nodded and the two scooted back over.
"Ruoko-kun?"
"Yeah?"
"What did you mean by 'curious'?" Lupita asked.
Ruoko smiled and said quietly, "Look at the farthest back table on your right, Lupita-chan."
Lupita's eyes flicked back, then over to Ruoko. "I see. Curious indeed..."
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Fluffy: Start making your guesses now as to what 'curious' means.
Cola—Yeah, we feel that way about Mai, too…
QuickSilver—Wish granted. Be happy!
Wodenschild—Apologies for the wait.
YumeTakato—Again, Mai is vastly underrated. I aim to fix this.
marthfan1102— But…but…you could write your own fic, instead of sacrificing precious ideas for me!
kimi no vanilla—Ehem. Yes. That was kind of the idea I was going for. *sweatdrop*
SweetMisery—You've killed my Ferret!
Psychopathic Sixth Grader—Aww, thanks!
Yukoma—And thank you too!
Liviana—Dingdingding! You win! Um. You were the only entrant, so um…I wanna write you a fic or something. And you get a cameo. Email me at koneko_neko@kittymail.com and we'll talk, yes?
Vector&Chi—There's so many better ones, though. Check my fave authors and be impressed!
ani05tersrVIP—Heh, mind the pairing assumptions. ^_~ I like to play with people's heads and get myself into trouble. Much trouble.
Duel: Ahem. *brandishes the Stick in one hand and the Ferret in the other* You know what to do. And you know the cost. Ignore me at your peril. Love the purple button. Worship the purple button. It is an incarnation of Me. Now GO, LITTLE MORTALS!