"Hey, shouldn't you be in school?" Dai asked as Mokuba slinked out of the elevator, digging the key to his office out of his pocket.
"I'm making up for last weekend," Mokuba grumbled, stopping at his door and unlocking it.
"Does your brother know?"
"Probably; news gets faster to him than light," Mokuba said. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Dai right then, or anyone for that matter. "But just in case, don't call him." With that he went inside, closing the door behind him and locking it for good measure. He really did intend to work, but mostly because he couldn't concentrate – he didn't want to deal with school, or Anzu asking how yesterday had gone. Then he'd have to admit that it hadn't gone well at all.
Maybe if he hadn't been so suspicious of Yuugi and Jounouchi, then he might have had fun. The other two had been in a great mood, and they were almost as excited about the party as he was. They asked all sorts of questions about what he had planned, if his brother would be there, what sort of food there would be… Normally it would have been a blast to eat dinner and bullshit with them, but the whole time all Mokuba could wonder about was what "we'll make up for it tonight" was supposed to mean.
He had an overactive imagination.
Mokuba sat down, looking over his cluttered desk. Damn it, which pile had he been working on the other day? Rather than think about it too hard, he reached for the printer and grabbed a random piece of paper, found a pencil, and settled down to begin yet another stick figure masterpiece to keep his mind busy while he waited for the answer to come to him.
Unfortunately, he was wondering about the wrong question.
"C'mon, Yuugi, one little kiss before you go," Mokuba pleaded, giving the teen his best puppy eyes.
"But we just made a deal," Yuugi reminded him. "Three years, and I'll give you the best kiss ever." He tapped Mokuba on the lips with his index finger, smiling. Mokuba blushed at the contact; he almost forgot what he was arguing about.
"B-but it's like… uh… A sample or something! You know, like samples you get at the grocery store, right?"
"Mokuba – "
"Please? I swear I won't ask for another for three whole years."
Yuugi laughed, bowing his head for a minute. "Fine," he conceded. "But just a small one. And I hope you know you're the only person I'd break my morals for." He tapped Mokuba again, this time just under his chin to make the boy look up, and gave him a chaste little kiss. Mokuba felt like he was the reddest a person could get as Yuugi pulled away. "There. Now be patient, okay?"
Mokuba nodded. "Okay."
"Oh yeah," Mokuba mumbled. That had been why three years of waiting was worth it. There had been something about that little kiss that made Mokuba feel so… warm, nice, like everything was right, or some stupid cliché like that. And then came along Jounouchi, the friend-turned-unwitting-rival… Mokuba sighed and looked down at his doodle – little stick figure Jounouchi was getting bashed in the head with a hammer by a stick figure version of himself. Mokuba cracked a little smile at the image. Now, where to put Yuugi…
"It's nice to see we share feelings about Jounouchi, but what's with this?"
Mokuba snapped up and looked back to see Seto standing behind him, one eyebrow raised as he looked down at Mokuba's drawing. "Uh, I thought that since I've been skipping so much work lately – "
"I meant the picture," Seto interjected, inclining his head toward the desk. "I thought you were friends with him."
"Well, I am, but… Remember when I told you that I was interested in Yuugi?" Seto nodded. "That's only half the story." Mokuba took a deep breath and rushed out, "We made a deal that he'd give me a kiss for my birthday, but I don't think he remembers, and I think he's with Jounouchi."
Seto's reply was instantaneous: "What makes you think he forgot?"
It was exactly the question that Mokuba didn't want to answer; he had been hoping to skip over as many details as possible. "We haven't talked about it in three years." He looked down at his drawing again, but he could feel Seto's stare on the back of his neck.
"In…" Seto moved, taking a seat across from Mokuba. "Let me make sure I follow: when you were twelve, you negotiated with Yuugi for a birthday kiss when you turn fifteen?"
Mokuba looked up at his brother and nodded. "Right."
"But you never talked about it?"
"Not really, no."
"Okay," Seto sighed. "I… Yuugi, he's… a good guy. He wouldn't change his mind without explanation, not if he made a promise. He agreed willingly, right?" Mokuba nodded. "Then don't give up to Jounouchi so soon. Wait until tomorrow before you concede to defeat. Now, if you're going to skip school, that's fine, but I'm not going to call in and excuse you unless you actually work."
"I will, but you need to call me in for tomorrow while you're at it," Mokuba said, grinning up at his brother.
"Deal." With that Seto was gone, and Mokuba looked down at the drawing. After a second he crinkled it up and tossed it into the trash can, finally starting his computer and grabbing a random pile of papers.
notes
See next chapter. XD