Guardshipping (Isono/Kaiba Seto)
. . .
((trigger warning for self-harm and the implication of child abuse.))
. . .
"Oi," the small voice said, with a venom that didn't belong in such a young voice. "Youare in the way."
Isono blinked, looking up. He had just taken up his post under one of the windows, where he was supposed to be completing the next shift of guard duty. This was a new position from usual—he and the other security guards often complained about how paranoid their employer was getting recently, with extra shifts in places that weren't even a danger.
Over his head, a boy leaned over the balcony, a tossing a walnut up and down in his hand. He had a sort of arrogance to the way that he held his elbows on the balcony, sprawling his lanky boy to take up as much space as possible. A smaller boy crouched in between the slats, his wild black hair and wide eyes making him look like a very startled cat.
Must be Gozaburo's boys, he thought. Seto and Mokuba, wasn't it?
He had never been assigned any details in the house, and it was rumored that the adopted boys hadn't left the mansion since they had arrived, so he had never actually met them. Seto was a little older looking than he had imagined him; he wasn't much older than ten or eleven, was he?
The older boy, Seto, probably, sniffed loudly.
"Didn't you hear me? I said you're in the way."
Isono came out of his momentary surprise.
"My apologizes," he said. "What exactly am I in the way of?"
Seto raised both eyebrows and crinkled his nose, as though Isono were stupid.
"We're throwing walnuts," Mokuba suddenly squeaked, his voice thin and reedy. "You're standing in front of the target."
Isono glanced over his shoulder. There were, in fact quite a few walnuts scattered around the ground, all of them centered around what appeared to be a white stepping stone rock.
"I'd say move," Seto said. "Unless you want me to hit you in the head."
He was a precocious thing, wasn't he? Isono almost chuckled, thinking of his sister's kids. They were all alike, in some ways, no matter what their backgrounds were. Children were always children.
"I suppose I'd rather avoid that, yes," Isono said. "Getting hit in the head would probably dampen my ability to protect you boys."
He stepped over to the side so that Seto could get a clear shot at his "target." But Seto didn't move to throw. His brows had tightened down over his eyes, hand curled around the walnut so that his knuckles went white. Isono opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, if he was okay. But the boy's venomous words came out before he could speak.
"Protect us? There's nothing out hereto protect us from. Gonna fight a few squirrels?"
And then he hurled the walnut with as much force as he could muster. It actually cracked as it hit the rock dead center, and Isono felt his eyes widening. By the time that he had taken his eyes away from the stone and looked back up the balcony, Seto was pushing Mokuba by the shoulders back into the room.
He only gave Isono one last withering glare over his shoulder before they disappeared inside.
Isono stared at the window for a moment, watching the reflection of the trees bobbing in the breeze. He brought one hand to his chin to rub it thoughtfully.
"Nothing...out here?" he murmured. What an odd choice of words...
Seto was sitting on the balcony alone this time, books spread out around him and a clipboard balanced on his knees. He looked like he was going to bite that eraser off and eat it, the way he was digging his teeth into the end of his pencil.
He looked up at the sound of Isono's boots crunching in the grass, and a scowl crossed his young face.
"Homework?" Isono asked, although he had never seen the boy going to school—was he homeschooled?
"More like death-work," Seto said with that same sarcastic, venomous tone as always.
Isono decided not to chuckle at that. Seto didn't seem the type to find humor in what he said, even if Isono found his snark amusing.
"Are you planning on standing there all day again?" Seto said, glaring down at him over his nose.
"This is my current position for the next few hours, yes. That ismy job."
"Well don't let me keep you from it."
He attacked his page with an angry scribble. Isono didn't want to distract him, but he felt a little bit awkward just standing there beneath the window, silent and watchful. Security duty was different when there were people around. But, well, he'd make do.
After a few moments of standing there silently, Seto's voice broke over him again.
"What's your name, anyway?"
Isono glanced up. Seto had his face pressed between the bars of the balcony, looked down at him with those cold blue eyes of his.
"I'm Isono," he said. "It's Seto, right?"
Seto smirked, as though he were pleased that Isono already knew who he was. Then without another word, he pulled his head back from the bars.
After a few beats, Isono heard a grumble. He glanced up to see Seto massaging his fingers into his hair, glaring at his lap.
"Something the matter?" Isono asked.
"What does it matter to you?"
Isono shrugged.
"I just thought I'd ask. I have a nephew about your age—if you need help with something, maybe I could give some assistance."
Seto snorted.
"Is your nephew doing calculus cause if not, I don't think you can help with this."
Calculus? How old was this kid? Isono didn't even remember any calculus.
The silence settled back in around them, Isono letting his eyes fall back to the gardens spreading out away from the mansion grounds, thick in places with shrubbery and cleared completely in others.
Seto made another grumbling sound, and Isono craned his neck back again.
"Sure you don't want any help?"
"Help is for babies."
"Well, good luck then."
Isono's gaze drifted once more to the garden. He patted his pocket to see if his phone was still there—that gave him a thought.
"You know, there's a good website for explaining math problems. You could look it up yourself if you want to get some extra practice on your own time."
For a moment, Seto didn't answer. Perhaps he thought the internet was for babies too. The silence drug on, and Isono didn't look up. The boy was probably ignoring him.
And then, a thin, irritable voice wound down to him.
"What's the name of this website?"
When Isono reported to his position the next morning, Seto was standing on the balcony, reaching up on his tiptoes towards a faraway tree branch.
Isono swore as he saw the boy teeter forward. He bolted, just in time for Seto to squeak and try to throw his weight back the other way. Luckily, Isono had no need to catch him, as the boy managed to pull himself back enough to crumple onto the balcony instead. His heart still hammered in his chest as he darted the rest of the way to the balcony, standing up on his toes and craning his neck to see if Seto was all right.
After a few minutes, Seto's face reappeared as he sat up, his face flushed red.
"I would have gotten it if you hadn't distracted me," he muttered.
"What were you doing?" Isono said. "You could have hurt yourself!"
He stopped when he saw the sudden flinch in Seto's eyes at his tone. He drew back a little, eyes narrowing and lips parting. It was gone so quickly that he thought that maybe he had imagined it—the sudden burst of fear that had flashed over Seto's face at the snap in Isono's tone.
"Are you all right?" he said, making his voice a little softer. "Did you hurt yourself?"
Seto clenched his jaw and folded his arms, looking pointedly away. Isono waited for a few moments. After a couple more breaths, Seto's blush had covered his entire face, all the way down to his neck, and he blew out through his lips.
"I'm fine," he said. "Geez. I'm not your kid or anything."
"Yes, but your safety is technically part of my job," Isono said. "So I do want to make sure you don't break your neck."
He looked up into the tree above, frowning.
"What were you looking for, anyway?"
Seto didn't meet his eyes, letting his gaze fall to his knees. He mumbled something that Isono couldn't catch.
"What?"
Seto's face burned a deeper red.
"I was trying to get the walnut, okay? We ran out. Moki wants to play the target game again."
Isono's eyes dropped to the ground, the scattered walnuts that still littered the ground. He reached down to pick up a handful. When he stood up, Seto was looking at him again, curious, his lip poked out in an uncertain frown.
"All right," Isono said. "How about I toss these back up there for you? When you run out, I'll pick them up. That way you don't hurt yourself trying to pick more."
Seto blinked at him. He looked absolutely incredulous. Isono held up the walnuts.
"Do you want them or not?"
Seto stared at him for another long moment. Then he huffed, pulling himself to his feet.
"Do what you want," he said, heading for the door.
He disappeared into the room and shut the glass behind him, leaving Isono standing there along with the handful of walnuts.
After a few moments, he began to toss them gently up onto the balcony, one at a time.
It was about the end of his shift. He hadn't seen Seto or Mokuba today to play their walnut game, or even just to sit and do homework. Lately, it seemed like one or the other of them was always out on this balcony when he was working. Mokuba liked to chatter at him about whatever book he was reading or dream he had had; it reminded him of his niece. Seto usually "just happened" to be sitting outside the book, at least long enough to make some snarky comment.
Today, though, they weren't here. He found himself feeling a little disappointed, but, well, it was almost time for him to switch out for the next guard.
He heard the telltale squeak of the sliding door opening, and he craned his neck back to see.
After a minute, he heard the shuffle of feet, and then Mokuba appeared, pulling his small body up on the railing so that he could peer over it, eyes wide.
"I-Isono-san," he mumbled.
"Mokuba? Is everything all right?"
Mokuba looked like he was about to cry, his eyes red and his hair a mess.
"Isono-san, p-please, he's bleeding a lot."
Isono felt his heart clog the bottom of his throat. Rationally, he realized that he should probably make for the door and get upstairs that way, but the other part of him realized that if Seto was hurt, he didn't have that kind of time.
Instead, he went for the walnut tree.
This is such a security hazard, he thought as he scaled the tree and angled himself towards the balcony. It was almost just a little too far, but he managed to angle his leap right to the bottom of the balcony, grabbing hold of one of the slats and then heaving himself up to clamber over the side. Mokuba scurried out of the way as Isono got himself over the railing, then he grabbed Isono's hand and dragged him through the door into the dark room.
Isono had never seen the inside of this room before; a large space paneled with dark wood and rustic, Western style décor. He was too busy looking for Seto to be paying attention to the room, however.
Mokuba dragged him across from the balcony towards the desk. There was Seto—his head was down on the desk and his arms crossed underneath his chest. He jerked up when he heard their feet, eyes wide and wild.
"Mokuba, I told you to go to bed—when did you—what are youdoing in here?"
Isono didn't see any blood, not right away, and then his eyes cast down to the razor on the table and over to Seto's arms—
He stalked forward and released Mokuba's hand, moving beside Seto and gently taking his arms into his hands. Seto struggled for a moment, but Isono's grip was just firm enough that he gave up, tears springing to his eyes.
"How long have you been bleeding?" Isono asked.
Seto's eyes darted—Isono knew he was probably looking for an excuse for why he was bleeding. But instead of that, a different sentence escaped his lips.
"Don't tell Gozaburo."
His voice broke in the middle of the sentence, a tiny, desperate plea escaping his throat, almost unconscious. Isono looked up at him, briefly confused, lips parting.
Seto's eyes were wide and full of tears. For the first time, he actually looked like a child. He looked small. Fragile. Frightened. A "why not" was on his lips, but he swallowed it away.
There's nothing out here to protect us from."
Nothing outside the house but...what about inside it?
"I won't," Isono said. "Let's get these taken care of, okay?"
Seto tried to pull his arms away and this time Isono let him. He pressed his arms protectively to his stomach, the blood pressing into his shirt.
"How can I trust you?" he hissed. "You're Gozaburo's bodyguard, aren't you?"
"I'm a security guard, not a bodyguard," Isono said. "I won't tell him. As long as we get the bleeding to stop, and you're not in any danger, I don't have any obligation to tell him."
Seto's eyes stared up at him, frightened—unbelieving. Searching for something in Isono's face.
He is too young, Isono thought. This is wrong.
His hand shaking in spite of himself, he reached up to pull off his usually ever present sunglasses, so that he could look Seto right in the eyes.
This boy was so young—a mask of arrogance hiding the twist of terror and broken shards inside of him. The kind of boy that would almost kill himself just to get walnuts for his little brother to play with.
"I'm not a bodyguard," he said again. "But I will guard you, if you will let me."
Seto was shaking, his whole face on the verge of shattering into tears.
"Promise me you won't go anywhere ever again," he said. "Promise me."
Isono found Seto's wrist and squeezed it gently.
"I promise."
. . .
A/N: I was surprised to find this is a fairly popular ship, mostly platonically tho, which I appreciate. Next is Grudgeshipping (Pegasus x Seto x Yugi).
