Author's Note: This chapter seems kind of filler-y. It's okay, though, because it's something, right?

Chapter 10

Joey frowned and poked his mate's side. "Have you gained any weight?"

Seto flinched. "Ow. I don't know. Maybe. Why are you poking me like that?"

"'cause I'm tryin' t' see if ya gained weight, skinny-minnie."

The brunet scowled at him. "I'm not skinny."

"You're skinny," the blond stated firmly.

Rolling his eyes, the older boy looked up at him with obvious annoyance. "Joey, I've been bedridden for a week with nothing to do but eat your soup, read my book, and take a bath. When you let me. Which is not often. I'm pretty sure that if I were skinny—which I am not—that I have certainly gained a few pounds."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Joey muttered, mostly to himself. He stroked the brunet's side for a moment, then smiled and leaned toward him.

Seto tilted his head up for a kiss and smiled as well, taking a playful nip at the blond's bottom lip. He reached up to dig his fingers into the black dragon's hair and whispered, "I can't wait to show you what I read about."

The blond couldn't help but smile bashfully. He was looking forward to it, too. He just wished he could get Mokuba out of the room. He was gaining weight much faster than his brother, but he was still listless most days. He didn't know what to do and Yugi had had no ideas either.

He wanted to follow his instincts and just smack the younger boy around until he bucked the fuck up, but he was certain that Seto would be quite displeased with that idea. He grimaced. He could imagine Seto being so displeased he might hit him back. Seto's punches could hurt.

…He'd punched him off of the bed when he'd tried to get his hand down his pants a few days ago when Mokuba was sleeping.

"…What's that expression for?" Seto asked after a moment, puzzled.

The blond laughed nervously. "Uh—how's your back?"

"…It's fine. Yugi said I should be able to be up and about now, even though my wings will ache from trying to stay still. I have to rebuild some of the muscle in them anyway." The white dragon narrowed his eyes skeptically. "…What was that face for?"

"Do you want some pancakes?"

Seto threw his hands up in frustration and turned to flop face-first into his pillow. "Agh!"

Joey frowned. "Ya don't want pancakes, then?"

"You're impossible."

"With eggs?"

"I can't believe you're doing this to me."

"I could make some bacon, too."

"Mates are supposed to share things."

"And tons of maple syrup?"

Seto heaved a sigh, then sat up, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "That breakfast sounds nice." He paused, then slid his tail around the blond's waist and yanked him around to his lap. "Come here."

"Waugh!" The younger boy yelped and looked up at him in surprise, eyes wide. "Jeez!"

"…You've got a beautiful face," Seto stated after a moment, then leaned down to kiss him.

Joey mewed in surprise as he felt the brunet's hand digging into his hair and whimpered quietly, wrapping his arms around his neck as he arched against him. His toes curled when the white dragon's other hand slid down to claw at his scales, and he moaned loudly.

The brunet broke the kiss and smiled at him. "If you go make breakfast, I'll go get Mokuba out of the bathtub and we'll meet you in the kitchen. It'll probably take us a while, but that should be just enough time to get all of your cooking done."

The younger boy giggled quietly and pulled him down for another kiss, mewing in disappointment when the brunet broke it again. "Oh, alright, fine." He nuzzled his neck gently and sighed when he felt the white dragon's hands slide up and down his back. "Mm, so cold…"

"Too cold?" Seto asked in concern. "Maybe we could—"

"'m fine," Joey groaned. "Just impatient!" He poked the brunet's chest angrily. "Ya read that book and ya keep hinting at all of these wonderful things AND I WANT THEM and ya won't lemme have 'em because ya don't wanna disturb Mokuba!"

The white dragon paused. "…I suppose we have time to do something quickly—"

"I don't want some stupid quickie! I wanna be pampered, ya stupid jerk! This is my bed and I can't even have sex in it!"

Seto stared at him a moment before smiling a little. "I'll talk to Mokuba and we'll figure something out, okay?"

Joey couldn't bring himself to be mad when the brunet smiled at him like that. So he punched the pillows before he stood, grumbling to himself. "Asshole, bein' so sweet and nice I can't stay mad at ya. I hate when ya do that. Fuck you, I'm gonna go make some pancakes. THE BEST PANCAKES IN THE WORLD AND YOU WILL LIKE THEM."

The brunet watched him go, frowning. "…If they're the best pancakes in the world, why the hell wouldn't I like them?"

Joey paused in the doorway, then scowled and continued stomping out. "SHUT UP."

"…Well. Okay then." The white dragon blinked for a moment, then stood, grimacing when his wings twitched. He had to keep them still. He had to let them heal.

He took a deep breath before walking into the bathroom, pausing to lean in the doorway as he watched his brother play with a rubber toy he hadn't played with for years. He hadn't realized he still had that silly rubber duck until Joey had walked in with it, explaining that Mokuba had asked for it. Apparently he'd left it in the castle rather than take the embarrassing child's toy to his own den, for fear someone would find it and laugh.

Kneeling beside the tub, Seto took the rubber duck from his hands, frowning a little when the younger boy allowed it. He remembered when his brother was much younger, after their parents had died, and he'd give him baths. Mokuba had never let him take the yellow toy away.

"Mokuba."

Mokuba sighed, then slowly looked up at him. "Yeah?"

Seto's frown deepened. "You can't keep doing this."

The younger dragon sighed again. He sighed a lot now, the brunet noticed sadly. "…I just don't want to deal with this anymore, Seto."

The older boy sighed as well, brows furrowing together, then reached out to place his hand on top of his head. "Mokuba, I'm only going to say this once. Joey and I are giving you the chance to work through this here, where it's safe. If you don't, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave, and I really don't want to do that while you're in such a delicate state."

Mokuba had a split second to look up at him before the brunet gripped his hair tightly between his fingers and shoved his head under the water. "AGHBLRGHBLBLBLB!"

Seto held him down a few seconds longer before dragging him back up by the grip on his hair. As his brother coughed and spluttered and gasped, he stated, "As far as I'm concerned, this is just a visit. You moved out, disowned me, and made an apology that we both knew wasn't enough. Your possessions are still at your den, not here. Joey has been very patient, but you are keeping me from pleasing my mate and I would like to fulfill my duties as sire."

The younger boy continued to gasp, eyes red and watering from the soap in the water as he coughed a little. "Seto-!"

"You said you hated me. I said I forgave you, but we both know that it would take some time for me to actually feel like I'd forgiven you." Seto paused. "Close your eyes."

Mokuba only had a few seconds to do as he was told before he was shoved back under the water. When he came back up, gasping again, he felt his brother pouring something on his head. "Agh—Seto what—"

Seto began scrubbing his hair firmly, like he had when his brother had been a small child. "You're neglecting yourself. Even when Joey hated me, I didn't let myself get into such a sorry state that I didn't clean myself thoroughly. You smell. It makes it difficult to sleep next to you. Close your eyes."

He shoved the younger boy back under to rinse his hair, then pulled him back up, scowling. "Now will you clean yourself, or do I have to do that for you, too?"

Mokuba looked up at him, brows furrowed together in confusion, but the brunet saw understanding beginning to dawn in his eyes. He hated that he had to be so rough with him, but there was no other way he'd buck up and learn better if he kept moping around.

He especially wouldn't learn if Seto kept letting him do it, either.

Seto cupped the younger boy's cheek and smiled sadly. "I can't fix this for you, Mokie. But I can help you fix it yourself."

"…I just want my Other," the younger boy whispered, voice cracking. "She doesn't want anything to do with me. Why?"

"Joey was very good at holding a grudge. It would make sense that his sister would be very good at it also," the brunet replied. "Perhaps you can ask Joey how to get her to forgive you. I know she's never going to forgive me, of course, but you had nothing to do with me at the time. …Quite literally, when all you wanted was your inheritance."

It was a low blow, but Seto was still hurting, and he wanted to make the younger boy understand at least a little of his pain. …Perhaps he was better at holding a grudge than he thought, too…

"…Would Joey help me after what I did to you?" Mokuba asked quietly, looking utterly defeated.

Seto reached out to stroke one of his wings, pleased to see that the lotion he and Joey had rubbed on them was starting to heal them. "The thing about Joey is… he's complicated. He's very good at holding a grudge, but… he will accept a sincere apology and forget about the whole thing."

The younger boy nibbled his bottom lip lightly. "…Do you think Serenity might be like that?"

"I wouldn't know. You'd have to ask Joey. I didn't exactly have time to get to know her," Seto added, rolling his eyes. Before his brother could flinch and back paddle frantically, he stated, "Joey's making pancakes, so hurry up and get clean. He's making bacon and eggs, too." He paused, then smiled a little and added, "With lots of maple syrup."

Mokuba couldn't help but smile as well when he saw the bashful expression on the brunet's face. He'd eat maple syrup on everything if he could. He wondered if Joey knew that, too.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Looking at all of the pancakes and bacon and eggs, the two brothers wondered if they'd actually taken that long in the bathroom or if they'd underestimated how good in the kitchen the blond was.

Joey placed his hands on his hips and glared at them. "Well? Are we eatin' or what?"

Seto helped his brother sit at the counter and sat down as well, immediately pulling the platter of pancakes over to pull a stack of six of them onto his plate. Then he covered the rest of his plate with scrambled eggs, placed several pieces of bacon on top of them, then grabbed the boat of syrup and began pouring it liberally onto his plate.

Joey and Mokuba watched in silence as the syrup became a puddle on the plate. Joey wondered if he should have given Seto a bowl for his food. Mokuba wondered if he should move over a little in case Seto got syrup everywhere; he'd just had a bath and didn't want to get all sticky.

The blond watched the older boy begin shoveling his breakfast into his mouth, shocked, before slowly turning his gaze on Mokuba's empty plate. After a moment, he reached over to slide two pancakes, a spoonful of eggs, and a few pieces of bacon onto it. "Here. Let's start with somethin' small for you."

"…Thanks."

Joey watched Mokuba pick up a spoon to cut his pancakes. He looked back at Seto, then sighed and narrowed his eyes at the two of them. The family he'd mated into was very weird.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Joey?"

"Yeah?" Joey asked, looking through some of the pictures in one of the Kama sutra books (unfortunately not the one Seto had read, because he was guarding it with his life so that he could surprise him). He liked the one when they were both using their mouths at the same time. He'd have to ask Seto about that one.

Mokuba frowned and began picking at a patch of scales on his tail. "…Do you think… Do you think that Serenity will ever forgive me?"

The blond lifted his hand to chew on one of his nails as he turned the page to find a position where the dominant partner thrust in between the submissive partner's crossed legs. That position looked really good, too… "What for?"

The younger boy blinked. "Well, she's mad at me—"

"No, she's mad at Seto. There's nothin' t' forgive ya for, and there's nothin' for ya t' apologize for. She's just bein' a ragin' bitch," the older boy stated calmly.

Mokuba frowned. "…Will she ever calm down?"

"She'll eventually get tired of me bein' mad and she'll come back and make some sort of half-hearted apology 'cause she thinks she's lookin' out for me." Ooh, that looked like a fun position, too! "And I'm not gonna accept it, which will get her really mad. But she's been thinkin' it's her job t' take care of me for so long that she's gonna be really pissed when she realizes that I didn't share her opinion of herself. She's gonna be in for a rude awakening." He paused, wondering if Seto would like to hold one of his legs up with his tail when they did it.

"…I can't believe you're looking at a book about sex when you're talking about your sister," Mokuba muttered, half disgusted and half impressed by the blond's tenacity.

"You're lucky I'm even talkin' about my sister. I've been horny for the last few weeks and I'll be horny for the next few, too."

Joey frowned, trailing his fingertip over the paper. He and Seto had had a quickie hand session in the bathroom, and he was still warm from it, but… he really wanted a longer time with him, even if it was just hands and mouths. He wanted time to touch and be touched without worrying if Mokuba could hear them or if he'd walk in on them. He wanted to make love with Seto instead of get just a quick hand job. He wanted to look into the brunet's eyes and feel that connection with him.

He slapped the book shut, blushing a little. He was being selfish. Mokuba had almost died and he was worried about sex.

Standing up, he brushed himself off before looking up at the younger boy and smiling awkwardly. "Well. I need t' go see Yug' for some more of that stuff t' put on Seto's wings. Help him outta the bath if he needs it, okay? He shouldn't, 'cause it's just his wings, but if he does… You've gotten a lot better. You can get him out." He reached over to ruffle his brother-in-law's hair, then set the book on the bedside table.

Mokuba watched him go, lifting his hand to idly fix his hair before his lips twitched into an affectionate smile. Joey was a good person. He was a great match for his brother. He was glad that he found his Other to compliment him.

After a few minutes of mindlessly finger-combing his hair, he stood up and walked toward the bathroom, knocking three times on the hard wood of the door. "Seto?"

"Come in."

Mokuba opened the door and couldn't help a smile when he saw his brother scrubbing his hair with a bored expression. Seto had always been the epitome of a lazy bachelor and cooking and cleaning himself had never really been something he cared about, since he hadn't actively wanted a mate. He looked kind of cute when he was going through the motions like this for his mate.

Seto paused to glance at him when he didn't say anything. "…Yeeeeessss?"

The younger boy jumped a little; he hadn't realized he'd just been standing their smiling like an idiot for so long. "Oh." He opened his mouth to continue, but had to sigh in frustration when his brother took that moment to duck under the water, rinsing his hair out.

The brunet resurfaced and slicked his hair back, then turned to look up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Alright, what?"

"Do you think Joey would let me leave?" Mokuba asked, surprising himself. He'd wanted to say he was leaving, that he'd been imposing on them for too long, but then he remembered Joey ruffling his hair and he'd felt so… warm. He didn't want to upset Joey.

Seto stared at him for a moment before reaching out for the rubber duck he'd set aside. He flung it at the younger boy and smirked when it bounced off of his head because he was too stunned to react. "He'd be torn if you asked him. He wants you out, but he also wants to take care of you. If you tell him instead of giving him a choice, it won't leave him feeling so unsure and guilty for whatever he chooses. Think about this carefully."

The younger boy watched him sink under the water again before coming back up with a bar of soap. He walked over to help him scrub his back. "If I left… could I come visit you? Would that be okay?"

"I'm sure he'd love it. I hadn't realized how bored Joey was." The brunet frowned. Joey really liked taking care of them. He almost didn't want to return to his duties as sire. "He seems like a very social person. I'm sure he doesn't like being cooped up here all the time. Having visitors would be nice for him."

Mokuba heard his brother's unspoken concern. 'I'm probably the worst mate he could have ever gotten. I'm so boring. How has he put up with me this long?'

Scrubbing the brunet's back with a washcloth and soap, he sighed. "Seto, Joey adores you. He made you a breakfast where you could put syrup on everything. I bet if you'd asked, he'd have given you a bowl of syrup and a straw."

"…I think he still gets a little disappointed with me sometimes," Seto muttered.

The younger boy knew he couldn't be swayed when he was being stubborn, so he simply sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright. I think I'll stay a few more days, just to eat some more of Joey's food, and then I'll head back to my den. I'll visit every week."

It was more than he'd done before he'd disowned him, the brunet mused with a sad smile. He sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll find a mattress… somewhere for you…"

Mokuba paused, frowning. "…But… if Joey had his own room when you first mated, where did you-?"

"I slept on that old mattress that Mom and Dad kept around for Grandma's back problem. I'd actually forgotten we still had it until I stumbled across it when I was trying to make Joey's room nice." He grimaced. "I won't make you sleep on that."

The younger boy tilted his head, frowning. "I guess I could always bring my mattress when I came to visit…"

"No, I should get another one anyway." Seto sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'll worry about it later."

Mokuba smiled a little as the brunet muttered to himself about mattresses and bird down. "Okay. …Seto?"

"I suppose I could go find someone who could… Yes, Mokuba?"

"…Are we… okay now?"

Seto looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, then sighed and turned to look down at the water. "…Yes. Yes, Mokie, I think we're okay now." He jumped a little as the younger boy threw his arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, body trembling with small sobs. "Wha—Why are you crying?! What did I do?!"

"You didn't do anything, Seto. It was all that I did." Mokuba knew his brother didn't understand when he felt the brunet's wet arms wrap around his back, fingers slowly tracing the bases of his wings because that's what their parents used to do. Seto was a much better person than he gave him credit for, and he was a horrible brother for just leaving him on his own and expecting him to be okay.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Joey walked over to the brunet and slapped some salve on the bases of his wings.

Seto immediately yelped and turned to snarl at him. "WHY DO YOU INSIST ON DOING THAT?!"

"'cause ya scared me when ya did this t' yourself and it pissed me off because you're so stupid so FUCK YOU I'll do what I want!" the blond snapped back, glaring at him. After a moment, he sighed and sagged on top of him, nuzzling into his neck as he slid his arms over his shoulders.

The older boy frowned and wrapped his arms around his waist. "Are you okay?"

"…I'm just so tired…"

Seto tilted his head to begin kissing the black dragon's neck, stroking his spine lightly before he pushed him back and looked at his face. "So go to sleep."

"I should make dinner for you guys first—" the blond muttered, rubbing his eyes. "I could make somethin' just real quick—WAUGH!" He yelped as a grip on the back of his head shoved him down face first into a pillow.

Seto kept him shoved down on the bed for several moments until the blond relaxed. "We're fine. Aren't we, Mokuba?"

Mokuba stared at him, surprised, then smiled brightly. "Yeah! We're fine, Joey! Breakfast was really filling today!"

Joey grumbled and slapped the brunet's side weakly until he was let up, taking a deep breath that didn't smell like feathers. "…Fine. If you insist."

"I insist," the older boy stated firmly.

His brother leaned in and grinned. "And if Seto didn't insist, I'd insist!"

Joey glanced back and forth between them and sighed, the corner of his mouth twitching into a tired smile. "Alright. Goodnight then." He giggled a little when the brunet smoothed his hair up so he could kiss his forehead and grabbed his hand, curling around his waist and nuzzling into his stomach. "'specially you, Seto. Ya deserve a good night."

Seto tilted his head and raised an eyebrow as the blond drifted to sleep, then looked up at his brother. "I deserve it?"

"Sometimes you have nightmares," Mokuba explained, shrugging. "I try to tell him that you don't ever remember them in the morning, but he still worries."

"I see." Seto looked down at his mate and couldn't help a smile at how sweet he was. He kissed the top of his head and reached down to scratch the tip of one of his wings.

Mokuba watched his brother with his mate and couldn't help a smile of his own. They were so good together. He was just sorry they'd started off on the wrong foot—and he was especially sorry that he hadn't been there to help his brother when he needed him the most.

He watched the brunet lean back against the headboard of the bed and doze so he didn't have to disturb the blond by lying down. They were a good match. He hoped to be as happy as they were someday, too.