Title: Normal life

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but this story

Summary: Normal life is treating Seto and Yugi in ways they never imagined. With two children to raise, and their own relationship struggling…can they make it through living so normally?

Rated M for future, and is a love story between Seto Kaiba and Yugi Moto, so if you don't like that then please don't read.

TWO

Seto got up before Yugi and dressed himself before calling work to let them know he'd be late. He took ten minutes to get Aemi up and out of bed and then helped her pick her clothes for school.

"I want to wear the blue shoes," Aemi complained when Seto grabbed the pink ones from the closet.

"But it doesn't match your clothes at all," he pointed out.

"Blue," Aemi said, and she wouldn't budge.

Sighing, Seto pulled down the blue shoes and got a pair of socks as well. Aemi put on the socks and shoes, but she let her feet dangle over the bed and the laces dragged on the floor.

"I can't tie," she said when Seto looked at her expectantly.

He managed to not roll his eyes and bent down, putting her foot on his knee and moving his hands slowly so she could see. "Cross the laces," he said, "loop them, and them pull."

Aemi watched carefully. When it was her turn to try the other shoe, she stumbled after crossing the laces and sighed. Her eyes filled with tears and she folded her arms across her chest. "I can't do it," she said.

Seto looked into her eyes for a moment, pushing away his need to chide, and took her hands in his own. "I'll help you," he said, placing her hands back on the laces. "Cross them," he instructed, and Aemi did. "Loop them," he said, and guided her hands, "and now, pull them." She pulled loops tightly and when Seto's face smiled gently at her, she smiled back.

"I did it!" she said excitedly. "All by myself!"

Instead of reminding her that he had helped, Seto nodded. He stood up and pointed to her backpack hanging on the door knob before helping her into it. "Yugi is still sleeping," he said for some reason. He felt the need to explain why it had been him to help her get ready. "I don't really…know what else to do."

Aemi smiled. "Now we make breakfast."

"I can do that," Seto nodded, trying to convince himself more than anything. "What do you eat? Cereal?"

"Waffles," Aemi corrected him. "I want waffles."

Seto followed her into the kitchen. He searched the cabinets for waffles in a box and came up empty handed. When he turned around, Aemi had several items on the table and was trying to crack and egg into a bowl. Sitting down beside her, he watched her carefully.

Aemi was a beautiful child. She had his hair and his serious, blue eyes. Her birth mother had been specifically chosen to look like a cross between Seto and Yugi, and he had to admit—if Yugi had been the one to give birth to this girl, she couldn't have looked any more beautiful. She had been born during a time of turmoil between her parents. Though she had been created using Seto's genes, he was not present for the majority of her first year of life.

Though Seto would never admit it, he was glad Aemi was too young to remember his absence. He had returned after eight months on his own, and Yugi had taken him back without question and without comment. Aemi had taken to him instantly, seeming to understand that he was her biological father from the start.

Bonding with the girl had never actually taken place, though Seto was aware that she was constantly watching him—copying him. He'd dulled down the cursing and forced himself to have more self-control than ever before. He wasn't sure why the eyes of one little girl could change his entire outlook, but Aemi had made him want to be better, if only for her sake.

As she grew older, Seto had found himself doing whatever it took to make her happy—vacationing at Disney Land, shopping, and once he'd even gone on a father-daughter camping trip with her Girl Guide troop (though he'd vowed to never do it again). To Seto, Aemi had completed the family he had made with Yugi, and the three of them had been perfectly happy together until a year earlier, when Kyo's existence was planned.

"You have to plug in the thing," Aemi said, and Seto's eyes snapped to hers. "You know, the thing."

"What thing?"
"The waffle thing," Aemi said, pointing over her shoulder as she stirred the mixture.

"Do you know what to set it on?" Seto asked, trying to fiddle with the machine.

"I think a thousand."

Seto scratched his head before deciding medium heat would do. When Aemi finished stirring the waffle mix, he poured it into the waffle maker and grimaced when it got on his shirt. He sat at the table while the monstrosity cooked and was joined by Aemi.

"Papa?"' she said, and he looked at her. "Do you like Kyo?"

Seto wasn't sure how to answer, so he just shrugged. "Don't you?"

"Not when he cries. I don't think I cried that much. Did I?"

"I don't remember," he lied. "Probably."

"I did not!" Aemi said, offended.

"All babies cry. It's what they do."

"Maybe the monsters are in his room now," Aemi suggested.

Seto sighed. "There are no monsters, Aemi," he tried.

"I've seen them," she insisted. "At your work…there are lots of them."

"Those are holograms."

She nodded. "I know…and scary."

Seto shook his head. "No, holograms aren't real. I program them to be scary on a computer."

"Why would you do that?" she demanded, her voice accusingly harsh.
"It's my job—I design technology to make things look more real."

"But…why?"

"Because people like to play games with holograms."

"But why?"

Seto put his hand under his chin and had a staring contest with Aemi. He knew she just wanted to be difficult and he was too tired to keep playing her game.

Aemi blinked twice during their game before throwing her hands in the air. "Waffles are burning," she said, and Seto rushed over to the counter where he threw open waffle maker and groaned.

"This is unsalvageable," Seto said. He grabbed a box of Cherios from the cabinet and sat it down in front of her. "Cereal it is."

"I like breakfast better when papa Yugi makes it," Aemi said, sticking out her tongue.

"Me too," Seto agreed.

Aemi poured herself a bowl of cereal and Seto poured the milk, watching her take a few bites. "Papa?" she said after a moment. "You need to change your shirt."

Seto looked down and realized she was right—there was too much waffle mix on it to just wipe away. He nodded and headed back up the stairs, unbuttoning his shirt as he went.

When he entered the room, Yugi was just getting up.

"Crap," Yugi said. "We're running late."

"Aemi's already dressed," Seto said quietly, removing his shirt and throwing it into the laundry. He was in the process of grabbing another shirt when Yugi's arms snaked around from behind and held him in an embrace.

Seto leaned into him without a word.

The two held their pose for a moment until Yugi heard the baby begin to cry. He passed in front of Seto for just a moment, kissing him on the lips, before hurrying out of the room in just his robe.

Seto dressed with a feeling of want—need—for Yugi, but when both the kids awake, there was nothing he could do about it. Thoughts of the janitor's closet, or perhaps even his desk at work, filled his mind and he had to shake his head to put his thoughts back on track. When he'd finished buttoning his shirt, he headed back down the stairs to make sure Aemi was ready.

Ten minutes later, Yugi met them with the baby in his arms and the four of them went to the car.

"Papa?" Aemi asked, and both Yugi and Seto looked at her. "Papa Yugi," she clarified, and Yugi smiled.

"Yes?"

"Who will pick me up?"

"We talked about this yesterday," Yugi said. "We'll send a driver to get you and bring you to us."

"Why can't you come get me?"

"I'll be working."

"And Papa Seto?"

"He'll be working too."

"Then who is getting Kyo?"

"We'll pick him up together at six."

"I'm scared of your office," Aemi said, and Yugi sighed.

He looked to Seto before an idea struck him and he smiled. "How would you like to spend the afternoon with uncle Joey and aunt Mai?"

Aemi's eyes lit up and she nodded. "Can I?" she begged.

"I'll call and ask, but they've been dying to have you over to their new place…"

By the time the car had arrived at the school, it had been decided that aunt Mai would pick Aemi up at the end of the school day. She was so excited that the daunting thought of the first day no longer plagued her.

There were dozens of parents walking their children inside, so when the car parked, Yugi got out and unbuckled Kyo from his infant carrier.

"Are you coming?" he asked to Seto, and Aemi's pleading eyes faced him as well.

Seto looked out the window and saw all the normal parents taking their normal children into the normal preschool and he sighed. Aemi's gaze wasn't giving him a choice.

"Circle the parking lot," he told the driver, and he got out behind Yugi.

Aemi grabbed his hand and pulled him inside the school and they mixed with the mass of other parents.

"This way, papa," Aemi said excitedly. "Come on!" she pulled him down a hall and into a classroom filled with tiny chairs and desks. Yugi was still behind him and smiled when Seto looked perplexed.

"Good morning, parents," the teacher smiled. "We're all excited for our first day. I thought I'd start by having the kids introduce themselves. I'd like a moment to speak to each of you individually if you have the time, so please stick around for a few minutes."

The preschool was the best in the area that Seto Kaiba's money could buy. It had been rated a top pre-school, with 87% of the students going on to be very successful later in life. Yugi had poured over brochures for weeks before finally deciding on this one. The class sizes were small—a total of eight children per class—and the teachers were over-qualified for the position. Seto had to agree: the preschool was the next best thing to private tutors.

When Aemi's turn to introduce herself came up, she had no problem standing in front of the room and telling about her favorite movies, her little brother, and her two daddies. The room fell very quiet after her introduction, and Yugi could see Seto's obvious discomfort.

It was no secret that Seto Kaiba was gay, and that for eight years running he had been in a relationship with Yugi Moto—but no one had imagined they had children together. Seto bounced on his feet, willing his escape to come faster if at all possible.

"Don't worry," Yugi smiled. "It's 2012."

Seto wasn't sure why that was supposed to make him feel any better, because it didn't, but he put his hand on his head and massaged his temple. He just wanted to shut himself in his office and sign papers all day—why was that so hard to understand?

Nearly twenty minutes later, Yugi and Seto were finally called to the front of the room. They were the last parents to conference with the teacher and the only ones left among the eight children.

"Good morning, Mr. Kaiba," the teacher smiled. "Mr. Moto," she smiled in his direction. "Aemi sure had a lot to say about you guys when we met over the summer!"

Yugi laughed, as if he'd heard the joke a thousand times before. Seto wasn't sure he liked how comfortable Yugi was in the situation—as if he'd been there, done that, before.

"I'm Miss Vale, in case you didn't remember," her eyes met Seto's a second time, and Yugi almost scowled. He didn't like the way she was looking at him. "So, every week we send the kids home with a homework packet due on Fridays. It's work they should be able to do themselves, but should they need help, the directions are at the bottom."

Miss Vale looked briefly at Yugi when Kyo yawned and scrunched up his face, but she quickly found her way back to Seto's eyes. "This year, we'll be learning the basics of reading and numbers, but from what I can tell, Aemi already knows these things."

Yugi nodded, a proud smile on her face. "She's got her father's brain," he said, nudging Seto.

Seto just folded his arms. "She struggles with Rs," he said. "And Vs."

"Yes, and with her advanced level, I'm sure those won't be a problem for her this year." Rummaging around her desk, Miss Vale came up with another paper. "We ask the parents to volunteer certain days to bring snacks into class or sign up for show-and-tell, or to have lunch with the kids…I know you're always busy, Mr. Kaiba, but it would be great if you could sign up for something."

Seto looked over the paper with a quick glance. "Yugi knows the schedule better than I do," Seto said, handing him the paper and taking the baby from his arms.

Yugi tried to hide his shock as Seto cradled Kyo, not sure if he was showing off in front of Miss Vale or if he was trying to get the attention off himself.

"Yes, of course," Miss Vale said. "Well, I ask that all the parents exchange numbers with me so that we can be in constant contact. I've written my cell number down here, and you can fill your number in on this sheet."
Yugi put down his own number, knowing Seto would want nothing to do with Aemi's school business.

"If you could get that list of sign-up dates back to me by Friday, that would be great," Miss Vale said. "But other than that, I think you guys can go."

Seto was already walking towards the door, but Aemi got up from her desk and ran to him, hugging his leg.

"I have to go," Seto said. "You have to stay."

"I don't want to be alone."
"There are seven other kids in there," Seto tried.

"They're weird."

Seto bent down to her level and they locked eyes. "We'll pick you up from Joey and Mai's house by seven," he said, and Aemi nodded slowly.

"O-okay," she whimpered. She hugged him tightly before letting go and returning to her desk. Seto left the room before she could change her mind and sighed when the door closed behind Yugi.

"Not so hard," Yugi smiled.

"Awful."

Yugi rolled his eyes and took Kyo back into his arms. "I think today will be a great day."

Seto grunted in response, but he held open the car door for Yugi to put Kyo back in his seat, and then slid in beside them.

The car was filled with an uncomfortable silence until the driver pulled up to the daycare facility. Yugi leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Seto's cheek before taking the baby inside. When he returned, the car was once again engulfed in silence.

Yugi could sense that Seto had something on his mind, but he didn't want to bring it up. Things between them had been stressful since Kyo had come into their lives only two months earlier. Neither got much sleep, and for Seto, it was a first. He had not been there when Aemi was an infant, and therefore did not know what it was like to sleep in the room next to a newborn.

The first night Kyo came home with them, Seto had sat up the whole night walking in circles with his hands on his ears. He'd eventually left to sleep in his car because he couldn't handle the crying, but after an hour he had returned and had taken the screaming child out of Yugi's arms and walked in circles with Kyo until he fell asleep.

It was the first night Seto Kaiba had ever held an infant in his hands, and Yugi could see that it had changed something in him. Their relationship was rocky—and it always had been. From their very first meeting when Seto tore Yugi's grandfather's Blue Eyes card to the day things came to a standstill between them, it was rocky.

The blame didn't completely fall with Seto. Yugi was a demanding person—he wanted attention, and he wanted things out of life that Kaiba was content to not have. Only a year after Seto had returned to the duo of Yugi and Aemi things had fallen apart again: Yugi wanted to live where he would be more accepted, and Seto liked his Domino City high rise. They had argued for month about it until Yugi packed his bags and had his foot out the door before anyone knew what was happening.

Seto followed a week later, and no words were spoken about the incident. And besides, Vancouver was just as beautiful as Domino City. And it was the perfect location to set up the new Kaiba Corps headquarters. And to be honest, besides family, there wasn't much either of them missed about their old home.

Their relationship rocked more during very stressful times at work—particularly when Seto was putting out a new product. He put his heart and soul into everything he did with his company, and sometimes it wasn't enough. Though his products were working great recently, there had been a period when things weren't going his way and he slept with his back to Yugi.

It was hard to please Seto Kaiba when the man could just buy his happiness—but when his relationship with Yugi began, he quickly realized that there was no buying affection. His feelings had to be genuine, and it had been the most difficult thing for him to show that he cared at all.

Yugi smiled when Seto's eyes met his. He didn't expect a smile in return, and he didn't get one. He was content with it as well—Seto could not change overnight, and probably not even over a thousand nights. But Yugi could tell: Seto was changing. He had a family—something he had never had before—and he had a lover, also something he'd never dreamed of having before.

"I'm happy," Yugi said, though his eyes widened when he realized he'd said it out loud.

Seto looked at him with a questioning stare. "Why?" he finally asked.

"Because you're everything I ever wanted."
Rolling his eyes, Seto positioned himself closer to Yugi's side and their fingers touched. They did not cross, but they touched. And the rest of the ride was made in silence.