The flight was an agonizing thirteen hours and fifty minutes. No wonder Seto only traveled here when he really needed to.
The elder Kaiba emerged from the airport with wrinkled clothes, rumpled hair, and dark half-circles under his eyes. He reached for his phone to check the time; it was just about eight in the morning.
"Ugh..." He lifted his head and almost sighed with relief when he spotted his driver and the car. He just wanted to get to a bed.
Mokuba, on the other hand, was wide-eyed and full of energy. The teen practically leapt from the plane when they landed, startling nearly everyone in first class. Out of all the cities they traveled to for business, New York was his favourite. He even mentioned wanting to study here after graduating high school - as if he really needed further education (Mokuba argued that he just wanted the "college experience", which translated to "I want to party and meet cute girls").
"Where to?" He threw an arm around his older brother's slumped shoulders. "There's so much to see!"
"We've been here a million times," Seto grumbled as he shuffled towards the car, "I don't know why you act like such a tourist every time we come here."
"Because New York's never the same city every day!" Mokuba tugged Seto into the car. "Let's go to Times Square!"
"No. We're going to the penthouse." Seto gave the driver a curt nod, and within seconds the car was moving. Even at eight in the morning New York City was already bustling with life: impatient office employees were waiting anxiously by the street corners, waiting for the lights to change so they could get to their jobs. Street vendors selling food and counterfeit designer bags were hollering at the tourists wandering the sidewalks. Car horns and loud music pelted Seto's eardrums, and he cursed the city inwardly as he pressed the side of his head against the car's tinted window. He wanted - no, needed a nap.
"You wanted to come here early, and now all you want to do is go to the penthouse? What kind of vacation is this?" Mokuba's voice caused the older Kaiba's eyes to snap open.
"We're not on vacation. We're on a business trip."
"But we came here a week early, which means it's sort of like a vacation...ergo, I'm going to take a look around." Mokuba scrambled forward and reached over the driver's seat to tap the driver on the shoulder. "Hey, d'ya mind dropping me off someplace real quick on the way to the penthouse? No need to pick me up or anything; I'll find my way back."
At this point Seto was too tired and irritated to argue. The car veered around the corner and parked by the curb side.
"See ya later, big brother." Mokuba gave him a cheeky wink and a triumphant laugh before slamming the car door shut. "Looks like this challenge was over before it even started!"
Seto didn't have the energy to cuss him off, and even if he did he was too late; by the time he raised his head to glare at his brother one last time Mokuba had already taken off down the street somewhere - probably to find a mall or a cafe...or any other place where a lot of women his age would be congregating. The young CEO hunched over and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew he was in for a trip when Mokuba entered his teens, but he didn't expect anything like this. He figured he was doing the right thing by giving his brother the childhood he never had. Was this a divine punishment of some sort, and if it was...what was he being punished for? Seto did the best he could with what he had to raise his younger brother. Apparently that wasn't good enough.
"Sir, we have arrived."
Finally. He sluggishly tore himself from the back seat of the car and stumbled into the valet entrance of the towering apartment building, shielding his eyes from the glowering morning sunlight. Jet lag was punching him in the gut right now, and he needed to get to a bed pronto.
The elevator ride up was only a few seconds long. Fifty-four floors later, Seto Kaiba had arrived at his penthouse estate in the Upper East Side of New York City. He was here more often than all of the other cities he did business in, so buying a place of residence seemed pertinent.
The first thing he did was straggle into his room. He unceremoniously tossed his briefcase aside and collapsed face first on his bed, falling asleep immediately. He was in for a long week.
"Seto?"
"Ungh..."
"Hey, bro. Wake up." There was a soft nudge on his shoulder. "Nii-san, wake up, man. You've been out cold for hours. Get up."
The elder Kaiba lazily opened his eyes and rolled on his back, gazing blearily at a blurry outline of his younger brother standing over him. He could vaguely make out the wayward tendrils of black hair.
"Gods, Mokuba...I'm so glad you cut your hair...I was afraid I was going to lose you in that mane you were growing..." He let out a sluggish chuckle and rubbed his eyes.
"Have you gone nuts, or did being so high up in the air for the past day cut off the circulation to your brain? Seto!" Mokuba hollered, waving a hand in front of his brother's face. "Do you even know what time it is?"
At the mention of the time, Seto's eyes shot to the digital clock on his nightstand. It read quarter to five in the evening. Was he out for that long? Damned jet lag...
"What time did you get back?" He forced himself awake and rose to his feet, heading over to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He gazed into the mirror and frowned at the tired young man staring back at him. He hated traveling so much.
"About an hour ago." He heard Mokuba's voice go suspiciously low from his bedroom. "Hey, um...big brother?"
He knew where this was heading. "What is it, Mokuba?" He slowly turned towards the bathroom door and found his younger brother leaning against the doorframe with something in his hand. He squinted at it - at first he thought they were Duel Monsters cards, but he realized that they were too long and narrow in shape.
"Are those-"
"Tickets to the New York City Ballet? Why yes, yes they are! You're great at these guessing games." Mokuba chortled nervously. He only made that noise when he knew he was going to be in trouble, and boy...was he right.
"How in the world did you get those?" Seto marched over to him and snatched the tickets from his hand, quickly skimming them over. "They're for...tonight...at eight? Since when were you ever interested in ballet, and why are you trying to get me to go with you?"
"I didn't even ask if you-"
Seto threw a chilling glare, which immediately shut Mokuba up. "If you didn't want me to go, you wouldn't be here, would you?"
"Okay, okay," Mokuba held up his hands in defeat, "I got these tickets off a girl I was hanging out with earlier. Bumped into her while wandering around the city. She's cute, and she's from Russia! Kinda awkward and a little too pale for my liking, but-"
"Get to the point, Mokuba."
"Anyways, she told me she was a dancer for the New York City Ballet! Cool, huh? Aren't they, like, known worldwide or something? B-but yeah, uh, they have a sold out show tonight, and she had extra tickets 'cause her parents had to cancel on her last minute or something...I dunno, I wasn't really paying attention to her at this point because-"
"Mokuba."
"Okay, okay! She basically asked if I could come, and being the nice guy that I am...I said yes. Happy?" The younger Kaiba plucked the tickets from his brother's hands and waved them around. "We're going, and that's final."
"You couldn't find another floozy to go with you?" Seto grunted as he gently pushed past Mokuba to return to his bedroom. He made his way towards his walk-in closet, where he had a full arsenal of suits, shirts, ties, and shoes. He may not be in New York all the time, but whenever he was he was usually here on business, which meant he had to have a closet full of business attire.
"Floozy? Aw, c'mon bro. You didn't mean that." Mokuba had followed him into his closet and was now absentmindedly fingering a sleeve of one of Seto's jackets. "She's a nice girl, and I'm sure the ballet will be interesting...kinda."
"Do you even know what show we're going to tonight?"
"Uh..."
Seto held up a royal blue tie in one hand and a forest green one in the other. "The tickets say it's for Romeo and Juliet, genius." He threw his brother a quick glance. "You better start getting ready. This is your date, not mine."
"Fine, fine." Mokuba rolled his eyes and spun on his heel to leave. "It'll be fun, trust me."
Seto tossed both ties aside and grabbed a plain black one instead. "Whatever."