Disclaimer: I *does handstand* do not *juggles apples* own Yu-Gi-Oh! *takes bow*
"All I've got are these photographs
I don't want to be stuck in the past."
~Photographs, Rihanna
Chapter 16
The next time Alistair opened his eyes, sunshine was streaming through the windows. He yawned, then sat up and stretched. It was the best sleep he'd had in a long time, despite waking up in the middle of it. He looked over at Kaiba who was still asleep. All he could see of the CEO was his back, but that was plenty to look at in and of itself; the muscles were beautifully sculpted. He reached out and traced the curve of Kaiba's body with the tip of his pointer finger which turned out to be enough to wake him up. He mumbled something sleepily before rolling over, cracking his piercing blue eyes open.
"Morning," Alistair said uncertainly, wondering what Kaiba's feelings about the night's events were.
"Morning," he said back, having similar thoughts. They eyed each other warily before Seto abruptly sat up and swung his legs off the bed before standing up, leaving a half naked Alistair lounging amongst the sheets. "I'm taking a shower," he announced. "Don't follow me," he added over his shoulder.
"God forbid I see you naked," Alistair teased, eliciting a glare from Seto.
"I'm serious Alistair."
"Alright, alright." He watched from the bed as Seto closed the bathroom door behind him before putting his arms behind his head and lying back contentedly. As he heard the water turn on, he suddenly had a thought. He slid out of bed and walked over to the desk to see what sorts of secrets about Kaiba it might contain. He knew it was an invasion of privacy, but his curiosity overruled his morality. The two small drawers contained nothing of interest, but the bottom right-hand drawer was littered with pictures. He pulled them out and looked through them. The top picture was of a very young Kaiba and toddler Mokuba with a man and a woman to whom they bore striking resemblance, Seto favoring the man, Mokuba, the woman. They were undoubtedly Kaiba's biological parents. The rest of the pictures were combinations of the four of them. Alistair flipped them over to see if there was anything written on the backs, but there wasn't. He set the photos down and saw a black lacquered box at the back of the drawer. Pulling it out, he flipped the latch and opened it. Inside was a silver knife, the knife Kaiba had cut himself with. He quickly closed the box and put it and the photographs back in the drawer before closing it and taking a step back.
Fifteen minutes later, Seto walked back out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist startled to see Alistair still there, lying in bed.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked.
"Waiting for you to be done in the bathroom," Alistair explained.
"Why didn't you just use yours?"
"I hadn't thought of it," he explained honestly. Seto rolled his eyes. "Besides, this way I get to see what your bathroom looks like."
"It's just a bathroom. Sink, toilet, shower, bathtub. Nothing all that interesting."
"Still." Alistair got out of bed again, stretching languidly to show off his toned stomach. "Hey," he said suddenly. "What was your last name before it was Kaiba?" The question took Seto by surprise.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked suspiciously. Alistair shrugged.
"Just out of curiosity."
"Well I'm not telling you."
"Why, is it some big secret?"
"No, it's just not a part of me anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that that name is useless whereas the name Kaiba actually stands for something."
"Yeah, a company," Alistair replied, unimpressed.
"What's your last name then?" Seto countered, realizing for the first time that he didn't know it. It was Alistair's turn to smirk.
"I'm not telling you. It's not a part of me anymore," he said cheekily.
"Cute. Now are you going to take a shower, or not?" Without answering, Alistair walked past Kaiba and into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind him before stripping out of his underwear, the rest of his clothes lying at the foot of Kaiba's bed.
"Have some modesty," Seto said, nettled, turning his back to the bathroom and heading towards the closet, trying to figure out what to wear.
The bathroom turned out to be just as bland as the rest of the room. Everything was white ceramic with silver accents. Unlike in the master bathroom, there wasn't even a painting on the wall over the bathtub which was by no means a Jacuzzi. The shower had sliding panels for doors and tiled walls.
Alistair turned the water back on and stepped in, pulling the doors shut around him. He turned his face up to the warm water and allowed himself to be drenched. Taking showers was one of his favorite indulgences; he loved luxuriating under the spray, gradually turning the heat up until it was practically as hot as a sauna, allowing toxins to pour out of his pores.
Looking over to a ledge at the back of the shower he saw several bottles of shampoo. He hadn't used shampoo since he, his brother, and mother had lost their house and been forced to go on the run, not because he couldn't, but because he didn't find it necessary. Water was enough to keep his hair from getting greasy so long as he didn't skip too many days. This time though, he decided to give it a try. He unscrewed the lid of the bottle and dumped a handful of the gel-like substance into his palm before setting the bottle back on the ledge.
He started running the goopy liquid through his hair, causing bubbles to form. Some of the suds ran down his face and got into his eyes.
"Ow!" he exclaimed as his eyes started to sting. He rubbed them until the stinging ebbed. He'd forgotten how much that hurt. Until he was sure he'd gotten all traces of the shampoo out of his hair, he acted with extreme caution.
"Are you going to stay in there all day?" Seto asked, annoyed after having gotten dressed only to see that Alistair was still in the shower.
"I might," Alistair called back.
"Don't be stupid. Wrap it up."
"Yeah, yeah, ok." Alistair reluctantly turned the water off and got out of the shower. He looked around for a towel and pulled one off the rack. It was fluffy and white and had the letters SK stitched into it. He vigorously rubbed the towel over his head to try and get some of the moisture out of his hair before wrapping it around his waist (tempted though he was to see the look on Kaiba's face if he walked out of the bathroom without it) before brushing his teeth. He was about to leave when he noticed a laminated piece of paper that had been taped to the wall. He laughed to himself as he read it over. Just as Mokuba had told him, the list illustrated the order in which Kaiba executed his morning routine: wash face, brush teeth (careful to get molars), and so on. On his way out, he fancied following step seven and sprayed a copious amount of Kaiba's cologne over himself before walking out into the main part of the room.
"Took you long enough," Seto complained, crossing his arms.
"You're going a little crazy with that outfit," Alistair commented on Seto's dark jeans and long-sleeved black T-shirt, "you might want to tone it down some."
"Ha ha. Get dressed."
"What's the rush?"
"I'm hungry, and if I don't get a cup of coffee I'm going to tear someone's head off, that a good enough reason for you?" Alistair shrugged, but nonetheless started collecting his clothes.
"And don't strip in front of…me," Seto muttered the last word as Alistair undid the towel and let it fall to the floor. He quickly closed his eyes and turned around. "Why do you keep doing that?"
"What's your problem? It's just a body, you've got one too."
"Yeah, well, I don't want to see yours."
"Don't be such a prude."
"I'm not a prude; I just don't think it's reasonable to walk around naked in front of people. Are you at least wearing underwear?"
"Yeah." He tentatively turned around. Luckily Alistair hadn't been lying (though the thought had crossed his mind).
"I think it goes without saying that you won't be telling anyone about this."
"About us sleeping together?"
"Of course," Seto snapped, "what else?" He added: "I'm sorry that I woke you up last night; I don't usually move around in my sleep that much."
"I can't exactly complain about that seeing as how I punched you after you woke me up." He grinned at the memory.
"Yeah well…Look, as long as you don't take as long in the shower as you did today…I mean, if it would help you get through the night or whatever…" Alistair suddenly realized he was being given permission to share Kaiba's bed again, and wisely chose to play along.
"Yeah, I didn't have any nightmares at all last night; must be something about your bed or the blankets or something."
"Probably." Without saying another thing about it, Seto left the room. Alistair followed after him, closing the door carefully behind him.
There was a cake, just as Mokuba had promised. It was chocolate with elaborate swirls drawn on in frosting as well as a large number twenty in the middle. Alongside it, predictably, was a steaming kettle of tea as well as a pot of coffee.
Mokuba, who'd already been up for several hours by the time Seto and Alistair made it to the dining room, was practically salivating all over it.
"Happy birthday, Seto," he said, standing up to give his older brother a hug. "Morning Alistair!"
"Morning Mokuba," Alistair greeted him, eying the cake. He'd had enough of Trudy's cooking to know that it would be delicious.
"Trudy was about to send me to wake you two up," Mokuba explained. "She went to get plates, but said she'd be right back." Alistair had to stifle a laugh at the thought of Mokuba walking into Seto's room only to see the two of them in bed together.
"Ah, there you are!" Trudy chirped, walking into the dining room holding four plates. "Happy birthday! My goodness, twenty years old, how time flies!" She set the plates on the table. "This is one of exactly two times a year I let the boys get away with such an unhealthy breakfast," she explained to Alistair. "Although," she glanced at her watch, "it's not really breakfast time anymore. It's almost twelve."
"It's my day off; I'll sleep in as long as I like," Seto sniffed, taking his seat at the table.
"Rightly so," she agreed. "So, who wants cake?"
The four of them ate cake together for the next forty-five minutes. It was the most relaxed Alistair had ever seen Kaiba. Even though he didn't crack any kind of genuine smile, he was playful in his own way, subtly making fun of Mokuba for having a girlfriend and ribbing on Trudy about the quality of the cake. To Alistair, it felt like a family. He would really miss being a part of it.
After Trudy had cleared the plates away, Seto disappeared back upstairs to relax in solitude. Mokuba had the rest of his lessons (lessons that had been pushed back to allow Mokuba time for cake) which left Alistair to occupy himself for the rest of the afternoon. He couldn't go to visit Darren because he had classes all day, so he went back upstairs to get some reading done and to play with Sewell.
As he entered the apartment, his eyes flickered towards the PC in the corner and it occurred to him that he ironically hadn't used a computer since he'd been at Kaiba, the CEO of a computer based company's house. He couldn't dredge up now, besides hacking and flight simulations, what he'd ever even done with computers that had occupied so much of his time.
Sewell ran up to him and rubbed against his legs, demanding attention. He scooped her into his arms and rubbed her head, causing her to start purring.
"Did you miss me last night?" he asked her. "Sorry about that, but I was made an offer I couldn't refuse." He set her down on the couch and retrieved The Phantom of the Opera from the shelf above the bed. He'd long since replaced Gozaburo's books with his favorites plus whatever he was reading at the moment. "Let's go outside, yeah?" Novel and dictionary in hand and with Sewell hot on his heels, he made his way out to the garden and plopped down on the stone bench while Sewell commenced to play with some of the fallen leaves. It was an unseasonably warm day and Alistair ended up taking his jacket off, rolling it up and resting his head against it so that he could lie back and use the book to shield his eyes from the sun.
Seto sat up in his room at his desk idly twirling a pen between his fingers as he tried to compose an agenda for the rest of the day. He knew he wanted to go swimming and hit the gym for a bit. By the time he was done, Mokuba's lessons would be over and he'd undoubtedly want to play video games; an activity Seto had no trouble indulging him in; he and Mokuba rarely got the chance to game together anymore. After an hour or so of that it would be time to head over to his favorite restaurant where he'd made a dinner reservation. The question was: did he want to bring Alistair along? Technically he didn't have to since he never even brought Trudy or Roland, both of whom he'd known much longer, but the mere fact that he was even considering it led him to the conclusion that perhaps it was the right thing to do. But if he did that, maybe he should allow Mokuba to invite his girlfriend. But wait, why would he do that? That would turn the whole thing into a double date which was not his intention at all.
He still couldn't believe that he'd invited Alistair to sleep with him, and then extended the invitation indefinitely. He could no longer deny that Alistair was special, someone he regarded quite highly even though Alistair was far from a master duelist or businessman. It was a different quality that had captivated him. Alistair was achingly genuine and couldn't help but wear his heart on his sleeve. He was fiercely loyal to his ideals, but that was something that Seto could respect even if he didn't always agree. All of these qualities combined seemed to indicate that Alistair meant what he had said about sticking by him. But that begged the question: why? Why would Alistair want to 'stick by him?' Did he want something? He'd always said that he didn't, but maybe he was lying, though it seemed unlikely. Did that mean that he actually liked him, despite the fact that he was so careful to be unlikeable? Impossible! And yet…
Ugh! And he'd cried, actually cried in front of him! Seto hadn't cried in years. He had no idea what had put him over the edge and chalked it up to pure exhaustion. He'd never let himself be as weak in someone else's presence as he had in Alistair's. The nights he had gone to his room, Alistair seeing him cutting, crying, having nightmares—all things that no one, not even Mokuba had been allowed to see.
He decided that he trusted Alistair because they shared so much: they were both orphans, older brothers forced to grow up before their time to take on the role of caretaker for their younger siblings, they both had backgrounds in pain, they were both tough, they both had nightmares, and perhaps most significantly, they both shared an interest in each other.
He glanced out the window to where he could see Alistair lying on a bench in the garden reading a book while his cat played nearby. He couldn't stop a small smile from forming on his face. Not only was that the same spot he himself had always gone to study as a child when the weather was nice, but Alistair, from what he could see, looking so relaxed, so peaceful, was a far cry from the vengeful, angry person he'd been when they'd first met. Being at the mansion had changed him (Seto was inclined to think for the better) and that made him happy; a sign that having Alistair around had changed him too.
When he had first extended the offer to help the wild young man with an even wilder story at Duelist Kingdom he had tried to hide the fact that Alistair's story had touched him, but it had.
Even as he stood facing Dartz and had it revealed that Gozaburo had had nothing to do with Alistair's troubles, he'd felt inclined to help him and had thought about him briefly as he was passing out from whatever drug Dartz had somehow managed to get into his system. So yes, even back then he'd felt drawn to the redhead, so much so that as he'd stood in the hospital, waiting for him to wake up, he'd decided that he not only wanted to help him, he wanted to put him up at his own house. He'd tricked himself into believing that his decision was about money, but deep down he'd always known that Alistair fascinated him and that he wanted him nearby.
Alistair suddenly looked up, aware that someone was watching him and Seto quickly looked down even though there was no way that Alistair could see him. As it happened Alistair didn't need to be able to see through the branches to know who was staring at him; he'd memorized the blueprints to the house and knew that that was Kaiba's room. He smiled to himself before returning to his book.
Later, after swimming and working out, Seto had agreed to game with his brother for a couple of hours even though he was so much better than Mokuba that playing against each other wasn't very interesting.
"So what's it like being twenty?" Mokuba asked jokingly as he booted his game system up, painfully excited that he and Seto were going to sit down and actually get to hang out for once.
"Great," Seto commented. "Do I look any older?" Mokuba laughed.
"You just look like you."
"That reminds me: I need a recent picture of you for my locket," Seto said. "Do you have one?" Mokuba shrugged.
"No. Not one that wasn't for KC or the papers or something. I'll have to have Trudy take one. Why do you want to change the picture all of a sudden?"
"To remind myself that you're growing up."
"You sound like one of those moms on soap operas," Mokuba commented, sticking his tongue out. "Next you'll tell me how much taller I've gotten or something."
"Oh please. What game are we going to play?"
"You can pick."
"Something with shooting."
"Ok, sure." Mokuba looked sideways at his older brother as he went to retrieve his sniper game, wondering what had put Seto on edge. As he loaded the game, he ventured to find out what was eating him. "So the tournament is running smoothly, right?" he asked casually.
"Yeah, now that we can finally start building."
"When are you sending out the invites?"
"Next week. Actually, I'm glad you mentioned Grand Championship; I want you to host."
"What?!" Mokuba asked, shocked. "Really?"
"People need to start seeing you as an active part of the company now that you're older. Besides, I'm going to be too busy with the technical aspects to have time."
"What's up with that anyway?" Mokuba asked as the game started up. "This tournament isn't any more work than Battle City was, why aren't you dueling?"
"I told you: I don't have time," Seto replied evasively. Mokuba rolled his eyes.
"You might be able to get away with saying that to everyone else, but not to me. Come on, when you first thought up the idea you were really excited about it; what changed?" His expression softened. "Are you afraid you'd lose to Yugi again?" he asked carefully. Seto's eyes flashed momentarily in anger, then he relaxed.
"To be honest Mokuba: I'm not sure I can beat Yugi."
"What are you talking about?" Mokuba balked at the notion of his brother giving up. "You're the best that there is! Don't give up!"
"I'm not 'giving up', I'm just being realistic. Yugi is the only person I'd be interested in dueling anymore, but I really just don't think I'll ever be able to defeat him."
"But why? Just work on a strategy; you had a really good one after you got the Blue Eyes Shining Dragon from Pegasus! If that Anubis guy hadn't shown up, you would have won!"
"That's exactly my point: every time I try to duel Yugi something happens that messes things up. What's the point of putting my time and energy into a strategy I won't even get the chance to play out?" Mokuba had to admit that his brother had a point.
"I guess you're right…"
"I'm always right," Seto said, the expression suddenly causing him to remember his dream from the night before. He fell silent and mutely took the controller that Mokuba handed him.
"Are you ok, Seto?" Mokuba asked. "You haven't been yourself lately."
"I'm fine," he assured the raven-haired teen. "I've just been under a lot of pressure recently because of all of the legal trouble." Mokuba nodded. He understood how that was.
"Hey, I never really got a straight answer out of you," he said suddenly, changing the subject, his eyes glued to the split-screen as his avatar ran around collecting ammo. "What ever happened with Momo?"
"I told you: I had a nice conversation with her and I'm going to hire her," Seto replied, trying to decide which of the two weapon options he had would be more viable, finally settling on a sleek pistol.
"So you didn't like her then?" Mokuba pressed, shooting down several enemies with his AK47.
"I won't be dating her if that's what you're getting at."
"Why not? I thought you wanted a girlfriend."
"What I said was that I'd entertain the idea. Speaking of which: how are things going between you and Hilary?" After gushing non-stop about the girl for almost a solid month, Mokuba had become strangely tight-lipped about their relationship.
"Good."
"Is that all you're going to tell me?"
"What else do you want to know?"
"I don't know," Seto replied, taken off guard by Mokuba's reluctance to talk about it. "I was just wondering seeing as she's your first girlfriend and since you and I don't talk much anymore."
"Yeah, when did we stop doing that?" Seto shrugged, his fingers rapidly pressing buttons on the controller.
"After Gozaburo I guess."
"We should start trying to hang out again. It's just that you're so busy with work…"
"I offered to come home early once, but you were busy," Seto reminded him, still hung up about it.
"Yeah, once. You're hardly ever home anymore, at least not until I'm already asleep. I'm starting to feel like you care about KC more than you care about me." The hurt in Mokuba's voice was evident.
"That's not true," Seto objected. "I work hard because I care about you. I want you to have all the chances I never had."
"We have plenty of money. I don't want any more of that; I just want my big brother back. I really like Alistair, and he's nice, but he's not you. And besides: he's leaving soon."
"Wait, what?" This was news to Seto. "What do you mean?" Mokuba was surprised that Seto seemed so interested; it wasn't like he and Alistair were close. He decided it was Seto's way of changing the topic.
"Since he's not working for you he told me he didn't feel comfortable freeloading here anymore."
"Hmm…" The thought that Alistair would leave hadn't even crossed his mind. "Did he say when or where he'd go?"
"No." Mokuba shook his head. "Why are you so interested?" Seto tensed.
"I'm not. Anyway, you want to talk? Let's talk. What about you and Hilary?"
"I mean, we're still doing really well," he said slowly. He wasn't stupid; he could tell that there was something up that Seto didn't want to talk about which of course only served to fuel his curiosity. "I met her parents and they seem to like me which is a good sign. I met her little sister and their dog and all that, and they invited me back." Just then Seto found Mokuba's avatar and open fired, sparking an intense three minute battle. Seto sustained some heavy damage but came out the victor. "Did you know that Alistair had friends?" he asked, looking at Seto's expression out of the corner of his eye.
"Most people do," Seto replied uninterestedly, hunting around for more ammo.
"Do you think he has a boyfriend?" Mokuba pressed. Seto shrugged.
"How should I know?"
"So you knew he was gay?" Startled, Seto thought fast.
"Trudy must have mentioned it," he invented. "And can we stop talking about Alistair? I thought this was supposed to be us bonding, not us gossiping."
"Fair enough," Mokuba agreed, carefully laying the matter aside for later. Seto didn't like the tone of his brother's voice; it indicated that he wasn't really going to let it slide and would undoubtedly try to get to the bottom of Seto's obvious discomfort, which, for someone as intelligent as Mokuba, wouldn't take long. Seto wondered what Mokuba would think if he found out about what he and Alistair had been up to. Most likely Mokuba wouldn't care, but he cared though he wasn't exactly sure why. Much of his unease stemmed from his uncertainty with regards to what he and Alistair were actually doing. Relationships of this kind were not something any of his tutors had prepared him for, and he was so sheltered anyway that even putting a name to his relationship with Alistair proved impossible. They weren't really friends, or at least not the same way that Yugi had his friends, they weren't dating to be sure, they weren't even really sleeping together in the slang sense, yet Seto knew that he wanted Alistair around, far more than wanted most anyone around. And none of that took into account Alistair's feelings, so where did that leave things?
"You alright bro?" Mokuba asked, realizing all of a sudden that while he was still operating his character out of reflex, Seto's mind was a million miles away (or more accurately a few rooms over).
"Sorry, I was just distracted. Work, you know?"
"Right." Mokuba didn't buy it for a second. His subconscious was already working to unravel the mystery. As they continued to play his brain processed all the possibilities and after utilizing the process of elimination, most notably pausing on Seto's disinterest in Momo, he came to a startling conclusion. "Seto," he began slowly in a way that Seto didn't like. "Are you—?"
"Mokuba, I would appreciate it if you stopped interrogating me," Seto snapped, cutting him off. "If you want to talk, fine, but since I don't press issues that you don't want to talk about, I'd appreciate it if you paid me the same courtesy."
"Alight, alright. Ok, totally unrelated question: is Alistair coming with us to dinner?" Seto had an above average IQ and wasn't about to be manipulated by his brother's poorly disguised follow-up question.
"Yes, but not for the reason that you're thinking."
"What am I thinking?"
"Goddammit Mokuba! I'm not an idiot! I know that you've been sitting there overanalyzing things and have come to the overly dramatic conclusion that because I wasn't interested in Momo Tojikamuri I'm not interested in women at all. And after coming to that conclusion, you thought, logically, that since Alistair is gay and around my age and living in this house he and I must be having secret rendezvous'. Well, you're wrong. The reason I'm inviting him to dinner is because he's a guest and it would be rude not to. Now drop it." Slightly disappointed, but not completely convinced, Mokuba turned his attention fully back to the game.
He and Seto finished the game out (Seto won, though by a much narrower margin than he'd expected) and retreated to their own rooms to change for dinner.
Seto first went to knock on Alistair's (Gozaburo's) door to actually invite him to the restaurant. Alistair opened the door after Seto had knocked three times looking sleepy and disoriented, having obviously just been woken up.
"If you can get dressed and ready to go in a half an hour, Mokuba and I will be leaving to go to dinner and you're cordially invited to tag along." Alistair looked confused. Kaiba certainly didn't sound very cordial.
"I don't have to go if you don't want me to."
"It's not you," Seto confessed, "it's Mokuba. We were playing a video game and he started asking me questions. You didn't say anything to him, did you?"
"About us…?" Alistair trailed off, unsure of how to end the sentence. "No. I told you I wouldn't." Seto, who knew that Alistair wasn't capable of hiding his emotions, could see plainly that he was telling the truth.
"Hmm…"
"What did he say exactly?"
"Nothing. Never mind. Just don't let him figure it out. If either of us is going to slip up, it's you. You couldn't lie if your life depended on it."
"That's what you think," Alistair said, annoyed even though there was a lot of truth in Kaiba's statement.
"So are you coming, or not?" Alistair thought it over.
"Alright, but I want to pay the tip." Seto rolled his eyes at Alistair's naïve self-righteousness.
"Your loss. Oh, and this is a really nice restaurant; you'll have to wear a tie."
"I don't have one."
"I sent you with Mokuba to get clothes months ago." Alistair shrugged.
"He didn't take me to get a tie."
"Do you have any nice clothes?"
"Nice as in…?"
"A button-up shirt, dress pants, a suit of any kind?" Alistair shook his head. "Ugh. Fine, you can borrow something of mine. Go put some clothes on and meet me in my room."
"Why would I put clothes on just to take them off again?" Alistair asked Seto's retreating back. Seto didn't even bother justifying the question with a response.
Back in his room and in the closet, he studied his row of suits, trying to decide what to wear, finally settling on a classic black with a white shirt and black tie. Mokuba always said the suit made him look like he was on his way to a funeral and that he should wear a different tie to lighten it up, but Seto liked how no-nonsense the outfit was; just like himself.
Without bothering to knock, Alistair entered Kaiba's room and made a beeline for the closet. Seto was just buttoning up his sleeves when Alistair appeared.
"Tell me that they actually knock in your country and you're just rude," Seto said testily. Alistair opened his mouth to give a scathing rebuttal, but was quickly cut off. "I have a few different suits to choose from, but since you obviously know nothing about clothes I took the liberty of picking something out for you." He indicated a dark green suit with a tie he had selected to match Alistair's hair. He had never actually worn the suit himself and wasn't even sure why he had it, but the color suited Alistair.
The pants were a little long, the jacket didn't quite fit him in the shoulder, and Alistair felt like a total fool, but Seto said it would do and helped the redhead tie the tie.
"I look like an idiot," Alistair said grumpily, looking at himself in the closet's floor to ceiling mirror. "The pants aren't too bad, but you can tell that the jacket doesn't fit."
"Since when do you care about clothes fitting? Last I checked you walked around for months in a tank top that was easily three sizes too small for you." Alistair shot him a look.
"My trench coat fits."
"Look, either you go like this or you don't go at all. Mokuba and I are leaving in," Seto checked the watch he'd thrown on, "ten minutes."
"Fine, whatever."
"Nice suit Alistair," Mokuba laughed when the three met up downstairs. "You might want to get it tailored a little though."
"It's your brother's," Alistair muttered.
"I know," Mokuba replied, "I'm only teasing." Mokuba had chosen the same color combination as his brother, minus the tie. "I'm still technically a kid," he explained, "so I won't get weird looks if I don't wear one."
"Lucky you; this thing is going to choke me." Alistair wormed his fingers under the fashionable noose, trying to loosen it.
"Stop fidgeting. You're worse than Mokuba," Seto snapped as Alfred pulled up in the limo.
During the ride, Mokuba kept glancing back and forth between Seto and Alistair, looking for some clue that he was right and there was something going on between the two of them, but he kept coming up blank since the two men never even looked at each other, though that in and of itself was interesting.
The restaurant was in a part of town that didn't allow cars, so Alfred dropped them off as close as he could before they continued on foot.
"The filet mignon is amazing here," Mokuba gushed. "I get it every time!"
"Filet what?"
"It's a kind of steak," Seto explained in a condescending voice, leading the way across the cobbled square.
"Could any of you fine gentlemen spare a couple of bucks?" came a voice from somewhere to their left. Seto and Mokuba kept walking without even looking down, but Alistair stopped to address the old man sitting on a pile of rags on the ground against the wall of an upscale clothing store.
"Of course," he said softly, intending to reach into his jacket pocket for his stash of money before remembering that he was wearing Kaiba's clothes, not his. "Hang on one second. Mokuba! Kaiba!"
As soon as he heard Alistair calling him, Seto exhaled heavily through his nose in irritation. He knew that the idiot wanted to give the beggar man money and he was in no mood to indulge his gullibility, but he was also annoyingly aware that if he didn't give the man anything, Alistair would make a scene and try to make him feel bad, so he told Mokuba to wait and doubled back, already reaching into his wallet, not certain he even had any paper money on him. As it turned out the smallest bill he had was way more than he really wanted to give away, but under the circumstances he was willing to do it, if only so that they could be on their way sooner rather than later. He thrust the money into the old man's hand. The man squinted down at it before his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Oh bless you sir!" he said enthusiastically, reaching out to grab Seto's hand. He shook it several times while Seto wrinkled his nose in disgust as a strong mix of booze, cigarettes and body odor hit his nostrils. "Say," he squinted upwards again. "I recognize you. You're the guy with the billboard downtown. You're that famous duelist uh…" He snapped his fingers, trying to remember.
"Look, I'm in a hurry; my reservation expires in fifteen minutes, so if you'll excuse me. Come on Alistair."
"Reservation? Like for food?"
"Are you hungry?" Alistair asked and Seto wanted to kick him.
"It's been a while since I've had a real meal. Must be going on a week now. I've been hiding out behind that restaurant over there waiting for them to throw the leftovers out." Alistair looked at Seto pleadingly. There was no way he could eat in good conscience now unless they brought the old man with them.
"This is a five star restaurant," Seto said flatly. "They wouldn't let him in anyway."
"If he's with you they would. Come on, are you really going to let him eat out of the garbage?"
"Please sir, have pity on an old man." Seto couldn't believe that Alistair didn't see that they were being played for fools. He'd already given the man enough money to feed him for several days, there was absolutely no logical reason to even feel bad about not taking him with them, but he could see in Alistair's face that he was convinced that they'd be signing the beggar's death warrant if they didn't bring him.
"Fine."
Mokuba looked questioningly at his brother when he returned with not only Alistair, but the drifter as well. Seto rolled his eyes and inclined his head towards Alistair. He was hoping against hope that the greeter wouldn't let the man pass and relieve them of the problem.
As Alistair predicted, the girl who greeted them, though she raised an eyebrow, reluctantly let all of them in, saying to the homeless man: "perhaps you'd like to wash up before dinner sir?"
"Why thank you young lady, I think I will. Could you point me in the right direction?" She pointed to the bathrooms before a waiter came to seat the party.
Word spread fast that Seto Kaiba had brought a hobo to dinner and over the course of their meal, over fifty-percent of the restaurant's staff went to have a look for themselves.
Once he returned from the bathroom, the grubby man introduced himself as Joshua Johnson.
"It's very nice to meet you," Alistair said. "I'm Alistair, and this is Seto and Mokuba Kaiba."
"That's it! Kaiba! I knew I recognized you!" Joshua exclaimed. "It was awful nice of you folks to invite me to share your meal. Awful nice."
"We couldn't let you starve." Alistair's eyes were full of compassion.
"Are you gentlemen ready for drinks?" their waiter, a man of about thirty named Francoise asked.
"I'll have water," Alistair decided after Seto and Mokuba listed two drinks he wasn't even sure he could pronounce.
"And I'll have a bottle of your best wine," Joshua put in. "If that's alright with you," he added to Seto who could do nothing but nod curtly.
"Right away. Take your time perusing the menu. I'll be back shortly."
Alistair looked down at the menu which turned out to be completely in French and he resolved to simply pick a number at random to relay to the waiter when he got back and suffer the consequences if it turned out to be something not very good.
"Could somebody translate this gibberish for me?" Joshua asked. Seto looked at Mokuba since he refused to take further part in the affair. As Mokuba translated each item Joshua exclaimed about how fancy it all was.
"Do they have any of that caviar stuff?" he asked. "That's what rich people eat, right?"
"Umm…I don't really like it," Mokuba said. "It's fish eggs. Usually you eat it on crackers. It's not a meal."
"Why would anyone eat that? Ok, what's this next one?"
"Escargot is snails," Mokuba translated. "It sounds gross, but it's actually pretty good as long as you have something to drink; it's kind of salty. That's not a meal either though, just an appetizer."
"Snails, huh? You people sure eat some funky stuff. Do they have anything normal, like a burger or some kind of meat that isn't fish eggs or snails?"
"There's pheasant. That's good."
"What's 'pheasant?'"
"It's a bird."
"Does it taste like chicken or turkey?"
"A little drier, but basically."
"As long as they have some ketchup that'll be fine."
"It comes with creamed vegetable soup and a sort of salad and plum sauce."
"Alright, I'll have that."
"I think I will too," Alistair agreed. He'd never had pheasant before, but a bird was a bird was a bird in his opinion.
Francoise returned with their drinks and prepared to write down their orders. Mokuba ordered for Alistair and Joshua since neither of them could pronounce the French words.
"This is some mighty fine wine," Joshua commented, pouring himself a second glass. "How much does a bottle of this stuff go for?"
"Three hundred," Seto replied, trying not to think about it as he sipped his own drink.
"I'll be damned. But that's not really that much for someone like you, is it? You could order a couple of these without even batting an eye."
"Hmm…"
"Do you have family Mr. Johnson?" Alistair asked politely.
"I have a son. He's a soldier," Joshua explained proudly. "He's married with three little girls."
"Why don't you live with them?" Seto asked coolly.
"Well you see, I would, but my son and I had a falling out a while back so he and I haven't spoken in over five years. I had a job working at an auto parts shop, but they had to let me go a year ago. I guess folks stopped buying cars or something. At my age it's hard to get hired and I ate through my savings pretty fast. Next thing I know I'm selling off my things just to make rent, but then I got broken into; I live in a rough neighborhood, and couldn't pay so my landlord had me thrown out. That was four months ago. Since then I've had to beg just to get by."
"You seemed to have enough for a beer every now and then," Seto pointed out, the man's sob story doing nothing to move him.
"Hey, you'd be surprised how helpful that can be," Alistair interjected. "When Mikey and I were on the run and it was cold we'd search around looking for something to warm us up, and sometimes the best we could do was a half a bottle of beer. A full one if we were lucky. It really helps."
"I can see you don't believe me." Joshua addressed Seto. "But it's true. I'm not some bum; just a guy who's down on his luck. Your friend here seems to understand." He looked gratefully at Alistair.
"It's not my place to judge you," Seto replied neutrally as Francoise returned with their food.
"Aw man, does this look good!" Joshua licked his lips in anticipation as his plate was set in front of him.
Joshua and Alistair were the only ones who spoke during the entire meal. Joshua regaled them of stories of his youth and Alistair kept up a stream of questions for him, and answered the questions Joshua had about his own background.
"You poor boy," Joshua said, sympathetically placing a hand on Alistair's shoulder as the former described how his brother had been killed. "That's terrible. Makes me think it's about time to reconnect with Nathan. I'd hate for something to happen to him without us having made up although I'm not sure how excited he'd be to hear from me what with me being out of a job and all…"
"If he's as good a man as you say he is, he'll be happy to just have his dad back. I would be."
"Me too," Mokuba said, so softly that only Seto heard him.
After another half an hour, Francoise came back to collect their plates and ask if they'd be ordering desert. Seto looked at Mokuba. As far as he was concerned that was his call.
"I'll have some chocolate mousse," Mokuba said. "What about you guys?" he asked Alistair and Joshua.
"I'm too full," Alistair begged off.
"I don't know what 'mousse' is, but I'll have some chocolate ice cream if you have it," Joshua requested.
"Anything for you Mr. Kaiba?"
"No thank you. That will be all." Seto was beyond ready to leave. Listening to Joshua and Alistair's stories was making him feel much more like the spoiled rich kid Alistair had him pegged for by comparison.
After Mokuba and Joshua finished their deserts and Seto had paid for the meal they began walking towards the doors of the restaurant.
"I guess it's time to turn back into a pumpkin," Joshua said good-naturedly. "Thank you so much for everything. It was a great meal, and the money you gave me should get me through the next couple of days. I'm really quite obliged to you gentlemen. Makes me think that there might really be somebody up there listening to my prayers." Joshua started walking back to his pile of rags to prepare to go to sleep. The part of Seto that had been hardwired to be callous was relieved that they'd finally be rid of the old beggar, but the part of him that had given Roland enough money for a present for his daughter wished he could do more. Seeing Alistair's face tipped the scale for him.
"Wait a minute Mr. Johnson," he said, not quite believing the words that he knew were about to come out of his mouth.
"Yes?" Joshua looked hopeful. Seto pulled one of his business cards out of his wallet along with a small pen he always carried in case he had to sign a check and wrote out the number of the Domino Kaiba Land office along with a name and his office number.
"When you get some change, call this number and ask for Ryoga. I'll call him myself tomorrow so that he'll be expecting it and he can set you up with a job at the Domino Kaiba Land. It won't be anything glamorous, probably a janitor gig, but…"
"You'd really do that?" Joshua asked, amazed, taking the card from Seto. "Thank you, thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me! God bless you sir! I'll never forget this!"
"That was really nice of you," Alistair ventured on the ride back to the mansion. "I didn't know you had it in you."
"Yeah well…How was your filet mignon Mokuba?"
"It was delicious, like always. I agree with Alistair by the way."
"I'm not this horrible person everyone always acts like I am," Seto defended himself. "I do good things all the time. No one's that heartless…Now shut up about it. When we get home I'm going to bed."
"Thanks for sharing," Alistair said, making sure to sound as sarcastic as possible to keep Mokuba from figuring things out. He failed miserably. One quick look back and forth between the two was all it took to confirm Mokuba's suspicions. He never would have guessed that the person that his brother would fall for would be the same person that tried to kill them, and yet that appeared to be exactly what had happened. He smiled to himself, content to know that Seto was finally going to let himself be happy.
Author's note: First and foremost: thank you, thank you, thank you for all your lovely reviews (you know who you are ^.^ )! Reading your kind words of encouragement caused me to fangirl about it to my boyfriend; they mean a lot to me and keep me motivated to keep updating!
Now, to the chapter. First, the obvious: is it or is it not out of character for Seto to do what he did? I'd be inclined to say yes, under normal circumstances Seto would not do as much for anyone as he did for Joshua, but these were not normal circumstances; you have to factor in Alistair, who would do such a thing. Being with Alistair makes Seto a better person, or at least it causes his better qualities to come out-that's what he gets out of being with him, at least in my humble opinion, though he will probably always go about his good deeds with a smirk, an eye roll, or at the very least a condescending remark or two, but that's just who Seto is (and probably partially why we love him).
Second, Mokuba. Mokuba is not stupid; I think it's a least fairly believable that he'd be able to put two and two together where his brother is concerned.
Merry Christmas everyone! ;)