Author Notes: I hope you enjoy this, and in the next chapter Joey will finally make his first appearance!
As Seto stepped out into the rain and popped the collar of his jacket, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and began to walk towards Ryou's house to pick up Mokuba. As his hair quickly became soaked with the heavy drizzle of rain, he contemplated how he'd come to this state of things.
Three months ago, his own father had gotten fired (yet again) and finally turned to drugs. In order to get more money to buy weed, he'd started gambling the cash he had left, and the financial stress on Seto had nearly doubled. He'd started working as many hours as possible, shorting himself on sleep almost every night of the week. They were truly pinching pennies to make ends meet, and when things were that tight, Seto always made sure that Mokuba was taken care of before anything else. He made sure Mokuba was fed before he himself ate, made sure that Mokuba got his homework done and checked before doing his own.
With all the hours that Seto was working, and with their father in the state that he was in, he couldn't afford to let Mokuba go home from school alone to their apartment, where their dad would be either high, drunk, or both. That was when Seto asked his classmate, Ryou Bakura, about watching Mokuba after school for him. After all, Ryou's sister Amane was in Mokuba's class at the middle school, which made it convenient for him to do so. Of course, Seto paid Ryou for watching his brother. He didn't expect charity, after all, and he would refuse to accept it if it was offered.
Of course, Ryou wasn't the only one in Seto's class with a younger sibling in Mokuba's class, but he'd be damned before he asked that arrogant rich bastard Joey Wheeler to look after his younger brother. He scowled as he thought about his classmate, the one who sauntered around like he owned the place, letting his big mouth run to no end. He and Seto had gotten into more than one fight over the years (in no small part because Joey was a bully and Seto could never stand to let him get away with it), and Seto doubted that their most recent fight would be the last to go down before they graduated. Their rivalry ran deep, rooted in their fundamentally clashing personalities. His sister Serenity was a sweet enough kid, and how she was like that when her brother was such a prick, Seto would never understand.
Seto had chosen Ryou to watch his brother because he respected him. He was a good student, a good brother, and even a good duelist. He was perhaps the closest thing Seto had to a friend. Of course, he would never tell Ryou the state of affairs at home, and he'd sworn Mokuba to secrecy years ago, yet he still felt like Ryou suspected what was really going on. That was the most unnerving thing about his classmate: he could let himself become invisible in a group of people, and then you'd look up and there he'd be, staring right into your soul with those big brown eyes of his.
Seto's sneakers had soaked through with water from the dirty puddles by now, but he was grateful for the chill of the rain. It helped to numb the numerous aches that covered his body. He felt that familiar, gut-wrenching twist of guilt as he remembered how he'd gotten to where he was now. It had been a little over a month after his father had taken up weed and gambling when he'd been approached by a pimp on the streets while walking home. At first, he'd simply been broaching the subject and subtly offering Seto a position. When Seto had turned him down flat, a couple of buff thugs had taken him into an alleyway and started to beat him up. Apparently, a particularly rich client was demanding a tall, blue-eyed, brunette teenage boy, but the pimp was low on supply. Thus, his need for Seto's cooperation.
"You've got a little brother, don't you?" the fiend had said with a sly grin as his lackeys held Seto's arms behind his back, the teen forced onto his knees as blood trickled down his chin. Seto had snarled fiercely at the man, who had chuckled at him mirthlessly. "Wouldn't you just hate it if something bad happened to him?"
His words had made Seto reluctantly submissive. "Lay a finger on him, and I swear I'll murder you," Seto had growled savagely, even as some of the tension left his body and he ceased to fight the arms that restrained him.
"If you just do as I say, your brother will be fine," he'd promised. So far, he'd kept his promise, though Seto had hated that he could be manipulated like that. He'd been forced to break a promise of his own in the process: he'd promised himself he'd never be a prostitute, but he'd also promised himself that he'd do anything he could to protect Mokuba. Of course, Mokuba had to come first, even at the price of his own dignity.
That was what had brought him to Gozaburo Kaiba's office on the top floor of KaibaCorp Headquarters every Thursday night. He was one of the regulars Seto had to put up with. There were other regulars as well as one-timers, and Seto had to work every night, which meant that oftentimes, Mokuba had fallen asleep at Ryou's house before Seto finally came to pick him up. Perhaps the arrangement would have bothered Ryou's parents if they lived more of a normal life, but Ryou's father was an archaeologist often away on business and Ryou's mother was a nurse who worked night shifts at the local children's hospital. She was always home when her children came home from school with Mokuba, but she was always gone by the time Seto came to get his little brother. Seto thought it was a good thing for Mokuba to be around a mother since he lacked a mother of his own.
At least it paid well enough for him to take care of Mokuba and their dad and not get evicted from their apartment. It was also enough money for Seto to buy painkillers in bulk. He needed them in order to fake in front of Mokuba and everybody else that he was perfectly fine, that he wasn't covered in bruises, that his ass wasn't aching permanently since he'd started this new "job." But no matter how well it paid, he planned on leaving it the second he could find something equally capable of supporting them without being illegal or degrading. He hated what he did, but he'd do what he had to do to keep his brother safe. He'd always do whatever it took to protect his little brother.
As he stepped up to the front door of the Bakura household and knocked, he took a deep breath and straightened up, though it was excruciating to do so. Ryou answered the door promptly, looking surprised when he saw that Seto was soaked.
"Oh my, I didn't realize that the rain had gotten so bad," Ryou exclaimed. "Do you want to come inside and dry off a bit while I get your brother?"
"No, thanks," Seto answered politely with a faint smile. He'd just drip water all over the floors.
"Can I at least loan you an umbrella for the walk home?" Ryou offered, looking worried for him. He didn't wait for an answer, knowing that Seto would turn it down automatically. Mokuba scurried up to the door, then, carrying his backpack.
"Didn't I tell you to bring your raincoat with you to school today?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow at the raven-haired child. Mokuba toed the floor sheepishly and Seto sighed. "Don't worry about it, kiddo," he said, taking off his jacket and giving it to his brother, who pulled on the oversized garment. As Seto shouldered his brother's backpack and Mokuba zipped his brother's jacket closed, Ryou came back with the umbrella, handing it to Seto with his left hand while Seto reached to shake his hand with his right, passing him the money in his palm.
"Thanks for watching him so late, and thanks for the umbrella," he said. "I'll give it back to you at school tomorrow," he promised. Ryou's eyes looked a little sad as he accepted the money without looking at it, pocketing the cash. It was their ritual, and while Ryou found it to be a bit of a farce, he wasn't going to argue with Seto's stubborn pride.
"Have a safe walk home," Ryou called as he waved goodbye from the front door. Mokuba, being carried on Seto's hip as he carried the open umbrella for the both of them, waved goodbye to Ryou in return. The white-haired Brit sighed and closed the front door, glad that he'd already gotten Amane to bed. She was observant, like him, and she might have mentioned how exhausted the other teen had looked. Ryou himself hadn't missed the slight, unnatural shift in Seto's gait as he walked away, the pained wince as he had lifted Mokuba's backpack and then Mokuba. He wondered how much longer he should wait before he tried to ask him about it. Confrontation wasn't Ryou's strong suit, though he was excellent at understanding other's problems. He was the perfect confidante, but he wasn't great at staging interventions. He'd never tried before, but he was getting more worried about Seto by the day, and he was willing to set his own discomforts aside for Seto's wellbeing.
Maybe he'd ask Yugi for help. Seto and Yugi knew each other from when Seto used to play Duel Monsters with them during lunch, and from the times that Seto had stepped up to defend the shorter teen from Joey's bullying. Seto always did homework during lunch now, but Ryou could tell that Seto missed the duels. There was a hunger in his eyes that Ryou could only describe as the hunger of ambition, the drive to rise above the present to something higher. Seto was incredibly intelligent, Ryou knew without a doubt, and he was a hard worker. So what held him back if he was so hungry for greatness?