I used to work everything I found interesting into my stories, whether they fit or not. The concept of making Mokuba into a Let's-Player is basically me, lapsing back into that old habit. I'm not particularly proud of it. Intellectually, creatively, it feels kind of weird. Ridiculous, even.
I have decided that I no longer care. I've worked it into the "Good Intentions" universe, and I don't like retconning. The other option is to embrace it. To lift it up, to sing to the rafters.
It might be me being topical. It might be me being weird. Whichever it is, this is what came out of it. I thought it was cute.
.
Seto refused to say anything when construction started. Mokuba asked him, more than once, why he was expanding on the grounds for the first time in years, or why they would possibly need more space when they didn't even fill up the space they already had. They could have invited every member of their house staff to live with them and they'd still have room for guests.
Mokuba became exceptionally suspicious when he started spying people he knew talking to his brother; people who had next to no business talking to him. The first time Foxfire leaped into the young Kaiba's room without warning, Mokuba screamed.
The fact that Foxfire had anticipated this reaction, and had a camera on hand, turned into the most popular video on either of their YouTube channels in the past four months.
"What is he doing?" Mokuba asked (again, more than once). But neither Foxfire nor Madam Why—who showed up during the third week of construction—would answer him. "Is Niisama planning a new D&D campaign with the pods? Are we going back in?"
"I hope so," Madam said at one point, "but I'm not sure when. He's very tight-lipped about that sort of thing."
"So this whole thing has nothing to do with that mini-campaign we had?"
"Nope!"
"Do you know what he is doing?"
"Yep!"
". . . Will you tell me?"
"Nope!"
And so, the young Kaiba was left waiting, wondering, unable to figure out two things: the most obvious being, what in the actual expletive was Seto building? Two, why absolutely no one would tell him!
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" he asked Akiko one day.
"Actually, no," she said. "So even if you were going to try guilt-tripping me into letting the information slip, I wouldn't be able to." She winked. "Looks like you'll just have to wait and see."
"I wasn't gonna guilt-trip you," Mokuba muttered. "Niisama's a big boy. He can defend himself." At Akiko's incredulous look, the black-haired boy shrugged. "What? I'm not allowed to stick up for him, even if I don't have to? If I do, is that just another way he's failed at life?"
Akiko frowned. "What was that about not laying it on? I never said he failed at anything."
"We must have been listening to different conversations, then. 'Cuz that's sure what it sounded like."
"Children," Seto put in at this point, dressed in his Physical Labor™ suit, "that's enough. I'll thank one of you to not be passive aggressive, and I'll thank the other to not be defensive." He raised an eyebrow. "Can I trust the two of you to figure out which one is which on your own?"
He left without waiting for an answer, leaving both brother and employee feeling inexplicably guilty and irate at the same time.
By the time construction of the Mystery Building was complete, Mokuba had actually managed to forget about it. So, when he was working on math homework one day—which was a nice, socially acceptable way of describing the mental gymnastics he was performing in order to not eat his own teeth in pure, desperate frustration—and his brother came into the room looking like entirely too satisfied with himself, Mokuba was immediately, superstitiously nervous.
"Come with me a moment," Seto said.
The elder Kaiba led his brother out into the back gardens, past the pool, and stopped in front of the new, finished building that made up the third on the estate—fourth, if one counted the garage. It was designed to match the rest of the house, and so Mokuba didn't notice anything in particular about it.
Mokuba held out his hands. "Ta-da! It's walls and a roof! Yay!"
Seto quirked an eyebrow.
". . . Sorry."
"Mm." Seto stepped up to the door, opened it, and made a welcoming gesture. "Enter, if you would, the walls and the roof."
Mokuba entered.
Seto went into a long, detailed, extremely well-researched monologue on what this building actually was, but Mokuba had very little understanding of what half of it meant. All he knew, was that he'd just stepped into Wonderland.
Two brand new, custom-built KC-i1800 desktop computers, each with two monitors. More recording equipment than Mokuba had ever seen outside professional studios. A dedicated shelf which contained every videogame in the young Kaiba's collection, a home theater system complete with every game console ever conceived of, and all throughout the walls, framed posters of each game that Mokuba's online avatar, Wonderboy996, had ever played on his channel.
In a place of pride, set to be perfectly visible whenever Mokuba turned on his webcam, was a promotional poster for Gambit.
Foxfire and Madam Why were standing in the middle of the room—which they both insisted was large enough to fit both of their apartments into—grinning like fools. "Welcome to the Batcave, Wonder!" Foxfire announced.
Mokuba couldn't find a single word to describe . . . anything.
It took him several minutes to actually turn to look at his brother again.
". . . N-Niisama . . . what . . . ?"
"I had some free time," Seto muttered dismissively. Then he grinned. "Don't think I don't know how much you've put into this enterprise, kiddo. I've been watching you, and I can hear you whenever you have . . . complications with your equipment."
"You . . . ?"
"Your brother tells us that he's made it his life's mission to make things as easy as he can for you," Madam said. "Within reason, of course. Then again, when you're worth as much as he is, the definition of reason gets a bit flustered."
Foxfire gestured to one of the computers. "Recording." He pointed to the other. "Streaming." He pointed to the theater. "Nirvana." He grinned fit to split his face. "He brought us in to make sure everything was set up right for what you do, Wonder. Apparently we count as experts."
"You're building your own empire, Mokuba," Seto said, "and it's my job—as your guardian and your employer—to make sure it's built well. This is your castle. If you find anything missing from here that you need, make sure to let me know. You've invested more than enough time, effort, research, money . . . yourself, into this project to have earned it. Consider this my contribution to the cause." He smiled. "I'm proud of you."
Mokuba stood there in silence a moment, then threw his arms around his brother and started to cry.
.
For anyone lost—maybe you're new to the series and this happened to be the first one you read, or maybe it's been a while and you don't remember what I'm on about—check chapter 36: "Away from the Mucky Muck."
It'll explain a few things.
