Even though Joey had agreed to take money from Seto, he refused to keep it. Seto lived here as a favor, after all, so when Seto paid him for the first week, he went straight to the store and spent the fifteen bucks on snacks for Mokuba's lunch. If Seto realized, he didn't say anything, but that was alright. Joey liked to harbor the hope that he was sneaky enough that Seto didn't notice.

Seto hadn't noticed, mostly because he had far more troubling things on his mind at the moment. He was trying to pick up a second job. Now that he didn't have to worry about Mokuba being in any danger by being home, he could work later hours on his own schedule without affecting his brother. Joey would certainly resist this plan if he knew Seto's intentions, but that's why Seto kept them to himself.

Serenity seemed glad to have Mokuba around, and the more time they spent together, the more animated and talkative she became. Seto was curious if Mokuba's affections for Amane changed as a result of this, but as far as he could tell, Mokuba was as in love with Amane as he'd ever been.

Because of his difficulty with origami, he'd switched from making paper cranes for her to making tiny paper stars with colored paper. He'd made the same claim about the stars that he'd made about the cranes: "If you make a thousand, you're supposed to get a wish." He was filling a glass jar with them, and Serenity had helped him to tie a pretty ribbon around the rim with a neat bow, using a hot glue gun to secure it.

In his search for a second, part-time job that provided night-time hours, Seto didn't notice Mokuba's declining health. Of course he'd heard the occasional cough, but it hadn't sounded abnormal to him yet. Besides, Mokuba had tried to suppress his symptoms to spare his brother the stress. It wasn't until Seto got a call from the school one morning while he was at work that he realized how bad it had gotten. They asked him if he'd been aware that his brother was sick and if he could kindly come and take his brother home.

Seto clocked out and called a cab to take him to Mokuba's school, then told the driver to wait for him. Mokuba looked up at him sheepishly when his brother arrived at the front office to sign him out.

"Why didn't you tell me you were getting sick?" Seto asked as they walked out together.

"It wasn't so bad to start with," Mokuba said with a sigh. "Serenity showed me where the cough drops were in her house, so I've been using them. But I think the kid who sits behind me in math class had a cold, and he's been out for the past couple days. I think I must have caught it from him."

Seto sighed a little and opened the car door for his brother before following him inside and telling the driver which doctor's office to take them to. "When it started, was it the same as what you had last year?"

"Yeah, I think so." Mokuba looked glum, and as he breathed a sad sigh, it triggered a bout of thick coughing. Seto pat him on the back, and when it had subsided, he pressed the back of his hand to Mokuba's forehead.

"Do you have a fever?" His hand slid from forehead to cheek, and if Mokuba shivered at his touch, he hid it well.

"I don't think so."

"Hm." Seto didn't know if he believed him, but since he couldn't confirm it either way, he wouldn't say anything about it just yet.

Usually Seto took Mokuba to a charity clinic downtown, not too far a walk from the apartment where their father still lived. This time, though, Seto could afford to take him somewhere that the wait would be shorter and the service would be better.

Seto explained to the doctor that Mokuba'd had acute bronchitis last winter, and the doctor agreed with Seto's guess that he'd contracted it again. Usually he would have expected him to catch it in colder weather—last winter, Mokuba's coughing had started in November—but the house fire and the virus had combined to create favorable conditions for the illness. Mokuba's chest, when listened to, made the same rattling sound that it had last year. The doctor wrote a prescription for a strong, child-safe medicine, giving Seto the slip of paper and dosage directions, adding that if he was still exhibiting symptoms a week from now, he should return. Seto thanked him and went straight from the doctor's office to the pharmacy, dropping off the Rx slip with the intention of returning on his way home from work, when it would be ready to be picked up. He took his brother back to Joey's house then, and this was the hard part.

"Are you going to be okay here by yourself for the next few hours?" he asked as Mokuba tugged off his uniform jacket.

"Yes, I'll be fine." Mokuba smiled to reassure his brother, but it didn't quite achieve the desired effect.

"I'm going to text Ryou so that he knows he's not watching you tonight." He chewed his bottom lip as his brother changed into more comfortable clothes. "And I'll text Joey so that he can tell Serenity to come check on you when she gets home."

Mokuba's breathing was labored, partially because he was trying so hard to not cough in front of his brother. He didn't want Seto to worry about him, but he didn't quite grasp that Seto would worry about him no matter what: healthy or sick, safe or endangered, child or adult. As such, Seto wasn't quite ready to leave him. He already felt awful about leaving him home alone while sick, but he was up against a deadline and the last thing he needed was to give Noah Kaiba an excuse to fire him.

"How about I make you some tea before I go? The doctor said it might help with your throat."

Mokuba made a face and asked, "Will there at least be sugar in it?"

Ten minutes later, Mokuba was sitting at the kitchen counter with a mug of honeyed chamomile tea and his current book for literature class. Seto was standing next to him, running his fingers through Mokuba's hair as he continued to linger. Mokuba felt well enough that he didn't strictly need to stay in bed, so Seto told him to get ahead on his class reading while he still felt well enough to do so. As Mokuba was opening the book and setting the bookmark aside, he looked up at his brother with another warm smile.

"You need to get back to work, Seto."

"I know," he sighed. "But I don't want to go."

"I'll be okay. It's just for a few hours." He didn't actually want to be left alone, but he grasped the concept of necessity well enough to know it was unavoidable.

Seto finally yielded to his stronger, work-oriented impulses. "Alright. Be good and don't push yourself too hard. If you need anything or if you start to get worse, don't hesitate to call me, okay?"

"Okay."

They parted with breathy goodbyes, and Seto returned to KaibaCorp. He worked for the rest of the afternoon with his brother on his mind at all times. The new Duel Disk needed to be ready for mass production by the end of the week, and if their model didn't function perfectly, he could easily be sacked, so he probably should have been more focused than he was. Joey had assured him via text that Mokuba would be looked after, and Ryou had assured him that Amane would keep track of what Mokuba missed in class so he wouldn't fall behind, but that still didn't put his mind at rest.

His supervisor made him stay until he'd worked a full eight hours, so before he left, Seto preemptively asked for the next two days off, as "sick days."

"You look healthy to me," he responded in his usual surly manner.

"My little brother is sick, and I need to stay home to take care of him," Seto retorted tensely.

"As an intern, you're not entitled to sick days."

Typical, stingy, KaibaCorp answer.

"If you let me check out one of the company laptops, I'll work from home and still log my hours. I'll make my deadline one way or another."

Disgruntled, he granted Seto's request, allowing him to finally leave for the day.

"Hey kiddo, sorry for coming home so late," he greeted softly as he entered the guest room that Joey had lent him and his brother. "My boss made me stay late to make up for what I missed."

"That's oka—" Mokuba broke off with a harsh cough, and Seto was at his side in seconds, patting his back until the coughing subsided.

"I've got your medicine now; you're gonna be okay." Seto yanked apart the stapled top of the white paper bag he'd received at the pharmacy and extracted his bounty: a tall bottle of strong pediatric antitussive syrup. Seto looked at the label askance. "Chocolate-flavored cough syrup?"

"Ew!" Mokuba screwed his face in disgust. "Are they trying to ruin chocolate or something?"

"Probably." Seto unscrewed the cap and started to measure it out into the special spoon it had come with. "Typical adults, ruining everything."

"Is that the only flavor they have?" Mokuba eyed the medicine with mistrust.

"'Fraid so." Seto handed Mokuba the measured tube of syrup that tapered off into a spoon. "It'll make you feel better, even though it's nasty."

Mokuba sighed theatrically and downed his medicine in one go with the resolve of someone who'd long practiced doing things he didn't want to do. He handed the spoon back to his brother with a grimace and said, "They've ruined chocolate forever."

Seto kissed his forehead and mumured soft praise before moving off the bed to wash the utensil in the bathroom sink. He returned and sat next to his little brother, who immediately leaned into him so that Seto would put his arm around him. He'd been leaning against the pillows with a soft blanket pooled around him. It was cool to the touch, unlike Mokuba himself, who felt warmer than he had that morning.

"Do you feel hot?" Seto tried to gauge his temperature with his hand to his cheek, and Mokuba shrugged. "I'm going to ask Joey where the thermometer is." He started moving off the bed again, but Mokuba stopped him by grabbing hold of his sleeve.

"Serenity already brought it down for us." He pointed to the nightstand, where a thermometer, a bottle of Advil, and a bag of cough drops sat, waiting to be used. Seto replaced the digital thermometer with his prescription and pushed the button on it, making the display light up with all eights.

"Open up," was all the teen had to say for his brother to obey. Soon Mokuba had his teeth clamped around the hard plastic, his tongue pressing down on the little metal tip so they could get an accurate reading.

A light knock on the door made Seto look up.

"Hey, I just wanted to see how—Oh, you're home." Joey smiled at the brunette, who returned the expression with a half-hearted smile.

"Sorry that I couldn't be home any sooner. I hope it wasn't a problem for you to take care of him in my absence." Seto's words trailed off as Joey started waving his hand dismissively before he'd even finished.

"It's no trouble at all. I'm just glad we could help." Joey's hair was damp at the ends from his post-practice shower, and he bounced into the room and onto the bed with his usual energy. "Do you think you could help me with my homework after you've eaten, though?"

"I can help you now. I ate on my way here."

"Really?" His eyebrows went up in disbelief. "What did you eat?"

The thermometer beeped, and Seto removed it from Mokuba's mouth with a frown.

"He's running a low fever. You might want to tell Serenity to stay away for a few days."

"That's too bad. I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon." Joey gave Mokuba a sympathetic look as the child scowled and slouched deeper into the pillows. If there was one thing Mokuba hated more than being sick, it was being sick alone.

It was midnight when Mokuba first woke Seto with his coughing. It was time for another dose, but Mokuba was resistant at first. It took a little coaxing, and after he finally brought himself to swallow the thick fluid, it took a little while for it to take effect. Mokuba's sleep was restless, but Seto's was even more so. Mokuba's restlessness kept him awake, and his own concern did the same, ensuring that his little brother got more sleep than he did.

In the morning, his lack of sleep was sufficiently apparent.

"You look like crap," Joey observed as he slid down the stairs less than five minutes before they had to leave for school. Serenity was ready: breakfast eaten, lunch packed, bag on her back, and tiny fists propped on her hips with a look of impatience.

Seto scowled at him with bloodshot eyes, hands curled around a mug of black coffee.

"You don't look much better yourself. Have you seen your hair?"

"I'll fix it for him in the car," Serenity interjected, now crossing her arms to look like a miniature of her mother. "You're going to make me late, Joe."

"My coffee's almost ready, then we'll leave, okay?" He leaned back against the counter as the single-serve coffee machine began pouring his morning brew into a travel mug. "How's Mokuba this morning?"

"It's getting worse before it gets better," he answered with an indifferent shrug before sipping from his mug to avoid making eye contact.

"Does he need anything from the store?"

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head."

"If you do think of something, send me a text and I'll pick it up for you on my way home."

"Thanks, I will."

"And if you—"

"Your coffee's done, Joey, we can go now," Serenity interrupted, tapping her toe on the shiny wooden floor.

"Okay, okay, hold on." He slapped a lid on his mug and slung his backpack onto his shoulder. "See ya later, Seto!"

The brunette waved his hand as Joey jostled his way out of the door, and Serenity huffed as she snatched her brother's keychain off the hook. She threw open the garage door and shouted, "Joey, you forgot your keys!" as she bounded out after him.

Seto laughed a little to himself, amazed by how different they were. Serenity so careful, Joey so careless; she so diligent, him so lackadaisical; she so bookish, him so athletic; she so reticent, him so loquacious. They balanced each other nicely, though, and Serenity seemed to take it upon herself to keep her brother in line. And on time.

The toaster popped two pieces of bread from its electrically heated cavity, prompting Seto to abandon his coffee so he could prepare his brother's breakfast.

After taking two pieces of peanut butter toast down to Mokuba, Seto settled down to work with coffee and his borrowed laptop. There was something askew with the coding for one of the battle animations, which didn't make sense, because they'd all worked fine for the first Duel Disk prototype. He suspected that someone had sabotaged his code, but he'd never confess his suspicions to anyone at the company. That could just get him fired.

"Okay, that should do it," he said to his partner through the microphone attached to the headset he'd found in the laptop bag. "Start testing the Performapals cards, and if those ones are fixed now, move on to the rest and let me know as soon as something abnormal happens. I'll be watching as much as I can, but I have to get up and miss something." They'd gotten as far as the Performapals Pendulum Sorcerer—and so far no glitches had been observed—when Seto heard his name being called from the other room. He slipped off the headset and uncrossed his now-stiff legs as he stood to go check on his little brother.

"How are feeling?"

"Thirsty." Mokuba's face was notably flushed today, and his fever had risen by a half degree. "Can I please have some more water?"

"Sure thing, I'll be right back."

Seto was relieved as he retreated to the Wheelers' two-car garage and snagged a pair of store-bought bottled water from the fridge beside the short stairs that led into the house. He returned to his brother as quickly as his long legs would allow.

"Have you been able to get some more sleep?" Seto asked as he sat beside Mokuba as he took a drink from the offered bottle. Seto gently tugged Mokuba's wild hair out of its bun, slipping the elastic around the wrist as he combed out the biggest knots with his fingers.

"A little, now and then," Mokuba answered with a slight shrug, screwing on the plastic top. He still breathed slowly and carefully to avoid aggravating his condition.

"Do you want something to help you sleep?" Seto had smoothed down Mokuba's hair and was carefully gathering it all together at the back of his head, wrapping it into a tight ball and securing it with the hair elastic so that his long hair didn't cause any added discomfort.

"Hmmm…" Mokuba thought that over as he leaned back into the pillows again. "Do you remember the stuff you used last year? I don't know what it was called…"

"The vapor rub?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I'll ask Joey to get some before he comes home."

Seto sat with Mokuba for a little while, an arm around the little one for comfort. He felt less stressed with his brother than with his work. He knew Mokuba was going to be okay again, but he didn't know if he'd still be working at KaibaCorp even a week from now. Mokuba was a calming constant in his life, but a constant that he fought to keep nonetheless.

Author Notes: I had to take chocolate-flavored cough syrup once as a kid. Nasty stuff. (X_X) What do you remember about being sick as a kid? Tell me in a review! The next chapter will be up soon, and I'm dedicating it to all my Puppyshippers out there! ;)