A/N: Primarily Seto x Jou. Random mention of other pairings with Seto. Hints at one-sided Mokuba x Yuugi. Yes, the middle portion is all Kai dreaming.
Another one-shot I did to procrastinate the other stuff.
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Watching Over White Dragons
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Summary: Just because Kaiba Seto scorns people in life doesn't mean he doesn't dream about them. Shounen-ai Kaiba x Jou, others
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Mokuba knows when Seto goes to bed too late. His bedtime is at 10:00 pm sharp because Seto is strict with him, but he doesn't need to be awake to keep an eye on his big brother. He learned from the master, after all.
Instead, Mokuba will set his biomonitor system on every night. Now, in the morning, when he signs on his laptop he'll be greeted with a report of Seto's bio-levels during the night, so he'll know how annoyed to be when he scolds Seto while his big brother tries to drag himself awake with shots of caffeine.
(Mokuba also likes to keep an eye on Yuugi Motou's routine, but he'd rather keep that a secret).
He's glad that Seto respects the privacy of his laptop- as long as he can't crack Mokuba's firewalls, of course. Seto would be furious if he knew that Mokuba watched him so closely- he'd probably take it as a betrayal of trust. But Mokuba doesn't think he's one to be talking.
Over the years, Mokuba has learned to read neuroscan graphs so well that he can detect the slightest shifts. He knows that Seto has nightmares that keep him restless well into morning. But he can only read the reports, because Seto doesn't take help from him or from anyone.
Mokuba can't help but wish that he could find something to help his big brother sleep.
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Seto dreaded going to bed every night. Not just because it meant he had to stop working, not just because he hated to lose control of his mind to sleep for those few hours every night...
Then, dreaded was too harsh a word, wasn't it? Dread was the heavy, dead feeling that sat in your heart, like when he was losing to Yuugi during Duelist's Kingdom even though he had to win to save Mokuba.
It wasn't panic. Panic was when the Big Five were taking over Kaiba Corp. and it seemed like there wasn't enough time in the world for Seto to stop them.
Seto hated to lose control. But he most of all wished that the dreams that he carried over into waking would stop.
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Seto felt the glimmers of light at the corner of his closed lids, and slowly he opened his eyes.
He was in a room that was familiar and strange at the same time. A room that seemed to be made up of his past and future surroundings as well as his present, clothed with materials that he couldn't quite recall. He shifted against the white muslin sheets on the bed.
There was always some kind of bed in the room.
"I'm sickened by the gratuity of my illusions," Seto remarked as he looked around. Same as always, though, he couldn't quite make out the surroundings. Just the one person that was lounging next to him.
Seto felt the warm, lean body curled around his own. Someone's leg was slung on top of his body, and it wrapped possessively around his hips. There was a tickle of longish hair at the base of his neck.
"Go away," Seto said, but he knew his voice was empty of real feeling. He turned around, inevitably, to face his bedmate.
Jounouchi grinned lazily up at Seto through a haze of gold hair.
"Stop grinning like a fool," Seto snapped. He was bothered by his secret longing to run his fingers through that blond mop- and pull Jou to him until the dog cried out from pain. He was no sadist- until it came to the baka inu. Then he couldn't be responsible for his actions.
And Jou was dangerous. He would push Seto to the breaking point of his icy temper and melt him with his fire. "Stop calling me one," he retorted.
"Only when you stop acting like one," Seto insisted.
Jou smiled. "What will I have to do for you to say that, Kaiba?"
It always ended up with this result- Jou on top this time, pressing him down heavily into the bed of some dream world. Lick-rouged lips pressing down his neck until he forgot about time, twinkling amber eyes blurring his vision. In a newly familiar routine, Jou nudged his nose insistently against the hem of Seto's shirt.
And Seto always gave in at that point.
He hated Jounouchi as he was kissing him, couldn't help but love the way he rolled over into the haze of the dreams, stretching out a hand to him to come closer. Seto loved and hated Jou with the same passion as he tried but failed to tear himself away from him...
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Seto jerked himself out of bed and rolled himself on the floor in a desperate attempt to get awake. He succeeded, but also speeded up his heartbeat until he was trying for breath just lying there. With a groan, he roughly grabbed the glass of water on his nightstand and poured it over his head. Fuck the carpet.
He gasped at the cold and yanked his head up to look at the clock. Five thirty, the blue light display on his ceiling glowed.
That was late enough to be awake. Seto threw his tangled sheet back onto his mat and padded to the bathroom. At this hour in winter the water coming out of the tank would be icy cold. But it was cold that he then desired.
It disturbed him, the way that his dreams would carry over so clearly into his waking hours. Despite reading many psychology and neuroscience journals, he could find no explanation of why an ordinary acquaintance would show up in his unconscious so often.
Acquaintances. Not every night, but when he felt the most alive they would come to deaden his senses with dread. Otogi Ryuuji, flashing green eyes and tossing black hair. Bakura Ryou, small and soft, quiet, patiently heartbreaking. That other of his, with knives and swords to impale Seto on the nights when he most desired pain.
Even the taller version of Motou, though Seto didn't know his name. Big reddish violet eyes, wild hair... and wilder ideas. Flashes of gold and black. Dangerous. Strange. Even... overpowering.
But it was the dreams about Jounouchi that he hated the most. The others he could find a way to explain away. But not the ones about that boy, the ones that were the most real, the longest and most often and the ones that made him sometimes wish that his room was soundproof.
Seto hated his dreams. And he knew that they made him a sicker caricature of a man, and he took that knowledge and built up more hatred with it.
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Last night was a bad night for his onii-san, Mokuba knows. He doesn't give a clue about it over the silent breakfast table, because his poker face is as good as Seto's. But Mokuba silently wonders what is wrong while studying Seto's tired face on his laptop screen, thanks to the tiny video camera on the back of his case.
He doesn't lose sleep over it- he knows that Seto can more or less take care of himself. It's how little Seto worries about himself that worries Mokuba.
Once, Mokuba dared to ask Seto if he ever had trouble sleeping at night. Implying that he himself did. That time, Seto looked barely surprised, but Mokuba caught it. Then his nii-san smirked and patted him on the head. When Mokuba looked at him questioningly, Seto told him that he would understand when he was older.
Mokuba hates that phrase.
But he'll continue to watch over Seto at night, and whenever else he can figure out how to monitor him, for reasons that he doesn't really understand. Because he knows that someone needs to do it, and no one else will.
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End.
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A/N: You might have wondered if Kai and Jou were in Seto's spirit room. That's exactly where they were! Hehe, I had to point that out.
One thing that I wondered was why Kai had muslin sheets on his bed. (Muslin is a very rough, common & cheap kind of cloth). I think I settled on that he's not much one for things any fancier/expensive than they need to be. And that he has common roots/heritage. I dunno!
o::O Even when I write romance bordering on PG-15!smut it turns dark. Maybe there's something wrong with me (LOL).
Review!