(no subject)

[nkdigik]

Characters: Seto [linearlogic] & Noa [nkdigik].
Rating: Just a G.
Summary: A geek-style end of exam celebration and a discussion about their new house guest.



Seto shifted a little impatiently, glancing at the clock once more. Only five minutes left until Noa's last exam ended, and then he could pick his little brother up and take him out into the city for the Halo tournament that the local cybercafe was having.

Noa had been extremely good about letting Yami stay with them, and far too busy studying to bother Seto for an explanation of the other boy's presence. Now that exams were over, though, Seto fully intended to let Noa know about the circumstances that brought Yami to them (admittedly, not all of them because of how protective he was of his younger brother), and also treat him to a competitor's position in the tournament as well as a few rounds of coffee. Possibly not the most impressive of gifts, but he knew that Noa would like the chance to play games against someone that wasn't Seto, and no real geek ever turned down caffeine.

Finally finished. Unlike a lot of students, Noa didn't really mind taking exams, but he didn't get that same feeling of relief at completing them. He was always glad to have them finished and out of the way, but they weren't a huge problem or stress factor. In fact, he'd definitely studied too much for this last one and was a bit annoyed they hadn't let him out when he'd finished twenty minutes previous.

He was looking forward to the planned afternoon; it felt like it had been a long time since he and Seto had hung out on their own. Granted, he'd been studying and having Yami around was still a little odd but the fact still stood. Well, that's what the afternoon was for. Free for at least a couple of hours from the campus, Noa exited the school through the front doors and looked around for his older brother.

"Over here." Seto waved at Noa, pitching his voice a little louder to make sure that he'd be heard over the bustle of the campus. He'd already purchased two train tickets for them, seeing as they didn't have a car or motorbike to drive around with (the knowledge that Varon had a motorbike was tempting Seto to attempt to buy one of his own), and the tournament wouldn't start until a good fifteen minutes after they arrived in the city proper.

Assuming that they didn't miss the train, of course. Even if they did, that didn't matter too much. There were other things that they could do, such as simply go to the Museum of Science again and have fun with the new exhibits. Supposedly they had the latest in holographic technology being set up for the Christmas displays...

Waiting for Noa to catch up to him, Seto tilted his head to a side as the two started walking, and asked in a tone that made it clear he was already sure of what the answer would be, "How did your exam go?"

Noa heard the call and looked in Seto's direction, hurrying over by slipping not unlike a small fish through the crowd. One benefit to being smaller than most of the other people on campus was the ability to squeeze through the small spaces they inadvertantly left just big enough to accomodate someone sliding past.

As answer to Seto's question, Noa chuckled a little. "It was easy. Almost boring. They wouldn't let me out early even though I was finished and had reread it twice." He paused a moment, checking his own watch. "You weren't waiting long, were you?"

"About twenty minutes, but it doesn't matter. I got some coding sorted out in my mind." Seto explained as they headed towards the thankfully close train station. As he walked, he dusted off the snow that had accumulated on him while he'd been waiting. He could have gone inside, but he had chosen not to - he liked it outside. The cold appealed to him, and the stark, crystalline clear snow was lovely to look at it.

It was just so white, shimmering faintly as the sun struck it, so bright and at the same time, so easy to look at without seeing. Like a computer monitor, really, where the overall image was made of thousands of little pixels, none of which you ever saw, because a snowbank was made of thousands of tiny snowflakes, each unique even as they clumped together and lost themselves.

"That's good." Replying to both matters, the coding and the relatively short waiting time. He blew on his hands while they walked, remembering that he'd said Yami could use his gloves and not knowing where they were now. They weren't particularly cold yet, but it was easier to keep something warm than to warm it after it was cold.

Which if he let himself think about it, meant things were more inclined to be cold. Or rather, more easily apt to take to the cold. So once something was cold, it would be really hard to warm it again. Did it work the opposite way? If something was very hot was it difficult to make it cold?

... If he thought about this in the context of humans, no. But he wasn't considering people in the sense of being only hot or only cold was he? He shook his head a little, stuffing his hands in his pockets; no more of that.

Glancing sideways at Noa as they reached the train station, Seto passing the other boy a ticket so that they could both get on the train, Seto made a mental note to buy Noa a fresh pair of gloves. He personally had several pairs, probably a dozen by now, but none of them would fit Noa. The fingers would be too long, and so would the palms, even though their wrists seemed to be equally slender.

I suppose the good thing about winter is that nobody looks askance at me for wearing gloves all the time. Once on the train, Seto settled back in a window seat, glad it was relatively empty. Most of the students would be too busy getting ready to party in the night to want to go into the city so early.

Turning to look at Noa, he canted his head at his younger brother briefly in inquiry, "How do you feel about

Noa followed Seto onto the train and seated himself across from the taller boy, also in a window seat. He gazed out it for a moment while he thought about Seto's question. He didn't really mind, he would rather like the chance to see Mokuba again -- it had been a while. As for the rest of the family, he wasn't fussy.

Of course, he wasn't going to say that. Just sort it out in his head. "Why do you ask?" Seto didn't enjoy family gatherings, he knew that. So why offer?

"Yami stated that he might not want to spend all four weeks of the Christmas holidays alone in the dorm, and seeing as I feel awkward during family reunion model anyway, I volunteered to leave early and spend part of the holidays back at university with him." There was a slight pause, then Seto added to make it clear he wasn't being self-sacrificing, "It would let me get some work done in peace as well, without needing to worry about being forced to socialize."

Watching Noa surreptitiously, even as he drew off the gloves he was wearing (black leather with traction-tips on the fingerpads) and tossed them into the other's lap, Seto waited for an answer. He had on black silk gloves under that as usual, covering the horrific scars on his left hand, so it wasn't as if he was exposing himself to Noa with that loan.

So Yami wasn't going home. Noa couldn't say he was surprised, really -- if what Yami had gone through had happened to him, he wouldn't be looking forward to facing family either.

As he pulled the gloves on with a mute look of thanks, feeling his fingers swim a little in the length of them, he replied, "I wouldn't mind going home. I've been looking forward to getting away from the campus for longer than a couple of hours." There were too many strange things that happened, to much oddity to deal with it without a break at some point. The city was well and good, but its sanctuary never lasted too long. "I don't know if I could stand the whole vacation with everyone else, though."

"I'll probably stay there for maybe one week out of four, if I can handle that long." Seto shrugged a little, rubbing his hands against each other for a moment before sliding them into his pockets. Good. Noa now had his hands warmly tucked inside Seto's gloves.

Little brother taken care of, he glanced out the window, realizing they were fast approaching their stop and stood up. As he did so, he mentioned to Noa, "That means I'll probably be back on campus before you, but at the same time, if you want to return to campus early, I can simply transfer enough money for a train ticket to your account, and then you could return here."

The words were casual, but the offer was sincere; Seto would honestly prefer having Noa with him than having Noa stuck at home, being overwhelmed by everyone else.

"I'll think about it. Depends on what the atmosphere is like at home, really. But thanks." Atmosphere indeed. He'd probably end up spending a good chunk of time on the computer. The novelty of visiting with everyone wore out fairly quickly, and if Seto wasn't around... Nothing against his family of course. It would just get very tedious very fast.

That was what was on his mind when he and Seto got off the train and started walking towards the cybercafe. It seemed like a big decision, but give it a week or two and home and he was willing to be the choice would be simple.

The cybercafe was already crowded by the time they got there, people clustered around computers and watching avidly as the gamers killed each other off, teamed up into Red and Blue without knowing who was on which side. Friend against friend, brother against brother, sister against sister (and all girls being watched a little warily by the anti-social males that kept forgetting girls gamed too), the tournament went on.

Seto quickly picked up their registrations, Noa and him being split into different sections of the tournament, and gave his brother a quick pat on the back. "Good luck - see you in four hours, when the tournament's over." That said, he disappeared through the crowd, wanting to get to his station and get ready to PK his way to the top ranks.

Hours of flashing screens, digitized scenery and crazed button-pushing later, Noa found himself painfully defeated, securing a ninth-place position -- out of the hundreds who'd entered, it wasn't too shabby. Now he was sitting near the door, a half-drained paper cup of coffee in his hand, waiting around for Seto. He supposed his brother was probably still playing.

About thirty minutes or so later, Seto was defeated as well, having only made it up to seventh place. Oh well. Considering that he spent more time coding than actually playing games, seventh wasn't too bad. Picking up two cups of coffee to go, one for him and one for Noa, as well as two bentos, he noticed with some surprise that they were also selling gloves.

Odd. Then again, it made some sense that gamers would want to protect their precious hands from the cold, and the fact that the gloves had "You have no chance to survive" emblazoned on the back of them made them a surefire seller.

Purchasing a pair for Noa, he went to the door, assuming correctly that Noa would be waiting there, then held them out to the other with a half-smirk as he inquired, "How'd you do? I ended up seventh." In his other hand, he held (not without some difficulty) the two tall paper cups and the small brown paper bag that contained what would end up most likely being their dinner

Noa took the gloves (though not without a grateful smile; it was always nicer to have something of your own that fit) and pulled them on, guessing that they'd be leaving soon now that they were both out of the running. "Ninth," he replied, "not too bad."

"Seventh." Seto answered with a quick smirk of approval for Noa, pleased his brother had managed to make it into the Top Ten as well. Opening the door for the other, he waited for Noa to exit first, then started walking.

He didn't head straight for the train station though, instead setting their path for a more indirect one so they'd have time to talk. Snow crunching under their boots as the soft flakes started to float down from the sky again, Seto let them walk in silence for a little, then stopped by the bridge over a small river. It was dark, lit only by the streetlamps, so that the bright light illuminated the snow in patches that only served to make it look even brighter against the darkness of the night.

Using one hand to brush the snow off the wide railing, having taken his own gloves back from Noa, Seto sat down on it, one arm looped loosely around a support to make sure he wouldn't fall over. Head canted to a side, he reminded Noa, "I promised to tell you about why Yami is living with us, correct?"

Noa had stepped out first then fallen in step behind Seto quietly, flexing his fingers inside the gloves. When they reached the bridge, Noa cleared his own section of railing of snow and leaned on it, staring down the river. As Seto spoke he turned to look at his brother. "Yes, you did."

"Mhm..." Seto delayed just a little, passing Noa the still-steaming paper cup of coffee and one of the bentos. Sipping at the drink, he let the mouthful of the rich, flavored coffee roll around in his mouth for a moment, dampening it and making it easier for him to keep speaking.

Steam puffed from his mouth as he spoke, breath seeming to crystalize and hang in front of him like a white veil to hide the downturned corners of his mouth. Opening his own bento, he didn't sample any of it yet, but rather, told Noa flat out, "One of the doctors in the asylum was misusing his authority over Yami to abuse him and warp him mentally so that Yami wouldn't tell anyone. Obviously, that was only making his condition worse, so Shaadi withdrew Yami from the asylum, but it also left Yami in a fragile state, which is why we need to be so careful around him."

Noa accepted the coffee thankfully, blowing a little across the top before taking a sip. He didn't really want to drink it too fast -- he'd had a few cups already, and the warmth seeped through the sides of the cup and into his fingers. The bento he held in one hand, unopened, while he listened to Seto speak.

That was... obviously it wasn't good, but it was worse than he'd thought. He didn't quite know what he's assumed Yami had gone through in the asylum; maybe he'd just decided it wasn't his business and chosen not to think about it, but it was terrible. What's more it was wrong. Suddenly it seemed like a very good thing Yami was staying with them, even with his inordinate fascination with Defeb and habit of trying to hide in small places.

There really wasn't much to say in reply to that. "I see... that's awful...."

"Agreed." Starting to pick through the bento, forcing himself to pull off one glove so that he could use the chopsticks provided without any problems of agility, Seto didn't look at Noa. Instead, he stared steadily at the food, and placed a bite of something (he wasn't paying attention to the taste and it was just a little too dark to be able to tell from site) in his mouth.

Chewing steadily, he swallowed and glanced over at Noa again, oddly glad that his brother was there. Because something about Yami kept stirring up thoughts of Pegasus and how that could have gone, and what it would be like if he'd been separated from Noa in the way that Yami was cut off from Yuugi. If he'd been a sentimental person, Seto might have told Noa then that he was proud of the younger boy - as it was, a little of his appreciation showed in his dark azure eyes, gaze a little softer than usual as he explained, "That's partly why I want to come back to campus early; I don't think it would be best to leave him too alone."

"No, definitely not." Noa seemed marginally distracted, sipping again at the cup of coffee but leaving his food untouched. He didn't feel hungry at all, and his mind was racing.

How could he stay home knowing that this was what Seto was coming back to deal with? Granted, Noa knew he'd be working to, Seto didn't lie about those kind of things... but still, it would be difficult. And if he stayed home that extra week, to spend the time with the family he was fine with not seeing and would probably end up ignoring anyway, he would worry, and worry a lot.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew just then, and bit through his jacket. He shivered slightly (though not only from the cold), draining the last of the coffee and leaning against Seto for a bit of warmth.

Surprised at the sudden additional weight, Seto tightened his grip on the support, leather-gloved hand gripping it firmly to keep them both balanced. Without thinking about it, he glanced over his shoulder, down at the ice-coated river that seemed so far down. It would be a long fall...

How high up were they - how much ice was there? Would they break right through it, or would they bounce, break their bones and lie there helplessly until it melted, only to drown when spring came? Not that Seto really thought they could be abandoned for so long; they'd be found when morning came if they didn't break through the ice. And if they did break through the ice, who would they look for? Thinking back on the suicide rumors that had plagued the campus after Yami had disappered, Seto wondered if people would say they'd jumped, or if they'd think that they'd fought and killed each other instead. He doubted that a simple fall would have enough drama to interest them.

The river was silent below them, slick and gleaming, frozen for the moment. Ice was an insulator, though. Underneath it, the water was warm, the fish still lived. Business as usual under the surface, even as Seto could see nothing but ice.

A car drove by on the bridge and the sweep of the yellow headlights left Seto momentarily blind, black text against the whiteness in his mind. When you're pushed underwater, your first instinct is to breathe, but you know logically that you shouldn't. / But if you can't break the surface, eventually you have to let go and breathe in. It's involuntary. / Then keep trying to break the surface until you run out of air. It's better than just waiting to drown.

The moment passed, and Seto blinked, clearing his vision of the dizzying spots left behind. Finishing off his coffee, he shut the bento box, no longer hungry and canted his head at Noa. Quietly, words seeming louder than usual due to the silence around them, he suggested, "Shall we head back, if you don't want to stay here in the cold?"

"Yeah, we should. Doesn't the train leave soon anyway?" He used the inquiry as an excuse to back away and check his watch, though he really didn't know when the train was leaving and doubted it mattered which one they caught to go back. It felt like the day had suddenly caught up with him, and along with all the knowledge he'd just been burdened with, he suddenly felt very tired.

"Within ten minutes or so - we can make it without a problem." Seto placed the cup and bento box off to the side, then slid off the railing, careful not to knock against Noa or do anything that could damage the other's balance. The snow was ankle deep near the sides of the bridge, Seto's boots going down through it with a soft crunch that he rather liked. Crumpling up the empty cup, he slid it inside the boxed meal, careful to insert it in the section that he had already sampled so he wouldn't ruin the rest of the meal, then gestured down the road.

It only got darker, one of the streetlamps having blown out near the end of the arch, but that didn't disturb Seto. He knew where they were going and as long as you had a clear destination, there was nothing to fear from walking in the dark.

Noa held his empty cup in one hand, the full bento box in the other, while he walked briskly to keep in Seto's wake. Taller than Noa, he made an excellent windbreaker and although he wasn't afraid of the dark (he tried not to give in to foundless fears), he wasn't comfortable with the idea of feeling alone within it.

Because that was consuming. The thought of being by yourself with absolutely nothing around you, with no individuality but for existing and being different from the dark. Being no one, that was what scared him. Being useless, pointless, unable to change anything.

There was a patch of ice at the bottom of the arch; Seto stepped on it, and for a moment, skidded, nearly falling. He caught his balance easily though, standing straight again and high-heeled boots firmly planted on the concrete path. Over his shoulder, he warned Noa softly (it was dark enough that his misstep might not have been seen), "Careful. There's ice here."

The good thing about having a brother go in front of you was that he'd take all the hard obstacles first. He'd warn you of them and in case you didn't listen, he'd catch you when you fell. Probably lecture you as well for not listening, but at the same time, he wouldn't let you fall.

Once at the train station, Seto punched the tickets for the both of them - the train was there and waiting, empty once more because everyone went in to town to celebrate, not out. Window seats once more, and Seto gave Noa a quick, sideways glance before offering awkwardly, "If you're tired, you can lean on me and nap a little." He wasn't fond of physical contact, but Noa looked exhausted. His brother could use the rest, and Seto's mind was too awhirl with thoughts to let him sleep.

"Thanks." An equally soft reply, and Noa had little trouble crossing the treacherous slippery patch. Nice to be warned in advance, ready for what might have been a misstep.

He had trouble not yawning once they were on the train, and the seats did look oh so comfortable, more than they had on the way out. At Seto's offer, he nodded a little and sat next ot his older brother, leaning his head on the other's shoulder. "Thanks for taking me to the tournament..." Even as he was speaking his eyes were drifting shut, secure in his trust that Seto wasn't going to let him miss the stop or fall out of his seat. Secure and comfortable.

"You're welcome, Noa." Seto responded, staring out of the window and still alert as the train started to take off. It jolted a little, and Seto instinctively stretched an arm over Noa's shoulders, keeping the sleeping younger boy from falling off the seat. Even as the train settled into its smoother drive, Seto didn

*didn't remove his arm. Better to be overprotective and be sure of having Noa safe than possibly risk Noa falling because Seto was distracted by his own thoughts.

The train sped away, and Noa slumbered sweetly, safe under Seto's watch.