[fiction] Foster Care: The Apnea (Happens In Threes)
Okay, so some of you have seen this here, but now it's actually cleaned up and is ready to be unflocked and officially added to the Foster Care canon. XD.
PG-13ish for implied drug abuse & implied sex. Seto/Anzu. And I don't own.
Kaiba had given her a credit card, telling her to just charge her dance lessons. She hadn’t, though she had used it to buy Mokuba a video game he had sworn up and down was absolutely necessary to his existence. She figured it was Mokuba’s money as well, and while the custody dispute raged it wasn’t really fair he didn’t have access to it. But she had never used it to buy anything for herself.
Until now.
She figured if she were wrong, well she’d pay him back as soon as she got enough cash. But if she were right, well, paying for this purchase would be the least of his worries.
Of course, even though she’d taken the train to a far part of the city just to make sure it didn’t happen, she ran into the boys as she came up from the subway.
“Where’ve you been?” Honda demanded.
Anzu held up the drugstore bag. “Errands,” she said, hearing the falseness in her voice and wondering if the boys could hear it too. “Why?”
“Haven’t you seen today’s paper?” Jounouchi said, disbelieving.
Anzu shook her head, and Honda shoved the afternoon paper into her face.
Mokuba’s blurry picture stared back at her. He was facing towards the camera, holding tightly to a woman’s hand as she led him away. Slightly behind him and even more out-of-focus was Kaiba, holding court with several reporters, a group that included not only the local NHK affiliate but some of the foreign press corps as well.
“American Grandparents Join the Fray!” exclaimed the headline, the text big and blocky above the fold.
There were several things Anzu wanted to say, but all that came out of her mouth was a croaked, “Oh jeez.” She remembered that day, barely a month ago. Remembered too the state of Mokuba’s nerves the night before, the way Kaiba had refused to come in from the balcony, the way she -
“Yeah,” Yugi agreed. “We thought we ought to go see how Kaiba-kun and Mokuba-kun are holding up.”
Anzu nodded. There really didn’t seem much else she could do at this point. The drugstore bag hung slack in her hand.
“Want me to carry that?” Jounouchi offered because he had recently been told (by several girls in their class) that he was not chivalrous enough, and he was doing everything he possible could to correct it.
“No!” Anzu said. “I mean, no. It’s fine. Female things,” she said. And she wasn’t really lying, not really, and Jounouchi and the rest of the boys all flinched.
“Ah. Um. Yeah,” Jounouchi agreed. He rubbed his hands together. “Well, off to Kaiba’s!”
***
“Hey!” Mokuba greeted them when they knocked on the door, his voice too bright to be genuinely sincere.
“So you’ve seen it, huh, kid?” Honda said, bending down so his head was of a level with Mokuba’s.
“Seen what?” And here Mokuba’s voice cracked strangely, and Anzu just knew -
She pushed past him into the apartment, ignoring Mokuba’s breathy, rambling excuse that they should all stay all out because Nii-sama was sleeping and -
It was a funny time to realize that you didn’t just like someone or love him but were in love with him, in the way you wanted to stay up all night and watch him breathe.
Of course, Kaiba wasn’t breathing.
“Call an ambulance,” she gasped as Mokuba screamed No! in the background.
She knew the basics, of course. She knew that every minute meant his chance of surviving dropped by ten percent. She knew no matter what she did it would better than doing nothing. She knew that if he started puking into her mouth it was a good sign because it meant that reflexes still worked and reflexes meant there might still be life and -
Jounouchi pushed her out of the way.
“There’s nothing more you can do,” Yugi said, taking her hand.
Jounouchi was stronger, and stronger was better when you had to press and physically do the breathing for him.
In and out. Out and in. Inoutoutininoutand -
“Dammit, Kaiba,” she heard Honda say. “Don’t quit on us now.”
***
They were keeping him sedated while they made sure there wasn’t permanent brain damage.
Mokuba kept insisting that his brother was fine, even when the EMTs had pressed the pads against Kaiba’s chest and shocked his heart back into beating.
He’d looked like a horrible caricature of a doll, and all Anzu could think about was the time Dartz had flung his empty body down onto the temple floor, and Mokuba had screamed and screamed -
But she was the one screaming now, even if it were only in her head.
She could see him through the glass of the ICU, lips slack in a way she’d never seen. In a way she’d never wanted to see.
“He’s going to be so mad at me,” Mokuba whispered, small and insubstantial at her side.
***
She’d left her bag at Kaiba’s apartment, dropped it actually, somewhere in the entranceway, and she couldn’t think up any good excuse to go and get it, so she put Mokuba to bed while her mother called every contact she had to try and keep this from hitting the papers.
Anzu didn’t think she’d be very successful. This was news. Big news.
There hadn’t been such big news in Domino since Kaiba Gozaboru had killed himself. Domino was a company town. No, it was more than a company town: Domino was Kaiba Corp. And Kaiba Corp - for better or for worse - was the current chairman and CEO Kaiba Seto.
She touched her stomach with the flat of her hand. Another day wouldn’t make much of a difference.
next >>
PG-13ish for implied drug abuse & implied sex. Seto/Anzu. And I don't own.
Kaiba had given her a credit card, telling her to just charge her dance lessons. She hadn’t, though she had used it to buy Mokuba a video game he had sworn up and down was absolutely necessary to his existence. She figured it was Mokuba’s money as well, and while the custody dispute raged it wasn’t really fair he didn’t have access to it. But she had never used it to buy anything for herself.
Until now.
She figured if she were wrong, well she’d pay him back as soon as she got enough cash. But if she were right, well, paying for this purchase would be the least of his worries.
Of course, even though she’d taken the train to a far part of the city just to make sure it didn’t happen, she ran into the boys as she came up from the subway.
“Where’ve you been?” Honda demanded.
Anzu held up the drugstore bag. “Errands,” she said, hearing the falseness in her voice and wondering if the boys could hear it too. “Why?”
“Haven’t you seen today’s paper?” Jounouchi said, disbelieving.
Anzu shook her head, and Honda shoved the afternoon paper into her face.
Mokuba’s blurry picture stared back at her. He was facing towards the camera, holding tightly to a woman’s hand as she led him away. Slightly behind him and even more out-of-focus was Kaiba, holding court with several reporters, a group that included not only the local NHK affiliate but some of the foreign press corps as well.
“American Grandparents Join the Fray!” exclaimed the headline, the text big and blocky above the fold.
There were several things Anzu wanted to say, but all that came out of her mouth was a croaked, “Oh jeez.” She remembered that day, barely a month ago. Remembered too the state of Mokuba’s nerves the night before, the way Kaiba had refused to come in from the balcony, the way she -
“Yeah,” Yugi agreed. “We thought we ought to go see how Kaiba-kun and Mokuba-kun are holding up.”
Anzu nodded. There really didn’t seem much else she could do at this point. The drugstore bag hung slack in her hand.
“Want me to carry that?” Jounouchi offered because he had recently been told (by several girls in their class) that he was not chivalrous enough, and he was doing everything he possible could to correct it.
“No!” Anzu said. “I mean, no. It’s fine. Female things,” she said. And she wasn’t really lying, not really, and Jounouchi and the rest of the boys all flinched.
“Ah. Um. Yeah,” Jounouchi agreed. He rubbed his hands together. “Well, off to Kaiba’s!”
***
“Hey!” Mokuba greeted them when they knocked on the door, his voice too bright to be genuinely sincere.
“So you’ve seen it, huh, kid?” Honda said, bending down so his head was of a level with Mokuba’s.
“Seen what?” And here Mokuba’s voice cracked strangely, and Anzu just knew -
She pushed past him into the apartment, ignoring Mokuba’s breathy, rambling excuse that they should all stay all out because Nii-sama was sleeping and -
It was a funny time to realize that you didn’t just like someone or love him but were in love with him, in the way you wanted to stay up all night and watch him breathe.
Of course, Kaiba wasn’t breathing.
“Call an ambulance,” she gasped as Mokuba screamed No! in the background.
She knew the basics, of course. She knew that every minute meant his chance of surviving dropped by ten percent. She knew no matter what she did it would better than doing nothing. She knew that if he started puking into her mouth it was a good sign because it meant that reflexes still worked and reflexes meant there might still be life and -
Jounouchi pushed her out of the way.
“There’s nothing more you can do,” Yugi said, taking her hand.
Jounouchi was stronger, and stronger was better when you had to press and physically do the breathing for him.
In and out. Out and in. Inoutoutininoutand -
“Dammit, Kaiba,” she heard Honda say. “Don’t quit on us now.”
***
They were keeping him sedated while they made sure there wasn’t permanent brain damage.
Mokuba kept insisting that his brother was fine, even when the EMTs had pressed the pads against Kaiba’s chest and shocked his heart back into beating.
He’d looked like a horrible caricature of a doll, and all Anzu could think about was the time Dartz had flung his empty body down onto the temple floor, and Mokuba had screamed and screamed -
But she was the one screaming now, even if it were only in her head.
She could see him through the glass of the ICU, lips slack in a way she’d never seen. In a way she’d never wanted to see.
“He’s going to be so mad at me,” Mokuba whispered, small and insubstantial at her side.
***
She’d left her bag at Kaiba’s apartment, dropped it actually, somewhere in the entranceway, and she couldn’t think up any good excuse to go and get it, so she put Mokuba to bed while her mother called every contact she had to try and keep this from hitting the papers.
Anzu didn’t think she’d be very successful. This was news. Big news.
There hadn’t been such big news in Domino since Kaiba Gozaboru had killed himself. Domino was a company town. No, it was more than a company town: Domino was Kaiba Corp. And Kaiba Corp - for better or for worse - was the current chairman and CEO Kaiba Seto.
She touched her stomach with the flat of her hand. Another day wouldn’t make much of a difference.
next >>