The plan for the day was simple: Mokuba wanted be out of bed around ten, spend the morning helping the cooks get food ready, decorate a little, relax a lot, get dressed, and be ready when people were supposed to arrive.
Instead, he barely rolled out of bed at one. He rushed into the kitchen in his pajamas only to learn that the staff had already started cooking. "Maybe it's a sign that you weren't meant for the kitchen," the cook teased, handing him some leftover yakisoba. "Eat some, and go have some fun." Mokuba conceded to that, ate his breakfast, and devoted the next half hour of his morning making the living room look good.
From there, the hours disappeared into a blur of nerves; before he knew it he was inspecting himself in the mirror, wearing the outfit he had gotten at the mall. It was almost five… Amazing, how the time went by when he was anticipating what would happen. "Remember – it's not over until he leaves the house," he reminded himself, smoothing his shirt down his chest for the fifth time since he had been dressed. After all, he had to anticipate the best, and…
"Hey!" Mokuba jumped as someone pounded on his bedroom door. It took a second for Mokuba to realize it was Seto on the other side. "Someone's here. I'll be in the den if you need me. Enjoy yourself."
Mokuba glanced in the mirror one more time before leaving the room, grinning at Seto as he made his way down the stairs. The first guest was a girl from his class, and she hugged him the second he was close enough. "Happy birthday! Where should I put your gift?"
"Uh, on the coffee table," Mokuba said, returning her hug before she scooted off in search of where to set down her small box. A low whistle came from the doorway, and Mokuba looked up to see Yuugi, Jounouchi, and Anzu standing there.
"The party hasn't even started, and you're already killin' the ladies," Jounouchi teased, making his way into the living room. "I got you the best gift, so be ready."
Anzu was followed by Yuugi, and she tossed her box to Jounouchi so she could give him a hug – Mokuba gawked as Jounouchi dropped it on the coffee table; he'd been so wrapped up in what he would or wouldn't get from Yuugi that he hadn't even thought of what he might get from everyone else. "Happy birthday," she said, kissing his cheek. In a whisper she added, "Good luck!" before going after Jounouchi.
"It really does look great," Yuugi said, gesturing towards Mokuba's outfit. He then smiled and held out what sort of looked like a clothes box, blushing slightly. "Jou's gift was really small, so it's in here with mine." Mokuba nodded.
As much as he would have loved to talk to Yuugi the whole time, it would have to wait – he noticed there were some more people coming in. "Thanks." He hugged Yuugi around the shoulders before he rushed over to greet his other classmates.
Surprisingly, Mokuba didn't have too much time to focus on Yuugi. First he had been greeting people, then introducing them – he had almost introduced Yuugi and Jounouchi as boyfriends twice. Anzu got a video game contest going; it was a racing game, and the whole thing took nearly an hour for everyone to complete – and eventually, Yuugi won. Of course, as all good things must come to an end, so did Mokuba's lack of anticipation – he had almost forgotten about his potential kiss; he was sprawled on the floor, talking to one of his friends about the game when Jounouchi said, "Mokuba, open your presents already!" Mokuba froze mid-sentence; he didn't want to admit that he wasn't looking forward to opening presents. He was having such a good time…
"Alright," he conceded. "Hand one over."
Most of his classmates got him cards with a note saying that they didn't know what to get, with the exception of the first girl to arrive and a guy that sat behind him in homeroom. The girl got him a wallet, and the guy got him a simple white t-shirt and a black marker with a note that said, 'make your own message'. It was crafty, but Anzu's gift beat it on oddness. Mokuba opened second to last. He looked into the box, then up at Anzu; she had one hand covering her mouth to hide her giggles. All Mokuba could think to do was shake his head and pull out the stuffed toy to show everyone.
"A koala?" a classmate asked. "Dude, what's with the koala?"
Yuugi plucked it from Mokuba's hands, hugging it and smiling broadly. "Yep, it's a good one: very huggable. Anzu, you're the best." Mokuba was doing his damnedest not to laugh at Yuugi's coddling of the toy, and even more not to snatch it back and say, "Hey, hug me instead!" Still, watching him was nice. Even if Mokuba didn't get his kiss, Yuugi's company was good enough. After all, how many friends would he have that would find the humor in a stuffed koala, or win a video game tournament without boasting? And no one else would be nice enough to tutor him, and help him find clothes, or even have humored Mokuba when he was twelve. If nothing else, Mokuba had to be grateful for Yuugi's friendship. It made potential disappointment bearable.
"Hey, open ours!" Jounouchi demanded with a wicked grin, holding the box out to Mokuba. "It's the best." Mokuba smiled and nodded, bowing his head and taking a deep breath as he peeled back the wrapping paper. Opening the box was probably one of the single most non-threatening-but-exciting things he had done in a long time, and he almost closed his eyes as he did it.
Then again, if he had closed his eyes, he wouldn't have seen the pair of black boxers and another small gift-wrapped box. "Yuugi got those," Jounouchi explained, pointing at the underwear; Mokuba blushed, imagining Yuugi running around trying to find him underwear. "The other box is from me."
"I wanted nothing to do with it," Yuugi laughed as Mokuba picked it up. "That way your brother knows exactly whose ass needs to be kicked when he finds out."
"Like he could catch me," Jounouchi snorted as Mokuba opened the box. Actually, with all the subtle warnings he had just gotten from Yuugi, he should've been more careful about opening it, just in case Jounouchi got something goofy, or embarrassing –
Mokuba dropped the unwrapped box onto the boxers, blushing straight up to his ears. Only Jounouchi would think that a box of condoms was an appropriate gift. "I, uh…" Mokuba covered his mouth, mostly to hide his smile, and ignored the laughter and protests from his friends. "I'm going to go get some food," he managed to squeak out. "Wait here." Before he stood he noticed that Jounouchi had taped a note to the box; he grabbed it as he straightened up, balling it into his fist and making a break for the kitchen.
"Need something?" the cook asked when he arrived.
"Ah, just the food," Mokuba laughed, touching one of his cheeks. He was still blushing.
"Got it." She went to a cart that had been prepared, pushing it towards the living room and leaving Mokuba alone in the kitchen.
"A box of condoms," he muttered, laughing slightly and smoothing out the note in his fist. "Just wanted to make sure that you're prepared for whatever the night might throw at you," he read aloud.
"Got any plans?" Yuugi asked; Mokuba nearly jumped out of his skin, whirling around to face the older male. Yuugi was smiling, and it only served to make Mokuba blush more. "Being fifteen, I mean."
"Oh! No, not really," Mokuba admitted. In truth, he hadn't really thought past the act of turning fifteen; the rest of the year hardly seemed all that important.
"Weird; you've been so hyped about it. I figured you had some huge plans. Anyway…"
It could have been Mokuba's imagination, but he swore that Yuugi's smile was quickly turning into a smirk. He blinked and licked his lips. "Huh?" Everything seemed like slow motion as Yuugi touched his cheek, leaning in… And of course, it was all back to normal as Yuugi's lips touched his – chaste as first, but Mokuba didn't hesitate to let Yuugi's tongue delve in further, gripping Yuugi's shoulders and trying weakly to get closer to him. It turned out better than anything Mokuba had anticipated – it was well worth waiting three years for. When it was over, all he could think to say was, "You remembered."
"You're the one who assumed I forgot," Yuugi teased, stepping back to put more space between them, effectively ruining Mokuba's plans of demanding another kiss. "Who in their right mind would forget a thing like that?"
Mokuba blushed, but couldn't come up with a wiseass retort; he'd spent most his time thinking about it, after all. "Uh… Yeah. So this means you're not sleeping with Jou, right? Because that would really suck if I found out that you were after all."
Yuugi laughed, touching Mokuba's shoulder. "No – Jou's known about this birthday thing forever, since you asked – that's when he planned to get you… well, what he got you." It was Mokuba's turn to laugh; Yuugi was blushing! "And Anzu – "
"She knew?" Mokuba asked, eyes going wide. She didn't…
"For about a month."
She did. She had deliberately watched him panic and kept it from him.
"You have no idea how much shit I got from her for letting you think I forgot… but it was hilarious watching you try to remind me without saying anything," Yuugi admitted, smiling sheepishly. "I'm supposed to apologize for that."
Mokuba sighed and nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah, yeah, you asshole," he said half-heartedly, waving a hand toward Yuugi. "But part of this plan was to see if we wanted to be – "
"Hey!" a classmate called from the hall. "The food's here, Mokuba; you comin' or what?"
"Better head back," Yuugi said, shoving both his hands in his pockets. "Just… check your gift a little more carefully." Yuugi winked and turned to leave. It took Mokuba a whole ten seconds to regain his composure before following.
Check the gift, eh? Mokuba grabbed a plate and reclaimed his spot on the floor, picking up the box from Yuugi, covertly ignoring Jounouchi's gift. He hooked one finger around the waistband of the boxers and held them up, examining them carefully as he took a bite of his food. They didn't look extraordinary: just black, with a tag…
On the wrong side.
Mokuba blinked and set his food down, looking closer. The tag was a little too big to be a regular tag, and it was safety pinned-on. On closer inspection, he just grinned and looked up. Yuugi was on the other side of the room, talking and laughing with Anzu.
Property of Mutou Yuugi.
Mokuba shook his head and looked at the tag one last time before dropping the boxers back into the box.
notes
OMG -- ::calms down:: Okay. THANK YOU to elsalhir for sticking with this cracked out story. You're wonderful, dear. ::hug:: And THANK YOU reader-people for sitting through its entirety as well. :) On a side note: thank you to darkmus for being one of the big reasons I wrote this thing to start with. XD Hopefully she enjoyed her joke in this chapter.
And... I don't think I forgot anything. Did I? If so, I apologize. Have a good one!