Disclaimer: I do not own Pepperidge Farms or its products

Chapter 6

Seto sighed, closing his eyes, letting his senses be flooded with the wonderful scent of freshly brewed coffee. The steaming drink was mentally being worshipped, its affects doing wonders to the sleepy CEO and father of one hyperactive five year old.

Two weeks had passed since him and Atemu (and Yami) had made up, so to speak, and between he and his son arguing over what kind of pet they should get (well, more like Atemu telling him what he wanted and Seto telling the child want he was allowed to have, eventually settling on a two hundred gallon fish tank with more goldfish than he cared to know about), Yami's tempting advances towards him, his own erotic dreams, and a sugar high child…Seto had gotten less sleep and peace and quiet in that small amount of time than he did his entire life.

So, in order to save his sanity, he put together a plan. And while its basis could be drawn from something his own hellish father did to him, he had tweaked it to be more suited and harmless than the version he had been subjected too.

Atemu was a bright child, one that he knew with in his own heart that would be able to deal with the task assigned to him, and hopefully, keep him busy enough that Seto could deal with his own work.

Last week, he had sat his son down, and gave him an offer, one that Atemu had joyously grabbed up and ran with, eager to show his father what he could do.

Seto had given him no less than a hundred thousand dollars and told him to reinvest it in the stock market, giving him one month's time to earn back a hundred times the original amount. And to make sure the five year old didn't lose track, Seto demanded weekly (on Saturdays) progress reports.

So, as he sat there with his cup of coffee on the day of the first report, Seto was slightly curious as to what the young child had done so far.

A knock at the kitchen door cause him to look up, quirking an eyebrow at his younger brother who was standing there. Mokuba had dropped by the is weekend, wanting to spend time with his nephew, who had as soon as he entered, tackled the raven-hair male and promptly dragged him up the stairs without so much as a explanation to his father.

That had been two hours ago.

"Why the hell are you knocking?"

Mokuba just smiled, a twinkle in his eye (something that worried the older Kaiba greatly) and cleared his throat before speaking. "Mr. Kaiba, sir, there is someone here to see you."

"Huh? What are you going on about?"

Slate-gray eyes narrowed, arms crossed over his chest and he mouthed, "Play along."

Confused and curious, he nodded his head, figuring this had something to do with his son. "Alright then, show them in."

Giving his brother a wink, he stepped to the side, looking back behind him as if to give the person an 'ok' when he heard a rather loud, heated childish whisper.

"NO! You have to introduce me!"

Blue eyes rolled and he sat his mug down on the table in front of him as his brother turned back to him, rolling his eyes also. "Sorry, Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Atemu is here to see you."

Before Seto could say a word, a small less than three-foot figure stepped around the corner and he choked back a laugh that would have sent him falling off the chair and onto the hard white tiled kitchen floor. There was Atemu, hair slicked back with gel and tied in a low ponytail, his new three-piece business navy blue business suit Seto had bought him for formal dinner parties he might be required to attend. Around his neck was a dark blue tie with little embroidered clownfish arranged in diagonal lines, and he was carrying…or lugging should he say, his old silver metal briefcase he used to carry around when he was a teenager.

Atemu was taking this way too seriously… but damn if it wasn't cute.

Getting his coughing under control, he watched as passively as possible as Atemu all but dragged the heavy briefcase across the floor and over to the table. He pulled out a chair, crawled up on to it before bending over and hefting the case up and practically swinging it up on the table, letting it land with a hard thud, rattling his cup in the process.

As Atemu proceeded to mess with the locks, Seto flicked his eyes towards his brother, who was now leaning against the doorframe with a wide grin on his face. A clearing of a throat brought his attention back to his son, who was sitting on the chair now, gazing at him with narrowed eyes.

"Time is valuable Mr. Kaiba, it should not be wasted by looking at your subordinates."

Mokuba choked and Seto smirked, giving a curt nod of his head. "Your right, Mr. Atemu, my apologies."

Crimson eyed flickered back between the two Kaiba brother's before he reached into the briefcase and pulled out a folder file, sliding it across the table. "I believe you wanted to see a weekly report on my stocks?"

"Ahem…yes I did," he responded as he opened up the file, holding back at chuckle when he spied the graphs in front of him, each having been made with different colors, the waxy lines proving they were indeed done with crayons. Just as he was about to flip to the next page, a long, slender metal pointer slapped down on the page, pointing to the first graph. Seto lifted his head with a raised eyebrow. Atemu was still sitting in his seat, his arm stretched across the wooden surface, his eyes narrowed as he used the metal pointer to reach the distance.

He bit back a smile. Atemu was really serious about all this, and he just couldn't hurt the child's feelings by laughing at him. But, he had to admit, the graphs were correct and informative. And Mokuba's neat hand writing along side them, told Seto what his brother had been up too for the past few hours.

"As you can see, just in the past week, my stocks in Pepperidge Farm has doubled…"

"Pepperidge Farms?"

Atemu tilted his head to the side, his ponytail swaying with the motion. "Who else makes Goldfish Crackers…in rainbow colors no less?"

Biting his lip, Seto bowed his head, not only to agree but also to hide the smile tugging on his lips. "You're right, forgive me. It seems you've done well with your investments in only a week."

There was a haughty sniff from an upturned nose and crimson eyes narrowed when he heard low snickers coming from the doorway behind him. "You expected less from me?" His father shook his head, opened his mouth ready to respond, when Atemu suddenly spun his head around, his thumb jerking in the direction of a red faced laughing uncle clinging to the wall for support. "And what the hell is he still doing here? What kind of business do you run with your lowly subordinates listening in on confidential meetings?"

Seto had all he could take. Hearty laughter erupted from his mouth, his arms coming around his waist to support himself as he leaned over the table, his shoulders shaking from the strain of unbelievable mirth. He was so caught up in the hilarity of the moment that he failed to hear the scrapping of a chair across the floor, or sound of small footsteps running from the room until his brother's voice calling out his name caused him to look up to see Mokuba with a frown on his face.

Blue eyes glanced away, back to the now empty seat across from him. He sighed, pushing his own chair back, grabbed the file and walked past his brother in search for his son. He couldn't believe his own stupidity at the moment…he should have known that Atemu would have taken it personally. The little Egyptian was very prideful and –whether he admitted it or not- self conscious about himself. Having been turned down over and over again by adults because of an intellect he couldn't explain left him vulnerable to how people thought about him.

He followed the sound of cuss words to the child's room and didn't bother to knock as he opened the door and stepped into the room. Atemu was standing before his mirror, tugging on the small rubber band that had held his hair back. Placing the folder on the bed, he went over and gently pushed his son's hands away and began the task of untangling the mess the little one had made in his efforts.

"Atemu," Seto paused, frowning at the glare that was sent to him through the reflection of the tall mirror. "You ran out before I could congratulate you on your excellent work."

"Yeah, well, between all that laughing I'm surprised you even noticed it." Rubber band now free, Atemu reached up and began to run his fingers through his hair, working the gel free.

"I wasn't laughing at your work, or even you really." Seto paused trying to find the right words, his fingers absentmindedly running through his son's hair. "This house used to be so quiet, lonely ever since Mokuba left. And even when he was here it wasn't like it is now. With you here….I haven't laughed or smiled so much before. You," and Yami he added silently in his mind, "have made this place a home."

"So," Atemu turned around, wide crimson eyes glancing up at his father. "You're laughing cause…you're happy?"

"Yes."

---

"What are you doing?"

Seto glanced up from the screen of his computer to see Yami perched on the edge of his desk. Glancing over to the clocked he realized it was midnight and he had been so caught up in his research that he had totally lost track of time. "Didn't realize it was midnight…"

Yami frowned, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion, "Actually, I changed five minutes before twelve."

"Oh?" Seto spun his chair around, looking at the thoughtful male before him. "Has this happened before?"

He shook his head, hoping off the desk to start pacing the floor. "No, this is the first. Maybe this thing is wearing off? I mean with my personality slowly emerging through Atemu's and now this….then again, it could be just a fluke and we won't know that until tomorrow night to see if it happens again."

Seto just watched, his own mind turning over the new information. Could it be that the curse was wearing off? If that was true, how much longer did he have with both Atemu and Yami…of course, Yami was staying but would he be the same man? Would he even want to stay around once he was normal again?

Whether he admitted it out loud or not, the CEO had come to enjoy these nightly visits and the company in his bed, even if they didn't go beyond just holding and sleeping. It was nice to know someone was there, in the dark, with him, holding him as he held them.

It was… comfortable and oddly relaxing.

And he knew in the mornings that Atemu also liked waking up to find his father sleeping beside him – even if he did get teased about it.

"Are you going to answer my question?"

Seto's head snapped up, his eyes focusing on the curious narrowed crimson gaze. "What?"

Yami just rolled his eyes as he walked over and helped himself to Seto's lap, straddling the longer legs of the other male. "What are – or were – you doing?"

"Oh, researching this curse thing."

Yami blinked before cracking an indulgent smile. "You realize, that curses are magic and therefore probably won't be solved by looking on the web, right?"

Scoffing, Seto turned his chair around; his long arms snaking around either side of Yami, letting his fingers touch the keys of his laptop once again. "Magic, hn. There is a scientific reason behind everything and everything can be found on the Internet. Therefore, I will find the answer given enough time and my superior hacking abilities."

Crimson eyes rolled as he leaned back, pressing against the edge of the desk to get a better look at Seto. "Good thing Atemu likes you, 'cause you just made yourself look like ass….yet again. A pompous ass, but still an ass."

"Yeah, well, we've already established what that little brat thinks of me. Question is what do you think?"

"Oh, that's easy. I think you have a very cute ass." Yami smirked, leaning forward again, his crimson eyes shining from the lamplight. "A surprisingly sweet, cute pompous ass. I think I might want to keep you."

Seto blinked and decided to throw the 'sweet and pompous' part out the window and concentrate on the 'cute ass' part. That was much easier to deal with in the early morning hours, especially when Yami was sitting on his lap looking at him in such a manner….

"Why don't our asses to bed then and get naked? Then I can decide if I want to keep you or not."

Yami chuckled, climbing off of Seto, "Sorry, Big Daddy, but unless you want to explain to Atemu why his ass hurts in the morning, that's a no thank you. That is, unless you want to be the one on the bottom."

Seto's face paled.