Disclaimer: "For the record, we never broke up, we just took a 14 year vacation." - The Eagles

© Jay Kateel

It was ironic to say that when he was as rich as he was, he still couldn't afford the life of luxury. The obvious reason was because he was the head of an international corporation that demanded his full attention, and luxury could demand just as much from him. It was hard enough as it was to keep up with the life he had now: a full-time college student, president of Kaiba Corporations, and the surrogate parent of one Kaiba Mokuba, who by now had reached his late teen years. Only sheer loyalty to his brother did he keep his 'damnable' teenager emotions in check. Luxury was something he could chuckle at before he went back to the life he lived now. With as much money as he had, it wouldn't buy the stability of the life he had created for himself, though it did keep it running smoothly. So, maybe he really couldn't afford it; not that he dwelled on such things.

There was a shift against his chest, and Kaiba opened his eyes, glancing down at Yuugi. The other man was sleeping, sprawled against his chest with his leg thrown over Kaiba's waist. His fingers tightened their grip on the soft folds of Kaiba's shirt, relaxing after a moment as Yuugi fell deeper into dreams. Kaiba watched him for a moment, and then glanced away, up at the ceiling of his home office. Colors flooded the room; purple, pink, orange, all coming through the windows from the setting sun off Domino's horizon.

Yuugi had dozed off in the middle of studying Ancient Minoan culture and their relationship to Egypt, and that was how Kaiba had found him when he came home. He had fallen asleep on the leather couch in his office, a book slumped over on his head, his arms a makeshift pillow. It had been enough for Kaiba to roll his eyes, picking up the book and snapping it shut with an irritated snort. It was set on the glass table in front of the couch, where a stack of other books, along with a few notebooks and a lone pencil were. He had shuffled that into a neat pile, and then moved on, setting a silver briefcase on the chair for his desk and going back to work.

Yuugi didn't like studying at the university, since he was often stopped on campus by overzealous fans wanting his entire life story from the moment he had picked up a card and on. His dorm room wasn't a good place to study either, since Jounouchi wasn't one for studying when they could be out having fun instead. And an old game shop wasn't a good place, for it was too quiet, too deafening, only faint echoes of a happy boy and his puzzle breaking the silence. No, Yuugi needed somewhere where it was quiet, and wasn't chalk full of distractions. Not that Kaiba wasn't a distraction when the mood struck him – not that Yuugi minded that – but he was usually left alone, free to study to his heart's content.

But he had been spending more and more time sleeping, trying to catch up with the little he already got in the course of a week. Finals had come and with five classes dealing with everything from Egyptian religion to understanding optical dating applications, he was exhausted. That, and somewhere between his last year of high school and second year of university, he had become immune to the effects of caffeine, so there was no way to combat it. It was only a matter of time in his study sessions when he would doze off, whatever he had been reading falling on his head or on the floor.

It didn't take Kaiba long to finish his work, looking over one last graph of the current progress on one of his many projects. After phoning the person in charge of the project and assuring him that if the graph looked the same in the morning, they wouldn't have a job, he was finished. He had nothing to study for -- all of his material was too easy -- and Mokuba was out with his friends, so checking up on his schoolwork was pointless. Really, there wasn't much to do but wake Yuugi, tell him to get out, and then go find something else that probably needed work.

But when he gone to do that, he found Yuugi had rolled onto his side on the couch, an arm thrown over his eyes. In fact, with that, there was just enough room for another person to lie there as well. Normally, with all the work he had to do, Kaiba would have usually dismissed the idea right off, but he knew he could use some sleep of his own. He could afford a little nap, a rare occurrence in it's own right, but one Kaiba took full advantage of. Convinced, he loosened his tie and stripped of his jacket, hanging it off the arm of the couch before he got on. He prodded and shuffled Yuugi around till he had room to stretch out, Yuugi mumbling something in his sleep as Kaiba slipped an arm around him to brace him. Once comfortable, Kaiba didn't bother removing his arm, only smirking when Yuugi moved, slipping his leg over his waist, and holding him tightly.

How long they slept, he didn't know, but it was sunset when Kaiba woke again. He kept his eyes shut, noting that he felt refreshed and was quite comfortable, and he toyed with the idea of going back to sleep. Mokuba wouldn't be home till the late evening, the servants knew not to bother him when Yuugi was around, and the phone hadn't rang once. But when Yuugi shifted slightly, he had opened his eyes to check on him. That was enough for his sluggish senses to start waking up, his mind moving gears to remind him of what he already knew. He was Seto Kaiba, head of Kaiba Corporations, and as nice as it was, naptime was now over. It didn't necessarily mean he had to move yet; he just couldn't afford the time needed for another nap. There was always something that needed to be done.

He did take time to glare at one of Yuugi's textbooks, however, not as harmless as it appeared to be. While he obsessed with making his company his top priority, Yuugi had made the study and understanding of Egyptian culture his. Like him however, that wasn't their true passion, but whatever Yuugi's passion now was, was unknown. Not that Kaiba cared -- he couldn't afford to care – but sometimes he would search for that spark that used to make Yuugi's eyes light up and made his smile genuine.

He idly wondered if the Pharaoh could have afforded a life of luxury.

This was followed by a thought that he would have to ask Yuugi about it sometime.

Kaiba sighed when Yuugi shifted against him again, squeezing closer and whispering words under his breath. He didn't make an effort to understand them, his head leaning back against the arm of the couch, his eyelids lowering halfway. The brilliant colors of sunset were lessening and darkness was beginning to creep into the room, a sign that he was out of time. Mokuba would be home soon, the servants would want to serve them all supper, and he would have to get Yuugi back to studying while he went back to work. There was still so much that had to be done before he could call it a night and really get some sleep.

Indeed, he couldn't afford the life of luxury, but as he shifted to sit up, he knew he didn't really care. Maybe he couldn't afford it, but he knew for a fact, he didn't mind at all the life he had.

Owari

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