Rock Bottom: Season Two

Plague

Even though Joey had agreed to take money from Seto, he refused to keep it. Seto lived here as a favor, after all, so when Seto paid him for the first week, he went straight to the store and spent the fifteen bucks on snacks for Mokuba's lunch. If Seto realized, he didn't say anything, but that was alright. Joey liked to harbor the hope that he was sneaky enough that Seto didn't notice.

Seto hadn't noticed, mostly because he had far more troubling things on his mind at the moment. He was trying to pick up a second job. Now that he didn't have to worry about Mokuba being in any danger by being home, he could work later hours on his own schedule without affecting his brother. Joey would certainly resist this plan if he knew Seto's intentions, but that's why Seto kept them to himself.

Serenity seemed glad to have Mokuba around, and the more time they spent together, the more animated and talkative she became. Seto was curious if Mokuba's affections for Amane changed as a result of this, but as far as he could tell, Mokuba was as in love with Amane as he'd ever been.

Because of his difficulty with origami, he'd switched from making paper cranes for her to making tiny paper stars with colored paper. He'd made the same claim about the stars that he'd made about the cranes: "If you make a thousand, you're supposed to get a wish." He was filling a glass jar with them, and Serenity had helped him to tie a pretty ribbon around the rim with a neat bow, using a hot glue gun to secure it.

In his search for a second, part-time job that provided night-time hours, Seto didn't notice Mokuba's declining health. Of course he'd heard the occasional cough, but it hadn't sounded abnormal to him yet. Besides, Mokuba had tried to suppress his symptoms to spare his brother the stress. It wasn't until Seto got a call from the school one morning while he was at work that he realized how bad it had gotten. They asked him if he'd been aware that his brother was sick and if he could kindly come and take his brother home.

Seto clocked out and called a cab to take him to Mokuba's school, then told the driver to wait for him. Mokuba looked up at him sheepishly when his brother arrived at the front office to sign him out.

"Why didn't you tell me you were getting sick?" Seto asked as they walked out together.

"It wasn't so bad to start with," Mokuba said with a sigh. "Serenity showed me where the cough drops were in her house, so I've been using them. But I think the kid who sits behind me in math class had a cold, and he's been out for the past couple days. I think I must have caught it from him."

Seto sighed a little and opened the car door for his brother before following him inside and telling the driver which doctor's office to take them to. "When it started, was it the same as what you had last year?"

"Yeah, I think so." Mokuba looked glum, and as he breathed a sad sigh, it triggered a bout of thick coughing. Seto pat him on the back, and when it had subsided, he pressed the back of his hand to Mokuba's forehead.

"Do you have a fever?" His hand slid from forehead to cheek, and if Mokuba shivered at his touch, he hid it well.

"I don't think so."

"Hm." Seto didn't know if he believed him, but since he couldn't confirm it either way, he wouldn't say anything about it just yet.

~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

Usually Seto took Mokuba to a charity clinic downtown, not too far a walk from the apartment where their father still lived. This time, though, Seto could afford to take him somewhere that the wait would be shorter and the service would be better.

Seto explained to the doctor that Mokuba'd had acute bronchitis last winter, and the doctor agreed with Seto's guess that he'd contracted it again. Usually he would have expected him to catch it in colder weather—last winter, Mokuba's coughing had started in November—but the house fire and the virus had combined to create favorable conditions for the illness. Mokuba's chest, when listened to, made the same rattling sound that it had last year. The doctor wrote a prescription for a strong pediatric medicine, giving Seto the slip of paper and dosage directions, adding that if he was still exhibiting symptoms a week from now, he should return. Seto thanked him and went straight from the doctor's office to the pharmacy, dropping off the Rx slip with the intention of returning on his way home from work, when it would be ready to be picked up. He took his brother back to Joey's house then, and this was the hard part.