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"How was your childhood?" Jounouchi asked one night, when they were both a little tipsy.
Kaiba frowned. "Not much to tell."
"Which means you're not gonna?"
"Right."
Jounouchi sighed dramatically. "Fine. I'll tell you about my childhood."
"All right."
"It was good, you know? Sure, sometimes mom and dad fought. OK, they fought a lot, honestly, but me and Shizuka, we had good times. I'd take her out to the beach, to malls, getting food. We spent a lot of time out of the house as kids. They were good times."
Kaiba watched him carefully. "You looked out for each other."
"Yeah. Just like you and Mokuba," he said. "I mean, we had to, right? That's what older brothers do."
"I try not to remember my childhood," Kaiba said. "It wasn't any good until the orphanage, and even there it wasn't the best. It all just was. But I had Mokuba to protect, so that's what I did."
"Yeah. Do anything to protect them."
"Mm." Kaiba was quiet a moment. "I think my childhood ended at ten. Everything after that feels like an early adulthood."
"You never really got to be a kid, did you?"
Kaiba shrugged. "I don't know that I missed it. I had enough time after my father died."
Jounouchi poured them both a drink. "To childhood, good and bad."
Kaiba clinked his glass against Jounouchi's. "To never going through it again."
Jounouchi chuckled and drank. "You're unromantic."
"I'm practical," Kaiba said, proudly. "It doesn't do to dwell on the past. I've learned that."
Jounouchi leaned his head on Kaiba's shoulder. "Yeah. I guess not."
Kaiba finished his drink and rested his head against Jounouchi's. "It's all the same. Good or bad, it just was." He linked his hand with Jounouchi's. "It just is."