Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented here and am not making any profit off of this whatsoever.
Title: Matchmaker
Rated: PG-13
Romance: Fubuki x Otogi
Notes: This takes place a few years after the end of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Comments and criticism gratefully accepted.
Summary: Pegasus might not be able to read minds anymore, but he's still pretty good at reading hearts.

Pegasus liked parties. He always had, really. There was something about hundreds of people gathered together in one place, enjoying themselves with good food and good drink, that truly appealed to him. He especially liked parties around holidays, as that gave everyone an extra reason to be happy.

Of course, that didn't mean he was going to wait around for a party to have a reason to happen. If he really wanted to, he could give all the reason he had ever needed for anything: because he wanted to have a party.

And every good party needed entertainment. And since Pegasus never gave anything less than an awesome party, that meant he needed more entertainment than usual. So he took it upon himself to interview a few up and coming new bands. He liked hiring new people for each party that he gave; it gave untried people a chance, and if he should happen to find someone interesting or in need of a bit of a hand, he would give it to them. Sometimes.

"What was your band's name again?" he asked the young lead singer. The man couldn't have been over twenty-five, if that, though he gave off an indefinable air of both youth and age. Pegasus had a feeling that he had seen him somewhere before, but he didn't recall where just at the moment.

"Rising Dawn!" The singer replied cheerfully. He was quite relaxed, leaning sideways in the comfortable chair Pegasus had provided for him, one leg wrapped over the side, one arm loosely draped over the back. He was quite a change from most of the people Pegasus interviewed, who tended to be stiff and formal with him. He approved of this quite a bit.

"And your name was?" He had read it, along with the listing of the other band members, but it had slipped his mind. He hoped he wasn't getting too old. He was, after all, so very venerable at the age of nearly forty.

"Tenjoin Fubuki!" Eyes as bright as morning sparkled back at Pegasus. "You probably remember a friend of mine…Yuuki Juudai."

Ah! Yes! Now Pegasus remembered. It had been some time, but he'd seen this boy when he was at Duel Academia. He hadn't changed a bit, except to get a bit taller and not be wearing the uniform at the moment. The rest of the interview went quite swimmingly, and by the time it was done, Rising Dawn would be the star attraction at Pegasus's latest party.

"I'll see you all there, then," Pegasus declared, quite satisfied with what he'd seen and heard. Fubuki reminded him somewhat of someone, though it was once again hard to pin down just who. At the very least, he was reminded of himself to some degree. Which was a bit on the disturbing side if he thought about it too hard. So, quite logically, Pegasus did not think about it too hard.

"Can't wait!" Fubuki waved and was out the door, flashing a warm smile to the secretary on the other side as he did. Pegasus chuckled; that reminded him of someone else entirely: Otogi Ryuuji.

Pegasus tapped his fingers on the desk thoughtfully. It had been a few months since he'd had more than a few courteous words exchanged with the young game inventor. As far as he knew, the other hadn't had any serious dating going on.

I think I will. He slowly grinned to himself as the idea unfolded before him. He was not often inclined to do this, but at the moment…yes. It seemed like a very good idea indeed.

He picked up the phone and had it connect to Otogi's cell. It was likely the other was at home, but just as likely he wasn't. This way Pegasus would get him no matter what. And he didn't really want to actually have Otogi see him face to face when he did. This would work so much better if there was no hint of what was going on.

"Hello?" Otogi's voice had deepened and richened over the years as he'd grown up. He was quite the looker still, even though he had only recently had his thirty-first birthday. Like a fine wine, he only grew better with age. Pegasus could hardly wait to see the sparks flying.

"Otogi-boy!" Pegasus greeted him cheerfully. "You're not busy, are you?"

"No, not at all!" Otogi sounded quite happy to hear him. Good, good. Everything was moving along nicely. "What can I do for you?"

It's what I'm going to be doing for you, with any luck, dear boy. "I was wondering, are you busy this weekend? I'm having something of a party, and I'd love it if you were able to show up. You haven't come to one of my parties in ages!" He even put a hint of a pout in his voice at that.

Otogi laughed some. "I think I can find a couple of hours free. Where is it going to be?"

"Domino City. I've been spending a few months here and decided a party was just the thing to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?"

"The fact I've been spending a few months here, of course!"

There was another laugh. That sense of humor was going to be quite the match for Fubuki's, if Pegasus was any judge of character. He wondered what sort of pranks they'd get up to together. He could hardly wait to find out. "All right, just when is it? And where? And why didn't you tell me you were so close sooner?"

"Saturday night, my townhouse, and you didn't ask, silly boy!" Pegasus told him. "I'll send someone to get you." He knew where Otogi lived, of course. He kept somewhat close tabs on those he had any kind of business partnership with. Which reminded him, he should really drop in on Siegfried at some point. It had been far too long since they'd spoken to each other as well.

He hung the phone up and leaned back into the comfortable embrace of his chair, well pleased with himself at the moment. There were no promises that what he was planning would take off the way he hoped it would, but that was part of the thrill in the first place. He looked forward to Saturday night.

And there was the party to anticipate as well.

It was more than worth anticipating, of course. Everything was set up just perfectly, and Fubuki's band arrived in plenty of time. He listened to some of their tuning up and nodded; he'd made a good choice, and not just because of what he had in mind.

Before too long, or so it felt like, the guests had begun to arrive, and everything was in full swing. Pegasus enjoyed himself strolling around with a glass of wine that never seemed to go down, since whenever it got close, someone was always around to fill it back up.

"Pegasus!" Ah, there he was. The guest of honor, or at least the current focus of Pegasus's desire to amuse himself. He waved at Otogi, striding over to the black-haired young man. "Best party I've seen since the last one I threw."

Pegasus laughed softly; he could have expected that. "Better than what Kaiba-boy threw for his thirtieth birthday?"

"Much better. Mokuba threw that one anyway," Otogi replied, grinning a touch. He had a drink in hand, and took a few sips while looking around. Pegasus thought his gaze lingered briefly on the band, and smiled to himself. Quite perfect.

"What do you think of the music?" Pegasus asked after a short ten or fifteen minutes of inconsequential chatter, covering the world's financial situation, gaming etiquette, and other such meaningless topics. "It's quite the new band, I don't know if they've had any other bookings before this."

Otogi tilted his head, listening more obviously now. "They will, if anyone here has any sense. That lead singer…whoever he is, he's got a great voice."

Excellent. If Pegasus had been alone, he would have steepled his fingers and grinned wickedly. As it was, he gestured briefly towards where the musicians were winding the song down to take a half hour break. "Would you like to meet him?"

"Sure." Otogi ambled over there with Pegasus a few steps ahead. Pegasus himself managed not to smirk too openly, and indeed, looked only as if he were smiling gently by the time they got there and the group was dispersing through the crowd for drinks.

"Excuse me," Pegasus called out softly once he spied Fubuki. "A friend of mine would like to meet you."

At the sound of his voice, Fubuki turned, and his gaze fell almost at once on Otogi. His eyes went up and down, then up again, settling on Otogi's startling green eyes. "And I think I'd like to meet you. Otogi Ryuuji, right? Invented Dungeon Dice Monsters before you were out of high school and about ten other games."

"I like you already." Otogi replied, warmly grinning. "You have good taste in games."

Fubuki grinned back at him. "No, I don't. I have good taste in everything."

"Everything?" Otogi raised one eyebrow. Pegasus said nothing, only stepped to the side and let nature take its course between the two of them. "You know, I'm going to have to test that."

"You're welcome to." Fubuki took a step closer, a gleam of mischief in his eye that Pegasus hadn't seen since the last time he looked in the mirror. "What did you have in mind?"

"I think we can come up with a lot of little tests," Otogi retorted, taking a step of his own. "Are you doing anything tomorrow night?"

"I might be. Depends on what you're doing."

Otogi's grin widened a bit. "I can't speak for tomorrow night, but I think tonight, I'm going to be getting you a drink. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like something delicious that we should be doing right away." Fubuki replied, falling into step now beside Otogi as they headed for the nearest bar. "And I think we should find a nice quiet place to drink it, too."

"I like the way you think, gorgeous," Otogi said with a twitch of his lips. Fubuki grinned right back at him, and Pegasus was still close enough to hear his reply.

"You better get used to saying that, babe."

Pegasus chuckled to himself as he moved away, sipping at his wine. It was quite what he'd expected. The two had simply clicked. Oh, there was always the chance that after the initial volleys and fires had passed, they would decide to move on to other people, but that was entirely between the two of them. There was enough interest there already to keep the flames going for some time.

He found himself a comfortable chair where he could still keep an eye on them, though he wasn't close enough anymore to hear what they were saying. While he did not truly miss the power of the Millennium Eye, it could have come in handy to know what was on their minds at the moment. He had to settle for what he could see with the eye that he had left. Which was interesting enough all by itself, as he saw them talking, could quite clearly tell that they were laughing and having quite a good time together, and politely averted his eyes once it became obvious that they were kissing. Some things were best left to privacy, after all.

Fubuki did have to go back to work before too much longer, and Otogi found Pegasus as the music started again. "You," he said, grinning just a little, "are a very terrible person."

"Really?" Pegasus had had years to perfect an innocent blink and did so now. "Whatever did I do?"

"You…you…" Otogi laughed and shook his head. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

Pegasus smirked back at him. "You could try saying thank you."

"I'll think about it. Maybe." Otogi turned back towards where the music played. Was there an extra edge of warmth to the loving lyrics now? Pegasus would not have been too surprised. "If I don't decide that I want to strangle you."

"Unfortunately, I wouldn't let you do that," Pegasus sighed melodramatically. "I have far, far too much that I need to do to just lay down and die. And you have too much to do to kill me."

Otogi only smiled some, and Pegasus took the opportunity to go find himself a fresh drink, as his had dipped below an acceptable level. And while Otogi was indeed too busy to kill him, Pegasus was not surprised to find out six months later that he was not too busy to announce that he and Tenjoin Fubuki were having a private pledging ceremony at Duel Academia.

Pegasus, of course, was invited. After all, no one else threw a better party than he did.

The End