Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh, nor do I claim rights to any of the affiliated characters.
Begin
Three settings, two people, and an unspoken rule. Those were the well-oiled turbines of their professional relationship, and they worked. For the most part.
Seeing each other in public was something like an out-of-body experience. Seto stared for the fleeting fraction of a second before tromping away. Pegasus wondered after him long after he had gone. Maybe it was proof something inside him was still a predator, but Pegasus always felt the transfer of that rush to his chest. The sort of stark, too-late-to-turn-back horror that rooted his entire being in place.
It was all he could think about for days.
The pitfall of remorse and reflection of near-disgust – that was the hardest part, the millisecond of 'this is okay' before their past caught up – the shattered illusion of progress when everything changed with the environment.
Seto's endless flaunting of control wasn't a power-play, but a need. Never quite so much as when there were no doors to slam between them.
That alone was almost enough to deter him, but on Monday morning, unannounced, he showed up at the headmaster's office to rap on the door. It opened with a grunt of annoyance.
"Do you have a minute?"
"Don't tease me with choices." Seto said as he stepped aside. There wasn't one. "And I've told you before not to come here to apologize."
Pegasus hadn't heard the door close but it must have. He stared at the scene through the windows behind Seto's desk and felt the other man's eyes on his watch the way people sense the call of their name before it leaves the barista's lips.
"So eager to throw me out? I just got here."
"You have sixty seconds."
And a tone that warned he shouldn't waste them. "Is this okay?"
Seto's fingers curled against the fabric of his pant leg. "In what universe is sixty seconds enough time to be vague, Crawford?"
Pegasus turned to find the back of Seto's head. While he'd been staring out the window, Seto kept his eyes, and body, trained toward the door. Exits. Escapes.
"I'd never do anything to rob you of Duel Academia and you have full, legal rights to back up my word –" which is rightfully meaningless to you – "so I need to know, with no strings attached, no leveraging, if my being here is okay. After everything that's happened, I understand if it's easier that we don't –"
"Stop."
He waited what felt like too long, "…Kaiba?"
"I told you not to come here to apologize."
"I'm not."
"I could 'are too' 'til I'm blue in the face and it'd be lost on you. You're apologizing, just dressing it up differently."
"This is uncomfortable for you."
"And?"
"It doesn't have to be. I can just as easily fulfill my obligations remotely."
"The kids are counting on that art show I'm not supposed to know about and you're not backing out on them."
"Suppose I mean after – how do you know about that?"
"We've been doing this three years, the kids have come to expect you. They want you here."
It sounded too much like 'I want you here.' "They'll be okay with seeing me virtually, or with us planning around each other. I can be here when you're away."
Pegasus expected the flash of Seto's watch when he turned, an overdue announcement of his expired sixty seconds, "What did you expect to happen here? Am I supposed to call you up just to chat? Start inviting you to coffee in the lounge? I brought you among children who have nothing and let them trust you – other, vulnerable kids who had to grow up too fast, trust you – isn't that enough?"
"It's more than enough." Pegasus replied, letting sincerity take precedence over the pain, because it wasn't his place to be hurt, "I don't want to cause you anymore heartache, tell me what you need and I'll do it."
"Don't take up my time with these pity sessions because we happened to catch eyes at the park. If I wanted you gone, you would be."
"Understood." Pegasus said with a nod.
"Then get out."
How long had Seto been saying that because he couldn't ask him to stay?