Ugh, trying to get out of this rut for the YGO fanfiction contest. That's right, it's that time again. This time, our pairing was Toonshipping (Pegasus x Kaiba).

Trigger Warning: Implied abuse of an intimate nature.

When Pegasus J. Crawford called for silence in his board room, there is no response.

Woefully, he surveyed the faces of the others in the room, and frowned. Each of the men before him, dressed in their muted colors, thought less of him. The sunlight pouring through the window behind him played on each of their features. Muscles twitch where his left eye would have been, and for a mere second he laments the Eye, laments the security it offered. That moment passed quickly.

Pegasus had become a spoiled man indeed, and he himself knew it. Reliance on a higher power was difficult to break. Faith forever affirmed by a miracle; knowing that it was possible hold such an Item in his hands, to have felt the magic and seen the visions…

It had ruined him forever.

With his own two hands, he built an empire. He had been the one to slave and toil. It took more than an idea to built a business, to evolve it into a company and transfigure it into a corporation. Countless meetings, blueprints, proposals, rejections. At times, it had been necessary for Pegasus to remind himself of those. The magic had not negotiated his position. Only he had lobbied for his own success, even if compared the Millennium magic it seemed like nothing.

"...what exactly are we waiting for, Mister Crawford?"

A cold glance was all that was necessary to usher in the silence once again. When the men glanced over Pegasus's shoulder rather than at him, he is certain that they have received a rather scathing look from Mister Crocketts as well. The winces that followed were satisfying nonetheless.

It was becoming difficult to resist the urge to shift fingers through his hair. Once again Pegasus was annoyed, this time at himself. Though he had always been about theatrics, patience was a virtue hard won for him, but worth it. As each minute passed the board members' expressions became less composed, their disdain more apparent. Sweat began to bead on their brows. Every few moments of quiet would produce a sneer.

The pattern of behavior was predictable and boring.

When it seemed as though any number of them would open their mouths to question him again, Pegasus spoke. Softly. "Although there is a bit of a delay, I'm afraid that today holds quite a surprise for you, gentlemen. Just remain patient."

There was no secret here: none of these men liked him - in fact, very few of these men knew as much about business as they should have. Of the six of them seated there, two thirds had been nearly bankrupt when they had invested in Industrial Illusions. A last ditch effort, surely, to put a bit of funding into several different things to increase chances of revenue. Between their own poverty looming and Pegasus's confidence (due to, in large part, his magic), they had been swayed.

As Pegasus knew all too well, the promise of power was most difficult to refuse.

They hated him. It didn't take the Millennium Eye to tell him. He was too bright, too flashy, too feminine to sit at the head of the table. Many of them had designs to oust him, though they would never succeed. He knew, and would continue to know, what they said about him behind closed doors. It burned them up inside to know that they had to follow his lead, and that was what Pegasus thrived on.

He hated the business of business, but it was all he had left after Duelist Kingdom. Yuugi had cured him of blindness and there was nothing more to gaze at but a mirror. In it, the reflection was broken. His life wasted lusting for power, his future wasted clinging to the past; There was still time, but youth and ambition was no longer in grasp.

A sea of eyes still glared, waiting for answers, so he gave them just a little more. "I see you gentlemen haven't been keeping track of our company's progress. This season's cards have been a massive success, and tournament participation is on the rise. We're in progress of being recognized as a sport in the States, gentlemen. Isn't that exciting?"

One man, small and pale, growled. "Isn't that something we should address during the meeting?:

Imbeciles. Every last one of them.

Pegasus decided that he would try once more. "So you haven't, then?"

A knock sounded at the door, and Mister Crocketts immediately moved to cross the room. With his backs to them, many of the board members visibly relaxed.

"We've run out of time for you to guess at your present, my dear boys. I'm very disappointed."

It was not Pegasus's present to announce however. Mister Crocketts opened the door, and immediately became engaged in a rather menacing-looking staring competition with a bodyguard who stepped inside. Pegasus rolled his eyes, as this bodyguard was well known to the both of them. Sunglasses nearly identical to Mister Crocketts hid what Pegasus knew were observant, calculating eyes, and the fact that both men were holding their hands dangerously close to their suit jacket pockets did not bode well for the occasion.

To distract his men from the sizing-up happening before them, Pegasus thought to give a proper introduction. "For those of you who were not informed, as of… last Wednesday, I believe, we require a welcome for another majority shareholder in our midst. Many of you are already familiar with his products and his company, particularly because our businesses often intersect." The two guards were still circling each other, so he added, "Isono, Mister Crocketts… children. Behave."

Of course, on his end there was no cause for concern. Mister Crocketts made his back back to Pegasus's chair without another word or gesture.

Isono was much like his master, a wild thing whose passion for being unconstrained outweighed his focus, and he continued to pace the room like an untrained hound.

In honesty it had taken Pegasus, too, by surprise to hear of his new business partner. It had taken much longer than he had thought for it to come about. There was revenge to be had, after all; it was difficult to imagine what sort of affairs had kept his nemesis away for so long. For a while after his defeat, the fire for revenge had burned within him as well.

Cyndia had been the world to him, the culmination of nearly endless labor, the angel meant to carry him to a better life. Even then, the thought of her required effort for maintaining composure. A hand pressed upon his shoulder, a signal from Mister Crocketts that a change had been sensed. Perhaps his eyes had watered in lament, his shoulders tensed in a moment of vulnerability, or his cheeks flushed with frustration.

No matter. Pegasus cleared his throat and focused on straightening the lapels on his suit. Seto Kaiba would never be allowed to see that change.

There was no sense in giving the man a proper introduction; Kaiba was a man whose presence did the job for him. Though he was not pleased to make the comparison, Pegasus had been much the same in his younger years, and the flair he had maintained allowed him to do something similar in the present. He would have to concede, however, that his red suit was no match for those sailing coat tails. Very dramatic.

Keeping the smile from his face as Kaiba entered the room. He didn't utter a word, but made a point to stand at the end of the table opposite Pegasus.

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here," he said.

Pegasus shook his head. "Not at all, Kaiba-boy. Have a seat." A gentle hand gestured to a seat to his left, though he knew Kaiba would never take it.

Seto Kaiba always planned ahead, and Pegasus knew that without the Millennium Eye's help, it was unlikely that he would be able to work out Kaiba's ultimate goal for a while yet. It didn't take magic, however, to know that a business takeover was not the only possible point of this move. This had as much to do with intelligence as it did to do with pride. The smouldering look in Seto's eyes confirmed it.

More than a challenge, this was a stand.

"I've purchased a healthy chunk of Industrial Illusions," Seto announced, completely ignoring Pegasus lack of inquiry. Rather than waste more words, however, he simply pulled a chair away from the center table and seated himself a few feet away from the rest of them.

Pegasus chuckled at the show of bravado, and sighed. "Oh, Kaiba-boy; what am I going to do with you?"

"Is this what you do at your Board Meetings?" Seto sneered in reply. "Harass your shareholders?"

Intertwining his fingers to form a bridge that he could rest his head upon, he sighed again. "Would you like to give a short speech on your intentions as a shareholder?"

"No. Proceed."

The Board members gaped at their exchange, many of them unsure of how to move forward from this point. A few of them seemed happy to be in Kaiba's presence, as though it would restore some of what they perceived as normality.

"Mister Crocketts," Pegasus called, "please begin."

It was a standard dispensing of information, the fall and rise of numbers and a breakdown of general explanations for them, as well as a quarterly overview for the current and next. Things were relatively steady, business wise, with the exception of Kaiba's interference.

Through a small lecture, a powerpoint slide and a forum for answering questions, Seto Kaiba's eyes did not remove themselves from Pegasus's person. It was strange to be scrutinized in such a way, particularly after living in seclusion, and it was difficult to describe the situation to himself. He was not, after all, used to Kaiba's eyes having such life to them when he stared.

The outburst, which Pegasus had expected near the beginning of the meeting, did not occur until afterwards, when the idiots fled the room. He did not move from his seat, even when Kaiba took the opposite position on the far side of the table.

"I assume that you wanted to talk, Kaiba-boy?"

"Don't you ever call me that again," Kaiba hissed. There was no more public image to maintain; no more mask for the masses. "I will sue you for harassment."

Did it make him ungentlemanly to admit that he loved making Kaiba's squirm? "You'll do no such thing," he replied smugly.

There was no doubt in his mind why Kaiba had made an excuse to see him today; the man was scared.

A long silence passed between them, and Pegasus could only assume that Seto was gathering his thoughts. That was one trait that he did admire about the boy: he had patience. It was such a shame that it went wasted on virtue.

Isono and Mister Crocketts began their dance again, and this time Pegasus didn't stop them. "Is there a reason why you're here? Other than making my day?"

However cruel it may have been, Pegasus felt like gloating. He had already won; this battle was unnecessary. For a few moments, he allowed himself to relive his victory. Kaiba flabbergasted, gasping for words to describe his crushing defeat at Duelist Kingdom. The lack of belief in the Eye only made Pegasus's victory sweeter.

It had been short-lived, perhaps, but a victory still. Kaiba's listless form, hollow and broken - dare he confess? Obedient! - there and waiting to do his bidding. He'd had plans to humiliate him, to strut him out in front of the world and make a fool of him, simply for being a meddlesome fool.

Had he been allowed to win, he would have released Kaiba's younger brother.

"Alas…" he sighed aloud, forgetting himself.

"I am going to take this company down," Seto said to him frankly. "I hate you and everything you stand for."

It was the same thing that Pegasus would have said to himself at that age. "I understand your intention, Kaiba-boy, though I see no point in destroying the empire that puts food on your table."

"You've never given me anything. I put my own damn food on my own table."

"Feisty now, aren't we? Have we perhaps remembered something ...painful?"

Though he hadn't quite humiliated him as he had hoped, it would have been a waste to not put that vessel to ...some small task. There were some knots that could not be untangled once intertwined. It was unfortunate, the sacrifice that had to be made for Pegasus to discover he preferred his bodies aware and willing.

Click.

The cock of a gun was what he received in reply. Isono was off his chain again. Pegasus waved his hand to stop Mister Crocketts from mirroring the action. Rather than address his pet, he continued to speak to Kaiba directly. To see a pet misbehaving so badly without a reprimand did not say good things about the mental state of his trainer.

"Mister Kaiba," he said, smirking. "I believe you may have forgotten what is most important. You made the bet; you lost your duel."

Most difficult of all of the lessons age had taught him: No one is entitled to revenge. Sometimes a person worked their life away for absolutely nothing more than the experience of it all.

Had Kaiba ordered it, there would have been no complaints. With the existence of the Millennium Items, Pegasus could no longer be sure what awaited him on the other side of that particular door, but it was almost certainly infinitely better than this. Being involved with the Items without his soul being captured in one of them was quite an achievement. Perhaps not worth what he had gone through, but a reward in and of itself.

But he didn't need his Eye to know that Isono wasn't going to pull that trigger. Seto's eyes gave him away, in the way that they shifted. He was indecisive.

Kaiba rose without a word and turned to leave, and his companion followed.

It would have much more preferable had his newest shareholder not recalled a single detail of that evening. Much less troublesome, too, in the long run. Again, he ached for just a touch of that measure of control. Nothing was a liability if he could predict it.

"Please put your pet on a leash next time to set foot into my office, Kaiba-boy."

{FIN}

Oddly enough, I'm not a big fan of this one. However, it's got me going on a nice headcanon in my head, so I'm going to see how this pans out for future pieces.

Thanks for reading!